Tea, Aliens, Octopi and Other Things

A poppy in my yard, where I thought I planted Zinnias.  

Not sure what happened, but it's very pretty!  

 I live in a household of guys whom I love, but occasionally I need to embrace my feminine side, to counteract the testosterone.  :)
A whimsical tea party with girlfriends is a much needed thing, every so often.
Therapy for the soul.

I found some really great/easy/yummy cookie recipes.

After the tea party, my son and I went to an awesome Alien Fest.

Some of the aliens from the parade.

a little UFO.

this was quite fantastic.

love this.

a very groovy couple indeed.

stilts...perhaps.

very groovy indeed.

And now for the Octopi....

Lately I have had fun with drawing octopusses??

As you may recall, I have used them in other drawings in the past year.

Here are a few recent drawings from my sketchbook...

Octopus in waves.

I may try to do this on a larger scale and with richer colors.

I drew this awhile back, but decided to add more details.

Recently, I had an opportunity to do a mural at an elementary school.  It was a really

 great experience and I had some awesome people help me.  

This is what I've been up to artwise.  I also had some help moving my art space and it's so nice to have more space and organization.  Yay!!!

Hope you are having a wonderful week.

Goodies and A Squirrel.

I have made some truly fantastic blog friends over these past two years.  One lovely thing about the blog world, is the friendships you create that last even when you're not so great at blogging consistently.  ;)  Another added wonderful thing is, trades/goodies in the mail.  I have traded art with some of my blog friends, I have won gorgeous little goodies and I have randomly and lovingly received  gifts...just because.  This week I was blessed to receive two goodies in the mail.

The first came from the bright and sunny, Kristen at Twinkle, Twinkle.   Her art is so full of sunshine, love, joy and wonder.  In this gorgeous picture, she added me, Danielle and herself.  We all got to meet each other last fall, which was a very fun and cherished time.  :)  Thank you so much, Kristen.  I am excited to hang this up where I can see it everyday!
P.S.  If you don't know Kristen, you should definitely pop over and check out her blog, she does this wonderful Color of Summer Blogfest, which will be happening in just 3 weeks.  Anyone can join and join you should.  It's wonderful.  :)

On the picture, she wrote... I Love Us.  We are talented, generous and real.  And our art - that intangible bit of fabulousness we create - allows us to blanket the world with joy.  Yay, Us. 

A couple of days later.....

I received this glorious bag that my other good bloggy friend made for me.  Am I spoiled or what?

Robin over at Rasz Art  makes these beautiful bags, as well as many other wonderful art pieces.  I love these bags...she hand paints them, and she makes/paints the fabric for the art that she puts on the bags, such as, dragonflies, roses, flowers, crosses, grapes, vines...etc.  They are fantastic, you should definitely visit her blog and look through her posts.  She has created many beautiful totes.  She also has draws and paints and takes pictures.  She is multi-talented.  And...she is a wonderful person that I have been very blessed to get to know.  Thank you so much Robin.  :)  

I'm using this tote to carry around my books/sketching tools and other little projects that I like to take with me.  Yay!!

I managed to capture this cute little guy the other day.  

Just thought I'd share!

Have a bright and happy week!

Cheers!!!