Well....it's been a while!

Life went off the rails big time.  Getting back to earth now.  This is the second piece in the series of three that I did earlier this summer.  The one previously posted was the first one - the girl in the canoe.  This is the second.  It is all done in commercial batiks.  The subject is our granddaughter. This is from one of my favorite photos of her as she is looking up at the sky with the sun shining on her face. Since her favorite color is purple....there is a lot of purple used in her portrait.  Just finished the binding today.

Now onto the next one after a slight (oh at least I HOPE it will be slight) break.

Happy Day

I don't often post anything about my personal family stuff here but because the main topic is ATCs I am adding this one anyway.  Today is my older granddaughter's birthday celebration....even though her actual birthday isn't until Wednesday.  She will be THREE!  AND she is already beginning her own ATC collection!  Sooooooo...I made her a few cards for her big party.

First you should know that Piggy has been her nickname since she was born.  She even calls herself Piggy.  I know she will not be that accepting in a couple of years but for now, she knows it is our love name for her.

She also has the nickname Diva Pig since she IS the center of the universe after all!!! LOL! She and her little sister have discovered the joy of dress-up. They put on their own fashion show and I can assure you Piggy has her own fashion sense.  That plus, she won't wear anything that isn't purple or sometimes pink without a fight. And she loves her sunglasses and her purple flip-flops!  OK, she loves anything purple.

She is just now big enough to ride her Little Mermaid tricycle but she wants a PURPLE motorcycle! I told her she has to learn to ride her tricycle, then a bicycle with training wheels, then a regular bicycle.  After that she can get her motorcycle.  The other day, for the first time she rode her tricycle to the end of the long driveway and back and announced.  "I'm done. Now I want my motorcycle"  So, she is getting THIS motorcycle instead. It's a picture of the bike I rode until two years ago.

 
This is just an amazingly cute sign we found out on one of our treks to take photos and have an amazing lunch and buy amazing bread in Stockholm, WI.  Seemed appropriate!

 And lastly, my birthday wish for my precious little Piggy.

Thanks for bearing with me for this personal little art moment.

MY CREATIVE JOURNEY - week 35 continued

This is the week of what I call cross-training. To do something creative outside my usual "box". So, the farthest thing I could think of was writing. Very scary for me but I was determined to do it. I don't have time to write much so I just started a very very short story of The Amazing Diva Pig. Of course, this is the nickname of our granddaughter Jayden (who will be one year old in only about a week!). She got the pig part because when she was born she always made these cute little snorting noises. And because she had a very healthy appetite also! The Diva part was added later when she developed her little diva personality. But she is a good diva, not a bratty diva. There is such a thing you know!

So, with fear and trepidation, here is the beginning of The Amazing Diva Pig. It is a story for her that I might read to her when she is a little older so I wrote it as a children's story.

THE AMAZING DIVA PIG
(a very very short story about a very very special pig)

A pig is a pig, right? Well……….. maybe not! There is one pig that is FAR from the usual. She is Diva Pig. Who you might ask is Diva Pig? She is an amazingly wonderful little thing with very special powers. That is what makes her a Diva Pig.

Her most useful power is her smile! She can melt hearts in an instant. She can make sad people happy, mad people calm, and bored people laugh! Now THAT is a powerful smile!

Diva Pig comes by her smile quite naturally. I know because I’ve been around her ever since she was born. Many will say baby pigs don’t smile. That just shows how little they know. Perhaps her mouth didn’t smile the usual smile….but those eyes smiled. I saw them. I know it is true.

One of her other powers is her limitless energy. Diva Pig is hardly ever still (except maybe when she is sleeping). She is up and around and about. There is so much to explore, so much to find. And she is fearless as she climbs over or crawls under anything in her path. It is a sign I think of her natural curiosity and determination.

She also has a HUGE heart and loves everyone. That must be why everyone lovers her back! Her parents and her brothers and sisters love her. Her grandparents and all the rest of her family love her. That is to be expected, of course. But so far, I’ve not met anyone who can resist the power of her loving heart.

She didn’t have an easy beginning in this life but she doesn’t seem to notice. It certainly doesn’t stop her love from spreading out to any and everyone.

I think her future is bright because good things happen to someone with these special powers. They can change the world. So, when the world is a better place in the future, you never know……..but I wouldn’t be surprised if Diva Pig had a part of making it happen!