simon wild

oh, simon wild. your images thrill me so.

simon's work is inspired by 'imaginary worlds, interesting places, toys and unusual objects' (read more about what's behind his work here)- if i had had a book with illustrations like these as a kid, it would've been my absolute favorite. i love the bright colors and energetic scenes!

new painting: wear your emotions

painting has resumed! i'm realizing how much i missed it, too- painting is relaxing for me in a way that other mediums are not.i'm not sure how to explain it, but it's like i can connect with painting in a deeper way or something and allow the painting to take on its own life. that sounds crazy, but some of you probably know exactly what i mean!

anyway, this new one is called 'wear your emotions.' i'm fond of it. i don't usually paint men, and i try not to us hearts in my paintings (because it's easy for them to get cheesey really fast), but i like this heart-shaped eye patch. what do you think? cheesey?

save the date

our wedding is fast approaching. 6 months and 5 days from now, i'll be on the beach getting ready to marry ryan!

we made our save the date cards over the weekend and i'm getting ready to send them out. they're postcard style! simple and to the point. i'm happy with how they turned out- i rounded the corners, too, after i took these photos, which i think makes them look nicer.

we used a hand-carved linoleum block stamp for the white underneath, and then my gocco printer for the green letters. i'm *so sad* that the gocco printers have been discontinued and the supplies are almost gone.... won't someone please start making these precious printers again? pretty please?

rich stow (aka: gingerbeards

i'm totally mesmerized by rich stow's (gingerbeards) work this morning- bearded batmen? oh yes.

i was checking out the gingerbeards blog, and there is a fantastic quote from a client: 'your work often leaves me scratching my head, but i like it'. i think this is a perfect way to describe rich's work! i am fascinated by his strange ideas and kooky style, and i really really like his work.

if i ran a magazine, i think i would have rich illustrate the whole thing. seriously.

a new addition to our family...

you guys. can you believe it? ryan and i got a kitten over the weekend!!! it only took my about 3 years to convince him to get one, but this weekend my badgering paid off. and now we are the proud parents of anika, the most precious kitten i have ever laid eyes on!

we adopted her from a rescue shelter on saturday, brought her home, and then practically ran to the store to go stock up on kitty goodies toys, food, scratch pad, the works. :) it took her no time at all to adjust to her new environment- she just walked to every inch of the house and then started bouncing around and purring and being completely loving with us. i just want to squish her she's so cute!! she's even slept with us the past 2 nights. although, she did wake us up at 1:45 in the morning thinking it was time to play!

right now she is rolling around on the floor playing with a drinking glass behind me- she's a total spazz and fits right in with ryan and i! and now she just darted into the bathroom and jumped into the bath tub. she has so much energy!

anyway, just thought you all might want to see the cute pictures and hear the good news. :) thanks for indulging me (i guess you didn't really have a choice though, eh?)!!

sneak peek

i'm painting again...! (after a long, long hiatus.) there are some new pieces in the works.
more soon!

robordw illustrations

oh yes, these illustrations by robordw knock my socks off. what else can i say?

the links:

flickr
blog
other blog (this one's in russian!)

new pattern: gloria

i'm pretty excited about this pattern. yesterday i was working on some things to submit to a very cool company (using less colors than i usually do), and this pattern emerged. which is your favorite? i like them all for different reasons!

ps- i think i've always been fascinated with women's names! i remember drawing page after page of women in fun outfits when i was a kid, and i gave each of them an interesting name.

thus, another female-named pattern- 'gloria'. :)

i would *love* to find those old drawings one day- i bet they're hilarious now!

shuxin

gorgeous work by shuxin (aka: sooooound on etsy and flickr)-- i'm totally loving the mix of detail and texture, and the graphic elements mixed with the realism.

aren't they beautiful? i want that top image to hang on my wall!

{and there's a blog, too!}

valentines for your valentine!

oh, valentines day. the feelings about you are so mixed. some like it ultra-romantic, and some prefer the anti-valentine route. some like surprises, and some like it sexy.

i prefer to make it cute and quirky- it's much more my style!

so i made these funny valentines which you can get in my etsy shop-- i'm telling you, they're so dang cute you'll want to give all 4 to your valentine! (what if you surprised your special someone with all of them, spaced throughout the day?)

the sentiments are simple- 'i love you', 'here is my heart', will you snuggle with me?', and 'let's get together', and the colors are bright and cheery. each one comes with a white envelope with a hand-printed pink heart on it, too. so sweet!

what's your favorite way to celebrate valentine's day?

abby lammers

these paintings of barns by abby lammers are so so lovely. i'm crazy about her use of color.
and what the heck is it that's so intriguing about barns? i'll never know, but i sure do love them!

{see more of abby's work in her etsy shop and on her website.}

pingg!

have you longed for an artistic alternative to the standard evites you send and receive? well, look no further, my dears-- you can use pingg!

i was invited recently to be a part of pingg's designer series, and i'm in fantastic company (think dallas shaw, stephanie dosreis, and others...) and my page is up and running! now you can use my illustrations and patterns on your email invitations-- don't you want to have a party just so you can send one of them??

do check out the site-- i think it's a wonderful alternative to evite, and the artwork and invitations on the site are lovely and inspiring.

{ps- you can even choose to have pingg print and send your invites real-mail-style if you'd rather not go the email route, but still want the ease of it. nice, yes?}

kim rosen

how do i even talk about work this amazing? kim rosen has worked for some seriously awesome clients, and it's no wonder, because her work is fascinating.

this is a holiday card below:

i would love to get this in the mail!!

kim's website is overflowing with crazy awesome work, and i'd totally go have a peek if i were you. and if you are in a position in which you hire illustrators, i would snap kim up in a heart beat if i were you. but that's just my opinion. :)

{ps-- see more here}

oh, to run a business

this is sort-of a weird thing to post about, but i thought you all might get a kick out of my misery-- i've been avoiding and ignoring doing my bookkeeping for a while now, but i didn't realize the severity of the situation until i pulled out my bursting folder full of receipts last night. i discovered that the last time i dealt with it was.... july. JULY!!! how did this happen? i knew it had been a while, but 5 months? goodness gracious.

so, i know that i said i'm not one for making new year's resolutions, but i'm changing my mind on this one-- I RESOLVE TO DO MY BOOKKEEPING AT THE END OF EACH AND EVERY MONTH. because this is ridiculous! i complained and laughed all night about how long it's going to take me to get through all of these receipts... you can see above that ryan was laughing, too. :) i should've taken some photos before i had the piles all nice and neat and organized. it was a scary sight.

so, i spent about 2 1/2 hours working on it last night, and got through august and september. i kid you not. looks like i have some fun evenings ahead of me. ha!

do you have any stories like this you'd like to share with me? if so, i'd love to hear them!!

love print by naokosstoop

isn't this the perfect interpretation of what it feels like to be in love? i think it's just simply gorgeous.

more beauty on naoko's website and etsy shop.

new pattern: ingrid

i really like the simplicity of this pattern-- it's less busy than a lot of my other ones.
what do you think?

a beautiful party

i don't know how i have missed these gorgeous pieces by a beautiful party (aka: ann flowers) until now, but alas, i guess i just live in the dark sometimes. i noticed ann's shop name when she recently bought a zine from me, and then as i was updating my papernstitch shop yesterday, i noticed that her shop was the feature for the day-- so a beautiful party is filling my world these days! i love it.

please go look at (and buy!) her work, because it is lovely lovely. beautiful, if you will. :)
and she has a blog, too, so you can learn more about ann and the beautiful things she creates.

wool felt dolls by mummysam

i'm absolutely crazy about these dolls made by mummysam. my mom was a dollmaker when i was a kid, so i have a soft spot in my heart for handmade dolls. i would like to commission mummysam to create an angel for the top of my christmas tree next year! i wonder if she'd be interested?

the funny thing, too, is that i could've seen these beauties in person when i was at the hand.craft.it festival in madison, georgia, but i completely missed them. darn.

she also makes some adorable wool houses-- don't you want to go have a look?

obamicon.me!

my dears, the day is here, can you believe it? today we are finally going to have our new president obama. i will most definitely be watching the inauguration today- how about you?

i thought you might like to visit this fun website (which you probably already read about if you get daily candy delivered to your inbox)- where you can make your own version of the famous shepard fairey obama poster right here! it's quite fun. :)

here's to a happy, happy day. YES!!

paper n stitch

i wanted to let you all know that i'm exhibiting at paper n stitch again this month, and you really must go check out the whole site-- the number of fantastic artists that are involved is blowing my mind!!! brittni wood does a really super job curating the site, in my opinion. :)

please, go to it! and if you heart my shop, there's a chance i could win a free month and some other cool stuff. (and if you give hearts to other people, too, incidentally, they're in the running as well. you're certainly not obligated to love me the most!)

new pattern: snowflakes

it's supposed to snow here in atlanta tomorrow- it doesn't happen very often, so i'm excited to see what happens! it snowed once last winter, and everyone freaked out. it made ryan and i laugh because we're used to colorado winters full of snow!

anyway, i'm back to pattern-making now that i'm home, and this new snowflake pattern will hopefully eventually have a more exciting home than my flickr page... we'll see!

ps- on a totally unrelated note, today is ryan's and my 6 year anniversary!! i just remembered, so i need to go give him a big kiss!