I'm loving my birthday season this year.  I've taken some time off work.  There's been some crafty fun, like the seamless crochet photo shoot, where the picture above came from. I'm also having *way* too much fun with Andrew playing games, watching movies, walking around, going out to eat, and sleeping.

I've been super neglectful of the blogs I read the last couple weeks, which makes me sad.  I love leaving comments, and I just haven't had the time to do it lately.  I have tons of posts saved in my bloglines, and I hope to catch up soon.

I've started to spend my birthday money.  Last week, Andrew and I went over to Art Star, our local indie art and handmade store, to get some prints by Stella Im Hultberg.  They only had one of the prints I wanted in stock, so I had them order the other two.  Actually, as we were browsing, they emailed Stella and she replied that she'd send them right out.  How cool is that?!

  Stella gave me permission to use these images in my post (I emailed her less than an hour ago).  Thank you, Stella!  And, not that this should matter when one is buying art, but I love the name Stella.  I used the name Stellan for my starfish. And, I like the actor Stellan Skarsgård just as much for his amazing movies as his wonderful name.  Stella let me know she's having her first solo show at Art Star in May.  I can't wait to see some of her original art in person.  Art Star has art installation/shows all year and puts on the Art Star Craft Bazaar in June.  Maybe some year I'll have a booth there ... a girl can dream.

I have a LCD monitor, which totally lightens the images.  When I got the actual print, I was struck by the warmth and depth of the colors.  In the image above, the lips are a wonderful rose color and the elbows and fingers have blood-red highlights.  Stella has her own distinctive style, but I love the hints of Egon Schiele in the hands and elbows.

These prints leave me awestruck.