Amelia Magic

Peeking Out

How cute is she????  Little Miss 6 year old on her summer break sneaking into the picture.  I was trying to get a shot of her friend--the one in the background there--but of course Little Miss Sneaky snuck in.  She is really into the Little Miss t-shirts and books right now so everything around here is Little Miss this and Little Miss that--as in Little Miss Sassy better stop sassing her mom and get her sassafras *ss in gear and clean up her room!!!  Yeah there, like that.  (Really, I don't know where that came from!)

Anyhoo, really looking forward to a fun and frolicky summer, and it is, indeed, just starting to peek out.  June gloom is pretty much over and we are entering phase two where things start to heat up here.  It will get toasty hot.  Which means beach and air conditioned libraries and friends' pools and ice coffee and catching up on blogging--reading all of my favorites, I have missed them, and posting here, a lot.  Today I am turning my head around the corner and saying hello.  You will see more of me soon...........

Stay cool.

Say "Yes I Am"

As in, "yes I am working on artsy stuff" and "yes I am a patient and loving mother who is capable of doing it all" and "yes I am keeping my closets tidy".  Well, okay, maybe not the last one. 

But, have a look at what I made--affirmation cards.............



......you scatter them on your desk or table or dresser or nightstand..............



.............and when you are feeling low or uninspired, you pick one or two.............



...........and read them out loud (or to yourself if you are feeling shy)............

 

.................and you instantly feel better. 

Really, it works.  I was feeling really gross and tired and cranky the other day and I pulled the one that said, "I am a sexy bombshell with endless amounts of passion and energy" (funny, I know) and I laughed and then pulled my shoulders back and went to the bathroom, splashed some cold water on my face, tidied my hair, put on some red lipstick and felt much much better.  It seems so silly talking about it now, but it made all the difference in my day. 

It really was just that simple.

The butterflies are from watercolors I did awhile ago.  The blue butterfly says "change" and the white butterfly says "embrace change" and there is a little pencil detail on the cards and a bit of glitter on the top card. 

 

I can customize the cards to suit your wants/needs/issues.

And, "yes, I am listing these cards in my etsy shop".

A Little Job For Me

I am an illustrator now, doing a book cover.  That's right, a working woman.  It is for a self help book on parenting.  (I will tell you more about that when it is published and the title is all settled and everything.)  This was really fun to work on, I felt very professional--"kids, can't you see that I am WORKING!!??"  Hee, hee.

Here is a quick shot of the "finished" work.  Meaning what I am turning in as a first look and then they will let me know what to change. 



Right now it is soft and sketchy, hopefully I can add a little sparkle and mess it up a bit, we will see.  Either way, I am happy with it (I love the little girl in her dress) and I can't wait to see it in print.  I also have to make some black and white drawings to highlight the affirmations that will be throughout the inside....those should be really fun, I love simple little sketches.

Gosh, look at the time, I REALLY need to get back to WORK!

From The Hands Of Babes

I volunteer twice a week at Piper's school, one day I am a lunch lady (so much fun!) and another day I go into her class and help with art projects.  Usually the teacher has a project ready to go that coincides with whatever they are learning at the moment.  But this week I took in a bunch of watercolor trays and brushes and just let them have at it.  I do this with my kids and their friends all the time so I know how into it they get, but it was so cool to see a crazy bunch of loud, hot, tired and distracted 5 year olds all calm down and sit quietly and share paint trays and talk about how the colors mix up and want "more paper please" and to be so confident in what they are doing.  (I think that's one of the things I love to see most in a child--confidence--they all have it in a very innate way and I think it is sooooooooooo important for grown-ups to tread lightly so we don't squash that confidence that they are born with.) 

Anyway, we had fun, making art.  I brought their work home and mounted it for them on cardstock and strung it up with some yarn and a couple of beads just for fun so they can hang it proudly on their wall at home. 

Here are some pics.......................enjoy.

























Wow.  That's a ton of pictures, I know, but I couldn't resist.

Go ahead, scroll up, have another look. 

Beautiful.

Hello Spring.

Yes, I know it has been spring for awhile now but I feel like I have just woken up from a looooooooong hibernation and I am ready to go.  I have been driving around LA and noticing all kinds of beautiful  blossoms sprouting up, in front yards, parks, even at the side of the highways and especially in our own little courtyard.  Here is a little spring munchkin showing off her "new dress".  It was, at one time, just black & white, but Piper, Audrey and I went to town with the fabric pens and voila'--color explosion.  Now I can't get her to take it off, it stinks.  Really.

Audrey wanted me to show you the butterfly she painted, the one right there...............



.............see it?  Under the stinky armpit.

And to be fair, I will show you Piper's masterpiece (my personal favorite-shhh, don't tell)..........



..................the butterfly with hearts.  So awesome.

We now are searching through or wardrobes for anything black and white to spruce up a bit.  Washed out denim works too. 

Try it, you'll like it.

Slouch Potato

I don't know what that means either, but I made a slouch hat and it's darn cute, on a potato or otherwise.

Have a looksee;



It's made from a really soft, light gray blend, fuzzy, but not at all itchy.......

...with a big slouchy pouf at the back........




...and finished off with a cute ribbon (Piper picked that out)......

 

.....hee hee, she looks cranky about it, but she's not, she was just tired of modeling for me.

I will be listing my hats in the shop starting tomorrow, I will have this one for kids and grown-ups, but not potatoes.

Tres' chic.

The Re-do

I have been trying to DO more of the things I want to blog about and blog less about the fact that I WANT to do these things.  Get it?  Sort of?  For example, I DID finish a little painting that has been on my art table for well over two months, and now I can blog about it.

Here's the story:  I did a painting for the CHIFund a looooooooong time ago and I promised the lady that inspired me to do that said painting a print of the painting.  My mom was so nice to offer to take the painting to her office and mail it off for me, thanks mom.  I told her it is muy importante to por favor-a scan the painting so I can make some prints.  I repeated myself a few times before she left.

My mom forgot to scan the painting before she mailed it, uhhhhhhhh, thanks mom.  (Just kidding.  My mom is so sweet, she offered to go to the auction and buy back the painting!)

No worries, I thought, I will make a new painting for the very sweet lady who said such nice things about me and the original painting that I had done.  I won't even tell her, I will just surprise her.  The only surprise she got was no print, no e-mail, no nothing for three months and now who looks like a flake?  Surprise, surprise.........me. 

But!  Now!  Finally!  It is done and in the mail on the way to her house.  I hope she likes it, I hope she forgives me for being such a flake and taking so long.  I hope this post isn't going to go on forever.

Here's the painting;









See?  Pretty cute.  A lot like the other one I did, but different. 

I really hope she likes it.

Yellow Is A Happy Color

Do you love the hat?  I do.  I made it for myself for my ski trip in case I got stuck in an avalanche, I thought I would be easy to find with this Tweety Bird color on my head.  I told a wise old friend that and he dryly responded, "Well, at least they will find the hat."  I guess I should have crocheted some strings on it as well to tie under my chin so it would stay put; safe from avalanches and little girls' sneaky hands.  It seems that Piper and all of her friends have responded well to this bright sunny color.  I have not been able to wear it once.

It's ok.  She looks much cuter in it than me.



Despite the open weave it is quite warm and cozy, especially for So Cal "cold" weather.  I will have to make some more of these.

Just for fun,here are a few pics that Little Miss Yellow Bonnet took on this rainy day, I love her photos.  It's great to see what her world looks like. 

Love this....



...and now look down, what do you see?





Purrrrrrrrfect, don't you think?

Usually when I sit down to do a post I have an idea of what it will be and I almost always have the title worked out.  Today I just have a picture.  It has been such nice weather around here, an early spring, that we have been moving our business outside.  We have a lot of nice little places to sit and read or draw or crochet.  There is a courtyard with a "track" that the girls can run around or ride their scooters, but for some reason, the girls love to set up camp here, in the hallway just off of our back door.  I don't know what it is about this spot that they like, maybe just the fact that they picked it and I think it's weird.  I usually hang out on the steps just below this spot and read or I do my dishes which is a whole four feet away--I can hear their chatter so this feels safe to me.

I just love these two monkeys so much, I love their intelligence and independence and sweetness-to name a few-I know that is so obvious, a mother loving her kids, but I can't seem to feel it enough or to share it enough. 

So there.  I'm sharing.

Old Fashioned Gal

I recently got hooked up on Facebook.  It's fun, sort of.  I have the usual friends, the ones I see on a regular or semi-regular basis.  But, I am also gathering friends that I haven't seen in AGES, like 25 years or MORE!  It's a little weird.  Especially because it is a weird way to "run into someone", on "the wall".  They say, "Hey!  Are you the girl I went to Eastview Elementary with?", and I say, "Yep, that's me.", and then we type meaningless chatter back and forth for about 60 seconds.  It's not about the people, I love the people.  It's about the lack of real connection in our new world.  This is what I would love to happen; I am walking down the street one day, whistling a merry tune, maybe I just came from the grocery which is just around the corner (it really is just around the corner) and I run into one of my old friends.  She stops me and says, "Holy Hollywood, are you Danette, from Eastview Elementary?!", and I say, "Lori?!  OMG! (I wouldn't actually say OMG) How wonderful to run into you like this.", and then we wander into the corner coffee shop that we are standing in front of and we catch up properly with coffee and cherry pie and we lose track of time because we are talking about alllllllllllllllll of the stuff we have been doing for the past 25 years and then I realize that I still have my groceries and my ice cream has melted and my lettuce has wilted and I say, "I have to get home, but why don't you come by for dinner tonight and bring your family?" and she says, "I'd love too."..........................wow, now that would be cool.  But, she lives all the way over on the other side of the country and so, until I get a chance to go back home and visit, Facebook is it.  I will check out her profile and leave comments about how cute her kids are and she on mine and other long lost friends will come out of the closet to say hello and so on and so forth.

And I will still carry my Blackberry every where I go, because I couldn't bear to miss that e-mail from Lillian Vernon telling me about her new clearance sale.

And my girls will still Tivo Max and Ruby so they can watch a little before bedtime.

And my husband and I will still IM each other sweet nothings.

And I will still check weather.com every morning to see if I need a sweater instead of walking the 20 feet to the front door.

And I will still blog in hopes of making new friends out there in the blogosphere.

But, man, cherry pie and coffee sure does sound good.