Simple + Sweet = Real Living...Bubble and Squeak...

(photo courtesy of Microsoft clipart & altered by Labour of Love)

while on twitter...i stumbled on a very exciting and fascinating blog from Ms. Lune Greenwood called, 'Bubble and Squeak' . she is a special mom who lives in a small valley in rural France in a 'chocolate-box wooden chalet' with her loving family (oh, doesn't that just sound absolutely magical????) they are 'slow living' which means living quite simply and Lune is home-schooling her lil' girls: Bubble and Squeak...i truly admire people who want more meaning in their lives then $ and all the superficial stuff out there...

i've always been enthralled with living simply...in our overwhelming world. i truly admire the amish+shakers, minimalists and those who just find that the simple things are what makes their happy world work. i think little by little, i'd like to run my family's life a bit more simpler...so i truly look forward to reading more of Lune's journey...she's also writing a book called: "Snowflakes On Our Tongues". she has even designed the book cover...see how beautiful this book is...

(photo courtesy of Lune Greenwood)

oh, i just can't wait until this lovely book hits the shelves...if you want to learn more about Lune and her exciting adventures, i urge you to visit her...PLEASE...you will not be disappointed...you'll be mesmerized by her passionate words, her wisdom, her amazing stories...(ps she also has a wonderful blog roll of really neat blogs...French, parenthood, slow-living, crafts oh...just about everything about this wonderful LIFE we live in...

this is why i truly love the worldwide web...connecting with creative + kindred spirits...

looking so forward to more...

thank you, sweet Lune...for inspiring such beauty and greatness!!!

xoxo jo ;)

Butterfly Ball

Bonjour Butterflies...today was a very special day for the lil' ones...got the chance to attend the Fancy Nancy's Butterfly Ball at our library! Lil' gals were all dressed up in their fanciest dresses with their magical wings and tiaras. Lil' lads were dressed in their finest lil' outfits. My Ian wore angel wings but quickly took that off when he saw Spiderman, his best friend Zachy crawl into the room. Now he wanted to go home and wear his Batman outfit...oh...it was a beauty. Managed to tell him that he could wear his Bat gear on our next adventure and to enjoy the Fancy gear he was wearing. Don' t know how that happened, just glad he didn't have a fit...Anyway...lil Shioban had a spectacular (as Fancy Nancy would say..."that's a fancy word for great!") time. She looked mystical in her lil' Fariytopia outfit. (Will post some pics soon of our great day...)

They had a truly grand time. They listened to 2 of Fancy Nancy's books, spoke a bit of French, learned how to balance walk (with a bean bag on their heads), paraded around and showed how they could walk utterly straight without dropping their bean bags on their lil' heads, ate pink cupcakes, drank red punch, made butterfly puppets, butterfly masks, practicing how to properly curtsy and listened to great music.

I honestly never really heard of Fancy Nancy until our Library's Butterfly Ball. I didn't even know there was a series on this book. I don't have an opinion as of yet on this particular book. I have to check it out but I found a couple of reviews to figure out if it's a good series or not. I'm already liking her as she loves to speak French and best of all the butterflies speak French too!!! There's also a lesson to be learned in this book...I truly like books with wisdom and you know what...I adore the illustrations too!

At our Library's Butterfly Ball, we all had to say "oh la-la..." several times...It was too funny...Go here or here to read what they have to say about this series. Or go here for party ideas for a Fancy Nancy theme...

I just love children Illustrators and Authors...and I especially like when they provide neat (+ FREE-really LOVE THAT!!!) lil' activity packs on the web for our lil' ones to enjoy. Look at this to have hours of Fancy Nancy Butterfly fun or go here for the more info. Well, I'm off to catch some butterflies (or fireflies which ever comes first) with my lil' bugs. Have a sweet afternoon and as Fancy Nancy would say, "...Enjoy...and always celebrate the Fancy Nancy in YOU!"

Lil' village...

Here is my contribution to Callieflowergirl's Itty Bitty House Swap...I can't wait to get the finished book...a treasure to keep forever!

Hooray...finally sent off Callieflowergirl's Itty Bitty Houses. All 30 of them. I enjoyed this art challenge even if it was a bit tedious...it sure was worth all the hard work. It takes me a bit of time to come up with something. I'm always tweaking and changing the designs about. I have to work on that. I think I spend too much time thinking of a perfect image but in the end, what started as a doodle can result in pure beauty. I like the simple things in life and I think my style of art speaks that too. I am also finding myself creating things that have a bit of a French flair even though I've never ever set foot in that gorgeous country. I think unconsciously, I'm sending my love of France into the universe because I have been picking up French things around town. I guess I'm dreaming of Paris too because most of my creations are French based...I'm also finding so many beautiful blogs out there who live & breathe French. I stumbled onto Paris Breakfast an artist named, Carol Gillott. She has such a gorgeous blog about her watercolour creations and her adventures in Paris...she sells her paintings too so please check out her delicious blog and dream about Paris!!!

Until tomorrow...sweet dreams!