Ready for a Prize...

Time to end September with some fun!

I entered the number of posts we had into a random number generator, and the winner is Raena!

raena said...

"These are adorable! I find that I don't miss the nose and mouth on these. If it were more important to show an emotion, then I would say they were necessary, but these are great the way they are!"

Send me your email at rhodadesignstudio {@} gmail {dot} com. Let me know which one you like the best and I will send you the download link.

Thank you everyone for posting a comment and taking a look at my new characters. I'm hoping to make a few more this weekend :)

It's Friday! And I'm so happy. I've already managed to go to Yoga class and do a spruce up/check in at a place I take care of. It's an older farm house, and in the middle of pastures. Unfortunately, it means it collects flies. One of the main things we have to do there is "suck flies" with the dust buster. Would it be cliche so say that after the insect guy sprayed this year, the flies are dropping, like flies?

Yuck! Industrial fly sucker today! I'll be glad when it gets colder and they slow down.

Time for a weekend of creativity!

Happy Friday,

Rhoda

Smile in Bloom

Wednesday? Or Monday?

It really felt like a Monday. One of those days where you should just go back to bed, so you can wake up and give it another try.

I pushed through. But it felt like walking through waist deep snow, up hill, both ways!

We stopped at the grocery store to buy something for dinner, and this is what hubby brought out to brighten the day.

The snow is melting...I think the peanut M&M's helped just as much.

Last night, Kyla and I sat at the table and colored before I had to go back to school to help the Freshman with the concessions stand. I chose to start with Willow and the Fawn.

The shadow on the bottom is a little darker in the pic than in real life, part of the camera app.

Night :)

Rhoda

P.S. Be sure and comment on this post for a chance to win your favorite digital stamp.

Pin It, Like It, Admire It

There are just so many ways to keep track of the things you love. I think my favorite is Pinterest.

Have you tried this yet? You can organize by a theme, and it's like pinning sticky notes to a board. You choose where they go.
Color.
Quotes.
Decor.
Art Journals.
Scrapbook pages.
You name it, you can pin it. I love to just log in and drool. The best part...you follow people who have pinned things that are similar to what you love, and then you see all the treasures that they pin too. They can follow you. All the goodness just gets spread around!

Here's a snapshot of the one that I set up for Type. Letters, Fonts, all sorts of print goodness. Love it :)

Do you "Pin It"? What sort of eye candy do you add to yours?

Rhoda

I'm In Love...

Seriously. Head over heels...

I have always loved to draw. Animals. Flowers. Doodles.

But people. They always scared me. I would avoid drawing anything that involved a person.

I've tried a few sketches. I've done some fairies with charcoal. Usually, I procrastinate and then walk away from an idea if it involves a person.

My dream was to take all the art classes I could in college. Being practical, and the rude awakening of my  real life changed that pretty quick.
Life brought me back around to art though, by opening up an Art position at our school, and there was no one else qualified to teach it.

I nabbed it.

To teach my students, I have to keep teaching myself. I find lessons. I watch videos (LOVE UTube!).

And I practice.

Illustration or coloring for a major cartoon company have always been my dream. A little difficult without experience and without the courage to draw people. I put on my big girl pants and gave it a try. I am back to practicing. And now I am in love with them.

Sure. I love the characters. I love making patterns and paper. But these little people sketches are consuming me! I'm dreaming them. I'm making lists about them. And I can't stop drawing them. Heaven help me when I start to color them!!

Here are just a few of today's creations, you can visit my shop to see the others. I'm populating a village here!

Little Sophie in her Owl Hat

Kyla and her Lemonade Stand

Hayden and his bike.

There are a handful of other new ones. And there will be more to come. I only made a few on my list today! Not to mention, the coloring hasn't started yet. :)

Hope you enjoy them. They have so much potential for stories, cards, and colors. I need to call my sister! I have ideas for her too!! :)

Happy Monday,

Rhoda

P.S. Don't forget about the giveaway post, you can also list any of these as your favorite and a chance to win!!

Want to Color?

Happy Sunday!

I had fun sketching and creating this weekend. Some of my sketching happened a little to close to bed time. After we went to bed, the ideas kept swirling.

I couldn't fall asleep.

There were to many sketches and ideas running around in my brain.

And then I braided my hair all night. Over and over. Because of one little sketch. When I popped awake this morning, the ideas started swirling again! I've gotten a few of them out of my system.

There are 3 others in my shop as well. Shall we have some fun? The coloring is the best part. I haven't decided which one I want to start with yet.

Which one do you want to color? Look through the digital stamps in my shop, and come back here and post a link to your favorite. Tell us what you will make out of your colored piece. I'll pick a random winner from the posts on Friday, and send the winner their choice. We can finish September with some coloring fun!

I'm off to decide which one I will color first...

Have a great week,
Rhoda

P.S. While you are looking at all the fun digi kids, tell me, which do you like more: a full face, or just eyes? Or do you like having the option of both?

Autumn Harvest

Creative, at last.

After a marathon run into the big city for groceries and some girl time with my daughter, I finally got to be creative.
Don't get me wrong.
Girl time was great.
Just sucks when it has to include chores :)
A long stay at Barnes and Noble made up for it though. And shopping for face wash and shampoo with a "Tween". Not even sure how many lotions we sampled.
I can tell you, we were smelly!
In a good way :)

Today. I colored. I finished the scarecrows, crows, and leaves that I started earlier in the week:

After some "fussy cutting", I turned them into cards. I just saw that term on another blog recently and thought...that fits my type of cutting perfectly. Sometimes, tedious things drive me nuts! For some reason, cutting doesn't. It's a form of mediation for me I think. I'll zone out on it for hours. And I don't mind (unless my hand starts to cramp!).

There you have it. My Saturday creations :)

Happy Fall Y'All,

Rhoda

Freaky Friday...

Trying to figure out what theme Friday should be.

Fabulous Friday.

Fun Finds Friday.

Fresh Friday.

Funky Friday.

Hmmm. Today it's going to be Freaky. Probably not as freaky as most would expect, because I don't do freaky. Images stay in your brain bank for life. Everything you have ever seen is being stored, somewhere in your memory. Personally, I don't want to fill up that space with nasty, freaky, disturbing images. I'm okay with G-PG13.

Some Freaky Illustrations on cardboard.

Not so scary, unless you are little and their are monsters in you closet. (Those of you with little ones that are scared of the closet, air freshener with a "Monster Be Gone" label works wonders! Just spray it in the closet and under the bed before you tuck them in.)

And some creepy sculpture. I'm not sure what is so fascinating about these dolls, but they draw me in every time I see them. Little souls, all their own.

Happy Freaky Friday.

Rhoda

Almost There...

It's almost the end of the week. Yay!!

For some reason, it feels really long this week. Probably because it was so full. Good news is, that in all the fullness, things were accomplished.

That's way better than a full week that ends with you wondering, how you will ever manage to finish it all.

Thought I would share some refreshing eye candy this evening as my blog post. There were a number that caught my eye, but I think this is my favorite for the evening.

Repurposed:


How beautiful is this. Loads of fun things to click on. Sometimes, Etsy is just fun to wander around. Window shopping, virtually :)

Have a great Thursday!!

Rhoda

Challenge Myself...

I did it. I'm managing a blog post.
After a day of school.
After making dinner.
After doing Yoga.
Yay!
Do you know how hard it is to do Yoga when the cat thinks it needs your yoga mat more than you do? And every time you try to go into plank or downward dog, the cat rips your ankles to shreds. A nightmare I tell you. Even pushing him off and saying "ppsstt" wouldn't make him leave me alone. I had to do the first part of the practice half on and half off my mat. Eventually, he gave up. I think he got sick of flinching each time I started to step back. He wasn't sure if I was going push on him again or not. The dog's bed was invaded after that. Fine by me!

And now, that I have accomplished all my tasks, and survived the cat, I am going to color.

Challenging myself to color something a little smaller and more detailed. It is the digital stamps that I created over the weekend. Here it is:

Hoping to use it for some cards. I'll post the progress :)

Happy Tuesday!

Rhoda

Scarecrows and Owls

That fall feeling is in the air. And with it comes thoughts of pumpkins, corn fields, scarecrows, and crisp apples.

I missed the farmer's market this weekend, but I am going to try my darndest (it's a word...right?) to get there next Saturday. I should make it to at least one before the season is over!

I spent the weekend at home. Playing. Watching movies. Playing some more. I did take the kids swimming, again. Hoping to go at least once more, before it gets to cold. Then we will have to switch locations.

While I was playing, I listed about 10 new items. If you haven't been over to my Etsy Shop, you should go take a peek :)

I'll try to post a few items here on my blog as the week goes by. Share them with you that way too.

Here are the scarecrows. I made them as line art (digital stamps) and colored. Hoping to print the line art out and color them this week for some new cards.

And the line art version:

There are also some super cute owls. I'm thinking about making them in Halloween colors, and then Christmas colors too. What do you think?

Have a great Monday!

Rhoda

Swap Cards

I participated in the September Swap on the "Just Cards" yahoo group.

There were a number of themes to choose from. I chose to make a card for Halloween, the letter "O", and a sketch.

These are the cards I received so far:

The Letter "O" is for Orange

The sketch card.

I love getting fun mail :) There should be one more popping up soon. Thank you to Patti and Laurel for the beautiful cards!

Rhoda

Only Monday's

It already feels like we have had a full week...after one crazy Monday.

We started out quiet and ahead of the game.

Then around 9:00 when I was getting ready to take roll in my first class, the Internet wouldn't work. I couldn't get to the site. I just figured it was me, or the silly computer. I decided it could wait till later.

After walking over to the high school, and settling into my art room, I tried again. No go. Figured it was the wireless, so I grabbed the LAN line and plugged it in. Still no go.

A student came by and told me phones were out. No cell service. Interesting.

Turns out, someone hit a fiber optic line, up the valley where they were doing road construction. No phones, no Internet, nothing, ALL DAY!

I only had a few moments of withdrawal. Those times I really wanted to Google the answer for something. Or check on my shop. But I survived. The kids on the other hand. They were funny to watch. Pretty sure they were having nervous breakdowns. "Welcome back to 1995" was my favorite comment :)

The school day ended, and I'm pretty sure that is where ours went into over drive! Ran to town (17 miles away) to watch Kyla play her very first Volleyball game. Eat dinner. Get some groceries. Run home. Groceries away. A walk and talk on the newly restored cell lines with my sister. An episode of Ax Men and bed time. Phew!

Over my quiet weekend, I listed some new cards:

Camera Cards (set of 4)

Bike Cards (set of 4)

Colorful Penguins Cards (set of 4)

Each set has four different designs. I'm loving those penguins :)

Here's to another busy day, but hopefully, not as busy as yesterday!

Rhoda

I Heart Cameras...

The school year has started. I teach the Annual class. The picture taking was in full force this week. Dress up days for Homecoming.
Floats for the parade.
Spirit walls in the gym.
The parade.
The games.

In honor of all that, and the camera that is permanently connected to me right now, I have finally colored my camera illustrations and created a print: Camera Love.

Take a peek when you get a minute.

Go Tigers!

Rhoda

Wahoo Friday!!

And the week is done!!

Crazy how four days can be so long, and yet so fast at the same time. When you think about all the things that we accomplished this week (and you yearn for a Friday), it seems long. But, when you think about how fast it really went by, it's an amazing contrast.

Either way. It's done. We survived. :)

Our homecoming game is tomorrow.
We spent today working on decorating the gym walls.
One wall for each class.
And the floats.
Go Darby Tigers!!


I'm the Freshman advisor. All I have to say is that, even my "after school" cup of coffee hasn't helped. Or the  two mile walk.

Might need a nap. And then a movie with my hubby.

No major plans for the weekend. Some time being creative. Some house cleaning. And maybe some reading.

Ahh. Weekends.

Happy Friday,

Rhoda

Heartsy Me...

Good Morning All :)

I am being featured on Heartsy today.
How does Heartsy work.
You purchase a voucher through their secure site.
They give you a code to use when you check out of my Etsy shop (click other as a payment type).
You enter the code, I know that you paid via Heartsy.
It's good for up to $21 and covers product and shipping (if you order prints or cards).
Vouchers are limited and so is the time that they are being offered.

Happy Tuesday!

Rhoda

Rough?

We are back from camping.

If that's what we should be calling it :)

The lodge was built in the 40's. It has modern amenities (sort of).
The spring box had run dry. Dad had it fixed by the next morning.
The propane was easy to turn on for the gas range, but not the fire place.
Electricity, when the generator was on.

See. Not very rough. It was a great adventure though. (we won't talk about the part where I got stung by a wasp, or dad's friend's dog that was bit by a rattlesnake at the river, or the other dog that ate rat poison...all is well now and it just adds to the story, right?) Here is a snap shot of our weekend:

It's miles from anywhere. Up a very rough dirt road (and I've driven dirt roads all my life). We were secluded and had the run of the place. The kids were free to roam around where they pleased. Ride bikes. Play with whatever they wanted.

We had some very happy, very dirty kids! And they wore themselves out and slept like logs! We did wake up to the munching of a mouse, or rat, the first night.
(notice the custom way to carry cards back to the cabin?)

The weekend was my dad's idea. He works at this camp in the summer, cooking for all the girl scouts and counselors. In the off season, we get to use it.

Thank you dad! You made us very happy campers.

Vanilla cream soda anyone?

We spent an afternoon on the river (I forgot my camera). It was agreed that we would all just tuck those memories away to share with each other...not everything needs to be on film or digitally recorded.

And after a weekend of being secluded in the forest, we made a bee line for the nearest hot springs. Our favorite place to be this summer.

And that, my friends, is how you finish off a summer!

Happy Labor Day!

Rhoda

Let's Go Camping!

It's Labor Day weekend.

The classic end of summer, camping weekend.

And guess where we are going? Camping!

Sort of. It will be more like vacationing in the wild, since we will be staying in cabins. Not as rough as a tent.

I'm a little sad that it won't be warmer. We will be so close to the best swimming holes in the Salmon River, and the water will be even colder than it was 3 weeks ago. We'll just have to be happy playing on the edge and laying in the sand.

In celebration of the weekend, I listed these:

Just love those vintage campers! Time to start saving my pennies :)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I'm taking the kids. Ditching the husband (it's archery season so I won't be seeing him much until January). Be home Sunday :)

Rhoda

Little Birdie Told Me So

I finally found a few minutes to make some cards. We have a few days off for the fair and Labor Day weekend.

Here is what I started with:

These are the ones that I colored with Copic markers, and then cut out while we were driving to pick up the kids at the grandparents.

And this is what I made:

I listed them in my Etsy shop. 

I always forget how much fun it is to play in my paper supplies, until I get down to my room and start a project. Then I realize how much I miss spending the day down there, just crafting :) 

To many things to keep me busy, so little time!

Tonight, we are thinking about going to the fair. Or maybe not. Nothing like being indecisive. 

Tomorrow.

Camping (sort of) at the girl scout lodge down on the Salmon River. A weekend with my sis and her kids. I'm excited. Oh. And dad too. :)

I'm hoping to post again tomorrow, but if I don't, have a great weekend. 

Rhoda