Some of the Christmas loot

Greyson's Koala

Giraffe's for Aeden (and Mikayla)

Shaelee's Birthday Apron "LOVED"

upcycled: cute jean apron

1/2 apron from jeans for my sister in law Marie's b-day. so easy and so fun! :) I'm addicted to aprons now!

Baby Doll experiment!

The baby I just made for Mikayla. It was simple but some how I managed to make it more difficult than necessary. I like her.

Apron Experiment

I just made this sassy apron! Now I need one too! :)

Another Summer Project: Baby Feet!

I had Mikayla do the handprints in Jan. when she was 1 1/2 for my Christmas present! But then I didn't get around to working out the foot print until August when she turned 2... oh, silly. I think I may want to do another one soon with my handprint and hers. :)

Panda Peeps

I made a panda cartoon pix with watercolor pencils for my brother's b-day in Sept. I was inspired, so I went ahead and made one for our place too. (Panda's are one of Mikayla's favorite, just like my brother.)

us, panda style

The Silly little Bird Painting Progression, Aug. 2009

A fun quick project I did while visiting my mom in August. I snagged the bird pix idea from a poem book, and recreated it in my own way, slightly altering things. :)

The Finished Beanbag toss, from Summer

Here's a beanbag toss painted on particle board that we just made. My husband cut out the circles for me, and then I painted on a scene, which was only really half done, but then we had it for my daughter's birthday to play with. I think at some point I'll repaint the face on the butterfly that looks a bit like an alien shaped head to me, and prob. change his expression.

Chilly Today, Hot Tamale

A while back I had an interesting dream where I was waiting for some pizza to rise, and then was actually in the oven when while it was rising at about 400 degrees I think. It's a long and interesting dream. Anyway, since I had the dream months ago, I've been thinking about it and it's meaning. As I lay down putting my daughter to bed and her sweaty brow stuck to my arm and the room was still at about 80 degrees after another 105 day outside, I began to wonder if being in that pizza oven with her in my dream was about this crazy hot weather.

Beans, beans.

my first beanbag! so fun.

Sharing

So, on a whim I decided to record myself playing/singing my singable songs from the past decade. About 6 I think. Anyway, I figured out how to license the works and am now attempting to webhost them so I can upload to my blog.

The guitar is over-loud, as my keen set-up included my old camera audio record feature with no way to sing closer to the mic than play. So, it can be a bit hard to hear the words, so I'll type them out too. Also, I only did one-takes by and large, so: many a blurp. And uh, the strumming on some of these seems a bit repetitive what with the guitar being more of the foreground than the vocals. (stellar strumming not withstanding... :P)

Oh, what I would do for a PowerBook and garage band- and some super-skills? :)

Anyone wanting to help collaborate on these with added vocals/instruments and actual garageband, or recording, and your super-skills please let me know and we can play!

I need to write a few folk songs. I've been throwing around the idea... hmmm. I do have a kazoo already.

Awesome Crafting

Don't you just love this:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25516801

So great and creative... maybe I can figure that out sometime. I love etsy and it's homemade goodness!

Something fun I love

Here is a link to the regal listing for free kids movies this summer:

http://www.regmovies.com/nowshowing/familyfilmfestivalschedule.aspx?state=CA

I usually make it to at least one showing. Last summer I went to Waterhorse, but it got too scary for my one year old. :) But, it was worth a shot. My theatre isn't a Regal, it's a Krikorian, but they have it too, for a buck. So, check your theatre, just to see.

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo256/cstuessy/Krikorian%20Summer%20Kids%20Series/SanClementeKSFlyer.jpg

I hope I can catch at least Kung Fu Panda, which is a favorite. My daughter loves this movie because Panda's (and puppies) are her favorite animal. I have to limit watching it because I think it's a bit violent for a not-quite 2 year old, but she has learned some pretty cute kung-fu moves. So, a theatre experience would probably be fun, especially with popcorn!

Looks like there are some good ones out this year. I liked The Tale of Desperedux, and still want to see Horton. Hmm, what else to say... oh yeah, and I know this is 'technically' for kids, but I used to go sometimes before having a child. hehe Or you can always borrow a friend's kid or relative to take on a cheap date. :) Makes some great memories with those kiddos who need a little TLC.

Mwaaahahaha

I like it.

Sketch 2 in the works

Kinda too hard to see the drawing, but that's the sun coming through some rain clouds and the little crab & sea cuke (from illustration 1, see "getting closer" below) dancing there @ the bottom. Anyway, I got to work a bit more on it... I need to develop the clouds more, in a stormy type way, accentuate the dancers & seaweed, add a little texture to the sea floor, perhaps pronounce the beginning of below-sea-level a bit more, and possibly add green/grey/& blue rain drops. -If you wanted to know... actually helps me remember too!

So far...

Earlier today.

car sketching

working on #2 sketch in car

On the way up to Thousand Oaks this past weekend, I got to work during the day! Normally I don't have the space to work on art during the day unless I want some "help" with it. :) In this case, my little helper was asleep in her carseat. hehe So, I had a good 45 min. to think and work on illustration #2. Unfortunately after the munchkin awoke I kept turning around so often (runny nose emergencies!) I wound up fairly carsick and had to shelve the art and actually stop for a soda to soothe the tummy. But, still a good time, and Darin was a great sounding board to help me over my illustrator's block.

Deal!

50 cents! i was thinking of ordering it so happy!

I just got a book at the Friends of the Library for $.50 instead of the 12 bucks or so that Amazon has it for. Very exciting. It's about bread, recommended by my sister. So far it's pretty new-age - enlightened/buddist baking, but some nice down to earth thoughts weaved in there. Of course I'm only on the intro. :)

Sunscreen Review

Grahams Natural Alternative : Sunclear spf 30+ active ingredients: 25.9% zinc, other ingredients: triglycerides, rose hip oil, grapeseed oil, sesame oil, shea butter, vegetable oil, vitamin e, vitamin a, coconut. www.itchy.net.au

My full review: we like CA baby for it's natural ingredients and zinc base, but it is rather white and thick, and tends to give a white sheen for a while. This is nice, pricey, but cheaper than CA baby since it holds more in the bottle. I'm really happy with the short list of ingredients! It's got a lot of oils and shea butter in it, so it feels/looks slightly greasy but also smooth like a nice oil rub or lotion and I feel like my skin is more moisturized for having it on. Since I have dry skin, and it looks like so far Mikayla tends toward dryness too it's not bad, this might not be good for more oily types. I don't really like it on my face though. Like most sunscreens it doesn't wash off easily, even the hands, which can be annoying, but necessary I suppose. Also, many new natural/zinc sunscreens are out there which are nano-ized zinc. Someone with a scientific background that I know has suggested that this could be dangerous in the long run (testing still not out for long term use of nano-ized zinc) as it is a hard metal absorbed into the skin ("we just don't know"). Both this lotion and CA baby are micro-ized zinc so the particles aren't as small and aren't absorbed into the skin... however, Grahams Natural particles must either be smaller or maybe due the oil it spreads farther because it's not white on the skin. We haven't been burned either, so it works well! What I missed about CA baby, and like about this is the smell- it smells very much like a sunscreen ought to- due to the coconut probably, it is beachy and sunscreeny. :) I missed that nice smell!

getting closer!

Sitting here enjoying my tea, working on my illustrations, & watching Lost with my hubby. I'm getting closer to finishing my first drawing of about 10... it's very soothing & freeing.

blueberry pancake beauty

Here's a quick shot of my blueberry pancakes from this morning. The photo really doesn't do it justice. It was striking really, a blue dough pan fried to an orange crisp in parts. I just had to share the moment. I haven't made blueberry pancakes in ages. I make pancakes quite frequently, just sans berry, so this was a fun treat, and a beauty to behold. :) So, that's my big news, how about you?