There’s nothing better than blooming flowers in the middle of January. I am so grateful for the people in my life who make sure that my winters are saturated with the colors and smells of summer! I received two bouquets of gorgeous flowers for my birthday that have opened up and done really well (considering they’re cut) and also, I’ve been waiting since just before Christmas for this gigantic Amaryllis to bloom that Lisa sent (and I promised pics once they opened!) – they’re SO big and full and just beautiful.

I had a dream just last night – in it, a hummingbird came right up to my face and snuggled my cheek. pffft. That’s how much I miss warm weather! Even Chickeymonkey told me about a dream she had the other night, my office was filled with pink, white and purple roses and tulips. There were “flowers EVERYwhere!” she said. I LOVE HER. Aaah. It’s just a few months away, right? All the bulbs I planted last fall combined with everything I planted the year before, the hummingbirds and I will be loving our daily breaks in the backyard!

Enjoy!!

I’ve been quite busy lately, and haven’t even had the chance to post individual screenshots of these designs for your viewing pleasure. Here are the designs I’ve completed recently if you’d like to go have a peek!

• LifeCruiser – LifeCruisers 3rd design, this one is a two column seascape done up in shades of blue.
• Brit Out Of Water – an EW client, he’s been in the States for 152 days now (today, according to his sign), and he’s got some hilarious stories and goings on in his life since his arrival. He’s got a two column cityscape design, the UK in the background and NY in the foreground.
• Phone News – another EW, this one is in Beta right now and will have a few more mods before it’s “officially” complete, they provide a great resource for all things wireless and cellular.
• 94 Monkeys – an EW client, this is a blog for medical students. They had custom illustrations done up of all of their monkeys in a “hear no – see no – speak no” fashion, which are very cool.
• Nappily Evah Aftah – Tracey is in love with the art of LaShun Beal, so her theme is based on the painting Ebony Beauty. It’s got rich, beautiful earth tones and sports the sought after tabbed menu container to really organize her sidebar.

You can see I’ve been crazy busy, these are just the designs I’ve completed so far this year, not counting my own portfolio and blog here. I’ve got a few more designs in the final stages and smaller busy work that keeps me hoppin’ all day, and so many more on my “to-do” list, I’m good through the end of February.

I’ll be in the studio painting the end of next week, and I’m all too excited about that! I received another new order this week for a custom dog portrait painting in oils – I’ll be sketching up both of my commissions this coming week.

So there’s a quick view of my life, 18 days into the new year – how’s yours goin’?

I’m buggy as all get out too, I think. Welcome (you have to come see) to my 2008 Blog Revamp, made to match my Portfolio revamp launched on the first of the year.

If you see any bugs, please let me know so I can squash them early on. My eyes and mind are both a bit wonky and I’ll be taking the evening to rest and refresh – more blogs to design this week, and a sweet white dog custom portrait painting to begin, too!

– thank you, IE, for the gargantuan headache. :grumbles:

Enjoy!

Stop on over and have a browse around her new theme. The comments are cool, too – so be sure to leave one!

A long wait in the hospital waiting room, a box of pencils and a hand held sharpener. I worked Moggie’s second pencil portrait, a 6″ x 6″ piece to compliment her first portrait – which I finalized as well, adding whiskers and her name to her tag.

I’ll add a new scan of her first portrait behind the cut if you’d like to see that one in it’s finished state.

I’m offering these graphite portraits at $2 per square inch, which is a really nice price for an original piece of artwork. If you’re interested in having a graphite/pencil piece done, please get in touch with me through my “contact” form (linked in the top menu).

I had some fun with my camera lastnight – what started out as a “Kids Christmas Card” photo session wound up as “The Two Oldest Kids Pose As Fashion Models” photo session. My daughter contently watched me over my shoulder as I proofed the shots lastnight, too.

Let me tell you, if you’re looking to hook up your daughter with her soon to be husband? This one is taken. Heh. That’s all I am going to can say about that. :muted:

Keep on reading to see more of my (personal favorite) shots from this session!

If you’re feedreading, now is the time to click through. I’ve just launched my winter theme, please let me know how you like it! I’ll go ahead and spoil it with a screenshot:

• Photoshop Creativity
• Ohh My Blog!
• The Life of Wanda

I’ve installed/set up all of these custom designs (EW clients) just in the last few days – and I’ll be setting up one more within the next day or so – with ohh, a dozen or so more on my to-do list.

Yes, I’m keeping busy over here – and then I just had to make time to squeeze in a new holiday theme here for myself! I know, I’m so selfish, eh? Give a girl a day or two off to dink, would you?