Go out and draw something

So I’m busy. Surtex is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER and I’m fah-reakin out y’all. There’s so much to do it’s just not even funny. BUT one way I spend a little leisure time is playing that dangerously addictive game DrawSomething! It’s way too much fun and it basically forces you to draw like you’re in kindergarten.  I love it. And I do not take lots of time to make my drawings look “fantastic”, I draw stick figures like everyone else in their right mind… EXCEPT when I’m playing with my good friend Gail.

We decided a while ago that in order to make the game more interesting, we would make our drawings as elaborate as possible. BEST. DECISION. EVER. It’s been sooooo funny to see our drawings go back and forth… I even took pictures of the ones that are really “blogworthy”… so below is a sample of how I spend a little free time drawing silly stuff with Gail :).

WINNERS for Easter Goodies!

I would like to thank you guys SO much for entering my giveaway! It was fantastic to see all the new faces entering, but of course I still love all my previous fans.

Regardless, now here’s the fun, after the random choosing I’ve got my 5 winners!

First up is Elizabeth Melville! You get to choose any of the 5 items you would like to receive as your prize.

Once Elizabeth picks, Kelli Fleming, you will get to choose which of the remaining 4 items you would like to receive.

Then, Andi Dessino Lyon will choose from the remaining 3 items.

And then of course, Angela Gwaltney will choose which prize she would like from the last two.

And last but not least, Nancy Duning Wood will receive the remaining prize!

There are 5 fantastic prizes that are perfect for adding to your Easter basket, or if you’re not selfish nice, to someone else’s. Thanks for participating ladies and I will email each of you to let you know which prizes are left over.

CONGRATS!

If you feel like leaving feedback on your opinion of this giveaway, please do! Did you like the new form of entries? Did you like the prizes? Leave me a comment and let me know!

The Easter Bunny has entered the building.

And it’s me.

Seriously, it’s so nice outside and I have a bunch of new fans so I figure it’s time for a giveaway!

This is going to be a GOOD giveaway, so DO NOT let it go without entering. It’s a whole new approach to giveaways, just for you. :)

Here, on my Facebook page, you’ll find the “Easter Giveaway” page. Once inside, you’ll find multiple ways to rack up entries in the giveaway, and you can choose to do whichever ones you want or go for it and do ALL 5 entries for 15 total chances to win!

Once the contest is over on March 28th at midnight I’ll randomly choose the first winner! The first winner will get to CHOOSE ANY 1 of the 5 available prizes below. Once they’ve chosen, I’ll pick a second random winner, and they’ll choose any 1 of the 4 remaining prizes and so on and so on until the 5th winner receives the only prize left!

Got it? So basically what I’m getting at is, enter enter enter and you might get to pick one of these fantastic prizes, which are PERFECT for putting into someones Easter basket, if not your own!

Luvali Reversible Girls' Sun Hat in Peacock Petunias

Set of 2 lezleelliott Jotters in Trendi Mehndi and Blossom Toss Up Yellow

lezleelliott Feathered Peacock 6oz Lady Flask

Not Soap Radio "I'm not here, I'm really..." Mini Kit with 2 bubble baths, a solid perfume and a chocolate chapslick

Luvali Convertible Wristlet in Rockin'

You have one week! So get in on it like NOW.

Drink more water in style!

Everyone always recommends you “drink more water.” It’s good for you, helps your skin, helps your body function, helps your diet, blah blah blah…

So, I know that in my case, the only way I will actually WANT to drink more water is if I feel cool doing it… meaning I have a reason to drink it…. like a sah-weet new canteen! DUH.

Well, you still have a chance to WIN one over at ODOP who is promoting water drinking throughout the month of March by giving away one of my canteens! It’s so easy to enter, it’s ridiculous if you don’t.

If your still hankering for water but in a different color canteen, visit my Etsy store to see the 3 other color versions. Do it. Feel better, drink water. I think I just wrote a tagline for water…

How are you so creative?

I get asked that question sometimes… but most of the time I don’t even think of myself as that creative. I feel like there are pretty much everyone people who are way more creative than I am. But no matter who they are, how DO you get to be a creative person? Where does it start?

Probably here.

I have always had this theory, if you were from a foreign country you were about 10x more creatively awesome than me. Growing up in a place where culture is everywhere, can give you a wide open imagination. BUT when my Mom died and I worked on the photo project, I learned a little something about myself (and, of course, my sisters). We are creative. And it’s all thanks to growing up surrounded by creativity, fun, laughter and support.

My Mom was an EXPERT at being creative, and in his own way my Dad is also very crafty and creative. If you knew my Mom, you knew she thought big. Large. Impossibly creative. No one could tame nor fulfill all the huge projects she had in her head, except my Dad. Though he never really “tamed” as much as he said, “uh ok… let me figure it out.” My Dad on the other hand was crafty. Not crafty like, felt and popsicle sticks. Crafty like, I’m gonna work on this until I figure it out. – Which if you know me, you know I’ve got a BIG dose of that. – And any project that my Mom could come up with, he’d analyze, research, configure and engineer until there was a reasonably difficult and complicated yet doable solution. And then he did it. I don’t remember a time that he’d hired anyone to do it for him… crafty.

So, with that in mind, my creativity is summed up in one picture that, I believe, predetermined me for where I am today. It’s a cake. I believe it’s my 2nd Birthday cake and my Mom made it. Before cake making was cool. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen pictures from my sisters’ birthdays and though Mom made some great other cakes (I distinctly remember a giant 4-leaf clover cake) I’m fairly certain she never made another one of this caliber.

I’m, of course, ready to eat. What’s all this picture taking?!

Amazing right? In fact, her imagination obviously made for the best birthdays…

Duh, refrigerator box/easel painting party, YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Making our own hats. Dumbawesome. Are these on Pintrest things you think of doing nowadays, uh no.

And we just had fun. Our parents let us be funny kids and do things that are a little on the crazy side, like:

wear makeup. oops that wasn’t really allowed, it just happened.

get in the hot tub, with Granma, fully clothed. And uh… cut my own hair. That’s why I look like a boy…

paint ceramics (also at Granma’s).

and take our own initiative with exploring.

We had the chance to do plenty of other fun things like driving round-trip in a minivan across country to the Grand Canyon and back. Going to space camp. Riding horses. Swim team. Gymnastics. Dance for 30 years. Play instruments of ALL kinds (i.e. piano, flute, guitar, violin and probably more). Bring in stray kitties – oh then return them. Brownies and Daisies, of course, Mom was the troop leader. Indian princesses – Evening Star (that’s me) and Night Hawk (that’s Dad). Build “Bogus Bill Detectors”, seatbelt rash repellers, or inventions of the like – Dad builds anything.

So I guess you don’t have to be from another country to be uber creative… You just need to let go, be a little crazy, have an uncontrollable imagination, laugh as much as possible, and decide that if they wanna do it, let’em do it and dive right in.

stupid FB and jotter voting…

Of course, it says “content not available” when I post something important. ARG! So JUST IN CASE, here are all the pictures again… so vote here or there… whatev. Just effin vote.

Blossom Toss Up Pink

Blossom Toss Up Teal

Blossom Toss Up Yellow

Floral Expectations Blueberry

Floral Expectations Fresh Berry

Floral Expectations Pink Dandelion

Feathered Peacock Blue

Feathered Peacock Teal

Feathered Peacock Pink

Moroccan Muse Mocha

Moroccan Muse Pink

Stroll Through Paris Je Taime

Stroll Through Paris Dogs

Knotical Chic Blue

Knotical Chich Green

Knotical Graphic Blue

Knotical Graphic Coral

Trendi Mehndi Peacock Capri

Trendi Mehndi Peacock Fuchsia

Trendi Mehndi Elephant Capri

Trendi Mehndi Elephant Fuchsia

Coffee Break

jotters are. my. life.

If you are like me, you make lists about every 5 minutes. OR you have some little note, thought or song name to write down at least 5 times a day! So I use jotters. Small notebooks (4×6) with a rubber band closure (to keep those suckers shut!) that literally fit in your back pocket, and easily slip into your purse to write notes in about everything. They’re perfect.

And now, I’ll be selling them on my Etsy site! But first, I have to decide which patterns to sell… so of course, I thought I’d poll the audience to find out which ones you like best.

There are A LOT to choose from (22 designs) because I have the worst time deciding which ones I think are prettiest…so I’ll let you! You’ll need to go vote here where I’ve loaded all the designs, just click “Like” on your TOP 10 favorite designs.

Let me know by Sunday, so that I can put them up for sale on Monday!

I’ve been exposed!

Ya know… like in an interview. 720b is a sweet little blog written by one of my fav gals, Fallon, it’s all about the crafty stuff she does and of course her super cute daughter whom she refers to as CAT5 – see here. It makes me jealous of all her projects but I love it, so I was really honored when she asked to interview me as a local fav! So be sure to click over to 720b and read all the insider info on my life. There are some pah-retty nasty little secrets in there…

Speaking of pah-retty… there’s a giveaway to promote my new Etsy item – monogrammed canteens [also available in pink, green and purple]! You could win one of these babies just by “like”ing my Facebook page and leaving a comment on HER blog about how wonderful I am [winks alot]… seriously it’s that easy. Contest ends on MONDAY so HURRY UP!

It’s February… change your calendar

Offices always need a little pop of color to brighten your day, and EVEN THOUGH it’s February, it’s NOT TOO LATE! Get one of my desk calendars and be happy to get into the office everyday!

12 months (and let’s face it, at this point you’re only missing out on 1 month… so it’s REALLY not too late) of cute, colorful, bold and fun patterns by lezleelliott

Don’t you dare read my diary!

This blog is for my business. It’s to keep the millions hundreds tens of fans updated on what great new things I’m doing. But it has another purpose, for those readers that aren’t directly related family members or best friends, this blog is so that you get to know me. Finding out that stars or artists that I look up to have just as difficult a time opening a pickle jar as I do is kinda cool. You should know, I’m not a star or consider myself worthy of being “looked up to,” but I do think I’m pretty cool and what I do for a living is really cool… so that’s the whole reason this baby is around.

Now that you know, today is gonna be a personal day. A “here’s a little window into my life” day… which are rarely as personal as it’s about to be. You’re gonna read my diary.

So if you’re new, my Mom passed away unexpectedly on Jan. 5. Even saying it out loud is gut wrenching, and though I’m trying to put the pieces back together there are a few days that I just can’t seem to do it. And that’s alright. Accepting that fact is difficult. For example, yesterday was not a good day. It happened really on Saturday night – so I’ll give you a little back story. I have been reading “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”since right after New Years (I got it for Christmas). Well I FINALLY finished it on Saturday night at 1:30ish in the morning, I was SO excited. 1)Because I never rarely read books, 2) because I rarely finish books that I read, and 3) because I never rarely read and manage to finish books. So, around 12 when it was time for bed I only had 90 pages left and I just dove in. I got so wrapped up in what I was reading that I was completely transported into the book. I didn’t even care about what time it was. Once finished, I put the book down with this HUGE grin on my face because I was so proud of myself and because it was a really good book.

I picked up my phone to glance at the time, and my home screen is a picture of my Mom during my parents cruise right after she finished all her chemo treatments.

I’ve seen the picture hundreds of times per hour day when I look at my phone, but suddenly I was flooded with emotion realizing that she was gone. It was like I had forgotten and that was my reminder. I couldn’t stop crying. Eventually, I took my mind off of things and dominated played Angry Birds. Yes, that’s right. Angry. Birds. I’m a bird throwing genius. Anyway, around 3:45ish I decided I’d try to go to bed, and that didn’t happen… so I cried some more and wrote in my diary journal.

“After my cry-fest I dominated some Angry Birds to take my mind off things. (See, even in my journal entry) And an hour or so later I decided I should get some sleep. Put the phone down, turned the light off and shut my eyes. Instantly, I hear my Dad on the phone, ‘Lezlee, I don’t know how to tell you this [sigh] your Mom has passed away.’ MY WHAT?! WHO?! He repeated, ‘your Mom.’ I remember falling to the floor crying and asking HOW? WHAT HAPPENED?! Mixed in with periods of silence from crying was Dad saying that they had found her slumped over her desk at school. I didn’t know what to do. How could this have happened?? As I lay in bed tonight these happenings just kept replaying in my head and I would cry harder. I just don’t understand. She’s supposed to be here. My life was never supposed to not include her. I’m stuck, not being able to see my future because everything has been shattered. How does this become part of my life? It’s not going to be alright, so don’t tell me that. Tell me how this happens and how you continue on without this one very important part of your life, your heart and your soul.”

After I finished writing this it was about 5 am… I was utterly exhausted and finally surrendered and went to sleep. Sunday was spent in a haze of depression, feeling lost and randomly crying. Even though I don’t like to admit it, I am allowed to have these days…