I had the pleasure of getting to create Tubby Todd's Mandarin & Cranberry limited edition bubble bath! And Melanie Burk did the packaging design.  :-[)  It just came out today... so...best be stuffing your stockings with this stuff guys! :-[) Harley is going to be smelling reeeally good this Christmas. 

And just incase we forgot... we know kids LOOOVE oranges, 

eating them & smelling like them!

The commercial below is proof... 

It's been 7 months now since we moved to Brightwood Oregon. The first 5 months or so we hardly had any rain, and apparently it was one of the biggest droughts since the 80's? Don't quote me on that, but either way...it was soo dry and there was quite a bit of sunshine. Our house is covered by at least 15 or so Cedars and Douglas firs...which means our house is shaded! Any glimmer of sunshine is like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I've recently decided that finding the perfect home feels a lot like dating. Now, don't get me wrong...I absolutely LOVE where we live. I love our much smaller house, our vaulted ceilings, I love how cozy our home is and that we get to live in the woods... I love our house so much that the thought of not having this house for the rest of my life makes me really sad. With that said, I don't feel like I could live here the rest of my life. Even if it was large enough to suit a family of 6 [assuming we had 4 kids or something] it's just with the abundance of so much shade and lack of sunlight, compared to our last house in centerville that had soo much sunlight, i've learned from these two homes we've lived in that I need as much natural light as possible.  Next summer we hope to cut down a few of the trees in the front to bring in more light...

On a related note, when I got my levels checked a couple months ago [for my Hashimotos] apparently my vitamin D levels were very very low, since then i've been taking Vitamin D gummies and I actually notice a significant change in my mental well being. :) So if you're like us, living under a canopy of trees, do not neglect your vitamin D. This will help combat your lack of sunshine. 

So, this now brings me one of my favorite things: S N O W. This morning I was asking myself why I like snow so much, what is this hold it has over me? And I realized that it is because it's light in tangible form...well, till it melts. :) Snow light is very different from regular sunlight...all that whiteness, and making forts, snowmen, snowballs, sledding, skiing, snowshoeing, etc. it provides activity, but if you prefer to stay indoors, it's the prettiest winter accessory to admire from afar. This sounds like and Ode to Snow...lol what am I getting at? I miss snow, i'm having snow withdrawls and i'm sure this is because of all the wintery photos I have been looking at the past couple weeks due to getting into the holiday "designing" spirit. :-p 

Our side yard at our old house in Centerville... 

After we would get a pretty blanket of snow, I would go out and photograph everything around our yard...using it as inspiration for my artwork, and to also add faces to.  Look at how the snow perfectly formed little white cashmere beanies for our fence posts.... they looked more content after that.

My love for light honey colored wood, all things white and red is reflected here in the front yard... I miss that cute round red door! so cheery. :-[)  I don't know if you can see the Santa face hanging on the door?

Here's a closer pic.  This was a holiday Tradition I started 3 years ago...making Santa's out of baskets [part of my ongoing basket face series] This year I plan to make 5 to give to family and friends...it's all about finding the perfect shallow basket or basket lid! 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Yesterday I made one of my favorite cookie recipes: Crispy/Chewy Chocolate Mint cookies and as usual, they turned out perfect...because they are the EASIEST cookies to make! The recipe I used is here. I did two kinds, one batch I used the Andes thin mints and the other batch I used the Andes peppermint white chocolate mints... If Roxy Marj had a national cookie, it would be this one!

So excited to share a sneak peak of some of my new "baby" illustrations that will

be made into cards, prints and some blankets here soon. Some of these are inspired by November's Native American Heritage month!  Still tweaking the colors/designs a bit, but regardless, i'm really in love with these! :) They will be your baby's forever keepsake, I can just sense it. 

 I have a feeling 2016 is going to be a game changer for our brand... ;-)

Before I forget, this video by Diego Akel is so beautiful to watch and listen.

Found via: CFile Foundation

Last month I did a Roxy Marj coloring contest over at my instagram page [@roxymarj] that lasted all of October. This idea was my husband's, basically I was to come up with a coloring page every day in October and we would put it in our shop roxymarj.com as a free download [we made them large enough to print poster size!] I would then post on instagram/fb the coloring page of the day, and you had only 1 day to download that page...after that, it was gone. To be entered into the contest you needed to download 10 coloring pages and have them colored...and take multiple photos or one big group photo.... and from all the entries [over 450] it looks lit it was well received!  This was a lot of fun because it helped in the spontaneity department for me, as well as I thoroughly enjoyed meeting new people on instagram and seeing how creative the entries were getting.  People were really going to town, and finding a creative bone in their body....such neat stuff! :-[) 

There were four winners in total. Two from Facebook and two from instagram. We chose a random winner from facebook and instagram using random.org and then we chose a "most creative" winner from Instagram and Facebook... Below are the 31 coloring pages from last month. 

Below are the Winners photos. L-R :

@katergil

@mamaofpenelope

@ambsstokes

@lanaechristi2

If you want to see more of the 450+ entries, type in the hashtag:

#rmcoloringcontest on instagram :)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

But then there was a downside to doing this contest.... Because it was a month long, I was on social media waaay more than normal, and way more than I like. It was starting to wear on me...and feeling down around the holidays is just a big fat no-no! I want to enjoy my holidays in peace and quiet.... 

So this morning, after a long discussion with Jesse [my husband] he suggested I give myself another challenge and take a month break from Instagram.  I'm hardly ever on fb, so going off social media for a month shouldn't be that hard. Anyways, this was music to my ears...why didn't I come up with this idea? :-p  

With that said, I'm going to work really hard on putting my efforts towards this neglected blog of mine, getting back to journaling for journaling's sake... and finding peace and quiet during the month of November. I have a feeling once this month is over...that I may not even want to get back on social media... it will be interesting, that is what happened at least after I deleted my fb account 4 years ago. 

 I long for the days when writing a letter to someone and putting it in the mailbox was the norm, or passing notes in highschool.... those days are almost extinct. Sad, huh! :( Jesse and I were discussing last week how all the junior high's and highschools should have a national "school only" holiday where you get to pass notes instead of texts...now that would be something to scrapbook. I really dislike this business of fb & instagram creating entitled viewership... i.e. sending someone direct messages and they can see if you looked at it. Think of all the pre-mediation that has caused in people all over the world... "they saw my message, how come they haven't responded?" "Is he or she mad at me? It's be 4 hrs, no response!" It's crazy this stuff can eat away at us and to think 10 years ago, it wasn't even an issue we got to worry about.... on the other hand,  this is just part of life and part of evolving, and the best thing to do is take it in strides.... try to find a balance, and what works for you. 

This November, i'm going in search of what works for me. :)