birthday party invitations

It takes a long time to figure that out. I'm pretty sure I'm not a penguin or a peacock. Certainly not an early bird and definitely not an ostrich:). Anyway, everything has been wrapped, decorated, hidden and not forgotten... so I had a bit of time to watercolour:). H A P P Y H O L I D A Y S ! ! !

So, here we are... the shortest day of the year. Pitch black outside... and it's not even dinner time. What to do? Well, if emergency vacation isn't in your financial plans - buy some hot pink watercolour paint and go bananas. Take it or leave it - that's my best advice (for now:)...

I love both - chocolate and illustration... and when these two come together it is twice as good. Alas, I never got the samples (tho I don't know if I would have managed enough self restrain during the 'product phtotoshoot') , but I did find a few pictures on Simon Coll's website to convince me that it is real. Hope some lucky kids are enjoying it:).

Thanks to Print&Pattern blog... I remembered I have this joyful little tree card at lagom ... and as it turns out... at John Lewis... and that's just super!

For those who are in the middle of winter blues and for whom Christmas doesn't provide the intended distraction - I give this rainbow rain:).

December is upon us once again. As per our annual tradition... I went ahead and made new holiday gift tags. I hope they'll cheer you up!        FEEL FREE TO COPY:         •   click on the image           - it will open in its own window             at high resolution (300 dpi)         •   copy that to your desktop.         •   print as many as you'd like in any size you'd like:)           Happy wrapping and labelling:)! Oh... and if these aren't working out for you this year... check out the previous year's tags: 2013 , 2012 , 2011 , 2010

I'd like a handful of little field strawberries. Sweet tiny little strawberries. I'd have to put that 'want' onto a shelf in my head... there it could wait 'til summer comes:).

A bit of greyness is seeping into my work lately. It's gotten all gloomy and snowy here. I'm not all that good at staying happy when light is at a premium and snow is king. I get all blue and grey. We should all get out... and see a comedy... while eating chocolate... Just planning fun things makes me feel a bit more cheery:).

Very little time for personal pieces lately. I have been working on this repeat... little by little... for 2 weeks. I'm taking you into the magical woods once again. It's were my ' happy  escapist' dwells. Hope your  ' happy  escapist' comes into my fable woods too. They could have a magical (no real adults allowed) kind of party:).

Time has been flying way too fast lately. Where is it all going? and how can I stop it?.. rhetorical questions, of course . I've been 'a human working'... and that makes me a 'poor blogger'.  On the positive note, today is my middle daughter's birthday. Margo is turning 11! Any day now I'll wake up... and the house would be filled with little women:).

It's been too long since I've made a pattern... I almost needed to make one... and not a rainy October kind either. I get enough of that looking out the window. Mid July... and sunny:).

Most of my daydreaming happens at night... I consider it most productive and necessary:).

I'm listening to the Inheritance Cycle (audio books) while I work (being the giant nerd that I am) , and this is my depiction of Angela & Solembum .

It has been such a long while since I've blogged... I've started to forget how much fun it is to share work with you. All I've been huffing and puffing over in the past few weeks isn't ready for the show & tell... and it might be a long time until I can blog about it. There's still a lot to do, but I had to stop everything today and do a personal piece... if only to remember that I can. Hope you like it:).

It's been a 'wall to wall' kind of couple of weeks. Almost impossible to squeeze any kind of personal work in... but I managed! It  keeps me sane... working on personal pieces:). Things will calm down in October. Already, girls are settled into their school routines and peace has returned to the casa (at least until 4pm). I'm going to look at the bright side and plow ahead.

The summer, that has been rainy and cold has ended abruptly... leaving me feeling disappointed. The toddler that lives inside my head and isn't afraid of showing his true feelings in their full glory is still lying on my minds floor in full tantrum... yelling "it's not fair! Where's the rest of the summer?!". The big girl that I am just keeps on making warm floral patterns...

Took a break from my projects to make this celestial dream illustration. I've been reading "Ender's Game" and thinking about vast blackness of space... you can tell, can't you:).

I've met some morning people during my 37 year stay on this planet. They look like people. They walk and talk like people... but surely, their odd desire to wake with the birds and skip after breakfast is an alien trait:). Personally, when the birds start singing... I start thinking it's time to go to bed. Most mornings I do need a crane and strong smell of coffee to get me out of bed... or, better yet - a strange, catlike creature to whisper  ' Good Morning , Princess' into my sleepy ear...

It's been a ' no time for personal work ' kind of week last week and another one just like it is coming right up. Wish I could show you some things I'm working on... but it would be a long time until I can...  On the bright side - my samples of the Calendars and Planners from Studio Oh! have arrived.   I could never tire from seeing the final product:). They turned out lovely.

Took this weekend into my own hands and spent some serious time creating personal work. This new print is the result. Whatever day you are having... I hope it brightens it:).