Dream it, believe it, achieve it.

These were a few words I spoke with a friend this weekend. It is so easy sometimes to get blown off course, misdirected on our path but we always have a chance to catch our breath and find our way back, even find a new path. Each new day offers a chance for a dream. What's yours?

Monday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful to see one of my nieces today!

Valentine Print Outs for YOU!

Hello friends! Although it is still January, February is right around the corner. Here are some Valentine cards for you to print out for your own personal use. Feel free to save to your desktop and print onto card stock. Trim and pick one for your favorite friend!

Random Musings:

Here are the results for the Valentine and Birthday card Give Away...

1. Michelle Fallman

2. Katherine

3. Cindy

I couldn't pick just one so three is the magic number. I'll be in touch girls so I can get your addresses and send you some cards! Whoo-hoo! Thanks for playin' along.

Sunday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for a nice relaxing weekend!

Advertising, smadvertising.

Change of direction, I created these ads for a local real estate agent. I can't decide which one I like best.

Got a chance to escape puppy purgatory to LA to visit my best friend for a fun girly weekend!

Friday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for german shepherd kisses.

Hello.

Some more Valentine's love...

Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered into the Give Away that ends this Saturday!

Thursday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful I don't feel completely silly having a trainer who trains police dogs take on my little fur ball. A little silly maybe, but not completely.

I HEART this...

I've got some hearts and love on my mind! Normally, I'm not a big Valentine's Day person but as I grow in years and possibly wisdom, a day dedicated to love might not be such a bad thing. Don't ya think?

Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered into my Give Away! Scroll down a few posts to see the cards...


Random Musings:
At the kid's charter school, there are some home schooling options... part time ones. Starting Monday the kid and I are going to partake in that opportunity. He's been asking if I would for years and I know I couldn't do it full time but part time... I think so.

Someone asked me why I am going to do that and this is a short version of why. Although I am not claiming to be a teacher of any kind and I don't think I would do a better job than a trained teacher in a classroom, I am VERY interested in my son's education and would like very much to be a bigger part of it. There are plenty of programs to follow and in my case, we'll be working closely with his 4th grade teacher to make sure we are covering everything we need to. Since the kid's school doesn't have homework, it is rather difficult to track any progress and by being directly involved 2 days a week, I think in no time I will know how he is doing and what level he is at. We also will have opportunities to get out into the community and explore and be involved in ways that a class of 20 would not. Plus, I really love the idea of spending more time with a very smart human being whom I enjoy very much and in a few years, this opportunity may not be possible. Yeah, my four year art degree may only take me SO far!

Wednesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for the magic of throwing a few food items together for a surprisingly yummy dinner!

It's Spring...

Life has a funny way of working out sometimes. I created some springy looking art the other day and this morning I received a request from a client for a "spring" looking flyer, sign and table top display. So, I made this...

How about you? Do thing work out just right for you sometimes?

Tuesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a day where things just fell right into place.

Digital sketching.

There are a few mural jobs on my horizon soon & these are the digital sketches I created for the client. When I used to paint murals for children all the time, almost weekly, I would hand draw my ideas and email them. It took me f o r e v e r. Now, I've smartened up and pull from my graphics background and create my sketches on the computer. Of course, now I don't need to make them very often as I don't paint murals very frequently, but it is always good to have shortcuts for future ideas... you know, just in case.

How about you? Do you have shortcuts that make your life easier?

Monday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for clever jobs that keep finding me.

The cat's in the bag.

Someone at our house is not quite comfortable with the newest member of the family. However, we all need to make adjustments in life as it is ALWAYS throwing curve balls, especially when you aren't looking. So, that being said, what does one do when things aren't quite going your way? Well, you could wander about your own home as if you were walking on eggshells....

or, you could find a really good hiding place and only come out for marshmallows and Perrier necessities.

I have to admit... sometimes it feels like the best thing to just run and hide!

How about you? Do you ever duck and cover when things get tough?

Sunday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for really supportive friends, friends who need to be picked up and friends who can do the picking.

Happy Day.

It's a happy day. The day outside couldn't be any lovelier, there was coffee ice cream for breakfast and Cujo super cute puppy named Toby is signed up for Doggy Boot Camp! I think I hear birds chirping and angels singing, yes it's a happy day!

How about you? What makes a happy day in your neck of the woods?

Saturday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful that our ferocious beast cute bundle of fur is trainable and the aggressive dog specialist isn't recommending we take the monster cuteness back. You didn't hear it from me, but puppy breath is quite irresistible.

Valentine & Birthday Give Away!

Hello there friends. I am offering a Give Away for these cards that just came out with my art on them. The top one is a Valentine's card that says "love life to the fullest and embrace it with no regrets." and the inside says "Happy Valentine's Day!" The black swirls have a sparkly varnish and a lovely metallic pink border.

The bottom photo says "Celebrate" on the front and "Have a delightful Birthday!" on the inside. The bird's wings have sparkly glitter on a nice watercolor feeling paper.

Do you know someone you'd like to give these to? If so, leave a comment on my blog from now until next Saturday, January 29th at midnight and your name will be put in the hat.

Friday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for nice company to have over for dinner tonight.

Owls, love, hugs & kisses.

Creating cards with friends is always a guaranteed good time! 

Feeling the Valentine's love. How about you?

I am having a give away of some Valentine & Birthday love tomorrow... please stop by!

Thursday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for good friendships.

The cute turns ugly.

Sorry I missed posting yesterday... I've been distracted by this...

 Who has turned into this...

Happy Travels.

The sketchbook is out, gone, traveling across the country... happy travels little book!

Before I was able to let it go, I made this video of the final piece. It's short if you care to watch...



Tuesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for IMovie. I figured it out all by my lonesome... I feel so techie! Hee-hee.

What's my story?

This shot is of the first spread when you open the sketchbook. You can get a better idea of the cut out word "story" from the front. (Sorry my photo is so bad, the daylight had almost slipped away when I returned from the theater with the kid. PS. The Chronicles of Narnia is FANTASTIC, even though I think a mouse/giant rat might have crawled across my foot in the darkened theater! Ack!)

So what's my story? The greatest story ever told is this... we all have a story. You and me... because life is a story. It's all about our successes, failures, living to the edge, being scared, sharing, birthing, dying, laughing, loving, crying, burning, playing, losing, longing, giving, taking, dreaming... all of it. It's all a story. It is the greatest story ever told. Could it be your story?

Tomorrow is the day I send this baby off. I have a few last minute touches and then I'll be ready to let her go. As this was coming together, I was developing an attachment to this book which quite surprised me. Coming to the end of this journey though, I will be able to loosen my grip on it because I'll see it once again while it's on tour across the nation.

Happy Dr. Martin Luther King Day!

Monday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a long weekend to be over and a fresh new week peeking around the corner.

Good Night, Sleep Tight.

I don't know about you but I have some things I want to accomplish in 2011. Maybe to someone else, these may not be big things but to me... they are huge. One of these accomplishments is to get a GOOD night's sleep. A while ago, I bought this pillow called "Bucky" in hopes it would bring sweet dreams. The buckwheat filling was nice at first but after a while my neck decided it might be better to eat the buckwheat than sleep on it.

So, I moved onto this Temperpedic formed foam pillow. It looks promising, it feels promising, it BETTER be everything it promises or else... 

...I will be relegated to something along these lines. Oh my...

Hello there TED.

If you have hopes and aspirations, if you have a longing to get over your insecurities and reach out to others, if you have no idea where to start... watch this incredible, inspiring video of one of my favorite authors discussing vulnerability. You will be glad you did.

Abundant love.

The cover... almost finished! This started out maroon, painted it white and then black. The paint has a nice thick quality to it and the word story is cut out with a piece of acrylic behind it so you can see the first page. Me likey.

I CAN"T wait to see some of the other artist's work. I may go up to San Francisco in June to check it all out while the books are on travel. Anyone want to meet me there? Or go with?

Saturday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful I have a smart puppy who is getting better every day. Love is always abundant if you look in all the right places!

Mo' shmo.

Another page. I actually took the photo before I was finished so there is a little more detail on this page now. I will be taking final photos in a few days... YES, in a few days because the deadline to send this baby in was EXTENDED! Whoo-hoo! Every page will be finished fo' shizzle! Me likey!

How about you? Do you like extended deadlines?

Friday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a nice clean house. Clean sheets are the BEST!

Just another page.

Here is another page in the sketchbook. I don't know the page numbers because I am running out of time and I'm going to have to get creative with the number of pages I have left. I must be able to stop working on it tomorrow so I can package it up and send it out. Yikes!

Thursday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for some great results of a cancer screening! Whoo-hoo!

Sketchbook Project pages 11 & 12.

Another page in the Sketchbook. The words say "It was high time to build that bridge and get over it."

Wednesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a productive day and dinner out with friends!

Wish I woulda thought of that!

How do you display all your Christmas cards and other special photos that people send you? For the past several years, I have used a wire wall hanging that is supposed to hold cards but never quite does it's job. So, I thought of a clever solution that I can use the whole year through! Just wish I woulda thought of it in December!

Here's how to do this simple card and ephemera holder:

Step 1. Purchase a used frame from a second hand store that is the dimensions of your space. Don't worry about finding the best looking frame because you are going to paint it and cover it up. I find the ugliest and older frames tend to be of nicer quality anyway!

Step 2. Rip out whatever art work came with the frame. You may be lucky and find one empty! After you take out the art, roughly sand all the edges. Do it quickly and don't worry about the finish because all you are doing is making a rough surface for the paint to stick to. Then spray paint the entire frame and let it dry.

Step 3. After your frame is dry, cut out a piece of wire mesh (I used chicken wire as that is what I had on hand) to the dimension of the back of the frame. You want to make sure it is bigger than the opening but smaller that the outside edge of the frame. Then, staple the wire to the back of the frame. Be very careful when handling the wire, you can cut yourself! Once all edges are stapled down, screw in a hook on each side of the frame and run a piece of wire through it so you can hang your frame. Next put a nail in the wall and hang your bad boy up! Clip on cards and pictures with small clothes pins or black cinder clips.

Let me know if you make one, I'd love to see it!

Sketchbook Project pages 13 & 14.

More pages in the Sketchbook Project.

Random Musings:
I had to run out tonight to pick up more dog food and while I was driving around the pretty city of San Diego, I was appreciating the lights, the clean streets and the overall vibe. This led me to thinking of where I want to live for the rest of my life and it just might be here. I'd love to try another country sometime, living there for a while but always having home to come home to. Yeah, that'd be nice.

Then my thoughts went further and I started thinking about what I would want to be doing if this were my last day here on earth. I was having some panic-type of feelings at the moment (that's an entirely different topic) and I couldn't conjure up the exact thing I'd like to do on my last day. Lots of fun things but nothing that would make my life feel complete except the obvious ones such as hugging my son and being with family. Maybe I need a new list...

How about you? What would you do if this were your last day on earth?

Tuesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for days of unease and unrest because it makes me appreciate the days when everything feels right in the world.

Sketchbook pages 5 & 6.

Sketchbook pages 5 and 6. You can click on this photo or any of these I have posted previously to see more details.

Random Musings:
(Consider yourself warned... this may be more of a rant than a musing... just sayin'.)
I have had something on my mind since Friday and I just can't shake it. I'm going to tell you about it but first I want to say I am not complaining about a certain person, although this person has said a few insensitive things to me, my reason for mentioning this is for anyone who might say this or say something similar. Please don't.

I went out for dinner with about 10 of my fab friends on Friday evening. Cool restaurant, cool peeps, cool food. We were all seated at a VERY large oval table and even though you'd think it would be conducive to excellent conversation by all, the table was too big to accommodate that. So I was talking to a few friends at my end of the table and I was asked about my new puppy. I had had an extremely hard day with puppy body fluids and biting and jumping and such so I was animatedly telling my story of the hard day with puppy from hell. I was really hoping for some advice from anyone and my story was leading up to a request for ideas.

Right smack in the middle of my story, my one friend asks me if this is my first dog. Um, duh. NO. I have had multiple dogs for about 18 years and am an avid animal lover. She knew that but still had to ask. Then she says, "You need to have another kid."

I thought to myself... WHAT?? I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly. Did you say I should have another kid? I just laughed it off and changed the subject but what I REALLY wanted to say was this:

First of all, I do not see how having another kid would REMOTELY help me with my puppy problems, in fact, if I were to follow that random advice my problems would only grow. Second, after I had my surgery for cancer 9 years ago, that option went right out the window. Third, I have consciously made the decision NOT to adopt a child as I now have numerous responsibilities with my nieces since my sister died. Need I go on?

I am only bringing this up because I have heard people say "You should have another kid" before. AND in other contexts, it still NEVER makes sense unless of course the intention is to bring the conversation around to their own journey of suffering. I don't get it. Do you actually think someone might gasp and grab onto that person and scream, "Yes, that is a really great idea! Thanks, I would have never thought of that!" Um, I don't think so.

Don't worry, my friend doesn't read my blog so she will never know how thoughtless her statement was. However, I brought this up because I am thinking about INTENTION and the words that people say. You never know how the things you say are going to sound to the person receiving your words. It is my intent to be more intentional in my own words... especially after this past Friday evening.

Weird. Totally random.

How about you? Has anyone ever said that statement to you?

Monday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for an interesting conversation today.

Sketchbook Project pages 9 & 10.

Here is spread 9 and 10. It says "come home." These are all part of "The Greatest Story Ever Told" topic for the Sketchbook Project. As I show more pages, hopefully the topic will begin to appear and show itself without any explanation. However, I do have one that is part of the story as well and that will come later.

How about you? What is your greatest story?

Sunday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a day to paint and draw. Oh, and clean up puppy poo, of course. Ugh.

Sketchbook Project pages 7 & 8.

This is from my Sketchbook Project, pages 7 and 8. I have several pages finished and more starting to become something other than empty spreads and I'll make more posts as they come along. Whoo-hoo! Each page has some sort of cut out on it's edge, adding another element of interest as you can begin to see what is behind it. I like what is happening with that.

Random Musings:
I have been mulling over in my mind my word for the year. I picked the word "hope" and somehow it doesn't feel right to just say I hope for this and I hope for that. This word was drawn to me for another reason and that is... whenever I think of the word hope this year, it is to remind me that hope is beginning to show itself in my life again. This word means more to me than just hoping for something good to happen, to me it means that something good IS going to happen when the time is right and I have every right to hope for it, wait for it and certainly expect it.

We've had A LOT of sadness in my family's lives these past few years and I think last summer I was so sad that I began to feel a loss of hope. At the time, I was just busy trying to stop trying to fix everything and just sit in sadness to see what that felt like and I didn't see the hope that was missing. I see it now and that is why I have picked the word hope to be in the forefront of my mind for one entire year.

One whole year to yearn for sparkly hope. One whole year to welcome hope back into my life and celebrate every single time I see it. One whole year to realize that not-so-great things will indeed happen but they will ALWAYS be followed by something fabulous. And that my friend is something we can count on, wish for and most definitely hope for.

So, tell me, what is your focus for 2011?

Saturday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for puppy trainers!

Winter Wonderland

Winter willow, cheery cardinals, newly fallen snow... it's winter wonderland!

Friday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for progress on my Sketchbook Project.

Looming Deadlines.

I have this looming project and I've become overwhelmed with the thought I might not finish. It was supposed to be fun and although it is still fun, it's been marked with a RUSH stamp and panic has started to set in. What is it?

It is the Sketchbook Project which is due January 15th, 2011 and I am only one quarter of the way to the finish line. Yikes.

How about you? Do you do well under pressure?

Thursday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for some great bonding with my kid.

Clouds.

Got clouds of hope on my mind.

Wednesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for some clarity on a long-in-thought issue.

Hopeful.

Hope. Hoping to win the lottery, which I never play but did tonight. Hoping my new puppy will decide to be quiet and lovely. Hope my computer stops groaning at me so I can back up all my files. Hope and healing for a friend today. 


How about you? Anything you hoping for?


Tuesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for being able to center in all the chaos, even if only for a minute or two.

Changing your mind.

Cordelia the jewel of the sea, realized that once she changed her mind she was free to share her heart. She will be appearing in my Sketchbook Project and I will take photos once the rhythm really gets going!

How about you? Are you free to share your heart?

Monday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for the "Puppy Whisperer" I visited today... I have a lot to learn!

The still before the storm.

3 boys out for a walk.

The holiday season is over and real life starts up again tomorrow. I've made very little progress with my Sketchbook Project so I suppose I'll be jumping head first into that bucket of creativity very, very soon. There are a few pending projects hanging about and I'm not sure I'm ready for all the festive free time to be over. Sort of feels like the still before the storm!

How about you? Are you ready to get down to business again?

Sunday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for time to sneak away to the movies.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! So far, it's been a great start for the boys in this family. Mr Man found money in the street this morning while walking the dogs and The Kid bought two Lego sets and got one free at the toy store and Toby the puppy got play time at the park. Wonder what my good luck sign will be...

Hours later.... After going for a long power walk, I had a feeling to be looking down and right when I did, I saw a lucky penny face up in a corner, normally unseen but spied by me. See a penny pick it up, and all the day you'll have good luck. Lucky me, lucky year.

How about you? Do you believe in signs?

Saturday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a gathering of friends to ring in the New Year!