Gimme a "M", gimme a "A", gimme a "C"

Finally some Penny Pickles art!  Not that you mind seeing my angels, but lets be honest - its the painting that brings you back...right?

It was rhetorical so you don't have to answer that!  

I was contacted a couple of weeks ago by a previous client, Steph that wanted me to make something for her newest nephew.  She wanted something with sports, but wondered if we could tweak my current sports theme - just not to pigeonhole this little fella into one sport or another. I have been wanting to do a theme like this - I just haven't had the time.  I am so glad that Steph asked - because it was a lot of fun to do.

So for little Maclain, we did "MAC", since that is his planned nickname - they asked for soccer, football and basketball, with a medium blue background.  I am so happy with the outcome:

Thanks again Steph!  I mean I am always excited to work on things for my clients, it means a lot when they come back and ask me to do paintings for gifts, when they do it a third time - I am just touched and humbled.  I appreciate your business more than you know!  It's good on a girls ego, it is!  (Sorry we've just watched ALL six Star Wars movies in order here at the Page house so a bit of Yoda-ease is coming out, it is!

Thanks again and next up Gabrielle!

my second boy

I figured since I'm waiting for Ryan to cut some matte board for my latest project I would do a little post for my second boy, Drew.    Drew is one of those kids that has that nervous laugh when they get in trouble - you know the one who smiles under the stress of being scolded.  Yep, that's my Drew.  I have dubbed him my little Santa Claus because he is generally the happiest child you will ever meet - unless it has been a long day and I am forcing him to sit quietly in the frame section of Hobby Lobby - then all bets are off (Leslie can attest to this).  He is my big kid - he is huge, tall and solid as a brick.  But when he opens his mouth he still has some of that familiar toddler ease language that I can't bring myself to correct - thus we live in Nosabelle (Noblesville).  He still Woves me and I know, as it happened with Jon that wove will turn to love and never look back.

I was farting around with my camera this morning and took this one - I am madly in love with it - not because it is some photographic genius of a shot, but because it captures his "smirk".  So back to the laughing and smiling when being disciplined, another one of Chris Kringle's tactic's is the smirk.  It is one of those flawed moments in parenting when you laugh, when you should be very, very serious.  He kills me when he gives me the smirk!  He has had it since he could smile and my mom and I agreed upon seeing the smirk the very first time - he can look like a cherub and a devil all in one glance.  

He is my big boy wanting excessive hugs before bedtime in one moment and running around like a jedi knight the next.  He is fiercely protective of his little sister and his best friend Paige.  He has more emphathy than any four year old could possibly hope to possess - let alone an adult.  

Yes, Penny is wearing the elefun nets on her head - a trick big brother showed her, but beyond making her look like a fool he also takes such good care of his baby sister.  More times than not he will crawl into bed with her at nap time to read her one more story because mom just can't read another book.  He also idolizes his big brother  - having that typical best of friends /worst of enemies thing going one.  Lord help me when they are teens.  The best part is the fact that he is a minature, hairless version of my husband - it's freaky really and nothing makes Drew happier than to "work" with HIS tools, tuck his pencil behind HIS ear and fix things with dad.  It brings me joy to see them together.  

There are times that I am sad because of all the distraction that occurred while Drew was little - when he was four months old mom was first diagnosed with cancer,  our lives were bouncing back and forth between here and up north, then Ryan worked out of town, we moved and eventually mom moved in with us.  So much happened that there are voids in my memory of him growing up - I have them all journaled - thank goodness, but I guess he is the happy kid that generally goes with the flow because of everything he's seen and done.  I am so blessed to have him.  He is so different from Jon, but not in a bad way, but in so many other good ways.  I enjoy so much the little boy he is becoming.  He is the "Norm" of his classroom and its been that way since he started school- his effortless ease, his self assurance is amazing.  If he wants to wear a spiderman costume to target than by all means. If he wants to wear his sisters leg warmers on his arms because he's cold that day, than he will.  He is so comfortable being Drew, that I strive for that own self confidence in myself.  I love him so much more than I can ever explain.  

Thanks again for enjoying my ramblings - next up Mac's tiles.

my boy

So I don't have any Penny Pickles work to show you at the moment, but I have one that needs to be matted, one nearly done and one that I am just getting started on.  Plus I was asked to make two jumpers for big and baby sister for a gift to a friend - I have lots going on!  But I wanted to share a picture I took about a week ago of my big boy Jon.  Jon will be seven next month - oh where has the time gone?  I still see my fuzzy haired baby, but in the same breath I can't imagine him not being my articulate, imaginative little rock star.

I've farted around with the processing on this picture, but decided I like the raw image out of the camera the best.  I love this picture for a few reasons, first to me it is the quintessential childhood picture - he was looking down at something on the ground, so curious, but it shows his beautiful eyelashes that he has had from day one.  It also shows off his freckles, that I LOVE!  His soft perfect skin and his long hair that is forever in his face.  He looks so much like I did as a kid - acts like I did too - so it brings back so many memories when I watch him in action. I told Ryan, we don't have quiet, demure kids that follow all directions.  Ryan's reply was, I'm glad, they be free thinking adults that will succeed.  I agree with that wholeheartedly, but I know from my own experience he has a long road a head of him with teachers and people who don't like individuals or little people with their own opinions.  Ah well, I'll try to clear that road off when I can and just offer a hug when I can't.  After having three kids, I don't love any one more than another, but I do love each of them so differently it is hard to explain until you've had more than one child.  Each of my children are so unique, with such different qualities - I am so blessed to have my own mini-melting pot here in my house.  

This is my Jon working hard on his science fair project testing whether homemade glue works as well as store bought varieties.  He received first place and I am so proud of him!  I love the look of concentration - sometimes I wish my biggest stress was whether to use the red or blue marker!

I just wanted to give a bit of love to my eldest boy - there is something about your first that holds a unique bond, we stumble together through this part of our lives - him as a child and me as a mom.  He is a terribly forgiving soul and since he is receives the brunt of my parenting mistakes - I am very grateful for his grace. 

Have a great weekend and Thanks!

Miss Pickles is 2!!!

It is so cliche to say that I can not believe that my baby girl is two, but it is totally the case.  On one hand it seems like she's always been here and then on the other she is still so clearly my baby when I look at her with her two brothers.  Miss Penny has had a long week - she started feeling puny on Tuesday evening, promptly screwing up everything I had planned for the rest of the week to get ready for her party and Jon's school party. Wednesday she just laid in my arms all day and ran fevers for most of the day.  I am not a big fan of suppressing fevers, I feel like we need to let the body do what it was built to do, but even this was too much for me.  She was getting wheezy and it continued through to Thursday. I missed Jon's science fair (he placed first in his grade) and at about 10:30pm made the decision to take her to the ER.  Fortunately it was dead and we were the stars - Penny was a huge hit with the nurses - and jumped into the arms of the x-ray tech without a second thought.  It was determined by the end of our stay that Penny had pneumonia. Awesome.  So we had a couple of breathing treatments, an oral steroid, which she promptly threw- up because of her empty stomach and we were home by 1.  Needless to say two albuterol treatments and a steroid make for an energy filled two year old - so we stayed up until 3 watching Dora.  

My knight in shining armor, Ryan, took the day off on Friday to take Drew to the dentist, drop off all the party goods at Jon's school, run errands, pick up Penny's cake and get the house picked up while I laid around with my goiter, otherwise known as Penny.  Although by Friday she was in that fantastic state where she wanted me to hold her, but not really so we played the I pick you up, you squirm and cry and get out of my arms and then scream  UP UP UP! until I pick you up again game for most of the day.  Mommy needed a drink by about 2, but held out until dinner.  We cancelled our V-day plans and hunkered down at home.  

Saturday, Penny was at about 85%, so we decided to indeed have her gathering on Sunday.  Dad came down in the afternoon on Saturday baring more candy than any three, let along one child should consume and we had a relaxing evening.

Sunday, Penny was ready for her party, she donned her new jumper I made for her and we had the usual suspects of my my dad, brother and sister in law and our local cousins, the Werts.  We ate, opened gifts and it was a great day!  Penny was HILARIOUS when we sang to her, she just kept looking around the room like, what in the hell are you people doing.  Too funny!  It was a Melissa and Doug and Dora party.  She received a kitchen and a bunch of wooden food and then the rest were Dora videos, shirts, a dress up dress, coloring book, book, did I mention she loves Dora?  We had a Dora cake prepared by my very talented friend Melanie (if you live locally, you NEED her to make your children's cakes, she's amazing!).

this is precisely why you should never teach your children to say "cheese"

It was a great day, we all had fun and best of all Penny is feeling loads better.  Today is her actual birthday and she is spending it, playing in her new kitchen, with her new toy food, wearing her new Dora shirt, while a Dora sing along is going on in the background.  It is so good to be 2!

Ooh - more Dora?

mmm, another Dora video

Happy Birthday baby girl - I LOVE YOU!

my favorite!

Thanks!*

*(for the record this was our first time taking pictures of something important with our new camera - some worked, some didn't and others I've just been farting around at a cool sight called picnik, until I can afford to buy photoshop - so bare with me as we learn to use our new toy!)

Miles Tiles: redefined

I was contacted a few weeks ago to do a painting for an old high school friend that I reunited with on Facebook. Chrissy, ahem, sorry Chris, I found out lives about 15 mins away in Fishers and prior to that we lived a few blocks apart in Broad Ripple. Small world.  Anyway, Chris' little boy Miles turned one last weekend and she wanted to have a painting done spelling out his name.  I had her look at some of my completed works for inspiration and think about some of Miles' favorite things.  Since he is only one, that doesn't always help.  So Chris and her husband, Brendan decided on a baseball vignette.  Brendan is a HUGE Reds fan so they wanted the team playing to be the Reds.  I inquired further and asked if there were any favorite players that I could include or a team for them to play.  Brendan was on it, he emailed a list of players and their positions along with the opposing team: the Cubs.  It was a ton of fun because then I could have my little players take on the identities of the real thing!  So cool.  What is neat about this piece is that Miles can enjoy this in not only his bedroom, but a playroom and honestly I don't think it will lose its relevancy, unless of course he decides the Reds aren't for him or he decides to form a garage band and baseball isn't his thing.  I don't think Chris and Brendan have anything to worry about, at least for about 15 years!  Here are my newest Miles tiles:

I want to thank Chris and Brendan for allowing me to work on this special piece for your little fellas big day!  It was so much fun to do and I appreciate all your input. We're looking forward to seeing you soon!  Happy Birthday little Miles!  I really enjoyed doing these canvas' for you!

Thanks!

i tried, it's just too hard

So I've been spending the last two hours trying to figure out how to switch from blogger to wordpress - it isn't that blogger is all that bad, I just want a bit more freedom, which I can get in wordpress.  I can't for the life of me figure out how the hell to get the whole thing up and running.  I had my web host upload a version last June, they've since upgraded, which as you can imagine, I can't figure out how to upgrade - their instructions are so positive and delightful and just plain old crap.  Then I delved into the world of web databases - I am proud to say those are kind of making sense, but I still didn't figure out how to make the switch - why can't everything be drag and drop?  I am so spoiled by my MAC, how did I live in the PC world for so long?  So for now, this blog is, what it is, which isn't too bad.  I'll figure it out someday or when I have barrels full of extra money I'll hire someone to do it for me, until then, blogger is mine to have and to hold.

I am excited to report that we capitalized on the bankruptcy of Circuit City and purchased a new DSLR camera. I've wanted one for a while, but couldn't justify the cost - well when a store is going out of business it makes them a bit more affordable.  After much himing and hawing and research we decided on the Sony alpha350.  Ryan and I being more Canon people weren't so sold on the idea, even after we made a desperate call to Leslie for her solicited advice (poor girl must have had four or five missed calls on her cell and a few on her home phone- when I need advice I NEED it ASAP or I'll stalk you- I wish I was kidding).  So we left the store and decided to do some research and if they had what we were looking for the next day than it was meant to be.  So we did our research and figured out that the Sony cameras were blowing most of the other cameras out of the water - on one website (not a Sony site) they had it as their #2 pick just behind the Canon 5D, which is a great camera.  So we went today and decided to purchase the 350- it is more camera than we need for our purposes, but come on who doesn't love more?  So I've been playing with my new toy all day and happy to say I am figuring it out!  I've been taking test shots of my kids, furniture, toes, you name it, I've shot it today - just to play around with all the settings.  Hopefully this week I can pin Leslie down and have a "play date" to learn a few more of the finer details - that reminds me I should call her....

my new toy

I am also happy to report that Penny Pickles is starting off 2009 with a BANG!  I have more orders than I know what to do with, which is AWESOME.  I am getting to do some really cool custom stuff and variations on some of my current themes!  I love this job!  There are also some BIG plans in the works for Penny Pickles, but that my friends is for another post!

She's showing you her painted nails -it's innate I swear because I did not tell her to do that!

Okay, I need to get to bed, I have my house to pick up and projects to finish before this weekend (who doesn't refinish furniture in the midst of building a bar, working on a science fair project, and working on a few paintings?) when we celebrate Miss Penny's 2nd birthday - can you believe my baby is going to be 2?  I need to get some video up here of her singing - Penny's renditions of "You are my Sunshine," "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," and the ever popular Dora the Explorer theme song are too precious not to share.  My little darling is definitely showing her two year old spots by telling the 'rents "NO!" and often.  It doesn't stop with us- Drew was talking during a Dora episode and she turned to him with her brow furrowed and she pointed her finger (can't imagine where she gets that) and said "NO, Dew -shhhhh!"  It's one of those moments where I should have said, "speak kindly to your brother" but instead I ran upstairs to laugh my ass off because it was hilarious.  The best part was he in fact "shhhh-shed".  Maybe I should let her run the show for a while.  Anyhoo - I'll have more work to post in the next couple of days - take care!

Thanks!

these shoes aren't made for walking..

To keep with my "girl" series, I wanted share something I did for my friend Meg.  Meg's birthday was last Thursday, so it makes complete sense that I would posting her birthday gift and publicly celebrate her day a week late!  Right?  I actually was able to give her, her gift on her special day and enjoy a rare lunch out with no children - we're so naughty we even had wine at LUNCH!  I've been a bit backed up with sharing photos, but I am happy to share this one with you now!

So for Meg, I wanted to do something quirky and fun, something she enjoys and would put a smile on her face when she sees it.  I came up with this little lady:

The slingback, peep toe heel - not much more on this planet that is pretty than this for a girls wardrobe!

Okay, so I really like shoes, but Meg LOVES shoes - I don't have an official head count - but I am guessing it is somewhere around being able to cover the feet of a small village in Africa.  So this little beauty seemed more than appropriate.  

With all seriousness though, Meg has become one of my best friends and our relationship is one of those that I believe has come at a time when I needed it most.  Meg fills a lot of the voids I have since losing mom - they have quite a few of the same qualities, so even though our friendship is only a few years old, there is a comfort there of a decades long relationship. So for you Meg, I wish you a very happy birthday and a wonderful year ahead!  I love you!

Thanks!!!

My Girls...part five - the finale

Last, but certainly not least is Heather, fondly referred to as Hea.  Hea is another one of my HNTB girls - she, like Brooke and Angie, worked in the GIS department of our company.  Hea is a quiet, reserved sort of gal with THE best Kentucky/Southern girl accent you'll ever hear.  Hea and I were pregnant at the same time twice, with her first (my Jon) and her second (my Penny).  Hea moved back to Kentucky several years back, and I have been fortunate, along with the other girls to have been able to go down, visit and share in her amazing southern hospitality.  Heather's two girls, Katie and Abby are spitting images of their mother and just as beautiful as can  be.  Her husband, Sean, is quite possibly the nicest man on the planet.  He's always grinning, happy and you feel like best friends on contact.  They are truly a wonderful family.  

Back to Hea though, since this post is suppose to be about her, I have to say that there is much that I have learned from Hea.  She has a passion for her family, extended and otherwise - if you are her friend, you ARE her friend and you know it.  She has this amazing connection with her husband - they are going to be the two that are 90 and still looking like they just met and are sooo in love.  I admire her for keeping that passion alive - it is so easy to take for granted your spouse, especially when you have kids.  You both get put on the back burner - by her example it helps me keep my passion in check with my husband, remembering what it was like when we first met and keeping that alive and well in our relationship.  I also have to say that Hea has an amazing talent as a writer. It was something she was pretty tentative about sharing with us girls, but she finally did and she is incredible. The genre of her writings is truly an area I hadn't read before, but believe me when I say it keeps your interest throughout.  I am truly proud of her and her accomplishments and look forward to what is to come in her career.  

For Hea, I chose to paint a lotus flower - the lotus, to me, is very sensual plant -something that I think Hea embodies - all the petals, layers - she is a quiet person, but once you get close to see and find all these layers to her, I also see her blooming, coming into her own with her writing career and her role as wife and mother - just so natural and perfectly fitting.  

I have to say that I forgot to have Hea's painting photographed, I was so damn excited I boxed it up without even thinking (this is not the first time I have done this!) so I had Heather snap a few for this post.  

Hea's Lotus

I love you Hea, miss you and can't wait to see you in March!!  Take care, enjoy this beautiful snow and thanks!!!