A fully lovely weekend.

I love a good weekend, don't you? Mine was packed with friends, family, food and fun. And a funeral. We celebrated the life of my childhood best friend's father, a wise, godly man who impacted many lives. Because I'd known this man for so many years, there were many old friends and far away friends to reunite with and share memories.

I hosted a charity papercrafting "garage sale" on the weekend and so far have raised over $300 to buy sewing machines for women in India. I love that my crafty cause is helping the disadvantaged work with their hands and become self-sufficient. Last year's birthday charity crop & sale raised enough to buy three sewing machines and this year I think we'll match it. You can learn more about this cause here. Also, if you are in the Dawson Creek, British Columbia area and want to come out and support the cause, while I've had to box up the stash to make room for classes this week, I will be happy to open it up for you. Email me to set up an appointment to come out.

I'm hosting a scrapbooking class tomorrow featuring the paper, stickers and stamps in the layouts above. I love savouring photos of my family through paper crafting!

Last year I took a workshop in using liquid acrylics, and the instructor used them just like watercolor! So I pulled mine out last week and started this sunrise scene. But liquid acrylics may be able to be used like watercolor, but they are still different, and don't always react the same way. There is a learning curve and we'll see whether or not I am willing to commit to it, or if watercolor will always be my best friend.

Great news! My youth watercolour class (starting in April) is full! I'm so thrilled with the prospect of teaching watercolour to an energetic bunch of budding artists and our small class of 7 will be exploring colour theory, watercolour techniques, and maybe even a little mixed media. I have my mind toying with coffee filter flowers applied to watercolour paper...

I am also teaching a watercolour workshop to adults starting in April, as my winter 2013 class wraps up next week. There are a couple of spaces left in this class. These are beginner-geared classes, learning watercolor techniques by working step by step through several paintings.

It's a wonderful life, isn't it? We were watching a TV program last night on our ancient television and the colour kept flashing on and off. How dull life would be without colour!