Spoonflower Contest!

I'm so stinking excited about this! So, the amazing and wonderful Spoonflower is pairing up with Robert Kaufman Fabrics, to host a contest in which the winner will be offered a contract for their collection of fabrics, a $1000 advance on royalties, and a Wacom tablet! Holy wow, right? The theme given was pen and ink/watercolor-inspired fabrics, which is kinda right up my alley. Anyways, I made a purrdy floral pattern to enter into the contest, and I made it into the top 100! I would LOVE to move onto the top 8, and create 7 additional patterns to go with this one.

Here's where I need your help! Voting is open now until the 9th, and I would really love your vote! You have to have a Spoonflower account to vote, but that is not such a bad thing to have anyway (because they rock!)  Please and thank you!!

You can vote here (and find mine amongst some really pretty patterns!) 

Detail #1

Detail #2

Detail #3

2012 Wall Calendar and New Prints!

2012 Wall Calendar, available here in my shop.

So this is what I have been working feverishly on for the last couple months, my 2012 calendar!  As has been a bit of a tradition over the last couple years, I created 12 brand new illustrations, surrounding some sort of theme for my calendar.  I've been feeling a bit daring lately, and dreaming about all sorts of magical lands and fun times that I want to experience, so I hereby declare this year the YEAR OF ADVENTURE!  Yep, that's right!  Adventure doesn't have to mean traveling to a foreign land or jumping off a plane, it can also mean taking a different route home or just having no plan whatsoever for an evening and seeing where it takes you.  So hooray, I'm super-happy about this coming year and really excited about how my calendar came out!

2012 Wall calendar and all twelve prints are now available in my shop here!

Twelve brand new prints, available here in my shop.

Spoonflower Swatches

Hello!  Summer seems to be slipping by rather quickly, as of late, and all of a sudden it is August. Yowza.  I can't wait for Fall though; Bring on the hoodies and apple cider and crisp leaves and pumpkin-flavored everything!  I had an old friend visit this past weekend, and we had a blast.  Coney Island,  The Museum of Natural History, LOTS of walking around, way too much sunshine, good food and beer, and great talks.  I love reconnecting with old friends that I haven't seen in awhile, and feeling like no time has passed since you last saw each other. Yay friends!

I've been a pattern-making fool lately.  Well, for a few months actually, but I was saving up patterns to get test swatches printed via Spoonflower.  Finally got some back yesterday and I'm pretty psyched about them!  Most of them I put up for sale on Spoonflower (you can have a little shop on there; super-neat!) and a few I'm keeping to making a nifty new product for my shop and for upcoming craft shows.  If any of you are on Spoonflower, I would love to connect with you on there and see your patterns.  Such a great community there and so fun to be able to print your own designs!

Happy B-day to me

ZOMG Lemon Mousse Pie, tester recipe for Isa and Terry.  Seriously, this is the best pie I have ever had.

Hello!  Life is kinda crazy lately, preparing for so many things that are coming up in May and June.  Renegade Austin, in May, and Renegade Brooklyn, in June are heavy on my prep list, so I have been printing, creating, brainstorming, and planning for both of them.  I'm super-psyched to be road-tripping down to Austin, TX from NY with my sweet Mom and two sisters.   It will also be a family reunion of sorts, staying at my two uncle's homes and meeting up with other family members and a cousin I've never met before.  We are going to drive it in two days, staying overnight in Nashville, TN the first night, and we will be gone for about two weeks total.  I've never been to Texas before, so yeah, I'm pretty excited!

I turn 31 today, which has turned into a non-event really.  It's kinda a shame that birthdays turn into no  big deal as a grown up, but I'll prolly bake myself a pie later for some sort of hurrah.  Nik took me out to Blossom last saturday for some amazing early birthday food and wine. He's the best, really!

I mentioned my pattern-making marathon I had going on last week in my last post, and I thought I would show a few of them that I had finished.  I don't really show this side of my work that often, because it is so different, and really isn't my favorite part of what I do. But, nonetheless! I hope a company buys them and turns them into pajamas or something.   This is basically what I used to do at my old day job (which it has been almost a YEAR since I quit! crazy-pants!), and I still do on a freelance basis for design studios.   I could prolly make these in my sleep, hehe.

What I wore Today

There is a fun Flickr group called "What I wore Today" where it is drawings only, and I finally got my butt in gear to participate!  I'm going to try and make it a regular or semi-regular thing too. 

I've also been working on some new patterns that I have sent off to Spoonflower to be printed. Eee!! I'm super-excited about them. I don't know why it has taken me so long to try it out.  Here's a little swatch of one of the patterns:

Other than that, I'm just workworkworking on stuff for upcoming holiday fairs that I'm doing and enjoying the cooler weather (omg soup! hot cocoa! lots of tea! chili! pumpkin-anything!)

I'm also getting pretty psyched for VeganMoFo to start in November. Are you participating? I am!

Shop Update Part 1!

Hello!  I am  *super* excited to show you my latest paintings that I made for my upcoming 2011 calendar.  My calendar will be coming out either later this week or next week (my printer broke the other day and is in the shop right now, sadface!)  More tomorrow!

"I Will Protect You" 

Watercolor on 300lb. Arches Watercolor paper

8"x10" (image size approx. 7"x9") 

For sale here

"Monster Sundae"

Watercolor on 300lb. Arches Watercolor paper

8"x10" (image size approx. 7"x9") 

For Sale here

"Panda Mom"

Watercolor on 300lb. Arches Watercolor paper

8"x10" (image size approx. 7"x9") 

For Sale Here