Rozzie Land

Happy Easter

 

  

They Draw and Cook

 

 

There is a fun blog you need to check out. It's called "they draw and cook" which posts illustrated recipes.  Above is my contribution. I hope other illustrators out there will participate too! 

New Moon

 

YAY! The day is finally here.  Emily and I took a ditch day to see it , hoping to miss the lines and the plan worked. I did schedule a dental appointment to at least validate a day off of school but really it was a ditch day all the same. =o)

If you are a Twilight fan you will enjoy it, they stayed true to the book again which is always great. 

What made the first movie really work for me was the soundtrack so I was praying they'd pull it off again with this one, and they did for the most part. Not as much of a moody, ethereal style that appealed to me in the first but enough to make me want to get the soundtrack.

Anyway, it was a fun girls day out for sure!!!!  

* OH! Don't know if any of you have read, "The Lovely Bones" but I was so surprised and excited to see that it has been made into a movie (they showed previews today). I enjoyed the book -except one area that I thought was totally unnecessary and took away from the story for me personally- but I'm hoping they'll omit it from the film version. 

Christmas Wish List

Have you noticed how we have completely skipped over Thanksgiving and are already on the countdown to Christmas?  It's crazy but I have to admit all the subliminal (and not so subliminal) advertising is working because I've already started my wish list.

I thought I'd share what is on the top.
I tried this at  Brookstone last weekend and just fell in love with it. It massages your neck and shoulders and really hits the spot. It's called the , Ineed neck and shoulders massager. I didn't want to take it off.  Kevin wanted me to get it but I balked at the price and asked for it for my Christmas gift. But now I regret it because I don't know if I can wait that long! 

Anyway, I just wanted to share in case you are looking for gift ideas. Brookstone is in our local mall and maybe it's in yours as well. If so, go in and give it a try.

 

That's not me but that was definitely my expression when I had it on.

Julie & Julia

 

Took myself to a movie today and finally saw the film above. Oh, I loved it, loved it, loved it.   I was fascinated by the back story of the infamous Julia Childs (Meryl Streep - BRAVO!) while equally enjoying the trials and tribs of the Julie of today(Amy Adams- delightful!).  I connected with both -I think you all will too - finding themselves and pursuing publication.  

Anyway, I'm no critic, just enjoyed the film thoroughly. 

Okay, so if you go see the movie and get excited by the fried bread and tomato scene, here is a link to the recipe. You'll know what I mean when you see the film.

http://hungrynovelist.wordpress.com/2009/08/05/bruschetta-alla-julie-and-julia/

And if you're curious if Julie still blogs and want to visit...

 http://juliepowell.blogspot.com/

Go see the flick. =o) 

Bon Appetit!

What dog are you?

This is a fun game and I was freaked out when I saw the dog that I am. It is a miniature spitz but it looks exactly like my Lily! (Press the green button above to see)

Wanna play? Go here.

http://www.gone2thedogs.com/

The game is on the sidebar to the right, "click to play what dog are you".

IF: climbing

Baby duck likes climbing on mummy to have a chat.

I'm starting to get the hang of cs4. One little nuisance (for me) is that the path's I create with the pen tool are more transparent than in cs2 so sometimes it's hard to see what I'm doing. But I'm getting used to it. I don't have a choice, haha! I don't have any other versions I can revert to on here (mac).

It looks like we are going to get a ton of snow here tonight! Possibly 6 inches by Wednesday. I'm excited. I haven't seen snow like that since I lived in DC several years ago. 

Ridem' Cowboy!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer so far. Balancing deadlines while enjoying summer fun is making time whiz by here in the desert.

Remember when I shared the news that we were being assigned to New Mexico? Well, we found out a couple of weeks ago that the assignment was denied. The base medical team cannot accommodate Kevin's (our son with CP) medical needs. We were surprised and disappointed and have been on pins and needles waiting to see where we would land next.

As of yesterday, it looks like they may not be moving us after all and the mister will transition to a position here. The kids were thrilled with this but I'm not convinced until we see something in writing.

I feel a little like this boy who is springing back and forth, back and forth.

*This piece is another experiment. I wanted to play with felt and fabrics digitally without trying to make it look like the real thing. It was fun and liberating just to play.*

A day in the life- MEME

Holli has started a meme asking people to share a day in their life.

When all the planets are aligned and no one is sick and there aren't tons of errands to do, this is what a typical day looks like for me...

5:45am

Our day starts early for school.

6:45 – 7:45 am
School bus picks up Kevvy and I drive Emily and Jesse to school.

8:00am – 9am

My staple breakfast: Shredded Wheat

I love it warmed in the microwave for 1 minute. YUM.

Usually I catch up on one tivo recorded show (ie: Tudors, Top Chef, Last Restaurant Standing)

Write emails, read or write blog posts.

10:00 – 11:00 exercise

Usually mon, wed, Friday I go for a 3 to 4 mile jog.

Otherwise I’m tidying and catching up on dishes/laundry.

If I'm on a tight deadline, the chores wait and I get straight to illo work and fit it in later.

11:00am – 2:00 pm

WORK

check email

WORK

Check email

WORK

I really enjoy listening to music while I work so I usually have Itunes playing on the computer most days.

If the workload is quiet, I like to take myself to a movie once a week.

2:15pm – 4:00pm
Kids start arriving home. Jesse babysits Kevvy while I pick up Emily. We head over to the grocery store to pick up dinner ingredients and afternoon snack.

Snack: Starbucks

We have a starbucks in our Albertsons. NICE!

My "regular" is a tall , peppermint white choc mocha.

4:00pm – 6:00 pm
Multi- task

work, email, spend time with kids

6:00pm – 7:00pm

Feed the doggies

Emily and I cook dinner listening to Ipod set up in kitchen. We've been eating a lot of take out while "daddy's" been away,though. (He's on military duty away for 2 months)

Jesse’s playing on his xbox.
Kevvy’s watching tv.

We eat dinner together.

Clean up dishes

7:00pm- 8:00pm

My cuddle time on couch with Kevvy . He’s been in his wheelchair all day so time on the couch reading books is his favorite. (For new readers, Kev is 13yrs with severe cerebral palsy)

HIs all time favorite book is still…

Kipper ABC’s

Bath for Kevvy

8:00 pm

Bedtime for Kevvy.
Jess and Em stay up later with me.

8:00 to 10:00pm 

TV time with kids.. Our favorite night is Tuesday and Thursday.  Hell’s Kitchen, American Idol, The Office.

I take a bath and read for 15-20 minutes.
Reading "LIfe of Pi" right now.

10:00 pm 

Yawn yawn, hug hug,  say our “I love’s you’s”

….Snore.

If you're still reading, I'll tag...

Alicia, Phyllis,  Liz , Kathy and Jannie.

Hugs and Kisses

Book Launch Party - Kathy Weller

Come join the fun over at the PBJ's and win yourself an autographed copy of Kathy's new book, THE MONTHS!

Make-A-Flake

Have fun making your own cyber snowflake HERE.

The Doodle Game

Last week on the PBJ blog, I wrote about a game our family calls, "The Doodle Game".

This week, the PBJ's have decided to play a round on the ol' blog.

If you would like to play , hop on over to the PBJ blog. I've added a doodle so visitors can participate. If you post it on your blog, please email me so that I can link to it.(If you don't have a blog and want to play, I can post it on ours)

The rules are simple: Save the doodle to your computer. You can rotate the doodle in any direction to create your picture. Just try to indicate the line so we can all see what the original doodle looked like.

Here is the doodle Laura gave me:

And here is what I turned it into:

Tagged!- 8 things

...you never asked to know about me.

(Tagged by Gail and Kathy )

1. I'm an only child.

2. I just turned 28... for the 10th time.

3. My favorite place is inside a movie theater with a tub of oily popcorn. It's a way for me to decompress.

4. My second favorite place is DISNEYLAND! I lived in California for 7 years growing up and every summer we went to Disney. Now that we are living in Las Vegas, it is such a thrill to share the experience with my 3 kids. (Disney is just a few hours away from here.) Favorite ride? Pirates! But The "Tower of Terror" is catching up!

5. I love puzzles, puzzle games and mysteries. I think that might be part of the reason I enjoy illustrating so much. I like the challenge of figuring out how to bring words to life in a visually appealing way.

6. I am a hopeless romantic.  The mister and I recently celebrated our 17th anniversary. I consider myself very fortunate to be married to my dream guy. I like that we still hold hands when we walk together.

7. I think I have a good sense of humor but can't tell a joke to save my life. I'm better at being the "laugher" in the group.

8. Favorite drinks: Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks, Diet Cream Soda and a Guinness every now and again. (but only draft!)

I Tag the "pbj's"
Keep an eye on our picture book junkie blog next week for "tag" posts.

Cut Paper Quilt

Addendum: If anyone reads this and is interested in participating, please visit the link to her site. She is looking for contributors for Aug thru Dec.

Dawbis is creating a cut paper quilt and I am a part of her May edition. I really enjoyed working on this challenge because you were only allowed to use the scraps of paper that she provided and create something based on the theme, "A day in the life".

Here is the paper I received:

The striped strip of paper was my inspiration. It looked so much like a stack of books to me.

A day in the life of Roz, a "fan" of children's books.

(the red background is the backside of one of the decorative papers)

Spiderman 3

So have you all made it out to see Spiderman 3 yet?
Here's a trailer you may not have seen for it yet. =o)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP4Ymtab_Zo

Take On Me

Just experimenting here a little. With the last post I mentioned the "Pop Goes My Heart" video from "Music & Lyrics". Well here's a typical 80's video. This used to be one of my faves. And hey it has illustrations in it. You could maybe even say it's like a graphic novel. Win Win!

American Idol & Pop

Is anyone else keeping up with "American Idol" this year? And if so, am I the only one that is horrified that Sanjaya is still in the competition???  Yes, he's a sweetie but singing...he's so out of his league now.

My favorites are Lakisha (what a voice!) and Blake. Blake is just so unique and current. I can't wait to see what he does with the music each week!  LOVED what he did with "Time Of The Season" last night.
(song by the Zombies in the 60's)

And staying with the theme of music, I tried to post a "You Tube" video on here but it doesn't look like they support the typepad platform yet. What a bummer! My daughter and I went to see "Music & Lyrics" recently and enjoyed it very much. If you like 80's pop like "Duran Duran" and "Wham", you'll enjoy the video from the flick. I can't get enough of it because it is so reminiscent of how the music videos were, too funny!

Here's a link to it, I hope it works for you.If not, Google "pop goes my heart You Tube".

So what does this have to do with Illustration? A whole lot of nothing! But in my defense I did write a blog post showing the parallels between Idol and Freelancing. Hopefully I can redeem myself with that!

*The sketch above is from a dummy book I'm working on.*

Explore- Cut Paper

Before Christmas an educational publisher that likes my felt style asked if I also did "cut paper".  I told them that I didn't but would be happy to give it a try.

So in keeping with my 2007 theme of "explore" here is my first attempt at a cut paper piece. I'm going to hurry up and show you before I pick it to death and decide I don't like it. =o)

I had a lot of fun with this once I approached it the same way I would felt.

PS
Thank you,Theresa, for recommending "Yes" glue. It's fabulous!!

Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day to one and all!

Here is a children's book I simply adore which is appropriate for the day:

by Michaela Morgan

I initially bought it because I love Caroline Jane-Church's use of specialty papers and pressed flowers in her illustrations. But the story is equally delightful. It's about two bunnies that share how they feel about one another through secret gifts because they are too shy to say it in person. They hide their love letters and flowers in the hollow of a log for each to find.  A family of mice come across the secret gifts when they take refuge from a rain storm in the log. It isn't until they have torn the letters into pieces to make a warm nest for themselves that they realize they have ruined a love connection. =o)
In the end the mice recreate the papers into a new love letter and the bunnies find out how the other feels.
It's just such a cute "happily ever after" story , check it out.

And I have to say a Happy Valentines Day to me, because I just found out that my name was drawn over at Sweet Pea's blog. I am the winner of "Sparky"   who will be coming to live with me in Vegas. YAY!!
As well as being a talented illustrator, Susan also enjoys creating "softies" in her not so spare time.
Thank you Sweet Pea!

Cyber hugs & chocolate to all that visit the ol' blog today.

PS I had an awesome time in NYC and will post about it shortly.  =o))

TAGGED!

Speaking of Weird, isn't it "weird" that the "i" before "e" rule doesn't apply the the word "weird"? Weird.

Okay,Ginger, 6 Weird things about myself.

This was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.

1. My mum is British and my dad is American. When I'm with them , I speak in an English accent and with everyone else, American. My English relatives get a good laugh out of this because I sound more Australian than anything else.

2. I like my microwave popcorn slightly burned.

3. I smile unintentionally when I'm told bad news. And then I cry.

4. As an adult, I still get excited when I hear an ice cream truck in the neighborhood.

5. I love whole berry cranberry sauce on my pumpkin pie and turkey sandwiches. Give it a try next Thanksgiving .=o)

6. When I'm nervous I knock drinks over. Terribly embarrassing. I knocked 2 drinks in a row into Kevin's lap on our first date.
I thought I better just warn those of you who will be attending the NY conference. =O)

I'm going to tag the PBJ's.

Directions:

"Each person who gets tagged needs to write a blog post of their own 6 weird things as well as clearly state this rule. After you state your 6 weird things, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says “you’re tagged” in their comments and tell them to read your blog for information as to what it means."

Tagged, I'm it!

Sherry and the lovely gals at Picture Bookies have tagged me. I've done this one before so I'm just going to link to it if that's okay. HERE
I have 3 addendum's, though.

Movies that I could watch over and over- "Pride & Prejudice".  (the most recent one)
Favorite TV show - "Heroes".
Favorite place to be- Still a movie theater but now it's kettle corn instead of oily popcorn.  =o)

I tag anyone reading this that enjoys tag games and would like to participate!

New Month- New Slate

The first has become one of my favorite days of the month. Can you guess why?

Because I get to clean off the mess notes from my dry erase board and start fresh!

Awww. I think I am going to enjoy this measure of clean for a few more minutes before I start filling it with this months "to-do" list.

The Office

  Okay, Pam...Don't screw it up this time.When Jim comes back tell him you love him for goodness sakes!

Sigh

Another High 5 Sighting

I just want to say a big thank you to my buddy, Garth, for sending me these pics that he captured on his cell phone while attending the NAEYC (National Association for the
Education of Young Children) show in Atlanta this weekend.

Garth, the next time you are in town, I'm buying lunch ,okay?  =o)

(Art Director Kelley Cunningham. Isn't she beautiful?)

Happy Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEN!!!!

Organizer

Oh boy, long time no write.

All is going well over here. I'm finishing up some work that I was assigned over the summer and although I would love to show n' tell, you know what I'm going to write...due to the contract I can't until it's published. Poo.

Other than that I have been slowly working on getting my work room cleaned and organized.  I have been trying to figure out a better way to stash my felt and thought I'd finally settled on a sweater organizer to fit in the top part of this wardrobe.
But then I went to Target and found this little beauty.

It's actually designed for kitchen use but it's perfect for my studio. Although these bins will be very jumbled soon, I'll still be able to SEE what I have through the mesh. You wouldn't believe how much money I've spent on felt that I didn't think I had , only to find it tucked away too deep and overlooked!

I also love that it has the butcher block and caster wheels. Who can't use a portable work surface?

Anyway, that was my exciting find of the week.

Now to figure out what I'm going to do with this nest of embroidery floss! Believe it or not, this actually works for me so it will probably stay as is.

I have grown sentimental about this little Tupperware holder. Back when I was pregnant with my first child I did a lot of cross stitching and bought every imaginable color.. After baby arrived, cross stitching time (and desire) went straight out the window but I kept the floss filled Tupperware around, like any good hoarder would.
And, see I DID find a use for the floss eventually.  10+ years later, but hey, whose counting?

=o)

Dummy Books

Wish me luck everyone, My dummybook , "Emma Felt" is on its way to my rep who is interested in shopping her around for me. Fingers crossed!

For other aspiring auth/illustrators, check out Jarrett J. Krosoczka's blog. Scroll down to "page by page" and watch his movie on submitting a dummy. It's absolutely hilarious.
Thanks again Steph for the link!

Disney Vacation

Hi all!

Sorry to be so quiet but the family and I took a much needed vacation last week to Disneyland. Yay, what a wonderful time we had! I spent 7 years of my childhood living in California and Disneyland was my favorite place in the world. It still is. And what a treat to take my own children there for the first time and see them have such a great time.

I won't bore you with family photos but I will share with you one of the highlights of the trip for me. Hubby surprised me with an early Christmas gift when we visited the watch shop on "Main Street".

I adore Eeyore and fell in love with this  the minute I saw it.

What is most exciting , when you purchase your time piece you also receive the original artwork used to make your watch.
Mine was created by artist, Dave Smith. It is watercolor on hot press paper. I love that you can see the pencil marks underneath the paint. This will soon be framed and hanging in my studio! Try to find Smiths' signature. See it? (click image to enlarge)

Unfortunately I missed meeting Dave but took a picture of Eric Scales who was working on a lovely Daisy duck illustration. I could have sat and watched him work for hours.

I will cherish my eeyore watch for years to come!

Yo Ho!

Is anyone else as excited as I am that "Pirates" is coming out tomorrow? Can't wait!

Yo ho, Yo ho!

Addendum:

*It was BRILLIANT. GO SEE IT!*

Breaking News!

Newspaper fun

Thanks Loobylu for the cool link!

Needle Felting

Here is a portion of an illustration I just finished for a client.

Months ago I ordered a needle felt kit to make a duck . Unfortunately, I still haven't made time to make him but the tools from the kit came in really handy! I am so happy with this little chap and he was so fun to make!

If you are interested in learning more about needle felting, check out Marieke's blog Wol En Zo. She makes the cutest little characters and has a couple of tutorials up as well. Very Inspirational!

A Place to Bark!

Check out this great blog created by a multi media artist who also is working very hard to build her own rescue shelter. It looks like she will be holding an art auction (is looking for artists to participate I think)to help earn some money for her rescue efforts. Very cool. Go take a look and please help spread the word!

A PLACE TO BARK

Seasons

You Are Summer!

Outgoing Friendly Flirty Cute Fun

What Season Are You?

American Idol night

All I can say is..

I thought Ace was going to poop his pants last night when his name was called.  =O)

"real" blog post coming shortly...

cheep cheep!

YAY! "cheep cheep" is finally available. I discovered this book several months ago and fell in love with the cover. Isnt' it clever?

I'm hearing through the grapevine that it is doing incredibly well. I can't wait to see what the rest of the illustrations are like.

I've had my eye on this book ever since I saw it at my daughters' school book fair.

At the time I just couldn't warrant a reason why I "needed" this book...but that has flown out the window. You win Amazon. You taunted me with a bargain and I caved.  I just can't resist a good doggy book and If you have a pooch, you'll enjoy it too.

B&N Trip

Took a trip to the book store yesterday and I always get the same feeling when I walk in the children's section. First ,I dream that I will one day see a book I've illustrated displayed on the main wall - you know the one I mean. Second, how in the world am I ever going to manage that, look at all this talent!

Here were some fun discoveries...

Janee's adorable Valentine book is still on display. I would have taken a photo ,Janee, but they had an ugly 50% sticker on all the valentine books. Congratulations to Janee, she's very busy right now with a lot of fun projects. Your hard work is paying off in a big way!

Here is the second in a series of books by Lisa Kopelke about a toad learning his manners.They are a hoot! Lisa lives here in Vegas too.

I only recently discovered Lisa Schroeder's blog and it was such fun to see her book on display. (on the wall of fame I was just writing about!) Very cute book appropriate for a bedtime snuggle with your kiddos. Love the artwork with an eye catching cover don't you think?
(illustrator- Viviana Garofoli)

And then I came across a couple of books that were new to me and I just fell in love with them. Do you ever visit the bookstore and jot down illustrators or authors' names and then later research everything about them that you can? Me too.

Penny Ives
I just loved the concept of this story where you are given the perfect recipe for bedtime.The illustrations are absolutely delightful. Looks like pencil and watercolor, just so sweet. Wish I could show you some of the interiors.

Carolyn Jane Church
Can't find much about her but you can find several of her books on the UK amazon rather that the US. I'm in love with how she creates her illustrations. Viewing them on line doesn't do them justice. The "dear bunny" story is a sweet love story between two shy bunnies. The illustrator incorporates such interesting papers (textured, possibly hand made) plus real pressed flowers I think! Just yummy.

I wish I could have afforded to buy all of these books but I had to temper myself!
I went on a mission to buy Kate DiCamillos new one, "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane".  Thanks to Book Moot for posting this link to Kates interview in the NY times. Oh how I love Kate DiCamillo's "voice" and can't wait to get started on this one!

Tagged! 4 things

I've been tagged by the talented Paula Becker so here goes...

Four Jobs I’ve Had:

* Cashier at a military base exchange (like a mini walmart)
* Cashier and framer at an art store (Aaron Brothers)
* Barmaid at a pub in England (lots of fun!)
* Mom (still have this job and it's the hardest one so far!)

Four Movies I Can See Over And Over:

* Cold Mountain
* Somersby
* Along Came Polly
* A Christmas Story

Four Places I’ve Lived:

* England
* Okinawa, Japan
* Germany
* Texas

Four TV Shows I Love:

* The Office (both versions)
* Creature Comforts (claymation- BBC America)
* Everybody Loves Raymond
* American Idol

Four Places I’ve Vacationed:
* Paris (whirlwind trip with my mum and grandmother-not very romantic but fun)
* Scotland (Honeymoon, does that count?)
* Amsterdam (another weekend excursion when hubby and I lived overseas and didn't have kiddies yet)
* Visiting parents in New Mexico and Mississippi (that has been the extent of vacationing for the past several years)

Four Of My Favorite Dishes: Oh this is tough, I love food PERIOD.

* Peppersteak with a spring roll and egg drop soup (take-out)
* traditional fish n' chips with real malt vinegar
* Steak and boiled shrimp with hushpuppies
* Rooty Tooty jr. from ihop!

Four Sites I Visit Almost Daily:

* Bloglines to read my ever growing list of blogs.
* Stat referrer
* Yahoo email groups
* picture book artists

Four Places I’d Rather Be Now:

* In a movie theatre with a bag of very oily popcorn
* Any bookstore with a starbucks
* Out on a lunch date with the hubbie
* In a movie theatre with even more oily popcorn

Four Bloggers I’m Tagging:

hmmm, let's see...

Humblearts
Fox In Socks
Art & Soul
Rock Paper Scissors

Puzzling

Growing up, a winter past time was working on massive puzzles with my parents. We would go to the "pic 'n save" and spend hours choosing the "perfect puzzle" with lots and LOTS of pieces.

So, when my parents came out this Christmas,we decided , hey why not, let's do a puzzle! I had forgotten what a pleasure it is to sit and mull over a complex puzzle. Mum and I would stay up til the wee hours of the morning "puzzling" and gabbing determined to get it finished before they had to go home.

I enjoyed working on this so much that the "puzzling" continues and I highly recommend it if you are looking for something to do to relax.

(Emily and I recently finished this cute puppy one.)

We start ours on a large piece of poster board on our dining table and just have it sitting there for when the mood strikes...which is usually while I'm cooking dinner or right before bedtime.

Okay, so what does this have to do with illustration? Well for me, the more I'm working on these, the more I'm thinking about how fun it would be to have puzzles out in the world with my artwork on them.

I've decided I'm going to work up some designs this year and start submitting to publishers that produce puzzles. Check out your CWIM book and you'll find several listings if you are interested in submitting your work as well. Storybook artwork is perfect for puzzles. And sitting here working on these, gives me a good sense of what works/what doesn't as far as colors and design.

Another idea ...what a fun gift a puzzle would be for family members.  Imagine next year, giving your children , favorite niece and nephews a puzzle to work on that you designed!

I googled "personalized puzzles" and there are several companies out there. I think the one I'm going to try is "Positively Puzzled".  Looks to be a pretty easy process. You send a high resolution jpg in the appropriate dimensions and bing bang boom..a puzzle is made. I'll let you know how it goes.

Happy puzzling!

Spongebob?

Oh Gawd, make her stop!

I know, I'm sorry ...I need to stop puttering about. I promise, soon I'll be in a house and focused on illustration again.

YOU ARE PEARL THE SHARK!

!!!WHAT SPONGEBOB CHARACTER ARE YOU!!!
brought to you by Quizilla

Muppets Anyone?

okay...and here's another. Thanks Courtney!

You are Rowlf. You are a loner, and love classical music, You can
play the piano without opposable thumbs. Then
again, you are just a Muppet. ALSO KNOWN AS: Ol' Brown Ears HOBBIES: Piano playing, punning, fetching. QUOTE: "My bark is worse than my bite, and my piano
playing beats 'em both." FAVORITE MOVIE: "The Dogfather" FAVORITE COMPOSER: Poochini FAVORITE SONG: "I've Never Harmed An Onion, So Why Should
They Make Me Cry?"

What Muppet are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

where would you live?

This is fun and I played after visiting holly's blog. Where do you belong?

You Belong in London

A little old fashioned, and a little modern. A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock. A unique woman like you needs a city that offers everything. No wonder you and London will get along so well.

What City Do You Belong In?

20 things

Okay, I'll play Janee.

hmmm, Let's see....

1. I love long walks on the beach and sunsets. Just kidding. =o)

2. I love to laugh.

3. I am an "airforce brat". I have lived in Okinawa, Germany, England, Texas, Massachusetts, California, Nevada and Washington DC.

4. My husband and I eloped to Scotland (My parents and grandmother came along) and we were married across the street from and Edinburgh castle.

5.I have been married for 15 years to a soldier and he still gives me goosebumps when he walks in the room. (barf bags available upon request)

6. I have three children 13,10 and 9 years old. They drive me batty but they really are the sweetest kids anyone could ask for. Just don't let them know I told you that!

7. I am half british/half american and speak with an english accent to my parents. But really it sounds like I'm Australian.

8. My name Rozalind means, "like a rose".

9. My dream home would be a country cottage in Devon, England.

10. I used to work in a real english pub.

11. I would love to open up a little store called , "The Painted Daisy".

12. My favorite colors are rose pink and sage green.

13. I spoke German fluently when I was little but can't remember anything now.

14. Eventhough I have moved a lot, I DO NOT LIKE MOVING.

15. I am a hopeless romantic.

16. I am a huge spongebob squarepants fan. Sorry but it's true.

17. I am my happiest in a garden with fingernails thick with dirt. I still dabble with the idea of getting licensed in horticulture.

18.I love anything chintz!

19. I adore cheesecake, strawberry cream slushes and white chocolate reeses.

20. I have gained 6 pounds this past month, I wonder why??

ABC Book Competition

  The ABC PB competition is in full swing. Please take the time to vote for your favorite story/illustration combo.

Best wishes and good luck to all the participants!

You can vote for your favorites one time per 24 hours.

Click HERE to vote!

TAGGED, I'm it!

Ack! I've been tagged by Snowbear. Okay , I'll play....

5 Things Meme :) 

5 albums on your iPod:

I am probably the only person in the world that doesn't have one of these so I'll tell you the 5 cd's that I've been listening to.

1. Rob Thomas - Something to be
2. The Power of Intention- Wayne Dyer audio
3. The Wiggles- Yummy Yummy  (my son loves this so we all have to)
4. Hillary Duff-Metamorphasis (ahem... bonding time with my nearly 9 year old daughter)
5. Kelly Clarkson- Breakaway (Okay, that's all me, what can I say? It's catchy)

5 movies you've seen recently

1.Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
2. Batman Begins
3. Bewitched
4. Anchorman
5. The Jacket

5 nice things that happened to you lately

1. Received a fabulous package from Snowbear with lots of fun little goodies including a Sally Mavor Book , mags and a greeting card illustrated with FELT!(will post this shortly)

2. Someone made an offer on our house and we are under contract. Closing will be on Sept. 1 if all continues to go well, fingers crossed! House was only on the market a week. I know that is very lucky.

3. My husband told me I'm gorgeous eventhough I'm feeling like a total hippo right now. This is why I so dislike seeing pictures of myself. It's always a shock. =o(

4. I had a coffee /bookstore chat with a fellow illustrator and friend , heather of humblearts. What fun to get away and just gab!

5. My kids were playing and shattered a window (right after we signed contracts on the house!) and my father in law paid for the repair. Thanks Popsy-poo, that really helped. Most importantly, no one was harmed! That was very nice,thank you God.

5 MP3s on your playlist

I haven't used my mp3 player in a while so I'll play , " 5 things about me that you may not know"

1. I'm am half british and ever since I was little I have used an american accent around friends but a british one around my mum and dad. When I go to England however, I'm always mistaken for an Australian because I mix the two so much. (american/british)

2. I am a huge fan of Wallace and Grommit or anything that has to do with Clay Mation. And yes, I have been known to sit and watch "JoJo's Circus" and "The Koala brothers" even if the kids are at school.

3. I have a terrible problem of smiling when someone tells me bad news. It is the weirdest , most horrible quirk and i've passed it on to my oldest son.  Really, it's awful. If I am told some terrible news, my mouth automatically starts to smile and then suddenly right after, I cry. Now what is that about?

4. I have worn glasses and contacts since I was 12 yrs old and would desperately love to get laser eye surgery but just too scared to do it! Oh to be able to open my eyes in the morning and everything not be a blur!

5. And finally, My face shows ALL of my emotions. What you see is what you get. As you can guess,  I will not be playing poker when we move to Vegas!

Okay, I'm going to tag my critique buddies. No obligation to play, but I sure hope that you do.

Jenny B

Paige Keiser

Heather

Holli

Janee

books

Once I decided that I wanted to illustrate with felt , I was on the hunt for anything and everything illustrated with felt or fabric. It has been easier said than done,though.  If you come across any books illustrated in this unique medium, please let me know. Thanks to those of you that have helped me so far! It always feels like I've been given gold.

Here are some of my discoveries so far:

Creative Hands

Aren't these painted hands fabulous?!  I have never seen this before.   I would love to give credit where credit is due but I can't find the source of these pictures other than the "schroder" logo at the bottom of the photos.  These were sent to me by a 'forward' email.

School visit 2

Continuing on with the school visit, I wanted to show you the wonderful "thank you" letters that I received from some of the students this week. They warmed my heart so much!

If you have the opportunity to go speak to children or even go to the classroom to read stories, I would highly recommend it. Particularly if you are interested in illustrating or writing for children. It gave me a renewed vision of why I'm working so hard at my craft.   Plus, they are just such a hoot to be around!

King Frog

YAY! My copies of "King Frog" by Perfection Learning arrived in the mail today.
Really pleased with how it turned out.

School Visit

I feel like I climbed Mount Everest today and lived to tell about it.

It was my first official school visit as an illustrator. I was invited to speak to my daughters third grade class about what it's like to illustrate children's books.  I thought it would be a great way to get my feet wet but when Ms. Smith (emily's teacher) informed me last week that there would  be  90+ children attending , I thought I was going to faint. The presentation turned out to be for the entire third grade at school.  You have to understand that speaking in public is a massive hurdle that I have been trying to overcome these past few years so this was a very big deal for me,  I wasn't sure I could do it.
I felt like I was in a dream walking through the doors to the school today. "You can do this , roz, you can do this. Emily is so excited, you can't let her down." Do you know that hot, sweaty , fainty feeling? That's what I had.

Well all I can say is, WOW. If i had known what it was going to be like to speak to the kids , I would have been calling every day last week begging to come early!! I'm not kidding. They were the most receptive , sweet kids in the whole wide world and I had such a blast!  My Emily was such a tremendous help, she sat next to me and was my "assistant". The hardest part was getting started but after that it seemed to go well, at least the kids made me feel like it did, I can barely remember what I said. hahaha  This experience reminded me of why I illustrate. Their energy was infectious!

Snowbear, you were right, the kids made me feel like I was queen for a day.It was so cute, they asked for my autograph. My autograph! teehee.

My only regret is that I didn't think to bring a disposable camera. One of the kids could have been taking snaps (that probably would have caused a ruckus,though, kids love to take pictures) of the presentation and I could have posted it here. But it's something to remember for next time. NEXT TIME.  I can't believe those words just typed themselves on the keyboard.

Speaking of school visits,I have heard through the grapevine that the wonderful Anastasia Suen is starting an online workshop on school visits.  I may have to take it. But first I'm taking her picture-book writing workshop that starts on the 25th of this month. Looking forward to it!