Gold-digging, oh yeah

More about this over at Treasuring's new home. I'm still trying to entice you over!

have you made the switch?

I'm going to try to entice you over to Treasuring's new address this morning.... don't you want to see what happens when I pick up my oil paints for the first time in several years?

Click.

It's sort-of another process post. Sort-of.

(Make sure you update your reader with Treasuring's new address!!)

Big news! Treasuring is moving!

You guys, I'm so so so excited to tell you that I've finally moved Treasuring over to my website! No more blogspot address!! Here's a peek at the brand new location:

Isn't it pretty?? (The link to the blog on my website is circled there in turquoise.)

And this way I have everything all in one place, which is part of my 'streamline in 2010' goal. I couldn't be more thrilled.

So, please update your readers with the new feed address, or get email updates! Beginning tomorrow I'll be posting there instead of here on blogspot-- if you subscribe right now you won't miss a thing! And this way you can check out Treasuring and my website all together, and you can shop and see all my artwork and everything! Easier for you, easier for me. Yay.

I hope you like the new look, and I'll see you over in the new spot tomorrow! (You can subscribe from there, too.)

animation: 'No Turning Back'

Get ready to have your socks knocked off by this animation, you guys. This is the most incredible thing I've seen in a long time. One of my pals, Elizabeth, sent this to me, and I about fell over when I watched it. Oh my goodness!

The song is 'No Turning Back' by Sarah Blasko, and it's animated by Celeste Potter, who is most certainly my new favorite artist.

Stop whatever you're doing and watch it-- I swear, you won't be disappointed!
(And the song is good, too!)

bits & pieces (or, what I'm working on)

I thought it would be fun today to share some visual snippets of some of the projects I've been working on these days. I love sneak peeks, don't you?

Above is a mish-mash of things, including some patterns and a birthday card I'm working on for Surtex, the shop header I made for my little sister's brand-new etsy shop, an illustrated map project for a client, a postcard for a client, black & white line drawings for another client, and a pattern for an I-can't-tell-you-what-it-is-yet project. These are among several other projects going on at the moment! Busy busy. Just how I like it.

Oh! Also, I'm starting to offer larger prints in my etsy shop! Here is the first one. The Bird Lady! If there are any specific larger prints you'd like to see for sale (11x14" and/or 13x19") let me know-- I'll be adding them to the shop over the next week, so I'm up for suggestions!

anatomy of an illustration

Good morning! Welcome to a brand new week. Do you feel the thrill of possibility this morning?

I was working on this illustration yesterday, and I thought it would be fun to scan it at a couple of stages and show a bit of the process, because I get asked about it often. So the top image is the pencil drawing that I began with in my sketchbook.

Then (above) I outlined that with a black pen and changed/added a few things-- the flag at the top is gone. I decided it was lame. I added the outlined flowers and bumps on the ground. I added the ribbons at the top. I got rid of the eyebrows. Oh, all these changes and additions were done in Photoshop- I should mention that.

And here is the finished piece! It's called "Summer Breeze," and you can see it here on my website as well. All the coloring was done in Photoshop with the paint bucket tool and brushes. The lace on the dress is a Photoshop brush, and the cloud and grass textures are pattern fills that I created and saved within Photoshop.

I hope you like it! It's fun to give a little insight into my work sometimes.

In other news, I finally added a big cartel shop to my website, so you can now purchase prints and things straight from there! Just click the 'shop' link at the top of my website. I'm also going to be adding some original paintings soon, so keep your eye out for that!

365 Project

Have you all heard of the 365 Project? Taking more photos has been on my list of things to do for a long time now, and I'm hoping this will prompt me to actually do it. The 365 Project is a place where you can upload a photograph every day, to document a year of your life in photographs. Cool, right?

I secretly wish I were a photographer-- although in college, photography was one of the hardest classes I ever took! Maybe it'd be easier now, what with all the digital technology. I don't know. I had such trouble in the dark room! Speaking of photographers, have you visited Ashley Thalman's blog, Bird on the Lawn? (Ashley was my wedding photographer, and she is magical. I wish she lived right next door to me.) Bird on the Lawn is the most thoughtful, heartfelt, and beautiful-photo-filled blog that I've ever seen. You'll definitely want to start following her, people.

Anyway, I think I'm going to start doing the 365 Project today-- what better time to start than right now, right?

Tim Gough

You guys, I have serious beach brain. I can't remember the last time I've wanted to be somewhere warm so badly! What I wouldn't give to hop onto a plane to Hawaii right now-- and these photos by Tim Gough are just making the desire to be on the beach even stronger!

I love these photos so much. I imagine they're taken with a holga camera or something? The square format, the light-seeped edges.... they're just gorgeous.

Check out more from Tim on flickr right here and his website here. (He's actually an illustrator, but I found these on his flickr page and couldn't resist posting them here.)

circus circus: new patterns!

I posted this new collection of circus- themed patterns on my website last week, and I wanted to share them here, too. I thought you guys would get a kick out of the little bears on bikes and the carousel horses!

This collection is available for license/sale, and I'll be taking it to Surtex with me in May.
Surtex is looming ever closer..... I'm so excited (and nervous)!
{If you aren't familiar with Surtex, it's a licensing show in New York City every May, where artists and designers exhibit their work and manufacturers & retailers come to find surface designs for their products.}

I had so much fun with this circus theme. I may end up adding to it because I love it so much- we'll see!

too good to be true?

I'm seriously digging these pieces by super_furry on flickr. But who are you, super_furry? What's your real name? Do you have a website? I gotta know!

Gosh, I really love these. If anyone knows the designer's real name, please do pass it along to me! His work is making me very happy this morning. Check out more here.

Blissful Monday

Good morning, lovely people!

Did you have a nice weekend? A good Valentine's Day? I hope so. Mine was lovely and mellow and quiet, just how I like it. :)

There's so much to be grateful for this week. Here's what's at the top of my list:

1. A real live snowstorm in Atlanta! I've been missing my hometown of Boulder, Colorado lately, so the snow was a nice, comforting reminder of home. I love waking up to freshly fallen snow-- how it glistens and makes everything feel really quiet.... beautiful.


2. A very surprising (and exciting) email late last night-- I can't say a word yet, but it's good. Details as soon as I can, I promise.

3. A bad mood turned into an inspiring realization. (And a new illustration to go with it!)


4. I ate my first macaron yesterday on Valentine's Day, and it was intense and delicious. It was oh-so-sugary, which is not typically a part of my diet, but what a treat! If you're in the market for some macarons (or cupcakes), make sure you check out Crumb Bakery in Atlanta. They are tip-top!


5. Trusting that everything will be ok. I've been a big worrier pretty much my whole life, and lately I've been letting it go a little bit and trusting that everything will work out as it's supposed to. It feels so good to relax a little.

And you? Now it's your turn to share your bliss list!

Happy {early} Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is a little controversial, isn't it? Some people think it's a marketing holiday, all about getting people to spend money on cards and chocolate and flowers, other people think it's romantic and fun... I fall on the romantic and fun side. I've always liked Valentine's Day, even if I didn't have someone to spend it with.

My husband, on the other hand, falls into the other camp-- he thinks it's stupid (I say boo to that!) so I have to remind him every year that I actually like the sappiness of the day! We'll see what he comes up with this year. :) I'm surprising him with some made-from-scratch macarons from Crumb here in Atlanta, and I'm going to stick a little toothpick flag in each one, with my favorite things about him written on them. Cute, no? He's going to love it and think it's cheesy all at the same time! And that's the goal, my friends.

Also, I just wanted to show you these cute Valentine designs I've been working on the past couple of days. Aren't they fun? I especially like the middle one.
{Card companies, call me if you like them!}

So happy Valentine's Day to you whatever you end up doing on Sunday, and happy weekend in general, and I'll see you next week!

i'm on print & pattern this morning

Just a quick note to let you all know that my designs are featured on Print & Pattern this morning! I'm so excited-- pop over and have a peek!

Also, did you know the Print & Pattern book is coming out next month? It's going to be super.
(And yes, I have some designs in there, too-- big thanks to Bowie for all her support!)

illustration: sarah palisi

I came across Sarah Palisi's work on flickr recently, and I loved it immediately.. Her line work, the detail, her use of color, all of it.

And isn't the internet just so cool, Sarah and I have struck up a friendship now-- a girl in Georgia and a girl in Germany. So far apart, connected through the internet. Amazing.

If I were an art director, I would scoop Sarah up to do some work for my magazine-- her illustrations are so visually stunning, I can imagine they'd add so much depth to stories in magazines. (Art directors, don't you agree?)

You can find Sarah's gorgeous work in a number of places: on her website, on flickr, on her blog, on the Behance Network, on her facebook fan page, and on twitter! Oh, and she has an etsy shop and an Envelop shop. This girl is busy! And oh-so-talented.

Fried.

I'm feeling a little fried these days. Like there's a lot of output happening, and not much input to replenish myself. Which naturally leads me to thinking about going on vacation. Does this happen to you?

The photo above is somewhere in Bali. Oh, what I wouldn't give to be there right now!

I asked this question on twitter yesterday, and now I want to ask it here.
If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?
Bali is at the top of my list at the moment. Also high on my list:

Iceland:

{photo grabbed here}

Morocco:

{photo from André Pipa's flickr page}

What's your dream trip? I'm in the mood to fantastize about vacation!

Blissful Monday

Good morning, and welcome to another Monday morning, friends. Are you ready to have the best week ever?

This last week was full of stress for me, so I'm going to pluck some of the lessons out of it that I'm grateful for this week. Ready? Okay!

• Saturday was tax day. Doing my taxes stresses me out beyond belief, and somehow I'm ending up owing again this year, even though I paid all my estimated taxes on time and Ryan and I are filing jointly for the first time (he is in medical school, and thus, he has lots of debt and little income.) What I'm grateful for: I'm starting to set up more workable systems for myself. I'm also realizing that I need some help learning about efficient accounting systems for my business, and I'm working on getting some help! Yay for help and updating old, unworkable ways of doing things.

• The sun finally came out yesterday, which lifted my spirits. We went on a long walk through the neighborhood in the morning crispness. Very nice.

• I spent too long this week worrying about having too much to do, instead of just jumping in and getting to work. It's amazing how my mind can help me procrastinate while at the same time telling me that I have to much to do! So, I'm grateful to see this pattern so I can start tricking my mind into just getting to work already, dammit!

• I got a super-cute haircut (amidst a day of complete and utter unproductivity, I might add.) Why have I spent my whole adult life up to this point without bangs? I have no idea, because I'm completely in love with them.

• Guacamole. I'm eternally grateful that guacamole exists.

And how about you? What was your week like? What bits can you pull out to feel absolutely grateful for?

brittni wood

Brittni Wood (who you may know as the lady behind papernstitch) recently sent me some images of her paintings, and I was excited to share them with you because look! They're awesome!

Brittni's originally from Stockton, California and now lives in Jacksonville, Florida, which makes me jealous, because I bet it's warm there right now. (Is anyone else insanely ready for spring time??) She's beginning to get her artwork back out into the world after spending the last year and a half building up papernstitch. Check out all the places she's already exhibited, though-- she's only 25 and already amazingly accomplished!

I am always so intrigued by artists' color palettes, and Brittni's is no exception-- I love the muted tones, and I especially love the piece below with all that white. You can see more of Brittni's beautiful work on her website and in her etsy shop.

Brittni has kindly offered a 20% discount in her etsy shop to all of you who read this blog, because she is awesome. And you are awesome. Just enter the code 'TREASURING' when checking out, or convo her for a special listing.

Thanks, Brittni!

i'm starting to love purple

I've never been a purple person. I remember when I was a kid my sister's favorite color was purple, and I thought she was crazy!

I never liked pink as a kid either, but a few years ago I all of a sudden started loving pink. I mean, I started buying all sorts of pink stuff: pink shoes, a pink coat, pink t-shirts..... it was totally weird and unexpected, as I am not at all a girly sort of girl. And yes, I still love pink today.

So, I think the same thing is happening to me with purple now, especially lots of different shades of purple all together, like that dress above. I am craaaazy about that dress! It's a Givenchy from I don't know when... I found it in some google search and then didn't save the link, of course.

Also, these types of fashion-y photographs inspire a lot of my illustrations of women. Can you tell?

illustrator: emma hanquist

All these textures that Emma Hanquist uses in her work are just fantastic. And combined with the pencil drawings... well, it just seals the deal for me. I love these illustrations.

You can find more of Emma's work on her website and on Anna Goodson's website (where Emma is represented.)

Spring: Inspiration in Bloom Episode 3!

I'm happy to tell you that my Spring cohorts and I posted the first installment of our February episodes this morning, and it's all about support! We're changing things up a little bit this month, and we're posting one shorter video every week, so you can get a weekly dose instead of all in one chunk. Cool?

Watch it above, or click over to the Spring website for the full experience, including photos of what we're giving away this week!

Peggy Wolf

Amaaaaaaaaazing work by London-based Peggy Wolf to be inspired by this morning.

here's what you're missing...

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this here or not, but I've started regularly updating the front page of my website with new illustrations and patterns several times a week, many of which I don't post here on this blog. So I wanted to give you a peek at what you're missing over there! These are all recent illustrations that I've posted.... with loving words as well. :)

I invite you to subscribe so you can get the updates as soon as I publish them!