If you have a digital camera, and you've never had your photos printed out by one of those online companies, now is a great time to try it out. Snapfish.com has some awesome deals going right now, and I have the coupon codes for you.

With your first upload, you will get 30 free 4"x6" prints...I also have the code for free shipping on 25 of the prints to share with you. Their last offer was 20 free prints, which I got a few days ago, now they're offering 30 - it's fantastic! The uploading etc was really easy too.
I can't wait to get the photos of the kids here - I ordered some 5"x7"s also. They have prints up to size 8"x10."

The 30 free prints offer is for new customers the entire month of January, but the free shipping on 25 prints offer ends January 15th so hurry to snap this up.

30 FREE prints and easy online photo sharing with Snapfish! Sign up!
The free shipping code for 25 of the prints is SHIPPING

Here are more Coupon Codes you may be interested in:

- Photo Calendars are all the rage right now, especially with the new year! The new coupon code CALENDARAFF20 will save 20% on our unique photo calendars though January 31st, 2006.

- The coupon code DECAFF10 runs through Jan 31st 2006 and will you 10% on everything, including prints!

- The next coupon is targeted to those who love our MemoryBooks! Promote the code MEMAFF15 which will take 15% off the total purchase when you buy a memory book. This coupon also expires January 31st 2006

- The coupon code CARSD0515 has been extended through January 15th 2006. This coupon will take 15% off the purchase of Holiday Photo Cards and Holiday Folder Cards.

Tuesday night I took Little Guy (almost 3 months old now) to the Pediatric Urgent Care at hospital. I gave the baby my cold, and I didn't notice any fever but he was extremely snuffly, and when I had my hand on his back, I could feel the vibrations when he breathed. We also thought his cough sounded a bit croup-like.

I know how to handle croup in children - I've been through that many times before so I wasn't panicked, but what worried me in Little Guy's case is that he hasn't had his 2-month shots (that includes pertussis-whooping cough). The pediatrician couldn't get him in for that until early February! So knowing he hasn't had that innoculation yet worried me. I didn't want to just assume he just had a regular cold.

Rather than wait for it to become a major emergency later in the night, I took him to the hospital around 8 pm. The doctor said I did the right thing to bring him in, because young babies can have serious complications from colds. But it turns out that he is fine. The vibrations I felt on his back were only because of the congestion in his head - the pediatrician said that because babies' heads are so large in relation to their bodies, that's why I could feel it on his back.

Now before every feeding, I need to put 5 drops of saline in his nostrils one at a time, and suction them out with the bulb syringe. It is hard to do this, he kicks and screams and looks at me with a look that says "Mommy, HELLLLP ME!!!!" and I feel like I'm going to cry too, I feel so bad having to do that to him. But babies HAVE to be able to breathe out of their noses, or they can't have the bottle, so it's necessary.

I am still suffering with my cold too, so at least I have a feeling of what Little Guy is feeling. I am spending a lot of time cuddling and carrying, and boy are my arms and shoulders tired! Sudafed is working wonders for me though...I wish the baby could have some of that, but he can only have the suctioning of his nose and baby pain reliever drops.

As usual, I had a cold for Christmas. I am still fighting it. Fortunately I had made fixing Christmas dinner easy on myself by ordering a smoked turkey breast and a pecan pie from Honeybaked Ham Company. I expected a smoked turkey flavor, but just a heads up on this, it tasted like ham! So if you can't have ham for some reason and crave it, just order the honeybaked turkey!

Other yummies on the menu: turkey stuffing, fordhook lima beans, steamed broccoli flowerets with cheese melted on top, yeast rolls, wheat rolls, devilled eggs, and a macaroni and cheese casserole dish that my brother in law fixed. How he got it to look so good, I don't know. I should have taken a picture of it, but I didn't. He said it took him a whole hour to prepare it.

The desserts were pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and a chocolate pudding type pie. Which one do you think everyone liked the best? The chocolate one, of course.

The biggest surprise of the day was when the doorbell rang in the morning, and who was there but a United States Postal employee with a box from the kid's grandparents! The employee was using her personal minivan to make deliveries on Christmas. When I asked her about it (in utter amazement) she said "It's fun!" So this is one of the benefits of the USPS becoming a for profit entity. Long live Capitalism! :) It certainly was like having Santa come to the door!

The cute moment of the day was when Little Man was pulling wrapping paper off a present, and we asked him, "what's inside?" - he exclaimed loudly, "it's a BOX!!!"

Good thing I took a picture of the Christmas cookies, they were gobbled up last night! The glass plate was a wedding gift from 20 years ago - can you believe I remember stuff like that? But who gave it to us, I don't remember! I thought about putting a red or green tablecloth under the plate so the photo would look better, but I was too lazy - so for now, enjoy the lovely woodgrain of my kitchen table. It's quite hypnotic.

Yesterday I did a lot of walking. The girls were at a friend's house, and miraculously I was able to get Little Guy and Little Man asleep at the same time. DH stayed home, and I took Laser (our Sheltie) on a fairly long walk with a few short runs. He really enjoyed it.
He met a good looking Beagle gal. They wanted to hang out together so I practically had to drag Laser away from her.

He had to stop to check his 'pee-mail' (that's what I call the dog version of e-mail -when a dog sniffs around every tree and mailbox, checking for messages left by other dogs) I was able to get some rest periods. Laser returned a lot of his messages. It was cold out, but refreshing. I had a slight headache before we started, but I've noticed if I get out and exercise, I feel better afterward. I burned off the carbs from the spaghetti I had for dinner.

Everyone in the family seems to be on the edge of getting a head cold. I'm either alcohol wiping or Lysol-ing doorknobs, faucets, lightswitches, the computer keyboard/mouse, phone, or TV remote control a lot around here. It's a miracle I haven't gotten sick this fall yet. I just can't afford the time to get sick. I've been taking my vitamins and drinking a lot of water.
When I feel allergy sniffles, I take one of my Benadryls before I go to bed. It seems to be helping.

Yesterday I took the girls to the mall for ear piercing. This day has been much anticipated. It is part of their Christmas presents.

We went to Piercing Pagoda, near the food court for this. I even got mine pierced - this was the first time I ever had my ears pierced.

Piercing Pagoda was pretty good. If you are considering having your earlobes pierced through with a sharp implement, then Piercing Pagoda is as good a place as any.

Standing there at the counter, I reconsidered doing it and even felt butterflies in my stomach, but I had read up on all the risk factors and made an informed decision to be stupid.

DD1 chose small crystal earrings that reflect colors. DD2 chose small turtles. I chose some cubic zirconia studs with white gold. We went with the high quality metals so we would have less chance of irritation. Now we need to clean around our earrings 2-3x a day for 6 weeks, then we can change out these earrings for different ones.

When it was all over, we were all glad we felt the fear and did it anyway!

How to draw hair using graphite pencil

How to draw hair using graphite pencil - or at least, this is how I do it. I taught this to myself by experimenting. You can usually do this same technique for human hair or pet fur.

Start by using a heavy enough paper. Regular typing paper or the student grade drawing paper isn't very good for this - you want a Bristol paper, at least 2 ply, so it can hold up with the erasing technique.

Looking at the photo or the person - look for the darkest areas of the hair. Try not to obsess over the fact that it's hair, if that intimidates you. Try to ignore that it's hair, and just focus your eyes on what is dark and what parts are light. I draw in the darkest areas first, then use the side of the pencil to fill in the rest of it. If you have trouble seeing the dark and light areas, then try turning your reference photo sideways or upside down. Look for shapes in the hair that are dark. Just copy those shapes. If you are drawing from a live model, they don't like being turned upside down or sideways, so I don't recommend that. :)

On top of that, draw in the lines - not too heavy, use flowing movements, following the lines of the hair in the reference photo (or the live sitting, whichever the case). Don't feel pressure to match every line exactly, you just want to get the feel and direction of the hairs going at this point.

Use kneaded rubber eraser to bring out the large areas that will appear the lightest. Don't go too rough with the eraser or the paper will get too rubbed. If you look closely at the person or the reference photograph, you will see there is a curved band of light on the hair - you want to portray this so the hair will look more realistic and the head shape will become apparent.
Blend to soften, using facial tissue (the kind without lotion added), or chamois.

Then use a Pentel Click Eraser (I either cut or break off the tip of it to create a fine edge of eraser I can use). Use this fine edge for the fine highlights in the hair, drawing down and away from the light area made with the kneaded rubber eraser previously.

I use the erasers in a similar fashion as I use the pencil...use soft flowing movements, don't be too straight or apply too much pressure...have a light touch. Draw with the eraser.

After all this erasing, I spend time putting the hairs back in! If you notice the areas where you have erased, there will still be a hint of hair lines. Go over that (gently now, gently!) with mechanical pencil. Let a few 'stray' hairs fly...to add to realism. Think about it...how often is real hair perfect? You don't want it to look like helmet hair, you want it to look realistic.

Most importantly, keep working at this and don't give up.
Every artist will develop his or her own style, but these are just some ideas on how you can realistically draw hair using pencil.

Darla Dixon
Portrait Art and Illustration
http://www.darladixon.com/

This article may be shared on the Internet as long as my name is mentioned as the author, and the website URL and information above is shared intact. Thank you!



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2 Things You Shouldn't Say to a Toddler
(based on personal experience from the last couple days)

1. Don't say: "it's time for your bath" when you meant to say, "it's time for your nap"...
especially if your toddler loves baths and hates naps.

2. Don't say: "would you like some chocolate milk?" until you've physically checked the kitchen to make sure you have both chocolate milk mix and the milk!

The girls were really bummed that their school didn't close today. They dawdled until virtually the last minute, hanging onto every word during the school closing reports on the radio. There was lots of praying and finger crossing, but it just didn't pan out for them this time.

DD1 begged and begged for me to let her stay home anyway , with a lot of "I love you, Mommy"s(she only does that when she wants something)

DD2 coped with her grief by trying on several outfits and not hanging up or putting any of it away.

Little Man thinks he wants to go for a walk in this miserable icy weather in only a long sleeved tee shirt and his diaper. Um... no, we aren't going to do that. I lock the door with the deadbolt to thwart any adventure-seeking.

Why didn't I think of this? Bandages that look like bacon strips.
I wonder if they are bacon scented.
http://www.mcphee.com/items/11476.html

Ice Storm

We are under an ice storm warning here (Gwinnett County GA). My kids might get to be out of school, and I'm sure it'll make for pretty pictures today of ice on trees, but at the same time, it can be deadly. Driving can be hazardous, although we are lucky that the roads themselves are okay... the hazard comes from up above - tree branches and power lines that are heavy with ice.

My husband said that on his drive to work, the tree branches were hanging down low with ice and scraping the top of the car sometimes. Tree branches fall down and knock out the power lines.

I expect us to lose power today, so I'm doing my online work now. I am charging up the rechargeable flashlights and cranking up the heater so if we lose power we'll have some time to prepare a fire in the fireplace before it gets unbearable. The power has already flickered a little bit.

We're under the warning until about 6 pm, but I think things will clear up quite a bit by lunchtime. Today's high temperature will be about 38 F.

Illustration Friday Picture

This is my drawing for Illustration Friday, the topic is Surprise. My son pictured here (known as Little Man in the blog) is now 28 months old. The pregnancy was a "surprise" I guess you could say, but a good one! Little Man is a joy to the whole family. This artwork was done in 2004 in graphite pencil.

Work-a-Rama

Well I finished the portrait I was working on for the last 3 days. Only 5 more portraits (I think?!?) to get 'caught up'....I was so desperate to actually FINISH something. I have gotten so behind that it really wears on my psyche - I'm kind of guilt-ridden person (raised Lutheran, do I need to tell you more?)

Some artisans would get behind and say to themselves "oh well, LET them [the clients] wait," but it really drives me nuts more than it bothers any of my clients, I bet. It's a huge mental weight on me to have things left unfinished, and then I can also be a perfectionist. I think you can look at my artwork and tell I'm a perfectionist, can't you? I don't mean that in the sense of that my portraits are wonderful, or oh, I'm so great look at me, look at my pencil art. I don't mean it that way at all. I just mean I love the details. I love to draw fur and hair, even the eyelashes and the details in the buttons on someone's shirt...that kind of thing.

Anyway, I was able to get it to the post office today. I had some other things to mail also. I mailed my nephew a Christmas gift (can't tell/show what it was, because his mom, my sister, reads my blog!) and some Mompack fillers. The line at the post office wasn't really bad, but it did go out the door.

The Snellville Post Office is extremely small. I am going to get myself a good digital postal scale so I can have Jim the Mailman pick up my packages though. You get free Priority Mail pickup these days, but need to have a scale. I can print out the mailing labels and pay for postage from here at home on the computer. It will be great to maximize my time and not have to take two little ones to the post office with me.

Today I was lucky, my dear spousal entity drove us and the kids could stay in the carseats. I just had to spend my time inside the P.O. praying that the kids were being quiet in the car. I don't know which is worse, being the one to have to go in the post office to mail stuff, or being the parent sitting out in the car, listening to a toddler whine and a baby cry. Luckily he said it wasn't too bad. Little Man (28 months old) fell asleep in the car while waiting.

I was able to draw for 2-3 hours last night, finally getting some sleep at about 2 am. I have such a backlog, it's a bit overwhelming. I am so grateful to people who have been patiently waiting and understanding about my health needs (just had a baby 2 months ago, see pictures below).

I am dying to show you the drawings I have been working on, but most of them are meant to be surprises, but if I show them here in the blog, I might really blow it. So hang in there with me, willya - and I'll show them as soon as I can.

The most recent issue of American Artist Drawing magazine came in, and lo behold, there was much rejoicing in the land! This Fall 2005 issue has an excellent article about a graphite pencil artist named Dan Gilhooley. I'll admit that I shouldn't say it's an excellent ARTICLE yet, because I haven't actually had time to read the words...but I looked at the pictures and the comments around them. It was even difficult to do that, while giving Little Guy his bottle. But with skillful balancing of the bottle under my chin when the pages needed to be turned, I was able to at least peruse the magazine! (git'er done)

I was so inspired my his use of contrast - let me see if I can describe this well enough - he will 'focus in' on one aspect of the person he is drawing...the eyes, the hair, or maybe even an area across the face...that he wants us as viewers to see with more impact also. He has great photorealistic ability with pencil portraiture, but his use of the dark as a point of impact makes it very special.

I found myself using some of this technique last night in the portrait I was working on.
The last artist who impacted my art style this much was J.D. Hillberry.

I wish I could show you an example of Dan Gilhooley's pencil artwork, but I can't locate his art on a website anywhere. So hurry out and pick up the latest issue of American Artist Drawing magazine so you can check it out. The issue is $8.50, well worth it when you find something that inspires you as an artist.

UPDATE: Mr. Gilhooley contacted me and gave me his website address. It's
http://dangilhooley.com/

ABOVE: yesterday's photo of Little Guy...this is what the baby books and magazines promise...

And this is what you actually GET.

But still worth every minute!

Merry Christmas - Check out this online card, it's so adorable!

Tools of my trade...kind of disorganized right now, but it does the job. This leather pencil organizer has two sections. I start it with my Staedtler and Tombo Mono and Wolff Carbon pencils, then go into the color section with Prismacolor, then the Verithins.

JINKIES!!!
Is this Velma from the Scooby Doo Gang?

Nope, it's just me, in my new glasses...the geometric style doesn't mesh with my hairstyle, so that will be the next thing to go. Compare with old glasses.

These are Prada glasses, dahlink...which is such a crock, because I'm sure Prada really had nothing to do with these, other than selling the name.

Thank goodness for a good vision plan...these would've been over $520 but with the vision plan they were about $200. So I 'saved' $320 eh? I don't know how I saved money by spending money, but okay, I'll play along. LOL!

In any case, my look jumped from 1987 to 2005...and with the advances in optics, the lenses are SO thin and light, it's amazing! (my prescription usually meant my eyeglasses would look really thick like bottle glass) so I'm happy with these.

Sorry I can't write much lately, so busy with kids and DRAWING!!!
But I'll be back soon!
In the meantime, enjoy the reprieve from my life.
:)