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) 

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

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 !

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. 

Calendar : Octobre

Ouh, last minute! Let's all try to savor October as much as we can.. okay? It is the loveliest month of all, no argument needed.  

xo

Forest

 I recently took the resolution of going for a walk in the forest every weekend. (Or try to) We don't live in a very woody area - yet - but it's easily reachable with little road trips in pretty much all directions. G's family is around Rigaud, Qc and Ontario's border, Mount Rigaud is such a beautiful quiet place to walk. Some trails are a bit more intense, but really we probably just feel that way because we're a bit out of shape. (It's not a very high mountain at all.) We love letting Constance explore around, and this time I felt like my imagination was super open...ripe? I stole some wild flowers (little vandal) for my mother in law, picked a wild carrot! and did not eat it. I also saw the most tiny frog ever, barely 2 cm long. 

 If you don't follow me on Instagram, or Facebook, you might like to hear some calendar news. I have decided to make a paper version again for 2014! The subject matter is quite different, and refreshing for me. It will most likely only be sold in my Etsy shop, and be the only item I bring back. I intend on selling it from November to February. It will probably not be home printed, and not made from organic cotton paper... but you have to chose your battles. And for me, this year, it means finding an option that is not as costly and less time consuming. Hopefully the result will be pleasant still and you will like it! Until then, xo. 

Pic taken by Guillaume, I really love it. :) 

Calendar : Septembre

Speaking of Fall... 

I don't know about you, but I'm crazy about Paula Red apples right now. (Not because they sound somewhat like my name, actually I always refrained from buying that kind because of that! God, was I missing out!!) What are your fall cravings?  

And now a tune to make you want to kick your feet, kiss your loved ones and eat pumpkin pie! 

Calendar : August

Calendar : July*

In my opinion, July always represent the most-much-better month of summer. But if you are in Québec like me, you're probably wondering where summer's been hiding.. It's been pretty cold, and we keep having a lots and lots of rain. Sadly, for some cities and areas that also means floods and water damage. :( 

Maybe this drawing can bring back some warmth and sun our way? We could all use a bit more sunlight! 

*My family updated me on the fact that I wrote June twice into the blog post title. Mistake fixed ;)

Calendar : June

Summer's finally here!! 

This song has nothing to do with this image.. actually it's far from the same mood. But it's my favorite song right now, so, yeah. 

I'm off to making a pitcher of homemade margaritas and some BBQ.

Calendar : June Sketch

I don't know if you remember... But I've been sourcing all my colors for the 2013 calendar from some of my favorite instagrams. Each illustration's color palette is taken from a photo (in this case two photos, okay..) I took during that specific month, last year. 

Mai

Mai!! It's finally here.. such a lovely month. This illu is one is my favs so far. 

I've been drinking too much home-made iced coffee. 

And listening to this band: 

 

(I'm kind of obsessed, actually.)

April Showers

I'm a little late this month!! So sorry, it won't happen again! I had to prioritize, and did my taxes last friday instead. -__-

Les giboulées de mars...

OUH!! Just in time! 

And I am so done with this yucky weather... 

Calendar : February

Click on the image for full size desktop.

Oye.. I realize, I have barely posted here in a month. I'd like to apologize to my 4 readers.. 

I've been juggling a lot of small assignments and organizing myself is always a bit harder after the holidays. Especially when my attention is divided into a lot of different things, instead of one big job. Still.. I'll try to get back into the swing of things on the blog! Hoping february will be good to all of us.Valentines or not, flowers or not, chocolate or not, treat yourself and your loved ones. 

xo

Calendar : January

I hope you all had a very very merry Christmas. I did, it was pretty lovely. Lots of fun and amazing gifts. So spoiled. :) 

xo

Click on the image for full size desktop. If these files don't work well for you just comment, and I'll try and make it up.

CALENDAR... News!?

...

 Some bit of news flash, update, blab about my 2013 calendar. I have decided... not to have a printed version of the calendar this year. Instead, I will be making desktop images, and handing them as free downloads here. I guess I could charge for it, but really.. I don't feel like it. 

 I felt like it was not going to be ready in time for people to buy it as a christmas present. And to be honest, I did not really want to have a paper calendar this year. I won't be doing any craft shows, so there was very little outlet for me to sell it, in Quebec. And the shipping costs are often discouraging for  local clients, that buy it on Etsy. So, I wanted to come up with a solution that felt very win-win to me. And I am really happy about it. (I'll admit, after several bouts of agonizing and anxiety.)

 So at the end of each month, I'll have the full-rez desktop ready image in a blog post here. I'll be linking on facebook, tumblr, twitter and all, of course. I hope some people will still be happy to use it as their calendar, but on their computer this time!