Painted Shapes

painting in my sketchbook

Paint more /  Love more that's my plan for 2015!

Hello, Heimtextil!

Are you gearing up for the NEW year?  

We are getting my art together for Antonio to take to the Heimtextil show in Frankfurt, Germany.  Before Luca was born I used to join Antonio for all the shows.  I'm hoping to get back to that someday!  (many shows sadly don't allow kids)

My collection will be at booth H68 in Hall 4.2

If your attending the show stop by and take a look.  There will be lots of bright, fun art for kids & baby... from florals, to conversationals with some seasonal surprises along the way!

Peace & JOY!

Wishing You & Yours a Christmas filled with Peace & Joy!

Christmas Characters...

Both from my Counting Christmas book.

3 Days...

&   c o u n t i n g !

Winter Solstice!

Keep on the Sunny Side... 

Hm,  that's not been so easy to find with it getting dark at 4:45pm.  So relieved that today is the winter solstice & from here on out precious seconds of sunlight will be coming back!  

I'm a girl who needs her sunshine. 

Christmas Choo- Choo

With Christmas right around the corner I thought I'd share my Christmas Choo- Choo board book today.

This book features removable puzzle pieces to play with two ways.  Each piece pops out of the book & can be puzzled back in place. Then... each piece can be assembled together to create Santa's Christmas Choo- Choo.

A fun & festive way to encourage hand & eye coordination.  

*Hold on tight... the Christmas train pulls out of the station in just 6 days.
I think that will leave us ALL breathing a sigh of relief!

Special Snowflake

Playing around in my sketchbook today.

You're a special snowflake...

Yes, you are!

Happy Hanukkah!

I am not Jewish but I do have a great deal of respect & curiosity about the religion.

Over the years I've been commissioned to create several Hanukkah pieces.  This year I bought my first menorah as an opportunity to discuss the Jewish religion with my son Luca.  As a child I had wished for a better understanding of other religions. I've checked out a couple children's books about the holiday to read as bedtime stories.  So tonight at sundown we'll light our first candle.

Wishing you a Happy Hanukkah!

Woodland Tree Skirt

Today I'm showing some sections of my Woodland tree skirt.  This is made of felt & a variety of other fabric.  To finish off the rustic, woodland look I found some wooden buttons & stained a couple in some earthy shades.  I love to cut & sew & enjoyed working on this.  Next step, some woodland ornaments... for next year maybe!

Bear with bird friends.

Raccoon meet Sparrow, Sparrow meet Raccoon.

How do you do?

Bunny loves berries!

A few of the fabrics I used in this Woodland tree skirt.

That's another fun part- picking the palette of fabric & special touches!

Christmas Fun

             He's Been Nice!

Getting Ready for Christmas

Decking the Halls!

Monday

Some holiday art to start off the week.  The helpful snowman. (he has a birdhouse hat)

The JOY of giving & getting!

He's Coming -2- Town!

This is my "He's Coming -2- Town!"  mini puzzle available at Barnes & Noble stores

& Barnes & Noble online.  Super cute stocking stuffer!

Holiday Guide

I've been hard at work on my gift line Jill McDonald baby & kids with C.R. Gibson for a couple years now. I so enjoy adding to the line and watching it grow!

Today I've pulled together some of my holiday items in a gift guide.

My personal favorites are the memory match game & Chrismtas Choo-Choo puzzle book.

There are mini puzzles, little holiday books (3 x 3") & festive felt finger puppets all perfect stocking stuffers!  You can purchase any of these items here.  

Fun Advent Calendar Tree

This is the Fun Advent Calendar Tree card I made for Papyrus.

Turned out nicely. 

That's one of the exciting parts of what I do... getting to see the finished product- via samples.

This would be a great card to send a little one.  I would have loved it!

Here's my original file-

Here's how the card turned out.

Here is a close up of the flaps lifted to reveal the surprise icon.

Always fun to work with the talented folks at Papyrus!

Cuckoo for Christmas!

So here we are December 1st! 

This is the Cuckoo for Christmas advent calendar I made. (felt & embroidery)

 I have it all ready for Luca when he comes home from school today. 

(imagine cute photography here!)

This is a close up of the little bird on a string that flies from day to day after the child removes the treat.  This month is going to fly by so I'm making a point of trying to enjoy it!

It's official the holidays are here!

Giving Thanks!

Hope you & yours had a lovely Thanksgiving!

I made some Give Thanks placemats for the little ones at our gathering.

Luca is filling out what he's thankful for.

*photo by my dear friend gina (doecdoe)

You can see here charmingly retro photography & crafting here!

Along with my sweet husband I'm pretty THANKFUL for her!

Foliage

It's the end of November & we're still raking!

Love it when I find a giant, intact leaf feels like I found a

four leaf clover.

First Harvest

Found a couple older Thanksgiving pieces I made.

Above is The First Harvest 

below is Circle Falls

Do you have exciting plans for Thanksgiving?

We have a good mix this year, one good friend, a little bit of my

family & a little bit of Antonio's.  Should = a beautiful day!

Gratitude Grid

Let's call this my little warm up exercise for Thanksgiving next week.  

This would be a great morning mantra.

Winter Sky

Our first snow arrived on Saturday.  Although not a lot  enough to make

me remember what I'm in for.  My favorite part was looking up a seeing

a flock of birds flying amongst the gentle flakes.

*Looking for the positives here!

Friday FUN....

                                         Friday late afternoon always feels like a royal affair.

Have a great weekend!

Winter Garden

The forecast for where I live is on a steady decline until the end of the week.  I'm not a winter girl so I'm thinking of ways to make the most of it.  My usual trick is a indoor winter garden- Amaryllis, Paper Whites & hyacinth.  Gives me hope to see flowers bloom in the frosty weather. 

(even if it's indoors)  and it smells so good.

*If you have any suggestions or tips for the winter pass them along!

I did order a new down filled coat as my cold weather staple.

Sunday Sketchbook

A little Sunday morning painting in my sketchbook.

Added some text digitally- makes more sense to me now.

Some things just need words & well others definitely don't!

Car Talk

Just found out that Tom Magliozzi died earlier this week.  I am a HUGE fan of car talk & so enjoyed listening to them crack one another up & learning a little something along the way.  I almost forgot they had names.... just thought of them as the Click & Clack brothers.  The show always brought a smile to my face & gave me a lasting impression on a beautiful brotherly bond.

Fall Floral

Starting out November with a fall floral.  Trying to hold on to last couple weeks of warmer weather here.  Then it's on with my North Face coat until the end of April!
*Note to self find a chicer winter uniform.

Scary!

An appropriate time of year for something truly scary to happen.  My computer hard drive is corrupted so we're off to get me a new computer.  Kind of a bummer you get so attached to your work set up & I've had a lot of good times with this computer.  You know how it goes there's always some sort of learning curve & a couple files that get lost in transferring everything to your new computer.  Finger Crossed.  Seems like every 3 years or so there's a BIG computer glitch.
(Do they really make our lives easier... Hmmm?)

Look at these!

Antonio was in Denver a couple weeks ago & took a picture of these intricately carved pumpkins.  Mine won't look anything like this but it's something to aspire too!
 * Love how some feel very Dia de Muertos & Mexican paper cutout- Wow!

Monday

Hope you had a good weekend.  We are on the Halloween countdown at our house.

5 days until candy galore!  

Halloween Party!

Luca's school Halloween party is this afternoon.  I'm out the door in just a couple minutes.  Lovely fall day here today.  I keep looking out my window to see showers of falling leaves. (which basically means weekend raking but... it's pretty)

I still get excited about the holidays & having a child I find it only reinforces my sense of play & wonder.  Was up late last night making some ghost brownie bites. (yep, peanut free) 

I've also prepared a little craft to do with the class- pom pom bats. 

Bought some plain rings & bracelets to attach them to.

Hope you have a fun fall weekend!