Where I Wish I Was Right Now...

— MBC, Watercolor and Oil pastel sketch
On a beach watching a sunset in 90 degree weather. It's finally getting really cold and it's chilling me to my bones. Kind of reminds me of a Key West sunset.

Thursday Challenge: Small

Looking down from the ferris wheel during our annual fall trip to the fair. Favorite ride? Mine's the "Scrambler", what's yours?

Photographing Snowflakes

Photo by Kenneth Libbrecht
Found via Something to Say. Kenneth Libbrecht photos of snowflakes are inspirational. Go by and take a look.

Photo Friday: Mountain

What looks like tree roots to a human is a colossal mountain to an ant. It's all in your perspective.

Put Your Heart In It

Through a blogger search I found the Black Eiffel blog. She's having a Valentine contest. Email her your most favorite creative Valentine before February 8 and they will be judged by her readers. Sounds like fun. I always enjoy a good homemade valentine.

My New Flip

I've been hearing great things about the Flip video and I'm seeing firsthand how wonderful it is. It will not replace a regular camcorder for special occasions, but it is so nice to carry around to archive and share short, everyday memories to keep for posterity. So easy to use, just pop out the USB arm and upload to your computer to save or share with friends.

Thursday Challenge: Anything

Every year when we drive down to Florida I say I'm going to take a picture of the "gigantic, metal rooster". I finally did it this past summer. I wish I knew the artist's name. This rooster sits outside his studio. It's bigger than a car. I love it.

Catchy Commercials

Love the commercials by freecreditreport.com. Just saw this one today and I stopped what I was doing to listen to the whole thing. They've also got one called, "The Singing Pirates". I'm not sure if this is the actual band that's singing the commercials or just actors. If you know more info. let me know. Enjoy the commercial if you haven't seen it.

Obama Logo for Everyone

As you can see in the right sidebar, I'm an Obama supporter. I'm also a big fan of his logo. See how the designer(s) adapted the logo for these different groups relative to his campaign. Very clever. Visit speakup and see them all. If you need a vector version you can find it here and another style layout here.

Photo Friday: Passage of Time

This painted ad itself is old enough, but you can still see a ghosted image of the Coca Cola logo that might have been there earlier.

Hitting The Backroads

A good telephoto lens would help out this photo a lot, but I had to use what I had. Out driving on some back country dirt roads we came across this enormous flock of snow geese hanging out on a flooded farm field. They were so loud. We saw so many ducks and geese, probably resting from a busy hunting day.

Bloody Design

Artwork by Colle-McVoy
Can you find the 25 hidden design terms in the artwork? If so, you will when a free poster! Great game and it took me many trys to get them all but I finally did it. Found via designerd.blogspot.com.

Test Your Art Knowledge

Found this over at howaboutorange.blogspot.com. I too, just missed one and was amazed I did that good. Even after all the Art History, it was such a loooong time ago. Try your art knowledge here.

Happy New Year!

If you miss out on your New Year's fireworks, here's a video to show you what you missed. Happy New Year! See you in 2008!

Thursday Challenge: Broken

Broken or vandalized tombstone in century-old cemetary.

Merry Christmas!

Best wishes for a safe and happy holiday!

Photo Friday: Best of 2007

This has to be my best of 2007. Standing at the "Top of the Rock" in Rockefeller Plaza looking at the Empire State building and down at New York City on the second day of January, 2007 on my 10th wedding anniversary trip.

LensDay: Futuristic

A very futuristic and at the same time retro robot visited us on Halloween!

Snow Miser vs. Heat Miser

Every year in December I look forward to all those stop motion animated Christmas specials. My favorite is "The Year Without a Santa Claus" (It first aired in 1974). I love the Snow Miser and Heat Miser duel. Those songs are great. Here's a link to find out more about them. You know I've got all these movies on DVD, but there's something about watching them on tv that makes it better—even with the commercial breaks.

Thursday Challenge: Happy

Photo Friday: Two

Two thankful hands.

The Last Rose

In our yard, fall is definitely here so I was surprised to find two roses still alive. I like the combination of the pink rose against the backdrop of fallen leaves.

PhotoSharks: Body

Photo Friday: Dangerous

Tuesday Challenge: Blue

Kimono Inspiration!

Seasonal Glories of the Old Capital, originally uploaded by mboogiedown.

After viewing kimonos at Yamatoku Vintage Kimonos via Something to Say, I searched and found more wonderful kimonos. Kimono Etcetera is a Flickr group with great shots of kimonos of all colors and this photo from mboogiedown on Flickr is an awesome example of her Japan related photography—definitely a must see.

Home Sweet Home

"Home Sweet Home", a wonderful animation short by Gillian O'Connor. Found via "Drawn!".

Lensday: Roadside

Things are often much more interesting off the beaten path. My fear is that in the near future everything will look the same as small towns and roadside joints all become chain stores, will be updated or mowed down. I love the character in these older roadside businesses.

Tuesday Challenge: Garden

Thursday Challenge: Autumn

Neat Nightlight

Sunlight in a vintage mason jar. What a neat idea. I'd also like to see "fireflies" in a jar done this same way. Found via Something to Say. Purchase this gem from Bouf Super Boutique.

Wonderful Lego Ads

These ads for Lego are great. Why do I love these Lego ads? The simplicity, the colors, the negative space, and the great concept that is truly unique. See more here. Found via Graphic Design Bar.

Forget Mr. Potato Head. Try Mr. Picasso Head.

I had found this site awhile back and lost the link. If you have time to spare, go create a "Mr. Picasso Head".

PhotoSharks: Blur

Photo Friday: The Beach

The perfect beach...quiet, secluded, tranquil and natural.

Illustration Friday: Wedding

Ok, here was my thought process. I started out thinking "bridezilla" and then realized I wanted to do a female King Kong instead of a godzilla bride. Same concept without the snappy name.

Pizza Moustache

I know. ANOTHER Youtube? But I love this commercial. If I wasn't being calorie conscious right now I would definitely run out and get a Dominoe's Oreo Dessert Pizza. The spot is hilarious and the product looks YUMMY. Makes me laugh every time. Has anyone had it? Any good?

Showing My Age

On this Friday night, for some reason I started thinking about the old "Schoolhouse Rock" segments from Saturday morning. These were so great. Entertaining and educational. This is the one showing "No More Kings". Brings a tear to my eye every time I watch it. :-) We even have them all on videotape. Ahhh...good times. Enjoy.

LensDay: Home

A home for birds, ants, insects, bats, squirrels...you get the idea.

Tuesday Challenge: Rock

Between a rock and a hard place and somewhere in between.

Thursday Challenge: School

First day of school.

Design Gangsta...

This is great. Got to see the gangsta for yourself...

Thursday Challenge: Outside

Simply described as a throwback to Key West in the 1950s—Apalachicola, Florida.

Photo Friday: Purple

I love hydrangeas.

The Many Lives of a Graphic Designer

Love, love, love this poster print of "the bittersweet journey of the many lives of a graphic designer". Some of the great lines sprinkled throughout: "beat up your client in a meeting", "become a sculptor", "start a design blog", and many more you need to read yourself to appreciate. If anything, it shows how many paths a graphic designer can take during their career and some comical mishaps that could happen along the way. You can purchase a copy of this poster through johnson banks. Found via Black. White. Bliss.

Get Smorty With Your Blog!

We heard you like to blog. You also appreciate money as well...like most people do. Why not combine the two and get paid for blogging. Smorty is a service that connects advertisers with bloggers. When you sign up with Smorty they analyze your blog and send you advertising campaigns for products or services that would appeal to people that read your blog. Think of it as getting paid for your opinion. Then you write a post on your blog if you accept the campaign. Accept or decline a campaign, it's up to you. Smorty pays you through Paypal if your post is accepted. Depending on your blog's rating and the campaign that's chosen, you can receive a minimum of $6 or up to $100 for a higher level campaign. You get paid weekly for each post after it's approved. It sounds like a great concept and a win-win opportunity for the blogger, the advertiser and the reader. Sign me up!

Leave a Comment After the Beep!

Over at my daily read, Fresh Vintage, Colleen is giving away a cool recipe box filled with goodies. All you have to do is leave a comment! The deadline for the giveaway is Sunday. If you love vintage, check out her blog anyway for her daily flea market/garage sale finds. She really has a knack. :-) Hmmm, maybe I should do a giveaway...

PhotoSharks: Clean

Photosharks: Plastic

Once you start thinking about everything that's made from plastic the list goes on forever. Once I read this article, "Our Oceans Are Turning To Plastic—Are We?" I decided to rethink what I buy and how it is packaged.

Thursday Challenge: Yellow

Black-eyed Susans which are dead now from the summer heat made a nice showing earlier in the summer.