Contest toile de Jouy

And I didn't win, far from it ( a bit disappointing, I was hoping to be at least in the first half). But there were some excellent submissions, and my subject was probably a bit far out there (the mongolian steppes!). I had a fabric print test done anyway, and am quite happy with the result. I'll probably make a bag out of it at some point.

This week's contest is Juvenile Print. Fun, although I didn't find the time to come up with something new. I submitted a design anyway, something I did lately which I'm not completely happy with, but the point is to participate, right? So, the green dragons are in.

Chocolat

Anastasia is adamant about eating her chocolate mousse with a fork. Not only does it take much longer to finish, but you also get to slap some all over yourself.

More rain...

Slight issue with the waterproofing of the sandbox cover. The frogs are delighted.

Splitch splotch

After a full week of rain, we wanted to take advantage of the few sun rays promised but the weather forecast. The first attempt this morning was a loss, we didn't even have a chance to get out of the car, it was raining already. We thought we would be luckier this afternoon, but we got caught by the rain 15 minutes into our walk on the seawall. Kyan and Anastasia really enjoyed the puddles, I've never seen Anastasia run so fast to catch the next one. It must be her inner froggy spirit. On the way back to the car, the boots filled with water, the pants soaked, and under the rain, the rhythm was a lot slower.

The monkey tree

Last night Kyan was looking for a tree where to hang all of his monkeys. Since the weather outside was quite hideous (heavy rain, gusty wind, storm), I really didn't feel like going to the yard to get a few sticks for his tree. Instead we built one with chenille twists. It worked out so well that Kyan required a second one for the hippopotamus.

On the picture, Kyan is setting up the last hippos on the highest branches.

Seat in at the buffet table

Yesterday afternoon, we had the honor of hosting a baby shower for a couple of friends due to have a little girl very soon. It was a bit last minute since the original hostess had to fly home to Germany for an emergency. About thirty people showed up, I hope, everybody had a good time. At least the kids (Anastasia, Kyan and Chloe) enjoyed the food. But someday someone will have to explain why we always end up with more food and drinks after the party...

Spoonflower contest

The company who does my prints on fabric has a weekly contest. After missing the one about dragons by only a couple of hours (I hadn't read the memo), I decided to take the next one seriously. And here's my submission. The theme was "toile de Jouy", which is a style of prints in the XIXth century France, seen as much on fabrics as on wallpaper. If you feel like voting, for me or anyone else (and there're some really cool artworks, and you can vote for as many people as you wish), it's HERE.

Drawing...

I'm not the only one drawing in the house. Kyan and Anastasia are already busy at the easel. The next generation of artists.

Chilly

We know it's cold outside when the cats dash in the bathroom when they come back from the yard. It's the only place in the house with a heated floor. The best is to settle on some nice, thick cleaning rags.

Pencil, sweet pencil

A beginning of year quite frustrating at work, computers miss behaving, softwares acting up, and the work is piling up with no help in sight. And we've just experienced an earthquake (small, 4.2, nothing to worry about). I was delighted to find my pencils home last night, and worked on a quick sketch/portrait. It felt so good, having dirty fingers again...

DuploVille

Michael started a new tradition a few years ago: on the night of December 31st, before going to bed, he's building a whole town with the kids' duplo. The goal is to use every single piece of lego, which becomes more challenging every year.

Anastasia's taking advantage of the situation to settle in the empty drawer.