squirrels in love

Here's a quick pic of what I've been working on - fun props for the A Muse store window! These cute "squirrels in love" are made from foamcore, painted with acrylic paint and the lines drawn with Copic markers. Then, I added a bit of A Muse polka dot paper for a little pattern. The shop has 3 windows in it's new location, so the boy squirrel is hanging in one window, the big pink scalloped heart is in the center and the girl squirrel is hanging in the window right next to the door. Hopefully, Linda will be able to take a photo of how it really looks, not just this one of them on my worktable. A nightime shot would be best with the spotlights shining on them.

Yup, we're getting ready for Valentine's Day...the new stamps are out and the window is done! Wooo-hooo! My favorite stamp of the new release that I designed is Puppy love. I've been wanting to do a weiner dog forever and I finally got the chance to design 2 of them!

happy new year!

Happy New Year to all my cyber friends! Thanks for visiting my blog over the past year and I hope to "see" you here again in 2009! Your comments inspire me so much and I'm grateful for every one of them. I've really enjoyed visiting all your sites as well - getting to know bits and pieces of your lives and seeing all the wonderful creative talent in the projects you've shared. Here's to an awesome new year!

IF - clandestine

"Timmy's late night clandestine meeting with the cookies in the cookie jar turned into a disaster-in-the-making when the chair began to slip out from under him!"

This illo was inspired by a book I got for Christmas, called the Magic Pencil. It's a series of interviews with British illustrators, where they talk about their backgrounds and methods of working. One of my favorite illustrators, Sara Fanelli, is one of the illustrators. Did you know she doesn't use a computer in her work? It's so flawless, I just assumed she did, but I guessed wrong, she's just incredibly talented!

Even though I truly admire her work, she wasn't the one that inspired this...it was the work of Lauren Child. I'm sure you have all see her work around, she's quite popular. I tried to be loose and spontaneous, like her illos are, but I couldn't quite get there, I'm think I'm too much of a neat freak and like clean lines, but I did use some real life objects, combined with drawings and patterns, which is what her work is mostly about.

All in all, it was a fun exercise. I like trying new things every once in a while, you never know where it will lead. Maybe nowhere, but maybe to something extraordinary.

IF - voices

For Illustration Friday this week. I did these holiday carolers for A Muse as a stamp design a few years ago and thought they would be perfect for the voices theme. I just popped the drawing into Illustrator, used the Live Trace feature to add a little color, then moved them onto a scalloped oval shape with a bit of lettering.

Easy Peesy! Perfect for this time of year with all the extra stuff to do for the holidays. Since my last post about our crazy weather, it's snowed more. It snowed and snowed and snowed last night. A winter wonderland in the city known for rain. I never would have believed it, if I didn't see it and live it for myself!

snowed in and spyed on

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IF - rambunctious

This rambunctious little elf is getting ready to string some lights outdoors at the North Pole. (For Illustration Friday this week)

I love the idea of elves scurrying about getting things done while everyone's asleep. I think I'll leave a list for them tonight and see if it's all done when I get up tomorrow. Here's some of the things I'd like them to do:

*Decorate the tree ( I got one today, but it doesn't have anything on it yet)
*Wrap the gifts I've gotten so far
*Buy or make the rest of the gifts I need to get
*Make cookies (who wouldn't want cookies made by elves!)
*Make and send my Holiday cards (I'd love to see what they come up with..I bet they are pretty creative)

That's it for tonight little elves - if you do a good job, maybe I'll leave the vacuum out tomorrow night!

IF - similar

For IF this week - I love it when people and their dogs look similar! This stylish woman and her poodle share a lot of similarities. It would be fun to do a whole series of people and their look-a-like pets. I'm sure it's been done before...seen any good ones?