Happy Holidays !! Happy HOL-A-Days!

Happy Holidays !! Happy HOL-A-Days! The merry bells are ringing... Happy Holidayssssssss to you!

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Well, another year has flown by!

What is your new year's resolution this year?

My resolution is to 'stop and smell the roses' again. Taking time to value, give thanks and appreciate life is well worth it!

Also, to walk! For Christmas James bought me a treadmill! I tried going to the gym in the morning but I lose too much morning work time then. So walking in the evening will work out great for me! I am sooo excited.

Happy NEW year to you all!!!!

Enjoy and be safe!

View the top 10 new year's resolutions >>

Oh my...

I was up until 4am researching / genealogy online the other night (morning). If you missed the earlier post... I dabble in genealogy in my spare time (20 years now).

I found I am related to Georgia O'Keefe. (distant, we share the same Great, Great, Great, etc. Grandmother)

I held my mouth and breath in amazement for about 2 minutes.

Very cool.

I can so relate to her. I LOVE flowers. I am a flower freak. When I look at them, especially up close, I feel AT HOME.

Though ... I am so not into skulls.

Well, my mother is upset because I haven't found ONE famous person on her side. Nor have I found any on my husband's side. It's all my dad's side of the fam.

My son asked if he is related to any famous musicians. I told him no. He is a fantastic visual artist. Get a load of the apple HE painted (shown to the right) with watercolor paints when he was 8-years-old!!!!!!!!!! 

Very cool!

genealogy

Oh my...

Off the 'invitation path' for a moment...

In my spare time (around 2 a.m.) I dabble in genealogy. I have actually been researching my family since I was 18 years old, for about twenty years now. Among my MOST RECENT findings...
I am related to the following famous people: (this is a partial list.)

Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American painter and printmaker. His works represented light as it is reflected off of familiar objects. While most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching.

Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was a 20th century American painter and illustrator.

Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, editor, literary critic, and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement.

Emily Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet.
Edwin Powell Hubble (November 20, 1889 – September 28, 1953) was an American astronomer. He was born to an insurance executive in Marshfield, Missouri and moved to Wheaton, Illinois in 1898. (The famous hubble telescope is named after Edwin.)

Very interesting! What a wonderful find!

Destination Wedding Invitations

Calling all Destination Wedding couples...

Be sure to plan ahead and give your guests plenty of time to SAVE THE DATE for your BIG day!

Send out save the dates 12 months in advance!

Send out invitations 6-8 weeks before your wedding day!

Bride and grooms having Destination Weddings enjoy our popular ...

Modern starfish pocketfolder invitations :: in almost any color! red and black shown here, popular with celadon pocketfolders and turquoise ink!

By the seashore beach chairs invitations

Starfish invitations in a box

Tropical hibiscus invitations

Tropical breeze with the coconut palm trees

Palm fronds

More options are listed in my wedding invitations portfolio!

custom birthday invitations

vroom vvvrooom...

how fun.

okay ... so i would NEVER ride a motorcycle. waaaaaaaaay toooo dangerous. BUT what a fun birthday invitation motif.

shhhh ... i can't say WHO this is for... but what a surprise to see HIS BIKE on his surprise birthday party invite!

i LOVE painting anything with major reflections and shadows! what a blast.

so ... if you are planning a big birthday bash for that special someone ... and want a totally unique + custom birthday invitation ... plan ahead (order at least 3 months in advance) and get a custom motif for your invitations. totally personalized and unique!

have fun and be safe!

BOO!

Happy Halloween!!!!

So... I was born in 1970, I thought I would channel the disco era this year! I even wore the white "go go" boots. GROOVY!

I LOVE dressing up and seeing my friends and family dressed up for halloween. We always have toooo much fun!

On Sunday at our church, Mindi (my dearest friend and our layout artist/client service rep at My Personal Artist) and I dressed up for trunk-or-treat (this is when the kidders walk car to car to receive treats. She was a medieval princess and I was Peggy Sue!

Drum roll please...
My favorite costumes this year... this title goes to...
Congratulations Tina and Warren! My sister and brother-in-law...
Dog "the bounty hunter" and Beth Chapman!


You guys rocked. Creative and clever. "Beth" even ran after her guests as they arrived to the party, "STOP... fugitive! Dog, I got 'em!"

Happy Halloween to you all! Have a safe one!

Peace and Love!

Yellow Hibiscus Flower Watercolor

My MOST favorite flower! Well that is not fair. I have SO many favorites.

By request this yellow hibiscus was hand-painted for FANTASTIC AND WONDERFUL CARIDAD K.!!!! (really... she rocks... one of my favorite brides EVER!) It will adorn her wedding invitations and coordinating stationery!

Printable invitations, fill in invitations, thank you cards, etc. are available with any of my artworks!

Hartland Mansion Las Vegas Wedding Invitations

Kristan wanted a custom invitation for her Hartland Mansion wedding in Las Vegas!
I could not resist on the checkerboard heart as the motif! And the RED was an important accent color. I love the font. This pocketfold invitation is perfect for holding informational cards on the right hand side.

Vineyard Anniversary Party ~ a HUGE HIT!

WOW.

James and I are lucky....

This past weekend we traveled from Ohio up to Canada. Our VERY DEAR neighbors celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary!!!!!!

We traveled from our hotel to Vineland Vineyards via a chartered bus along with all of the other guests. The sun was beginning to set...Breathtaking...

First, off, the speeches they gave were real tearjerkers. There was not a dry eye in the room!

The slide show, incredible. The food and wine were EXCELLENT.

A BLUSHING moment... when the guests from many other states walked over to me and told me how lovely my work was. I was soo embarrassed. They told me they KEEP all of the invitations I did and line them up in their kitchens. WOW. You see the guests don't throw out our invites! They keep them forever. How cool is that?

Well, we are just so lucky to have such GREAT friends and to share our stationery and artwork with you all.

How lucky are we!

(Bob and Karen featured our bottle invitation w/ my grapes watercolor artwork in cranberry for their save the dates! The invite featured the vineyard on the front, chocolate ink and ES font.)

Elegant dolphin wedding invitations

Custom dolphin wedding invitations and coordinating stationery. I wanted to create a lovely elegant dolphin invitation and stationery. I love the bermuda blue ink and BHS font! The silver inner envelope liner is a PERFECT match, resembling the dolphin's silky skin. As with all of our custom wedding invitations, we can create almost any stationery item... even tote bags!

View the DOLPHIN WEDDING INVITATIONS now >>

wow!

August 9, 2007

Mom and I were working quickly against the clock (and the storm) on FedEX deadlines. As soon as I sent out my last two approvals via email, it was too late. We could not head home. The storm hit.

The picture above is the same wall cloud that hovered over our head at the studio. This pic taken by a man in our community.

As I stuck my head out the studio to view this cloud... I was in AWWWWW. I ran out and stood staring. Wow.

Then it hit. The storm was the worse I had seen in person. As if in a trance I stood with the studio door opened about three inches, enough to peek through without getting hit with flying debris and belts of rain or get sucked out of the studio.

It was not a tornado in our area but down the street at Giant Eagle they rushed all employees and customers into their freezer. Brrrrrr.

The tree next to the studio bowed down half its size at least a hundred times and the sheets of rain were amazing and powerful. As the storm rushed by the sprinkle and sporadic lightening that followed was a drop in the bucket.

As we drove home, large tree limbs were down everywhere including on our home. Our electric was off for about 1-1/2 hours at home. Thankfully all is well here.

So, those of you who received very "short" emails from me on Thursday... you now know why. Two of the approvals I was working on were a RUSH. Pun intended!


Disclosure: When a tornado siren sounds or a warning is issued it is best to take cover in the lowest part of the building you are in. Stay away from windows and cover with a blanket if possible. Stay safe and out of harms way. etc., etc.

Art Nouveau Winter Snowflakes Invitations

How fun! Finally, I had time to create an art nouveau inspired invite!!!! Created especially for Marissa and Joshua! She favored our 'tropical breeze' style invite on our site and asked me to incorporate holly, roses and snowflakes in sage for her winter wedding invitations. She also mentioned incorporating ivory color in her wedding, I featured our buttercream coverstock and vellum overlay for a romantic soft appeal.

watercolor painting binge

oh my... i totally went on a painting binge. could be worse i guess! see more watercolor invtations / motifs. see all of my unique wedding invitations if you love modern and vibrant designs! if you want less expensive versions printable invitations are for you!

Custom Lighthouse Invitations for Lynn

I just finished this York Lighthouse watercolor for Lynn's custom invitations. I am a total water freak. The reflections were too much fun to create!

One of my FAVORITE colors is: ORANGE

I just created this FUN and modern invite design in ORANGE! I love orange!

Actually I am totally allergic to oranges! BUT the color is soooooo FRESH, VIBRANT and inviting!

Fun, fun!

2008 colors, my favs

the new color trends for 2008 that i LOVE are RICH and LUXE!

colors you may consider for your wedding...

DEEEEEP RICH magenta like the "blah, blah, blog" header above.

Vineyard green

Rich dark green

Orange

Gold

RICH dark chocolate

Deep purple w/ a spalsh of fuchsia

Silver

Most colors are listed on our color palette.

HAPPY FRIDAY! ENJOY THE WEEKEND!

my "first" post...

my "first" post...

blah, blah, blah.

well, i had a "blog" on my site years ago... this looks much better in this format.

most of you know i am pretty much in your face, honest and upfront.

so sit back relax... and let's have fun!