Free Time

Last year on my birthday, we went to the zoo.  So this year, I asked for a little "free" time to do some work today.
Yes, I'm funny like that. 

Anyways, here are some peeks at things that have been on my desk in the past few weeks.

new mailing labels (since revised slightly)

new calendar in the works

new format for last year's calendar

Yo-Yo & Yeou-Cheng Ma book I illustrated for Dragoneagle Press

Two new calendars will be in the shop> later today.  And since it's my birthday, I'm going to have a little sale going on for the next week.  Just enter BDAY20 at checkout and receive 20% off your purchase (not including shipping) of anything already in my shop.  Does not apply to custom orders or made to order items.

Afterwards...

Whitney's party came and went pretty quickly. All the planning leading up to it seemed a bit in vain (ie. I stressed out way too much, especially in Matt's opinion). Most importantly, there was cake (well, cupcakes) and balloons. Plus, I'm pretty sure Whitney had fun and hopefully all our guests did too.


Of course, now she has a cold.

I'm very nearly finished the book. Just awaiting feedback and possibly some final touches and tweaks. I will share more about the (journey of working on this) book once I've completed the illustrations.

I'm Late, I'm Late

Happy (Belated) New Year!

I wish I could have started 2012 a little more organized and caught up. But with Dex going on a little adventure outside 3 weeks ago, things got set back and some deadlines were missed. The most important thing, though, is that we got Dex back home... on Christmas morning! I kid you not. It was our Christmas miracle. Santa (or someone) heard my plea. Now I just want him to be healthy. He was a skinny and tired boy after a week of being outside. And he's been vomiting off and on for a little bit, so I'm hoping it is nothing serious.

Work-wise, I am finally nearing the finish line of the children's book I've been working on for the past year. Just the cover and a few revisions to finish. My publishers must be counting the days till they can get their hands on all the illustrations.

Other than that, the shop is now open again. Look for some new things soon... once I (or we) finish planning and putting together Whitney's first big birthday party, which will be this Saturday. She turns 2 on Wednesday. This will be the first party really that Matt will have hosted. Yes, we are not social butterflies, so hopefully all goes well. It's all about the kids, anyways, right?

New Holiday Cards

After 7 years of pushing the same holiday cards, I finally got around to designing some new ones. They are now in the shop.


Dex even made it onto one of them. I think I need more practice drawing his mug though.

A few more holiday things to come before I really dig into working on "the book". Meow for now.

Hello November...

And hello again!
I can't believe we're already into the second week of November. We still have our Halloween decorations up but the pumpkins will be finding themselves in the green bin in the next few days.





The past several weeks saw a few birthdays celebrated, (grand)parents visiting, a few meltdowns, a first trick-or-treating and real Halloween experience and also some much needed work slotted into the spare moments.

Actually, I got quite a bit of book work done which I definitely could not have managed without my mom's help. For about 2 and a half weeks, she cooked and cleaned for us and entertained Whitney without any complaints. I know that Whitney can wear me out after just a half day sometimes, so I just have to say how amazing my mom was and is! And I think Whitney enjoyed her time with her grandparents too.



Today, I'm focusing on computer work. I'll be listing a few new items in the shop shortly, so pop on by soon.

From Boobs to Books

It has been nearly a month since Whitney had her last nursing session and I swear in that time she has taken to books like a fish to water. I think it had something to do with my replacing the boobs with books before her nap and at bedtime. While it used to be a struggle to get her to sit still to listen to me reading a book, now it's a bit of a battle to get her to stop handing me books to read. But I love that she's so interested in them. It meant going back to the library - it had been months since we last visited one - and I'm finding so many great books for her and also ones to inspire me with my current book illustration. It's so great to discover new illustrators and rediscover ones that inspired me before.

Happy Weekend and Happy Autumn to you!

Life with a Toddler

Well, I've been slacking again with blog posts. But I'm blaming the hot hot heat... which makes me want to do next to nothing. Living with a toddler keeps me on my toes though and it seems we are constantly having to rethink our furniture arrangements to keep her safe.

So I've not just been vegging in front of the tv the past few weeks. On the contrary, we moved our tv down to the basement for about a month to keep Whitney from pulling at the cables. Since there is no cable connection down there, every time we wanted to watch something, Matt would have to bring up the monitor and pvr after Whitney was in bed. Needless to say that got to be a bit of a drag and not wanting to get rid of our cable - we are suckers, no pun intended, for True Blood - we rearranged our living room once again to better suit our tv watching needs. Now we just need to find a toddler-proof tv cabinet and mount/secure our flat screen tv to the wall.

Here's a before shot of the living room:

Right now we are using an Ikea ps cabinet to house our media. While it works well enough - the locking door is convenient - and matches the rest of our living room decor, I'd really like something larger, a bit more elegant and not on wheels. When we find the new cabinet, I'll be share some after shots.

Luckily, Whitney has not paid much attention to the tv since it's been back upstairs. Although she knows how to turn the tv on, she still is not allowed to watch any programs. I'm hoping to keep it that way for as long as possible.

Besides, she's much too busy with her modeling gigs... kidding.
She did get to experience her first professional photo shoot earlier this month when a friend was looking for a toddler to model some of her new Fall clothing line. Here are my favourite shots:

Photos taken by Emma-Lee Photography

Really though, our little girl is happiest being outside, playing with water these days.


Personally, I prefer to stay indoors. I'm keeping busy with book illustrations, stocking some new shops and filling etsy orders.

And speaking of etsy, I'll be back soon with a little shop update.