{"id":96,"date":"2018-06-04T21:07:10","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T02:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/?p=96"},"modified":"2018-06-08T15:24:26","modified_gmt":"2018-06-08T20:24:26","slug":"hello-and-a-little-bit-about-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/2018\/06\/04\/hello-and-a-little-bit-about-me\/uncategorized\/sefoster\/","title":{"rendered":"Hello and a little bit about me."},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome. I thought I would start off with a little bit about me and how I became an author\/Illustrator.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I am happily married to my husband Steve since September 1995. We were not blessed with children due to fertility struggles and me having a total hysterectomy in 2006 due to Uterine Cancer. We are however blessed with many nephews and nieces. We have a godson and many other children to spoil and send back home to their parents. I mean that is the best thing right. We have a 20lb cat named Gizmo who I am sure will make an appearance here from time to time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I began hand lettering in 2015 when the company my husband worked for closed. I had always loved art but hadn\u2019t really done any since high school many years ago. I spent time every day working on my lettering. I tried many types of media. My current favorites are watercolor and pointed pen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the spring of 2017 I decided to join the #100dayschallenge on Instagram. This is where you pick one thing and then do that each day for 100 days. I chose to draw flowers. Somewhere around the middle of April Instagram was being finicky and wouldn\u2019t post my videos so I started posting them to my Facebook drawing page. One of my author friends kept saying I should make a coloring book. I of course said \u201cNo way. I wouldn\u2019t even begin to know how to do that.\u201d At the same time I kept getting a clear message from God to create a Coloring Prayer Journal. Three times I ignored the message before finally taking the leap of faith and beginning to draw the pages for my first book.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A Stroke with God was a true labor of love. It was over a 300 hour process. I sketched each flower and word on paper. Then I transferred them in ink onto tracing paper. I then scanned them into the computer, converted them into vector images, cleaned them up and them saved them as images that I could then insert into the pages in Microsoft Publisher to create my book.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The thrill I felt when my first printed proof arrived is almost indescribable. It was fantastic, amazing and scary all at the same time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I felt the same nudge from God in the fall of 2017 to do another Prayer Journal with Coloring Pages. This time it would be a 12 month one instead of 30 days. I began sketching out a few ideas and the in December when I had enough money saved from sales of my first book I was able to purchase an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. This was a total game changer. I was now able to draw each coloring page in full and then save as an image to be inserted into my book file in Publisher. I started really focusing on the second book in February and published Coloring Through the Seasons with God on 4\/29\/2018.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most days I still find it hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I have published 2 books. It just doesn\u2019t seem real. Will there be more books? I certainly hope so. Until then I will just keep drawing and see where that takes me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome. I thought I would start off with a little bit about me and how I became an author\/Illustrator.\u00a0 I am happily married to my husband Steve since September 1995. We were not blessed with children due to fertility struggles and me having a total hysterectomy in 2006 due to Uterine Cancer. We are however blessed with many nephews and nieces. We have a godson and many other children to spoil and send back home to their parents. I mean that is the best thing right. We have a 20lb cat named Gizmo who I am sure will make an appearance here from time to time.\u00a0 I began hand lettering in 2015 when the company my husband worked for closed. I had always loved art but hadn\u2019t really done any since high school many years ago. I spent time every day working on my lettering. I tried many types of media. My current favorites are watercolor and pointed pen.\u00a0 In the spring of 2017 I decided to join the #100dayschallenge on Instagram. This is where you pick one thing and then do that each day for 100 days. I chose to draw flowers. Somewhere around the middle of April Instagram was being finicky and wouldn\u2019t post my videos so I started posting them to my Facebook drawing page. One of my author friends kept saying I should make a coloring book. I of course said \u201cNo way. I wouldn\u2019t even begin to know how to do that.\u201d At the same time I kept getting a clear message from God to create a Coloring Prayer Journal. Three times I ignored the message before finally taking the leap of faith and beginning to draw the pages for my first book.\u00a0 A Stroke with God was a true labor of love. It was over a 300 hour process. I sketched each flower and word on paper. Then I transferred them in ink onto tracing paper. I then scanned them into the computer, converted them into vector images, cleaned them up and them saved them as images that I could then insert into the pages in Microsoft Publisher to create my book.\u00a0 The thrill I felt when my first printed proof arrived is almost indescribable. It was fantastic, amazing and scary all at the same time.\u00a0 I felt the same nudge from God in the fall of 2017 to do another Prayer Journal with Coloring Pages. This time it would be a 12 month one instead of 30 days. I began sketching out a few ideas and the in December when I had enough money saved from sales of my first book I was able to purchase an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. This was a total game changer. I was now able to draw each coloring page in full and then save as an image to be inserted into my book file in Publisher. I started really focusing on the second book in February and published Coloring Through the Seasons with God on 4\/29\/2018.\u00a0 Most days I still find it hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I have published 2 books. It just doesn\u2019t seem real. Will there be more books? I certainly hope so. Until then I will just keep drawing and see where that takes me.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[6,7],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Y6g5-1y","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":220,"url":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/2018\/06\/16\/supply-saturday-ipad-pro-and-apple-pencil\/supply-saturday\/sefoster\/","url_meta":{"origin":96,"position":0},"title":"Supply Saturday-IPad Pro and Apple Pencil","author":"sefoster","date":"June 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the first in my Supply Saturday posts. I will be sharing with you some of my favorite supplies. From time to time I may also share the ones I didn\u2019t particularly care for and why. For this first installment I was inspired by a comment on my June\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Supply Saturday"","block_context":{"text":"Supply Saturday","link":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/category\/supply-saturday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sefosterauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/7B91B14F-2D4E-491D-A9AD-C0155E7D1225-240x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":315,"url":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/2018\/06\/28\/zetangle-alphabet\/technique-thursday\/sefoster\/","url_meta":{"origin":96,"position":1},"title":"Zetangle Alphabet","author":"sefoster","date":"June 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Today\u2019s Technique Thursday topic is something that has facilitated me for several years. Traditional Zentangle is quite an art. There is a specific training required to teach this style. It is quite popular amongst the Scrapbooking crowd. Personally I just don\u2019t have the patience to do something as intricate as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technique Thursday"","block_context":{"text":"Technique Thursday","link":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/category\/technique-thursday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sefosterauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/8063A736-0D8D-4E78-ACC5-B5C04B1B23C9-300x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":347,"url":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/2018\/07\/12\/digital-chalkboard\/technique-thursday\/sefoster\/","url_meta":{"origin":96,"position":2},"title":"Digital chalkboard","author":"sefoster","date":"July 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 I absolutely love drawing with chalk...with one exception. The dust. No matter how hard I try I still manage to get it everywhere and it makes me sneeze constantly. So I was so pleased to learn I could create the same look with my iPad. I have purchased several\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technique Thursday"","block_context":{"text":"Technique Thursday","link":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/category\/technique-thursday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sefosterauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/PNG-image-3-300x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":243,"url":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/2018\/06\/18\/fear-is-a-liar\/monday-musings\/sefoster\/","url_meta":{"origin":96,"position":3},"title":"Fear is a Liar","author":"sefoster","date":"June 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Almost anyone who knows me is well aware that music holds a very special place in my life. I have a wide range as far as to the type of music that I like. Christian music is currently my number one go genre. There are so many great artists out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Monday musings"","block_context":{"text":"Monday musings","link":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/category\/monday-musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sefosterauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/PNG-image-2-1-300x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":327,"url":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/2018\/07\/04\/happy-4th-of-july-free-coloring-page\/giveaways\/sefoster\/","url_meta":{"origin":96,"position":4},"title":"Happy 4th of July-FREE coloring page","author":"sefoster","date":"July 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy 4th of July I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday. Here is one of the pages from my book Coloring Through the Seasons with God. I colored mine on my iPad with the Procreate app. As a holiday treat you can click here to download a copy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Free coloring page"","block_context":{"text":"Free coloring page","link":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/category\/free-coloring-page\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sefosterauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/44C836B8-22BC-4C41-BFF4-47482A070318-240x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":595,"url":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/11\/02\/november-2019-free-coloring-page\/free-coloring-page\/sefoster\/","url_meta":{"origin":96,"position":5},"title":"November 2019 Free Coloring Page","author":"sefoster","date":"November 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Sorry for the delay I launched my first batch of Handmade Shimmer watercolors yesterday and just now had time to post this. Here is the November \u00a02019 Free Coloring Page I hope you enjoy it. You can get it at and other updates my Facebook Author group","rel":"","context":"In "Free coloring page"","block_context":{"text":"Free coloring page","link":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/category\/free-coloring-page\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sefosterauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/EEABB187-6111-436A-A68E-AD95B8EAA761-240x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127,"href":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions\/127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sefosterauthor.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}