It's Been A While

Wow! It has been quite a long time since my last post! It has been extremely busy around here lately and a lot going on. First, I had been working on giving my blog a face lift, which I am pretty much done for the moment. There are several other things I want to add and more link lists, but that will just have to be a work in progress. Two weeks ago was the last week of school (June 4) and that week was just a whirl wind! I felt like I was at the school just about as much as Ashlyn was. They had all kinds of programs and parties - it was a very busy week. On top of that, both of the girls got sick with sinus infections.

Every person in this house has been sick over the last couple of weeks. The girls had sinus infections, I have had a bad flare that I have been battling along with adjusting to some new medication that is making me extremely sick, and my poor husband got salmonella poisoning from the cafeteria in his office building. The girls have been at my parents almost 2 weeks, and I am really missing them! They will be back on Saturday thank goodness, and they came up for Father's Day, but went back for the 2nd week since my husband and I were so sick. They've been able to enjoy some good quality/spoiling time with Granna and Gramps, though.
















My and Mom and Dad surprised us and had the girl's pictures taken for Father's Day. What a great surprise at that! I am so proud of these pictures - I think they are some of the best they have ever taken. Of course, it helps now that they are older and cooperate a lot better when taking pictures. In the past, it took at least two of us to attempt to control them, chase them down, make silly faces, etc. Now, it goes much more smoothly than before. I can't thank my parents enough for these pictures!

While they've been gone, I have had some time to create and try to get my studio in order. I still have a lot to go on getting the room organized. I never thought it would be this difficult trying to figure out how I want everything set up. This is mostly my fault because I am a perfectionist and over-thinker when it comes to these sorts of things. One of the pieces I did was "Create." I guess I thought it would help to have some words of inspiration on the wall!













I met a wonderful new online artist friend named Tonya Ashe. She saw my "Bliss" piece and asked if she could buy it. I couldn't believe it! Someone wanted to buy one of my paintings and just happened to find it by looking through my Flicker pictures. Once she and I got to talking through email, we realized that we eerily have a lot in common. She asked me if I made and traded ATC's. I had always admired them, but never had tried to do it myself mostly because I didn't know how to start trading once I did make some. Well, when I told her this, she gave me all kinds of information on these amazing little pieces of art and told me exactly how to go about making and trading them. So, I decided to try to make a few and just see what happens, and low and behold - I had people wanting to trade immediately, and all but 1 traded by the evening on the afternoon that I posted them. The four that you see above are the ones I traded. I can't wait to get the ones that I traded these for! I am so gracious to Tonya for leading me into this fun new way of creating my art. I am totally hooked! If you haven't tried it - I certainly suggest it. What an awesome thing to not only share your artwork with someone, but to get some back in return from amazing artists all around the world!

Well, I am off to bed. I just realized what time it is and I am getting blurry eyed looking at the computer. Have a good evening/morning. I will try to keep up now that things are slowing down a bit and post more often!