over a year.

tuesday/wednesday and part of thursday are now my "work days". on these days, i've been spending the majority the time up in my studio & i've been making a point to not go on the computer at all. i find, & i'm sure you can relate, that it can be so hard to NOT get sucked into email and other things online, so my new rule is don't even turn on my laptop until after i've had a full day of other creative work. so, on my 2 + 1/2 days to work, i'm beginning to find myself back in the swing of things in my studio... making messes, trying to organize & feel settled in the "new" space, getting sidetracked by making funny little vignettes on the chalkboard, painting a big canvas (feels so strange to be painting big & on canvas again!), filling up my sketchbooks, and overall, just feeling like i'm getting things back on track. it's been almost 2 years of book/computer work and that whole "ah!, i'm pregnant"/"i just had a baby" thing. oh yes, that. so yup, it's taken over a year post-baby to feel that i can truly be back to work in the studio & fully present on a regular basis without feeling like i'd rather just curl up on the studio floor and take a nap. no more sleep deprivation=lots of creative ideas. yup.

that's the equation to remember.

phew.

well, it's 4:30 in the afternoon, so i'm off to pick up my little gal at grammy's. i miss her when she's not here, but i know how important it is to get my alone/work time in.... lots of new ideas are finally flowin'. & that's always a good thing.

it's still a balancing act, this stay at home & work part time mama thing, but lately it finally feels as if something has clicked. i'm thankful for that.

see you tomorrow with some summery scenes from our recent travel. (another way to jumpstart creativity, that's for sure!)

where women create magazine

i'm thrilled to be featured in the current summer issue of

where women create magazine!

my interview is in the new "women create" section of the magazine.

big thanks to christen, amanda and everyone at somerset!

{in the studio}

* * *

hi there & happy friday!

well, it's been a wee bit quiet over here due to some unexpected travel (more on that later), the stomach flu (me), and pink eye (ada). we're home, and both feeling better thank goodness, but man-oh-man did that flu knock me down for days. ada was really fine, just looking a little funny in one eye : ) who knew that pink eye isn't really pink, it's just a cold in the eye. hmm, learning something everyday as a new mom! here's hoping that flu stays away from our house (and yours!) for a very long time. today is the first day in a while that i'm up (and dressed!), actually functioning and, best of all, having lots of energy and ideas flowing! yay! sketchbooks and chalkboards are being filled.

i've recently torn apart the studio, re-designed and organized it, so i'm excited to say i'll finally have pictures to show you! i realize that for the past year (!) or so i've had to keep quiet with pictures here on the blog because so much of what i was working on was for the book, and it's nice to finally have the freedom to take lots of pictures to show you! i miss sharing my studio shots! of course, my little snapshots are no where near as nice as the ones you'll find by thea in the book, but here are a few snapshots of recent studio activity. in these photos, i was in the midst of my new series that i made for the eta 9. for these pieces, i working on them all at once, putting one down then picking one up... the process was a bit different for me, but i really love how they all came out. i hope you like this little peek behind the scenes! (a couple more here)

i've really missed being here, it's great to be back with fresh ideas and energy.

i'll have lots more to share with you next week!

have a great weekend,

xo *s

ps: do you like the new header and tabs? : ) i'm pretty happy with them, change is good and it was about time. stay tuned, more things to come.