It's been awhile, time for an update on this year.

In January, Chris and I headed off to Bucerias near Puerta Vallarta for a little getaway. It was a whirlwind of sunshine, beach views, markets, a carnival, delicious seafood and a fantastic whale watching trip. Here's some snapshots from our vacation:

February was a little tamer and a lot colder. The snow was so sparkly on this day! 

We still managed to go out for dates ~

The Art Gallery of Alberta had a bring your dog day so we did ~

And I fell in love with this painting by Ashley Thimot called "But First We Snack": 

And speaking of art, I started a new project decorating a wooden toy "Nandi" which is the sacred bull of the Hindu God Shiva (I later discovered). I purchased it many years ago in a cool antique shop in Mexico. This is what it looked like before I worked on it: 

I made a "blanket", "saddle" and "bridle"for it and beaded in pieces of vintage jewelry, beads and ribbons to adorn it:

And this is how it turned out:

I also made some Valentine Heart Brooches for some gal pals:


We had some interesting wildlife visit including this big boy porcupine and a dainty legged Copper's Hawk:

In March, Judy and I took a painting class together at the Muttart Conservatory for fun. We walked through the pyramids taking photos of plants we wanted to paint. Mom chose this Croton ~ 

This was her second painting and she finished it at home as we ran out of time.

I attempted to recreate this gorgeous orchid ~ 

But it looked really weird as a painting so I moved onto some succulents ~
I think I'll stick to beads. ;)

We also celebrated birthdays in March and enjoyed our sweet new family additions ~ 

Spring slowly made an appearance in April ~

The Easter Bunny came again and we enjoyed Easter with the family ~

Mom and I took a Spring Wreath making class to spruce up our front doors ~ 

And our Pub sign for our downstairs bar was completed and hung. My Mom painted it and my friend, Stacey designed the lettering. The name refers to me (Carrie = Carebear = Bear and Chris = Bunny, just his nickname forever). Can you spot Mickey (our cat) in the mix?

And now in May, it's garden season. We've had a very cold spring, but the temperatures are warming up so hopefully I can spend a lot more time outside. 

I'll cap it off here because it's a long one and post again in a few months. Regarding our jewelry, I haven't been torching for awhile, but there's still lovely pieces to peruse in our shop.  

I've been working on seed bead collaborative projects with my Mom and once they're framed, I'll show them here. In the mean time, hope you're having a lovely spring!