Happy New Year 2009!

Wishing you all a wonderful year ahead, filled with joy, prosperity, good health and great art! Have you made any resolutions yet? I don't usually make any as they are never kept, but this year my goals are to organize and clean my art room (and keep it that way!) and to challenge myself in my art, stepping out of my comfort zone and trying new ideas.

I wasn't able to post these photos before Christmas, but here are some views of a book of family recipes I made for my kids. I actually started these several years ago and would work diligently on them for a few months, put them away and then suddenly it would be too close to Christmas to finish in time. Since we didn't exchange gifts this year because of our Mexico trip, my goal was to finish these this year and I did! There were a total of 30 recipes and each was printed on half an 8 1/2" x 11" page and decorated. I added notes of why each recipe was special or who it originally came from or when we served it. The books were a total surprise to the kids and I think they will enjoy having them.

Four of the books were like this, though I used Diamond Glaze on the letters for my son instead of the red glitter.

I ran out of paper for the covers, so this one was made for my youngest daughter.

I am so relieved to have these finally finished! I might add to these, a few recipes at a time, but never again will I do 180!!