Monday's Cheersfest was a great time and I want to thank all of you who turned up with posts and to those who left equally fun comments. I hope everyone had as much fun as I did. The whole event made me feel all warm and roasty.A special thank you to the Cheersfest hosts Mark Koopmans, Morgan Shamy, David Powers King, Stephen Tremp and Alex J. Cavanaugh.
This year I had about a quarter of the roasters that Alex had last year which actually was kind of a blessing to me. It's going to be tough enough to judge the best roast entry out of those who put me on the spit. I don't know how Alex managed last year, but I never know how Alex manages to do what he does. I still say clones.
There were plenty of commenters to make up for the lack of official entries. It's a good thing I don't have to include them in the contest. I'd be sweating over the decision for days to come. I'll be announcing the winner next Monday--a day with more than one special announcement.
I'll also have a special Ask Arlee follow-up post next Wednesday in response to Sydney Aaliyah's request that I roast myself and answer the questions. That's when the truths will be revealed!
A Toast to Jeremy Hawkins
Many comments were made about my new cute logo BlogMan guy. When I first laid eyes on him I had a nice laugh and I still beam every time I see him. My very special thanks to Jeremy Hawkins at Being Retro for designing the little fellow. Additional thanks to Mark Koopmans for turning my thoughts into contacting Jeremy about this. I think Jeremy did an amazing job.
Who is Jeremy?
Many of you are already familiar with Jeremy Hawkins as one of the A to Z Challenge co-hosts for the past few years. He designed the official Challenge badges for 2012 and 2013 plus many other banners and badges associated with the Challenge. He also did much of the work on the A to Z Blog page. He is a quiet behind the scenes guy who has played an important role in adding to the success of the annual A to Z Challenge.
But Jeremy's influence in the blogging community extends far beyond this. The header to Tossing It Out was a custom design by Jeremy. And that very cool animated header as well as other artwork on Alex J Cavanaugh's blog was also created by Jeremy.
Some of you have Jeremy's artwork on your own blogs and rather than me just listing through them I'll let you tell about what he's done for your blog or other artwork he's done for you.
A talented artist, graphic designer, ideator and renaissance man, Jeremy is a multifaceted dynamo who also designs book cover art, t-shirts, and promotional specialities. He even has his own art related books that you should check out. After all Christmas is coming and there may be that unique gift for someone on your Christmas list.
For the full rundown on what Jeremy has to offer go to his main blog Being Retro and click around to see Jeremy's talent for yourself and find out some of the cool things he has on display. Of course you'll be clicking on the link that says "Don't Look Here", but if you are one who is obedient this is one case where you shouldn't be. Literally you could spend hours at Jeremy's site
If you have a Cheersfest entry you definitely want to visit Jeremy's site in case you are the winner of the prize he is offering to one of my chosen favorite roast posts. Jeremy is going to be designing a personal graphic for one of you lucky folks. Visit his blog and other sites so you can start dreaming about what you'd like to see him design for you. Maybe you can have your own character logo like my BlogMan. Or a new blog header? The winner will be announced on Monday December 16th.
So I hereby propose a toast to my friend and talented artist/blogger, Jeremy Hawkins!
Thanks for everything my friend and may we have an ongoing friendship for many years to come!
Be watching for a special announcement next Monday from Jeremy Hawkins, Yolanda Renèe, Alex J. Cavanaugh and me. We've got something planned that you may find very helpful and fun.
Has Jeremy designed anything for you or for your blog? Tell us about it in the comments and provide links if you have them.
