It's been awhile since I've been able to post anything since we were on vacation. We spent a week on Whidbey Island (Washington) and had a wonderful time! We just got back last night and I am so behind with everything, but I wanted to pop in here to post a couple pics. I haven't even seen all of our pics yet, but these two I wanted to share now. The first pic is a sign we saw as we were waiting to take the ferry over to Whidbey right at the beginning of our vacation. The second pic is of the fabulous house we stayed in that is owned by hubby's cousin's. I'll post more soon. Hope you have been having fun too :)

Didn't get any art done this weekend. Saturday we went to a memorial service for my aunt who passed away a week ago today. Sunday a friend and I went to lunch at The Crab Pot in the Alamitos Bay area of Long Beach. Doesn't look promising for getting art done here in the near future either...

I have had no time for art this past week, but I wanted to post something here. Here are two pieces from the past that made it into some Somerset Studio publications. I have a few others that made it into some Stampington publications also, but these two are my favorites of them all. I'm hoping to have some art time this weekend, so I'll be sure to post if I make anything :) Hope you have a great weekend!

Have had a very nice past few days. Have had two very nice relaxing lunches (which means no babies obviously!) at two of my favorite restaurants (www.waltswharf.com and www.originalfishcompany.com). Hubby and I each got an hour long massage (http://www.wellspringsbodywork.com) yesterday. Hey, you gotta treat yourself sometimes! :)

Here are a few more ornaments...

Here are some ornaments I've made in the past. With the holidays not that far away, I need to start thinking of making more. Most of these had some kind of theme that I had to follow for a one for one swap with my very talented art friend Martha (http://m-is-for-martha.blogspot.com/). We did it throughout the year for a lot of the holidays. My life just got too hectic to continue doing it. I sure miss getting my ornies from her! Some of these were made for Secret Sister gifts and one was made for an art friend going through a very hard time. Have a great weekend!

Another pin called 'Laugh'. She is about 3-1/4 inches tall.

People have been asking me if I sell my dolls and I haven't really in the past. I decided this morning to sell two. I wasn't able to post them here earlier, but one has already sold even before I was able to get to this today. The one pictured here is the only one left. She is called 'Dream' and she stands proud at about 7 inches. Please e-mail me at artbeth67@gmail.com if interested. Thanks! :)

Here's another mixed-media art doll pin. She stands about 3-1/4 inches tall.

Here is my first ever fabric art doll pin! It is all hand-sewn and is about 3-1/2 inches tall. Can you tell I'm having fun with my new goodies? :)

I was itching to make a doll with some of the stuff I bought at the Quilt Festival over the weekend and this is what I came up with. This doll is about 6-1/2 inches tall and I made her for my mom. 'Imagine' is one of her favorite words and I bought this piece specifically to put on a doll for her. She's having a really rough time right now with a lot of things, so I'm going to give it to her 'just because'. I know she will really love and appreciate it :)

Yesterday I went to the International Quilt Show with some friends. It was here in Long Beach for the first time. I'm not a quilter (I'm not that patient!), but I do love fabric. I did get some cool stuff to use to make more of my art dolls. There was a huge area where hundreds of gorgeous quilts were displayed. I was just blown away by the amount of work that goes into some of these. Absolutely amazing!

Today is my mom's birthday. Today is going to be a very hard day for her since this is the first one she's had since my dad passed away very unexpectedly last September. She has always loved to spend some time by herself and today that is what she wants to do. She will most likely be going to spend time in one of her favorite places to unwind and that is Ventura. The card you see is one I made for her a few years back. It is one of my first altered art pieces.

We did get her presents, gave her a coconut cream pie and took her out to dinner yesterday. She wanted to go to a Benihana type place near us called Tokyo Hibachi. My two-year-old had a lot of fun discovering different uses for chopsticks! She was feeding us all rice with them at first, but then decided to use them as drumsticks most of the time!

Here is a collage I did of my older daughter a few months after she was born (she recently turned two). It is about 5 in. x 7 in. I really love making these as you can probably tell! This one is called 'Beauty'.

Here are a couple pics of some food I've made recently. The brownies are topped with chocolate chip cookie dough (with no egg) and are super yummy! I made this plate of goodies for my neighbors. The other plate has a filling breakfast for hubby on it. He woke up last Saturday morning and this was waiting for him :)

Got some really small canvases a few weeks ago and finally had a chance to use one. What a fun size to work with! This one is 2 in. x 4 in. :)

I seem to be on a roll here and have some time to do it, so I'll show you another piece as well. I made this a few years ago when I was going through a really dark time in my life. That time seems like such a long time ago (thank goodness)! This piece is called 'Promise Mocked by Visions'. It started out as a piece not much larger than an ATC and is now 24 in. x 28 in. hanging on the wall above the computer in our office. It is not on the reddish wall anymore since we had to switch rooms around because of the girls. It now has 'Zen Garden' green behind it. I really enjoy matting and framing art and photographs. I sure wish I had a larger house with a lot more wall space to be able to do this more!

A while ago I posted a piece of art I made for my girls' bedroom. I said I would post a picture soon of what it looked like after I had it matted, framed and hung. One of my nephews reminded me recently that I didn't post the 'after' picture yet. So...here are pics of it before and after :)

Here are a few pictures from our day in Seal Beach. Our company leaves on Monday morning, so I will soon have more time to blog and hopefully make some art!!!

Still super busy with company and don't have time to write much now, but I wanted to let you know about this amazingly yummy gourmet popcorn I had the other day. It is Cinnamon Toast flavor and here is the link (http://www.popcornopolis.com/ if you 're interested in possibly trying some. They have so many great flavors...I would love to try them all!