That's not a little girl...

His name is Greyson!

Here's Alyse's commission in progress. Had a great day at the library and the time flew by. I am trying to soften my work a little, and I like the breathing room it gives the piece.

Anabelle is napping, so I'm going to work a little more on Nemo (wink) while I have some quiet time.

Are you serious?!

Folks, this is cut paper. You definitely want to check out Jen Stark's website. Wowzah. I was googling images of "shadows," and "paper cuts" for inspiration of delicate shapes and patterns, and I stumbled across this.

On another note: I am a devoted reader of several blogs. It makes me feel connected and happy to read these blogs, and I have often seen the authors of these blogs write things like "readers, I am going to be away for a few days, but I'll be back soon. Have a good week!" So I should know that it is courteous to tell your readers that you won't be blogging for a bit. Thing is... sometimes I don't know I won't be blogging for awhile. Sometimes life just takes me away.

But now Anahi is back, and I am planted at the library trying to get back into my artwork. I am now working on a commission for my friend Alyse. I feel sort of sleepy and distracted though, and I sure do wish I could put on some music and go to the bathroom without dragging along my computer. OHHHHHH to have my own studio.

Anyway, since I haven't been making any artwork I've realized that is my link to this blog. It makes me feel accomplished to post what I've been working on. To show you, I've been busy. Without it, I might ramble on about daily goings-on, and I'm afraid I might bore you, reader, with things like how big my belly is getting and how if you leave me alone with a bag of chocolate I might demolish the whole thing. I mean, I always love chocolate, but pregnancy turns me into a chocolate eating machine.

Ok, I need to get back to work! Have a good Tuesday!

Last week Anabelle's great-grandpa passed away. We flew to Chicago to be with all of Pat's family, and what a week it was. There was a visitation, a burial and a funeral as well as Easter brunch and egg hunts, Honey baked ham lunches, a Swedish pancake birthday breakfast with a chocolate cake for dinner's dessert (thanks Mom!). And two pedicures for yours truly and her hubby to celebrate the fact that I turned 32 on Tuesday.

And Gene would have been 83 yesterday.

I learned a lot about him through the slide show and old pictures I looked through. And of course the memories that everyone talked about. Raising 8 kids, enduring the death of 2, writing plays for the community's kids, building floats for the 4th of July parade, watching 16 grandchildren grow up, and then meeting number 17 - his great-granddaughter... And my favorite, a moment caught in a quick photo: on the way to a job interview years ago, Pat had to stop off at his grandparent's house so that Gene could help him tie his tie.

Oh, family.