The concert has been a smashing success over at Citizen of the Month! However, Sophia, Neil and I needed to do some fast creative brainstorming earlier today...it was brought to my attention that the original yellow (gold) Star of David was not a good idea for historical reasons. I will not dwell on those reasons here (look it up on Wikipedia if you don't know the specific history) because I don't want to take away from the positive issue at hand -- which is that we actively pursued and came to an excellent solution! The *NEW* and *IMPROVED* Blue and White Glowing Star has been incorporated into the now revised logo design.

And, if you are here for the "Concert Buttons" -- you can now download the whole pack which includes the original 5 from my previous post as well as *7 Bonus Fashion Buttons* not pictured...Slightly different versions with shadows for depth and two with a "magical glow"!

Click the button below to get .ZIP file package!




ENJOY!!!

<---------- IMPORTANT NOTE! ------------>

FOR THE HTML CODE HELP ON THESE BUTTONS -- SEE THE BOTTOM OF MY PREVIOUS POST -- OR REFER TO THE READ_ME.TXT FILE INCLUDED IN THE DOWNLOAD PACKAGE. THX!

Labels: blogging, blogs, butterfly, buttons, chk2007, citizenofthemonth, concert, friends, fun, graphics, holidays, music, neilochka, sophia, twitter

Well, if you don't know, you should! Neil Kramer aka "Neilochka" of Citizen of the Month (and twitter) is hosting his Second Annual 2007 Blogger Christmahanukwanzaakah Online Holiday Concert Extravaganza! What is this exactly? Neil explains it best:

"...It is now time to raise our voices in song again in this new holiday tradition. Hanukkah songs about miracles. Christmas songs about faith. Winter songs about the beauty of the season. Kwanzaa songs about new traditions. It is the 2007 Blogger Christmahanukwanzaakah Online Holiday Concert, right here on Citizen of the Month on Monday, December 10th (with a re-broadcast on Christmas Day). The concert is for YOU and by YOU — and this year will be bigger and better than last year..."

Basically, anyone from the blogging-community-at-large is welcome to share a recording of him/herself singing a favorite holiday song! It is meant to be fun...and possibly quite funny...as we all celebrate the great big inclusive Holiday of Christmahanukwanzaakah! Plus, if you are too embarassed to sing, Neil also welcomes photographs from bloggers to help "dress the set". It should be a great time. And, if you have never checked out Citizen of the Month before, you really should because Neil's blog is hilariously funny and incredibly well-written. [ I should hope so on that last part because Neil is a professional writer in "real life"! ]

That said, you'll be pleased to know that I have a submission in this year's concert. I sang "The Man With The Bag", a song that was originally recorded by Kay Starr in 1950. This song has always made me laugh because of its unapologetic theme of Christmas greed LOL! (Hence, my allusion to it in the sidebar where I have my Amazon.com Xmas Wish List!) Plus, I love the peppy big-band sound of it. As I explained to Neil, I don't have a particularly great singing voice...so I decided to really ham-up my submission in the hope that "really funny" would excuse "lack of talent". I recorded it with a clothespin on my nose so that it would be really nasal and then I tried to do a little bit of Ethel-Merman-like styling, although sans the great power of Ethel's voice. Anyway, I think it is pretty funny. I mixed it myself on the computer with an instrumental karaoke track -- not bad production value for being recorded in my home office. Join us at the concert and feel free to laugh at me and my song! I also submitted the "Winter Berries in Snow" picture from the previous post below as decoration for the concert so you'll probably see that too.

I also created the unsolicited artwork pictured above -- I was inspired by the idea of trying to create a logo design to incorporate the 3 holidays into a graphical image that was clean, attractive and symbolically cohesive. It was a great graphic design challenge! I used the three colors of Kwanzaa (black, red, green) -- the Christmas Tree symbols (which double as general holiday season/winter symbols too) -- and a gold blue and white glowing star of David -- as well as a blue background as another Jewish/Hanukah nod. I sent the graphics to Neil last night, but I still don't know what he thinks of them. He may or may not use them, but my real purpose was to create them for my own use to promote the concert because I think it is such a fun idea and concept that Neil has started. People are certainly welcome to borrow my button for use on their own blogs...I think it is kind of neat to have a "I participated in CHK 2007" badge for the sidebar so that blog readers can revisit the fun we had anytime and maybe become new participants for next year's!

[ I would love it if folks credited me for the button if they use it, but it's not necessary. Just leave me a nice word in my comments if you are going to borrow it! Share the love, baby. ]


Click the button below to visit Citizen of the Month:




<--------------------------- UPDATE 12/10/07! --------------------------->

Hey folks! I created this modified version button badge below (4 colors) that folks can also use in their sidebar -- year round if you like (!) -- to provide a link to the concert festivities any time. It's a nice way to thank Citizen of the Month for hosting this wonderful event...





You will need to host the button image on your own site and modify the code below accordingly. Here's the code you will need to use the buttons:
<a href="http://www.citizenofthemonth.com/2007/12/10/the-2007-blogger-christmahanukwanzaakah-online-holiday- concert/" title="Check out the 2007 Christmahanukwanzaakah Concert!"><img src="http://www.YOURWEBADDRESS.com/BUTTON NAME OF CHOICE.png" title="Check out the 2007 Christmahanukwanzaakah Concert!" border="0" /></a>

Labels: blogging, blogs, butterfly, chk2007, citizenofthemonth, concert, friends, fun, graphics, holidays, music, neilochka, photos, pictures, twitter

I was tired of my old banner -- it was boring me -- hence, the new one! Hope you all likes...if not, too bad. I also added a subtitle for the fun of it, changed my email envelope, and am considering changing the "About Me" text, but I haven't decided what to say yet. Another day.

Labels: blogging, bored, butterfly, graphics, web, weekend

Part of me was concerned that I was posting too much about the Cancer-Cat...but then, I realized...no one reads my blog! "Butterfly," I said, "you post that Cancer-Cat. Don't you worry about those nonexistent readers for even a minute!"

And so, with that, I give you another video of the lioness, Trudy-the-Cancer-Cat!

The fabulous "meat graphics" come from the I Love Meat Sticker Collection that can be purchased at one of my favorite hilarious shopping spots on the net, Archie McPhee Toys.






[Click on the picture to go to the video page.]

Labels: ArchieMcPhee, blogging, cancer, cats, ChooChoo, favorites, food, graphics, health, memories, pets, video

I am proud to say that the official www.lizziesue.com (main) website is very close to being finished. It should be chock full of very cute graphics when it is done! The hardest part has really been the writing of the content. It's not that I can't write, but when it comes to creating graphics versus writing, I am definitely more comfortable with and motivated to do the art rather than the writing. The idea was to keep it light and fun --- in line with Lizzie Sue's unique personality --- while still being marketed well.

Also, it has been slow going because I got caught up in other things and this was less of a priority. But, it is also important to finish it because it is functioning as another example of my "web work." So, stay tuned...I think you will like it :)

Labels: advertising, graphics, illustrations, lizzard, web

Something you might not know...I have an insatiable love of vintage graphic art and illustrations --- especially advertising illustrations from the early to mid-1900's. In almost every room of our apartment, you will find some sort of poster or framed postcard displaying this fact. Cappiello, Cassandre and Steinlen, oh my! In today's mostly photo-driven advertising, the beauty and attention to detail encompassed in these vivid commercial artworks are things to be missed.

While the pre-Women's Lib aspects of much of the vintage advertising (especially from the 1950's and 1960's) will not be missed, I admit, I do derive a great deal of amusement from illustrations depicting this lack of enlightenment.

I recently found this little collection of funny gems posted on Flickr by bayouborne. Particulary his "Atomic Housewife", "Motorola" and "Pharma Made Us Do It" photo sets. Some hilarious stuff in there and his accompanying comments are pretty funny, too!

Labels: advertising, anne taintor, favorites, flickr, graphics, illustrations, vintage