Not just an empty box, "Ginger's Memories" is quite full! I created this collage box to capture memories for Ginger's 40th birthday party, themed Back in Black. Guests brought items to include, such as matchbooks and coasters, a banana comb straight from the 80s, the Back in Black album by AC/DC, pictures, postcards from Ginger's many travels, and pertinent aging quotes.


I tore a map of Rome and newspaper pages into strips and adhered with medium gel gloss. After it was dry, I sponge painted over the strips with brown and black acrylic paints, then decorated with stickers and die cut shapes. I sealed everything in place with another coat of medium gel gloss, giving it a smooth finish. I lined the box with maps from Prague and Budapest. I'm sure Travel Girl has a lot of memories to store so this box should get lots of use.

Happy Birthday, Ginger!

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I'm attending the Western Washington Scrapbook Retreat next weekend for 3 days of dedicated creative time. I'm not a scrapbooker intrinsically, although I do enjoy making my own greeting cards.

I'm going because my friends go every year and some are the fearless leaders of this event. I dug in my heals last year thinking, "I'm not a scrapbooker and my toddlers need me." Now, my tune has changed. I'm now saying, "I'm not a scrapbooker, but I need to find my creative soul again." To me, the only way to do this is to have time for myself. Big blocks of it. Oh yeah! I'm looking forward to that!

To get into the groove, I signed up for the event's card swap. My inspiration was my piano. I've never been very good and don't have an ear for music, but I enjoy plunking out a "tune" (I use that word loosely) once in the while. I have TONS of sheet music from my Grandma, my Aunt Judy, and my mom. I went through it yesterday to see what could be deemed collage worthy and found some goodies to cut up for my project.

I made 14 cards on black stock with matching black envelopes. I inserted a cream sheet inside for legible writing.

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"When young in the 80's
"Back in Black" she did crow.
Now, Ginger's getting older.
She turns the big four-oh!"

I'm really happy with my "Back in Black" party invitations! I created them for a 40th birthday party held on Halloween. It's a single card, invitation information on one side and AC/DC's lyrics for the song, Back in Black, on the other. An insert to bring items for a memory box was tucked under the ribbon before it was inserted into a matching black envelope.

The information on the card has been altered for privacy reasons, so if you're one of the attendees...don't freak out!

Rock on!

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I finally finished collaging the Monkey Toy Box for a toddler birthday surprise last weekend. I had an old lidded box that needed a new life and a complete face lift.

To cover it, I tore brown textured magazine pages into strips and using gel medium, adhered it to the box and lid. Then I dabbed brown acrylic paint on with a sponge to even out the color. I cut out flowers from scrapbook paper and used decorative hole punch cut outs and stickers for decoration.

Earlier this summer, with this project in mind, I had illustrated a monkey, called Monkey and Map. I cut out the shape of his head and adhered all the decoration with medium gel gloss, giving it a smooth finish and adding a nice coating to secure paper edges. Hopefully this will keep little toddler fingers from peeling up edges in their spare time!

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I'm listening to The Tango Lesson, which I can "hear" from my latest illustration, First Tango. Like first love, the dance is intimate yet exhilarating.

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For Inpsire Me Thursdays theme this week, ticket, I scanned my recently purchased raffle tickets. I changed the words "Keep this coupon" to "Admit One", already having the idea of a white ticket fence.

The image took on a life of it's own and after I added water, the clouds turned into a fish. Another fun journey.

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"You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away and know when to run." ~ Kenny Rogers, The Gambler

I'm using this illustration for Inspire Me Thursday's theme this week, Child Art. Nothing in the piece was done by a child...but it is intended for a monkey toy box. Some how, my toddlers have acquired quite a few monkey plush toys. I've put them all into a shoebox and I call it the Monkey Box. It's in their closet and when they need a distraction, I tell them to go find their monkey box, which they are happy to dig out. Decorating the Monkey Box is on my list of "to dos" and this illustration is a start.

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"Fleeting: passing swiftly; vanishing quickly; transient; transitory"

Bird takes a fleeting glance at the picnic below him. He espies two of his friends dining on watermelon seeds and wonders if there's room for one more. After all, he eats like a bird!

This image was inspired by my friend, April, who wrote, "I love animals and hope to have a garden in heaven were animals talk to me".

Happy Birthday, Razzle Dazzle!

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My bio and contact information have been added to Halo Publishing's online directory of illustrators. Halo Publishing is in the self publishing business. They help authors get their work published by assisting them through editing, aligning them with an illustrator, and working with them through the publishing process.

I spoke with Lisa Umina, the co-founder of Halo Publishing International, and found her to be knowledgeable, accessible, and inspiring! Self publishing is a wonderful avenue for those authors that have a story to tell, want to share it, and are motivated to market their product themselves.

I appreciate Lisa reaching out to me, inviting me to be a part of the Halo directory of illustrators. I'm looking forward to working with her and future self publishing authors.

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I was inspired by the bowling pins I recently crafted and thought I would exercise my brain with a quick image. I illustrated the bee and the ladybug and then let them take over as they started telling their own story. I like letting go to see where things end up. An enjoyable journey today with the Free Bee.

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I needed a project to do while spending time at my parent's house. I have so many fabric remnants and odd buttons that I thought of making bowling pins for my girls. I brought with me the easy pattern I created, some notions for antennas, eyes, and noses and sewed like the wind! I used navy beans for the base and stuffed the critters with recycled pillow stuffing and fleece. I made a bumble bee, ladybug, monkey, cat, bird and a bunny rabbit.

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Fresh from the oven, my last batch of sweets sewn for the Deux Pois Bakery. When my girls are old enough to play in their make believe bakery (and stop putting things in their mouths) I will share my box of treats. Right now the buttons are a choking hazard even though they look delicious!

My Petit Four Sec Chocolate Cake with Confectioners Sugar has a sprinkling of lace, which lends itself nicely to this week's theme for Inspire Me Thursday.

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I saw some crafted cupcakes and confections online made from felt or felted wool and topped with ribbons, buttons, and beads. They were really cute so I thought I'd try my hand at creating my own plush desserts. I have loads of fabric pieces, jars of old buttons, and ribbon remnants of all sorts. To use up these collections of scraps, I machine sewed all my confections using mostly cotton quilting fabric. I created my own patterns and looks to stock my new "bakery", Deux Pois Bakery.

The first batch of sewn confections is for a friend's daughter. She'll be turning two and getting a tea and kitchen set as gifts. The second batch, not shown here, is one I'm currently working on for my two girls. I have two more cakes to sew to complete the second set. Fun was had by moi!


Don't they look scrumptious? If only they'd taste like they look...yummy!

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I delved into my texture/photo stash when I saw Inspire Me Thursday's theme this week, "peeling paint." I have some great photographs of this very thing from a hike I took around Angel Island in the Bay Area. I used one of these photos (not shown below) for the side of the building in my illustration, Itsy Bitsy Spider.

More digging produced more textures. It's fun to count how many different "places" were used in this image. Let's see, there's the plant from our old backyard, rivets from the Experience Music Project building in Seattle, peeling paint from a building on Angel Island, a collage I made in my studio...you get the picture!

Of course, the inspiration for Itsy Bitsy Spider came from Illustration Friday's theme this week, "climbing." I sing this to my girls so it was the first thing that popped into my mind...always with the kid stuff!

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I went for a nature walk today in the Mercer Slough. I took lots of great shots, these three being my favorite. Maybe I could use the "Swamp Gunk" image in my last monster image for the Seven Deadly Sins, Greed. I'll have to think on that one.



Inspire Me Thursday's theme this week is Breakfast. I'm not sure that "Swamp Gunk" is giving me the proper inspiration! Yuck!

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Sorry this is so small! I just finished this image to use as a "farewell" footer to a blog, hence the odd shape and size. I added the quote, "Do I love you because you're beautiful, or are you beautiful because I love you?" by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II in Cinderella as mentioned by Quote Garden. The quote was specifically added in honor of Illustration Friday's theme this week, "pale." I thought it fitting since Mr. Bee thinks the alluring daisies pale in comparison to his new love, Ms. Ladybug.

“Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere.”
~ William Shakespeare

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Wow! My word got chosen for Illustration Friday's theme this week! I didn't know until I started getting comments to my blog...thought I'd better get an illustration done!

The last time I participated in Illustration Friday was August 31 with Kookaburra. I'm feeling a little rusty. And, as we all know, getting started is half the battle...!

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I was in need of some 'thank you' cards and went into production mode. I have a play pen set up in my studio with toys and pillows to keep the little ones occupied while I try to be creative. They both like to get into everything BUT their toys and pillows. Big sigh. I like having them with me but I don't get much accomplished.

I kept the cards simple so that I could work on them quickly and have a finished product under my belt. I used scrapbook paper, stamps and ink, a flower punch, acrylic paint and Yes paste. Done and done!

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I forgot to share my earlier 'thank you' cards made in September. The cards were created for a bumble bee and ladybug themed party.

The cards were made with ribbon, scrapbook paper, Yes paste, stamps and ink and circle punches. These were elaborate so were more time consuming to make...

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PIE, I just read, means "Paid in Exposure" according to this article, When to Work for Nothing at the NY Times blog...it's a good article with great comments. Check it out!

Speaking of PIE, NPR has shipped me 200 calendars as payment for the pro bono work I created for them last summer. My illustration, Listener From Outer Space, represents the month of October. I'll be mailing these out shortly after Thanksgiving as Christmas give-a-ways. If you're on my mailing list, watch your mailbox! A 2009 calendar is coming your way...

To view the calendar cover art go to NPR's website at www.npr.org.

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The collage images in this book are a creative and textural way to introduce the alphabet to young readers. Each page offers a different animal in a unique setting with a short descriptive sentence of each letter. A wonderful way for children to enjoy the ABCs.

I self published this book April 4, 2007 with Blurb but kept it private so I could shop it around with book publishers. Not much luck in that arena. I've learned there are lots of dos, don'ts and a multitude of other obstacles making it very difficult to break into the children's market. Because time is not something I have an abundance of, I decided I would self publish and turn my attention to my next book.

The next book I have in the works is another alphabet book introducing words that start with the letters of the alphabet. It's clever, fun, and will be illustrated in paper and digital collage to add textures and depth to the images.

Another book still being dreamed about is a children's counting book 1 through 10 to be a companion to Animal Alphabet A-Z.

The holidays are right around the corner as are winter and spring birthdays! Check out Animal Alphabet A-Z at the Blurb Bookstore. Previewing is available and purchasing is as easy as ever ;)

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I used to have this song on a 45 LP when I was a kid...it was one of my favorites. Now that I have two tots, I like to sing this song to them.

It's hard to see, but the first two verses of the song (font in the image is Dandelion) are repeated in the background of the image adding to the texture.

Here are the lyrics:

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree.
Merry, merry king of the bush is he.
Laugh, Kookaburra! Laugh, Kookaburra!
Gay your life must be.

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree.
Eating all the gum drops he can see.
Stop, Kookaburra! Stop, Kookaburra!
Leave some there for me.

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree.
Chasing all the monkeys he can see.
Stop, Kookaburra! Stop, Kookaburra!
That's no monkey, that's me!

Kookaburra sits on a rusty nail.
Puts a boo-boo on his tail.
Cry, Kookaburra! Cry, Kookaburra!
Oh how life can be.

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I created two icons, a bumble bee and ladybug, for a double themed birthday party invitation for twins. The images were used for the invitations, which were printed and adhered to 5x7" black, single-folded cardstock and finished with yellow/white striped and red/white polka dot ribbon. The font I chose is called "Fontdinerdotcom."



The assembly line is now in process!

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I started the Seven Deadly Sins awhile ago and was stumped on what to do for greed...so I allowed myself to be distracted by other things and kind of forgot about finishing this project! After I read Inspire Me Thursdays theme last week of Polka Dots, I took what I started for Greed and changed it into a lusty, freckled monster octopus instead. This one, Lust, is the 6th monster I've done, so I only have Greed left! Want to see the others? They're here:

Wrath
Envy
Gluttony
Sloth
Pride

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Hello! I'm surfacing briefly from house hunting to share my latest work assignment, an illustration for NPR's 2009 calendar, due tomorrow.

Here's the assignment:

"NPR has always represented audio excellence and great in-depth news reporting. Our reports not only foster intelligent discourse, they also often elicit imagery in the minds of our audience. We want you to put that on paper. Here is a choice of questions your art may answer:

* What does your personal NPR experience look like?

* How does NPR affect your life or your community?

* Six key verbs help characterize the NPR experience across today’s media platforms: Share, Connect, Think, Question, Explore, and Dream. How would you visualize these words?

* The work should include the NPR logo."

I thought it was also fitting for Illustration Friday's theme this week, enough. Even this alien can't get enough of the Earthlings' radio. Especially the NPR programming!

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