The snow is now on the ground here in Kelowna. It'll probably be here until Spring now (today it was -13C).  In the spirit of Winter, I have entered two of my Winter paintings into the FineArtAmerica.com Winter Scenes contest.

I am not sure why I love painting the snow so much, perhaps it is the challenge of painting something that is white but really isn't? I love the idea that the snow takes on the colour of the things around it as it is a reflective surface similar to a body of water.

I have both of these pictures hung in my hallway at home as I love the colours (blues and purples).

I would love if you could vote for one or both of my pieces (click the title or picture to vote)
"Bare" 
Pastel on paper
11x14
$150


or
"Snow Scene"
Pastel on paper
15x11
$150

Both paintings are available for sale as originals (directly from me) or as prints or cards through FineArtAmerica.com.

One of the most popular posts on my site is a post I made a couple of years back on creating a photo collage in Lightroom. At the time the instructions given were for Lightroom 3 but I've recently updated them to the new Lightroom 5.



In addition I have created a new video tutorial showing how to do this. I'm hopeful the video tutorial will prove just as useful and popular as the written instructions have been.  If you think it is, I'd love if you could leave me a comment either here or on the YouTube page and I'll make some more.

Thanks!

The problem with having a big sister is that she is there to help you develop your attitude...

J has the spirit of a pirate, he loves the chase and when I mentioned the idea of a real live treasure hunt (geocaching.com) he nagged me until I took him hiking to the closest geocache to our house 0.5 km away.

For those of you not familiar with the concept, you can go to the geocaching.com website or download the app to find the closest geocaches to you. There are 2 million of them worldwide, 423 in Kelowna and 3 within 0.5km of our house.

The idea is you use a map/compass (or the cell phone app) to locate the geocache, usually a canister with a notepad and pen (to record you name/date) and sometimes have mini prizes for kids to trade.

After we got back K wanted to go to, so I had to take her too. I am one worn out mom today!

I'm excited to be attending my first ever spinning event today. I've got my wheel packed up, a bag of Blue Faced Leicester X Cotswold/Romney locks that must weight at least 1/2 lb (because I wouldn't want to run out of fibre!), and $100 to spend with me because I just know there is going to be some pretty fibre there that I'm going to want to bring home with me ;)

I really enjoy looking through Pinterest posts recommended by my friends.

Today I saw the cutest Word Art Panel pinned by my friend Lisa, that I just had to have. Here is the original, created by Lauren:

What a great idea! (ok, maybe sharing my age might not be a great idea....)

I've been busy with my spinning wheel in the past couple of weeks. I'm churning out yarn so fast I don't know how I'll keep up with knitting it!

First off, this one I call Zebra:

Last weekend, the kids and I went out to see my friends lambs. These lambs are Barbados blackbelly sheep. They were only a week or so old and very cute. Surprisingly sturdy on their feet. The mother's were a bit wary of us but we got to pet one. They are hair sheep and do not grow wool.

Happy 2013!

This year I am going to participate in One Little Word. If you haven't heard of One Little Word, it is an idea created by Ali Edwards that involves focusing on your chosen word for the whole year. She even has a class on it!

What do you do with your One Little Word. In Ali's words: