Tickets! Get Your Tickets!

Tickets are now on sale for

"The Narrows", by Herself and Me! This is a fundraiser to raise money for

The Craft Council Of Newfoundland and Labrador.

( A Fan-tas-ta-bulous organization!!!)

Only 1000 tickets are being sold! Get yours quick!

Details : "The Narrows" 2010

by Cara Kansala and Pam Dorey

Hand-Carved, Hand-Painted, Acrylics, Mixed Media

25 inches x 38 inches

Contact: The Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador

Call them at (709) 753-2749

Devon House Craft Centre
59 Duckworth Street
St. John’s, NL
A1C 1E6

Looking Sheepish..........

Sunday morning.....CBC radio interview, Coronation Street and dress-up for Gretel (she was being an elephant). Pretty normal Sunday.(Interview aside)

Sunday afternoon....a drive with Nonno to Baynoddy where we bought eggs, wool, yarn and sweaters. I love the sheeplies at Baynoddy Farm.

I mentioned how much I love sheep. SHE said we should get one.

No, I said. I just love how they look. So sheeply.

On Sunday evening I mentioned that Gretel was getting quite wooly herself, and really needed a clip.

Today I came home and found my wee Gretel transformed into what can only be the weirdest looking sheep in the world.

I THINK She meant well. However, I do NOT think I will be asking Her to trim MY hair any time in the near future.

Photo: Gretel IS Babar

Little Bo Peep Has Lost her Dog

Sock it To Me!

The best wool socks are hand knit in Newfoundland. I truly believe that and can actually prove it, if challenged. I am a maniac about my wool socks and cannot live without them. SHE is not allowed to wear or wash them. Never. Ever. Her feet are bigger than mine (imagine!) and SHE has worn holes in the heels and toes of my lovely, wool socks. SHE has washed them in hot water and put them in the dryer (to torture me) and shrunk them into little, tiny socks for dogs. (Thankfully we have a dog who likes to wear socks). Doesn't SHE know that wool socks can only hang on a line?

I am so fond of my wool socks that I bring them everywhere I go. This is a photo of my wool socks having a holiday on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. I left one behind and Maria, our land lady mailed it back to Canada. Maria must have understood about wool socks. Isn't it amazing, that you can find like minded people wherever you go? I wonder, how many single wool socks are in transit at this very moment? Hundreds? Thousands? Maybe more......

Photo: Laundry Day ...Where's the Socks?

Photo: Newfoundland Socks in Italy (before the one on the left, was left behind)

Tooting Our Own Horns!

Hooray! Hoorah!

We are SO excited to announce that we are the winners of

The Atlantic Canada Award Of Excellence for Product Design, 2010!

Thank you SO much to The Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador for nominating us, and for all of the support and encouragement they have given us through the years.

Also, congratulations to Gloria Hickey who won the Atlantic Canada Award for Industry Leader/Supporter!

Photo: "Daisy Sea" by Cara Kansala

Oil on Canvas

Always Keep Your Back Door Closed!

Important note: If you work at home, own a pair of red, one-piece long-johns (the kind with the trap door in the back) and wear them often, you should probably be aware of what you have on when answering the door to strangers/customers/clients. Especially, if you are also wearing knee-high rubber boots with said long-john suit.

Photo: "Aunt Thursa's Long Underwear" by Cara and Pam

A Wonderful Weekend...Hope Yours Was Too!

Oh, what a wonderful world! Saturday night we were treated by good friends (the owners of "The Love Shack") to a gourmet Chinese meal, with celebratory champagne included! It was a fabulous night and the evening ended just as it should (we slid, rolled and glided down their driveway on our bums on the ice and nearly died laughing...you can't ask for better than THAT!) After a few very stormy days, Sunday gleamed and glistened and SHE helped me make a giant Snowcat. His name is Freddo Italiano. We had a grand time and even made snow angels...Gretel's was a bit funny looking, but who am I to judge?
Hope everyone survived the blizzard. Thank you to E. and S.!

Photo: Papa investigates Fredo The SnowCat Sculpture!

The Cheese Doesn't Stand Alone in THIS House!

Gretel is on a diet. It is going quite well but she is starting to protect her food. She still doesn't give a lick (haha) if the cats go near her ugly, calorie-reduced brown squares, but she loses her mind if they walk within 5 feet of her "treats". Her rawhide bagels with cheese are the worst. She tears them apart, then sits for hours holding the massacred bits in her mouth. She is very good at it. You couldn't get that rawhide cheese log from her for anything in the world.

Gretel learned this from me. SHE is a very fast eater, and often, when I still have half a turkey sandwich left, she starts to circle. I got wise to HER "Can I just have a bite?" routine 15 years ago. Her bites are the size of Mount Vesuvius. She is very proud of this. She and her sister used to have contests to see who could fit their whole hand in their mouth. True. Unfortunately, it is true.

So, poor Gretel spends her days burning calories and defending her cheese. I suppose there are worse things she could be doing. She COULD be trying to fit her paw in mouth in order to impress the cats and dazzle us all with her secret talents. She doesn't do any of these things, though. She just sits and defends her cheese.

Photos: Gretel Defends the Cheese

Up, Up and Away!

We just received the show catalogue from the Cheonju International Craft Biennale in South Korea. It was SO exciting to open the book and see our piece and our wee photos and our names. It is an incredible honour to be among such a talented group of artists from all across Canada. How amazing that people in South Korea were looking at our work! We know a few other craftspeople who also had work in the show, who travelled all the way there for the exhibition. We did not go. SHE suffers from the terror of flying. Not to say she doesn't fly, she does, but it is a difficult undertaking and I understand. We only fly when we have to, or every few years for a really big trip. There are tears, white knuckles, panic attacks and then of course, a whole series of conversations about what will happen if........? There are "flying" socks and tranquilizers and expensive pre-flight seat selections (we can't sit in view of the wing)....funny, on a chicken, the wing is her favourite part!!

I do sympathize with Her. Flying is her one and only hardship.

We watched the film UP this summer, and it seems to have helped Her enormously. She says that life is too short to put things off. You can't be afraid of things that you can't control. I think that is great.

I missed the trip to South Korea, but who knows....maybe next summer we will attach 20,000 balloons to OUR house and fly to Slovenia!

Photo : "Breathe" Hand-Carved wood/acrylics/mixed media

by Cara Kansala and Pam Dorey

Part of the 2009 Cheongju International Craft Biennale, South Korea

Unity and Diversity, Guest Pavillion Canada

Can I kiss a dog instead? What about a Newfoundland dog?

I had an email today from a man who had seen one of our "Kiss The Cod" T-shirts...in California!! Wow, that is pretty nifty. It is amazing to think that there could be people walking around, all over the planet, wearing our shirts!
He said that his mother was from Newfoundland and he was familiar with the phrase.
This afternoon, I was yacking away about it all and was interupted by an excited HER......... HEY!! YOU! she said, and pointed at ME.......YOU haven't been screeched in yet!
YOU haven't kissed a cod! You can't poodle around St. John's like you belong here, when you haven't even kissed the cod!!!
Oh, deer caught in headlights.
I have been avoiding this for 17 years.
Why couldn't I have ended up with someone from Holland....I would have had to walk around in wooden shoes for an hour...how bad can that be?
or France......I would have had to wear a beret and eat a lot of butter.
My family is from Finland......we just make people take a sauna, drink some vodka and listen to accordian music by men called Kimmo Pohjonen and Samuli Kosminen.

Why did it have to be Newfoundland? Why must I kiss a cod?

YOU MUST! She exclaimed. THIS summer! We are having a celebration. You will kiss the cod. That is final.

Well, I guess I am going to have to do it. How bad can it be?

A lot of people have done it and lived to tell the tale.

At least I already have the T-Shirt.

Photo: "Kiss the Cod" by Cara