Just found out these came out!
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=10860489http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=10860488There is a book enclosed with each plush that I did the paintings for. Another will be out soon!
Definitely ordering a couple of these!
This colour version of my illustration for the theme Remedy would make a good get well illustration. I might turn it into a card yet.
"We will tie the string to a door handle now , it won't hurt a bit" said mouse. Donkey wasn't so sure.
I spent the day sketching for a toy design contract and this evening while kiddies were asleep and hubby out I had a digi play. It was a bit of a break from all

Even with the wonderful help of Ki-Ki and the Blue Rose Girls, I still was scrambling when the first guests arrived to the party. Punch wasn’t mixed (and never was), paintings were crooked and ice had been forgotten. But the party had begun!

And it was wonderful. Who would’ve known that
Lissy’s Friends would be such a appropriate book for the party? Because friends from everywhere, from all facets of my life came out on the cold, rainy day.
Author and artist friends like:
Mary Newell Depalma, Steve Engel (the artist that cuts all the snowflakes for Robert's Snow) and Nicole Tadgell.
Alissa Imre Geis
and Barbara O'ConnorTeacher/School Visit Friends like:
Pat Keough
Eisha (with Anna) New Friends like:
Lily (a big Year of the Dog fan!)
and Scott MagoonAnd old friends like:
Mike and Nancy (who came from Texas!)Throughout the party, Ki-Ki and
the blue rose girls were working the book table, selling lots of copies of
Lissy’s Friends:



I kept getting unnecessary but extraordinarily lovely gifts from people. Thank you!

And Lolly from the
Horn Book was podcasting:

See her trying to deviously pretend she’s not recording?
Kids seemed to like the cupcakes:

and the flowers:

And no one seemed to notice the lack of punch:

But I was still a bit scrambled. Time passed in a blur! I forgot to publicly thank the girls for all their help, do a book reading or even acknowledge the
Lissy doll! I do remember that I did urge everyone to eat cupcakes, that I raffled my painting,

and
The Blue Rose Girls (sans Meghan) had a photo op:

So, I think Lissy and I had a pretty good birthday! Thanks everyone for celebrating with us!

I think I just realized that throwing a book party is like getting married; or at least having a wedding. Or maybe it's just the way I do things--what's the book party equivalent to bridezilla? Book partzilla? Parthra (a la Mothra)?
And just like having a wedding, the success of the party is dependent on good friends pitching in. Lucky for me, I have those.
Alvina flew in straight from the International Reading Association conference in Toronto to Boston and pitched right in. Gosh, I needed her. Not only did the gift bags need to be finished (not everyone got chocolate rats; I had to start making chocolate faster so I was using all my molds--turtles, pigs, roses, seashells. Not very themed, but oh well!); I had cupcakes to make!!

144 to be exact: 48 carrot cupcakes, 48 pink velvet (supposed to be red velvet but I ran out of red food coloring) and 48 lemon. We used 3 boxes of butter! Alvina and I spent the day baking and I finally feel justified in having a fancy mixer.
Then after work, Ki-Ki, Anna, Bruno, Luke and Ranida came over to help frost. This actually didn't take that long...


Okay, maybe it did.

Quite Lovely! I especially savored the elephant and the decorative whale. So original! Great find.