I am happy to find out that I am one of the few who is featured on the main page of Addictive Hobby (Fountain of Creations). Billy Limerick, the owner, have announced the new design of the Website. It looks great; a fresh new look. Signing up to the forum is free with articles & discussions as well as tutorials. Check it out!

So lately, I have been feeling a bit lazy when it comes to cooking a really good meal. Not that I always go all-out with cooking, but I just can't think of what to make. It's almost mostly a last-minute thing. I like making noodle soup because it's the easiest. So this is what I made the other day: Spinach noodles with BBQ pork & veggies.



Here's a similar dish I made a while back (Vermicelli noodle soup with Luncheon meat, egg, and bok choy:

DeviantART and Wacom presents their second Intuos4 contest "Bring Your Vision To Life". The theme for this contest is "Dreams", and is open to artists around the world. Since I missed the previous competition, I hope to have a chance to enter this and win the new Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet (and replace my old, cheap one. haha...) Once I get my entry completed and entered, I'll post it up to share with you all.

My Entries...:
* Blood Elf Magic
"I dream of myself in this fantasy world with magic and unique creatures. My dream is to learn from others and use that power to protect my own people and my world."




And if you are a DeviantART member, please FAVE my artwork as well. I hope to get your support as much as possible. There is a special Community Choice winner based on the entry with the highest number of Favorite's received between 12:00:00 AM (PT) December 16, 2009 and 11:59:59 PM (PT) December 22, 2009.

Here are the contest details (link to the original article):

The Prizes

There are three prizes from the judges and one prize from the community!

1st A Wacom Intuos4 large tablet A copy of Adobe Photoshop CS4 A copy of Corel Painter 11 $1,000 American Express gift card A deviantART Artist’s Bag A devWEAR shirt of your choice (depending on availability) 1 year Premium Membership to deviantART

Community Choice A Wacom Intuos4 large tablet A copy of Adobe Photoshop CS4 A copy of Corel Painter 11 $1,000 American Express gift card A deviantART Artist’s Bag A devWEAR shirt of your choice (depending on availability) 1 year Premium Membership to deviantART

2nd A Wacom Intuos4 medium tablet A copy of Adobe Photoshop CS4 $750 American Express gift card A deviantART Artist’s Bag A devWEAR shirt of your choice (depending on availability) 1 year Premium Membership to deviantART 3rd A Wacom Intuos4 medium tablet $500 American Express gift card A deviantART Artist’s Bag A devWEAR shirt of your choice (depending on availability) 1 year Premium Membership to deviantART

See Official Rules for Details

Rules

Entry must be received by 11:59:59 PM PT on December 8, 2009 and be submitted to the Contest gallery on www.deviantart.com "click here." Entrants must be 13 years or older to participate; Entries must be submitted in one of the following file formats: GIF/PNG/JPG, but may originate in any visual medium; Entries must not have been previously published or won any other prize/award; You may submit more than one entry; Only one entry per Entrant will be selected as a semi-finalist entry; Online entries only, hard copies not accepted; Entry may not use any watermarks or distinguishing artist marks; Any attempt to create false "favorites" or to use in any way accounts which are not genuine for the purpose of generating "favorites" will result in disqualification. You must be a member of deviantART.com to enter. Membership is free.

Judging

Your work will be judged on the basis of Originality, Creative Interpretation of the Theme, and Technical Skill.

First, second, and third prize winners will be selected by a judging panel consisting of Wacom worldwide staff including:

• Wacom’s Global Evangelist Manager
• Wacom’s Manager of Corporate Marketing for Europe, Middle East and Africa
• Wacom’s Director of Marketing Communications for the Americas.

So what is a blog? In my definition, a blog is a web log (or a journal) that can be viewed on the internet in an HTML web browser. For a more detailed explanation, go to Wikipedia.

With blog advertising, it is one way to promote and increase traffic to a website. Since blogging (reading and writing them) has become popular, it is an effective way to reach targeted audiences.

How blog advertising works: Advertisers look for blog sites that will help promote their products effectively. And as for the blogger, they get paid to blog about the advertiser’s products, services, and/or recommendations.

If you're interested in earning a bit of commission or make some extra money, you can register your blog as a publisher.

Take a look at Blogadvertisingstore's Blog about Everything on Blog Advertising for a list of discussions and give them a comment.

Since the opening of Beard Papa's, I would go there occasionally for their desserts. I had to try some Beard Papa's famous cream puffs even with the long wait at the lineup. I actually bought a dozen to share with the family.

Those famous cream puffs are made with a crunchy puff pastry filled with fresh and all natural original custard combined with whipped cream. My favorite flavors they have available are vanilla (original), green tea, strawberry, and mango. Which flavor is your favorite?

And the winner for the 24,000 pageview Kiriban is with the closest hits. She gets three 4x6 prints of my artwork/photography of her choice from my art gallery. Congratulations! Thanks everyone else for participating.

Also don't forget...

25K Pageview Kiriban + Prize Giveaway
This one is an Art Book Giveaway. The prize will be offered to the winner for providing me a screenshot showing exactly 25,000 pageviews (or closest) on my profile.

The winner will get a copy of Future-Art-Magazine's very first issue (which is now discontinued):



NOTE: This contest is for DeviantArt members only.

Final Fantasy XIII has finally announced the release date for the English North America version, which is March 9, 2010. See more info on the official Square Enix Website.

Don't want to go out too much. Afraid of the H1N1 going around. It could happen to anybody. The following are general guidelines for prevention and care.

H1N1 Guidelines

* Cover nose and mouth with a tissue when coughing or sneezing (Dispose the tissue in the trash after use). Cough and sneeze into your arm, not your hand if no tissue is available to use.
* Handwash with soap and water (especially after coughing or sneezing)
* Clean hands with alcohol-based hand cleaners (such as antibacterial gel)
* Avoid close contact with sick people
* Avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands
* If sick with influenza, staying home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them
* Avoid large crowds if there is a breakout in your city
* Keep common surface areas clean and disinfected
* Get plenty of rest
* If possible try to avoid stress which can lower your immune system
* Eat healthy - fresh fruits & veggies
* Drink plenty of fresh water


Note: Pregnant women and young children are the most vulnerable to the swine flu and should take extra precautions.

We wear a poppy
On Remembrance Day,
And at eleven
We stand and pray.
Wreaths are put
Upon a grave.
As we remember
Our soldiers brave.

-----------------------------------

In Flander's Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flander's fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, tho poppies grow
In Flander's fields.

-- Lt. Col. John McCrae

CGWaves Publishing (formerly Fantasyana), will be publishing their new art book called Supreme Fine Art Exposure. I've just pre-ordered my copy. I can't wait to receive it and looking forward to see my work published in this wonderful book. I was formerly featured in AMAZING EVENTS 002.


SUPREME | Fine Art Exposure is the next ambitious project of CGWaves Publishing.

It will be published by the end of the current year and it will be a hard-cover and high quality book showing the best production from some of the amazing talents who were featured in the past issues of AMAZING EVENTS as well some other directly invited by the Direction Board of our company. Supreme will be divided in 4 main sections

• Portraits
• Nightmares and Monsters
• Animals
• Landscapes

Every artist participating in the book painted at least one artwork for each kind of category described above.

Besides the wonderful image cover by the talented Warren Louw, Supreme will show excellent artworks from Aaron Sikstrom, Andy Jones, Anna Bird, Ben Wootten, Cris De Lara, Duc Truong Huyen, Florian Renner, Lauren K. Cannon, Michael Stelfox, Olga Dabrowska, Raymond Gaustadnes, Tomasz Maronski, Daniel Lovas and Veronica Casas.

Would you like to have a nice discount on the price of the book? Ensure yourself the nice price!

I've recently joined a new photography community called JPG Magazine. I heard about it from another photographer and decided to join. This online magazine features profiles and gallery for photographers to showcase their work and share with the world. This is really great and you can get advice from other members.

Hi ALL! Hope everyone had a nice and happy Halloween. I've participated in this Halloween screenshot contest hosted by The-Warcraft-Legion Club on DeviantArt. This was something easy and quick I came up with. I won 1st place! YAY!

I'm still working on some more Halloween/Autumn artwork themes. Give me a few more weeks and check back :)