Allison's bachelorette weekend

Fun weekend but I am exhausted!!!

Letterpress business card

This is my new letterpress business card. You can't see the all the detail in the photo but I LOVE the richness of the texture. Letterpress printing dates back to the mid 15th century but to me there is nothing better. I designed the card to be abstract but it could look like many things - raindrops, petals, even feathers. I just wanted the card to be unique and different. This site has great deals on black and white letterpress calling cards. You can custom design one like I did or you can pick from 9 other designs.

Happy Independence Day!

Cheddar and asparagus omelette

This was breakfast this morning. I just sauteed some garlic, onion and asparagus with a little olive oil in a pan and then poured the eggs in after. I topped it with shredded cheddar before I folded and then it was ready to eat. Yum!

Sweet girls!

beach pics

St. George Island - offshore fishing trip

Sunrise on the water Capt. Duwayne Snapper! The box is full We had great weather fishing this morning and were all tired from fighting the fish by lunchtime. We caught grouper, grey snapper, red snapper, ruby red lips, sharks, spade fish and a few unidentified monsters that broke the line. We threw back the stuff we weren't going to eat or that wasn't up to the size limits. Jake even caught a 7 ft. nurse shark (see side bar for video soon). It was a really fun day and this evening we grilled half of our catch with the family (almost 20 people here!) for dinner along with some mango salsa and coconut rice.

Latest project

Here is the invitation I finished up today. It was inspired by another invitation that a friend saw and loved. I changed up elements of the painting and used different colors. The bride's colors are plum, celadon, ivory and a hint of peach. This is kind of a bad scan but the bouquet is embellished with a tiny bow and the shoes have rhinestones on them.

So simple, so good.

Tomato, basil and mozzarella salad... I added pepperoncini peppers cause I love 'em! Salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar... perfect for summer!

Happy 9th Birthday Dusty!!!

Asking Dusty to pose with his steak birthday dinner seemed like unnecessary torture so here is an action shot instead. I ended up having to cut it up into little pieces so he would not inhale it. We had a good day (with no rain!) and I feel so fortunate to have Dusty as my best buddy. Here's to 9 more great years!

Dandelion wedding program

I made 150 of these 7 page, 7.5" square programs for a couple that got married last weekend. Their colors were green and pink and they had a dandelion theme.

Ben Harper - Variety Playhouse

This weekend Joel and I went to Atlanta for the Ben Harper and The Relentless7 show. This is Ben with a new band and their album comes out this week. The venue was general admission so you can see how close we got to the stage. Ben really radiates talent, class and humility... not qualities you see in most rock stars. Great show and a great weekend!

More Fry Canyon pics

One of our guides took these great shots of our Utah adventure and sent them to us. They really show off the beauty of the slot canyons. They also show a rappel and a swim that I didn't have a chance to capture.

Relay for Life t-shirts

I designed these 2009 Relay for Life shirts for Joel's company. I really like this picture of the 'manly' construction workers wearing them. The company wanted them to look like college fraternity t-shirts but still wanted to use the Relay for Life signature purple. It's hard to see in the pic but the circle is made up of cancer ribbons and it is in remembrance of their CFO who passed away last year.

Fry Canyon-Day 4

These are the 'business hours' of the place we were trying to rent gear from in Moab. Fry Canyon is about a two hour drive Southwest of Moab. One of our Canyoneering guides (Jackson Hole Mountain Guides), Aimee Left to right: Dad, Aimee, Jim (other guide) We rappelled into this crack This water was 40 degrees. We did one 15 ft. swim and the rest was wading through waist deep water. You can see my dad in the background taking the temperature with his dive watch. Beautiful slot canyon! Fremont Indian ruins. Our guides had not previously been up there so later we had to scout a way to get to them. Hiking and exploring Me and Dad Scrambled up to the top of the canyon again This guy was looking for some water. This was the rappel down to the ruins. The rope we had was just long enough. Exploring the ruins This is just stacked rock...amazing it has stood for so long. A little color in the desert The climb back up from the ruins. You can't see them in the photo, but there were tiny Moki Steps at the very bottom that the Indians carved out to help them get up the canyon walls. It was really cool to use them. This is Newspaper Rock (petroglyph) outside Canyonlands National Park. 2000 years of Indian story-telling here. AMAZING. A pack of deer in Canyonlands just before sunset. It was challenging driving with them everywhere. Free range cows everywhere too. We had a face-off with one in the middle of the road. She won.

Slickrock, Hole in the Rock, La Sal Mtn. Loop-Day 3

Entrance to Slickrock mountain bike trail. Do not be fooled - this trail is EXTREMELY hard! This is another place we stumbled upon. It is a 5000 sq. ft. home built into a huge rock from the 1950's. This place is so quirky. You could take tours of the home but there was also a gift shop, general store, petting zoo, sculpture garden and a small cemetery. Ostrich and Emus Cactus Sculpture made up entirely of golf clubs La Sals up close (La Sal Loop) Moab from a distance Snow on the ground in the desert - WEIRD! Fins and things!

Arches National Park-Day 2

Pine Tree Arch Landscape Arch La Sals in the distance We stumbled upon a perfect wall for climbing Hangin out Hiking in the Devil's Garden My dad admiring the view This arch is no more Famous Delicate Arch - It was a 3 mile hike (about 600 ft. elevation gain) just to see this arch but it was worth it...very dramatic and iconic. That's me underneath it...gives you some perspective of the scale. Ute rock art dating back to A.D. 1650 - 1850 The Fiery Furnaces Balanced Rock

Moab, Utah-Day 1

These pics were taken on the drive in from Grand Junction, Colorado to Moab, Utah. We had some travel delays that put us in later than we were expecting but none-the-less a beautiful trip. The scenic route followed the Colorado River for over 20 miles and in the distance you could see the La Sal mountain range.

Spring mix watercolor wedding invitation

This is for a bride who will be carrying a 'spring mix' bouquet and her bridesmaid's dresses are navy blue.

Tampa

So sweet! Worn out... Dusty at the dog beach My contribution to the girls' bathroom

Creeping Wisteria

We were just talking about how beautiful wisteria is and today it showed up, peeking over the fence in the backyard. Happy Spring!

March Madness!

Here's my bracket - so far, so good!

Bridesmaids' luncheon invitations

I haven't posted any new artwork in a while so here is my latest project. I watercolored this bouquet to tailor it to the bride's flowers and colors: Pink roses, green hydrangea and white stephanotis. The bride plans to carry these flowers tied in a green ribbon. The ribbon color came out strange in this photograph but in reality it is close to the dark green in the painting. The centers of the stephanotis flowers are embellished with pearls and each invitation is printed on cream linen paper and mounted on textured pink art paper.

First beautiful weekend of the year!

I was truly excited for such a warm and clear weekend after the snow and all the rain we have had! Saturday we spent the day outside at The Exceptional Foundation's chili cook-off and then on Sunday, Joel and I walked to Moss Rock and hiked around. We did a little bouldering, played with Dusty and even saw a fox in broad daylight (that may or may not have been rabid). We spent pretty much the entire day outside and it made me remember why I love spring and just being outdoors in general. It is such a natural mood enhancer and does wonders for the soul.

It snowed today!

View from the Bluff Our house! Downtown Birmingham

Girl with a pearl oyster

Tonight I had a great dinner with Joel, Ann and Mark at Lovoys. It was Joel's birthday meal and he wanted an appetizer of baked oysters, the house specialty. He only ordered a half dozen but they were huge! I sampled one and then he offered me another and I refused. He put another on my plate anyway and of course I began to eat it. Suddenly, I bit into something that wasn't at all edible. I tried to spit it out quietly and politely, not realizing what it was. A PEARL! It doesn't look like the kind you would wear on a necklace, mostly because it is misshapen and discolored but still a huge pearl! Tonight I read that pearls from edible oysters are not worth much especially after they are cooked (noticed the dark coloration) but either way I feel lucky. I could count the times I have had oysters on one hand.

2 of my favorite portraits

I did these in college and still have them laying around - thought I would post them. Bob is acrylic on collaged sheet music and Jerry is an etching print. Let me know if anyone wants one!

I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany

There's nothing like old friends

ABF Dinner

Last night was the 8th annual American Baseball Foundation Lead Off dinner at The Club. It was my second year to go and this time the guest speaker was Dale Murphy (pictured above). The dinner and the speeches were great but I didn't 'win' anything at the silent auction this year...very little Auburn stuff there!

Cheaha: Alabama's highpoint

This weekend Joel, Dusty and I packed up with our friends and their new camper and headed to Cheaha State Park in Talladega National Forest. We had a blast setting up camp and hanging out around the campfire despite the cold and a little bit of sleet. We also got our Alabama highpoint done and took a few pics from the observatory. Great weekend getaway with even greater friends!

Dusty LOVES pepperoni!

Pink rose painting

This was a Christmas gift for my wonderful Grandmother who loves pink homegrown roses! It is an 11"x14" modeling paste and acrylic painting on Belgian linen canvas board.

Baby Announcements

Congrats to my friends, Brent and Emily, for the birth of their beautiful new baby girl, Amy Grace Shepherd! Here is the announcement I designed for them using a green and brown color scheme. I hope they like it!

Cheap and pretty Christmas wrapping

I used a roll of red dollar store gift wrap and this site to print out free wrapping paper on some scraps I had. I recycled the bows from other gifts/holidays and the presents ended up matching Kelly's 'black, red and silver themed tree.' And yes...we have two trees.

Shake it like a polaroid picture!

Talk about my cure for boredom. This awesome (and free) software allows you to drag and drop your own digital photos and watch as they magically turn into old school (looking) polaroid pictures! They even slowly expose on your desktop like the real thing. This was a lot of fun but it is also sad to me that many different kinds of polaroid film are discontinued, including what I used for these. The two photos above are ones I have taken in the past but they definitely have a different personality after being 'poladroided' with strange colors. Gotta love it!

Jupiter, Venus and the Moon

This isn't the greatest picture but I took it out my car window last night as I was driving home. This is the crescent moon with Venus and Jupiter, lower right. They are the 3 brightest objects in the night sky and won't be as close as they were this week again until 2052. Monday night they were at their closest but it was too cloudy for me to witness. It's pretty cool to look up once in a while.

River stone doormat

This is a project I have worked on here and there for a couple weeks. I was inspired by this much pricier version for sale online and thought I could make it myself. Turns out it was pretty easy but the downside was being exposed to some strong super glue fumes. I used a $2 mat, rocks and all-purpose super glue from the dollar store. The final product weighs about 22 lbs and cost me less than $20. It looks better than I expected and feels great underfoot.

Thanksgiving table setting

This year I am really looking forward to the holidays more than usual. I especially can't wait to see my whole family and eat some great food. We are having Thanksgiving at my parent's house this year for the first time. We usually travel to Columbus, Georgia to my Aunt's house but we are switching it up. I helped my mom design a festive table setting for the holiday. We used linens and candlesticks she already had and added a table runner made of inexpensive fabric and a centerpiece of pumpkins, squash, sunflowers and leaves from my yard.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I made these turkey cupcakes for my sweet nieces this weekend! Yum!

WAR EAGLE ANYWAY!

Glory days

Dusty had surgery yesterday to remove a lipoma (benign fatty tumor) and is fine but is feeling a little rough today. I thought I would post this picture in his honor while he is recovering. This photo was taken at Conway Acres in Auburn when he was much younger. This was one of his favorite places to play and also where he learned to swim. I would say he is about 2 or 3 years old in this photograph. Feel better bud!

Chicken Saltimbocca

This weekend I finally had some time to make an Italian dish I've been wanting to try. This is chicken saltimbocca with angel hair pasta. It was in no way a quick dinner but I think it turned out good and was definitely something new to us. Joel was my guinea pig and I don't think he minded. Below is the recipe if anyone is curious and so I will always have it. For chicken:

• Start with (3) chicken breasts or cutlets pounded flat
• Rub chicken on one side with herb mixture (chopped sage, basil, oregano, parsley, chives, minced garlic, butter)
• Layer a few thin slices of prosciutto over mixture then top with just a little shaved parmesan cheese
• Start from the small end and roll flattened piece of chicken then secure with toothpicks
• Season rolls with salt and pepper and then saute them with olive oil over medium high heat for 2 minutes on each side.
• Add a cup of chicken stock to pan then cover and transfer to oven for 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees
• When done, remove toothpicks from chicken and slice into 1 inch pieces

For the pasta sauce:

• Saute 1/4 a cup of chopped shallots in a tablespoon of butter
• Add a 1/2 cup of cream and salt and pepper
• Add chopped basil leaf to taste
• Add 2 cups petite diced tomatoes and reduce
• Toss with cooked angel hair pasta and serve immediately topped with parmesan

Fall

Halloween costume

This is my best Edie Sedgwick impersonation. She was a 60's icon and Andy Warhol's muse. If you don't know what she looks like - google her! It was fun and one person even knew who I was supposed to be! haha!

Caddie painting

I painted this for a wonderful friend. It's a 20"x 25" acrylic portrait of her sweet Boston terrier, Caddie! I hope she likes it. Happy Halloween!!!

Weekend update

Joel broke in his new place this weekend by having a cookout on Saturday. We played ladder golf, watched football on a tv set up outside, and played with Dusty. We ate chicken and sausage kabobs, ribs, hot dogs, chips and rotel dip and brownies! Later, the girls and I drove out to the Atrox Factory in Leeds and went through the haunted house. I got to meet Linda Blair who played the lead role in The Exorcist. It was a fun evening!

White camellia

With Spring and Summer's blooms long gone and the leaves on their way to turning, it is nice to see something beginning to bloom with the first cold snap. The camellia bush in our front yard is gorgeous and a welcome sight. It's our state flower but is originally from China! Goldenrod used to be Alabama's flower but many people considered it little more than a weed so the camellia was later adopted. I think they are both beautiful.

Sweet Malea

I love this pic of Malea and hand-tinted it in Photoshop. She's a pretty princess!

I LOVE Halloween!

Yesterday was perfect for carving a pumpkin outside. It was definitely fall weather and a little chilly. Joel and I made this Nightmare before Christmas-looking jack-o'-lantern and I love how it looks all lit up at night. I just hope it lasts for more than a day or two. Can't wait for HALLOWEEN!!!