Spring has officially started in Texas

Golf Ball Sized Hail by Sublivious

We had a pretty big storm last night. We usually have a big one every year. The first year we bought our house we had a storm with wind and hail that caused us to get a new roof.

Last year we had huge amounts of hail damage done to both of our cars. Cory's truck was at home and I got caught in the middle of the hail storm while trying to make it home before the tornadoes came through our area.

This year took us a bit by surprise! We weren't expecting it to be as big of a storm as it was last night. We figured we'd get a lot of rain and some wind but maybe next time we should take a look at the news.



Before the Storm by FW Sunshine

Our area received pea to golf ball sized hail. Thankfully our cars didn't get any damage and there wasn't any visible damage I could see when I walked out to my car to go to work. I was not, however, expecting the call I received from Cory this evening!

I thought at first he was playing some sick joke...One of the many reasons I fell in love with our house are the huge beautiful trees. One in the back and three in the front.

He said the storm got the one in the backyard...This is what I came home to! I am so upset!


My beautiful 20 yr old tree!

On the upside it did a lot less damage than it could have done if it had fallen in a different direction. It tore up a small portion of our fence and ripped off about four or five feet of our neighbors gutter. The back of our house did not receive any damage.

Now we just need to figure out how to get it out of our backyard.

There's one in all of us

Aaaaack! I am so excited to hear about this! I was trying to catch up on the fifty million blog posts I have missed when I happened upon on this post from D. Sharp's Journal. "Where the Wild Things Are" is one of the many books I loved as a child. I smile every time I think about that book and I was smiling the entire time I watched this trailer.

I was surprised to see so many stars involved in it. Catherine O'Hara, Forest Whitaker and Benicio Del Toro are a few of the known names. It looks like Tom Hanks is doing a voice and is one of the producers as well. I really hope they do a good job with it!

Anxiously waiting for October,

All work/no play = A very grumpy girl

I am completely wiped out from work this week. I went in for a while on Sunday and Monday wasn't too bad that I can remember. Tuesday I worked from 8:30am to 10:45pm, Wednesday 8:30am - 11:00pm. No lunches/no breaks. By Thursday, I was spent.

We actually didn't work too late on Thursday but had to come into work early today. I was too drained to do anything I needed to around the house last night or this evening. By the end of the day today everyone in the office was cranky and irritable and kind of in a daze if they sat still for too long.

I hear it should be like this all next month too. Damn Refi Boom.

It's not all too bad. The hours really suck but at least they take care of us while we are there. They provide us with lunch when it's too busy to leave and dinner as well (if need be). This week we got food from places like Chili's, Pappadeux and Abuelo's. We get free sodas, plenty of snacks and any kind of OTC drug you can possibly need. We are allowed to chit chat and cut up while we work and if there is nothing to do we can get on the internet. The work itself is not hard in the slightest but it gets very, very monotonous. You really have to watch it or you find yourself just going through the motions and not really looking at what you are doing.

I keep telling myself it's only for a few months and it will die down. I really hope that's true.

What a lovely surprise!

Imagine my surprise when I opened up my mailbox yesterday and found this delightful atc! It was sent by Linda of Just My Little Bit as a thank you for the book she received in the January Blog Giveaway.


It's been sunny and in the eighties here this week and I have been having Spring Fever like crazy. Does this not remind you of a bright and sunny spring day? I can just hear the birds chirping and a soft wind blowing.

Thank you so much Linda! I love it!

My comments work again!

It seemed a little odd I hadn't had any comments on my blog since my giveaway post. In fact, I have only had one comment for that particular post itself!

Thank you Shelly for letting me know something was wrong! Apparently I messed something up when I tried to embed the comments in the page instead of as a pop up window. Oops.

Tryin' to get it together,

Happy St. Patty's Day!

My little sketch have nothing to do with St. Patrick's Day but I'm posting it anyway. I drew it a couple of weeks ago at the same time I drew the one I posted with last weeks give away winner. I have one more but haven't scanned it in. I'm liking the whole sketching with random colors thing.

It's Monday but no there's no art to show

It's been an entire week since I did anything art related. I just walk into the room and go blah. I have been focusing on trying to get my blog in order but it's very slow going. I did find a book that explains HTML step by step so I'm hoping that will help.


Here's another piece I did while in Colorado with limited supplies. I really like how it turned out. Looking back I was struggling with deciding to have a child and we had just decided against it. I'm not sure if that played a part in this piece or not but it seems like it!

And the winner is...

Bairbre Aine of Don't interrupt me when I'm talking to myself...!

Congratulations!!

I will be posting this weeks next giveaway shortly.

Stay tuned...

March Madness

I decided I would be ending my blog give away earlier than I originally posted. In fact, it ends right now.

Why you ask?

Well, after much thought, I decided to close down my sister Etsy shop - Jen's Treasure Trove. I was using it to destash all the extras I had in my craft room but I decided it was too much time and trouble for the amount of money I was earning from it. I would much rather focus that time and effort into my artwork.

What does this have to do with the blog giveaway?

Funny you should ask! It means all the books I had in the store are now being given away as prizes. The rubber stamps and ribbons and other misc crap will be listed in bulk on Craigslist sometime tomorrow. I have GOT to get my spare bedroom cleaned out. Look at it!

Isn't it hideous? This is only half of the room too. The other half is filled with prizes for the AFA contest winners. The clutter is clogging my mind and has to go!

So, for the month of March I will be giving away one book every Friday. Yep, that means I will need to give away two books this week! I will give more details in another post tomorrow! Sorry guys. Due to my work schedule I won't be able to due this. I will still be doing monthly giveaways. I may do some weekly giveaways once my work schedule settles down.

A little rain, a little sunshine

Cory was feeling much better by midday yesterday. It must have been something he ate that just didn't agree with him. He did some chores around the house, ran a couple of errands and cooked dinner for me when I got home. Isn't he a sweetie?

So, on to my next crisis, lol. We have had this funky smell in our house for the past couple of days. We had left the dishes out for a couple of days and we figured that was it. We took the trash out as well. Nope, smell is still there. Long story short, this morning we wake up and hear water dripping from our ancient a/c unit. Apparently the drain got clogged and the water couldn't drain out properly and is instead dripping all over the unit, surrounding walls and the floor underneath it. I'm convinced this is what the smell is coming from but Cory doesn't agree with me *whatever*. He cleared the drain before he went in to work this morning hoping to see if we can avoid a pricey visit from a technician. Cross your fingers!

On a happier note, I received a blog award yesterday from Shelly of BlueRidgeLady! You should definitely stop by her blog. She has tons of art journal pages with bold vibrant colors and some of her older pieces incorporate magazine images so fluidly you have to look twice. Her art is a complete inspiration. Thank you again, Shelly!

Well, I'd best go get ready for work. It's raining here and I need to leave a little early.

...and it's only Tuesday

I'm still working on my durn blog. I fixed the background (I hope). My signature was taking forever to load on the page so I made it on my computer instead in a small jpeg and it seems to be working much better now. I couldn't find the font the online program used so I was a little bummed but I'm okay with this new one. I also figured out how to do this little thing at the top of your web browser and for bookmarks! It's called a Favicon. I used my company logo (same as my avatar). It think it's really cool!

Cory is home sick today with an upset stomach. I thought at first it was probably just his sinuses when he mentioned it yesterday afternoon but then he went to bed early and it's still upset today. I got him to take some medicine last night so he must have thought he was on his deathbed. Why is getting guys to take medicine like pulling teeth?

I'm taking Thursday and Friday off to start working on stuff for the Spring Fling. I need to get prints ordered and figure out how I'm going to arrange things. I need to get those metal grid things too (too hang my work on). I should probably order those today. I'm not sure how long the delivery time is.

This is an old piece from my art journal back from December/January. I just realized I hadn't posted it. I'm surprised at how it turned out! I did it while I was on vacation in Colorado and had limited supplies. One magazine, glue stick, white out, neocolors and scissors. Once I got home I added some acrylic paint and the pink flowers.

You want fries with that?

How many McDonald's french fries does it take to paint a mural on the wall?

One of the blogs I follow, Folk Art by Campbell Jane had a video on it today that will certainly make you think twice about eating fries. It's completely disgusting if you ask me but I'll let you watch it and decide for yourself. Ugh and to think we are putting that stuff into our bodies!

The world is your oyster

This weekend went by way too fast. I still have so much I want to do but don't really have the time. I need to get my website up and going again. I killed it on accident last week...not quite sure what happened. I want to get Etsy Fort Worth rolling and need to get everything together for the Funky Finds show. Granted had I not been playing around with blog layouts or thrift store hunting or watching movies I probably could have got more done but it's too late now, right?

I did manage to finish up a collage I have been working on. It turned out nothing like I had originally planned but I am still satisfied with it. I listed it in my Etsy shop last night.

The weather this weekend has been absolutely gorgeous! Sunny and upper 70's. Yesterday was crazy windy but today it's calm and peaceful. I have had my windows open all day. You can hear a light wind blowing, the birds chirping and the children outside playing. Those things combined I think is my favorite sound out of everything. It's just so soothing. That sound is also the reason I chose to move into an older neighborhood versus a brand new one. If you can't hear the trees and all the birds it just throws everything off kilter.

Replacement Winner!

I never got the address sent to me for last month's winner so I picked a new one like I said I was going to. And the new winner is...

Vicki Holdwick! Congratulations!!!!!

Prank call at the office

We got busy at work yesterday. I was suppose to get off at 5pm and left instead at 715pm. It's just the way it works there. Anyway, we had something happen yesterday that completely made my afternoon!

We get these sneaky copier salesmen call our office. They ask us what type of copier we use, then start sending toner and billing us without our okay. We've had it happen a couple of times so we know to watch out for it now. Yesterday we thought that was the type of phone call we were receiving. It may have been and maybe the guy was just board or maybe it was some kid but I was laughing my head off afterwards! This is about how the conversation went:

My boss picks up the phone. "Yes, can I help you"

"What is the model type of your copier?", he says on the other end.

"Why do you need to know that?"

"Because you're stupid. "

"What? Excuse me?" You can tell she was slightly taken aback as if she thought maybe she had heard him wrong.

"Why did you fart?"

At this point my boss hung up on him and told us what happened. Oh, it was great! It completely made my afternoon. I'm still laughing as I type this and wanted to spread the cheer.

Etsy Treasury

I'm excited to be included in an Etsy treasury for our new Etsy Fort Worth Street Team!

Etsy Fort Worth

Ya'll please go and show some love! We need all the exposure we can get at the moment. Thank you MFIPC!

Okay Kiwi Arts, this is for you!

A while back I did a post called "Doing nothing makes for a long day". It was about people looking at you crazy when you doodle random things. I was doodling a rocket ship that day and Beth of Kiwi Arts mentioned I should try doing some blind contouring. I had never heard of it so I had to look it up!

I tried it the next day at work and the results were horrible! I even got the woman that was looking at me like I was insane trying it. We all laughed at our attempts. I ran across the sketches yesterday and decided to spread the cheer.

Beth, this is for you!

March Blog Give Away!

So it's that time again! Hmmm...Which book are we giving away this month? That would be "Visual Chronicles:" The No-Fear Guide to Creating Art Journals, Creative Manifestos and Altered Books by Linda Woods and Karen Dinino. It gives great insight, ideas and techniques for your art journals!

To enter, simply comment in this post by March 14th, 7pm. Can't get much easier than that!

P.S. - I need to get the address from last month's winner by this Thursday or I will be drawing another winner on Friday.

The Land of Tra-La-La

I got off work at 4:30 today. Quick happy dance time! The hours have been so crazy lately I almost forgot what it was like to have an evening after work. I had enough daylight left to take some pictures, start reading blogs, sketch out a painting, list stuff in my shop and watch Heroes and it's just 10pm!

My newest paintings are dry and complete. I posted them up in my Etsy Shop earlier this evening. I have one more painting to complete in this theme and then I'll be moving on. I don't think I will be doing anymore workshops that teach you how to do specific paintings. I alter them as much as possible with my own style but in the end it doesn't feel like "me". I have two kitschy portraits I am painting from some of my doodles, three collages, and several floral themed paintings I am currently working on. All in various stages of completion. I can't work on just one at a time you know! Hopefully I will have time to work on it this week.

I did a bunch of sketches for future paintings today at work while were slow. I am slowly going through and either completing or painting over stalled works I have in my art room. Having a lack of funds tends to make you appreciate how much stuff you actually have!

Also, I just realized it's March. You know what that means? It's blog give away time! I'll post this month's giveaway tomorrow or Wednesday.

An end to the drama/Who You Callin' a Fairy?

After I had calmed down from all my melodramatics this week I had a really productive weekend. I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone for their support! My boss reassured me she expected me to make mistakes and how my mistakes are what let her know I'm working. Granted, I'm sure she's not going to be that good natured if I continue to make them but it made me feel a lot better. I tend to be really hard on myself *in case you hadn't noticed* and I think my boss is aware of that. So, I buckled down and started out fresh. I decided I couldn't do anything about my past mistakes and dwelling on them wouldn't make them magically disappear.

We had a wedding reception to go to Saturday afternoon and then I had to work today. *Ugh! My work hours have been killer lately!* Between that stuff I completed three paintings and got more than two more than halfway done. The three paintings are drying at the moment so I'll have to post pictures later. I will go ahead and post pics of this little guy...

Yep, I said guy...It's suppose to be a boy fairy. You wouldn't have known it was a boy unless I told you, huh? Cory laughed when I told him. I drew the card for a little game they played at AFA to see if people can guess who drew the card based on their style. I have never drawn a fairy before but apparently my noses give me away! Everyone knew it was my card right off the bat. He's going up in my Etsy Shop this evening.