SHIRLEY JACKSON 9/11/94 - 8/26/09

I came across this picture of Shirley from January 1995 when she was 5 months old. Look how tiny she was! She loved to sit in her rocking chair on top of my bureau and keep me company when I would get ready for work each morning. She was such a great kitty and an awesome companion. The best cat ever!

Shirley Jackson, the best cat ever. We were best friends since November 1994. Between April 2009 and August 2009 she lost a lot of weight. She had cancer and rather than let her suffer another day, I had the vet put her to sleep on August 26th, 2009. I miss her so much.

I HATE PAYING FOR ADS, SPAM, AND OTHER CRAP

A lot of free websites are like drugs. They get you hooked on all the cool free stuff you can do and then they say now that you are addicted, it's really gonna cost ya. So I will be leaving the following website: Flickr I got a free pro account with my att/yahoo dsl account and after several years of some amazing Flickr stuff, hey, now it's not free anymore.

Here's the notice I got:

FlickrMail
From: Flickr HQ
Subject: [Flickr] Your Flickr Pro Account Is About to Expire

Hi heymaggie,

We have an important update about your Flickr Pro account. Beginning January 2009, AT&T Internet members will no longer receive free Flickr Pro.

All AT&T Internet Flickr pro accounts will be converted to free Flickr accounts, which are subject to some limits. You can read more about the limits of a free Flickr account here:

http://www.flickr.com/help/limits/

Your Flickr Pro account will expire on: 1st February, 2009. This date includes any existing months of Flickr Pro that you may have purchased prior to receiving your free Pro account through AT&T Internet Service.

You can purchase another year or two of Flickr pro goodness here: http://www.flickr.com/upgrade/email/

And to thank you for staying with us, you'll get two additional months at no cost when you renew Pro at the regular price of $24.95 a year.

To find out more:

http://flickr.com/help/account/#452229

The Flickreenos


Almost everything I get on my att/yahoo email is spam, even though I have a spam filter. It probably won't work until I start paying for it. Oh, wait, I do pay for it. Also my cool looking att/yahoo homepage, which I also pay for, is just chock full of ads that interest me not one whit.

Well, can't do much about it except complain, so I'll be complaining quite a bit till they start charging me for that too.

RECENT SWAPS ON ATCards.com

Extra Ordinary Labels Swap
Goth Girls - Whimsey Style
Whimsey Girls


I love the swaps at ATCards.com because the variety of themes help me to stretch my imagination and my artistic ability. I'm finding that I draw more freehand projects, where I was doing mostly collage (which I still love and still do quite a bit of).

ADD A LITTLE ZETTI TO HALLOWEEN

These are the cards I made for Carol Schmidt's "Add A Little Zetti To Halloween" swap. This is my first attempt at the Zettiology style. I really enjoyed making these ATCs.

ORIGINAL SKETCHES ON ATCs

These are sketches done from photos in a fashion magazine. One of my favorite things to draw are fashion models and started when I was a kid drawing all the women in the adds in the newspapers.

HOLY COW

I can't believe I haven't posted here for so long. It's been nearly a year. I'm working on an altered book and when I finish it I will post pics of it here. I've added a section to this blog with links to other blogs that I enjoy reading and will add to this from time to time. I just submited some ATCs to a swap called "Life is Friendlier with Two". The cards I made are drawn with colored pencils and I am quite satisfied with them.

maggiejams

Here's a link to some more completed maggiejams.

MAGGIESJAM 316, 317, AND 318

#316 was completed by Jeanne Herrod, Cynthia Sillitoe, and Sarah Ackerman.
#317 was completed by Teresa Ostrander, Lin Collette, and Vic.
#318 was completed by Val LaRue, Lee Barker, and Andrea Easterly.

MAGGIESJAM 315

Maggiesjam #315 was completed by Sarah Ackerman, Judy Matheny, and Andrea Frank.

MAGGIESJAM 312, 313, AND 314

#312 was completed by Tafkabecky, ArtsyFartsy, and Zelta78.
#313 was completed by Linda Koff, Val LaRue, and Kitty Kelly.
#314 was completed by Linda Koff, Carol Melichar, and Val LaRue.

MAGGIESJAM 309, 310, AND 311

#309 was completed by Sandi Wedemeier, Vic, and Rand Swansey.
#310 was completed by Crazycat, Cindie Cosentino, and Tafkabecky.
#311 was completed by DonnaM, Zelta78, and Carol Schmidt.

MAGGIESJAM 306, 307, AND 308

#306 was completed by Val LaRue, Linda Koff, and Carol Melichar
#307 was completed by Chimera.muse, Mood Indigo, and Carol Schmidt
#308 was completed by Jan Ziebol, Becky Ronco, and Zelta78

MAGGIESJAM 303, 304, AND 305

#303 was completed by Beth Deegan, Andrea Frank, and Penny Linders.
#304 was completed by Punwit, Vic (Jacqueline Kent), and Val LaRue.
#305 was completed by Andree Castoldi, Vic, and Punwit.

BATHROOM SWAP ATCs

FEATHER SWAP ATCs

MOVIE SWAP ATCs

OCELOT

ATC by heymaggie
colored pencil

GRISLEY

ATC by heymaggie
colored pencil

FROG

ATC by heymaggie
colored pencil

ART NOUVEAU WOMEN SWAP

Made these today for Kerstin's new swap. Ever since I joined ATCards.com, I've been constantly challenged in my art. I've done more drawings than ever before and this is one example. I'm very pleased with the outcome of today's efforts.