Journal Revolution

A Sweet Memory and 2:00 on Sunday at CHA!

Karen and I will be making funny memories at CHA on SUNDAY at 2:00 at the Barnes & Noble booth/store. Stop by and say hello! We would love to see you. Last year, the B&N booth/store was in the lobby section right near a spot where a churro cart would've been great but there was no churro cart. Maybe this year! B&N will have both of our books available for purchase and we'd be happy to sign them for you. We'd also be happy just to meet you so don't feel  like you can't come say hi because you don't want to buy anything. Just come on over!  We can't call it an official book signing (blaming mercury!) but it's an unofficial book signing that the fine folks at B&N are happy to help us with. We will be at the B&N booth from 2:00-2:30ish.
When we aren't at the B&N booth, we'll be wandering around looking at all the stuff, tripping over the wheeled bags people just leave in the aisles unattended. Oh, and we'll also be getting in trouble for taking photos when we aren't supposed to. We can't wait! We'll have some buttons to give away, too.

Sweet Memory is one of the new prints available in my etsy shop.

full of goodness

In November when everyone (and every thing) around us (including us) started breaking, I decided there was really just no way I would be able to get Hanukkah and Christmas cards all out on time and still spend lots of time trying to dull the pain that came with my stupid MO FO tooth drama. Practicing Ss and Ts  with the MO FO flipper in is still as time consuming now as it was then, only I have grown tired of it and have just stopped talking altogether. One night while saying the alphabet,  I thought it would be a good idea to design three different cards to send  people that I could space out between the beginning and end of December. Depending on what holiday people celebrated or where they were in my address book, they all got different cards. Most people ended up getting the Wishing You A New Year Full Of Goodness  card because I was just really late. And it was my favorite one.
I am all out of the cards now but I do have prints of  GOODNESS in my etsy shop.

I don't actually recommend the making of 3 different cards during the busiest month of life. I may have also been on Vicodin at that time. That was way too much of an over-achiever moment to have been the real me planning.

Revived

I have a new print in my etsy shop.

About five years ago, an editor at Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion magazine bought some art from me. At the time she bought the art, I didn't know she worked for my favorite magazine. She eventually approached me about being in the magazine and asked for photos of my cool studio. The "cool studio" I worked in five years ago is the one I am still working in~ a closet. Or wherever the mood strikes me. The  the world is my studio type of studio wasn't as cool as a selling point five years ago and things didn't work out. I had other things going on and it was no big deal. Still, every month when my issue of MEHC came, I wanted to be in it. The magazine was always full of cheery houses with red doors, plates of cute cookies, and lots of art, of course I loved it.
Earlier this year (years later), someone else from MEHC approached me about featuring my art on the pages of Home Companion. OK. It was meant to be. I'll be featured in the December 08/January 09 issue.
Last week came news that the publisher of Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion magazine has ceased publication of the magazine due to economic reasons (the current economy!!!). How sad. I feel so bad for all the people who just lost their jobs.  The final issue will be the Dec/Jan issue.  From what I have read, this collectible issue will be on newsstands the first week of November. Hopefully, there will be a new  publisher found and this won't be the last issue forever (like what happened with Victoria magazine).
On November 1st, I will release new prints and greeting cards of the holiday themed art that is featured in the magazine.

downright frightening

<--- I stole this rubber duck from a really cute hotel in Wales about 20 years ago. That I am old enough to have done something 20 years ago and have memory of it and proof to photograph is downright frightening. I love this duck. It makes me laugh every time that I look at it which is every time I take a shower. Now you can laugh at it too, because there are prints of it in my etsy shop as well as  other new prints. Go look!

I really hate this back to school time of year. Nine years ago when we bought our house, the numbers we got for our home number and my business line were the old numbers of the local elementary school. We got calls all day long for the school and even though no parents could find the new number for the school, I managed to and would give it to the callers so they'd stop calling me. I thought for sure the calls would stop. Well, they haven't. Over the years, the calls have gotten worse because now it's not just parents calling, it's bill collectors too. The school is in debt! The calls start about 7:30 in the morning and go all day.  There are calls from parents wanting to move their kids to this school, people looking for jobs, and a landscaping company that is totally pissed its gravel was never paid for. I know this because they leave messages on our answering machine even though our message says to leave a message for the Woods Hotel, not the school district where Weeds is filmed.
I am not answering the phone and giving the correct number to the school because I'm no longer doing things that are a total waste of time or that people could do themselves if they typed google.com into their iPhones.

I am kind of tempted to answer the phone and give out the number to the neighbors next door. That might be good payback for the balls. Would that be considered a waste of time or not? Hmmm.

art for sale and it is fat free

New art on stretched canvas is available for purchase in my shop. I also restocked prints.  By the way, the cupcake, was delicious.

new art for sale

There are 2 new original pieces of art on canvas for sale in my shop.  Please hurry up and buy them so I can rush back to Mervyns and buy my friend Liz a few more of those lovely shirts in different colors.

a prize, an iphone, an interview and more

 
Thanks to all your advice on the whole new phone thing, I am now the happy owner of an iphone and after only 2 days, am a total speed texter.  One day after I got my iphone, Karen's Treo died a quick death and she lost all her data and contacts and she is in a very bad mood. She's sure it's because she dissed her own Treo right here on our blog. A giant rock also smashed her windshield, so I am thinking Mercury just went retro just for her.
Thanks so much for all your birthday love and for sharing your lunch and wishes with us. We love reading all your comments. I still haven't had any birthday cake yet but I am planning on it. I have, however, put all your names in a bag and pulled out a winner: MELANIE W. and her club panini!!! Ooooh, I could go for a panini! It is lunch time right now and I am having buttered matzo (and getting crumbs everywhere) with a diet coke as I type this and Karen is at her desk having a Tassimo-made latte, flavored with her special mix of Coffee Mate Hazelnut, Chai and Vanilla Caramel creamers, and a Pria Chocolate Mint protein bar.

We are all over the internet today!  I am honored to be the guest designer at Creative Therapy this week. Click over to  see what I created with their prompt The Best Part Of Your Day. The icing on the cake there is that they are giving away a copy of Visual Chronicles.  Too cool!

Karen and I  are thrilled to be interviewed at TallyScrapper.com! This was a really fun interview with  Rachel and the fun isn't ending with the interview. Check back there tomorrow for an art challenge from me! YES! A challenge and some new samples. And there is even more icing there, the Tally Scrappers are giving away a copy of Journal Revolution to a lucky journal challenge participant. WOW!

Thanks to Creative Therapy and TallyScrapper for being NICE!!!!

I have a new print in my shop. I have some new art on canvas drying right now. There will be original art for sale in the next few days...fair warning!*

*I got in trouble last time for not giving enough warning. You have been warned.

CSI + Lipstick and Mascara + New Art

My house is once again my house. I had this fantasy that once the strike was over and Dustin went back to work that my life would get back to normal. It hasn't happened yet. Or maybe I just forgot that normal for me is really fucking busy.  I'm too busy to even go back and delete that f-bomb and replace it with a less grown up word.
For the last few days, our house was home to two 20 year-olds, Dustin's cousin, Ashley, and her BFF, Emily. All 20 year-olds are named Ashley and Emily! These girls are really funny and nice and I love them because they paid attention when I told them the most important life lessons: always wear lipstick and mascara and never ever- ever- ever -wear eyeliner without mascara. Good girls, those two! Dustin took the girls to work with him one day. Here they are (with their lipstick and mascara!) with Dustin and Grissom!

While the girls were at work with Dustin and I was not baking a cake for Karen who appreciates all your birthday wishes (THANK YOU!!!), I had some time to make art! YES! There are two new pieces of art on canvas for sale in my shop.

plenty good

I turned my phone off, pretended I wasn't home and worked on some art. Uh, I am still not home, yeah, I am not here. Working on art always makes me feel PLENTY GOOD. Another piece has been born and is in my shop waiting to fill that empty spot in your home or office. I like these thicker canvases because they look cool on a book shelf, too, just standing there or leaning against books.

the right gift

Hurry, share your lunch with us before midnight!

Today We're FEELIN' GROOVY about:
~Finding a box of small canvases that I forgot I had and being at home so I can make art! There are two new original pieces in my shop.
~Reading all the lunch comments! WOW!
~The Family Guy is always on
~Seeing the signs when they come and paying attention to them
~Giving just the right gift
~Karen and I are getting our hair done together on Friday

Our Bêtes Noires:
~I'm still sick. Trader Joe must miss me. I haven't been there in a week.
~Since my husband has been unemployed, he's lost weight and I have gained it. Kill me now.
~Fixing 1 computer problem caused 7 others!
~ The harder I try, the less I get done.
~Why has no company stepped up to fill the HUGE light-bread and bun void created when Wonder Bread abandoned California?!?!? The Orowheat and Sara Lee light breads are ok for toast, but not for sandwiches.
~Shape magazine has not responded to our emails. Now I know how people who send me hate mail that I  never respond to feel.

*The Rev It Up List has been updated.