Awards...

I've been lucky enough to have been honored by two awards this last week. This first one was given to me by my new friend and talented beader, Bobbi of The Bead Goes On. She is one of the most gracious and sweet people I have ever met, facing many challenging health issues with great courage and an incredibly positive attitude. She inspires me on a daily basis. I heard this morning that she is in the hospital once more, so make sure you send her your good and healing thoughts! Also visit her blog and take a look at her beautiful beaded creations!

Now with this Award there are some rules and here they are:
1. List 7 things that I love
2. Link back to the blog that awarded it to me
3. Choose 7 blogs to award as 'Kreativ Bloggers'
4. Comment at each blog to let them know they’ve been chosen

Well, alright then, here it goes...

Seven things I love:
1. My husband, Daniel
2. Our pets - Winslow, our dog and Ramses, our cat
3. Our families
4. Our many friends
5. Painting and creating
6. All aspects of blogging
7. Listening to the ocean; sticking my feet in the water; walking barefoot in the cool sand; watching a sunrise or sunset; rain on our skylights; sunshine; foggy days; road trips; a stack of unread books on my nightstand; browsing through a bookstore; checking on our garden to see what's growing; baking deliciousness; ice cream; chocolate; a good beer (goes without saying for a German); good bread (ditto); flowers; listening to a great audio book while doing mundane things; traveling to new and old places; trying (some) new things; getting postcards in the mail; a good cup of tea; biscottis dipped in dessert wine and whipped cream (an anniversary present from Daniel this year - so delicious!); a quiet morning; walks with Winslow through the neighborhood; frogs on our windows; lizards sunning themselves on our porch; birds at the bird feeder; squirrels looking in the window;... simply LIFE!

And now I am going to break the rules. I have the hardest time choosing blogs to give these awards to. Actually, that's not hard, it's hard to narrow it down and leave some of you out. So, both of these awards I will give to all of you!
Just as Diana Evans did when she created this award. Yes, it features her fabulous artwork and if you haven't visited her blog you are in for a special treat! She is my daily dose of happiness, bright colors and inspiration! She created this award for all her blogging friends and I am going to follow her lead and pass both awards on to all my new blogging friends.

Every day, I hurry to the computer to read your comments, to enjoy your encouragement, to visit your blogs and to be inspired all over again! I love how all of us are so different, yet we are all connected!

If you feel so inspired, take both awards and pass them on as you wish! Or, simply know that I appreciate you!!

P.S. I'll be out and about most of today, tonight and tomorrow morning, but will be checking in with your blogs this weekend!

P.P.S. Make sure you enter my giveaway in my previous post if you haven't already. And if you did leave a comment, thank you! And thank you for all your birthday wishes and sweet comments about my parents and my red conehead outfit...

A Special Day and Giveaway

Well, my wonderful friends, today I turn 43! And I thought what better day to have a giveaway than today! When I painted this pretty woman, I was thinking of all of you who visit my blog on a regular basis, who give me encouragement and support, who make me laugh, inspire me and urge me to keep creating.

Before I tell you how to enter the giveaway, I wanted to share a couple of photos with you. I love this one of my mom when she was pregnant with me.
And then this one - I just love how my parents look so stylish! And how do you like my red rain outfit?
Today, I am grateful for my 43 years, for my sweet husband Daniel, for my family, my friends, and for so much more. Like anyone's life, mine has had it's up and downs, but still I have been and still am one lucky woman!

And now I want to share that luck with you. To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment on this post. If you are also following my blog, let me know in your comment and I'll enter you twice. If you want to link to my giveaway on your blog, leave a comment and I'll give you yet another entry... I'll pick the name of the lucky winner first thing Monday morning.

Now, there may be some among you who'd like to leave a comment but aren't interested in the giveaway. Feel free to leave a comment anyway and just let me know not to enter you for the art. I appreciate any and all comments!

P.S. I've received a few awards from some of my lovely blogging friends a couple of days ago and will happily pass them on tomorrow!

Grumbling Skies

This will be a very short post because we are having bad storms and I really need to get off the computer. I wanted to quickly thank you for all your heartfelt comments on my post yesterday. It warmed my heart! You all are the best!!
Here a few garden photos I snapped earlier today before the torrential rainfalls we are experiencing right now.
I have nearly finished the painting for my blog giveaway, which will begin tomorrow.
So make sure you check back in...
Hoping you are having a wonderful day!

Angels in Our Lives

I called this painting "Angels Who Uplift Us." It reminds me of my family, friends and of this wonderful blogging community. Sometimes we are the ones needing to be uplifted and other times we get to be the angel who uplifts with a kind word, a small gesture or just by holding someone in our thoughts. Thank you for being my angels!

I added lots of texture to this with light molding paste and had fun painting it! I love the girls' sweet faces and general feeling of this painting. You can find it in my little store...

Thank you all for your great comments on my last painting and giving me a little insight into your creative flow. I so love hearing from you!

That brings me to a little frustration -- I truly admire those among you who answer every comment with a response on your blog. It really is what I want to do, but I'm trying to also have time to visit all of your blogs and leave comments there (it's one of my favorite things to do!). So, if I don't respond to all of your comments individually, please forgive me. And if I haven't visited your blog in a while, please give me a little nudge. Also, if I am not following your blog already, let me know.

I truly appreciate all of you ... and am working on the painting for my next giveaway to show my appreciation properly. Stay tuned!!

Green-Eyed Woman - Postcard

Here's the latest postcard I sent to Beth on our monthly handmade postcard exchange. Well, even though I varnished her twice on both sides, she did not arrive unscathed - she had a smudge on her chin and neck. So, even though I love the idea of just creating something and sending it openly through the mail, I will from now on put my postcards in envelopes. (Beth was able to get most of the smudge taken off with some rubbing alcohol - whew! )

I loved painting this woman - she just flowed out of my paintbrush in what seemed like minutes. Suddenly there she was looking at me from those gorgeous green eyes! I am offering a limited edition of prints of her in my Etsy shop if she has bewitched you like she has me.

From my last post I found out that while most of you are dog and cat lovers, not everyone of you loves reptiles. Maybe I should put a warning in the post title from now on - because I am sure I'll be posting more pictures of frogs, toads, snakes and other slithery things... I do admire your bravery in not only looking at the photos, but even leaving me wonderful comments about them!

Some of you have asked me over the past few days how much time it takes me to finish a painting and how much time I spend every day on my creative endeavors. Well, it depends. Today was a busy day, so I didn't spend much time painting - maybe 1/2 hour. Other days, I spend four or more hours in my studio. Some paintings flow right along and are finished in an hour or so while others take me much longer because they don't want to come together right away. I find that if I make a painting for someone specific, it takes me longer because I want it to be super good. If I just let it flow without much planning, it usually goes faster.

I know that this is incredibly vague, and I wonder if it's the same for all of you. I also find that it depends on how I feel - some days I feel like painting, other days I don't. How is it for you and your creative endeavors?