Free Gift

Every once in awhile I like to thank my fans with a little free gift. So here you go:

Just Right Click on image for full size and "Save As">"Set as desktop background"

{xLarge-1920x1080 Resolution}*

{1280x720 Resolution}

Quotes obtained from Quotegarden.com

*Update: Blogger condensed the xLarge to 1,600px × 900px (if you would like the original, e-mail me and I will send to you :) lmdstudio@live.com

2 Things: Sunday/Pattern

This 2 Things Challenge was perfect for me. One of my favorite things to create is motif's for patterns. This particular one gives me the chance to share my Devotional Journal. I created a few patterns to use on Zentangles, or other uses.

The Patterns: Dogwood {Sketch}

The Journal: Various Patterns {Biblical Based}

*The text:
"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man."~ Psalms 118:8
                
 "I shall not die but live, and declare the works of the Lord."~Psalms 118:17

Of course the journal is meant to be used daily, but I seem to only be using it on Sunday lately...Need to work on that :)

Angry Birds Chess {I Made it Monday}

This Christmas I made each of my children one handmade gift. My middle son is on an Angry Birds kick right now. So I made him an "Angry Birds Chess Set"

Angry Birds and egg stealing Pigs face off.

Piggy Pawn

Bird Knight

Bird Pawn

Bird King

Bird Bishop

Bird Rook

Bird Queen

Piggy King and Queen

Piggy Knight and Rook (Bishop is larger version of Pawn)

2 Things: Post/Parallel

As soon as I saw this week's challenge, I knew exactly what to post. I always loved how my husband and son's shadow runs parallel with this awesome train.

Shadow Train, a photo by Mommy Bee on Flickr.

Join in the fun at 2 Thing Challenge

Sketch-2-Sketch - The Little Princess

She ignored her father's wishes for her to stay in the waiting area. The precocious one year old strode down the aisle of booths in the restaurant, blue eyes shining from under the pink wool hat with grey leopard print fur brim. Her creamy plump cheeks pulled up as she smiled at everyone. Her pink wool coat matched her hat and her Peter Pan Collar matched her hat's brim. Grey tights covered her legs and purple Mary Janes covered her feet. The little princess held up her right arm and waved with her fingers the way kids do when they first learn to wave. It looked more like a come-here gesture, but to her it was a wave. She kept on walking and waving as if nothing else mattered in the world.

November Already?

My goodness October sure did fly by. Well, as you can see I didn't get my website up and running. In fact, I need to go back to square one and find a good hosting site. You can find me here for now :)

I do have internet access again....YAY!!! So no excuses to not productivate :)

October Meet-UP

September has come and gone. It was a successful month of planning, organizing, and all around getting into the time-management groove. As a creative, this is a challenge. Personally I am a very by-the-book person, so planning is fine…it’s the application that is the kicker. As in any new:  habit, job, adventure, this month has been both rewarding and emotionally exhausting. I am staying the course and see real improvements in attitude and motivation.  

~~Now that I got the sappy stuff out of the way…Let’s move on~~

October is going to be a refreshingly busy month. Can we say (way over due) Website Re-launch…Yeah baby! 

Before we get to the plan, I have a favor to ask…

 

If you would like to just leave a question in the comments, please make sure that we have an email address to respond personally to. In either case, please allow 2 weeks for a response.

*We reserve the right to delete any comments that we deem as inappropriate or irrelevant.

 

Back to Planning

I have been doing very well with the project planning, and holding myself accountable.  So, here is the plan:

Month long:

Website Re-launch: Deadline October 28

Week 1

Project 1:

Website:

                Create Flash for Photography page on Website

Project 2:

Rings:   

Photograph

Launch Series in Etsy Shop ~ can’t wait to show them J

Paintings:

Finish Painting Math Series …again, can’t wait to share!

                Launch Series in Etsy Shop

Project 3:

Client:

                Logo for Blog (More detail after project completion)

Week 2

Project 1:

Website:

                Design and Code “Design Studio”

Project 2:

Paintings:

Watercolors for Portfolio

                Upload to Appropriate Shops

Project 3:

TBD*

Week 3

Project 1:

Website:

                Design and Code “Art Studio”

Project 2:

Paintings:

Ink (Calligraphy and Art) for Portfolio

                Upload to Appropriate Shops

Project 3:

TBD*

Week 4

Project 1:

Website:  Go Live October 28^th

                About, Pricing/Policies, FAQ, and Contact Pages

Project 2:

Motifs:

                Update designs

                Create (3) Scrapbook Kits

                Upload to Appropriate Shops

Project 3:

TBD*

*We are currently accepting illustration, design, and photography assignments. If you (our can refer someone) who is in need of any of these services, please call 314.915.4709 for an estimate. 

 Like sharing your goals and challenges with like minded peeps? Join the Meetup :)

Me: Unplugged

It’s been a long time since I posted, with good reason.  Don’t worry; I’m not going to bore you with the normal excuses. I really do have a good reason.  This summer I made the conscious decision to go unplugged (not to be confused with “unraveled”).  What I mean is to discontinue phone and internet service in the home/home office.  I didn’t want you to think I went totally off of my rocker and got rid of the TV’s and computer totally.

There were a couple of factors that steered me in this direction. First and foremost were finances. We just couldn’t continue with the internet/phone costs any longer.  We never really had it in the personal budget in the first place. The business budget has been thinned out this year, as well.  I know that my own lack of motivation to really search for new projects is a huge factor. The driving force of that lack of motivation, my love of TV. Or more specifically watching shows from various networks all day long on Hulu. Man I do miss me some Eureka, Haven, Warehouse 13, Pretty Little Liars, Design Star…I better stop before I start convulsing from withdrawal.

I’m sure you can see why not having the distraction of the internet in the home might just allow me to use my time more productively (both personally and professionally).  You know what? It worked!

I know there are a lot of people that can balance time on the internet and personal life. I’m not one of those. Am I saying I will never have internet again? Heck No. I’m just using this time to reintroduce some much needed time management skills. I have some pretty specific plans in place to keep my business afloat (maybe even improving it) without have internet readily available. 

So, there you go. That is why I have been MIA. I’m kind of off the grid. I’ll keep you posted on how this is working more me/us.

Question: Since you have had internet connection, what is the longest duration that you have gone without internet? How’d that work for you?

D is for Dragon

I was visiting my BFF today and we where looking through her daughters clothes what she had outgrown so that Raevan could be the new owner. While in her room I noticed the drawing I did years ago on her wall. It was actually a Christmas present for her older brother, who is now grown and moved out. Oh where does the time go?

I thought this drawing had been long gone. Alas, it was posted on her wall by her bed. So, here it is 9 years later. No frame, a few wrinkles and ink marks added...but I think it adds character.

Blue Eyes White Dragon

*Remember this was just a personal picture for my Godson, who was 10ish at the time.

C is for Creativity

 I was blessed with a comment from Deidra at A Storybook World offering my blog the "Creative Blog Award" and a badge with her beautiful art. Thank you so much Deidra, this is my very first award and I will wear the badge with pride :)

On a side note,

So, I said I wasn't going to be lazy this month. In all actuality I haven't been. My family and I have been spring cleaning our house like mad dogs. I just haven't had time, or energy, to post lately. 

So, yeah, I've been creative. Getting three children ages 9,10 and 11 to want to help around the house, if that doesn't take a massive amount of creativity, I don't know what does.

B is for Birthday

Today's post goes out to my little girl. My Beautiful, Bold, Brilliant daughter turned 9 years old today.

Happy Birthday, Raevan!!!

This is the last year that I have a child in the single digits...bitter-sweet.

Aint No Lazy Fool Here

It's April 1st...Yep, April Fools day.

No foolin', there are no jokes here. Time to get serious. I've been lazy and fooling around for the last couple of months. To redeam myself I am going to complete 2 challenges in this post, and that will be the stepping stone going forward for the month of April.

Challenge #1: Neglected last month...



I'm going to keep these goals pretty simple for the month.

• Do the Challenges (Current) for each group that I am a member of
• Do 2 paintings
• Don't expect too much of myself
• Don't stress

Challenge #2: A new challenge...




Some favorite "A" words...

• Art
• Appreciation
• Acceptance
• Anatomy
• Astrology
• Astronomy
• Aspergus
• Artichoke

Some handy "A" words...

• Acronym*
• Alliteration

Least favorite "A" word...

Ain't...

I literally despise that this word is now included in the dictionary. When I was a kid you could say, "Ain't isn't a word." I mean really, what is it a contraction of? Now that it is included in the dictionary, we can't claim that.

Some other opinions of recently added words to the dictionary...LOL, OMG, and FYI. Those are not words!!! Those are, gosh there is a word for it...what is that word...OH Yeah! ACRONYM!

So, now that I got that off of my chest, I better go get some ART done :)

Special Thanks to Debi@ Chocolate Wasteland and Dawn@ This Side of Typical for introducing me to the A-Z April Challenge. Love Ya, Ladies!

Zentangle: 9 Artoo

We were challenged to do a zentangle incorporate the new tangle created by Laura at I am the Diva named after her sick little baby "Artoo"

Here is the newest challenge. 

Sorry to have taken so long with this one. It was finished earlier in the week, I just never got around to scanning it and posting it.

Don't forget to join the fun... 

The Meet Up: February Goals

I came across another little gem in the blogsphere of creatives. This is a monthly group that "Meets Up" at the beginning of each month to post your business goals for the coming month.

Since I am late this month, I have 10 less days...that's okay though, because most of these I have been doing some of these anyway :)

Since I am a visual being, I organized the goals in post-its (the virtual Windows 7 ones) on my desktop. Now I have my Dream Board, Goals, and my Cozi schedule all in one pretty little place. (You know how I like pretty little places ;).

Since I have a humongous monitor I will break it down for you:

Daily:

Artist Journal

AKEW (Something- either the blog or the actual website...family project)

Lishy  

Swishy

Weekly:

Zentangle 

EDM Challenges

2 Things Challenge

Illustration Friday

Monthly:

The Meet Up

Watercolor Workshop

Sketch2Sketch

Sketchbook Project

February Only: 

Update Website 

FB Homemade Gifts 

Create 4 pieces of art for the Etsy Store

Special Post Card