What's New ?...

Kitty Cats! I made my first card set today with my "Faithful Feathered Feline Friends" and listed them in my Etsy Shop. I think these are so cute on these cards if I say so myself. I think they not only would make cute greeting cards but cute Christmas cards as well. I signed each little art print on the back so they could be kept & framed. I am working on 2 more card sets with my Aura Angels on them.Thank you so much SoInToIt for presenting me with the Versatile Blogger Award! The rules are that I am to disclose 7 things that you may not know & pass the award along. I had to really think about this because I have a lot in my Funky Facts About Me section at the bottom of this blog and seriously aren't I an open book? hahaha Ok here goes...
1. Some dolls, especially the really old fashioned dolls, can freak me out like ventriloquist dummies & clowns. (Yes I do paint strange Carnies/Clowns but call them "Happy Souls" & consider it self therapy! haha)
2. I can completely de-bone a chicken leaving it in one large flat piece in a matter of minutes.
3. If my reading glasses aren't on my nose they are used as a stylish headband. hahaha
4. I think I could win every Chopped challenge. hahaha
5. I've watched the movie Pretty Woman & Overboard so many times that I could probably recite the entire scripts.
6. I could never choose a favorite Beatle, then or now.
7. I am addicted to hot peppers.
I now pass this award to a few of my sweetest Followers Gloria, Artsyfartsyme, Graceful Moments, Alterity Buttons, SandyPetals , Poetic Artist & AyalaArt.

Oh Heavens!

It's grey outside and I feel like curling up under a quilt and may do just that later! It rained last night so I listened to it while I was painting. I love that. I hope it rains again later. I'm having fun painting my heavenly little kitty cats. I haven't painted them in quite a while. I listed a new kitty on Ebay and the print on Etsy today. I like this little guy a lot. I love the purple, lime green and orange combination of colors. It's really different. This little guy seems to have a real attitude too!I started a painting of a kitty on canvas for a customer on Ebay and will hopefully finish that one today. I also started some long paintings, a mermaid and another angel. I am not completely satisfied with those yet though but will post a picture of them when I'm finished. I am having fun painting the long odd sizes. My long blue angel sold yesterday *see below* and I listed this red one yesterday afternoon. One thing about my angels that I personally like is that one side of the face shows one emotion while the other side shows another. If you take a look at almost any of them and cover one side of their face, then the other you'll see what I mean. I also like how some of their eyes follow you. I love red. I'd say mustard yellow is my favorite color but red and turquoise are next in line as my favorites. My husband bought me a new heat gun so I plan to paint some new angels on LP records next week. Another thing I enjoy that I haven't done for a while. I broke my last heat gun working on those! It actually melted itself. Weirdest thing. It was next to a tube of oil paint when it happened so that tube is toast. I smelled it and couldn't figure out where the smell was coming from. When I did finally see it, the heat gun was just a big glob of plastic! I was lucky it didn't start a fire!

A big shout out goes to Abbasgirl for featuring one of my kitties in her lovely Etsy Treasury. You can see that here. She has a wonderful collection of pretty things in her shop which you can check out here. I just love her Peasant Girl box! I have yet to make a Treasury myself. It seems too complicated and you have to wait until an opening and hope you can hop in. So I have to give kudos for people that take the time to put one together. I love browsing through them.

I had a call from a friend and colleague last night. She called to tell me she is losing her job. The company was recently bought out and now they are completely closing my old office. I was laid off last year as well as many other underwriters, which was an attempt to cut cost and remain open. My heart goes out to all of my friends and ex-teammates. It's a hard time for people in the mortgage business now. Most positions are so specialized that it's hard to get into something else where you can make comparable wages, or even qualify to do anything else, and there certainly aren't many job openings in the industry right now. In the mortgage business when it gets slow there are always lay offs, then when it's busy, companies beg for people. Companies usually work people to death too before hiring new people too. It's tough and extremely stressful. So layoffs go with the territory but this time it's really different. A lot of long time major players in the industry are now gone. This economy so disturbing. I am saying some prayers for them all.