Merry Christmas!

There's snow outside, Christmas joy is in the air and I've been a busy little bird.

First, here's this years Christmas card. Which, I have to apologize to a few people - I accidentally put 3 envelopes in the mail without a stamp, and I don't know who they were addressed to! Hold tight, as soon as they come back to me in the mail (fingers crossed) I'll send them out again; this time with stamps!


Second, there's a new restaurant of the month and song of the week!

If you haven't been to The Wine Guy Bistro in Rookwood Commons, you need to check it out. Amazing food, great wine and a trendy atmosphere. Todd and I had the bruschetta, Italian wedding soup and the Margherita pizza - simply delicious!

This week's song was on Glee a few weeks ago, in the episode 'Special Education'. I loved these songs, and purchased them before the episode was even over! Their cover of 'I've Had the Time of My Life' by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes and 'Valerie' by Amy Winehouse was soulful, impressive and inevitably catchy with a hint of toe tappin' in there somewhere! Check the link to watch the performance.

And lastly, I've been busy painting some beautiful heels! All 3 pairs are currently on display in Dutch's Wine Shop in Hyde Park, and also available on my Etsy shop - which is here if you haven't been there before. Check the pictures below!

Audrey Hepburn

Marilyn Monroe

Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra

In other good news, I sold my Beatles paintings, Cary Grant and Grace Kelly within a few weeks of each other last month! Thanks to my supporters :)

Merry Christmas everyone - I hope you have a blessed holiday with your families and loved ones.

Ode to Mt. Dew

One day, while having a complete brain fart.. I decided that I needed a Mt. Dew to wake me up and get the juices flowing again, if you will. And out came the 'Ode to Mt. Dew'.

These are available as cards for your Dew-headed friends :)

Enjoy!

Projects around the house

I definitely had some fun this holiday with homemade gifts. I made white chocolate covered spoons with crushed peppermint on top. The snowflakes you see in there are edible - they are from where I work. They are vanilla and blueberry flavored. My family and friends loved these for gifts! It's perfect for melting in your hot cocoa.



I also made seasonal greeting cards as gifts too. I drew birds of the season, non Holiday specific so that they could be used year round basically. I put 2 of each design in a pack and wrapped it with ribbon.



This night stand used to be my grandmas. It was kelly green - as you can see in the 'before' photo. So I got a hold of some Design*Sponge inspiration and went hog wild with it! Love the look of this way better!



This bulletin board used to have yellow and blue stars and moons painted all over it, with a blue trim. Back in the day when I lived at home and stars and moons were the theme of my room, it was cool! But it was time for a change. So I painted it black and made those parenthesis signs with green paint. Simple. You can still see some of the stars and moons through the paint, but I think that adds character to it.

With the holiday season, I needed a way to hang my Christmas cards up. Nothing that a few thumbtacks and a piece of satin ribbon can't fix! I just tacked it up and used little clothespins to hang the cards. Since it's now after Christmas, I've taken the cards down and put up photos of my friends and Todd and me. One day I'll move it though - whenever I get curtains :)

2 down, 2 to go!

Here is George Harrison, my 2nd Beatles painting completed!


I had to make a thank you card for an AWESOME, kind post office worker in New Jersey who forwarded and paid for the express shipping on my 311 concert tickets this year - in the card, I included a check for the money he spent on shipping and a picture of Erin and I in VIP! I'm going to send him a gift card I think too. Anybody have any suggestions for gift cards of places in New Jersey?


And here's what I think my new logo is for the back of my greeting cards! I like it! It's so fitting for name like mine ;)

All you need is love

Another painting done! Paul McCartney is finished! This is an 11 x 14 oil painting. The other Beatles will be done the same way. I thought it'd be cool to do black backgrounds on these guys. Let me know what you think!





I also wanted to include this card I made for Todd. He was injured while training the other week and I decided to make this for him.

Cincinnati... in pencil!

I've finished another portrait! A friend of mine at work commissioned me to do this for her husband.. I won't lie.. it was A LOT of work!!! Wow, the detail I had to draw was insane!

Click on the image to see it larger with detail.

I'm glad this one is off my plate, I feel a very big sense of accomplishment with this piece.

My birthday was Tuesday, and I celebrated it with my hunny, Todd. He took me to Montgomery Inn and we had slabs of ribs, saratoga chips and Graeter's Black Raspberry Chip ice cream. Amazing! And on top of that, he gave me a diamond tennis bracelet and a diamond sweetheart ring, for my right hand :) They're beautiful and I can't believe I got so lucky finding a man like him. He's wonderful.

Todd's parents actually gave me a few gifts and in return, I made them a homemade thank you card. When I conjured it up, I just thought it would be a one time thing.. but I really like the way it turned out and I think I'm going to do a line of them for my greeting card obsession.

Here it is:


The inside says ' thank you!'

I just love the simplicity of the whole thing. I have a few more at home I'll have to get up on here.

I've got new ideas for my paintings... I can't wait to get started! I'm doing a
Rock n Roll series.. the Beatles, Jim Morrison, Bob Marley, Debbie Harry. I'm going to try and get started this Thursday.