You know, I’m not a bah-humbug girl. Usually. This year I would prefer to forego the entire Holiday season because it does not feel normal. Of course we’ve got the kiddos to consider, so this year is just for them. I took them down to the tree farm this morning and we picked a very nice little 3 1/2 foot high Christmas Tree, went to the store and let them pick out their very own decorations, and came home and set it up.

They did a beautiful job. I know that they will love it because they did it. We’ll string some popcorn and put it up in a little while.

The story with our tree topper is purely about Christ. We always put the star up at the highest point on the tree, of course that symbolizes the North star. We also add a really pretty Angel just below and in front of the star, to represent the Angel that announced Christ’s birth. We have an angel that I made out of crystal beads about 14 years ago, she’s up in the attic and I can’t be pulling heavy stuff down out of there until I’m 100% healed, and that wouldn’t happen until after Christmas. So, Caitlin chose this beautiful large semi-transparent ribbon to represent our Angel this year. they also selected small ornaments for the small tree, gold jingle bells and glass snowflakes.

Me and my camera. Enjoy your tree eye candy today. 🙂

Whew! I’m sitting down!

As promised, here’s the second work in progress of Bailey’s portrait. ‘Auntie M’ recommended red, so red it is! 😉

Just as FYI, the holiday gift basket giveaway has ended and the winner has been contacted. If we don’t hear back within 3 days, the runner-up will get the prize! I’m hoping to be able to send out an announcement when we hear back, and then of course everyone who entered will get special pricing on custom portraits for a designated time. (After the holidays, sorry! I’m booked right now!)

I continued to “de-clutter” today, and you know when all the clutter is gone, it just looks so bare? Yea. Well I solved that problem this afternoon. LOL! Leave it to me, never an un-creative moment in my life. Here’s what I created this afternoon…

I wanted some color! It was all white back there behind those shelves. Blah. And blah is not allowed in my house. ;P~

Now I’ve got some webdesigning stuff to do tonight, so I will catch up with you tomorrow! Have a great evening!!!

I’ll be sketching out my next piece today, which is a dog portrait of this adorable little girlie named Bailey. I’ll post a pic of her sketch later on today!

SooOOoo how are YOU doing? I put up a new gadget over there on the left, you can put yourself on my guest map! I thought it would be fun to see where all of you guys are. (No it doesn’t ask for your street address..lol) So you click on the thing, you click stuff, you say “hey!” in comments and voila, you’re on the map! All this neat stuff out there on the internet, you know? I have to try everything. ;D

What’s on your Christmas wish list this year? Every year I have a hard time thinking of anything that I could possibly want. You know what I mean? So I go back to when I was a kid and made my wish list..and the only thing I’ve ever wanted and never ever had is a Cashmere sweater. I won’t buy it for myself because it’s way to frivilous, besides I don’t think I ever spend more than $15 on a top for myself (when I do buy ’em!).

Now that I’ve lost all this weight though, I’m finding myself tossing things in my closet because I wore such frumpy stuff before. I decided last spring that I didn’t want to be frumpy anymore! Even my winter coat is way too big, so I’m hoping to stop down at Kohl’s to pick up a new coat. I’ve got my eye on this sweet suede number, I’ve never had a suede coat either. Here, it’s on sale. I should have picked the darn thing up last week, it was only $48 the day after Thanksgiving. Dang! 😛

Alright there’s my morning babble, I’ve got to get in the shower and get ready for the day! I hope you have a good one, too!!

xoxoxoxo
~me

Did you ever have one of those days? It’s 3 in the afternoon, you walk over to your computer, sit down and realize that the day is almost over, and you wonder what you’ve been doing that’s taken this long?

I’ve been tending to my wounds today, which I didn’t think would take as long as it did. 😛 I’ve been trying to potty-train my 10-year-old little 3-year-old who has decided that she would rather pee on the kitchen floor and hide under the dining room table. I’ve been painting B&F in my head so that when I sit down to paint tonight I will be able to get far enough along to finish this painting by the beginning of the week. I’ve talked to Mark for a little while, I’ve drooled as I thumbed through my new Coldwater Creek catalog, I’ve pondered the meaning of life & counted my blessings, and I’ve taken some macro shots of the beautiful bouquet of flowers that were delivered just shortly after I arrived home from the hospital Tuesday. Boy they are beautiful, and aromatic to boot! Here’s your eye candy for the day:

Stargazer Lilies are my favorite. I could bathe in their aroma, I truly could.

I will be hanging out with Jay for the afternoon, and once I get her tucked in tonight I will update and turn the webcam on. I plan to paint from about 8:30PM CST until about Midnight.

See you in a bit!

To me, today is about being consciously aware of the blessings in your life. I try to think of these things daily, so today is one of those that you get an extra helping of dessert. (Hey Care, pass the pretzel pie!)

My life is blessed in so many ways that I don’t get too hung up on the bad stuff for long. Optomism helps! I have two beautiful and smart girls; a wonderful, loving husband, and a comfortable home. Friends and family who love, support and encourage us as a family as much as they encourage me artistically whom I adore. Faith that has carried us through so much, especially the past year, and has kept us safe and healthy. And especially, because this is my artsy blog, I am blessed with a gift that I am honored and privileged to share through my website, that positively effects the people who see it and those who receive it. Because of this gift, I’ve had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful, kind, loving and warm people who are as passionate about life and love as I am. It’s an amazing way to come in contact and become friends with people who are so likeminded.

That being said, I would like to wish all of you special folks in my life a blessed day, an extra helping of pretzel pie, and just as many if not more blessings that you are consciously aware of every single day. Life is good. Enjoy it. 🙂

I’m back! Surgery was a HUGE success, now I just need to kick back today and get back in the groove tomorrow!

Just wanted to check in and let you all know I’m still kickin’!

Hey everybody!

I am getting ready to turn the house over to my in-laws who will be here while I’m at the hospital doing my thing. I just wanted to thank everyone for your thoughts and prayers for a successful surgery!

I will update when I get back!

HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!!
xoxoxoxo

p.s. Mark, you be safe out there ok? I LOVE YOU! Tons of x’s and o’s for my hubby!!

My webcam is on! (click here) Right-click zoom to 200% then back to 100% for full view. Yahoo Messenger ID: “intricateartist” 😉

I will continue working on W’s skintones, and will probably move around to whatever I am inspired to work on.

I just created a webpage about my surgery, so those of you who know what’s going on (or those who don’t and are curious!) and want access, the files are password protected so drop me an e-mail for more info!

Going to get ready to paint, it’s going to be a productive and painterly day!

A few months ago, at Mark’s request, I created a stencil of Wile E. Coyote for the guys to use on their equipment etc. as that is their call sign. Apparently, the stencil is reallly popular over there, Mark says they’ve painted it on refrigerators, machinery, all kinds of things. It sounds like it’s become a “this is ours, hands off” symbol. LOL

So he’s been saying for months that he’d get me some photos of it, and here ya go. I’m just going to link them here:

Wile E. Coyote Humvee1
Wile E. Coyote Humvee2
Wile E. Coyote Bradley

Pretty neat to see it all over their stuff! Even though the character isn’t my creation, I searched everywhere for a stencil to purchase and couldn’t find one. Sorry Warner Brothers, the guys want a coyote, they get a coyote! (P.S. I’ve not made any profit from the creation or personal use of this piece.) LOL.. just covering my artistic butt there. ;P

It’s a clear day, I took another digital pic of W and modified the last WIP entry. I’ll paint today, the girls should be ok. (I hope!) I’ll update when I turn the cam on!