Blurg..

This is a test. You know, I set this website up soooo long ago that I can not remember how I made it, which is particularly un-useful when it seems to be having problems. Hugs. xox=vv,

Simple Acts Of Green.

Oh hello lovelies! I am very excited to tell you about a wonderful new project that I am so terribly pleased to be a part of. Miss Dawbis (that delightful girl) has started a new blog called Simple Acts of Green.

To quote her very well (per usual) written introduction "[Simple Acts of Green is] a blog dedicated to sharing the stories and lives of people who are making a difference to preserve our planet, one small step at a time."

We (Dawn, Laura, Jeska, Diane and I) would love it if you would stop by, say hello, and share a story with us. These girls are incredible and I would certainly recommend dropping in, if only to read their bios.

I hope you will stick around for more though and check in often for new articles and interviews. See you there! Hugs. xox=vv.

15 Out Of 135.

That is how many posts I still have to repair. Not too bad. Some of the pictures are still earmarked private on Flickr. I will change that next. I think you should still be able to see them though.

Oh this picture is not so great. I took it so so long ago now. I just like the colors and thought I would post it anyway.

We were supposed to do all sorts of things this weekend and yet we accomplished absolutely none of them. Why am I so exhausted then? Hmmm. Strange. I hope you are all having a wonderful and restful weekend! Hugs. xox=vv.

Continuing To Test And Grow.

Hello Lovelies. I am working a bit behind the scenes here as I am working to rebuild the oldest pages of this blog. Unfortunately, I know that those delightful people using bloglines may be seeing these tests and I apologize.

This is a quick test of Flock. It seems like a great browser. It integrates Flickr, Blogger and Bloglines. There are a few things I am trying to figure out. I will have to let you know more later. Hugs. xox=vv.

Attempting To Build A Blog 7.

I am here. Shhh ... wanna see something fun? I am working hard behind the scenes to make the vegasandvenice experience more enjoyable. I am hoping it will not be too much longer

In the meantime hope you like the new gift tags which may be available in the shop very soon! Trust me, five out of five kittens agree that these tags are fun! (Okay we only have three kittens, but we are inferring that two other kittens would also appreciate them) and this is just the prototype including my very first button! Ooh and I am trying some new things here. The goal is to make this site efficient so that I can inrease my post rate. so please continue to pardon my dust. We are much much closer now though! Miss you wonderfuls. xox=vv.

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Attempting To Build A Blog 4.

Hello again wonderfuls! Is this where I get on the bandwagon? I searched for this little bit of fun a couple weeks ago with Miss Solomon's help and it arrived a couple days later along with some extra ink and a few accessories. Yipee! I can not wait to actually make a gocco print. I don't know what to make though.

I do need to get a few things finished up first, so I guess that I have some time to think about it. I am still working on the site. Obviously, it is still not perfectly perfect over here, but it is fast now! Yay. I can post in approximately four seconds and now I have the ability to upload only modified files (which was not possible with iweb). The house is a mess. An absolute mess. I've been working behind the scenes on quite a few things here and the house is certainly suffering. I look forward to returning your sweet e-mails and catching up with all of you. That will be my reward for finishing a few more of my chores. Communicating with you all is a wonderful reward. In the meantime, I am thinking of you and wishing you all well. Have a wonderful day dear ones. xox=vv.

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Attempting To Build A Blog 3.

Hiya lovely girls (and boys? hmmm .. I don't think so), I am sorry if I implied that I knew anything about css or xml yesterday. I did not mean to make it sound like I have any real clue about anything and I apologize. I simply meant that I had to figure it out sans the book. I did rely heavily on website tutorials and tips. Ms. Solomon is very correct, there are many people out there at all different learning levels and I hope I was not insensitive. I was frustrated and a little shocked that the tutorials for complex software programs were teaching you about text formatting 3/4 of the way through the book. Today I deleted and rebuilt the site three times. At the end I decided that I was happier with it this morning so I simply downloaded yesterday's version and scrapped all the changes. Ah well. The most important thing to me at this moment is being able to let you know that I am here behind a curtain of confusion and I hope it will clear away soon so that it is easier to share with you. Good night sweet ones. xox=vv.

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Attempting To Build A Blog 2.

All right, I am pretty sure this is a battle, but still completely unsure of who is winning. Am I getting closer? Gosh and golly, I hope so. We may need to make a book exchange tomorrow. The ones I have are a bit too "tutorial." As in, "Now open the site that we have created and click on some of the type. Go up to the toolbar and hit the "center" button and change the format of the text to center it on the page." I mean, I know that is not so bad, but first of all come on ... page 225? You have got to be kidding me! Is there still anyone out there who does not know how to center text on a page? Also, I don't want to open your training site. I want to work on my site. I do not need a tutorial on everything. Just please tell me how to edit the css and the xml (both of which I figured out the majority of on the first day sans books). I want all the details but I don't need to open three other programs to learn how to center the font.

Oh yeah, and here is a postcard I made. not to be a tease, but I am sure there will be more on that later. I am exhausted. well, all my love to all you lovelies! xox=vv.

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Attempting To Build A Blog 1.

Hello. This is not as fun or easy as previously expected. As a matter of fact, it is quite an unpleasant experience all-in-all. Today I figured out a lot of behind the scenes information. Tomorrow I will have to figure out how to make this look a lot lot prettier. I am very happy that you visited in the meantime. I miss you all. I am going to attempt comments. I would love to know if it works. thank you. xox=vv.

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

The Paper Source Of All My Joy.

Oh, the Paper Source ... hmmm ... happiness! I have some more goodies but these were on hand during the photo shoot. Anyway, I will tell you more about the purpose of these items at a later date.

There is more pressing news right now. Did you notice the new main page? What do you think? There may be quite a few changes to come which stem from my overwhelming need to post in less than 4 hours. In the meantime I thought I would try out a bit of the new design on the front page while I work on the whole site on a bigger scale. That way, if you hate it or you hurt yourself pointing and laughing, I have time to change it before to many people get hurt! I am curious to know what you think.

p.s. We keep getting orders and we are very close to printing now!
So, please email me at vegasandvenice@comcast.net if you are interested in purchasing a Shy Monsters coloring book or stickers in the next run. I will keep the run very limited again and only order the amount requested. Thank you very much! Have a wonderful day!!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Matilda Monday.

So, I have decided to impart the same advice to you as I did to Miss Solomon and I quote “I know that pirates are ALL the rage right now, but I am not 100% positive that eye patches are really all that comfortable! You have to pace yourself. Point and then laugh. Wait till you are done laughing before attempting to point again and then repeat the cycle!” Lastly, please don’t make me draw a diagram!

Here she is, Matilda. Now you may be asking yourself “Self? Is that ONE stripey sock that I see Matilda wearing?” Because, I can not read your mind (at least that’s what I tell people) you will have to answer yourself. So tell yourself “Self, that IS one stripey sock that Matilda is wearing. It looks as though it was lovingly and painstakingly embroidered right on her leg.” And ya know what, if I could read your mind, I would tell you that you are a very very smart little cookie to have figured that out so fast!

This Matilda was created specifically for Miss Korallin who really helped me out when decision time came around for the Shy Monster coloring books. Which may have another run very soon. So this jazzy little cupcake of a doll is going to be traveling to this jazzy little cupcake of a doll very soon! Thank you again Miss!

P.S. Please email me at vegasandvenice@comcast.net if you are interested in purchasing a Shy Monsters coloring book or stickers in the next run. I will keep the run very limited again and only order the amount requested. Thank you very much!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Work + Work + More Work = In Progress.

I finished Matilda! After four attempts and quite a few days, she is finally finished and now my sewing machine makes this sheepish noise “Baklunk, klunk, baklunk ... ahem, baklunk.” So the sewing has halted. I bought new needles and sewing machine oil and sewing machine lubricant in hopes that one of those things will help it to feel better. I am only showing a piece of her to you right now because I wanted to give you time to prepare. Especially, those of you who hurt themselves laughing and pointing after seeing my last post *ahem ... cough... ahem... Miss Solomon*! Tomorrow, I will post more.

In the meantime, I have hand drawn 1200 stickers in the last two weeks. Not to mention all the mailing envelopes, little cards and sticker package labels. My hands hurt. Now I am drawing stickers for fun! You know what they say “No pain ... uh... no 1 inch round dots to adhere to stuff randomly.” I am spending a lot of time drawing and I am working on a birthday present for this girl I know.

I need to put together a post called 150 things to show you, because literally I have like 150 things to show you. The days have been a bit to dark for photography or I have not been feeling good or I have been busy or well any number of things. The biggest thing of all though is that it is taking me like 5 hours to post! I do not know if it is my Yahoo upload or Iweb or what, but seriously it is ridiculous! I want to re-design a bit, but it just takes so long that I am not sure if I should try building with another type of software. Anywhoo...

Thank you a million times for bearing with me. It really means the world. You are all so supportive and encouraging. It has always been my dream to be an artist, but I don’t even think that I can draw. It is a strange predicament to be in. For the first time in my life, with a lot more practice and all of the kind words that you have shared with me, I feel like it may be a dream come true!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

In The Mood.

I am in the mood for a complete overhaul. The website, I mean. On the other hand, what couldn’t use an overhaul around here? This is my new business card, although, not the best version of it (hmmm... looks blurry). It goes along with the new shop.

I wanted to post yesterday to tell you that I had the coloring book in hand. Alas, it was not meant to be. We went to the printers to see the proof and there was a few necessary changes to be made. They called this afternoon though (hopefully everything is fixed) and they are finally all ready! We get to pick them up tomorrow! Yipeee!

In the mean time, I really want to mix the site up a bit to reflect the feeling that I have going on in the business card here. Oh well, one thing at a time ... one thing at a time!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Seriously Sorry.

Okay so this week’s Illustration Friday Topic was “sorry”. However, I am really sorry that I have not been able to keep up with all of you delightful people. I have glanced at all of your blogs, but I have not had the time to comment.

The surprise that came from the Apple store was a new Wacom Intuos3 9x12 tablet!! Soooo exciting. I am learning a lot, but more than anything I am trying to finish up current projects. I am having a hard time with printing from Illustrator and I am experiencing some frustration. Also having trouble getting ”usable” pictures out of it (this one should be b&w).

I have a ton to share with you, including such delightful things as: Cheerleaders climbing ropes in an old airplane hanger (yeah ... hot!), a stationary design for miss Lisa, a few more drawings, maybe a couple of surprises and hopefully, very, very soon a little shop with a coloring book happily for sale.

So why am I sorry? Well I think I need to continue on my unscheduled blog break. This time though, I am scheduling it. I think I need a week away from the pressure of the computer. I have some non-electronic things that I would like to accomplish and since I love you all so much I find it very very hard to stay away and not return e-mails immediately. If I owe you an e-mail I hope to get to it after the break. Thank you very much for corresponding with me! In the meantime I will be thinking of you all!

Lastly, I am kicking it old school with this little free hand sketch that I drew in Illustrator today (bleh). I am trying to get used to the tablet. You can blame Lisa for the request for more drawings and please let me know if you tire of it!!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

For Lisa If She Would Like.

Long story short, in a blur of inspiration, ten paintings also possibly soon to be link buttons “hung” in a link gallery. Lastly, could there maybe a story book here? I may show you a few more of these tomorrow.

This one is almost finished it needs touch ups, but it is almost ready to mail to Lisa if she would like it. She may take one look at it and say “no. you keep it.” I doubt that though because she is just so much sweetness! Unfortunately this had to be redone and did not turn out as great as the first attempt. I may have to redo it later. I apologize for the horrible photo.

Would be all to pleased to know if you would want to read a story about “lisa and the lovely pink coat”?

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

B.F.F.

After Lisa’s comment yesterday that I better “REVEAL MORE!!!!!!!! [or else]” I thought I would share this with you.

Why? Well, first of all I don’t want to be on Lisa’s danger side (did you see the [or else]???) and secondly, I want to virtually send you all one of these. Although, we quickly decided that Lisa’s danger side was probably as fun and lovable as she is ALL the time and I know virtual necklaces aren’t easily wearable (just open this page, attach a chain or rope to your computer monitor or laptop and then simply wear around your neck ... not that difficult after all, I guess.)

Last July, I had the fabulous idea of making shrinky dink resin necklaces. Well, a year later and we are still hoping the resin will set ... brilliant huh? Not sure where to go with these today (an idea and design I still want to explore). So in the meantime, I send them to you virtually for all of your sweet, sweet comments about the coloring book! I am still shy and I am starting slow with this old drawing, but boy are you ever encouraging!! Thank you!

This is the drawing of my b.f.f. necklaces. Made in all sorts of colors each person would get a half heart in the colors of their choice. Since the shrinky dinks are already made you might see a bit more of these later!

However, you are all my b.f.f. now (whether you like it or not). I l.y.l.a.s. and I hope you k.i.t.!!

P.S. Translations ... b.f.f.= best friends forever and l.y.l.a.s. = love ya like a sister and k.i.t.= keep in touch. *smile* Oh, weekly Panty O’Scopes later today along with some beautiful oddities that I got yesterday! I continue work on “Shy Monsters” this week and hope to make them available very soon! ~TTFN! (ta ta for now!)

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

In An Egg Shell.

It was a lot of fun to participate in the “In an Egg Shell” swap created by Ivy over here. I was very lucky because not only was it great fun, but I received my delightful swap items from Ivy herself. The cute shell buttons above are the only pictures I have available tonight but I will add the adorable pin cushion tomorrow. Unfortunately I can not photograph the chocolate bunny that I also received because well ... I ate it (and fast)! Thank you again so very much Ivy!! Loved it all!

On a quick note this weeks Panty O’ Scoped were published in the yesterdays post and I hope they made some amount of sense (no matter how small). I was/am tired *smile.* I hope that all of you dear wonderful people have a fabulous night!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

The Five & Ten.

Okay, seriously, I am trying to catch up and keep up. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed at it all. I hope this weeks Panty O’ Scopes will be out later today. Thanks for bearing with me.


Ten Simple Pleasures - tagged by these two darling girls - Amanda & Poodles

10. The comfy feel of my favorite DLF shirt, granny panties and my cloudy pajamas bottoms.
9. Quiet moments where dogs aren’t chasing kittens and cats aren’t chasing dogs.
8. A warm sunny day with a cool breeze and a comfortable night.
7. Swimming in glacial river waters on an extremely hot day.
6. The smell of the ocean and the gentle rocking of the waves.
5. The zen-ful feeling of a clean home.
4. A breath of fresh clean air.
3. A new musical obsession in conjunction with the extreme overuse of the repeat button.
2. Divine Inspiration, creative spark, courageous creation, quick production and joyful completion.
1. Waking in the morning with the feeling that I am actually happy to see the sun shining and looking forward to a new day.

Five - tagged by these three sweet girls - Cally, Tangerine and Carolyn

Five minutes to yourself: how would you spend them, ideally?
Listening to the cacophony of excited conversations in a multitude of foreign languages intertwined with the sounds of dress shoes on cobblestones and the reverberation of the nearby church bells while nestled inside of room 206 at the Hotel Concordia on San Marco Square in Venice, Italy.

Five bucks to spend right now; how would you spend it?
On a couple beautiful pieces of italian paper.

Five items in your house you could part with, right now, that you hadn't thought of already?
- The bowl of moldy strawberries that I just took a bite of.
- The sample bag of sugar free candy that makes me sick (sugar alcohol - BAD).
- These four black photo boxes that I started painting but did not finish. I use clear bins for everything. Why do I still have these?
- Our box of papers waiting to be shredded, leftover after the complete annihilation of our previous shredder.
- The actual small pile of get rid of stuff including goodwill donations, electronic garage sale items and old cleaning supplies. It is finally time for a garage sale!

Five items you absolutely, positively could not ever part with in your house?
- The photograph of my father and I.
- The bassinet that my father built for me when I was born.
- My cuddly (a sweatshirt of my husbands that I have had for so long that it is practically shredded)
- The framed photograph of my mother’s mother age 5.
- The ring above from my father’s mother’s jewelry box.

Five words you love?
- “enjoy-canoe” (a password on an aol cd)
- ”grump-favor” (also a password on an aol cd)
- “kazoo”
- “panty”
- “snazzy”

Everyone I know has already done these memes. So I don’t really have anyone to tag. If you would like to participate and have not had a chance yet, please consider yourself tagged!!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Happy Friggin Birthday.

My beautiful precious vegasandvenice.com celebrated it’s very first birthday this week. I wanted to do something special, something nice, something well ... celebratory. So I put together this little party.

Next, I turned my attention to birthday presents. I wanted to buy lots of gifts. I was thinking of clothes, but what size jumper does a one year old domain name wear? I thought of sweet stuffed animals, but I wondered what kind of creature would a domain name like to cuddle. Do domain names even know how to cuddle?

Perhaps in the end I got a little disenchanted with the whole idea, this entire domain name birthday thing became a little bit more difficult than I planned. This whole party was hand assembled from the chandelier, to the framed panties, to the paper birthday cake (real cake has way to many calories, and for some reason it does not taste as good 3 weeks and 6 days after it has been on display). Honestly though, I gave up all together. What’s in the boxes you ask? Nothing. She won’t know. She is only one year old for goodness sakes. She’ll probably just want to play with the boxes anyway.

So happy friggin birthday... I mean happy birthday vegasandvenice.com. I need a break!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Look Who’s Commenting Now Baby.

Just trying to get these comments working. Prairie Dog with me (read as: “Bear with me” then insert some real wit here!)

Ooh! I think we might be getting there!

All right we are getting things fixed up a bit! Comments should be up and running. Try not to all post at once! Thank you for even reading this. I am in your deepest debt!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

The Post In Which I Tell You That We’ve Got Five More Years To Look Forward To.

We've got five more years to look forward to.
Mere moments ago, I made a long term decision that will greatly affect us all. Well okay, there is really nothing required on you part. I, however, had to hand over the big bucks. In an effort to save money though, I renewed vegasandvenice.com for five more years instead of one. Now I am having commitment issues. I think I will have to start looking for a younger website and perhaps I’ll buy a sports-car!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

If We’re on a Need To Know Basis, Then You Better Read This.

Here is some trivia that you should probably go ahead and write down. You never know when this stuff might come in handy, especially when you’re dealing with vegasandvenice!

1. It's bad luck to put vegasandvenice on a bed!

2. The original nineteenth-century Coca-Cola formula contained vegasandvenice.

3. It is bad luck to light three cigarettes with the same vegasandvenice.

4. To check whether vegasandvenice is safe to eat, drop her in a bowl of water; rotten vegasandvenice will sink, and fresh vegasandvenice will float.

5. vegasandvenice will often glow under UV light

6. In the Spanish edition of Cluedo, vegasandvenice is the victim!

7. vegasandvenice cannot swim.

8. People used to believe that dressing their children as vegasandvenice would protect them from evil spirits!

9. vegasandvenice-omancy is the art of telling the future with vegasandvenice.

10. Ninety-six percent of all candles sold are purchased by vegasandvenice!

Yeah, I know. I am INCREDIBLE! Apparently it’s all true cause that’s what this website told me! Oh sure, I don’t know who created this website or where they came from. I don’t know if they are saints or even if they have a criminal record! It doesn’t matter! They said that I was an ingredient in Coke and that is cool, so they are my very best friend and I trust them implicitly! That doesn’t seem wrong does it?

*I have absolutely no idea where this came from now. If you do, I would love to know.*
*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

I’m Sending “Mad Love” Out To My “Pretty Posse” - Fa Shizzle.

It’s okay, Snoop said that he doesn’t mind if people like me (the kind with no street cred) use his izzle language. He gets a kick out of it!

Anyway, my new necklace from Yankee Girl Designs arrived in the mail yesterday! It came super duper fast. I was very surprised to find it in my mailbox. Lindsey is a beautiful jeweler (meaning both she and her creations are beautiful) and she was a delight to talk to! She allowed me to “hmm” and “hah” over my silver/gold dilemma and in the end I went with the silver after all! It was perfect and she is totally brilliant. I should not ever have questioned her, not for a single second. I would super gladly buy everything she makes. It is really, really tough to pick only one piece, but I love these brand new pea pod necklaces and I thought I would show them to you! Aren’t they fresh and springy?

Another thing to share that is beautiful and simply soul ensnaring (in the most wonderful way) is this! I found this from another beauty who makes beautiful things. It takes a little getting used to but it is wonderfully fun! Clicking, dragging and mousing is where it counts though, so don’t get discouraged!!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

One Is Silver And The Other Is Gold.

I ordered one the second I saw it. After falling in absolute love with this post (containing a picture of a similar necklace) on Posie Gets Cozy, I rushed over to Lindsey’s site and bought the first one I saw. My heart fell on the floor (which was very messy) and I used all my “goodie” money right then and there, no regrets. Except one small and weird one. This necklace is perfect in every way shape and form. I prefer to wear silver. However, somehow I fell in love with the gold color of the necklace in Posies picture. I asked Lindsey if she was planning to make any more in gold and she told me a secret. The necklace that Alicia received was also silver, it was simply a difference of the photograph’s lighting. Here is where my dilemma begins. She said she could make it in the gold I desired.

Speaking of precious things... this is part of a comment from that I received from Janet to my “At the Dawn of Creation” post and I wanted to share it with everyone:

“I'm a new blogger, and I know exactly how you feel about the creative community. I always thought I had good ideas until I got involved with blogs! Then I started seeing everyone else's work and thought mine was not up to par. Only recently have I decided to just do what I like and stop worrying whether it's as good as, or on the same level with, or....you get the picture. Afterall, isn't creating an expression of one's self....so to put limitations or restrictions on my creativity is like putting them on who I am. I know that a lot of my things aren't what other people like but as long as I like creating them that's what matters to me. “

This endearing and insightful comment made me realize, that having other people like your work is great, but loving your own work ... well baby, that’s gold!!

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

His Ovaries Exploded.

This entry at Dooce.com made Si mist over. When asked if his ovaries did indeed explode, the sniffly reply was “pretty much”. Caution: Do not listen to this audio clip if you would like to keep your manly status in tact. Note: If you realize (like most married men) that your manly status is too insignificant to be compromised click here. Post Note: If you are a woman you may click wherever-you gosh-darned-please.

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*

Newness.

This is Sam. He is new. Just like this blog. Please bear with me while this site is lovingly crafted, cradled and comforted like a newborn baby. Then, grossly manipulated.

*All of your sweet comments were saved to Haloscan at the time of original post*