I want to send out a HUGE thank you to Fran for coming up with this month's Sweet Art Saturday Sketches theme: FOOD. Thanks so much Fran, that is such a delicious idea!! Make sure you click on over to her blog to see some of her stunning creations, this gal is majorly talented!

We all love food (who doesn't?) and there are just so many ways to showcase this awesome theme! Right now you'll find 3 more brand new inspirational sketches in the SASS gallery denoting this yummy topic. Remember to click on the image for a larger view.

Lemonade Anyone?

Vanilla Sundae

Mmm! Fruit Pie! (Featured here)

I hope you enjoy them! Let me know what you think. I just hope that some of them will turn into yummy stamps! ;)

And remember you can start sharing your suggestions for next month's topic. I'd love to hear them!

Have a wonderful weekend!

*Hugs!!*

Elisabeth xx

Featured is one of the NEW Sweet Ebony images that will be released shortly as a stamp by Sugar Nellie! If you haven't clicked over to Sugar Nellie's blog recently, then you're in for a yummy surprise! Sugar Nellie has posted the next set of Sweet Art Ebony images on their blog, and according to Sugar Nellie, they are in the oven preparing to be shared with the world! You can also see the up and coming Sweet Art Ebony images to appear as yummy candy in the Sugar Nellie Images gallery on my site. I think this next set is even prettier than the first, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed designing them!

SASS will be up shortly and I will blog more about that soon too! A big thanks to the amazing Fran for providing the inspiration for this month's theme: Food!! And since we all love food, and just know how cute (and messy!) kids can be whenever they're around it, can you imagine how cute the images will be?? I'm excited to post those images up shortly!

*Huggles!*

Elisabeth xx

Feast your eyes on this gorgeous, gorgeous design using the Sweet n Sassy stamp by Kathy! Check out her blog to see more of her amazing creations, and you can also see her card in the NEW Sweet Ebony Cards II gallery!!

That's right, some changes have been made! And for the better! If I have emailed or blogged you with links to your pieces in the Sweet Ebony Cards gallery, and if by some chance you go to that link and you can't find your creation, it's probably because your lovely design has been moved to the NEW Sweet Ebony Cards II gallery! So congrats to you for being one of the first of the few cards to be featured in this new gallery! The original Sweet Ebony Cards gallery was simply becoming so full that I feared many of the cards were getting lost due to the enormity. So it was time for an upgrade! So please visit the NEW Sweet Ebony Cards II gallery and check out the beautiful designs featured there! And please feel free to send me your creations using the Sweet Art Ebony stamp collection and I will be delighted to post them in the new gallery for you!!

Have a lovely, lovely day! Talk soon!

*Huggles!!* (Love that from Marlene!)

Elisabeth xx

Please take a moment to enjoy Michelle’s scrumptious creation! I really LOVE the bright colours as they bring the cheerful feeling of picnics and all the delightful visions of delicious berries which completes her card perfectly! Click over to Michelle’s blog to see more of her stunning designs!

Warning: Grab a mug of hot chocolate and get comfy;

this is a nice long read!! :D 

Yaayyyy!!! We’re up and running again! It was a driver issue created by my beautiful new Wacom Intuos3 Tablet that I installed last week (yes, it finally arrived and I’ve been having lots of fun getting the hang of it with Photoshop) that completely inhibited my ability to scan images. Doh!! Being so dependent on my scanner for posting images on my site and sending images to clients, I felt completely handicapped to say the least!

After what seemed an eternity (or longer) over the phone with our ISP guy then calling Wacom Customer Service, we located the elusive driver needed to download with my HP printer. And now, everything is working like a charm! Oh! Oh! And the best part of all this is, I did it all by myself, without the help of hubby!! He's supposed to be the techy one between him and I, LOL!! So I'm feeling very proud of myself. *big grin*

I suppose we all need occasional hiccups in life, as long as they can be resolved quick smart and in a hurry. Unfortunately when it comes to all things computerized and electronic, I want things done yesterday! LOL! So thank you so much for all your patience in waiting for those SASS (albeit late) images to go up in the SASS gallery.

And here they are:

Teddy Bear’s Picnic

Going On A Picnic

A Good Book

“A Good Book” doesn’t follow June’s Picnic theme, but I thought she was cute, and since I adore reading good books, thought I’d throw her in too.

I’m thinking of an August theme (Good gracious! It’s August already???!) as once I again, I let time get away from me and am left wondering what the next theme should be when the new month is already upon us! LOL!! So I was thinking of a couple of ideas: Tree House and Dress Ups. I love to think about fun things that children like to do to incorporate into possible stamp images, and would welcome any other suggestions from you before I make a final decision. Just like last month’s theme I got a bit of help and that was fantastic (thanks again, Kathy! ;D) If you have any suggestions you’d like to share, please leave your comments, preferably before the end of the week and I’ll post the winning idea up on my next SASS blog!

I’d like to share some of my latest mental ramblings with you regarding some things I’ve learned about stamp imagery. I’ve been thinking about my images, including the Sweet Art Ebony images, and have learned a few things since beginning to draw for Sugar Nellie. One thing I’ve gleaned through emails with the very talented Katharina (who is now a good friend of mine!)  is that there are many things that define a “good” stamp image. But in order to cater to a wider audience, where time and varying economical technicalities are a factor, images that are simpler and can adapt to many themes and situations and still look good, are key (such as the simplicity and versatility found in the popular HAnglar and StAnglar and Magnolia stamps). I appreciate that Sugar Nellie features stamps that are both decorative and simple, so they can cater to many tastes worldwide. Very clever of them.

So I took a reflective inventory of my sketches in the SASS gallery and noticed that many of them tend towards greater detail. Sugar Nellie has asked me to keep the detail in my images and when it becomes too overpowering, they suggest to have some of the detail edited. Having been in the stamping industry far longer than me, I completely trust their judgment. Still, as beautiful as the SASS images are, ideally, for stamps, not all are always suitable. If any of the images are chosen for stamps (and a couple already have – sshh!!), I’m certain that the ornate quality of the image would be scaled down.

Needless to say there are a number of points that make a good stamp. And when I mention “good”, I’m suggesting successful. What are your thoughts?

Since I'm on a roll with my mental deluge (hee-hee!) here's something else I’ve been thinking of. Many of you know I’ve been posting your beautiful designs on my Sweet Ebony Cards gallery, and I have made sure to include your name, and your blog site/blog article, so that there is no mistake in who the designer is, as well as some commentary from myself on your gorgeous designs. I love your creations so much using the Sweet Art Ebony collection and want others to view your masterpieces too.

However, it recently occurred to me that there may be some of you who may not be comfortable with me doing this. No one has approached me about it, but I just thought I should mention it. Please feel free to let me know if you are uncomfortable with my posting them on my site and if you would prefer me not to do so. If you’d like to remain anonymous, you can email me at Lis-trations@hotmail.com and I will remove any of your pieces that may already be on display. Otherwise, I am more than delighted to feature your work here under the Sweet Ebony Cards gallery, giving you full credit to your designs, along with the many other beautiful creations using the Sweet Art Ebony stamps. I must say the gallery is becoming so full, I really am thinking of creating a new one just to feature all of your glorious cards! In the meantime, thank you for allowing me to share your pieces with the world.

Whew! But if this isn’t the longest entry! High Fives if you're still with me!! :) So now that my friend the scanner is working again, the SASS images are up and yet another blog is written, I can go and do some more drawing in between chasing my crazy little kidlets around the house!  *sigh* Life is perfect!!

Oh, and to all who have placed a vote for my images featured in the Zhibit Summer Art Competition, a massive THANK YOU! over and over again! It looks like I'm running first place! Woo-hooo!!!! Fingers crossed that this will last. Thank you again for all your fantastic support! If you haven't voted and would like to, please go here and here and click on the 5th Star (nudge-nudge! wink! hee-hee!). Big, big thanks again!!

(Hope the hot chocolate helped and lasted this long! :D)

Looking forward to reading all your ideas!

*Love and Hugs to you all!*

Elisabeth xx

This beautiful image by Fran wasn't getting the credit it deserved with being mentioned at the end of this blog entry (I'm sorry Fran), so I've decided to mention it FIRST, before any of my yammerings below. :) So without further delay, please enjoy this GORGEOUS colour work on Sweet n Sassy by the very talented Fran! And be sure to visit her blog to see more of her sumptuous creations!

*  *  *

About 15 minutes ago I loaded my scanner with one of the 3 very pretty SASS images for last week, and pressed Start. Horror. A diabolical error message blipped onto my screen. The next 5 minutes was spent wrestling with my printer/scanner (can you imagine it) as more horrendous error messages flashed up on my screen. I almost pulled my hair out over the nightmare. I’m having one of those days, and apparently, so is my scanner. It’s decided to go on strike without telling me. How utterly rude!!

So, after discovering that my scanner is not working and almost having a meltdown I jumped on my blog to let you all know. Because now that I have 3 pretty sketches to post in the SASS gallery, which are already late, I can’t put them up. To say I’m rather peeved is a blatant understatement. So on behalf of my scanner (despite its sudden ignorance, it’s still my friend), and myself, WE're so sorry to everyone who's been waiting to see the SASS images since Saturday. Perhaps if I’d been on time, this problem may not have occurred. But life happens. And I suppose this is part of it. So what do we do? Press forward! Onward and upward! And have a good chuckle. Optimism is always key, right??

Riiii-iiight! *squelching note of sarcasm*

Hee-hee!

When hubby gets home, I’ll get him to look at my scanner for me (he’s more techy than I am). And as I can’t function without my “friend”, whether hubby can or can’t fix it, and whether we need to call a professional trouble shooter, it will be fixed. And things can continue as though nothing ever happened. I’ll post my images for you all to see and we’ll be happy. Atleast, I’ll feel at ease and so will my hair follicles.

Sooo, thanks for reading this far and *listening* to my yammerings! You’re the BEST!!!

Will write again soon, so stay tuned for closure on Elisabeth’s scanner saga! LOL!!!

*Big hugs!!*

Me xx

Oooohhh!! Look who presented me with an Award!! None other than the super-teriffically talented Marlene!! Thank you so much Marlene, I am thrilled to receive this Award from you, what an honour!

The rules for this award:
1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you’ve nominated.

Ok, so now I will pass this Briljant Weblog award to the following individuals who have such fabulous sites and are such fab ladies!

Marlene

Katharina

Tiets

Fran

Kathy

Jay Jay

Rach

I wish I could pass it on to everyone, but I can only give this Award to 7. I know *frown* I really wish I could give it to all of you, giving only 7 away just doesn't seem fair! If you've already received this Award, consider yourself re-nominated because you're just so fantastic!! ;D

*Big Hugs to you all!*

Elisabeth xx

Hi Everyone!

I'm quickly adding to this blog to give you some quick, last minute details regarding today's SASS. I'm running a bit behind this week, things have been awfully crazy around here that I haven't had the time to post any SASS images up in the SASS gallery today. But just so you know, I plan on doing so within the next couple of days, so a big thank you in advance for your patience and be sure to stay tuned!

I have also been receiving lovely emails from many of you, and I want to thank you for writing to me, and for sending me images of your fabulous creations. I will be posting them in my Sweet Art Ebony gallery tomorrow!

And last, but by no certain means least, I also want to send out a HUE-MUNG-OUS thank you!!! to all those who have voted for me so far in the Zhibit Summer Art Competition challenge. I really appreciate the time you take to look at my work and to place your vote. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! And for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, my original post for this blog is below. Once again, thank you soooo much!!!!!

Original blog post
 
Just letting you know I've entered a fun art competition on Zhibit.com and this competition's theme is 'Summer' and I'm looking for some votes. My 2 featured pieces are up and I'd really LOVE it if you'd vote for me! To represent summer time Strawberry Sunrise and Summer Sundae are my chosen pieces. These illustrations also follow my latest theme of cute children in large sun hats, patched jeans and bare feet, which can also be found on my Sweet Art Ebony stamps through Sugar Nellie at Funky Kits!

To place your vote, all you need to do is click on one of the stars (the 5th Star would be super - hint! hee-hee!) below each of my images and your vote will be saved.
 
Sooo, vote for me (please!) and don't hesitate to tell others too as this invitation is extended to everyone! Not only will you make this artist very happy, but I will be so very and forever more grateful!

And to all of you who have already voted, a MASSIVE thank you!!!! I really appreciate your support!
 
HUGE Thanks!! And *Big Happy Hugs!*
 
Elisabeth xx
 

I hope you enjoy the selection of sketches I've created for this week's SASS. The theme for this month is "Picnic" and I have 3 sketches up in the SASS gallery for you to look at and to comment on. You'll find the following images that are new:

Picnic - Solace (as featured here)

Picnic - Tea time

Picnic - With Dolly

I really enjoyed creating them and I hope you can sense the "picnicky" feel from each of them. Oh, and Kathy, I hope you like these sketches. ;)

Some of you had suggested single elements that could be used towards the Picnic idea, such as butterflies and flowers that could possibly be used as stamps. With "Picnic - Solace", as featured here, it's a larger image in that it would be a large stamp if it turned into one, but I drew it with the idea that certain parts of the illustration can be used on its own. Such as the butterfly hovering over the picnic blanket, or the picnic basket by the tall flowers, or all together. I hope that makes sense. Let me know what you think.

It's very late here again, so I'm off to get some shut eye. Have a lovely weekend and I look forward to hearing from you and reading your comments!

*Big hugs!*

Elisabeth xx

Some of you may already know this (due to Sugar Nellie's blog spot for one) but for those of you who don't, the Sweet & Sassy stamp from the Sweet Art Ebony range through Sugar Nellie is now available at Funky Kits! Yaayyy!! The wait is over for this adorable little girl and she can visit your home and stay forever! I just checked Funky Kits and she is still in stock, but for how long, I don't know so you'll have to hurry otherwise you could miss out!

Featured here is none other than Sweet & Sassy in this gorgeous creation by one of the Sugar Nellie DT members, Tiets. Isn't her card scrumptious? Thanks for emailing me Tiets with your image, you're the best! You can see Tiets blog with more of her fab designs! I have also put this design by Tiets in the Sweet Ebony Cards gallery so you can also see it here.

Some more exciting news, I just bought an Intuos3 Wacom tablet and it should arrive within the next few days. I am unbelievably excited over this investment and I cannot wait to see what fantastic things I can do with all my pretty images using this awesome device! I really don't know what amazing changes this will make to my life as an artist (probably revolutionary, most likely, doubtless), and I can already vouch that I won't know how I managed to exist for so long without one. And the funny thing is, I don't even have it yet!! LOL! I'll post more stuff on this in the near future as no doubt I'll be using the Wacom ALL the time!!

And tomorrow is Saturday - again!! OMIGoodness!! Again??? Already??? OH-KAY!!! Because there will be more Sweet Art Saturday Sketches up tomorrow! Remember, the theme this month is "Picnic", once again thanks to my friend Kathy P.! ;) I have some sweet images brewing for tomorrow's posting, so make sure you stop by for a look and leave your helpful comments - which I always appreciate and LOVE to read!

In the meantime, have a super FABulous evening wherever you may be!

*BIG big Hugs!*

Elisabeth xx

Kathy P. emailed me earlier today and suggested that I create an image to do with a Picnic theme. I really liked her suggestion, so much infact, that I've decided to modify this month's theme from Fashion to Picnic. I love the rustic and nostalgic appeal to this theme, as well as all the shabby chic imagery that pop into my head!

And to add to that note, I've actually been working on a cute picnic scene for one of my Aunt's for her upcoming birthday in July. It has a big apple tree and all her grandchildren playing beneath it. There's also a checkered picnic blanket spread out over the grass under the tree. It's not finished yet, it's still in sketch form. Once I ink the final image in pen, I plan on adding just a bit of colour using my Prismacolours pencils and tweaking the colours further in Photoshop. Everything will appear in black and white except for the kids. I think it will make the image "pop"! My Aunt has no idea ofcourse, it's a surprise birthday prezzie. I hope she'll like it! I'll post it here for all to see when it's done. It's very cute, if I say so myself! :)

So if you don't mind, June's SASS theme is now officially "Picnic", and I extend a huge Thank You to Kathy for her exciting idea that led me to my new idea! Perhaps I'll do the Fashion theme some time down the track, but for now, I'm very excited about Picnicking in June!

If you have ideas to go with the new "Picnic" theme, please send them my way! Details always help to give birth to a good solid sketch. I'll post up to 3 of the ideas on the SASS gallery this Saturday. I'll even blog your ideas here with your name. Email me or share your ideas here on my site as comments. As to whether they turn into stamps, I can't say at this time, but we never know until we try! :)

Hope to hear from you!

*Big hugs!*

Elisabeth xx

Featured here is the very talented Marlene's fab creation using Sweet Art Ebony's Flowers stamp by Sugar Nellie. Go here to check out her amazing blog! You can also see many of her amazing designs using the Sweet Art Ebony stamps on the Sweet Art Cards gallery on my website.

Speaking of which, omigoodness gracious! Have you seen the Sweet Ebony Cards gallery lately? It's chocka-block - filled almost to the hilt with so many FABulous creations by countless talented designers (take a look, your card/creation may be in there!)!! With the upcoming release of the Honey and Pip line (all Christmas themes so far) through Sugar Nellie (you can catch a sneeky peak of them on the Sugar Nellie blog), I plan on creating a separate gallery on my site for any Honey and Pip creations designed by YOU! Yaayy!! As these exciting changes draw closer, I will post more updates.

In the meantime, I hope you continue enjoying the Sweet Art Ebony stamps on your gorgeous designs! I can't wait for Sugar Nellie to release more new images! If you'd like me to post your creation on my site, feel free to drop me an email and attach your image. Have a super new week, and I'll check in soon with hopefully some more exciting stuff to share with you!

*Big hugs!*

Elisabeth xx

The images are up in the SASS gallery, three more again this week. This month's theme is "Fashion", so pretty much anything cute, frilly and patched (especially on jeans) goes! I think we can have lots of fun with this theme, so send me your ideas and I'll sketch them up for next week's SASS!

If you've already suggested some ideas, please don't hesitate to remind me as some of them may have slipped through the cracks of my memory! :) I hope you like this weeks sketches. The title of this image is, "I Love You This Much!" I think she's adorable. Remember to leave your comments on each of them cos I love to know what you think.

I'm hoping some of them will turn into Sugar Nellie stamps, but I guess all we can do right now is wait and see. If you loathe waiting as much as I do, then you can probably relate that the waiting can be tough. But you know what they say, "Good things come to those who wait". And that is a lovely token to cling to. :)

Let me know your thoughts.

Time for bed. It's so late here.

*Big big hugs to you all!*

Elisabeth xx

Hello Everyone, including all you Sugar Nellie and Sweet Art Ebony fans!

Sugar Nellie has released EXCITING new Sneeky Peeks of the Honey and Pip range (by yours truly) for Christmas!!! These images have been given the big approval and will be turned into stamps for you all to enjoy and have lots and lots of fun with!! Yaayyyy!!! Crack the bon-bons and do a merry jig!! :) The sketches can now be viewed on the Sugar Nellie blog.

But the news doesn't stop here. There are also MORE Sweet Art Ebony images coming out (and I mean LOTS more!), and it looks like the famous "Sweet n Sassy" image that you all love so much will be released in the next batch! Woo-hoo! It may as well be Christmas!!

And as today is Saturday, I will be putting up a few more images on the SASS gallery. How quickly the week seems to travel these days! I've been so very busy this week that I'm running a bit behind, so they may go up tomorrow. But not to worry, they will be up before the end of this weekend for you all to look at, and as always, comment on. I LOVE your comments!

Not only am I working on Sugar Nellie designs, I am also working on a number of other projects for clients based closer to home. I am working on a trademark image for Laura Drew, a wonderful children's book author in Utah, as well as a number of portraitures for another client over here in Tucson. Plus, I am preparing to create a faux stone wall mural for another client in Vail. This project has long been in the running, and I hope that when I finally get to begin it, and finish it, that they will (all) simply love the results! So wish me luck!

All this, plus being a full time mother to 3 kidlets (and a hubby! heehee!) I am running off my feet! When I have some (precious little) time, I get to check my emails and reply as many as I can, and read the fantastic 3rd book in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, "Eclipse", with my husband. You may have read it on my family blog, this is my forth time reading it through and my hubby's second. He and I are reading the books together, and I can't tell you what a wonderful bonding experience it is. I just LOVE that he's into these somewhat giddy, romantic chic novels! Haha! I married myself a real catch!! :D

Oohhh! I know this has completely nothing to do with art, but we cannot wait for the fourth and final book in the series to come out this August, Breaking Dawn!!! I've already read the first chapter in the special edition of Eclipse and all I can say is, THANK GOODNESS we all only have to wait one more month for the book to come out!! Seriously, if you haven't read them yet, I suggest that you do!! They are sooo good!! I am such a giddy girl whenever I talk about these books. LOL!!!

Other than that, and being a full time Mum (I'm sure I mentioned that), I'm loving life and I couldn't ask to be anything else but a mother to 3 beautiful children, the wife of a supremely loving husband and a truly blessed artist. I soo love who I am and what I do!

In the meantime, I hope you all are having a fabulous weekend and that you are all enjoying some sunshine, whereever you may be.

Talk again soon!

*Big hugs!*

Elisabeth xx

Some more Sneeky Peeks of the next set of images in the Sweet Art Ebony range are up in the Sugar Nellie blog! (And it looks like there are more Sweet Art Ebony stamps in stock at Funky Kits!) Karen has just approved the next range of images for inking so I will be doing that this week and whisking them away to her (just LOVE email and internet technology!) so she can begin sending them to the candy factory.

Yaayyyy!!!

I hope you enjoy them all! This image is especially for the girls in Holland. And I can't emphasize enough that there are definitely MANY more to come! Yaaayyy again!! Lots of excitement!

Have a super lovely week! Will write more soon!

*Love and Hugs!*

Elisabeth xx

It's Saturday once again! Where has the time gone? The weeks seem to fly so much faster for me now that I have sketches to put up each week. And I'm totally having tons of fun with it! Up in the SASS gallery today are 3 more sketches, 2 of which are more Sweet Art Ebony illustrations, and all to do with last month's Childhood theme. I am still thinking of a new theme for this month, so if you have any suggestions, please feel free to let me know.

Omigoodness, I just realised it's June already! This year is flying!

A little bit about the images. "Sisters" is a lovely portrayal of two little girls who love to hang out and be with eachother. Little sister especially loves being with her older sister, who is just so pretty and sweet. I based this illustration on my 2 young daughters, Alora and Eden. Alora is such a loving big sister and she simply dotes on her baby sibling. And though Eden is only 6 months old, I can already imagine how much she will look up to her big sister in just a few more years, if not sooner.

"Little Curls" portrays a little girl in the typical cute patched jeans and patterned top that I dearly love to draw. Her hair is up in pig tails with polka-dotted ribbons. As I drew her, I thought of the nursery ryhme about the "little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead". Hence the little curl on her forehead! I suppose since her clothes are still looking clean at this stage, she's being her "good" self!

"Phone Call" shows a little baby on the phone. I based this illustration on my almost 2 year old son, Cougar. He LOVES the phone, and has a compulsive habit of stealing it and running away punching the buttons as he goes. Sometimes he'll use a shoe and speak into the "receiver" (the heel) and say "Heh-llooooohhh". Seeing him behave so adorably makes my heart sing.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. I would love to know your thoughts on them, so feel free to leave your comments.

Have a FABulous day and weekend!

*Love and Hugs!*

Elisabeth xx