I'm Sorry, I Was On A Hiatus.

I haven't abandoned everyone, just had some real issues that had to be dealt with. The long and the short of it? Welp, Matt and I and Stella and Cohen will be losing our house this year. :( It is devastating and sucks and nothing I ever imagined I would go through, but considering the circumstances, it is what it is. I won't be going into any details, but leaving it in the most legal way possible is the best choice for us, because our situation here is NOT improving with Matt still laid off, my hours greatly cut and both of us actively looking for work. We are as Matt says "now a statistic." 

One of the hardest parts of all of this for me is that like everyone, I strove to do better than my parents did. Both Matt and I have our bachelors degrees check 1 on my list, we own/owned our home check 2, we have two beautiful children check 3, but sadly and thankfully this is something my parents never had to go through. I. Have. Failed. :(

The bright spot? We have amazing friends, and you all know who you are. One set of these amazing people has offered up a home to rent to own for us, and mind you a fully updated home that was the childhood home of a very good friend. Sadly her father died and then her grandfather and so now her mother is moving from that home she shared with her now deceased husband and into the home of her now deceased father. Scott and Julie have agreed that they will rent this home to us for as long as it takes for us to own it. :) We had no idea what we would do before this option was presented to us, mostly just the greater hope of new and better employment. The home that we will call ours possibly as early as June will cost us a whopping $600 less per month, hallelujah! Taking so much strain off of our already delicate income. 

I cannot express to them enough how grateful we are about this and will probably annoy them so much with the amount of times I say thank you for saving my family and helping us stay together. You don't want to know what I thought our other options could be. 

As I know things I will post them here, mostly for myself for "memories" in the future of tough times, but also to show you why I was unable to keep up with my new download for everyday. I simply don't care anymore and now have bigger fish to fry.

It's A Hard Knock Life.

Matt and I currently have a VERY large decision to make. Either way we go, it's not a good or easy choice, but it is in fact a choice we HAVE to make. If anyone knows a lawyer that either doesn't charge much or would do a free consultation regarding real estate, I would be greatly indebted to you and would find some way to return the favor. Thanks everyone, just prey for us that things will turn out the way they are supposed to.

This Little Light of Mine.

I'm trying to let it shine. 

Things are not good at the moment.

I don't know how to go about recharging my battery or if I would be able to run better on some other form of energy. It doesn't seem to matter what I do in all aspects of life, it is never the right thing and it doesn't work the way I hope it will. I had hoped by this point in my life I'd be where I wanted to be, the way it is now is not how I imagined it. This sucks. 

It's An Obama Nation!

I will refrain from pontificating about what this day means as we are already aware of the magnitude and gravity of todays events. I will just say that I am a sensitive person and last week I even cried during an animated Disney movie, "Meet the Robinson's." In my defense it's about a little boy who is an orphan and when given the chance to go back in time to meet the mother who gave him up, instead chooses not to because his mother was really the woman who ran the orphanage. Come on your heartless if that is not touching and it made me think of Cohen, how people can give up their little babies I'll never understand. Anyway, while listening to the radio this morning they were talking about Martin Luther King Jr. and as the woman got choked up, so did I so I had to change the radio station. Then, as I was feeding little Coey, I caught Obama's actual speech and that got me quite a bit teary, I had to leave the room. It's not that I didn't want to cry so to speak, it's just that I feel silly. Am I weird as a white woman to feel positive emotions about such an impactful day? Would someone think it was not right for me to get these feelings because how could I truly understand what today means? I'm not sure, but what I do know is that for now I feel safe, at ease and happy. Something I have not felt, well, almost never about my country. 

And, for your viewing pleasure, Cohen in his new hat. And, anyone that knows Matt and his infamous hat, will truly appreciate this one. 

First Time In 4 Years.

I have been taunted the last day or two by my Yahoo "In Box." How is this possible you say?? Last night and this morning I received not one but 2 emails encouraging me "not to miss out" on seeing my very favorite musician in the entire universe perform live in Ann Arbor. I first discovered Ben Folds about 15 years ago I think just matter-of-factly listening to the radio with my friend. I instantly loved his style, mediocre voice and what he had to say. It spoke to me at a time when I felt no one knew who I was. It felt good to be able to align myself with someone, something tha I understood, even if only in small part. So, I even married someone miraculously whom resembled this person at least to me, not on purpose, but by sheer chance and fate. Funny how that works out. 

Anyway, we've both been to his shows I think 3 years in a row or so, I even won tickets one year, while working at my bosses house sitting on the commode, "can't believe I just typed that." But, I thought it was the coolest thing. He puts on an amazing show and if you are the least bit interested in his music, you should attend at least one show, it won't be your last. Sadly this year, I cannot justify the cost of the ticket, even though it is only $30.50 per ticket, a very small price to pay for such entertainment. And, really, I can't unload my children on my parents with Cohen only being not quite 7 weeks at that point. Even a doting grandparent would probably say "NO" to that request.

I guess what I'm saying is that this year there will at least be 2 extra seats left available to 2 lucky newbies to discover the true joy of Ben Folds experience. Have a great time, I'll be dieing of jealousy.

Revising Plans

Call me what you will, slacker, lier, fibber. I am all those things. I have been caught up in the stresses of life right now, some scary realities and yes, some lack of determination. All this along with my baby love at my side or on my hip, both proverbially and actually. He is pretty much an appendage from about 9am until 9pm or so. As much as I strive to put him down, he strives to rest his head on my heart and who am I to complain. 

So, my plans have had to suffer a bit and I am being forced to revise my plans on creatng a new download every day. So, for the moment I am planning on doing one per week. For now though I leave you with yet another childhood photo of me, my grandma and a couple of old, old, OLD friends from elementary school.

What's funny about this picture aside from our wardrobes and hairstyles, I actually almost got into my first and only physical fight with another girl over this very dress that I am wearing. You see, this is a photo taken at my 6th grade graduation. A couple weeks before this I went to a friends house and she showed me the dress she was going to wear to our graduation. When I went shopping with my mom at the ever fashionable JCPenney, I spotted the very dress she bought and also purchased it and wore it the same day. She freaked out. And after that summer upon entering Junior High and the ever horrible 7th grade, through other people, she declared that she wished to fight me over this. I was mystified, never had this happened to me before or since, but somehow I got out of it, probably with the help from friends, but I've never forgotten about it and will probably pass along the advice to Stella in the future. Funny.

A Glimpse Into My Past.

Over the last week or so I have been color correcting some of my moms old photos of my brothers and myself when I stumbled upon this little gem.

Me in my circa 1977 stroller complete with all the dangerous crap manufacturers compiled into one contraption. Note first the metal bar within close proximity to my itty bitty mouth fully capable of bashing the teeth out of my head. Not to mention all the fun little pinch points for little fingers to fit in between. In addition, this thing looks like it could topple forward if I were to lean too far over. Great job moms of the seventies, how did we survive with these dangerous "baby items" and sleeping on our stomachs?

Curious Cohen, The Curious Little Monkey...

Matt was holding Cohen last night feeding him and when I saw how he looked, I did not hesitate and took his picture.

Doesn't he look just like one of those baby monkeys?

I'm #3!

Alright, here's the moment I'VE been waiting for for the last week or so. I've never been so excited to be slated as #3. Yeah Brooke, I feel like I'm finally on the map. Thanks Erin, you rock the mic!! :)

Check me out!

#6 Download - Tiny Notes, Big Love

Today I will be featured on Design For Mankind and so I wanted to create a new download. I decided to create little Valentines cards that can be downloaded. Since Stella is in preschool, the subject of Valentines has already come up. These are tiny at a folded size of 1.75" x 2.75" I thought they might be nice little notes to place in your hubbies lunch bag in the morning for an afternoon pick me up, maybe slide in that crushes desk at work or just something "small" to mail to a loved one. I love tiny things that are cute, like my little Cohen. Pint sized treasures. Please enjoy!

Get them right here!

I Been Slackin'!

But, who could blame me when you have this face to stare at each and every moment. I've also gotten a little work thrown my way, and I can use anything at all at the moment. Be sure to check in tomorrow. I am hoping to have a cool download because I will be featured on Design for Mankind as part of a Friday Round Up. Not sure exactly what will be said, but I'm hoping it creates a little traffic to my blog and maybe some interest in my work as an illustrator. So, I'm hoping to be a busy little beaver, as long as the little guy participates.

#5 More Paper

These are some papers I did like a year ago, but rediscovered tonight. I had done them for submission to a company but didn't love them and never did submit them. They are simple, but they appeal to me. Maybe they will to you as well. This will have to do for today. Have some little lovelies I need to work on for a project with my Los Angeles contact (yes, I am that cool!) Then hopefully tomorrow it will be new business. Chow.

Oh Yeah, here's the link!

The Fourth Times An Alphabet

I decided to go with an alphabet because I personally like alphabets and secondly, it was pretty easy to get done in the time I was alloted. I used Century Gothic and a set of spray paint grunge brushes from Deviant Art. Not completely original, but it is what it is. Sort of ran out of steam today. I do hope though that you'll enjoy.

Get it here. 

Stella said something funny the other day. We were in the car just making conversation and I asked her if she was going to go to college. She said "No, I'm gonna be a mermaid!" So, today were talking about going to France and seeing artists and I mentioned to her that she could go to college and make art all the time and paint. She got a very excited look on her face and said, "I change my mind, I want to be an artist, not a mermaid!"

Number Three: Late, But As Promised.

Here is another paper. I know, sort of a cop out, but I've been really tired, what with a newborn and a 4.5 year old to take care of. Is anyone enjoying any of this. Please, let me know if you've done anything with this beyond downloading it. I would love to know. 

I call this one, "The Forest For The Trees" and, grab it here, as for the brushes used, I cannot take the credit and have misplaced the peoples names, but I found them here at Deviant Art, it's a great website for all things creative, check it out. Of course, if I ever do turn around and sell it, I cannot include those brushes and will indeed have to come up with my very own grunge brushes. I can do that, I've just been lazy. 

Well, I hope you like it.

Just A Funny.

Matt sent this picture to me, just made us laugh. Reminds us of Stella.

Whoop Dee Doo, Here's Number 2!

As promised, here is the next download. So far, so good. It's a 12x12 digital scrapbooking paper in which I expanded upon the previous wood grain bird theme. Please enjoy. Now, you can strictly use this digitally or if you have a large format printer, this should print out quite nicely there too. Of course, your paper won't include pictures of me! You can find the download here. 

In baby land, we are doing fine. He's still sleeping most of the time, so I'm able to go about most of my daily business. He does occasionally freak me out with strange noises he makes and he even made sounds like he was laughing today, twice. Now, I know that newborns don't laugh, but it did seem to sound that way. Welp, I'm tired it's 1am and my shift is over, I took the first shift and Matt is taking the second. Ahhh, here's to sleeping in a little tomorrow. 

First Creative Pursuit of The Year.

I'm trying to start rebuilding my portfolio, well, because I'm bored with myself and need the creative stimulation. So, for my first of hopefully many future *FREE* downloads, here is a set of bird and wood grain inspired address labels.I made these using an Avery label template available here. Nope, not trying to help Avery make more money, just trying to see if anyone would actually use these and trying to make it easy for you, but I assume that these would fit on any standard 10 up 2x4 address labels. 

My little birdie address labels are available here for a limited time download. I will be sure to give a warning before I take them down.

Thanks for looking and I do hope you try it out. If so, please give me some feedback to let me know how they turn out.