I woke up like this

Music to my ears and Thank You!!

Thank you so much Kathy for my award... I cannot tell you how honored I feel that you would think so much of me and of my work. I spend most of my days inside my studio isolated from the rest of the world and never know what people think of my work. So it was so nice to receive an award that says " Hey, you did a good job and it made my day." So again thanks Kathy it was just music to my ears!!

Now onto the business of receiving the award.

1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make me think and or made my day.

2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.

3. Display the " you make my day" award on your blog.

4. Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news.

With that said here are my picks!!

1. would have been my good friend Carol Eldridge but she was also picked by Kathy. Carol is a fellow illustrator who I met at Surtex years ago and who has such a great whimsical style which is reflective of her personality. Carols blog is full of all her colorful illustrations and travels with her captain husband. She lives near the beach so naturally she is influenced by all its beauty so often many of her posts include daily walks along the ocean , somewhere I wish I could be often.

1. Jennifer Paganelli whom most of the blog world knows by now and who's fun, fresh brand Sis Boom is a favorite of mine. Jennifer's fabric line with Free Spirit is extremely beautiful and has a vintage flair with a twist, and its bright fun colors make it a treasure to behold.I love that she opens up her house every year to sell her Sis Boom hand crafted designs to anyone that would like to come in, you could say her home is her showroom. As I began my journey into this blog worldJennifer was kind enough to give me helpful advice and was never to busy to answer my questions. A real source of inspiration and creativity and all in all a fun place to visit. By the way Jennifer also teaches classes at Silver Bella and Tinsel Trading and is often glittering up all kinds of projects in fact Jennifer told me she often glitters so much you could even find it in her underclothes which just makes me laugh out loud!

2. Angela Byington loves to decorate and garden and is always looking for that challenging decor project. Her blog is full of ways to decorate your home without all
the fuss and muss of it all. Angela loves crafting and cooking and is trying to turn her 50's ranch into a Cottage Style home. Another great thing about Angela is that she too is very generous with her time and
will help you solve that frustrating decorating project with her before and after how too's. I am still trying to figure out how she does it.

3. Kim Demmon is a mother, fitness instructor, scrapbook artist and prolific writer. I can barely do one blog but Kim has two! Todays Creative Blog is one of her very well known blogs in which she features other blogs and talks about what makes them special. I was floored when I read her feature on me, I have never been so blown away by comments in my life, she makes you feel like a rock star only without the drugs and sex!! ha, no but seriously Kim's so full of energy no wonder she teaches fitness!

4.Monica Solorio-Snow creates the most beautiful quits and often can have her handwork seen in Quilts and More magazine. I came upon her blog The Happie Zombie and found it to be full of fun stories and inspiration not to mention the fact that we are both lovers of Bill Maher and Flight of the Conchords and Entourage!! 3 of my favorite shows and well right there I was a big fan! She lives out in Oregon and often finds herself by the beach or creating a new project in her beautiful and organized sewing room. I am jealous of anyone who can have an organized work space, this is one of my pitfalls!

5.Heidi Kenney is an amazing talent and creator of some of the most cutest plush creations I have ever seen. I mean how do you think to make a plush toliet and toilet paper? How about ice cream sandwiches and donuts!! Oh these creations just make me smile and want to go out and buy the best sewing machine so I can create some of my own. Heidi showcases her work at many galleries that host plush shows and her shop is full of many fun goodies. I think if my boys saw her creations I would have to buy them all!

well so there you have it! I hope you are inspired from these people as I have been and remember a smile goes a long way!

xo Ellen

Print & Pattern love!!

© Ellen Crimi-Trent

Hello all, well I am soo excited to see today that I was featured in my favorite blog Print & Pattern! Needless to say I was thrilled, and excited and feel honored to be in a blog with such creative and talented people. This blog is an endless place of inspiration and talent, and is a joy to go to daily, so thanks again Bowie for including me! This is a print that
I love that was not featured but I wanted you to see it. I call it " Funky Fish" and I was influenced by the prints of the 50's artist Tamis Keefe who had designs on many hankerchiefs some I have myself.

Well I am trying to get ready for the conference but find myself having a hard time working. It is hard to have a constant flow of work when I am always getting interrupted, but tonight when all are asleep I am sure I will find the time to work without them.

I am getting excited for our boys " the Patriots!!!" in the superbowl this Sunday, I am sure it will be an amazing game as always and I cannot wait to see them make history!!!

Okay all remember a couple of posts ago I talked about going out w/ the hubby Sat night, well we went for the most fabo French dinner, and let me tell you this place Petit Robert Bistro is amazing at putting out great French bistro food that is under $20 which is rare for Boston.
We had such a great meal that my pants are feeling a little too tight today and I think it will be slimfast for
dinner!! Or maybe not!

Okay gotta go and make dinner for the crew!

xo Ellen

Sneak peak...

Okay all, here is a sneak peak at a little something, something that I made for a fellow blogger friend. I have been busy making a bunch of little gifts of love for my fellow blogger buddies that will remain a secret for now.

I am sure they know who they are, but will not find out until next week or so. I know I know I should be doing my work and getting ready for the SCBWI conference in NYC, but I am so tempted during this fun red/pink holiday to make some love!!

I have to tell you though this love is making my office a complete and udder mess!!! Fabric and glitter everywhere and my desk is the worst of it all. I have a friend coming over in a bit and will not let her come down into the dungeon as I call it.

Tomorrow there will be my own love time, which consists of quality pampering. I am cashing in long overdue spa certificates I got and getting a massage, facial and eyebrow wax!! Wooo hoo hurray for me!!! Ya, can you
tell I am excited. Then later in the evening a night out w/ the hubby for some fabo French food! Did I tell you my weakness is French food? Well it is and I cannot get enough of those decadent sauces and desserts.

By the way my favorite show is back on air which is Real time with Bill Maher! so I will be watching tonight.
Another big favorite show is Big Idea w/ Donny Deutsch every night at 10pm on CNBC!! Love it and hope to be on it one day with my Big Idea!!

Okay gotta get my little guy from pre-school and clean this house before my friend comes over. Have a great weekend and take some time out to pamper yourself!!

xo Ellen

Love is in the air!!

Love is in the air everytime you turn around!! He He! well at least these days it seems that way. Oh its that time of year when the world goes pink and red and those who have someone think about what they will do that day or night and those who do not hope to find someone whom they could spend that "day" with. My husband and I think there is way too much pressure on the day and feel its just another Hallmark Holiday! Although I myself cannot complain since it pays the bills in my career!

Recently I went to Atlanta with a bunch of Valentine's designs in tow. I do not mind designing for this particular category, frankly its a nice change from red and green and you can play a little. January is such a dull, cold, depressing month that its nice to break out the pink and red!

I will have to tell you a funny Valentine story. My husband used to be a GM of a restaurant in NYC, well he was a GM of many restaurants in the old days. This one was in Chelsea, which back in the 90's was not the hub bub of art galleries. Back then it was just restaurants and apartments. Well this one Valentine's night was crazy in particular, and here is why. The restaurant like most had 2 seatings that night and on the second there was quite the lively crew. There was a band and everyone was in a good mood. I had brought my friend Paul with me since I knew Lane would be busy and not be able to hang around. We had such a great time eating and drinking Dom!! Laughing allot and dancing as well.
So naturally it is close toward the end of the night and one table in particular was getting a little rowdy. Obviously they had way too much to drink and started getting loud etc,. The gentleman at the table started to complain about his meal to my husband and wanted his money back.
My husband explained that they had done everything that they should have and that he could not comp his bill. Well naturally the man was not happy, sure since he was plastered!. He started to get more and more
loud and began to pick a fight w/ my husband, and at this time the chef had come off duty and was in the dining room to see it all. He being the 6 ft huge hockey type decided to step in so Lane would not get blamed for this nonsense, and began to tell the man if he did not stop he would personally beat him up. Well then it was a scuffle and the chef naturally had the upper hand and kicked this man out and onto the sidewalk.

The rest of us were just watching in shock and disbelief that this all had to take place. All I keep thinking of is there is just some people who cannot have a good time no matter where or who they are with. I think the girlfriend was trying to stop him but he had a mind of his own! How is that for a nice relaxing dinner on such a Love night!! I say never a dull moment in that city, which is why I love it so!

I say just grab a cup of tea and chill dude!! Here is some of the fun products that were in Fred Meyer last Valentines. I love how simple they made the ceramic teapot and cups. The design was an allover pattern that they just pulled elements from and placed it on the ceramics. The fun flowers are made out of wood and are in a wooden pot that is painted with a pattern all over it. Looks like I will have to put them around the house for a little love cheer!

I have been busy crafty these days and will post later with all! Here is sneak peak at the beginnings of one!

I should be finished in the next couple of days, but who knows I am doing so many different things I cannot keep my head straight!

By the way Love to the Pats for winning on Sunday!! Yaa hoo go boys and we will see you at the Superbowl!
Did anyone say " History!" I know I did.

Okay enough chit chat for now off to work!

xo Ellen

Go Pats and a belated Tagged!

Okay people here it is, usually I am not a big fan of football but when it comes to the Patriots well, all bets are off! How can you deny such and incredible team, they make the game more fun to watch at every turn. I can honestly say that I have never been more excited to watch football than this Sunday. It is especially better knowing that it is going to be here that they play. How can you deny a team that wins games in the last 50 seconds! It is always exciting to watch and see what they will do. So people expect an exciting game this Sunday, I know I will be sitting in front of the t.v. with my cocktail in hand and my fan gear on!

Now on to the other thing I have been putting off since October! I was tagged by my old Surtex neighbor Lori Gardner but had never responded until now, sorry Lori! I just felt since I was new to this whole blog world I did not have enough people of my own to tag and then forgot all about it. I have decided I would answer the tag but not tag others since the ones I would tag have been tagged so many times they probably would appreciate the break from me!

So the question was 7 things that are strange/weird about me. So humm I had to think long and hard about this and thought well what is weird to me is probably not weird to anyone. So somethings I decided to write about were things that were weird and fun about me.

1. When I was young I had this thing that all the food on my plate could not touch each other. The thought of the peas touching the potatoes just made me sick. This used to drive my mother crazy and then my brother would tease me and try and push them together on the plate.

2. When I was in junior high I had soo many cold sores that I became obsessed with chapstick and other lip lubricates to make sure my lips were not dry and chapped to create these sores. Today I still carry around lots of chapstick!

3. In high school I secretly wished I was Joan Collins from Dynasty because she was such a powerful woman in the show and I wanted to be her and own an empire. It seems as thought I am still trying to get it!

4. I love to take naps!! yes this is true, it all started in high school. I was soo tired from the day I would take a nap after school and then get up and do work, my high school was not an easy one by any means so it was necessary in order to do all the homework I had. Those Catholic schools sure know how to pile on the work! This habit still continues to this day! I treasure when I can take a nap!

5. I have this thing about keeping my nails clean. I do not know why but I have to make sure my nails are always clean under and all around. I have know idea when this obsession occurred it must have happened around the time of the lip obsession.

6. I just love to party!! yes people I am a true party girl! It must be a product of my 80's generation, because all of my friends love to party as well. I love any excuse to dance and have drinks, now some of you may think well so does everyone else, but I say I could do this allot! Actually I have this life long dream to fly all my friends to a beautiful tropical place and put them up for one amazing party weekend! This is why I need to get rich before I am using a walker or in a wheelchair.

7. I cannot stand dripping water or little tap noises! They drive me crazy!! I will not sleep if there is any small little ping.drip or tapping noise. I do not mind the big ones, but those little ones arghhhh!! stop!!

8. I know there is not supposed to be a number 8 but I have to tell all that I have a huge obsession with pop culture!! Yes love it all about music, celebrities, and fashion! I just cannot get enough. I may not buy the tabloids but I will read them and I am big fan of E news! I love to hear what crazy thing the celebrities are up too. I have this ability to recognize a voice when its a voice over in a commercial or movie. My husband always gets them wrong its so funny to me.

So thats it but really not, there are soo many more crazy things about me I just could not list them all.
I suppose as you read my blog some of them will come out. I am sure many of my friends could list more
than I did.

So enjoy the game on Sunday if you are watching and raise one up for our boys!!!

Gooooo Pats!!!

xo Ellen

I'm back and working at a slow pace!

I made it back from Atlanta in one piece! It was a little rough going down on the plane and since I am a white knuckler it was not fun! I wished I changed hotels since I hated the one I was in and I will make sure that next year I do that.

So well let's see, this was my first time going to the big Atlanta show because I usually meet all of my clients and potential ones at Surtex, but this year I am not doing Surtex. I have to tell you it is quite a relief since it requires soo much work to do the show.
Anyway it was just as I had heard, allot of walking and talking and going up and down all these floors, and by the end of the day I thought I could not make it to the other but somehow I managed.

I had lots of great meetings so hopefully there will be lots to share soon. I am keeping my fingers crossed for that. I had a chance to catch up with fellow artists and some clients and all in all a great ride.

Today I am taking it slow and it is not easy with the kiddies home from a little snowstorm we woke up to this morning. They will be going out in a while to go sledding and I am happy not to have to stand on my feet for a while. It always surprises me how much more it hurts just to walk all day when I run miles without any pain.
What is that?

My shoulders feel a tight as this Turtle's back from carrying a bag full of brochures and goodies.I will have to bring one of those rolling carts next time. I think I will have to cash in all of those fabulous gift certificates I have to spa's in the next week or so.

So now starts all the work and to get ready to attend the next showon my list which is next month. This a little different and will require some new art and new skills but I am sure I will pull it off.

Okay, stop procrastinating!!! work.. work.. work!

Ellen

Off To Atlanta....

I am off to Atlanta tomorrow to meet with clients for potential products and to see what is out there as well as hang with my peeps! It is so hard to be in this world which is secluded from people that it's nice to go to a place where everyone knows each other and can relate to what I do.

I remember in high school I felt like such the outsider eventhough I played basketball and had many friends, I just felt that no one got me that is until college! It was there that I felt at home with other creative people and lived in a world where I was the norm, not the ladder. This remained that way up until I moved back home in 97' since then it feels like a little of the old days with a couple of exceptions.

There are 2 peeps here who do what I do that I talk to allot, one is my old roomate from college who lives funny enough a town away. The other is the very talented Carol who lives in the North Shore! We are actually going on the plane ride to Atlanta together! So it's fun all the way down.
Carol has been doing this thing we call Licensing for quite a long time and knows everything and everyone, but don't expect to have her shell out all of her info, you do not get far in this business by giving it all away!!
I have been fortunate enough to have gotten amazing advice from her which I do not take lightly. She is an amazing friend with allot of personality to boot! Lots of fun to be around! So here we are off on another adventure to get some more business and hang with our peeps for some dish and laughter! I will try and take some photos but cannot guarantee it, since I might be soo tired and forget!
Have a great weekend all... talk to you soon..

See you in the morning Carol!!

xo Ellen

The Mess! the fish game,and the weather!!

Take a good look, this is what I have been dealing with these days! What a mess! I am in the mist of creating some new looks for potential products and here is the end result of all that fun!

Such a glamorous life don't you think? I think the colors are very fun. I often get inspired just by colors alone.
These pretty beauties just make you feel happy and when the weather is 64 degrees in January you cannot help but be happy!!
I tell you though I am getting in over my head with trying to fit in a bunch of new designs and ideas for my upcoming meetings in Atlanta this weekend. I always do this to myself before any show. It's a little nuts but sometimes it is when the best stuff is born. I often do well under pressure and can navigate through many different things at one time. When I am slow is when I get distracted and work on things that do not matter.
Does this sound like anyone?

So let me tell you how talented and creative my 7 year old son Hayden is! This past weekend he once again came up with yet another creative project.. A fish Game! I sometimes marvel at what goes on in his head and how he just comes up with these things out of the blue.

Here is a photo of the game and his precious little feet.

he created it out of paper, and you can see it can be placed anywhere. All of the drawings were cut out for the game and placed. The object of the game was to get to the school of fish. He had all these places along the way that you could land on and get sent back and such! So cute!

Here is a close up of the game pieces you could be. He made a squid out of a plastic cup and let me tell you this was not the firs time he did one the other was beyond, this is a much simpler version.

As you can see there is also a stingray and other fish! Below is a close up of the school of fish, basically the finish line of the game.

I think we are going to have to put him to work early since he obviously can handle it! I do not think at that age I was that creative although my mom recalls in 2nd grade the teacher telling her that I was the art teacher. My mom thought the teacher was being cute about that maybe I pretended to show the kids art and such but the teacher was explaining to her that indeed I was the art teacher and taught the class about many things and that we did projects based on my ideas! I for some reason have absolutly no memory of this, funny huh.

Anyway on another note, the weather has been unbelivable around here, today is 64 degrees!! Is that crazy or what for January. I know it's a teaser and that Spring will not come early as I hoped, Mother Nature is just playing tricks on us right now.

Well folks I can no longer procrastinate, must get to work, must get to work!! Did anyone say hookey? Ha

Ellen

Is it Easter already?

Could it be Easter already? I don't think so but it is in my house! Here are some samples I received from Fred Meyer just before Christmas. I forgot all about them and what a nice surprise to get 3 big boxes full of latte cups, coffee mugs, egg holders, dessert plates and dinner plates and fun condiment holders. Also lots of nice fun linens too.
Here is a photo of some of the cute easter egg bowls and egg holders!

I also love the little plates, there were small egg shaped plates as well but I just could not photograph everything. I always love to see how they interpert my design into 3-d. Sometimes I actually give clients drawings of how the products should look but in this case, I just send in the design and they do the rest. I find that good and bad because it takes the pressure and workload of me but at the same time I am not always pleased with the result. I have a few companies that come up with amazing products from my designs and I always let them run with it since they have a feel of what they are looking for.

Here is a look at the original painting I did which in turn they made products from.

You can see that they used the bunny in the basket and the chick and flowers for the linen towels. Then they made bowls and plates that look just like the eggs. the plain colored dinner dishes are from the color palate of the design, and the mini square plates have the egg designs in the middle.

The best thing for me is always seeing my name on the products. They do a great job with placing my name so people can read it. Sometimes I get products where my name is so small you could hardly read it and I am sure no one even notices it which is sad for me.

So in this freezing cold weather I thought I would cheer you up with some Spring fun! I cannot believe how cold it is outside, I thought my hands would freeze when I went to the gym this morning! I was feeling all those goodies I ate as my trainer worked with me. It's back to salads and soup for me, no more truffles and all that good stuff.

I was thinking about resolutions yesterday and here are a few of mine!

1. Get those pounds off for good!

2. Finally get a children's book deal.

3. Learn to snowboard! I tried last year but did not do it enough to get it.

4. Work more and play more!

5. Fix my website, it needs it bad.

6. Redo my studio, it needs it way bad!!

7.Take off the month of August to be with the kids! ( this will definitely happen since my boys cannot go to camp that month so its the beach for me!!)

8. Lastly use up those spa gift certificates I got a year ago!!

What are your resolutions? and do you think you can do them? I hope I can get mine all done.

Okay it's back to work, I have to prepare for Atlanta next week!!

Ellen