Another DBH shirt in the meantime. . .

love drawing insects, preferably moths or butterflies, but giant beetles are cool too.

diehard naturalists can buy it here

tree lovers can vote for Cory’s new design here

what is the deal with people putting screaming apes on tee-shirts?

also, the large painting is almost done! it’s lying under weights right now being cemented to a base. promised finish photos coming soon!

So you might have noticed I haven’t been around very much lately. I’m sorry, I should have told you why sooner than this. I’ve been working every free second on this painting, its for the SC State Fair. . .I like fairs and all, but its different this year, the best of show is $6500! and I like $6500 better than any fair out there. The painting is still in the works, there is a bottom strip that has a couple of small vignettes to be done yet, and then a shallow box frame to paint and mount this big painting on, but I’m happy with the results. The past year I’ve been doing mostly smaller paintings, this is the first large (2′x 3′) I’ve done in so long. It really takes more brain power than I was anticipating. . .I go through the same process every painting- love how it starts, despair at wear its going and then rejoicing as I find the right direction. Every time I paint I get to a terrible spot and then somehow it works out. And I always forget that it will work out in the end, so I am pleasantly surprised when it does! My friend Andrew built the frame for me, I’m really enjoying this painting so I think I will be asking him soon to consruct some more for me. Thanks a bizillion Andrew!

I promise I’ll post some finish pictures when its all through and done.

i wish o wish you did a pattern line!  your designs are lovely, your daughters are, too, and i really really really really really want to win one of your generous give-aways!

grosgrain is a blog run by the lovely kathleen dougherty who claims her sewing is sub-par (sniff, it doesn’t look like it could be!) and who hosts bi-weekly giveaways.  what does she give?  little girl dresses and cuteness, that’s what.  super cute, original and wittily named dresses and clothing.  she sells nothing!  i think she should draft the patterns. i’d buy one, two, three!  like these awesome safari shorts, i’d buy that pattern.  and the ice cream parlor dress, that one, too.

oh, and did i mention that she’s doing a giveaway right this minute?  for a wonderful white paper doll frock?  love!  and hope for a win . . . !

i love these beautiful clothes!  the sweater with the buttons on the diagonal is calling my name. . . .

i love finding new places like beklina.  did everyone else know of them?  found via the indie quarter.

the mere idea of a new toy a day makes me feel a wee bit sick, considering the toys and books and costumes and accessories that my kids have accumulated sometimes seem to take over the house entire.  but the toy-a-day project is terrific fun and i can’t wait to get a new color ink cartridge and print some of these out.

yes, annie and husband and friends completely surprised me tuesday, decoy gift and all (which i’ve yet to photograph but am excited about sharing with you all).  it’s nice to have birthdays, and even nicer to have friends who help your birthday be nice . . .

beefy’s party hat!  i wish we’d gotten better pictures, i suppose there is time to pose in it, and annie’s birthday is in the fall, so . . . . i think it all just went really fast at the time i was wearing the hat, little fingers in the cake, the baby crying about the noise, the cheesecake really being all we were thinking about.  maybe if i had a big cheesecake to wear on my  head we would have gotten better pictures.  all the same, thanks beefy! for hosting a giveaway that in turn allowed annie to win the party hat which, in turn, gave me a chance to wear it.  sweet.

and the cheesecake, what more can be said about this delightful thing i put into my mouth?  make it, eat it, try not to cry . . .

my dearest husband gave me a bosch, which i’ve wanted for awhile.  i’m the kind of girl who is not turned off by an appliance as a gift, especially a stallion like the bosch (i just said stallion, please . . .) .  and annie and heather gave me a wondrous necklace and pin from the nifty little corner hideaway shop, the dixie gem.  “now you don’t have to wear a plate around your neck!” which is what i did wear to my sister in law’s wedding last weekend.  it didn’t look like a plate until annie unknowingly said, “look at that, you could EAT off of it!”  alas, you can.  it still looked good, really, it did.  a plate from etsy worn around my neck.

we played pin the moustache on the mollie, since i love moustaches (who doesn’t these days?) and ruffly collars, it was the perfect game.  i wish my hair looked as good in real life as it does in annie’s drawing.

so, birthday hurrahs!  i do intend to take pics of my bosch in action, of my decoty gift, and my bejewled person soon.  we’ve had a lot of wedding pandemonium and family in town and add to that royal buffet creating and the abundance of wild activity in a house full of kids, well, it’s hard to do things in a timely manner.

a few more birthday bash pics can be seen here!

goodness gracious, i love jemima lumley!  i want this cuff, and several other things in her etsy shop.  her blog is pretty nifty, too.  check her out!  and what a cute name she has, jemima. . . .

i really really love this scarf from urban outfitters, they have a really big selection of scarves like this, i had no idea. i wish it was cooler here in SC so i could wear one like this comfortably, i hope they still have them for fall. . .

i saw these on emma’s blogg, you probably did also. . .but i just had too put them up here too for some blog decoration. i love them!!!

so we did throw Mollie a surprise party, and it worked, she was surprised! she thought she was going on a peaceful kidless b-day date. but no, she got a very festive whirlwind production. no jumping out of closets for this surprise, we just all stood in a line as they drove up holding big letters, except, i sort of forgot to make two “h’s” so our sign said “appy Birthday”, but i think she knew what we ment. . .

we stuffed ourselves with corn chowder made with half-and-half, delicious challah and hummus that Camille brought and microwave pizzas for the short guests who don’t like corn chowder. we played “pin the mustache on the mollie”  and then she delightedly opened a bosch mixer from her hubby. i have never seen anyone so excited for an appliance as she was! it did look pretty cool though.

and ta-da! the giveaway winnings from Uncle Beefy perched on Mollie’s beautiful head as  she blew out the candles on her birthday cheesecake. actually i think Jude blew them out before her blow could get to them. thanks so much Uncle Beefy, the hat came just in time and so gosh darn festive! the perfect birthday hat. and please, please dear blog reader you must make the New York style Martha S. cheesecake. its in a league all its own. ( oh dear, i am haveing a hard time finding a link to the recipe, i’m sorry). death by cheese. happy birthday mollie, i hope we do not all die in our sleep tonight. oh my!i can’t end with that sentence. Appy Birthday Mollie!