Happy Thanksgiving (what I'm grateful for)

It's amazing to me that tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and that means the holidays are officially here again. Tomorrow I'm going to Asheville, NC with my husband for a few days, and we're going to have Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant, which I've never done before. I'm a bit sad we won't be with any family, but I'm grateful to be able to go to a new place and have a brand new experience. I think it will be fun! And with any luck, I'll eat just as much as I always do on Thanksgiving, and I'll be lying on the floor in a half-awake state at the end of the night, moaning about how full I am, and then going to eat some more pie. :) Isn't that always how Thanksgiving goes?

Anyway, since Thanksgiving is all about gratitude, it feels appropriate to tell you all what I'm feeling grateful for right now. (And since I skipped the Bliss List this past Monday...)

• My husband. I am so lucky to share my life with him. He's the best snuggler in the whole world, he believes in me to no end, and he can make me laugh like no one else.
• My Spring ladies. (Our video post will be up later today or tomorrow!! I'll be sure to let you know when.) Wow, these ladies rock my world. Smart, sassy, opinionated, motivated, positive forces in the world.... I'm honored and grateful to be creating with them.
  
• That I'm self-employed. The simple fact that I get to structure my days exactly as I please and do the work that I feel compelled to do is beyond magnificent.
• All the people that read my blog(s), comment on what I write and draw and paint, send me words of encouragement and thanks and artists I might like... I could not do what I'm doing without all of you. You amaze me, endlessly.
• That I have enough. Money, time, love, clothing, food, an apartment to live in, friends, family...
  
• My life coach, Michelle Ward. She helped me to pull myself out of a funk and start being more grateful for my life and my world. And for that, I am forever grateful.
• Everything that makes my life easier-- my car that runs well, my computer, my lights that turn on when I flip a switch, the refrigerator that keeps my food cold... I take these things for granted, but wow, life would be harder without them.
• My warm bed. I love my bed so much.
• My cat, Anika. She lights up my days and keeps me company when home alone working. She chirps when she runs and always wants a treat.

I hope you all have a terrific Thanksgiving and that you think about all you are grateful for!

website redesign (again!)

I think I'm destined to change my website every few months. I get to a place where I like it, and then a few months later I want to completely change the way it looks!

So, inspiration struck last night, and I got involved in a bit of a redesign. I'm moving towards a content-driven site, inspired by this post by Sarah J. Bray. I've been looking for a way to combine my website and my 2 blogs in one powerful place, and I think I need to make the leap. I want to have one web presence, not 3! 2 blogs are a lot to keep up, and I'd rather have one direct place for everything. I have some ideas, but for right now, my brand new animation is on the front page, and I made some colorful buttons for the sidebar. I also moved the main navigation to the top. I'll be filling it all in with more info over the next few weeks.

What do you think?
Do you have a content-driven website? Do you have a website, an etsy shop, a couple of blogs, a flickr page, and it all feels like a bit too much? Share your experience with me! What do you like to see when you visit an artist/designer's website?

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: keep out of the cookies (a new animation)

I can't believe I was able to keep this a secret for so long, but I have something really fun to share with you this morning! I've been working on another animation (you might remember the first one)-- I've been SO EXCITED to tell you all about it, and it's finally finished and ready to be released!

So, there is a purpose to this animation, which you will discover by watching it. {It is Christmas-themed, and oh-so-silly!}

And after you're done watching the animation, CLICK HERE to see what the purpose of the animation is. Here's a teaser:


Curious? My etsy shop holds the answer.

Indie Craft Experience (ICE) this weekend!

Tomorrow officially kicks off the holiday season for me, with the Indie Craft Experience here in Atlanta. This is one of my very favorite shows ever-- it's like the Renegade Craft Fair of the south!

If you are in the Atlanta area, this show is not to be missed. 100 vendors, crafty goodness, a sweet dj, all day long. Come on out!

{Click over to the website for details and a list of vendors.}

illustration: garance doré

wow, apparently i'm really inspired by amazing drawings of women this week. aren't these ones by garance doré incredible?

her blog is great, and it makes me want to move to paris immediately. oh, how i wish i had been born in europe!

she shares a lot of amazing fashion shots, and the outfits are *awesome.* I'd like to give away my entire closet full of clothes and start new, with outfits like this.

new inspirational screen prints!

{bright orange ink on white cover stock}

I've been screen printing up a storm today, and I wanted to share some brand new prints with you! New colors, and for the first time ever, prints on brown kraft cover stock. I'm in love.

{silver ink on brown kraft stock above and vibrant yellow ink on brown below}

They are in my etsy shop-- go have a peek!

{bright white ink on brown kraft cover stock}

desktop wallpaper

I just discovered a fun series of desktop wallpapers that I thought you might all be interested in-- hop on over to Anna Goodson's website to check them out! (Anna Goodson is an illustration agent, and she represents some lovely artists, 3 of whose wallpapers are pictured here.)

I like to change my wallpaper often, so I was happy to find this little treasure trove!

tina berning

And I'm speechless again this morning. The talent that comes through Tina Berning's fingers is astounding to me.

These illustrations are beautiful. Can't you just feel Tina's passion for drawing and painting women? These drawings just feel so refreshing and unique! I am in love.

Tina's work can be found on her gorgeous website, which I bet you'll easily get sucked into, because there seems to be a never-ending amount of beautiful drawings to see.... and she has a book, too, called '100 girls on cheap paper,' published by Chronicle Books. (They publish the best books, don't they??)

Enjoy!

artist: kat heyes

Oh man oh man oh man. Kat Heyes makes the most beautiful work I've ever seen!

I'm speechless. Kat is my new favorite artist.

Be sure to browse through her website today- so many more gorgeous images to see.....

Blissful Monday: week 4

Good morning!
It's Monday, and you know what that means. It's time for Bliss Lists!

On my list this week:

1. A clean house! (Ryan and I had been majorly slacking in the cleaning department recently. While our house is always tidy, underneath all that was a serious need to deep clean. So we spent Saturday afternoon cleaning from top to bottom-- the fridge, underneath the stove, everything. It feels so nice and fresh!)

2. I finished my super secret project that I mentioned a few weeks ago, and I'll be releasing it next Monday- I can hardly wait!

3. It was 76 degrees here in Atlanta yesterday. What is there not to love about that kind of weather in mid-November?

4. Ryan and I decided to go to Asheville, NC, for Thanksgiving next weekend, and I'm so excited! We'll be staying in a family friend's rental house, and I'm hoping for chilly nights, cozy robes, and a fireplace. (If you have any recommendations for things we must see and do in Asheville, I'd love to hear them!)

5. Persimmons. My friend Caroline was raving about persimmons recently, and I spied a whole big bin full of them when I went to the Asian grocery store yesterday. I'd never had one before, so I decided to be adventurous and try one, and man are they yummy! Plus, they're so pretty.
What's on your bliss list this week?

Photography: Frances Jmelhop

Good morning! I can't believe it's Friday already. Although I did think it was Friday on Wednesday, so apparently I have no sense of time this week.

What I do know this week, though, is that I think these photographs by Frances Jmelhop are exquisite.

And I could pretty much die happy if I owned that dress below. I think I would find every holiday party possible to attend in that dress! I love it so much.

You can find Frances' portfolio here.
Have a fantastic weekend!!

{found via Esther Loopstra's blog}

mikey burton: wilco band poster

Holee Molee. Holy Moly!
I love this Wilco poster by Mikey Burton.

I have a thing for buffaloes. This is amazing.

He has lots more cool posters on his website. And you can buy stuff here, and see tons more work on flickr.

Goodness, I think I might be Mikey's new biggest fan.

united thread

I saw this top image by United Thread on the front page of etsy yesterday, and it caught my eye, so I clicked through to their shop. Boy am I glad I did! I love these pieces.

I think the colors and lines are fantastic, and they're quirky and fun.

Check out more from United Thread right here.

SPRING: inspiration in bloom

Spring. Inspiration in Bloom.

I am so thrilled to announce this project that I've been working on for the last few months with 3 incredibly inspiring ladies:

*Michelle Ward
*Jess Constable
and
*Carolyn Rubenstein

Spring is about dialogue. We will be creating monthly conversational video posts and blog posts around specific topics-- topics that you want to hear about and participate in! That said, we need your input.

The theme for our first video, which will launch the week of Thanksgiving, is gratitude. What questions/comments/experiences do you have around the idea of gratitude? Through sharing our own experiences and tossing around ideas suggested by you all, we hope to inspire not only ourselves, but also you in the process!

Head on over to our Spring website to learn more about the project and to leave us comments. (You can add comments here, too, or even email us if you want to!)

We have a badge, too, that you're free to put on your blog if you're inspired already:


We can't wait to hear from you and start exploring the topics that emerge!

brand new website: art wall

I am so so excited to introduce you to this brand new website called Art Wall this morning, not only because it's a fantastic concept, but because I created all the illustrations for the site! Katie Stephenson, the mastermind behind Art Wall (and she also runs Save Gocco and a lovely etsy shop,) contacted me back in June, and we've been working together ever since.



I also created this little animation trailer for the site. I love how it turned out!

And here are a few shots of the website pages. You can click on each frame to get a bigger view of the piece of artwork and read a description of it and the artist, and also to purchase. And my oh my, there are some wonderful artists involved!

HUGE congrats to Katie-- I know how hard she's worked on this project, and I can only imagine how thrilled she is that it's up and running this morning!

Please take a peek at the site and let me (and Katie, of course) know what you think!!

AND, you can become a fan on facebook, follow Art Wall on twitter, and check out the Art Wall blog. All the bases are covered. :)

Enjoy!

Blissful Monday: week 3

Here we are again, on Monday morning. Some people dread Monday mornings. I really like them. Fresh week, fresh start.

I'm loving these Blissful Mondays, too, because it's a reason to focus on gratitude and positivity instead of being sucked in by the Monday morning blues.

So, my bliss list for this week:

1. I really truly took a day off yesterday, and I sat outside on the back porch and read a whole book! It was sunny and perfect, and wow did i feel rejuvenated afterwards. (Oh, and I took a nap on the couch somewhere in there as well! Bliss.)

2. I bought my first ever baby clothes-- my brother-in-law and sister-in-law are having a baby in December, and my husband and I bought the cutest things at the Beehive Co-op here in Atlanta! We bought a onesie by happy family that says "chillin' in my crib" and couldn't stop laughing about it-- it's so funny! (This one is hilarious, too.)

3. The most delicious bread ever from Whole Foods.

4. My new duck bag that I ordered from baggu. It's the perfect size to lug all my stuff around, including my laptop. Perfect!

5. Wayne Dyer. I think this man is beyond brilliant, and his books rock my world.

***
Now it's your turn! What's on your bliss list this week? What are you grateful for?

I hope you have a beautiful start to your beautiful week!

darling clementine: christmas on the brain

I've got Christmas on the brain this morning, and I'm admiring these cards by Norwegian stationery company, Darling Clementine. I always design my own Christmas cards, but if I didn't, these would be the ones I'd choose to send out to my family and friends.

Check out more designs on the Darling Clementine website and buy some of these gorgeous cards in their etsy shop! It's never too early to stock up, right? The holidays are right around the corner! And won't your family think you're fancy when you tell them their Christmas card hails all the way from Norway? Oh yes, they will.

ps- aren't their photographs fun??

Gocco giveaway at Share Some Candy

Morning! I wanted to let you know about a big gocco giveaway that's happening over at Share Some Candy right now that I'm a part of-- 13 artists and 13 giveaways! It's pretty spectacular.

There's an interview with each artist, as well as lots of photos of amazing gocco prints, and all you have to do is leave comments on each artist's pages to enter the giveaways. Easy!

I love gocco, I love free stuff, therefore, this is awesome. Plus, Share Some Candy is amazing no matter what. Check it out!


{this gocco is by Kate Pugsley. I love it.}

Katherine Streeter

There will never be a shortage of artists that inspire me. Katherine Streeter is the latest in the ever-growing list. Isn't her work amazing? I love how spontaneous and free it feels-- I also really like how the background is so important in the pieces. They don't feel like backgrounds, because they seem like they're on the same plane as the subjects of the paintings. Does that make sense? I like how the subject and the background seem to be existing in the same space.

Anyway, Katherine's website is bursting with amazingness, so you'll definitely want to check it out. You can also find her on flickr.

And I'm finding myself really drawn to white drawing/painting on a black background lately.
I love the splash of color at the bottom of this one:

Just beautiful.

illustration: greasychickenface

Birds birds birds. What is there not to love about birds? Greasychickenface loves them, and her love is apparent-- look at the variety of gorgeous birds in her watercolors!

I'm tempted by all of these paintings. I think they are fantastic. AND, the best part is that greasychickenface is having a one day only sale in her shop RIGHT NOW, today, and all these beautiful pieces are just $15.00!

That piece at the top just might have to be mine....

You can also find greasychickenface on flickr, where you can browse more of her bird paintings. LOVE.

Blissful Monday: week 2

Hello hello hello! Happy November- wow, right? November already.

Here are some things that have made me happy in the past week. My BLISS LIST, if you will.

1. Waking up on Sunday morning without an alarm, and remembering that the time change had happened over night. So it was an hour earlier than usual! Love that.

2. New friends + trivia night at a smoky suburb bar. SO FUN. (Not the smoky part, but the rest of it.)

3. Beyoncé. I've had "Single Ladies" stuck in my head for DAYS, and I've even gotten Ryan in on it. We run around the house dancing to it while we're making dinner!

4. FALL. Oh swoon, this is my favorite season by far. The air smells good, the temperature is perfection, and walking around my neighborhood gets me all inspired.

5. Working on a super fun, hilarious project that I'm keeping *secret* for right now. I worked on it all day yesterday, even though last week I said Ryan and I were going to start taking Sundays off. Oh well- next week! To be revealed in the next few weeks.... :)

What's on your bliss list this week?

halloween 1989

Oh yes, that's me above. Halloween, 1989. Nine years old. Notice the remnants of my crimped hair-- I lived for crimped hair back in the day. My friend Kristen (picture below) and I made an alien and spaceship costume together, and for some reason she got to wear the papier maché spaceship that we jointly made. Probably because she was taller. And cooler.

We had these awesome purple 2-toed feet that my mom made, which you can see in the photo of Kristen, and these killer 3-fingered silver gloves that Kristen's mom made. We tie-dyed the shirts ourselves. Kristen and I were very crafty together.

Thought you'd enjoy a little blast from the past this morning-- I hope you have a fantastic Halloween tomorrow, whatever you might be doing. :)

See you Monday!

illustration: george mitchell

I love these illustrations by George Mitchell! A church wearing an eye patch and waving goodbye to a man on a cross-laden skateboard? Heck yeah!

Check out more on George's flickr page. Love it.

All the Single Ladies: Pomplamoose

This is making me intensely happy right now.

What I Wore Today

{gemma correll}

You may have seen this project that Gemma Correll started already, and I've been meaning to blog about it for forever now, so if by chance you haven't yet seen the What I Wore Today project, here it is!

{emilie boudet}

Basically, the idea is to draw what you wore today, and then post it in the flickr group. Gemma also chooses her favorites to post on the blog of the same name. (She posted my drawing a couple days ago!)

{marina collings}

Here is my drawing from October 16th:

I really want to do another one soon!

{hamptone}

Definitely check out the group, because it's really so wonderful, and new drawings are being uploaded all the time. I really hope a publisher picks this up, because I think it would be SUPER book. Don't you? Now get to work on a drawing so you can add it to the ever-growing group!

{kiddy factory}

{umbrella_head1}