tappity tap

I've been catching up on my work after a week of being down with the crud. It left me in a tired funk which was not really conducive to getting much done. I have finished up several blog banners and am working on other items to coordinate with this one for Karen at Karen Eileen designs.

I was delighted to finally get to dig onto Linda's new blog banner. She let me pick things from her blog to use as well as some pictures I asked to send. She wanted something a bit more contemporary so I had fun putting this banner together for her and used her new painting as the background. I love the colors.

As you can see by my new look, I have still been playing with Halloween goodies. Vicki was inspired by the witchy banner I posted earlier and asked if I could make her a banner to coordinate with the look I already created for her so I did a little retouching and voila:

On the flip side I have also been in the studio packing some last minute orders, playing with glue and paper and fooling around on my sewing machine for a holiday swap I am involved in with 11 artsy friends. We are doing a 12 days of Christmas swap a la Lelainia Lloyd and we have all been busy little elves keeping holiday secrets... You can visit our blog here and keep tabs on our antics.

banners, banners, everywhere...

I was delighted to work with Cindy of Yapping Cat Studio on her blog banner. Cindy is very nice and does fun work and I just could not resist her studio name or her darling yapping cats. It was a refreshing change to be able to work in deeper colors for Cindy. Lately I have been inspired but the colors of autumn even though we don't see much change of colors here in California. I have to get my fill on pumpkins and dried corn stalks.

Speaking of which, I think I mentioned I'd have a few banners available for those of you who might like a little change of scenery for the month of October. Here are a few banners that are available for adoption.



Any of these a banners is available to be customized and plopped in your blog for only $15. You can email me if you are interested. Of course, I am happy to create custom banners as well (at regular price).

Tomorrow I have some exciting news to announce and its also the day I will be drawing a name in my "Favorite Things" give away so skim on down to the Favorite Things post and leave a comment to enter.

back to business

We're back from our Art*Play weekend and we had a lot of fun with Kelly but we are EXHAUSTED. Everyone in class made really cool projects and enjoyed themselves. I will have photos to share and a break down of what we did soon. In the meantime thanks again to our goodie bag and raffle sponsors. The participants were delighted with their prizes!

Right before I left for the weekend I finished up this banner for Priscilla at Sweet Remembrance. Its a bit different for me but it suits her.

If you are waiting to hear from me, I will be returning emails early this week and continuing on my "to do" list. My waiting time for design work is approximately 2-3 weeks at this point. I have a few projects that need to go in the mail and will tryt o get all caught up on that this week as well.

Cheers, hope you all had a great weekend.

Laura, have you figured out that the blog faerie has paid a visit to you today? I loved this new image we have to play with. Happy (early) Fall! Its not really fall-ish here yet. its been in the upper 90's including a pretty balmy high 90's yesterday for the wee B's 4th birthday party! It was a lot of fun but man was I hot and sticky. Today wasn't much better but we got to hang out inside in the AC.

Yes, the wee one got a big girl bike. She is so excited and and we have been having some walks to get her going. Its is so cute how she gears up and tries so hard to pedal and ride straight. Its a big week for her as school starts on Wednesday! I have to bake cupcakes tomorrow.

In other news, I have been working on my dresses for the paper dress swap. I took some pix and posted them in my flickr but they aren't very good. I will re-shoot them tomorrow or so to show off but here is a sneak peek at one of my favorites. They are really quite a bit of fun to make and a great place to use up bits and pieces of trims and broken jewelry. You can see all of the swap dresses in the Flickr group.

Last but not least is the Halloween blog banner I made for Kasse of Miss Duffy. It looks like we are still fighting with Wordpress but it will get posted eventually. It really was a lot of fun to make and she sure has some wonderful Halloween treasures in her shop!!

bizzy bizzy

I'm alive but bizzy as a bee. With only 5 days left til the BIG DAY.. I'm talkin' ArtFest registration.. I am STILL trying to decide whether I want to go or not. It seems like all signs are pointing to NOT going since friends that had planned to go are dropping out and we don't have enough to share a house. We had sworn NOT to stay in dorms again but the classes are calling to me so it remains to be seen if I will go....


In other news, I did a banner for Karen aka the Graphics Fairy who has a kick ass blog where she shares great vintage clipart to use in your art!! Click on over there and bookmark her so you can build up your stash of fun images!!


I have also been working with Kasse of the incredible Miss Duffy's. I designed her a new blog banner but she is on WordPress and we are struggling to get it installed. Someday it will show up, but until then, here is a sneak peek.

Art*Play is coming up in a little over 2 weeks. Where did the time go?! We are looking forward to hosting Kelly Kilmer for 2 days of fabulous workshops in addition to a mini boutique. Even if you can't join us for the workshops, if you are in the area please try to stop by for the boutique! There will be some fun things offered up. And if you are on the fence about the workshops.. we have a couple of spots left so check out the blog to see what fun things we are planning and get signed up!

Finally, I have taken a mini "me" break and made some good headway on MY new website!! I had some tedious code tweaking today and I am still writing stuff which isn't the fun part but its getting closer!! I feel like I am in a race because I participated in Totally Indie's next round of coupons and I want my site up before they go live. I just got my box of coupons today so I gotta hurry!! So until then, all I can say is....

We are sitting here in shock and sadness watching the news of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. As some of you know my DH, Greg, is from MN and went to college at the University of Minnesota right across this bridge. He, our family and friends have driven over this bridge many, many times so this hits pretty close home for us. Fortunately, as far as we know, no one we know was involved in this horrific accident. For this we are grateful and our hearts are filled with prayers for those touched my this tragedy.

In brighter news, I have mostly recovered from the Garlic Festival and have been back on my computer (which incidentally is magically fixed when I noticed a BULGING battery! Ack!! I replaced the battery with my extra and its working great! Apple is sending me a replacement for the bad one) working away. I just finished a new business card for Angelina over at Angelina's Cards.

and I am doing a bunch of work for Cerri of Little Pink Studio (check out her shop!!) Cerri is a dream to work for and I just finished and installed her new blog banner and I am doing some other things to coordinate but I can't share that stuff yet. I have a couple of other jobs lined up as well one of which is working with Ms Holly of HollyDoodle Designs. I love her style and am really looking forward to working with her as well.

What color is your soul painted? Grey Your soul is painted the color grey, which embodies the characteristics of elegance, humility, respect, reverence, stability, subtlety, wisdom, strong emotions, balance, and cancellation. Grey falls under the element of Water, and symbolizes the moon, tide, ebb and flow. Click Here to Take This Quiz

Quizzes and Personality Tests

eat, drink, stink...

I have spent the last 2 days at the Gilroy Garlic Festival working in my family business' booth. I am pooped and sore and looking forward to tomorrow night at 7 pm when we are packed up and heading back to the warehouse. I just wanted to pop in and share a couple things..
1. That my Mac baby is now back home and Dr Dad was able to clean her out and make her behave better. I love my computer so much. I had a PC for a few years and didn't realize how much I missed MACs until my super hubster got me my MacBook last year. I am in LOVE and will NEVER go back to a PC. Never... anyway, thanks for the words of support and well wished for her speedy recovery. So far they have worked and I am happy that she is back in my lap and ready for more digital projects, which brings me to #2.. Monica finally approved the design for her new blog banner and its ready to be loaded onto her blog. She has been super busy so we have yet to get it up but I can share it here:
I have several new projects lined up for the upcoming week so I will be excited to share the new things I am working on. I am off to bed and will check in soon. Happy Sunday.
I

shortie

I did something to my hand today and it is all swollen and it hurts to type or work on my computer so this is an uber short post. I have been working on various projects and spending a little time with the family. I will have some pix to share but for now here is a banner I just finished for Dawn at "Oh So Pretty."

art & give away

I am finally able to share my finished pieces for the swaps I have recently participated in since they have been received by my partners. The piece above went to Jeanne for Jenny's Bits n Pieces swap. I was really happy with how it turned out and she tells me she loves it but now after seeing all the other great art that was sent I would probably do some things different. Oh well, next time...

Also, I haven't heard back but I am sure Risa must have received the crown I sent to her. I haven't gotten mine yet so that might be why she hasn't posted yet. I was reluctant to start but once I did it was so much fun and I can see more crowns in my future. I really am pleased with how it turned out and it was cool that she also loved pink and green together.

The pictures do not show the final final piece with rhinestones and more ribbon loops added to the bottom to cover the glue spots.

Ok, finally, I promised a give away last week and never posted it so I am now!! I have been busy doing digital work in the form of business cards, banners and watermarks brushes for those who like to watermark protect their photos. I have not updated my website with these latest offerings because basically I just want to REDO it but I have been waiting on Hope for some assistance. She is pretty busy so I might just have to tackle it myself. Anyway, I digress... back to the give away... I am offering 2 prizes for those who care to leave comments on this post. the prize is a custom blog or Etsy banner or a custom digital brush which can be used with Photoshop or Elements to protect photographs. The caveat is that if you win and I make you the brush I will ask you to also provide a small link on your site or blog crediting me for the work. If this is something you are interested in, please leave a comment that INCLUDES contact information!! and which thing you'd be interested in.

Good luck!!

good stuff

My mailbox has been kind to me this week. I will have to dole it out sparingly but my favorite thing is THIS beautiful "Bits n Pieces" collage by Jeanne, my swap partner in Jenny's swap. It is so perfect with wee things, birdies, glitter and my favorite colors. I just LOVE it and have already hung it in my studio!! Thank you so much Jeanne.

The other super exciting thing I got in my mailbox this week is ACTUAL BUSINESS CARDS!!
I had been dragging my feet on actually getting some for whatever lame reasons but I finally did and I love them. They will probably help out a bit with my business to mail with things from my Etsy shop and the design work I have been doing. I haven't blogged much about that lately but I have been busy working on several design projects for various folks. I LOVE Photoshop and was so thrilled to learn to make brushes so I have been creating watermark brushes for using on photographs:

Here is one I did for Heather at Present Past:

and one for Tara at Bella Pink:
and finally I have done a couple of Etsy banners but I can't share them until the sites go live so you will just have to wait for peeks of those. So, for now I am off to bed and then off to San Francisco for the weekend. More news has been posted at Art*Play so if you are interested in that click on over. Have a great weekend!

busyness & banners

I have made and installed a couple of new bloggy banners this past week. It was nice to take a little break from Eye Candy and stretch my creative wings in a different way. I made this fun yarn banner for Sonya at In the Skein of Things. We went through a couple of versions and then I sent her on a photo shoot to her local yarn store to get a picture of this skein.

Then, I finally convinced Sharon to update her template (like she had much choice anymore) and we put up this banner I made for her a little while back. I think its perfect for welcoming Spring...

In other news, I spent a good part of the weekend reorganizing my studio. Last week I took some measurements and studied the Ikea catalog and then Friday we went to Ikea and got two new shelf units to on top of my desks. I purged a large garbage bag of stuff yesterday and stashed things away and labeled, etc. This week I hope to begin going through the myriad drawers and purge/organize even more. I will try to get a couple of pictures tomorrow to share. I am so excited about my "new" space and can't wait to actually create some art in there. Today I packed up a buttload of orders/ swaps and then painted with the little.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. We are due for lots of rain this week so I see some creative projects in my new future.

Countdown to ArtFest: 28 days!!!!

artsy

Hey, I actually made some art.. both digital and non. I have added several new blog banners to my banner adoption page. Its fun to just play and see what turns out even if I occasionally just delete everything. Here are peeks at a couple, you can see the rest by visiting my site.

In addition to these babies, I have been packing up envelopes for various swaps (and Zine orders!) This banner is for my Fiber ATC group for a Valentine's swap. It was a new thing for me but I really enjoyed figuring out my process and putting it all together. I will be making more for my Etsy shop in the near future.

I have also finally begun an ART JOURNAL but do not have pictures yet so for those you will have to wait a bit longer. I will try to get pix tomorrow.

I hear rain outside! I guess we are finally getting a break from the COLD weather we have been experiencing here. To show you how cold it has been, here are a couple of pix.

look out relaxation...

here I come! Well, I hope.
Joleen buzzed me Wednesday night to see if I wanted to make a quick trip to San Francisco for the weekend. As it worked out I was free so we're going. She should be on her way up here now. Tomorrow morning we'll grab some coffee and hit the road to wander aimlessly about the city, take pictures and art journal while we eat yummy food and sip on coffee. It will be nice to have a quick 36 hours away from home and the little and to not have to stick to any schedule.

On the home front I have been working on digital stuff for clients:









and a few swaps. Unfortunately I have no pictures yet as my camera is still in the shop. I had to mail several things off already but I have a fabric ATC banner that I will get Joleen to shoot when she is here.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Next week I will have more pictures to share!

obsession

Since I still have no news on my camera and can't really get any good shots of my doll I am using a flickr mosaic of fun Blythe dolls and accessories as my image. I closed the poll on my "Name that Blythe" post and the results were tied between Larkin and Lotta. So, since she is my doll, I get to break the tie. I would like to introduce you to
In other news, I have continued working on my website and the banner pages. I have added my Banner Adoption page where you can adopt a pre-fashioned banner and just get custom text added. Check out these banners by visiting this page.
Here is a sneak peek:
More will be added as I have the time or inclination, so bookmark it and check back soon.

website update!

Its been a good and productive day ( well after Hannah tried to cut her own hair.. groan!)

I took down and packed up ALL of our Christmas stuff, sewed a bit and mailed the last of the Portals pre-orders. I got all my charms for the two swaps I am in done and packaged up, my bird page done for the Sanctuary fat book at Chubbyville AND I have spent this evening finishing up the much anticipated Banner Fairy pages so you can order blog/ Etsy banners!!

This piece over here is my sanctuary page and I was so proud of it that it is not the front page for my website (temporary) as well. It worked out so well that I could use the eggs as roll over buttons.

Wow, writing this all down makes me see why I am so pooped! Hope everyone has a great weekend!