off to the homeland

No time for Illustration Friday this week...darn, it was a good one, too! The topic is "hoard". I can think of lots of fun things to do with that, but oh well, I'm off to the "Crossroads of America"! (What does that mean exactly?!!!) It's kinda like "Hoosiers", everyone always asked me what that means, when they hear I'm originally from Indiana. I don't think anyone even really knows what it means, something about some ole' geezer yelling out "Who's there?" and it sounded like "Hoosier". Must have made sense to somebody at that time, but it sure sounds pretty lame today.

Indiana is a lot different than Seattle in many ways, but we always have fun doing small town things and hanging with family. We like to do things like Putt-Putt golf, bowling (neon glow night is the best, when they do karaoke), go-kart racing, drive-in movies and of course going out for ice cream! There are some awesome ice cream places there!

so, later, gators...I'll see you in July!

IF - punchline

A quickie for Illustration Friday this week. The best punchline is one that spreads across a kids mouth, don't ya think?

something to blog about

Whooo-hooo! She did it! My daughter, Nikki, graduated from 8th grade last night! I don't remember it being a big deal when I left junior high (as it was called back then), but it's a big deal at her school and of course, a big deal to her. As you can see by the top photo, she got the dress and the heels and looked way beyond her 14 years. Oh boy...we are in for a bumpy ride these next 4 years of High school, my friends. Hearts will be breaking all over this city, I'm afraid.

The 2nd photo is Nikki and her friend Iris, giving their presentation and introducing the slideshow that they helped put together. She spoke loud and clear and wasn't nervous, so that was a good thing. It takes guts to get up in front of people and I was really proud of her.

It was so funny to see the girls in their fun dresses and high heels and the boys in their ill fitting suits or plain old jeans. I can just hear them "I'm not getting dressed up for this!"

So here she goes, off to more adventures in High school. A new place, new classes, new friends and some old friends. We say good-bye to Salmon Bay school today with a bit of sadness (she's been there since Kindergarten) but we look forward to a bright future, knowing that it gave her a good start.

IF - forgotten

"After Susie and Jenny became BFF's, poor Janey was just forgotten."

For Illustration Friday this week. The theme is, of course - forgotten. I made these paper dolls by hand (the fun polka dot paper is from A Muse), then I scanned them into the computer, did a drop shadow effect and put them all together on some old wallpaper. Added a few lines to suggest a room and the fury scribble over poor Janey's head. It should have been quick and easy, but that drop shadow effect gave me some trouble! I really liked the look, so I stuck with it...it just needed lots of "fixing", which was time consuming. One day I hope to be good at these illustration things and they won't take me so (bleep) long!

IF - baby (again!)

I couldn't resist posting another image for this week's Illustration Friday challenge. I came across this design when searching for something else in my box of old art. It's one of the 1st greeting card designs I ever made, about 15 years ago! This was before all my card images were coffee inspired and I had a small line of various kinds of cards and a local rep who took them around to stores in the area. It's so funny to look back on stuff like this, but it's great to see how far I've come! (and I still have a long way to go)

IF - baby

hee hee...you never know what you're going to get! For Illustration Friday - theme word "baby".
This prego gal is similar to one I designed as an artstamp for A Muse.