Avril

There is nothing more emblematic of spring for me then fresh flowers and pretty raincoats! 

This month I asked my friend Ariane to pick a couple of coveted and loved items. So, here is what miss April picked:  

This raincoat

Boots similar to those

This bag

Something sweet 

A leather glasses case made by her boyfriend

....and also made the wish for a dog to bring home. 

I chose to add this sweater. 

If there were 48hrs in a day, I would totally knit that for her. 

ps: I am having a hard time uploading my image without blogger ri-sizing it. For the full size desktop (2500x1400px) please download it from the FB page here. It seems to be re-sized down there as well. I'll try to figure it out before the next month. Sorry about this! 

Mars

A cameo from my handsome husband for the month of March. A little way of honoring our anniversary coming up. My sweet lumbersexual man ready for an outing at la cabane à sucre, pocket knife, iphone, and cozy knits. 

Here are some of his favorites: 

Merino wool Watch cap from Mercantile

This jacket

An Antler sweater

(because he's jealous of the one I knit for our daughter)

An old Banana Republic shirt I bought him 

A pocket knife 

Redwing Heritage boots (he should buy, if you ask me) 

Oscars' Fashion 2015

 I watched the Oscars yesterday (duh, like the rest of the planet. And managed until around 10h30pm since that was already pushing drastically my bedtime.. I know..) And, wanted to share my favorite looks. I am not very up to date with the fashion world right now. So maybe those are just nice classic looks... 

 I find Emma Stone always stunning (and talented and hilarious) her choices are always interesting. I love this sort of gold? Chartreuse? Sparkle lemon-yellow?? I find it really chic. That photo does not do it justice. 

 Other then that Jennifer Lopez's gown was just sooooooo beautiful. I actually think it would look even better as a wedding gown then for an award ceremony...that color! (I wish I could get married again to wear that gown. That much) The details are so delicate and pretty in a not tacky-swarowsky kind of way. I'm not a fan of the crazy cleavage boob-pancakes look, but I'm aware that this is J-Lo and therefor it is probably inevitable. 

 I don't know if I love Jared Leto's look... All I can say is that it triggered some interest, emotions, compared to the see of boring black tuxedos. (There was a couple of dark-color sort of shiny jackets.. burgundy (Neil Patrick Harris' second look?), forest green.. but MEH it didn't do it for me)  I love that he is doing something different. That lilac color is so intriguing. I do love the Jesus-hairstyle, though, that I am positive about. 

Février!

Happy shortest-longest month to all of you! 

This jacket

That lovely dress

Those socks I'm starting this weekend

with this yarn

Janvier

2015! Already!!! 

I'll be posting free desktop calendars every month again. Hopefully on time, each month.

 For January, I always love my dose of cozy knits, introspection, calm and hot beverages. I'll try and incorporate some local (or not) favorites into these monthly drawings. I'm also taking this chance to just draw pretty girls and women (and maybe a man or two?) well dressed and stylish. I have mostly children work line up this year so it will do for a nice change. So here it is! I hope you enjoy it :) 

The coolest chunky knits

This shawl I want to knit

Those mittens I should finish 

This really cute café in a town we love

The perfect winter boots

Cuisine

Even though our kitchen reno has been done for over a year now.. I still can't bring myself to taking actual photos of it. Like, real nice after photos. I realized that I have taken a lot of little snippets here and there. I seem to be obsessed with photographing my beverages -- something my husband might understand, I stole a couple of those instagrams from him. Maybe I'll gather the courage sometime? 

Boîte Naissance Les Loupiots

I am so proud of this recent collaboration with the blog Les Loupiots. I illustrated the cover of a baby gift box. The box is full of locally designed and made goodies, some of witch are personal favorites, like Bouton Jaune and Raplapa. You can get more details here. 

Noémiah Fall-Winter 14'

Photo: Instagram Noémiah (@missnoemiah)

 Isn't it funny that the last post I wrote before taking some time off with my baby was about some work for Noémiah... and now first one is all about her as well! I have started working again since earlier this fall, but there is not much I can show yet. This gorgeous collaboration took place in late spring and summer, and her De Glace collection is now out, so I can brag. 

 I designed some patterns for her, but she ended up using this single motif instead. It embellishes some pieces, embroidered in shiny gold thread.. and Also a cashemere scarf. What more could I ask for? This collection feels much more mature, Noemiah has found herself... and it's really a pleasure to be working with her after all these years! 

Photographe : Stephanie Lou 

Assistant à la photographie : Damien Thiberge 
Maquillage : Catherine LeMay 
Décor : Justine Roy et Joanie E. Roy 
Modèle : Valérie Collette

Happy  Birthday to my friend Ariane. :) 

Winter

Oh ALLO!! 

 Sorry for the long winter pause, but I have been very busy with you know... giving birth and taking care of a new born. ;) 

 I wanted to share the last image I did for Studio Espace Mukti before leaving for mat-break. It was meant for their winter season. Which is over by now... right, winter is over soon....please? Is it just me or did this one seemed to drag and drag, almost May and the temps are finally trying to come up a bit. I love Espace Mukti's yoga classes, the pre-natal yoga really helped me feel mobile in the second half of my pregnancy. Until I was put on modified-best-rest but that has nothing to do with the yoga. I actually missed it a lot.  I also took a baby massage class this spring. It was really magical and I'm so glad I have those knowledge now, I highly recommend it. :) 

 Talking about babies... here are some pics of my tiny lady. Baby Estelle Ursa was born on February 11th. She was 7.8lbs and 19" She has been amazing since, the loveliest most easygoing baby I could imagine. Don't get me wrong, taking care of an infant is the hardest thing I've done, ever. But she is usually in a great mood and that helps a lot. 

Some last minute work for Noémiah

 I did those for my friend Noémie last week, designer behind the lovely brand Noémiah. I was not supposed to take more work.. but I remembered I had told her I'd do it a looong time ago and had forgotten. Woopsies. It's always fun to try and find ways to match the soft look of her brand with  my illustrations. I really like how these turned out. Here are some of my favorite pieces from her last collection... Can't wait to see what she'll have for spring very soon!! 

(Photos by Noémie Vaillancourt and Manon Parent and you know, hair and make up by me ;))

M'as tu vu?

 This is nothing super duper new but I realized I had not shared it here yet. I did the cover illustration for Simon Boulerice's teen novel M'as tu vu? (Les Malins) That's the first of the serie and it is called Hors-Champ. I'm currently working on the sequel, so I thought it was high time I shared this one!! It came out in september, and it is a great tween novel. I actually am enjoying reading those a lot!! Reality tv, high school drama, bullies.. friendships and relation ships shenanigans... All you need, really. :) 

 The graphic design of their books is always really nice. This one is right up my alley. I had never seen rounded corners on paper-backs.. are those a new thing? And the title is actually textured....! 

Already January...

 Well... a new year starts! And what a different one it will be! I don't even want to try and make resolutions.. except maybe, take things one a time? Make sure I do my best at..everything? Ha... I know I want to be a good mother, and a good person, but that is way to broad to be a resolution, right? 

 Anyways, we had a very... special Christmas time. And I got behind in my work a bit. Now it's catch up time and I'll admit, I feel like I am working against a very special clock. ;) 

I hope to be done with work for mid-january. Let's do it!!!! 

In case you had not seen this image, it's Espace Mukti's illustration for the new classes of mother-baby yoga. 

Playlist de Noël Les Loupiots

                                            

I wanted to take a minute and share this really nice playlist Sabrina came up with for Christmas. She writes the blog Les Loupiots, in case you did not already know! You can also see my very own Future Mommy gift list that she posted a couple days ago. 

2013

 Well, well.. as the year is coming to a close, it's hard not to look back and kind of sort out what happened, how you felt, what you accomplished, or did not, how you feel about it, etc. 

 2013 has been ONE HECK OF A HUGE YEAR FOR ME in terms of personal life events. I got married in March. And yes, as cliché as it sounds, it was the happiest day of my life. I still get all teary every time I look back at photographs or hear "our song". And honestly, I hope it stays that way for ever. Those emotions are still so raw and real. 

 I have also been very lucky in terms of work this year. I have started working with Éditions Les Malins and it's been a very fun process to get more into book cover illustrations. Work in general has come pretty steadily and I am sooo grateful for it. I know I am not the best at self-promoting and PR so having faithful clients and also just incoming work means a lot to me. 

 We took on a kitchen reno this summer (seriously the kitchen is basically done, I need to take decent pictures and share! We are so happy with how it looks and feels now!!) We knew we wanted our house to accommodate a family and be just overall more efficient and pretty.. but I did not know I was going to get pregnant the minute we started those renovations. I know people keep saying that no matter how long you wait for something to happen or how hard you want it... it will always happen the moment you stop expecting it.. Well, it proved to be true once again! 

 We are so happy about it and I have sort of held back from talking about this pregnancy for a long while now. I know I'm a jinx paranoid but.. at some point I just didn't know how to bring it up without making a cheesy big announcement out of it. I feel like I have been pregnant for so long now, we are really starting to be a little more ready and anxious to meet our little girl! I am already in my third trimester, and we are looking forward to her arrival in February. Like, a lot.   

 So basically things are all good. I have loved this year. And I'm really giddy for 2014 too. I will slow down work a bit after the holidays, basically finish what is already on the works. I'll take a break from February to May and see how we all feel at that point and where it leads us. I will probably still feel like sharing some things here during those months... 

 In the meantime, meet our little thing.... She does not have a name yet. And that picture is already pretty old. But it's the clearest image we have of her so it's still very precious. :) 

Calendar : Décembre

Ouh!! I'm late for this one! Ending the year in a real classy way ;)

Hopefully you like it just as much and I'm all forgiven already... 

 Are you psyched for Christmas yet? We holding on as best as we can on getting our tree since I like it to be still fresh and fragrant for *actual* Christmas day and New Year's eve.. But soon.. soon we will go get it!! I'm really giddy about the holidays this year. The Christmas playlist has been our go-to music for the last weekends and we are more and more looking forward to it each day. Here's a song from one of our favorite albums, She & Him's A Very She & Him Christmas :

xo !

Espace Mukti : Automne 2013

I'm working on Espace Mukti's 2014 winter image right now, and it reminded me that I had not posted this illustration here. I have been taking a class at the studio and I highly recommend it! The ambiance is so cozy and friendly, and the prices are very reasonable. :) 

Mardis Manger : Marmalade

I'm alive!! 

 I know I'm letting this blog rot.. big time. But I have my reasons*.. and also, like always, I'm busy.. Which basically just means that I have work - which is really a good thing! - and also that I'm not too good at managing my down time around hobbies, life, and coming up with blog posts. But I'm not gonna ramble about that, since nobody is holding their breath to read me here.. 

 I wanted to make a quick and maybe a bit underwhelming announcement about the calendar... Let's just face it, I don't know if I'll ever sale prints again ;) It really does not fit into my current schedule. And coming up with a paper calendar felt so intense.. So time consuming. So.... I'm not going to! I need to stop feeling guilty about what I decide to do, and not do. I'm at such a sweet spot in my career where I can finally decide what I'm doing... I should just embrace it! So, I will probably make monthly desktops like I did for 2013. Stay tuned, if you have been enjoying those. 

 But in the meantime, I cooked marmalade for the first time ever this morning, and it's delicious. I shared a photo on Instagram and someone asked about my recipe. I thought I'd quickly share it here!! 

Orange & Pomegranate Marmalade 

 I started with this recipe from Ricardo. But since I could not follow a recipe properly to save my own life.. I modified it quite a bit.. So here is MY recipe ;)

• 3 big oranges 
• the seeds of half a pomegranate 
• 2 cups of sugar 
• 2 cups of water 

 First of all you cut off all of your orange peels with a knife, and try to dice the oranges using just the flesh. Make sure you keep as much of the orange's juice as possible. 

 Slice your peels thinly and blanche them. (put in fresh water and bring to a boil, strain) Repeat that 3 times. It's suppose to take care of the bitterness. I find that the end result is still a bit bitter, but just the right amount of it. 

 Then, add your orange flesh, the pomegranate seeds, the sugar and the water to the peels. Bring to a boil again. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer for 1h30. Stir often and keep an eye on it so you can make sure you get just the right thickness. You can always do the cold plate test.. but frankly I never really get it.. 

 I also added some star anise and a cinnamon stick. I didn't let them in there for the whole simmer, the taste would have been overpowering. I just tasted from time to time, and removed them.. maybe 45 minutes in? And THAT'S IT!! Not that complicated. Slightly longer then regular jam.. but seriously.. it's pretty good... And citrus will be in season for a while ;)

You can see the quantity it made.. If you'd like to make more, just double the recipe! 

Jams always make nice gifts. Maybe bring a pot next time someone's having you over for dinner? 

*Subject for a whole other post...

Novembre

Oh hey! November is here.. As usual, October flew by. It really is starting to feel like winter around here. We even have some chances of snow this weekend... 

I have a lot of work lined up in the coming weeks (I'm really thankful for this very busy Fall work-wise!) So excuse me for the sparse posting... I'll try and update with some 2014 Calendar news soon. 

Geneviève

Happy Birthday to my dear old friend Geneviève. 

No matter the distance, country and continent, I always cherished your friendship. I'm so very lucky to have you near right now! 

xx

That dress is from the designer Orla Kiely, a common love we share.

(Geneviève is much more talented then me at rendering fabric and pretty dresses, though!)