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Look what the mailman brought me today. What a lovely surprise to find a package from Tine! Look what I got!
I love my whimsical soul birdie necklace Tine, thank you so very much!!! (click on the image for a close up)
She is now selling these through her website so go check them out. I wore it today and received compliments!
It's so unique and fun to wear. teehee.
Tine, you made my day today!
(pictures courtesy of Emily Fulcher)
"King Frog" is the hero of this story that I illustrated for Perfection Learning last summer. The cat does not like the frog and thinks he is a show off. That is, until one day when she falls in the river and can't get out. She finds he's not so bad after all. =o)
Okay, we're in the thick of summer and I'm trying to be a good mom , I really am. I love my kids, I enjoy having them around and I cry the first day they go back to school...but ...they are driving...me...crazy. =o)
That is why I really appreciated that Anastasia posted this article link written by Susan Barnson-Haywardover, "Caution-Parent at Work".
It's geared to writers but applies to freelancers period.
I have to keep reminding myself with these words daily, "memory maker". I can't remember where I heard this first but it related to spending time with your family and remembering that each moment is a memory that you are giving your child. When they are grown and they look back on their life, how will they remember it? Are they going to remember mom as the crazed woman speaking incoherently at her computer monitor (yes, my son actually drew a picture of the back of my head and a computer once - - I was gutted) or are they going to remember the time mom played 'horse' and nearly won with her backwards shot.
I need to get some work done ...and these tips are great...but I need to also remember that when they've asked for the hundredth time when are we going to go there and when can we go do that...
Memory Maker Roz, Memory Maker.
I can't believe how fast time is flying!
We were gone most of last week so I'm a bit behind on things. Emily and Jesse went to Mississippi (12 hours from here) to spend a couple of weeks with their "pops". (kevins dad)
So, last week we (Hubby, Kevvy, Valentine and I) went to go pick them up and spend a few days visiting too.
On the drive home , I over did it on the caffeine and junkfood and suffered for a good three days with jet lag. So if I owe you an email, I'm sorry! I'll be replying shortly.
On the way back we stopped in a "Cracker Barrel" for breakfast and I found this little gem . It's an egg timer in the shape of a cake! 
Tine had recently posted "collections" for studio friday and I think this is the beginning to a new studio collection for me- egg timers. I showed you all the cute sheep one that I found in the UK. Unfortunately, they aren't manufacturing them right now but possibly again in August - or so I was told.
Fathers Day was on Sunday ,as you all know. For some it can be a bittersweet day as I've been reading on other blogs. I'm fortunate that I have a loving dad (pictured with Jesse below on a family reunion a couple years ago)and with his ill health I am grateful for every day that I still have him a part of my life. He has always been my biggest cheerleader.
Every Sunday we chat by phone (He and mum are 10 hours away in New Mexico) and I'm blessed to hear regularly the words that every child wants to hear, "I'm so proud of you." Thanks Dad. =o)
And here is the "father" to my children, Kevin. Can I be gushy and say that I'm more in love with him today than I was when we first got married 15 years ago? I'm a lucky lucky lady. Here he is with Valentine. She has been working double time helping console us over Sugar. 
She really enjoyed her first road trip and handled the 12 hour drive so well.
The only scare we had was when she found herself a rattle snake in Pops' backyard!!! He lives out in the country and Emily came running in the house panicked, "There's a snake outside!"
We went out and found Val with her paws on top of it sniffing away. Thank GOD, she had found it dead. Valentine, you are a lucky girl.
As far as work, things are going slowly. I'm back to work on a couple of revisions for "Emma Felt". I have to create two new finished illustrations with Emma in braids to send with the revised dummy. I should have that finished by next week.
Also, I need to start getting focused on a new promo!
Here is a sketch that I'm dabbling with. 
It will go through more changes I'm sure, but I thought I should show you all something work related so I can atleast appear productive.
In all honesty I'm caught in the haze of summer. All I really want to be doing is reading , dreaming and enjoying the sunshine. Everything else is taking great effort. hahahaha!
If anyone is reading a good book that they'd like to recommend, please pass it on to me! I'm open...no particular genre.
It was a year ago today that the children's book world lost a fabulous illustrator. Elaine Garvin was my friend, my mentor and my hero.
Lainey, saying that I miss you is an understatement.
With all that has been going on, I haven't made the time to tell you the news! Emma Felt has found a literary agent ! I'm tickled to bits and I'm finishing up some final details.
Emma is going through a little bit of a makeover. She will be sporting braids instead of curls. I've worked on the sketches to reflect that, and I'm really happy with the results.
Wish us luck! I'll keep you posted.
*** "Emma Felt..." is a board book concept that I have written and illustrated. I initially sent a dummy with two finished colors samples from the story. I also sent her samples from my illustration portfolio to get a good feel of my style. My dream may become a reality yet!"***
In the matter of a week life at home has become so topsy turvy. You all know about Sugar but we also found out this past week that we will be moving.
My husband is in the military and we have been stationed here for nearly three years. It's been wonderful because we have family driving distance (10 hours away, but hey that's an improvement on what it used to be!) and also my sis-in-law and her family live right here in town. The kids have loved getting to spend time with their cousins.
In a few months,we will be on our way to Las Vegas , Nevada. I lived there as a teenager and it was a great experience but I'm not going to lie to you, I don't want to move. It's going to be tough on the kids, they are very happy here.Getting them sorted plus establishing new therapy and medical services for Kevvy (my son with cerebral palsy) is going to be a challenge as it always is.
However, I'm fortunate in the fact that I can be happy anywhere. Home is where the heart is, after all. But I always have to go through this "basket case" phase first and I'm terrible at letting go. Terrible at it. I guess from having to do it all my life. My dad was military as well, you'd think I'd be used to the moves by now! But instead it brings back all the memories of the upheaval of leaving friends and routine and I'm hypersensitive to it now with my own children.
Being a firm believer that all things work together for good ,this will be good for us too. I'll come round and the kids will too.
I never would have dreamed that I would be writing about this today. The morning started like every other morning but now it's nearly the end of the day and I will be going to sleep without my beautiful Sugar laying next to my bed.
We had to make the dreaded decision this afternoon to put our gorgeous 12 year old Sugar to sleep. She had been slowly deteriorating over this past year with arthritis. But today her system started to shut down and she couldn't control her bowels. She wasn't even aware that she was doing this. We took her in for a check up and to cut a painful story short , we decided that the greatest gift we could give her was peace. Anything other than that would have been selfish.
But at this very moment , I would like to be selfish for just five more minutes so that I could give my sweet girl another kiss and a cuddle and tell her again how much we love her and how lucky that we were to have her in our life these past 12 years.
Suggie..you were such a good girl. We are going to miss you so very much. Give Biff Boy a good run for his money and give Granmamma a big kiss from us, okay?
The ABC Book competition is right around the corner and they are looking for illustrators to participate.
I really enjoyed participating last year and would recommend it.
With permission, I'm posting Rita Mills original email request:
CALL FOR ILLUSTRATORS
The ABC's Children's Picture Book Competition is on the hunt for
illustrators for their 2nd round of competition.
The 10 finalists for the 2nd competition have been selected and we are
looking for an illustrator to pair-up with each finalist's story. You can
check out the finalists at the link below........
http://www.abcbookcompetition.org/newpages/doubleplain/competition.html
The illustrators chosen will submit a piece of art for a specific title and
all the finalists teams (art & story) will be posted on the internet for an
online vote to pick the winner. The winning team of the competition will
get their books published roughly 12-18 months later.
The link below will take you to last year's collection of finalists that
participated in the internet vote. The website had over 10,000 individuals
vote in last year's competition with well over 100,000 actual hits to the site.
http://www.abcbookcompetition.org/newpages/authors/stories.html
If you are an illustrator or know someone who is an illustrator, who might
be interested in participating, please pass this information along.
To get the details, please email [email protected] with Illustrator Call in the
subject line of your email. Please do not send samples of your work yet.
We had to get this info out now because of deadlines, but the ABC's website
isn't as current as it should be. Please bear with us, as the website is in
limbo while our web designer is suffering through a computer meltdown.....Rita
I am a goal setter, I love the feeling of accomplishment when a goal has been met. But let's face it , we all have complex lives and sometimes we need to be creative when we have a lot we are trying to manage.
One method I like is working towards a goal in 15 minute increments. I initially learned this concept through flylady.net when I wanted to de-clutter my home. I found that it worked great in other areas of my life as well!
For example,are you putting off your dreams because you feel that you just don't have the time for all that needs to be done or that it's just too overwhelming? You would be amazed at what you can accomplish in just 15 minutes.
There are many days that I flop into bed exhausted, not knowing where my day has gone, it's all a blur. To make matters worse I'd think about all the things I didn't do on my 'list'.
* "I should have sent a packet to that publisher today"
* "I should have worked on that manuscript that needs tweaking"
*" I should have followed up with that editor that really loved my style".
Not only am I exhausted but now I also feel guilty!
Instead of focusing on what I don't get done, now I focus on what I DO. I have a list of goals and try to do something towards them for at least 15 minutes a day. I don't stress on COMPLETING my goal ,just on taking one step at a time toward the finish line.
This way I at least go to bed knowing that I did something other than giving myself another excuse for why I couldn't.
I challenge you to pick something that you have been putting off that you really want to accomplish. Decide that you will spend 15 minutes a day towards it and see what happens.
Summer is officially here and the kids are ready to be entertained! So my 15 minutes a day will be used to create a dummy book for a new story that I've written.
Get ready, get set , turn on your timers!
* Look at that adorable sheep egg timer. I just found it on line and I'm tickled because the book I'm working on this summer is about a SHEEP! I have to order it!*
