Well, hello there!

It’s been quite some time since I’ve updated my blog with a “regular”, non-giving-something-away, real honest to goodness words from my own mouth kind’a post. So here it is!

This summer has flown right by. Once I put my garden in the ground, things picked up. I’ve signed back on with EWebscapes as a freelance designer so I’ve got a few projects going on there, a few on my own – and then toss in a weekly giveaway, children at home and bored, a husband who is on active duty with guys overseas, a complete gutting & revamping of my studio space, a couple of road trips, tons and tons of PICKLES, planting an insane amount of daylilies at our Church and OH YEAH, I can’t forget about Facebook!!

And that about sums it up.

You’d think that with all of this, I’d have lost a few pounds this summer right? Wrong. Add that to my pile of “things that frustrate me to no end.” I wait, for school to start – and I hope that things become “normal” again. What, pray tell, is normal to me?? Will I even recognize it? I wonder.

Today, I decided to stop for a few minutes. To give you a glimmer of hope that some day, I will write again, I will write more often. As my time over the summer is so short, I am finding that the little space that Facebook provides for status updates is just enough to keep my creative spark alive, and it makes me anticipate the time I will be able to sit down and craft a fun and creative story to share.

My weekly custom portrait giveaways are also giving me exactly what I need each week to stay creative as well. It is not a large investment of time, and I still feel very committed to it – 34 weeks in and I still enjoy it, giving that piece of time to someone each week is extremely fulfilling to me, and so I shall push on through the end of the year!

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your support through the years and especially during “dry” spells, where stories are sparse and my weekly drawing is your only eye candy until the next week. I cherish your comments and e-mails and, well, thank you. So much. Because I know you’re busy too, and that you understand but don’t forget. I love you for that.

On with the day now – and don’t forget, it IS Friday, and this week’s custom portrait giveaway will close at around 5pm tonight!

p.s. Like my veggies? They are so sarcastic this year.

I’ve had the pleasure of designing for Kelsey before, so when she came back to EWebscapes for two designs and asked for me, I was so excited! I was even more excited that she was open for change – she’s moved her old Typepad blog to her very own domain, and made the switch to WordPress! Yay!!

Her project request was to have two designs that coordinate, but don’t look the same. She liked the color scheme she had before – pinks, browns and greens, and she wanted texture and depth. Her blog, the first project, was fun and very feminine, and I incorporated a couple of different patterns with a few solids, and it turned out really fun and very pretty!

Those of you that know Kelsey know that she’s a writer, and she is having her first book published. From her site: “A Love for Larkspur is Kelsey’s debut novel. It won second place in the Lonestar, and will be released by Capstone Fiction.”

She wanted her professional site to be clean, but still incorporate those textures and colors that she loves – presented in a professional and creative way. I designed a clean, contemporary blog for her that coordinates nicely with her personal blog, and now her readers can subscribe to either of her domains to receive updates on her writing and/or her posts.

All in all, both of these designs really fed my creative girly side, and I enjoyed working with Kelsey again. She’s really a lot of fun and a very sweet – so stop by and say hello, and make her a regular read!

I completed this design for EWebscapes this week, Miserere Mei is written by Rev. Daniel Sparks, who is currently deployed to Iraq.

Rev. Daniel J. Sparks is a priest of the United Episcopal Church of North America (UECNA). He is also a Christian activist, writer, and social commentator.

Father Sparks is a native of Lawrence County, Alabama.

Fr. Sparks studied American Political History at The University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa), where he earned the Bachelor of Arts. He completed graduate work at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School (Birmingham, Alabama) where he received the Master of Divinity.

Ordained as a deacon in 2002, Fr. Sparks served at Tribe of Christ Church in Leeds, Alabama, and as curate at the Alpha and Omega Anglican Cathedral in Luverne, Alabama. After his ordination to the priesthood in 2003, Fr. Sparks served as a campus ministry associate at The University of Alabama and as an associate parish priest in Bessemer, Alabama.

His design was inspiring and soothing to work on, and he is a wonderful person to work with.

I had the pleasure of launching a blog design today for Southern Social, in all its preppy-chic pink and blackness, and I’m so excited to have had the opportunity to work on this project! Leslie is an Atlanta blogger, and I can really see her turning it into an Atlanta hot spot for info on dining and hitting the hot spots around town. I’m looking forward to seeing how her blog grows in readership and popularity now that she’s switched from Blogger to WordPress. Yeah! Another great decision made by a very smart blogger!

(I love it when people get their own domain names. Love. Pink, puffy, big and fluffy hearts.)

I installed WordPress on her new domain and imported her blogger posts with just a click of a button. Okay, a couple of clicks – but it really is easy – you should do it, too!

Go on and visit Leslie and say hello, show her some of that Southern hospitality she’s used to!

Just another super cool blog design brought to you by yours truly through EWebscapes Blog Design Studio.

“We Love What We Do!”

“But the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23

Debbie has been a regular reader and friend of mine for a long time now. She’s sweet and kind and peaceful, and she has three beautiful cats, too.

You can imagine how tickled I was when she ordered a new design through EW and requested me, and then gave me artistic freedom with her new blog design. A couple of key words and an open mind – what more could a girl ask for? Her earthy color scheme with a touch of berry make her new look feel very calming and spa-like to me.

Stop over and say hi, and browse through her photography while you’re there, too!

I finished up another WordPress theme today for EW, this one is brown and green and cool and chic and just a smidge preppy.

Melissa is a really great gal and a good read – so stop by and say hello, and be sure you add her to your blogroll.

Icklebug has been launched – you’ve gotta see this one! It’s so ding dang cute, with the watermelon-y color scheme, and the bunnies you can throw around (boing, I mean.) This was an E.Webscapes project (I’m an Associate Designer, so if you want to order a custom blog design, please do order through EW and feel free to request me if you’d like me to be the one to design for you!). Bex had a lot of specific things that she wanted to implement, like those cute little pixel icons (a couple of those are custom to her design), and a bunch of nifty plugins and customizations, including a special plugin written by Becca just for EW.

Becca rocks!I have to make note of what I think is the cutest part of the design – the comment page. She requested the official comments plugin, so I hooked her up with alternating comment bubble background and then the official comments (registered users, authors) have a solid pink bubble. I really love how fun the comments are displayed, so check ’em out, and leave one while you’re there!

I finished up the week with this super sweet celebrity dog blog design, Celebrity Dog Watcher. This is an EWebscapes client project, so it will go into the EW Portfolio. (Speaking of which, I really need to get my latest stuff added to my own portfolio, huh?)

The CDW logo is super cool, I just love the artwork done by Pop Arf artist Nathan Janes. I used his brilliant color scheme to create additional graphics for the design and get everything flowing together. This is my first 4 column theme, and it really turned out cool, I think!

If you’re into the celeb scene (I try to be. I must admit.), Kym does a really great job dishing some totally informative celebrity doggy gossip. Definitely a great feed to add to the celebrity blog collection! Go have a visit!

:woof:

I am finally starting to catch up with my “to-do” list. Here are some things I’ve crossed off my list, and I still have to get visuals to go along with everything for you.

• Finish up a blog design, MommyHelp.com. That one was an EW project that launched last week, it turned out really neat, new moms will love the tips and information on Breastfeeding and parenting. There’s a forum there, too – lots of nice supportive women there. Check it out!
• Another EW blog design project that I just launched this week is The End User. This is my first fluid blog design for EW, and it’s that black & white one I talked about. It wound up being a really neat layout and project – even though I had to hold myself back from changing just one little hex code to bright red or something. The urge was there, and it persisted – but alas. It’s black, white, and shades of grey, and I shouldn’t even be showing you yet because I still have some tweaking to do. Go on and have a look anyway.
• Live.Love.Read. It just so happy over there. My eyeballs really enjoy it, it’s like therapy. Go. Get happy. I’ll wait.
• One of my blogging buddies enjoyed one of my Ten Little Fishies so much, she wanted a print of it. I’ve got one sitting beside me that I’ll be matting and sending out for her by Monday.
• Sketching Titto for his next portrait – he’s such a ham. His second portrait will be much more colorful as he’s preening and really has a gorgeous spread of tailfeathers. I’ll get his sketch up here later today.
• Two Mother-Daughter banquets. Two nights in a row this week, I’m telling you – it’s been a smidge busy over here this week.
• Balancing the checkbook. Next on my list. Ugh.

I still have some things to add to my list, too! I need to respond to some inquiries and add a photoblog design project, and I also need to find an hour to tell you about the wonderful experience I just had sending off my Great Blue Heron painting to his new home. The whole experience and sequence of events – beginning with meeting Laura – will leave you just as astonished as it did me. Divine intervention indeed.

I also need to tell you about my neighbor. This lovely woman we’ve lived next to for 11 years is not doing so well. I’ve been assisting her whenever she calls for help, and last weekend I waited with her as the ambulance came to take her to the hospice where she is now staying. She’s had trouble breathing for a couple of years, and initially when she was diagnosed they gave her 6 months. She’s well beyond that, but now she’s suffering and the pain she feels just from the effort it takes her to inhale and exhale breaks my heart. I’m going to cut some irises from her garden and take them to her today, and I’ll probably be saying goodbye. It’s very sad, but I’m glad that they are keeping her as comfortable as possible, she shouldn’t have to suffer through her final days. If you’d keep her in your thoughts and prayers, I know she would feel comforted knowing everyone wishes her peace. It seems odd, and I may even sound glib writing about her, but she’s honestly ready to pass on, she has been. She is tired of having to experience the pain of her body failing her before the Lord is ready to take her.

Mother’s Day, aaah Mother’s Day. What do you mom’s want for Mother’s Day? Me, I shared my secret with a friend, and I’m not going to spoil it here but wait patiently to see if my family knows me as well as they think they do.