Screamin' Sale on Canvasses! I got 16!

If you live in Texas, California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and a few other states (see their website for specifics) you can go to Aaron Brothers Art and Framing for the best sale. They are having their semi annual Buy-One-Get-One-For-A-Penny sale on canvasses and frames. You know those really big, thick framed, gallery wrapped canvasses that you want to try but don't want to spend $50 on? This is the time to try one! You can mix and match sizes all you want. They also have some lower priced canvasses in good sizes that are astoundingly cheap. A 2-pack of 18x24s for $9.99, and the second pack for $.01! A 2-pack of 8x10s for $4.99 and the second for $.01! 4 canvasses for $5.00! Can you beat that??? That is cheaper even than making them yourself! Am I emphasizing this too much?

And check out their frame section, too. I found some shadow box frames for 50% off plus the one penny sale. I got four (4!) 9.75" x 12.75" shadow boxes for $15.00! They actually had a longer size for the same price, but I was a little bit afraid of it. (What would I put in all that space???)

To top it all off, I had a $100 gift certificate from my aunt - Whoo Hoo!!! For $100 I got:

four 8x10 canvasses - gallery wrapped, standard edge
four 11x14 canvasses - gallery wrapped, standard edge
four 18x24 canvasses - gallery wrapped, standard edge
Two 18x24 canvasses - gallery wrapped, 1.75" deep edge/heavyframed
Two 10x30 canvasses - gallery wrapped, 1.75" deep edge/heavyframed
Four 9.75 x 12.75, 2 inch deep Shadow Boxes

16 Canvasses and 4 Shadow boxes. I feel rich! Of course, I spent more than my gift certificate. I got brushes, paints, and pens, too. Unfortunately no astounding sale on those things. Ouch, especially the brushes. I had to get new brushes for my upcoming oil painting class. I'm really specific about the brushes I use for oil. Sadly, that means they're more expensive.

The sale goes until January 27th, Don't miss it!

Here is the - as yet unfinished - painting I did for my sister for Christmas. (Incidentally, on a canvas I bought at last year's Aaron Brothers sale.) I have to adjust all the skin tones and shading on the skin. (not to mention, work on those arms) Because I'm not used to acrylics yet I keep having my nicely mixed fleshtones dry up before I'm done painting with it. When I try to duplicate my mixing I can never seem to get the same color...sigh. I'll get this yet!

Speaking of Christmas, here is the gift that arrived from my dear, old, friend Pam Carriker. Those are actual pictures of us. (I'm on the left, she's on the right - she very kindly trimmed off my double chin! Thank you!) On the back of the box are pictures of us at 16 and 15 years old from the time we double-dated to the (1979!) homecoming dance. I forgot to take a picture of the back so you'll have to wait for that embarrassing image. (perhaps for quite a while...muahahaha!)

And here is one of the gifts I received from my ZNE Design Team secret sister, Julee Herman! How cute is this? She also gave me an equally cute, soldered, glass slide Christmas ornament and 4 little silver bell charms. (Have yet to scan those, sorry - I'm very behind, notice how I didn't address the fact that I still have my sister's Christmas gift in my possession? - oops.) It was a great gift and so fun to receive in the mail, not knowing who was sending it.

Lastly, I am once again copying the brilliant Kelly Rae Roberts. She put a picture on her blog of the books on her to-read pile. I thought that was great! I love seeing what other people are reading and it also seems like a good way to be somewhat accountable for reading them. Now that you've seen the picture I'll have to get off my magazine-junkie a** and get back into reading actual books so that I can report back to you! (Because, of course, you will be hounding me with "Have you read such-and-such book yet?" comments - right?) Well, okay, some of them are more eye-candy books than literature - but they've been sitting around my house, unviewed, forever! Unfortunately this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm one of those people with books all over the house that I'm "meaning" to read. Very soon. Really. (No - really! I mean it! ...I do!)

Oh! And don't forget about A Place to Bark and the $50,000 grant! See the post below for details. She's in 2nd place right now! Yippee! We can't rest on our laurels yet, though. There's still 2 more weeks in the competition. Tell your friends and neighbors! Have a lemonade sale! Keep those individual donations coming! When you go to her blog and see the astoundingly adorable new puppies she just saved from certain death at the pound you may even consider blackmailing your ex-boyfriend into donating the paltry $10 minimun donation they are asking for. (You kept those pictures of him, didn't you?)

To put the A Place to Bark donation badge (seen in the upper right of this page) on your blog; just click on the "share" tab on the badge, click on the top "copy" button, open up a new post on your blog and place it in the post using the "edit Html" tab (if you're a Blogger/Blogspot person - if not, follow the directions for your blog's server). Or, if you want it to the side, like I have it, go to the "Layout" section and click on "add a page element" in your desired section. Choose "add html/Java script" and paste the code into the "content" box. (Again, this is if you're a Blogger/Blogspot person - if not, follow the directions for your blog's server)

Good night, everyone.