For Boone and his curious playmates!

New work in progress featuring a little one, two dogs, a cat, two miniature ponys and a thoroughbred (who is doing most of the work)! Making the colors balance on this was such a challenge so some shifting of characters had to take place for the final product. For Tucknzoe.

A Tall Tale of Three

Who can resist such an adorable combination! A zebra, elephant, and monkey. For msvintage

New Items in the Works!

This week has been crazy busy! Sometimes it just feels good to avoid everything and immerse yourself into making stuff. So this week I've been obsessed with silkscreening. I'm constantly looking at blank objects wondering "I wonder if I could silkscreen that?" If it's plain it's game. Plain journals, plain boxes, plain coffee mugs, plain jars, plain plates, plain face...a moustache perhaps!

New Illustrations in the works!

Here are three that I worked on last night. They are still in progress, but I plan on having them all finished up for next Monday!

Normally I only depict one or two little soul characters in my illustrations, but you'll notice the one on the your far right depicts three little boys sitting atop a kindly whale. This came about when a customer contacted me and asked if I had any illustrations with three little boys. Immediately I was taken back to my childhood. When I was a child our family befriended a family that had three little boys. I remember them moving in across the street. I thought it so weird that a little boy, gazing over the back gate, was wearing a hooded coat in the middle of summer! I went over and inquired, "Why are you wearing your coat. It's too hot for a coat."

He replied, "Because I have no hair!"

I had to inquire further, "Why don't you have hair?"

"Because I got a hair cut!" It turned out that he wouldn't sit still while his mom was giving him a hair cut. He wiggled about too much and finally his mom gave up and just gave him a very close buzz cut.

They were the most fun and the most trouble at the same time! We loved going to their house to play wildly as our moms visited about recent events over a cup of coffee. So cheers to childhood mischief!

Firsts - Wonder Woman

If you were to ask me who my first hero ever was I would honestly have to say Wonder Woman. So I decided to post this treasury as a sort of homage to the lovely WW.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=9850

Who doesn't love a Cupcake!

So happy! My fine silver cupcake necklaces have been featured on the blog: AllThingsCupcake


I love cupcakes, yum yum, but rarely do I get the chance to eat them or bake the real thing! How sad for me :( lol. But I really need to celebrate because a boutique here in SLC wants to carry my jewelry! Yeah for me!!! Oh sure I've had other inquiries in the past and of course never acted on them! They were back east and I just didn't know that much about consignment, but oooh I'm so excited and unsure at the same time to be presented locally! I don't know...you know how you just like to know what you know! I feel an Op Ivy song comming on "All I know is that I don't know...All I know is that I don't know nothing!" lol. So I need to get a grip and take my stuff out to the boutique. It's just a bit to get a handle on! Oh well, for now I'll just share some of my cupcake creations:

It's Earth Day

Hmmmm?

Teaching Monsters a Lesson!

Nothing like pure unadulterated innocence. I love how the mom corrects the child! lol. So I saw this little girl on TV and her mother was explaining that it was the uncle that taught her the wonderful phrase used in the video! lol. I accidentally taught my little one how to say G.D. Honestly, there is only so much spilt milk you can pick up before you lose your composure. So now she mimics, with hands on hip and all! Of course I tell her that those are "angry words" and it wasn't right for mommy to use "angry words." lol I'm sure this is the smallest of lessons that I'll have to teach in my lifetime.

Dream a Little Dream

I wonder what polar bears dream of? It's so interesting to watch people and animals sleep. I love it when I catch my kitties deep in their dreams. Sometimes you can tell they are in hot pursuit of some devious little creature. Their mouths and paws twitching about. So cute. Then I feel a bit of guilt that they don't get to go outside and act out their mouse chase due to being rescues. My new puppy, Job, whimpered in his sleep the first few nights we had him. I was so sad for him. I couldn't imagine what it must be like being in a new home, with new people, away from his mom and pack. What a change and we all know that change can be scary. He seems to have settled in now and is acting much more puppy like.

The Amazing Job!

Job is amazing! Here he is at 15 weeks following some basic commands! What cutie! Awe, leave it to a bright, bouncy puppy to make you smile. I'm taking him to his first puppy class this Saturday. He seems to be a little hand shy so hopefully this will help him with his socialization.

An Afternoon Spent Sketching

Somedays absolutely no drive, no umph, just nada. But not today!!! Today I sketched out these three little ones. I should have them finished and up in my ETSY shop later this week. I think the bear will be a polar bear, but he could possibly be a black bear too. We'll see what happens.

I Made ETSY's Front Page!

Wahoo! One of my illios was featured on Etsy's front page. I took a screen shot as a souvenir.

An Absolutely Charming Animation by a Fellow Etsy Illustrator

I am smitten with this! Be sure to view artist Julia Pot's illustrations at: JuliaPot.Etsy.com



So here are the details on my first crush. His name was James. We were in the same first grade class. We had a pact to always pick one another during the game "Heads Up Seven Up." It was agonizing sitting there with your head face down, cradled in your arms on your desk. Peeking out through the slightest crack between your arm and desk to see if he was going to pick you! He'd walk up and down the rows. Oh the anticipation. Butterflies in the stomatch. I knew his tennis shoes by heart! Then the ever anticipated movement of him folding down my thumb in selection. Dark hair. Kind eyes. I was forever destined to fall in love with kind J's.

Puppy Love!

For the last three years I have been researching a breed of dog called Coton De Tulear. This weekend I finally got my chance to adopt one! His name is Job and he's a tri-color Coton. His lineage is traceable back to Madagascar and his father, Ditto, came from Alika Cotons (founded by Dr. Russel, who first introduced the breed to the U.S. in 1974). This breed is exceptionally good with both children and cats. It is also non shedding and allergy free.

But a warning: When I was looking for a Coton to adopt, I ran into several that were listed as Cotons but when asking where the dogs came from it turned out they were from a kennels in Russia! This meant that the dog could have been intermixed with other breeds, over bred, crossbred, inbred, not to mention the horrible conditions the parents were most likely forced to live in. They may have also came with a myriad of behavioral, genetic and health problems. CTCA has a strict code of ethics that it enforces. They also rescue and place Cotons which I highly recommend!

Job is considered a tricolor Tall Malagasy Coton De Tulear, which is a genetic variation that appears rarely. He has these wonderfully long legs as you can see in his pictures! Tall doesn't mean big, it just means tall. I love that the CTCA is protecting the diversity of the breed, rather than trying to breed the dog down to small, yappy, all white dogs. They are actually equally protective of all three varieties (white, black and white, and tri-color) as well as the tall variation of the breed. In fact the biologist that introduced the breed to the U.S. has placed 26 of these tall Cotons into homes across the U.S. in the last 30 years!

If you are interested in this breed please, please, please do your research. Cotons are starting to appear with increased frequency in puppy mills and pet stores. Cotons produced in puppy mills and sold in pet stores are forced to endure horrible living conditions! Their well being and genetic integrity is not respected nor protected. You can also rescue a Coton through UCARE!

Leap! Illustration Friday.

This poor bunny had such high hopes of jumping all the way to the moon. Unfortunately, he only jumped up TO it, not OVER it! Poor thing, but at least he's ambitious. It' good to take leaps. Some are successful and some, not so much. Either way you learn something from the very act itself. Anyway, here's my submission, titled "Ambitious Bunny."