Big Black Firday SALE (But it starts Thursday!)

I haven't been in this space for a while, but I'm back to announce a huge sale in my shop that begins Thursday November 25th (12am).

Stop by Penny Glass Girl to receive 15% off on top of FREE SHIPPING until Dec. 1st. To my blog, facebook and twitter friends, I would like to offer an additional 10% off (for a total of 25% off plus free shipping!) Just enter the coupon code "friend" when checking out.

To "like" me on facebook and receive more frequent updates, click here

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

Beach Days

All too soon, our summer at the beach will come to an end and next week we will be back in the city for another year. I will miss my lazy days on the beach, but will be taking so many fun memories home with us to keep us going until next year. These pics are just a few, taken during our last few beach days.

Wordless Wednesday

A Nothing Kind Of Day

Today is a nothing kind of day. Nothing we have to do, no goals we have to accomplish and nowhere we have to go. I love these kinds of days as they happen so rarely in our crazy, whirlwind of playdates, camps, field trips and outings with visitors, friends and family.

This morning, I asked my little guys what they wanted to do today and I was met with a skeptical, "why, what do we HAVE to do...." when I answered, "nothing really" their eyes lit up and and they eyed each other happily. So when I asked again what they wanted to do they said, "could we go for a little walk on the mountain, then have a picnic?". I love that they are still at that age when material things don't always jump to the forefront of their wish list, they could after all, have asked to go to the waterpark, or the toy store or even mini golf.

So today, if you need me, I won't be doing very much at all on this nothing kind of day and I wouldn't want to have it any other way.

P.S. and FYI The above photo was taken by me during a long walk on another Nothing Kind Of Day recently.

A New View

I'm a city girl. I like my corner cafe, close neighbours and long walks down my funky city streets, but having new avenues to walk out in the country for the summer is a welcome change.

I never realized how much colour I was missing out on during my daily strolls. The restorative powers of nature can be truly invigorating. Here are just a few pics I captured after a heavy rain this morning:

NEW THINGS PROJECT: Rewind, Review, Recharge

The above photo was taken last year during our holiday at my family cottage just 1.5 hours away from the city where I usually spend my days. To me, there is no other place in the world as special or as comforting.

When I was a child, this spot was the one place I could run free and wild and leave my city life far behind. It was also the one place, in the care of my grandparents, when life seemed easy and the rules simple: Be kind to others, treat nature with respect and be your own guide.

On this beach, I was able to leave behind all the pressures of my chaotic homelife - my parents divorce which lasted 7 years, days full of organized activities (school, drama, art lessons, music lessons, soccer etc...), pressures from friends and others - almost everything, and recharge.

After every summer, when I packed up to leave my summer refuge, I was struck by my mixed feelings: sad to be leaving my days in the sun and sand, but happy and reenergized, ready to return to my everyday life.

As I grew older, and life, work, kids and repsonsibility took over, months spent at my family cottage were restricted to weeks, then days, at a time. The ability to rewind and remember, review and reflect and recharge my energy, was reduced to tiny fragments.

After a year of reflection and looking inward, I have come to the realization that I need to have that feeling again. I need to take a resonable amount of time out to run free with my family on the beach and build nothing more than a sandcastle or two.

We are finally taking the summer off as a family to rewind, review and recharge. Although we can't spend the entire summer at our family place, we will be very close by at a place we rented for the summer. I realize, that the most important thing I can give my own family is the time to be together without all the distractions that we face daily.

On the business side, this means 2 changes will be occurring: 1) although I won't be making any new pieces for the next 2 months, I will be shipping my existing stock and 2) When I do return to the sudio in September, I expect to be jumping at the chance to form new pieces with new enthusiasm and perspective.

I will post more pics of my lovely retreat soon. For now, how a lovely summer:) Penny

Tending to something NEW

I have to admit that I have a bit of a black thumb. I enjoy gardening, but without my lovely mother (an expert gardener) around to help, I can't even keep the hardiest specimens alive.

House plants are no exception, none are safe from my black thumb. I gave up trying years ago and haven't had a living plant in the house since, until recently when I paid a visit to my mother in law and saw how well her orchids were doing after months of blooming.



I was inspired to give tending to living plants another try. I love having fresh flowers in the house, I buy fresh cut flowers every week, so I think that these orchids are a great new start.

Wish me (and especially my new orchids) luck, we may need it:)

Something NEW in the Studio

A little glimpse into my strange mind: I cannot work unless my table is cleared and I know exactly where my tools and materials are. I am a fanatic when it comes to lining books perfectly on my shelves (to the mm) and a luxurious day spent cleaning out a cupboard is a recurring fantasy for me. I know, I sound like a freak, I probably am. It's ok, I can live with that label.

Well, today for my New Things Project I thought I would share something new that makes a freak like me jump for joy. My husband finally got the hint to hang my peg board for me in my new studio!



Of course by *hint* I mean laying out all the necessary tools and screws, drawing an outline exactly where I needed it and taping a note to the door that reaad something like, "Dear Husband, I would consider not coming home tonight unless this peg board gets hung in my office cause you may find your wife sobbing in the middle of her workspace."

You may ask why I didn;t hang the peg board myself, well there are 2 reasons, 1) I do not know how to use a drill (yet, but I vow to learn by end of summer). and 2) Husband is also a freak and if I touched his tools I would be single.

In any event, I can now work without feeling anxious about the whereabouts of my tools and husband can come home safely.

My BFF Lorna with her NEW girls Riley and Sidney

Today, I was able to meet two lovely ladies: Riley and Sidney - my BFF's brand new twin girls. I have to say that there is nothing like a new baby, except TWO new babies and I am in love with the world all over again.

I realize that I have become so wrapped up in the not so fun, mundane details of my work and everyday life, it takes some sweet babyness to melt it all away.






I live in a house full of boys and I wouldn't have it any other way, but it is so nice to have some little girls to visit and buy for. These little ladies are gonna be spoiled - and rightly so!

New In The Garden

Today, I tried a fun new photo experiment with my new line of place card holders - I took my photo studio outside into the garden to give it a try.

Lots of fun, but who knew taking photos in the burning hot sun out in rose garden with lots of cupcakes and bees could be dangerous? A few stings later and here are some of the first photos.


Cupcake Place Card Holders, available soon in the shop






Seed Packet Place Card Set, available soon in the shop



They aren't edited yet, and I think I might try some later in the evening when the sun isn't shining, but still tons of fun trying something new today:)

Letting Go

Just let it go art print , HoneyBoo

Ok, confession time. I am not good at letting go.

If I feel like I haven't done something perfectly, or worse, if I feel like I have failed at something, I can't seem to tell myself, "oh well, better luck next time". Instead, I sit and stew and brood or abandon an idea althogether.

Take this blog for example. I love to post here, and when I started my "new things" project, I was even more excited. I loved the chalenge of pushing myself out of my comfort zone and doing something new. But as soon as I started messing up, missing a day here and there, or hitting an obstacle (like not being perfect at something I tried), I stopped.

I don't know why I'm like this. I think part of it is personality: I'm stubborn, I'm a perfectionist, I work hard because I don't know any other way, I expect a lot from myself. So why, I have been asking myself, do I beat myself up about it? I like these qualities about myself, in fact, I think that all these traits have lead to great success over the years - both personally and professionally.

After months of brooding and contemplation, I think I have found the answer, I need to LET THINGS GO. I need to start now. I need to be able to fail, learn from it, and move on.

So, I think I'm ready to continue with my New Things Porject today. My new thing, beginning to LET GO, forgive myself and see what is really important in life.



Just Let It Go by Jessica Simanowski

Try Something New - Starting Over

Today, Day 5 of my Try Something New project, I was finally able to begin the final stages of my new studio makeover.

The project began almost a year ago, when in this post I spoke about my studio reno.



Well, as life would have it that room did get renovated, but not for me. My Mother, newly retired and in need of some company, ended up moving in with us. While I am so happy that this event occurred, it happened suddenly and we all had to make sacrifices in the short term. For me, that meant giving up my studio reno to make a bedroom. We now have 5 people, 2 cats and 1 dog in our urban 1900 square foot living space, and while we are a happy bunch and all well-loved, it hasn't been easy.

For the last eight months I have been without a permant work space. I have toiling away, in the garage, the laundry room, the basement (have I mentioned I detest spiders!) anywhere I could find a little bit of room for my work table.

To tell the turth, I have been miserable working this way, but today that all changes, as I was able to begin to move into my NEW STUDIO. It's a lot smaller than the room I had originally planned on having, but it gets amazing light and it's all for me!

I just started filling it today, here a just a few of the things I have to work on (trust me, it's all a labour of love).




I will be back this week with more pics of my lovely new space to be:)

Try Something New - Baking!

Today, Day 4 of my Try Something New Project, I was busy in the kitchen baking! This is pretty impressive for two reasons, 1. I was also busy all day painting my new stuido(yay, but more on that another day) and 2. I can't bake, not even a little bit, everything I bake seems to turn disasterous. But, I promised I would try new things and I'm determined this year to shake my baking curse.

I don't know why I can't bake, I can cook. People rave about my cooking, but when it comes to desserts, my husband assumes the role of baker, and I'm left to do the dishes. Not tonight:)

I started simple, with and apple crumble which I was pretty sure I couldn't mess up and I was right! I used this recipe, which turned out pretty darn good I must say. Tonight, husband is doing the dishes.


Here's the result!

Try Something New Day 3

Day Three of my Try Something New Project was spent with my youngest little boy in his Dalcroze Eurhythmics music class in our wonderful neighbourhood music school for parent participation day.



The Dalcroze method is a creative approach to learning music through body movements and by going to the class, something I normally couldn't do when I was working outside of my own business, I was able to participate first-hand in something I would otherwise just heard about.

It was really interesting to see how the teacher could focus a group of four year olds on such big tasks, such as learning rythm, tempo, ear-traing etc., using something that is more familiar to them - moving their bodies. It was also cool to see that my once shy little guy is coming out of his shell and is actually taking on a leadership roles. Sweet.

Here are some additional links for Dalcroze Eurhythmics:

http://www.dalcrozeusa.org/
https://www.msu.edu/user/thomasna/

I'll be back Monday with something New!

Trying Something NEW

Day 2: TEA TIME

I have to admit that I have always been a coffee girl, my habit has now brought me up to a staggering 4-5 cups a day, but I have decided to give afternoon tea a try instead. So, for Day 2 of my try something new project I went out to my neighbourhood shop to find something new.



I came home with a sampling of teas from Steep and Infused , a local company which was previously unknown to me (yay, another NEW thing!).

Today's choice was Japanese Cherry (a japenese green sencha tea with rose petals and natural cherry flavour) and I am so happy that I tried something New! The smell alone made me feel all warm and fuzzy and the exotic taste really made the whole ritual enticing. I think this new thing could stick:)

Do you have a favourite tea I should try?

Thanks for sharing my Something New today. Penny

2010 Trying Something New

Ok, I realize it's a little late for a new year's post. It's already January 20th and I haven't updated my little blog in oh so long, yet here I am, with renewed hope and promise for a new year - 2010 - holy moley.

I would love to say that I have been away becuase I have been working feverishly on all my new goodies, but it just isn't so.

I would love to say that my adoring children have kept me tied in knots with their constant demands, but the truth is they are kind of being good at doing for themselves lately (sigh).

I would love to blame it on a busy social life full of glamourous events and outings that take me away from home and computer for days on end. Actually, that's not entirely true either, I kind of like my quiet life and close friends and small gatherings.

The HONEST truth is that I have been in a rut. A post-holiday kind of rut that has made me rethink life, work, and my general well-being. BORING! So, after I was done feeling sorry for myself, I decided to embark on a little something to jump start my creative juices again.

2010 will be the year of the NEW for me. I decided to try at least one (1)new thing everyday and document it here. It may be a new craft, a new food, or just a new challenge to make my small little life (which I have to say is rather ok as it is) just a tiny bit larger.

Today is DAY 1. I took a sewing machine esstentials class at the adorable Workroom and finally learned, or at the very least tried to sew. It actually wasn't today, it was 2 weeks ago, but I had to start somewhere and I wanted it to be with this post becuase I was so very proud of myself (even with all the little imperfections).



Here's to trying something NEW, I'll be back tomorrow with another new adventure - I really am looking forward to what 2010 will bring.