VLNTNSDYMRKT 3

I'll be one of over 30 vendors at next Friday's third annual VLNTNSDYMRKT hosted by Pot & Box at Eight & Sand at 3901 Christopher Street in Hamtramck. We'll be sharing the love from 5 to 9 p.m., Friday, February 13 so come find something sweet for your Valentine!

Five years of Februaries…

As promised, another look back at my calendar designs through the years. Here are five years of Februaries:

I'm having fun learning the correct plural formats for the months in this process! You can see the collection of Januaries here.

Shop talk

The latest news in my Etsy shop:

2015 calendars are on sale for 50% off 

I've reorganized the sections and listings in my shop so that you can now order any available size of each illustration from within one listing. I had been wanting to do this for a very long time, so I hope this makes it a bit easier to find the print best suited for you.

My Black Sheep Valentine is in stock at last.

I've also been adding some long overdue prints, like my School Supplies piece and Cuckoo Clock print.

What are you reading?

As the regulars around here may have noticed, I love to read. I love to take some quiet time in the mornings when everything is still and lie in bed with a good book. In the winter months in particular, there is no better way to start my day.

In 2013 I signed up for a challenge to read 50 books over the course of the year and enthusiastically dove in head first. However, let it be known that I am also a huge procrastinator. The reading challenge came into perfect alignment with my procrastination and I used reading as my number one procrastination device. (I also have an extremely competitive nature. Oy.)

I told myself, "How can reading be bad?" Well, there's a limit and I found that as I neared the end of the year, there were things I wished I had made time for over reading. I stopped the challenge in December with just three books to go.

This lead to my paltry reading of 14 books in 2014. I told myself that I could start a book on Friday, but had to be finished by Sunday so as not to get in the way of my work. This worked for a while, but I hit a string of disappointing books midway through the year and my reading of books dropped away almost completely.

Well, I'm ready to approach 2015 with a better attitude. I don't plan on fifty books this year, but I think I can find a healthier balance. I have a better handle on my daily work routine and habits and feel confident in my ability to stem procrastination. But I find myself a bit out of the book loop and am looking for titles to try. What have you been reading? What do you recommend?

I continue to keep my reading list here on the blog. Won't you follow along?

The Sewing Party illustrations

One of the biggest illustration projects I worked on in 2014 was a live, online event called The Sewing Party. Created by Singer Sewing Machines and SVP Worldwide, the event was a day of learning and live classes lead by bloggers and educators from across the country. I got to think about my dream craft room scenario and draw it a hundred different ways, explore all kinds of crafty sewing imagery and work with some amazing people in the craft community. I couldn't reveal much of this work during the process, so I'm thrilled to post it all together here at last. It all began with the logo and included so much more. All of the environments attendees visited on the site:

The landing page of the event site

 The Classroom

  

The Lounge

The Library

I worked with ten sponsors to create custom booths for the Marketplace:

Etsy

Jo-Ann Fabrics

Inspira Studio

Singer

Pfaff

Simplicity

Pellon

BurdaStyle

Embroidery Software

Husqvarna Viking

As well as three generic booths for other Marketplace sponsors:

There was also this fun t-shirt that is still available on the site.

What better project could a crafty illustrator gal like myself ask for?!? 

Quilting

I'm here to tell those of you who have been around these parts for a while that the boy has officially graduated to Mister Fizz. We've been married just over two years now (I snuck that one by you, didn't I?!) and "the boy" just doesn't cut it anymore. We celebrated our second anniversary in October in traditional style with gifts of cotton.

In keeping with my personal style, I presented an unfinished gift: This pieced quilt top. Mister Fizz knows me well and made me promise that I wouldn't touch it again until after the busy holiday craft show season. So here we are. Photographing this beauty on the coldest day of winter so far.

I had pieced quilt squares before for various small projects, but have never made a full quilt. Since I wanted it to be queen sized, so I thought I had better stick with a simple pattern. I've been working from this Instructables tutorial and am excited and nervous to put it all together. Wish me luck!

On a quilt-related theme, I once again checked out this oversized The Quilts of Gee's Bend book from the library. I tend to do so about twice a year. It's so inspiring for so many different projects.

Right now, I'm just focused on doing a little bit of sketching every day. The above is inspired by one of Annie May Young's quilts in the book. 2014 was filled with lots of client work with not as much time for new personal work. I'm excited for 2015 and a new year of projects and illustration. We'll see where this goes… 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, friends! 2014: What a year! I was much a stranger to this space in 2014, but want to kick off the new year right with a hello to you all. I thought it would be fun to take a look back through my calendar designs from over the years. I started this project way back in 2011, so here's a look at five years of Januarys:

It's really fun for me to review and critique and see the ways in which I've grown and changed as an artist. Which is your favorite? I think for me, it's 2015 — but I always seem to like my newest work best. (You can still purchase the 2015 calendar right here.)

I plan to take a look back at the start of each month. I hope you'll follow along. Here's to a new year of adventure and art!

2014 Holiday Craft Show schedule

It's hard to believe it's that time of year already! (I probably say this to you every year, but it feels like it becomes more and more true each and every year. Are you with me?!) Next Saturday, November 22 marks my first of four holiday craft shows this year. I hope you'll make it out to one or more so I can say hello and merry to you in person. I'll have new holiday card designs, my 2015 illustrated calendars, DIY ornament kits, new print designs and more! 

Ridge Fine Art Show
Saturday, November 22
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Drayton Avenue Church
2441 Pinecrest Drive
Ferndale, MI

Crafty Supermarket
Saturday, November 29
11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Music Hall Ballroom
Cincinnati, OH

Detroit Urban Craft Fair
December 6 and 7

Masonic Temple
Detroit, MI

DIYpsi
December 13 and 14
Riverside Arts Center
Ypsilanti, MI

As has become tradition, I will also be involved in two local art center holiday shops:

Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center
December 4 to 20
Birmingham, MI

212 Arts Center
December 5 to 13
Saline, MI

2015 Illustrated Calendar

It's here! My 2015 illustrated calendar is available in the shop. This is the fifth in what's become an annual tradition. I hope you enjoy!

Foraging Tote

I recently made this "foraging tote" for a friend's birthday after spending a week in the woods with her gathering sticks and stones for crafting projects. We wrapped sticks with wool thread, painted fun nature-y things on big dark rocks and laughed a lot the whole time. I came home and inspired by this project, decided this handmade carryall would be a great gift for our next outing.

I made it all up as I went along, but was originally inspired by this photo on Pinterest:

As cute as the found sticks are, I thought smoother handles would be more sensible. I found this tutorial, too, but didn't quite feel like following directions and doing things like measuring! But they're there if you want a place to start. Happy summer gathering, friends!

The Sewing Party

I have been itching to share this project with you for ages now! I have been working since late winter with SVP Worldwide, makers of Singer, Viking Husqvarna and Pfaff sewing machines, on illustrations for The Sewing Party.

On November 8, 2014, The Sewing Party will be the first live, online DIY sewing and crafting event ever! Thousands of crafty DIY-ers will gather for a fun-filled day of sewing and crafting classes taught online by leading bloggers and educational experts.

I've created a logo and t-shirt design for the event and am busy, busy, busy drawing a virtual world in which the event will occur online.  I can't wait for you to see that part!! They've used some of my rough sketches in the video on the site and lots of little elements throughout.

Here's a look at the tee. Girly tees will be available, too. Stay tuned for more details and illustrations soon! 

Owl and raccoon wedding invite

Another happy wedding celebration this past weekend! Congratulations to my sister-in-law, Amanda and her husband Ian. Amanda does a lot of wildlife rescue so I took the opportunity to draw a few critters for their invite.

A sweet dog-inspired wedding theme

Congratulations to Val and Brett! They were married on Saturday and this is the invite I did for them featuring their beloved dog, Ruger. Isn't he the cutest?

I created what became something of a logo for the wedding. It went on their seating chart, programs and a poster for guests to sign. Clearly, this is a couple with a good sense of humor and an amazing dog.

Vintage lunch box planter

This vintage lunch box I picked up for my craft show display wasn't making the cut, so rather than have it gather dust on my shelf any longer, I turned it into a sweet little planter this weekend. I love the glow of gold on the inside of the top lid.

Delivery by horse and carriage

I shipped off a small number of prints and greeting cards to Poppins on Mackinac Island yesterday. It's so fun knowing that they will be delivered by UPS via horse and carriage today!

DIYpsi Indie Art Fair Summer 2014

While it seems far away now, August will be here before we know it! Toward the end of the month I will be participating in the fourth annual DIYpsi summer indie art fair. I've never done the summer show, so am excited to see you all in the heat and blazing sun. Two days of art-filled fun at the Corner Brewery — how have I resisted this long?!?

Craft-a-way Camp 2014

I am officially in full-on summertime mode. It all started with a weekend spent at Craft-a-way Camp in the Waterloo Rec Area. Organized by Amy and Ethan Cronkite of Small Craft, the weekend was jam-packed with crafty workshops, making, laughing and spending time in the greatest of outdoors. We checked our phones at the door (voluntarily) and I left my camera at home, so all of these wonderful photos are courtesy of Amy Cronkite.

 This one says it all!

 Getting to know you…

 Andy Sell, working his magic…

 Printing from plants in progress…

 Our crafting area in action…

 Some tie dyes hanging out…

 The chock-o-block schedule and a dreamy dream catcher…

 Modern dream catcher supplies…

 Camp fire singing from official camp songbooks… no joke.

My own dreamy modern dreamcatcher 

We made journals, screenprinted totes, wrapped sticks, turned old t-shirts into stunning jewelry, transferred images onto all kinds of surfaces and so much more. The whole weekend set the stage for good times this summer. and got my creative making juices flowing I can't wait for next year!