Sunday, July 31, 2011

Doing The New Banner Boogie

What do you think of my new shop banner?

I know it's just an ink sketch, but I plan to buy a little canvas and get my monotone swirl on with this basic design concept.

This works for now, though and I feel like it's better than my old one- it always made me a little sad, because it featured a painting I made a while back that I really loved... that I sold.

Yay!

(and sigh.)

I was really tempted to leave the old banner up, and put off installing the new one until I had a more polished piece, but like my catalyst agent buddy warns, I don't want to

ruin good with perfect.

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Elsie took an extra long nap this afternoon, so I got a little editing done.

This is a slightly more finished version:

What do you think?

Writing this counts as action!

If you look to the right side of the screen, you'll see a list called

"Blogs I Actually Read".

A more accurate title would be

Blogs I Can't Wait To Read

because the second one of these is updated I can't help but pounce on their site. Long time followers of this here lil old blog may (or may not) notice that there have been some changes to that list recently.

For one, I removed the Blog of Paul Kyser. After two years of hoping his link would read "Updated yesterday" I finally had to give up. After confirming the death of the blog with the author himself, of course, just to make aaaaaabbbbsolutely certain that the day after I deleted my link and never ever ever went back there ever again, that he does, in fact, have no intention whatsoever of writing there again in the near future.

Also, you'll notice a few additions- there's the blog of my good friend, Elsie's fairy godmother, Skye. Her blog is called Life Is A Carnival. It doesn't always get updated often, but when it does, it's always worth the read. (Elsie looks pretty comfy on Skye's lap. Little Awesome looks like he's about to grab some baby toes!)

And then there's her husband, Da Godfatha, (That's an ItalianAmerican accent there- did you get it?) with his better business blog, aptly titled

A Better Way of Business | Showing businesses and people a better way. I think the name says it all. Yesterday, we had our first meeting about how to get my business going. really going. So now I have about 100 hours of homework, which I'll try to squeeze into Elsie's two nap times a day. I think if I really follow his advice I can turn "Oh wow! I got a sale today" into "Oh wow! I got soooo many sales today!"

It's going to take a lot of hard work, a lot of not watching t.v., and maybe a little help/patience from Dr A, but more than anything, like Ivan says, it's going to take

ACTION.

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If you're reading this and you have a blog, leave a comment and we can link to each others' blog- building an encouraging community is on my list of actions I'm working on!

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If you don't like hearing me talk about businessy stuff and only like the baby stuff b/i/s. They've really got me pumped about getting this art show on the road. Also, don't worry, I plan to keep this blog mostly cute and cuddly and keep 99% of the art stuff elsewhere.

Friday, July 29, 2011

LoveAboveAll now has a Facebook Fan page!

LoveAboveAll is about seeking out what/who/where you love. It's about putting that love first, above all else.
LoveAboveAll began in May of 2008 when artist La Sha Ackerman realized she had more art than she could possibly hang. The call to create is a passionate love which refuses to relent. It is a hurricane of the brain that leaves behind a trail of beauty, exalting that which is most loved in life- beauty, travel, friends, music, and the magic in every day life. And labradors. Cause they're awesome.
LoveAboveAll is the studio name of Georgia native, former ex-patriot, chronic traveler, wife, baby-maker, book-reader, harp-player, painter, Jesus-follower, and tomato-grower La Sha Ackerman. Click here to become a fan!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Grandpa Claus Brought Christmas in July

This is what a lucky little girl looks like: If you were to describe Santa to Elsie, she would probably be all, "dude, I totally know that guy! We eat dinner together once a week, and he never minds when I drool on him- he's my grandpa!"

(If she could talk, that is).

Last week my parents took the tiny Miss A on a toy shopping spree, which resulted in her getting pretty much one of everything marked "6 months+".

Her little world has never been so musical and bright.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Two Tacky Mamas #1

Long ago

In a galaxy far far away

Two uniquely fashionable women tried on hideous clothes,

laughed till they almost peed their (high-water parachute) pants,

strategized how to improve said hideous clothes,

and talked about starting a blog on the topic

(which, for the time being, will just be incorporated into this here old blog I've been writing for years)

And so, without further ado, I bring you the very first installment of

Two Tacky Mamas

Episode #1: The Case of the 1990's Maternity Dress of Horror

Mrs A pulled thousands of feet of velvet trimmed denim from a box of hand-me-downs.

"Holy-mother-of-all-PTA-moms!" Mama D exclaimed.

At first glance it seemed as if Mrs A was holding a denim bed sheet, but if you stood back a few feet and let your eyes carefully refocus, it became apparent that the king-size bed sheet was in fact a dress.

A maternity dress.

From the 90's.

It was a sartorial black hole capable of completely sucking you in,

and crushing you with such copious denim,

and a velvet collar,

and velvet cuffs,

oh my.

Mrs A took a deep breath, wrestled the beast to the ground, and cut off the menacing crushed velvet bits-

veritably chopping the the sleeves in half.

Then, in order to give her ankles some breathing room, she cut off about a thousand inches of fabric, to give the creature that now more closely resembled a dress a more fashionable hem-line.

Next, where once lived a massive heavy black velvet collar, now was just a savage raw cut, which Mrs A neatly turned rolled and hemmed.

The same treatment went to the fray-full sawed off sleeves, which were then folded to above the elbow.

Then the tiny princess woke up from her tiny nap, signaling the end of Mrs A's crafty time, and the beginning of dinner time. So Mrs A donned the now streamlined carcass of the 90's nightmare and enjoyed some time grilling on the deck.

And they all lived (and dressed) happily ever after.

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If you'd like to see The Ackermans in some photos that are actually decent for a change, go here, 'Like' Swell Studio's page and then vote for us by Liking the pic of us you see there. Since either Dr or Mrs A are almost always the one behind the camera, there are virtually no good pictures of them together with tiny miss A, so winning this would be a real treat!

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Your turn Mama D!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

The past five months

I haven't really been writing for the past five months.

I've been a little busy.

These past five months have been

the most exhausting

the messiest

the snuggliest

the loudest

the kissiest

The happiest months of my life!

The Best Thing In The World:

The best thing in the world is

holding you in my arms

when you smile in your sleep

how you laugh when I tickle your tummy

the way you smell when I kiss you goodnight

how happy you are when you bounce in your jumperoo

watching you sleep in your little swing a few feet away while I write this

The best thing in the world is:

you.