Winter Gift Guide

We are going pretty minimal for most of our gift giving this year...plus I have been promising my family paintings for way too long! So, even though I wont be buying nearly as much stuff off Etsy as last year, I hope everyone else still will!

Check out the treasury I created...a winter gift guide for art lovers:

Aren't they lovely? Any favorites?   ♥

Sneaky - Illustration Friday

Whohoo!
 I haven't drawn an illustration for the Illustration Friday in some time.
So here you are! The topic was sneaky, but I prefer sneakity!
♥

(click the image to view larger)

sneaky peeks

I apologize if I got you excited for cotton candy. I was too!

 My first job at age 15 was working in a concession stand at the Super Oval, a racetrack in my hometown. That summer I lived to stand around making sticky cotton candy while everyone else rushed crazily about prepping for the evening. There was really no competition for this task. I would end up spending the entire night covered in tacky sugar all up in my outfit and hair. The most reminiscent part to these teenage summers came from popping out the plywood windows and shoving stick after stick of free fluffy sugar to the waiting little tyrants (racecar driver offspring) that roamed the Oval before dark.

Back to my point...due to circumstances beyond my control I will no longer be having the "Cotton Candy Underground" artshow in Coeur d'Alene on the 3rd. I actually canceled it. There was some change in ownership and it just didn't seem like the right time for an exhibit there. I will have to find another excuse to rent a cotton candy machine and feed you all those sticky sweet sugars of my past.

Even with with a short deadline looming overhead,  I had a wonderful time preparing some new pieces. So, even though you have to wait to see them....I will share some sneak peeks here:

Have a lovely weekend!

Oh Deer!

I'm just going to put this out there...I can't knit - like at all (which is very frustrating). I had been looking for the perfect hat for a long time. I knew it would have ears, but couldn't be lame (there are a lot of cheesy animal hats out there)!

Tiny Owls definitely took Etsy by storm. I found her hat pattern (she was still a new seller), posted it on facebook, worked out a plan to barter logo and banner design for a friend to knit it, went back to buy the pattern (not long after finding it) and it had sold. I ended up swiping one up the next day when she relisted.

When I checked today the Tiny Owls shop was up to 130 sales! Amazing. I keep going back (knowing that I cannot have what I will find) and there are more and more adorable patterns...even packs of patterns. So - if you are more talented than I, you better get over there and check it out.

Also...BIG thank you to Janelle for my beautiful deer hat! It turned out perfectly. Sneak over to her shop Lemuria Handmade Crafts and check out our little logo design for hat swappery. Her shop is empty at the moment but the new banner is up and I am sure it will be full of lovely items in time.

Adventures in a Pumpkin Suit!

Oh goodness....I had a weekend of party photo taking madness!!! Such lovely times. ♥

The first set of photos was from our Hellaween Party on Friday at Areli and Justin's. The second set was from a party for Chris Dreyer's work...Boom Creative, which had a most magical movie wall - you will see...

Oh, and here is Jacinda and my Helloween Prom photo!!! (her mom took it before we headed out) She's a cheesy broccoli, and I - a genetically engineered seedless pumpkin. Homemade costumes are the best!

Click the photos to view them larger.

We didn't get home until 5am that morning. Saturday (afternoon) was spent ordering pizza, watching movies, taking baths and then wrapping Emily in plastic wrap outside the grocery store (for her Dexter Victim costume), before we headed to Boom....

We also sparkle attacked pretty much everyone we came in contact with!What is Halloween with out a little glitter? ♥