Happy Persian New Year!

Another year has passed and again another Nowruz is here.

 Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the year in the Iranian calendar. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical Northward equinox, which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed.

I would like to wish you a wonderful Persian New Year (Nowruz). Hope this new year brings you joy, health and prosperity ♥
! نوروز مبارک

This is my little Haft Sīn! Probably you remember the ones from the previous years.

Haft Sîn (Persian: هفت سین‎) or the seven 'S's is a major traditional table setting of Nowruz, the traditional Iranian spring celebration. The haft sin table includes seven items starting with the letter 'S' or Sīn (س) in the Persian alphabet.

The Haft Sīn items are:

✿ Sabzeh – wheat, barley or lentil sprouts growing in a dish – symbolizing rebirth

✿ Samanu – a sweet pudding made from wheat germ – symbolizing affluence

✿ Senjed – the dried fruit of the oleaster tree – symbolizing love

✿ Sīr – garlic – symbolizing medicine

✿ Sīb – apples – symbolizing beauty and health

✿ Somaq – sumac berries – symbolizing (the color of) sunrise

✿ Serkeh – vinegar – symbolizing age and patience.

This pretty container is a gift from my lovely sis. It's a handmade Persian antique piece.

Those sweets on top are handmade by me. In Iran we call them "Tout" which means "Berry". They are very easy to make. I will write a post on how to make them, hopefully very soon :o)

That little tile is handmade in "Isfahan", a city of Iran that is famous for its legendary tile works. It's a gift from my lovely friend Raheleh! xo

Sketchbook

Toronto is a cold city with long winters. But it has many sunny days with beautiful blue sky in wintertime. You can lie on the bed, look at the blue sky and imagine that you are in a tropical
island ...so far away.

For these sketchbook pages, I've used:

- Micron pen 005

- Watercolors

- Colored pencils

- Stamps

... and the winner is

The winner of Valentine's giveaway is picked by "Random.org", no. 51

Congratulations dear Mariya! Please email me your address so I can send you your little magnet!

And a big thank you to all you for participating.

It was a real pleasure reading your sweet comments!

♥

Original watercolor paintings

Last week I was working on these tiny watercolor birdies. 

As you've noticed I love everything small and miniature!

 These babies are available for sale in my Etsy print shop.

Which one is your favorite?

I bought this frame a few years ago from Black's Photography.

It was on sale and inexpensive. I've made the mat myself, using a push style mat cutter

that I got from a local art store.

Valentine's Giveaway!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  ♥

Because it's Valentine's Day I have a giveaway for you! A hand painted pebble magnet.

 It's very detailed from close and will add some love to your fridge, magnet board,...

Please leave a comment here for a chance to win it!

* I will announce the winner on Monday (Feb. 18)

Happy Chinese New Year!

I wish you a very happy Chinese New Year everyone!

I was born in the year of the snake,

so obviously I'm kind of happy now!  :D

In my Etsy shop

This illustration and the matching one (mother and baby) are among my best sellers on Etsy. Many people asked me for different hair and skin colors during the past few years, so I decided to add 4 more hair/skin combinations to my shop.

I might be able to do other combinations too, just let me know :o)
Enjoy!

Beach pebbles

A few weeks ago we went by the beach of Lake Ontario for a walk and I collected some
 lovely smooth pebbles. Hopefully soon I'll paint on some of them.

This was the first time that I was visiting a snowy beach. It was very different from a summer beach,

but it has its own beauty.

As you can see there is an icy area between snow and water and I fell down just like how

 people fall down in cartoons (first two legs move forward and ...)

 in a second my iPhone was somewhere in the air and I was

 lying down on my back aching all over!

 Well, I was lucky that I didn't break a leg! No one says pebble hunting is easy when

everywhere is covered with ice and snow!

Do dogs LOVE snow? I had never seen dogs that happy before, they were rolling in snow and playing!

*Most of these photos are from my Instagram. You can follow me @joojooland

Sketchbook

New from my sketchbook. All things Japanese inspired.

I've used:

✿ Sakura Micron pen 005 in black and brown 

✿ Colored pencils 

✿ Gold gouache 

✿ Watercolor

✿ Black pencil

I love to use gold gouache here and there ♥

Many people asked me before about the type of brushes that I use for tiny details.

I use 6/0 and 15/0 brushes.

I think you can find these in any brand :o)

Try to be like the turtle

Something I've been working on the last few days. 

A self esteem quote that was suggested by one of my lovely customers. 

Watercolor on 8.5" x 11" paper

Available in my print shop.

Early bird

One of the good things about being an early bird is that you get to see the beautiful sunrise.
 It especially feels good after a whole week of rainy/cloudy days!

Have a lovely weekend friends! ♥

Mint tea

 

My favorite hot drink for the cold season, Mint Tea. 

It's very easy to make: Hot water + Fresh mint leaves.

 I love it because:

 - it's hot in temperature but leaves a cool sensation in the mouth. *cool* 

- It's healthy and caffeine-free

Sunset rainbow

This evening at sunset a huge rainbow appeared in the sky.

The sky was almost dark and the last rays of light were about to disappear.

 I knew this beautiful scene is not going to last long, 

but I was lucky enough to take a few photos.

 

Sketchbook, September 2012

My sketchbook was looking at me with sad eyes lately, so I spent some time

this weekend doing a few new pages.

I've used:

- Sakura Micron pen 005 in black and brown 

- Colored pencils 

- Gold gouache 

- Transparent stickers 

- A vintage French stamp 

- Pieces of magazine pages for the girls' dresses. 

- Sequins that my mom and sister got me from Iran. 

How to hang plates without plate hangers

 Hello everyone! I was very quiet lately, because we were doing some home renovation and I was very busy with moving, cleaning, dusting,...name it! But meanwhile I found some time to decorate an empty living room wall with some plates, saucers and little dishes. You can even see a small vintage frame in there!

Some of these dishes are gifts from my mom, sister and my lovely friend Christel ♥

  In order to hang the plates without plate hangers (I just don't like them!) I used framing wire and

hot glue gun. To make them even stronger I used several layers of duct tape.

The back of plates is very ugly now, but who cares as long as they don't fall down and break! :o)

 

In the end I scanned the bottom of each piece and made a template. This way I could see where exactly each plate is going to be and where I should hammer a nail. This step takes some time and is boring, but it's totally worth it.  

Saucer Bird

Hello friends! The last few days I was working on a few projects and

one of them was to decorate an empty living room's wall with

some plates and saucers. So I created this little plate with one of
my doodles and decal paper.

*
You can download the vector version of this birdie here
 and make your own plate/saucer in any size.

You need:

- A saucer (Mine is from Ikea)

- A printer (Inkjet or Laser)

- Clear waterslide Decal paper (You can find them on Ebay)

** Make sure to get the campatible paper for your printer (Inkjet or Laser)

Enjoy!

More pebbles

Here I painted more pebbles.

I'm planning on gluing a magnet on their back for the magnet board or fridge.

Painted pebble

Last weekend I found a few smooth, round and flat pebbles by the beach.
 I painted my signature birdie on one of them. I'll show more of them soon.
 * I've used:
- Acrylic colors
- Micron 005 pen
- Clear nail polish for sealing
 Have a wonderful Friday and weekend friends xo

Home sweet home

My new watercolor painting. I especially painted this as a house warming gift.

You can buy the print of this illustration in my Etsy shop here.