goodness & graciousness

it has been quite a relaxing visit home. a new idea for us. relaxing? on a vacation? wha??

movies, dinners, ice fishing, a sleigh ride and more, what else would you expect for a midwestern holiday season?

i sincerely hope that you feel the blessings from the past year, and look joyfully towards the next. He is good to us, if we just took a second to remember that.

happy new year!

to you and yours, and everyone else :)

Santa Stalker

i stalked Santa pretty hard the other night

you see, there is this thing about me.
i get star struck with just about anyone.
with the anchor woman at our local news station, at the glimpse of winne the pooh at a theme park... at the mailman. anyone. really.

so you can imagine my "pee your pants" excitement when i saw santa the other night.
the only thing is, he wasn't as stoked.

so ladies and gentleman, here you have it, the grumpiest pictures of santa you will ever see.
sorry they are a bit fuzzy, but i was frantic.

( i'm on cloud nine, santa is not)

(santa running away from me, typical...)

community

i'm going to be honest. when i was first coming to portland, i had absolutely no idea what i was getting into. the questions were in my mind, but i hid them silently and embarked on an unknown journey. well.. that makes it sound more epic than it really was. in reality, i moved to a new place where the people i knew consisted of one, my husband, but we were both game for it.

and i think the Lord knew what we needed. he introduced us to a community of people that uplift us, encourage us, play with us, laugh at us, and worship with as well.
i am truly thankful for them and i wonder what life would have been like had i decided to stay where i was, or to let my fears outweigh my heart.

regardless i'm honest when i say that i love my home community.
this shot was taken after several attempts at a nicey nice pose.
i guess we all need to blow off steam once in a while.

hope you cherish those around you. even the buggers :)

Emmet Otter

First off, let me preface by saying that I am indeed a huge geek. we all are in our little ways. but i love this christmas movie. the movie poster itself takes me up to a nostalgia level of about 110,000. I mean who doesn't love jug bands, christmas, and otters?

if you haven't seen it, I don't blame you. But if you don't rent it sometime this holiday season, i will take that as a personal offense :)

happy ottering!

To all of my lovely blog readers, clients, and people I love.
I'm going to take a much needed break from design related goodness until late January.
The hubs and I talked about it, and its what is best for my sanity, and life :)

I will still post here and there on the blog, so please still come and visit!
And if you have a design request, I'd still love to take them, I just won't be able to complete it right away.

xo, and I hope that this Season is the merriest and brightest of all for you.

bragging

i don't care. i'm just going to say it. i live in an awesome place.
and i don't feel bad one bit for gloating.
because last weekend was all about this:

crafting, relaxing, and pigging out with a good friend at the beach. all the while soaking in the view. what a life :)

Christmas Elf

what have i been doing lately? mostly, trying to make our sanctuary at church a winter wonderland, alongside an amazing team of talented people.
there were countless hours or rolling paper, gluing paper, cutting paper, wearing paper, and swearing at paper. But we did it!

Our theme for Advent is the Incarnation, and word became flesh. The elements that we put up are all made out of book pages, well minus the tree. Those are made up of green and pricklies.

The picture doesn't do it justice. you'll need to go and take a look for yourself, and receive the glory and wonder of Christ in this sweet, sweet season...

thankful for everything.
every. single. thing.
have a good one, all!

choices

so here is the very real. very scary question we have ahead of us.
should we stay or should we go? the question has been laid out in front of us, like a Sunday newspaper just waiting to be read. not easily avoided.

there's a house, in Michigan, with an opportunity to occupy it. to fill it with the smell of pot roast, laughter, and cold winter snuggles. 40 acres of land to cultivate with the culture of our future family.

but there's also a city here, that bedazzles every idea of a creative environment, rich in art, culture, and well.. community. a city that has taught us what it is to love Christ, cherish a marriage, grow, be, think, draw, communicate.

we wouldn't leave any time soon, but we do need to ask ourselves...

how do you know when your time stamp in a certain place has expired, or not?
life's full of choices, ones that i'm sure many of you have made before. so i guess i ask you know.
what's your weigh in?

we all want to change the world

well, it was another great weekend. full of surprise parties, caroline in the city (we're currently obsessed, only 10 years late), hanging out with some peeps who don't have homes currently, and then a very inspiring forum for women at our church as well as, not to mention, the sermon from yesterday.

which brings me to my next point. our church does this thing every Sunday in which everyone puts a dollar into a bucket, and then we take that money each week and bless someone with it. this past week a girl named sarah talked about how God led her to bless a family with this money. she met the family on the train. on a train!

(you can read more about the family here)

she took her blinders off, opened up to people, and blessed them.

i'm inspired. hope you are too after reading her story.

because you should.

because its great.

happy monday!

Two Things..

(warning: horrible non-artsy pics in this post) hah..
1. i came home yesterday with a package on the counter just waiting to be opened.

and inside was this little buddy.
thus proving that I am have some of the most awesome aunts in the world. don't know what it is? it's a little buffalo! i see many many photo shoots with this guy in the future.

in other news i got my hairs chopped off. i have been busy this week, like always, so i wasn't able to get a pic, but my co-worker did while i was harboring negative energy. :) not the best pic but you get the idea.

i actually really like it. and so does the hubs. so i guess we're golden.
well that's it with me, what about you? any big weekend plans in the mix? if not, or if so, regardless.. i hope that you feel love and experience joy.
xo

new holiday cards in the shop!

new holiday cards in the shop:

12 years is a long time

12 years ago today i lost my brother craig.
he was my only buddy through a lot of crazy stuff, so i guess you could say that I am missing my buddy today. a whole lot.
like always.

cancer got the best of him, but then again so did Jesus. so i don't mourn, i just miss, and pray and think.

if you didn't know him, you certainly missed out on a truly great human being.
xo

secret society

there once was a movie, geared at young teens, but the premise if good.
wear panties.
feel good about yourself.
enjoy sisterhood.

the movie was so good, that a group of my friends recreated it, real life style. with a splash of sassy ;)
i'm now proud to say that i am a part of the group. and those green panties are part of the whole shebang.
they've been to hawaii, portland, michigan, who knows where else..

the fact that they look like shorts makes me feel better about the whole thing :)

fast paced

ah ha ah ha, i'm stayin alive, stayin alive.
I feel like that's been my mantra for the past few days. hangin.in.there.
sorry for my absence from the interwebs. i promise that will change soon, very soon.
but for now, i feel like i owe you something.
so how about this embarrassing video that i do for my church's announcements during the service.
yep. me on a jumbo tron, just what the world needed

Imago Dei Spotlight - Oct. 31 from Imago Dei on Vimeo.

SOLI-DEER-ITY

Working on a new print..
here's the beginning stages.
there's just something about deer, and just something about working together that gets me.
hopefully I will have it in the shop soon.

sweet sorrow

sigh. parting is such sweet sorrow when what you are parting are good friends who have your hearts.

85 degrees and palm trees

and a little thing that i like to call the atlantic.
i guess that's life though. it was a fun weekend in Florida while it lasted...
hello portland. hello 51 degrees... it's going to take me a little while to get used to you.

pop up art show

this blurry picture is one the many projects of tonight. wooden mounted prints, for an art show in november.

it's one of the reasons that i am staying up late tonight.
getting things done here and there so that i can go to florida tomorrow!
i'm down right due for a vacation. busybody has been my alias as of late.
when i am not planning artwork for the church.
or answering phone calls.
or finishing shop orders.
or cutting paper.
or putting final touches on designs.
or smooching my husband.
or cuddling my cat.

i am trying to keep my head on straight.
its not going so well.
at all.

so i am going to bask in the sunshine. hug my girlfriends and pretend that all of my work back home doesn't exist. cheers to that!
i will be back on Tuesday, bright eyed and bushy tailed.
til then!
xo

whew.

i can't believe it, but I actually just started putting cards like this back in the shop.
Before you know it, it will be next week. And next week is the week before November.
And November is the month before December.

we will all be wearing mittens in no time.

and with the Holidays come busy times for me, as if I wasn't busy already.
When do things calm down?
never? oh, ok.

xo

sometimes

when you have a really restful and beautiful weekend, it makes it hard to get into the swing of things.

here's to trying to make it through :)

swifts

if you ever get a chance to witness the phenomenon of nature that is the swifts.
i highly recommend it.
these birds show you what being in sync with one another is all about.
puts n*sync to shame :)

blessed

i am blessed.
to be part of a church.
a church that encourages and uplifts it's artists.
and has open mic nights to prove it.

And the winner is!

KAYLA!!!
sarah, please contact me asap :)

and for those that didn't win, have no fear, you win too!
You receive 15% off any design needs you have!

puppy christmas

what about this year you send out a christmas card of your pooch?
and what if its a cartoon of him looking all dapper and cute?
think about it, could just be what makes your spirit bright :)
Erika asked me to create a custom puppy card, and I LOVE the idea!

oh! and don't forget to enter to win a FREE BLOG HEADER.

Giving it away

no not that...
THIS:it's not a joke, I am GIVING AWAY a whole freaking blog header to only lucky winner.
Wanna see some headers I have done in the past? Sure...

HERE ARE THE RULES
1.) you must not be a former customer of mine who has received a header, I don't want to re-do anything I've done already, seems obvious, but you know..
2.) you must become a follower of my little baby blog here
3.) you must tweet about it. (i know, i know.. seems lame, but its how i get business and let's be honest, i always enjoy more)
4.) oh and don't forget to comment :)

that's it! you can enter as many times as you want, and i hope you win.
good luck!

hi again, warmth

we've had a blissful recurrence of Summer in the last few days.
so much so, that i literally needed to pause and remember what month we were even in.
i mean sure, my hair was an enemy. and sure it had been nice to forget what sweat feels like dripping down my calf.

but the sun, oh the sun, it has lifted my spirit and made me happy x's 2.

new artwork

and soon to be in the shop!