Moving

Well it's officially official.  We're moving to Connecticut!  Now, as we wait to hear about the salary part, the question is... Are we going to be living in situation A or situation B?  lol

  A

  B

Uncommon Goods Finalist

Wall Art Challenge

Final 15 Voting Now Open!

Mixed Media Selected as One Of the 'Top 15' in the Country

Vote for me please!: You guys, I'm so super excited to announce that one of my mixed media paintings has been selected as a finalist in the Uncommon Goods Wall Art Challenge.  Here's a blurb from their site...

More than 100 artists entered our first ever Wall Art Design Contest. These are the top 15 entries from around the country.

Artists used watercolors, pen and ink, acrylic, mixed media and digital software to create one of a kind work.

From now until May 9, your vote will help us choose the top 5 finalists to move on to the last round. Leave a positive comment in support of your favorite artist, and feel free to vote for as many entries as you like. If your artist wins, his or her work will be turned into a limited edition print available for sale this summer!

Our guest judges James Gulliver Hancock, Katie Giannone, and Trini Gantner will pick the winning artist from your votes on May 10. Thanks for supporting these talented artists!

Voting only lasts for the next 7 days, so please give me a big 'thumbs up' and spread the word!  This is huge exposure for my mixed media work and can only lead to good things with future projects, big and small.  Uncommon Goods is a great Indie/Handmade catalog that they curate and put out for the world to see.  Not to mention online!  I'd love to see this side (painting) of what I do gain more fans.  If you have a blog, please share.  Also feel free to put a note on Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere else you'd like!  Your good kharma will come back to you.  :)

New Resin Coated Necklaces

I am taking long breaks from blogging to try to divide what little energy I have between being pregnant, mommy to a toddler, running my business and other things.  But I just HAD to jump on here and tell you guys about what I've got coming for SPRING 2012!!!  :) 

I am busy making new things for my spot at the local stores and also for spring shows and any of my lovely online customers.  Things were feeling a little stale and I needed to shake it up.  So I have appliqued t-shirts and onesies coming in the next week or so.  But today... TODAY I have necklaces!  And they are so freaking adorable I could die. 

I found a way to make them quality and yet still really affordable.  I realize that most of my work is for children, and that spending a decent amount of money on a necklace that is nice enough for a grown-up just isn't practical in most parent's eyes. 

So, I have taken these really great lightweight wooden circles and repurposed them (I have no idea what they were for, but they had alphabet letters on one side and stickers on the other.  ?).  I print out my cute characters and stick them on, coat with generous amounts of shiny, gorgeous and durable resin, apply a loop and a nice soft piece of felt to the back, add an 18" ball chain, and VOILA!  A necklace that couldn't be more fun and easy to wear!

( Sorry for the over-use of exclamation points, by the way, but I just can't contain myself. )

I took pictures of what I have made so far, but they will all most likely be custom made when ordered, so if you don't see what you want, just hollar! 

You can find them here.  :)

Baby and Patterns

Well, I had forgotten how taxing pregnancy can be on your energy levels!  Not that babies aren't awesome, but I'm having days where taking a shower is my big event for the day.  LOL  That being said, I have some fuzzy pictures of the little one for y'all.

Ooo, and some new patterns too!  I got inspired by the spring color palette from Pantone.

I'm pretty sure the last one is my favorite, but they can change as soon as I make a new one!  I'd be interested to hear your thoughts!  :)

New Toy - and a free wallpaper for you!

So I haven't really addressed my Kickstarter project, A Year In Pattern, in a while.  A big part of that is because it's always disappointing when something crash and burns.  I had a very lofty goal for the fundraiser, hoping I'd be able to hire as part time assistant and devote a lot of time to the endeavour.  In the end, I just didn't get there.  What I did find out is that there are a lot of friends and family (and some lovely strangers!) who love me and believe in what I do.  That in of itself was worth the whole thing.  :)

Now, the reason why I'm talking to you about this now is because I have not given up!  No assistant does not mean no Year In Pattern!!  What it does mean is that the project will go more slowly and be scaled back significantly, but that's life.  I'm okay with that.  Especially now that I have baby #2 on the way.  Everything in it's own time, right?

What I'm going to do is periodically upload the new fabric designs directly to my Spoonflower account and you can order yardage directly from there.  They do a FABULOUS job.

Part of what is going to make this project move forward is that my father (thanks Dad!) was generous enough to get me the technology I need to more efficiently create my patterns.  I now have a Wacom Intuos4 wireless drawing tablet!  It's going to cut hours, maybe even days, off of the process.  I'm so excited y'all.  You have no idea.  Seriously. 

Now, I've only played with it for one day really, but I'm kinda getting the hang of it.  There is going to be a very steep learning curve, but I'm up for it.  Especially after seeing what I can do with this nifty thing!

In celebration of my new toy, I've created a fun Valentine's day themed wallpaper for you to use on your computer,etc.  It tiles perfectly.  Free for you!  :)  Feel free to spread the love too, just make sure you let people know where it came from (or just link them to here).  Enjoy!