Like Getting Free Stuff?

Dark Branches
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com

Then check out my contest!

Spend $20 or more (including shipping) in my shop between now and Xmas and be entered to win a prize worth $80. You pick the 8x10 print ($60 value) of your choice and I will make up the rest. Consider it a holiday present for yourself. I will choose from my sales list on the day after Christmas and draw one randomly.

This offer is good on Etsy and on Art Fire.

And remember; Register on ArtFire.com for $7 a month for life.

Last Minute

Purple Locks
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Tomorrow is the last day to order for Christmas in the US and expect it to arrive by Christmas using 1st Class mail. Pickup is at 1pm so they must be placed no later than noon to give me time to package and get to the Post Box. Priority upgrades available.

It wasn't easy to find the energy, but once blee went down yesterday I printed until my 11pm cutoff (roughly). It is hard because she no longer wants to take naps during the day. If I am lucky she will go down just long enough for me to shower in one and eat in another. That's it. Mostly she just wants to be played with and held constantly.

While I love this close bonding it is tiring. But I insisted on working and now I have a pile of pieces to scan in and a bit of a mess in my studio.

Other than maybe some paper cutting during down time no art today other than scanning and cleaning. Mostly I want to focus on her and cleaning up the house when I can. I can actually do quite a bit around the house while wearing her, especially with the Moby Wrap. But I don't know what was wrong with me but yesterday I kept messing it up.

These three pieces will go up in my shop today. I have gotten into a habit of setting seven things that I need to do above all else each day, switching one in and replacing it with something different daily. For example since I printed yesterday that won't be on my list today. I think keeping as much of a routine as I can is important to my health. That includes going to bed before midnight every night. I shoot for 11 but have a hard time making it. For me it isn't just about getting a good amount of sleep but sticking to a schedule or my brain goes haywire.

Impulse Purchase!

Stickers on purple lace
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Happy 4th of July to all my American readers! Not that I am feeling all that patriotic myself, especially lately. And fireworks lost most of their appeal years ago. It certainly isn't worth braving crowds of people in Boston just too see them, especially with how my hips have been feeling. The thought of going out to the Charles to watch the display makes me shudder. Maybe we will have burgers or something tonight but sadly no beer for me.

Thanks to one of the many bloggers I read on a daily basis I ended up getting a cute little machine to make my own stickers last night. First I made some promo type stickers using printed out images of shrunk down art and when those turned out so nice I turned my attention to my real love. Making originals! And here is the first set I came up with. I don't have a ton of prints to work from so I don't think I will have many of these for awhile. Until then I will make what I can and probably do more for promo than for sale. The computer printed out ones are a nice little something to stick on packages. I'm always looking for different things to do with my art.

I also picked up some tools to try stamping again. I tried it around Christmas last year with not the best results using my woodcarving tools. From what I have learned the cheap Speedball tools with the thin blades are actually better for carving stamp material than my fancy wood tools. The blades on my woodcarving tools are just too thick. Getting used to the feel of the very different material will take a bit of time. I am used to wood not rubber. It might be interesting to make cards that are a mixture of gocco and stamping.

Jon is going to see the new Transformers movie today and I don't think I will be going. It really doesn't sound like my kind of a movie. Even though I had a couple of the transformers toys growing up I wouldn't say that I was all that into the series. I rarely watched the cartoon and I didn't see the original cartoon until Jon made me watch it a few years ago. It is terrible. But he is a boy from the 80's and he and his other boy from the 80's friends are all pumped to go see it no matter what the reviews say. Suddenly his standards are totally thrown out the window. It's cute. But I will be lonely while he is at the movie.