One of the projects i had the most fun with in the doodle book is this Family Seek n Find. Each family member drew their answers to a series of targeted questions. i made a key listing all the items drawn by each family member. Then i filled the rest of the empty space with random doodles. Framed under glass, the Seek n Find can be used again and again using wipe-able dry erase markers to circle each find.

My 5 year old is so proud he helped and shows his friends when they come to play.

Try it out with your family! Its a keepsake, a game, and a way to spend an afternoon of creating with your family, all rolled into one!

Just in time for the holidays! Here is a super-simple printable that just uses plain old letter size cardstock. Each print, cut down the middle, creates 2, A2 sized greeting cards that you or your kids can color for teachers, friends and family. The perfect festive craft to keep the kids busy for a while this holiday season. And an easy fix for those a-ha moments when you’ve forgotten a card and have no time to dash out to the store.

Here’s what it looks like:

Your download is immediately available upon purchase! Happy Holidays!

$1.00  COLOR-ABLE HOLIDAY CARDS DOWNLOAD

Just click here for the B&W, letter-size download that you can print at home. It includes a label for your box, the color-able princess village backdrop, and some sweet little extras; a wishing well and flower cart.

Hope your little ones have a great time personalizing their own set!
Ashley’s BEAUTIFUL example is shown below and tutorial is here.

Look at the awesomeness that lovely, susie, from Phairytale jewelry is making for me!

i saw this awesome round “ELECTRIC” token on susie’s site and just loved it. My husband is an electrician and i thought it would be a sweet and quirky way to symbolize him close to my heart. susie was game to add in some little indications of me and my boys as well…..the little #1 & #2 stars for my little guys and the “mama bear” for me! This is a shot of the components she sent to me for approval!…..approved!

Go check out phairytale! susie is so creative and was the most pleasant person to work with. i love that she is not afraid of “quirk” and i cannot wait to receive my special new necklace.

You know its bad when you start photographing new shipments of art supplies as lovingly as you do your children. But…..see what arrived today!? And that’s just the first box!

i’ll be diving into my studio to start covering canvases with these yummies starting this weekend. Aren’t they precious?

…and lest you think i’ve lost my mind and my perspective, look;

i took a sweet! self-portrait of me and my littles lounging on the floor together just this evening.

Good Night!

These sketches are my very first rough comps for a kids book i’ve been wanting to write for a long time….but have been too scared to do.

The little girl is a crazy, messy, looney-toons art girlie. Yep. Sounds about right. : )

Wish me luck!

My sister-in-law (and nieces!) hosted a little book party to celebrate my first foray into the world of publishing last week. She made some fun snacks and the moms chatted in the kitchen while i held court with about 15 little girls in the dining room. i told them about my job as an illustrator/designer and walked them through the Fashion Book a bit. i brought along tracing paper and my portable lightbox for them to try and prepped worksheets for each girl to practice with. Everyone got a copy of the book and they even lined up for me to sign them. It was such a fun night!

Check out the drawing one of the girls made that night and gave to me (above). Isn’t it awesome? Her name is Delaney and i had such a nice time chatting with her mom. i think we are going to repeat the event for her birthday party next month! Thanks for sharing your art with me, Delaney! i love it!

And a big thanks to Jodi, my SIL. You really made the night special, right down to my surprise congratulatory cake. It was so wonderful. LOVE YOU!

The past year has been a whirlwind of pregnancy, baby, artwork, design work, some amazing new business opportunities and my first baby steps into the world of publishing!

i feel extremely lucky for all that has come my way this past year. i have always dreamed of having a book published with my artwork or words on the inside. And i’ve been gifted the chance to put out 2 such books in these past 8 months.  i’ve just put the last few details into place for very last content submission on the second book.

There’s not really a dedication page in the doodle book…but as a little love note to my family, i included the above photo as an accompaniment to my Tool & Materials lists.

Can’t wait to move forward to the next step on my path!

Ok mamas with little boys (like me!)….you asked for it!

Here is my first 3-pak of boys tee graphics available in my etsy shop. i used a scritchy-scratchy texture to draw these and they are really inspired by my son who is 5. He was instrumental in helping me narrow down the offerings in this first set!

The kid loves punching me first when he sees a punch-buggy.

He is learning proper catch phrases from my fave guilty pleasure movies, like Clueless!

And he truly enjoys a proper thumb war.

You can get these transfer graphics, here.

Super fun craft for you and your kiddos!

Bonus:  Give the kids some fabric markers once the transfer is ironed on and you can treat the tee like a wearable coloring book!

Tip: Be creative and consider using a striped tee (in lighter colors that will show a black graphic) or a patterned/tie dye tee to up the WOW! factor.