Things I've Been Working On

This is a picture I did for a friend of mine. She doesn't know about it yet, it's a surprise. She has been encouraging me to be creative, which I think is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give me. She seems to like the things I make, so I made one especially for her.

The hearts and swirls are kind of a new thing for me. I've never really done anything like this before, until after Christmas when I got my new watercolor pencils. Now, I just want to draw flowers, hearts and swirls all over the place! This particular picture was done in permanent marker.



I did these pictures for my son. He loves robots and rocket ships. The rocket ship is similar to the ones I made for his birthday party invitations. I love doing these, they are so much fun.

Both are done in permanent marker.




I love this sunflower! It was an experiment that I hated at first. It's done in tissue paper and mod podge on matte board. It wasn't until I outlined it in ink that I decided I really liked it. It opens up a whole new world of possibilities! I love tissue paper and mod podge. Hopefully, I'll give myself the opportunity to make some more of these and maybe add them to my Etsy shop.

I've added a couple of new things to my Etsy shop, and have a few more things to add. I want to really spruce up my shop and start being more consistent in marketing it. It's amazing that there are people who are able to do Etsy full time. I just am in awe of them. It makes me want to sit at their feet and take notes on every little word that comes out of their mouths! So, I'm working on promoting without being obnoxious. I find it's much easier to promote this than it was my past attempts at selling things that weren't really my passion.

Oh yeh, I also bought myself a postal scale yesterday. Woo hoo! I have real business equipment now!

Don't Blink or You'll Miss It!

I can't believe how quickly the days fly by. When I was working (outside the home), days, weeks and months went really fast. I thought when I started staying home with babies, it would be a little slower, but it's not. I am amazed that an entire day can buzz by when it seems like I just woke up.

I have never been very good with time management. When I was in college I spent hours and hours and hours lying around, daydreaming, listening to music and contemplating life and it's complexities. Now, with two yungin's I can't even have two minutes to go to the bathroom by myself (so it seems). It's just not all about me anymore (duh) which means I can't lie around doing nothing and honestly, I should never have spent that amount of time being so unproductive. I could have had a nice balance of staring into space, being alone with my thoughts and doing homework, being creative, meeting friends, etc.

Now, 20 years later, I still struggle with time management. I have finally gotten past thinking if something is worth doing, then I have to spend hours doing it, or spend hours thinking about doing it. Not all things are worthy of that much time. I also find that I spend so much time thinking about doing things, that I either talk myself out of doing them or don't leave enough time to get them done, even if I did start doing them! I guess I'm just trying to say, I want to be more purposeful (or "intentional" as they say on a certain radio program) in living my life. None of this is an accident - it's no accident that I was created. I have a job to do, but I won't be able to do it, if I allow myself to believe I don't have time to do things or don't have the ability/supplies/space to do what I want.

I have to come to the grown up conclusion that in order to do what I desire, I must sacrifice a few things. T.v. is a big time guzzler. The worst part is that I don't really feel like there is anything on t.v. worth watching...not really. I do like The Closer, CSI and CSI: Miami and Law and Order. But I watch way more shows that I don't enjoy. Not very smart for a woman who wants to do something else!

Projects for the Past Couple of Days

These are the two new pictures I've been working on for the past few days.

Both are on canvas board and colored with the Bic version of Sharpies. I also used some other permanent ink pens that have a smaller tip, to help add detail. I love the pens, they are so much fun.

I think I'm starting to be more interested in a medium that allows me to have more control than painting does. I love watercolor, but prefer watercolor pencils over paints. I don't want to spend so much time mixing my own colors. And since I haven't done it much, I'm not very good at getting my colors right.

As I was writing this I was thinking that perhaps I'm lazy, then realized that I'm just able to get more done with pens and pencils. Maybe when the kids are older I can spend more time with watercolor paints.

I still haven't gotten anything new on my Etsy shop, except one ACEO. I have lots of other things, but still have to work on getting the packaging together. Perhaps I should set a goal that by the end of next week I will have at least 2 of my new card sets listed on my Etsy shop. Ok, let's call it a committment!

Bailey Pooh Dog

We had to have our dog put to sleep today. She was 10 years old and had renal failure. I'm not sure what caused it, I only know her decline was quick. It's so weird to lose animals, they are just so much a part of your family. Since the kids were born, we mainly kept her in the back room off the kitchen. But there are so many familiar sounds that I'll miss: the jingling of her dog tags, the clicking of her nails on the tile, her little woofing noises when she was dreaming (probably about chasing squirrels) and her snoring.

We got her near the Farmer's Market in 1997. My husband had lost his black lab, Isaac, about 6 months earlier. There was a lady in the market parking lot trying to get rid of these puppies (there were 13 in Bailey's litter) and we stopped to look at them. I was just there to admire the cute puppies, Dan was apparently there to fall in love! Bailey was soooo cute. She was little, light brown with dark brown and white swirls and floppy ears. She was a stinker too. Very happy and bouncy. Dan played with her for a little while, then decided to bring her home.

She loved to play ball and to swim. She would fetch a ball as many times as a person would throw it and she couldn't pass up a puddle without stomping through it (kind of like my 5 year old). When we took her on hikes, she would, without fail, find every waterhole, pond, river and puddle in the woods and wade through it, even in the winter! She became very protective of us when my son was a baby. Before that time, she loved every dog and human and cat she came in contact with. We were incredibly blessed to have spent the past 10 years with her.

She was so sweet today. We could tell she was so weak and miserable, yet she still wagged her tail when we petted her and spoke to her. She was a wonderful dog and we will miss her!

Good Grief.....

Would you look at how long it has been since I've written! This blog is starting to have the same feel as my journal: months without writing, then lines and lines of beating myself up for not writing, then a short entry about how tired I am and how I wish I'd take the time to write about all the stuff that's going on...gee whiz it's a never ending cycle!

I actually have been doing some things. I got some beautiful watercolor pencils for Christmas from my friend, Jean. I also got some "artist bonus bucks" from my husband. I wasted no time spending that money and since I had a 50% off coupon from Michael's, I was able to buy quite a bit for my money: a new 12 x 12 papercutter, more watercolor pencils, some sharpie-like pens (24 wonderful colors), some thinner markers, watercolor paper and a couple of small canvas boards. I think there were a couple of other things, but I've forgotten.

With my new toys, I was inspired to crank out a few note cards. The first one is my favorite. It's unlike anything I've ever done before. I got some cards printed from the original and hope to get them together for my Etsy shop soon.

I'm in the process of revamping the Etsy shop. I changed my avatar because I got kind of tired of seeing my face everytime I logged in. I was self conscious about it from the beginning. So I chose one of my art cards because it's colorful and an attention getter (I think).

Even though I don't officially do New Year's resolutions, I am going to try to do better about writing this blog. I also hope to keep up on my etsy shop and add new things regularly.

Thanks for stopping by!