uzanne Woolcott is my new favorite artist.  I just love her little painted dolls.  At her main website, gorjuss ART, she offers some free PS and PSP brushes, all with generous terms of use. 

little gorjuss things
a few wee ramblings…

gorjuss.etsy.com

gorjuss ART

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Reminds me a bit of these little images that I created many, many years ago in Paint Shop Pro 4.  (I know mine are no where near as cute but hey, that was over 10 years ago and I have gotten better…I have, haven’t I?)  Offered in PSD format, they are suitable only for web graphics; created before I became aware of image resolution and size.  *smile* 

They are faceless but you are more than welcome to draw on some eyes and blushy cheeks if you wish.  Click to download zipped file.

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I’ve been fighting a headcold the past couple of days…it’s winning.

Click to view full-sized image.

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ARTSY PLACES TO VISIT:

Dawn has some pretty bird and birds’ eggs images to download.

Matthew Mead’s blog is always filled with creative ideas.

Art and Ghosts’ Flickr Photostream.

Dorothy Wallace Photograpy…stunning galleries, especially the Fairy Gallery.

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My twins are back home safe and sound (except for a little incident with a pocket knife which resulted in a few stitches for Connor) and yesterday we celebrated Quinn’s birthday with a pizza and pool party. 

Update:  SiteMeter fixed the problem.

Problems with IE7 (and maybe 6 too) and Sitemeter this morning…you will get a won’t open error (Internet Explorer cannot open the Internet site http://AnyWebPageWithSiteMeterCode.com. Operation aborted) on any webpage that uses a SiteMeter.  This affects a lot of blogs.  You can remove the code from your own page, so others can visit you but to get to others’ webpages you will have to bypass the restriction by clicking on, (from IE’s toolbar):

Tools
Internet Options
Security tab
Restricted Sites
Sites
Type in url
Add
Close
OK

This will force Internet Explorer to open the page.  You can also just use another browser.  I’m using Firefox to browse this morning.  *smile*

Click on image to download.

Created in Poser and Photoshop.
Click to view full-sized image.

I guess in the crafting world the holidays are right around the corner and crafters are gearing up for Autumn/Holiday Craft Shows and Fairs.

The Holiday Queen has quite a gorgeous Halloween assortment of crafted items…the skull sceptres really caught my eye and so, of course, I decided to see what I could come up with digitally.  A Witch and a Bat, mine are quite spooky looking if I do say so myself.  *smile*  I created them in Poser and Photoshop and they are In PSD Format, 300 dpi and sized large for printing, if you wish.  For web images just resize but remember to use your sharpen tool afterwards…wouldn’t want to lose any of that spooky detail.  *smile*

Click on the thumbnails to download the PSD files.

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…and a bit of artwork…
Click to View Full-Sized Image

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I am the one hiding under your bed
Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red

I am the one hiding under your stairs
Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair

This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
~~Tim Burton’s “Halloween”~~

… in a dream …
Created in Poser and Photoshop
 Click to view full-sized image

Sea Shell created in Poser and Photoshop.  Click to view full-sized image.

t’s nice to be missed.  I truly didn’t plan on taking a break from the computer and blogging…it just happened.

Life has been busy…we got the twins off yesterday to Boy Scout summer camp.  This is the longest that they will have been away from me.  I hugged them tight, holding back tears, making them promise to have fun and stay safe.  Ever since we returned from vacation I’ve been trying to spend as much time as possible with my children.  The twins, at thirteen, are on the verge of their teenage years and soon, so very soon, they will start to pull away and won’t want to do family things anymore.  So, we’ve been watching movies, eating out, browsing at Barnes and Noble, reading books together, and of course, spending time at the pool.  *smile*

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My littlest one, Quinn, is 8 today!!!!  (For some strange reason I thought yesterday was the 28th and told everyone it was his birthday!)  Glad my dear friend, Jeanne, remembered right.  *smile*  We won’t be celebrating his birthday until the twins return so we’ll have a pool party next Sunday.  He wants a Superman theme (his father’s own child), and to distract him the past few days from trying to pack himself and being upset that we wouldn’t let him go to summer camp with his brothers, I’ve been promising him that we’ll have plenty of shopping trips (plus swimming) this week to purchase all that is needed for his birthday party.

I’m camera-less!  My camera broke when we were on vacation and Best Buy still has it and the twins have my old camera so no photos for awhile. Quinn enjoying his morning juice and poptart…taken while on vacation.

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At B&N, whilst the boys were spending a small fortune on books, I bought some beautiful artsy, crafty magazines from Somerset…Somerset Life, Artful Blogging and Somerset Studio.  There was also a gorgeous doll magazine, HauteDoll, that I was tempted to purchase (lots of ideas for my digital art) but I decided that three must be my limit…wish I’d bought it though.

Ball Jointed Doll Links:

Dream of Doll

LUTS

D.I.M.

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 Summer Stars by Carl Sandburg

Click on image to view full-sized.
From a challenge to recreate Sophie Anderson’s Fair Face of Woman.

Click to view full-sized image.

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VACATION

The places we have gone to
and the trips that we have taken
Photographs of love and laughs
of another family vacation.

It doesn’t matter where we go
as long as we’re together
At different ages, on these pages-
we’ll be on vacation forever.
Gina Marie Lauchner

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Be good until I get back!