ostara

Weekly news: March 17, 2021

weekly news

(This is a news letter I sent out. If you’d like to receive fresh news every week, sign up here! The full newsletter contains surprises and is delivered once a week to your mailbox. Et elle est également en français!)

I hope you are all doing well!

Happy Saint-Patrick’s day! And Happy Ostara! Spring is knocking on our doors!

Last weekend we sowed our seeds indoor in preparation for Spring and Summer. I’m very excited to be thinking about our gardening season. After only a few days, we have a few sprouts coming out: Cosmos won the race, followed by chamomile and calendula. It’s such a wonderful pleasure to see these plants grow from seeds. This year, I want to try and grow more of my own herbal teas. I’ve also experimented with cranberry seeds, and cross your fingers they sprout!


After finishing the poppy painting last week, I’ve started a new one. Can you guess what plant I’m featuring here? Hint: you probably have some form of it in your kitchen!

It’s a lot of fun to be working on these plant studies as I’m learning a lot of plants but also about painting them. I’m very excited to share this new one with you soon!

New in store

I drew these little hares this morning! I was very inspired by the eminent arrival of Spring. I stumbled upon this three hares symbol as I was researching my Ostara card, and it stayed stuck in my head. It’s a very mysterious symbol that has been found in different part of Europe and Asia. We’ve lost it’s meaning, but I like imagining stories around it, and I hope you’ll enjoy it too!

And if you enjoy hares, I also made this other colouring page a few weeks ago!

Inspiration

All in softness and imagination!

Head over to the blog for a full review!

A small treat…

I made this for lunch this week, and it was delicious! I only used a little bit of sesame oil to pan fry however, and it was still a crispy wonder 🙂

Weekly news: March 3rd, 2021

weekly news

(This is a news letter I sent out. If you’d like to receive fresh news every week, sign up here! The full newsletter contains surprises and is delivered once a week to your mailbox. Et elle est également en français!)

Happy March everyone! It felt like February kept on going and going, but now that it is over, I realize that it went by rather quickly. Time is such a weird thing sometimes.

This week, I’m working on a new flower card. It’s a lot more detailed than the others, so it’s not quite done yet. I have to admit that once again I was rather intimidated by this piece. However, now that I’m working on it, I’m enjoying it immensely. Speaking of which, I’m almost done with the reread of my book project. I’m adding many new pages and changing a lot of things, byt I feel confident that it’s all for the better.

With all this work done at my desk, I’ve been preoccupied with neck and upper back pains. I’m waiting for a book on work posture for artists to arrive, and I hope I’ll find helpful tricks that I’ll be able to implement easily. Of course, I might need to convince my cats that my desk chair is actually mine and not theirs. At the moment, Stella is sleeping very comfortably on it while I use a wooden kitchen chair…

New in store

No new product at the shop this week, but there’s still time to grab your Spring Equinox celebration card! It falls on March 20 this year 😉

Inspiration

Iraville is featured this week. Her book is so beautiful and full of lovely illustrations.

Head over to the blog for a full review!

Youtube

It’s the first newsletter of March! You know what it means: the February vlog is up! It’s snowy and a bit silly, but I hope you’ll enjoy seeing what I’ve been up to this month.

A small treat…

We watched this movie, and we really enjoyed it! I mean there’s a cat, there’s friendship, there’s people with British accents, there’s love: what’s not to like? And it’s a true story! (but really, I was there for the cat…)

We found it for free on Kanopy through our public library account. Another win for public libraries!!

It is also available on youtube here.

Weekly news: February 10, 2021

weekly news

(This is a news letter I sent out. If you’d like to receive fresh news every week, sign up here! The full newsletter contains surprises and is delivered once a week to your mailbox. Et elle est également en français!)

I hope you are all doing well!

This week, I took a head start on the next celebration: Ostara! I felt like my beginning of February was a bit rushed with Imbolc and then Lunar New Year and Valentine’s day. Since I hate being rushed, I worked on my  Ostara card this week, and I’m really glad I did.

I’m also working on my book project, and I’m at that dreaded state where it feels like the more you work on the project the farther the finish line moves away. Well, I know it’s something normal for bigger projects, but it still freaked me out a little. To remedy this, I’ve put on my magnifying glasses and concentrate on the smallest tasks. After all, as my wise planner told me last week, “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” Well said planner, well said.

I’ve also been completely hooked on Fran and Holly‘s podcast newsletters. I’m curious to know if you’d like something like that: a simple audio file where I give you more detailed updates, book recommendations, and just talk to you! Let me know by answering this email if it’s something you’d enjoy!

I also wanted to take this time to thank every one who has ordered something in my shop. Your support really means everything, and I’m full of gratitude!

Finally, I’m wishing you all a fantastic Lunar New Year and a peaceful and fulfilled Year of the Ox!

New in store

The Ostara card is ready!

Inspiration

I told you about this book when I released my story book last year. Here’s an in-depth review!

Head over to the blog for a full review!

A small treat…

I’ve been completely obsessed with these cookies so I thought I’d share the recipe with you!

Spiced Chocolate Cookies

  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup molasses (at room temperature!!!)
  • 1/4 cup plant milk (I used oat milk)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 2/3 cups flour
  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp cinnamon powder
  • 1 tsp 4 spices mix (optional)
  • pinch of ground cloves
  • nuts or chocolate chunks to decorate (optional)
  1. Mix all the wet ingredients until you have a smooth concoction.
  2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a different bowl.
  3. Combine the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients little by little (I usually do it in three parts).
  4. Preheat your oven to 350F (180C).
  5. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Form balls of 1tbs of mixture and place them on the baking sheet. You should make 12 cookies. Pat the cookies down to give them a cookie shape and decorate with the nuts or chocolate chunks. These will spread a little as they cook so give them a bit of room.
  6. Once your oven is at the good temperature, place your cookies and let them bake for 15 minutes. The cookies will be soft when they come out of the oven. Let them cool for five minutes before moving them to your cooling rack. Enjoy while warm!

A spark of madness…

What colour would you choose?