Did You Know #1

Here's our first Did You Know...

Hudson’s Paw Print

I learned yesterday that the design on the shirt for Move Your Paws was made by Toronto Zoo's polar bear Hudson!

Brothers, Hudson (above) and Humphrey were born at the Toronto Zoo. They lived in Winnepeg for several years and have moved back to the Toronto Zoo.

I'm Moving My Paws For The Polar Bear Cause

It's been almost five years since I last posted anything here!  My focus has obviously not been on this blog.  But, for a short time at least, I will be updating here on my latest project.

I've been working on something kind of big, definitely important, and I'm hoping you'll help me. I'll make it worth your while, I promise!

I have decided to participate in the Toronto Zoo's Move Your Paws for the Polar Bear Cause.  It's a month long distance challenge (Feb 27-Mar 27) encouraging people to move and cover as many kilometres as they can, during that time period, while supporting the polar bears at the zoo.

Did you know that in the wild a polar bear can travel around 2000 km in just one month?  The Toronto Zoo has five polar bears (Hudson, Humphrey, Aurora, Nikita and Juno) and they have set a goal for the event participants to collectively complete 10,000 km in one month.  That's 2000 km for each bear (for those of you doing the math).

The event starts on Feb 27 and runs until Mar 27.  I have decided to challenge myself to a goal of walking or running 5 km every day for the 28 days.  That's 140 km, a small fraction of what a polar bear can do but I think it's a reasonable goal for me.

Photos I took at the Toronto Zoo

I have set myself a, hopefully conservative, fundraising goal of $140.  $1 for every kilometre I complete.  

Here's where you come in.  I am creating polar bear specific items for my Etsy shop and for every purchase of those items (and existing items in my shop) I will donate a portion of the sale to my fundraising goal.  I will also donate 100% of my earnings from polar bear sales from my Society6 shop.  

To thank you for your purchase and support you will receive an entry for a give-away that will take place on March 28.  I am currently putting the pieces of the prize together so I don't have details yet but believe me it will be a good one! There may also be some gift with purchases and smaller giveaways, I'm still working out all the details.

If you don't want to purchase anything but would still like to support me, I would be over the moon with gratitude if you make a donation directly to my fundraising page.  You will also receive an entry for the giveaway (as long as the donation is not anonymous or you send me a message right away letting me know about your donation).  Depending on the amount I will award extra entries.

To follow my progress you are welcome to visit this blog (please excuse the dust, no one's been here in awhile) where I plan to publish updates often.  You'll notice the little tickers on the right are set up to track my goals in a fun and visual sort of way.  I have also created a Facebook group that you can join and there you will be able to see the new special items before they get listed in Etsy, as well as learning some fun facts about polar bears.  I will be sharing fun facts in my Instagram stories as well.

Ok, that was a lot of information.  Here are the most important bits: sales/purchases/donations from today onwards until March 27th will receive entries into my giveaway.  Purchases made on February 27th (International Polar Bear Day) will receive double the entries.  My walking/running will start on February 27 and will continue until March 27.

I will be updating my blog; www.bkinspired.blogspot.com and Facebook group; www.facebook.com/groups/bkinspired regularly of my fundraising progress (starting now) and my kilometre progress (starting Feb 27).  The challenge will end on March 27th.

If you're lucky, I may even share a photo of myself a few times.  No promises though.  Be prepared to see a lot of polar bear items and learn some interesting polar bear facts over the next two months.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.  I thank you very, very much for your support and if you are unable to support financially; shares, comments and likes through Facebook and Instagram are all welcome and very much appreciated.

That's all for now.  Stay warm!

Maya

Here are links:

Etsy: www.bkinspired.etsy.com

Society6: www.society6.com/mayabki

Blog: www.bkinspired.blogspot.com

Facebook group:  www.facebook.com/groups/bkinspired

Instagram:  www.instagram.mayabki

Fundraising page: https://bit.ly/36cuEz9

Published!

Well, my last post was over a year and a half ago.  A lot has happened over that time and I think it may be time to start getting this going again!

To start off I have exciting news to share...

BK Inspired has found its way into Pyrography magazine!

I am so excited and honoured to be included with so many amazing artists.  This is THE magazine for Pyrography so it is a big deal for me to be in it!

You can order your copy here...

http://www.foxchapelpublishing.com/pyrography/pyrography-volume-5-2016

And stay tuned for more updates.  There are more fun and interesting things coming up!!

30 Day Sketch Challenge

Well, the 30 Day Sketch Challenge is over.

The month of August went by extremely fast but I managed to do 27 sketches wihtin the 30 days.  Not too bad considering some of them were done by flashlight and candlelight and others were done in a moving car.

It was a lot of fun to do the challenge and a few friends and I have decided that we will do the sketch challenge again in January.  If you want to join us we'd be happy to have you play along.  There are no rules, just sketch whatever you like.  Our sketches will be posted on Instagram with the tag #30daysketch.

To see what my talented friends and I were up to during the month you can search #30daysketch on instagram and all the pictures will come up and my profile on Instagram is @mayabki

Here is a short video of the 27 sketches I managed to do.  I tried to put it on here but Blogger is having a hard time with it.

The Fall Shows Are Coming!

Now is the time of year that artists and artisans start to think about the fall shows and work at getting their applications in, if they haven't already.

I am hoping to do a few shows again this year and I am very excited to share with you that I have been accepted to be a vendor at the Falling For Art Show in Coburg this fall!!  This will be a new one for me and I can't wait to see how it goes.

The Falling for Art Show is a juried art & craft show, showcasing some of the best artists' Canada has to offer.   I am so excited to be included as one of them!

The show opens on Saturday, November 1, 2014 from 10 am to 4pm

Admission is just $5 (Kids 12 and under are free) and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Speaking Of Dogs Rescue.

The show is located at the Cobourg Community Centre,Rotary Sports and Performance Hall (Gym), 750 D'Arcy Street, Cobourg, ON

Foodie Friday!

What a summer!  It's been super busy here with the kids being home and us zipping off on different camping vacations.  I haven't had much of a chance to up date the blog the last few months.

But here I am to share a very yummy and refreshing pasta salad.  This easy salad is full of flavour and colour. It is perfect for summer BBQs and even to take camping since it lasts longer than green salads and makes quite a lot.

 Please remember I am not a great food photographer.
I think we were out of black olives when I made this salad.

Rainbow Pasta Salad

1 package (16oz) tricolour pasta (I used rotini)

1/4 lb sliced pepperoni or salami sausage 

1 cup fresh broccoli florets

1 can (6oz) black olives, drained and sliced

1 package (8oz) mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup cucumber, diced

1/2-3/4 bottle Italian style salad dressing (I used Kraft Olive Oil Tuscan Italian)

Boil water and cook pasta.  Drain and rinse the cooked pasta twice in cold water.

In a large (I mean VERY large) bowl combine the ingredients.

Refrigerate at least one hour.

When I make this I know I can make it well in advance and it will just keep getting better and better.  Most of the ingredients can be added in amounts at your discretion.  This is mostly just a guideline and can be altered any way you see fit.

Enjoy!