Winner of the Giveaway!

I only had 11 comments so it was very easy to just make numbers and draw one; the winner is....drumroll, please...commenter #4 and someone who just happens to have become a good bloggin friend of mine...LINDA!! She is such a sweet and sincerely kind-hearted woman despite all she has been through in her life. She is an inspiration to me and I am honored to get to do a(nother) piece of art for her.

Thanks to all those to participated and I promise I will do another giveaway here soon. Also, I really do appreciate all the nice comments and everyone posting about my giveaway on their respective blogs.

101st Post!

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED...PLEASE STOP BY FOR FUTURE GIVEAWAYS!!!!!!!

I can't believe I finally surpassed 100 posts! Whew!!! Thank you to all my blog friends, customers, and followers as well as those that have dropped by and left some very kind comments. You all are the reason I feel compelled to post pictures of my art and sometimes give a little peek into my personal life. You all are encouraging, uplifting, and most of all very kind and supportive. Thanks to all of you that have supported Initial Designs over the last year and a half! You are all so great!

So, as a thank you I am going to host a small giveaway. I have a 10x10 inch canvas (I think; I know it's square) that I have been itching to do something with and here's your chance to win it and design it how you wish. To enter the giveaway you have to do two things. First, publish a small post about the giveaway on your blog and then, secondly, leave a comment on this post including your blog address. Next Wednesday, June 24th at noon CST, I will randomly choose a number and the comment that corresponds to that number will win the painting. When the winner is chosen, I will check their blog to see if the posted about the giveaway to make sure everyone plays fairly. LOL!

Last, here is a painting I am working on for a friend. She baked a ton of AWESOME cupcakes for Preston's 2nd Birthday Party and I agreed to do a painting for her in return. So, here is a picture of the painting as it is right now as well as a picture of what she is wanting it to look like when it is finished although we are varying the colors a bit and also a couple pics of the YUMMY, art-themed cupcakes (see the paint palettes, crayons, paint buckets, etc...) from the party. Enjoy!

"I" is for Isabella

I know, I know...this time it has been over 2 weeks since my last post; I'm sorry. Also, I apologize to all my blogging buddies because I haven't stopped by to say hi to them or comment on their blog posts lately. Things have been crazy around here which I know you all are probably going through that too! Some good things have been going on though; I found 2 more children to watch so I am back up to capacity and finally getting back in the swing of things. God is so good. I got to go camping with friends last weekend and that was a lot of fun-fishing, canoeing, smores! Finally, our softball team at church won our first game! We just gelled together and did it!

Anyways, the reason for my post is I actually have been painting...some...so here is a preliminary picture of it as well as the bedding it is designed to match down below.



This is for the person that won the raffle hosted by Giving Back to Guatemala. Her daughter loves horses and she really liked the design with Hannah on it, so I am trying to do something similar, but not exactly the same so as not to infringe on anyone. I've gotten the name and horse designed already, so I should have some additional pics here soon.

I am also working on a painting from a picture called love birds with some birds on a branch for a friend and I will have that posted pretty soon as well.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!