Sweet Saturdays week #012

Hi Everyone!!! and welcome to week # 012 of Sweet Saturdays.....Sweet Saturdays is all about blogging about something sweet in your lives...it could be art, illustrations, food or a sweet photo....or a sweet find in your favorite shop...so create your blog post and pop back and share your link with all of us....

This week I thought I would create a sweet illustration ...with none other than my favorite insect...the honey bee.....as most of you know I create a lot of bee art....and I even have a bee tattoo that I illustrated for my tattoo artist....it is one of the bees I have on my blog's background.........

So I wish you all the best today and always and may you have a Sweet Saturday and a Sweet Father's day tomorrow....now say hello in the comments and please leave your Sweet Saturday link below.....

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I'm back from a little escape...with a whole new perspective.....

I spent a few days away with family and it was just what I needed....some time to just un-plug and re-evaluate the important things in life.....so this is just what I did....by the water all weekend....I feel much much better now and am ready to tackle just about anything that life may throw our way.....The only thing I painted when I was at the cottage was my room...and it was a lot of work...three coats of paint...and now a serene and pretty place to just get away.....


Lastnight was the first night I got back to my art....and this is the first thing that popped into my head....a ballet dancing bee....of all things....I guess I merged my love of bees with my love of ballet...and voila....Stacie came to life....she loves to work and dance on the job...hovering from flower to flower with her pirouettes...and pointy toes.....

I just want to thank you all for the wonderful messages of support and kindness...your friendships really touch my heart and I am so grateful to have met you all.....

This is a photo on our lake...where I get away and most times create work for my picture books.....below is a flower I had to share with you....since bees remind me to take care of my plants...and flowers are so beautiful...so I took a shot of these....

and here are a group of dancing bees....they will hang in my Studio and remind me to dance and to enjoy life....we have limited time for everything so I will be trying to cram extra stuff into my life.......

wishing you all a wonderful day....may the bees dance for you and may you always be aware of the amazing things in your lives!!!!

Happy Tuesday!!!

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Sunday Sketches come to life.....Bees Bees and more busy Bees.....helping my Bees for a Cause 2011

As many of you know I am a huge bee fan....and I just love these amazing creatures that do so much to help the world....so this Spring I came up with these cute little busy bees....they are all happy because they are doing what they love.....They really are amazing...and we need to do things that help the bees....

Here are ten things you can do to help Honey Bees....

In 2010 I started something called Help Me, Help People, Help You.... a site where partial proceeds from art went to help people in various countries learn to become bee keepers.....As bees search for nectar, they pollinate plants. Placed strategically, beehives can as much as double some fruit and vegetable yields. In this way, a beehive can be a boost to a whole village. Taking care of these bees also acts as a supplemental income for people in these needy countries...so this year I think these cute bees with help me raise more money that can help my Bees for a Cause Project 2011......In the first year we only raised 100.00 dollars but more than that we purchased bees , lessons and a hive for struggling families....and that in turn helped with their crops and in turn helped us...

In  2011partial proceeds from my Busy Bees will help this cause again "BEE" cause I truly believe it makes a difference......

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Illustration Friday - Swarm

I love bees...need I say more....

Bees were the first thing that came to mind when I saw this week's theme on IF....

Meet Tasha...the Queen Bee....she wasn't going anywhere from her hive...she was going to stay still forever....as her busy workers swarmed around her they kept her warm with their fluttering wings....and the scent of sweet honey made her hive even sweeter....

This would make a cool new outfit for Lady Gaga....wouldn't it?

Happy Friday Everyone!!!!

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Illustration Friday...."Surrender" free download for Valentine's Day!!!!

Joey knew that he had to do something special for his Love Marie...so he decided to hire an Illustrator and get her to design some Valentine's that he could use....and this is what I came up with.....

Do you think Marie will surrender her love to Joey?

I think he might just have a chance!!!!

I love bees and I love honey...so I hope Marie does too.....

I just worked on these fun free downloads for my website....these Valentine's will make someone's day even sweeter....so head to download your very own here....
(just uploading my files....will update the download links as soon as the files are ready)
Happy Friday Everyone....

and Happy Creating!!!!

P.S. only 18 days left to submit samples to be part of the 100 Illustrations 2011 Book!!! so head over and get the details!!!

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I'm back!!! and what a nice welcome home with this feature!!! Busy as a Bee

Hello Everyone!!!

I have missed you all so much and can't wait to take some time to visit your wonderful blogs and see what you have been up to! I took an extended mini vacation and it was just what I needed for some inspiration. I have some fun projects to show you all and I will post them soon!!! Thank you for your visits!!! and your wonderful comments...I always love hearing from you.....

I just got back to find a note from shop owner Galia of NoniBam. She curated this super sweet collection of Bee inspired pieces and named it "Busy as a Bee"

She was sweet enough to include my Paris Queen Bee print and you all know how much I love bees!!!


Please pop by her shop and her gorgeous treasury and click on the items and leave us some love!!!

great to be back with you all!!! I will be visiting you all now that I am back!!!

Hugs
Diana

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The Queen Bee gets featured....how sweet is that!

I got a note from shop owner....DigitalDoDads
She has some wonderful collage sheets that you can use for all kinds of fun projects...so pop the shop....and also check out her curated collection!

She curated this fun collection that is inspired by all the sweet honey things....It is titled...

EYE SPY ...Luscious Honey Dripping Everywhere

She was sweet enough to include my French Queen Bee~

pop by the Treasury and show us some love!!!

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Memories....they can be so wonderful!

I have so many wonderful memories growing up....it would be hard to imagine how long it would take for me to illustrate all of them...

One of my fond memories growing up was watching my Dad take care of his bee hives...he was a bee keeper and I have so many fun stories about him and his bees....his bee stings...and mostly the best tasting honey ever....

This week as the theme on Mixed Media Monday is "memories" I immediately thought about creating something to commemorate that wonderful time watching my Dad tend to his bees....he cherished these little creatures and helped them grow their hives...it was wonderful and I am ever so grateful to have experienced this...I have a new found respect for bees and always will....I think I should start learning more about bee keeping and who knows maybe one day I can add this to my list of things to do....

I also teach Cole each day about these busy workers that make the world a better place...including all the bee keepers!!!

so here's to all the Bee Keepers!!!

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Sunday Postcard Art - Theme - "Springtime" - mixing a Spring photo with my illustrations....

Many of you know this from the past...but I love flowers and I love honey bees...Ever since I was a wee little girl I remember my Dad and his bees...he was a bee keeper in our forest and he loved taking care of these wonderful little creatures that create gold....

He taught me a lot about them and how important they are...so as soon as I saw this week's theme over at Sunday Postcard Art...I immediately thought of flowers and I also thought about the wonderful bees that would love my tulips...so here is a piece mixing my photography with my illustrations....

now "Bee" good everyone.....

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Illustration Friday - "Detective"

Hank was going to do whatever he had to to figure out the mystery of the honey bee and this delectable super food...His detective skills were very proficient and he was on the verge of figuring out why the bees visited flowers....The pollen!!!

His next task as Honey Bee Detective would be to figure out what the bees did with the pollen...off to follow the honey bees......

Wish him luck!!!

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