Wishing you a Very Happy Muppity Christmas!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!!!
love, the Smith Clan

My Tacky Christmas Outdoor Decorations.....

Recently, a lot of my neighbors seem to be in some sort of tacky Christmas Decoration Extravaganza. So, to keep up with "The Jones's", I brought out my old big guns....Fabulously Tacky Inflatables! They look fun at night, but in the day time it is one big mess as you can see.

AZ Art Alliance Reception

Please join me tomorrow at art reception at The Arizona Art Alliance Gallery, Sat. December 3rd, from 6 to 9pm (9011 E. Indian Bend, Scottsdale, AZ 85250). Meet famous former AZ Suns Basketball player Dick Van Arsdale, He is our guest artist and he will be there signing and selling original art and prints. I also have oil and pastel paintings, along with signed reproductions and my artsy fartsy line of "Collage Jewelry" in the gift shop. The event is free and open to the public. The Gourmet Girls are catering, so that is even more of a reason to come. Hope to see you there!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The day before Thanksgiving, We all went to see "The Muppet Movie" and all of my fabulous glamchildren were able to come. You would think that they would be used to having to group together for a photo or two, but it is like pulling teeth sometimes to get them to stand still for a minute. (the good thing is that they are always so excited to be together that it is mayhem... a good mayhem.) Anyway, this is the best shot that I got. Love those glambabies of mine!!!!

Last night the girls talked me into standing in line for two hours before midnight at the mall to get a free "midnight madness survival kit" which was a complete bust except for the free leopard print nail file and the coupon for a free cookie at Paradise Bakery. As I returned to our group once in the mall after a brief "powdering of my nose", I found them here... in the middle of the mall with hundreds of people watching them from both floors as they performed their dance skills. It was hilarious and horrifying at the same time. I videoed them (along with a bunch of other onlookers) and heard people all around me talking about the great entertainment that the mall was providing for them. Needless to say, the next few hours in the mall were not one of anonymity.)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and I hope that you did too. Now, it's time to pack up the fall decorations and get out the Christmas ones. (didn't I just do that last month?) "Someone needs to stretch out these Holidays a little more....

Glamchild #15 finally born!!!

Our newest glamson was finally born at home with his big sister watching as she pronounced that "Heavenly Father is flashing the green light saying Time to GO!" Walter A Jenkins was born Nov. 1oth at 6:57 am. He's big! 22 1/2 inches long and 10 lbs 13 oz!!! Both baby and Mom are doing great, and Walter's big sisters think that He is the best thing since Ice Cream and Beauty Pageants! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!

Boy Stuff

Conway got to visit his Glampa at "the yard". As with all of my other Glamsons, Conway was thrilled to get to see all of the big equipment and ecstatic when he got to ride on a big truck . Moments like these make life fabulous!

Happy Halloween!

After the Trunk or Treat Saturday night. I decided to leave my companion buckled into the passenger seat for the past few days.

It was HILARIOUS when the guy who took my $ at the McDonalds drive thru today, jumped and gave a little girly scream! Hope I didn't scare the poor boy too much, but it was AWESOME!!! I hope that you all have a safe and spooktacular Halloween!

Halloween Decor 2011

Smith Spooktacular 2011

Thanks everyone for making each Smith Spooktacular better than the last!!!!!!
Check out the paint job on the Shave Ice trailer that I did on my Kelley Smith Art blog!

Costume Award Trophies

Our Annual Smith Spooktacular is tomorrow evening, and here are the trophies for the Costume contest. The $1 store is my best friend lately with the Smith household budget cuts, but that doesn't mean we still can't have spectacular trophies!!!

The "VIP" award will go to the person who is the Best Party Participator. I know that I will have a tough decision to make tomorrow evening if it is anything like all the past years of Halloween madness...

Keep in touch!

More Family Portraits...

above: sweet little Pepper who just turned One year old recently and

darling Pearl who recently turned two years old. We are expecting our #15 glamchild next month and it will be a boy... no name yet, but I am sure that it will fit in with the rest of the unusual names that my children have picked for their children. It is funny how each generation thinks they are starting something new with the choice of names that they like. I know I thought I was the most clever gal on earth at the time, and now there are millions of girls named the same names as I named my daughters. LOVE those babies though, no matter what their names are! I also posted a group of portraits that I did for a dear friend on my Kelley Smith Art blog today if you are interested....

Family Portaits

I have been doing some redecorating in my home recently by painting over the too brown walls left from the previous owner. I have added COLOR, but the neutral soft ivory that I painted in the halls looks pink at certain times of the day, and that drives me CRAZY!!! I told my husband that I can not stand the walls and I am repainting them more of a taupe shade. (OH the HOURS I put into painting.... Oh well.) Anyway I bought 30- 12" by 12" gallery wrapped canvases and am in the process of turning my hall into a family portrait extravaganza. Above is Conway. His portrait was the first one I did. I had planned to paint them in oil, but then loved the preliminary drawings so much that I decided to keep them in that state. I really love to see the marks, adjustments and process of thick, thin, straight, squiggly, light and dark lines that when layered on top of one another create an image of an actual thing.

This is sweet Ava. I took her photo with the camera in my phone.

and my son-in-law Jason. He was so cute and excited to see his portrait as this was the very first one that was ever done of him. It will take a while to finish every one's portrait with all the holiday coming up AND the fact that the adults in the family want the portrait to be from a photo of them that looks "attractive". (I can't blame them, I have done two of myself lately and they are not making the cut.) I'll post all of the family portraits as the wall progresses. Thanks for letting me brag!!!!
Oh, and new paintings on my ART BLOG too.

Catch Up.

I can not believe it has been since April that I last posted! Easter, End of School happenings for my Glamchildren, Moving 3 of my daughters into new houses, vacations, camping on the beach and attending the most awesome book club ever on Coronado Island in CA. were slipped in between working at the AZ Art Alliance Gallery and getting a painting done here and there. The daunting task of going through all of my photo folders makes me tired already, so I will just go ahead and put a big letter L for Loser on my forehead and move on.

I will however, post the one time we got all of the glamkids together (missing 2) one day at the beach. More posts definitely ahead, I've got some fun things in the works! (If you are reading this, thanks for not giving up on me.) ((Oh, and new post on my Art blog too!)) (((AND, if you go to the AZ Art Alliance website, there is a coupon for 25% off items in the gift shop that has an image with my jewelry on it. Wha-Hoo!)))

Painting, painting, painting....

A week or so ago, my oldest glamson Xander wanted to spend a couple of nights during his spring break and all he wanted to do was paint. (Ahhhh, can you hear heaven's chorus of angels singing while I rejoice?!!!) So He painted a lovely scene with Rapunzel's castle, a waterfall and green mountains for his cousin Daisy. While Xander worked on his painting, I worked on this one. A client/friend wanted a portrait of her children by the pool. The perspective I used is very popular and on trend at this time, and I think it is very cool, because even though the children's heads are not in the picture plain, you still get a feeling of their personalities from each child's stance and position. Several of my friends who saw the red primed canvas were not sure about my color choice, I explained to them that I like to "prime" the canvas with the contrasting color of the general color pallet of the scene that I plan to paint. This made them quite nervous!

Here is how the painting ended out. It is 48" by 48". Very Big!!!

(My daughter Brooke has babysitted that little dog and had brought him over for family dinner once and when my glamchildren saw the painting they knew who that dog was at once!)

Sock Doll Humanitarian Project

Last month at church, our women's group "The Relief Society", did a few service projects. And of course a centerpiece for each table always add a bit of flair. So I bought these ceramic pots and metal garden angels at the local $1 store and spray painted them all white. I then printed gold Relief Society emblems and glued them behind the heads for halos. Wa-la! "the Errand of Angels is given to Women"... Oh, and for table toppers, I bought 2 rolls of shipping wrap paper (at the $1 store) and cut out scalloped squares. That so far is the most inexpensive decor I have done for a party/meeting.

. We made these cute little sock dolls that new mothers use to comfort their babies if they are too little or sick and can not go home yet. The Mom, Dad or caregiver can place the doll inside their clothing, close to the skin and the doll will soak up their scent. The next time they visit the baby, the doll is place next to the baby to snuggle and/or prop tubes and the baby will feel the comfort and smell of their loved one. The dolls are very easy to make so I've included the instructions if you would like to make some yourself and donate to your local hospital.