Dottie's Attic

Dottie's Attic is an adorable online shop that sells vintage housewares.  Courtney always has something in her store that catches my eye.  Right now I'm wondering where I might put this Vintage Chocolate Brown Teapot.  Courtney wanted a banner and profile image for her Etsy shop that showcased "Dottie", the quirky fun shop icon.  It didn't take long for Dottie and brand to come to life.

Cupcakes by Chantal

Cupcakes by Chantel are delicious and adorable, so should be the logo.  The cupcake graphic was hand drawn by Chantel.  I cleaned it up, added a great font, and before you could say "with a cherry on top" Chantel was up and running with a new logo and Facebook profile image for Cupcakes by Chantel.

Printable: February Icons

Every month I create little graphics to use on our calendar.  I create a pattern with them and write the number of the day with a thick Sharpie.  My three year old loves counting the days and figuring out the pattern.  Here's a free printable page of our February icons.  They're about 2 1/4 inches tall.  They would make great mini valentines or for little love notes.  Click on the image or HERE to download.

July Update

It's been a while since I last posted.  I've been chipping away at client projects, including a logo for a small sweets service,

a few more black and white images,

and creating artwork to sell when I open my online store.  You may remember this guy from a while back.  I revisited him and played with some digitial collage techniques I've been dying to try out.

Also chipping away is my tolerance for sleep deprivation because of a teething infant and my patience because of an increasingly independent (and defiant) toddler.  I know that if I survive this time, I will look back on it all in a few years and miss it, even just a little bit.

Work in Process

 It's been a while since I last posted, but I haven't been slacking, I promise!  I've been working on client projects and getting my goodness together so that I can open my online store (woot woot!  More to come on that later).  To prove that haven't lounging around reading celebrity magazines in my PJs (not that a mom of two small kiddos could do that anyway), here's a snapshot of a current illustration in progress.  Can you figure out each family member?

Printable: Happy Mother's Day

An oldie but goody (circa 2007).

What?!  You forgot to get Mom a card?!  That's OK, I've got you covered.  Download this printable card, color it in, and hand it to your wonderful Mama with a smile of gratitude for all she has done.  Mom will always love something you've made yourself.  Click HERE to download.

Mother's Day Gift

Happy Mother's Day Weekend!  (Because of course it should be celebrated for AT LEAST the whole weekend).

I created this handprint art for the grandmothers using a scan of the kiddo's hand tracing and some great e-papers from ComputerScrapbook.com.  I mounted the 7x5 prints on foam core, wrapped the edge with 1/4" ribbon and made a little stand.

Grungy Collage and Text Painting: Ninety-Nine Problems

My husband has been asking me to make him a new piece of artwork for his office, and at the same time asking for something with this twist on the 50 Cent song "99 Problems".  If you remember from my printable Valentine's Day cards, my hubby loves weight lifting.

I started with a 24" x 24" piece of Masonite I had hanging around my started-but-not-finished-artwork stash.  After priming the board I collaged some ripped computer paper onto it with Mod Podge.  (I actually printed out the Wiki article on Arnold Schwarzenegger since the hubby is quite a fan.  The thought was that the text would peak through in the end product.  Though this didn't end up working out as I had hoped, it's still kinda cool that there's more to the collage aspect than just random paper.)  After the Mod Podge dried I worked some white paint into the gaps and lightly over the text.

You can see Mr. Schwarzenegger peeking through a bit here.

Once the white paint dried (okay, so maybe I sped up the process with my handy heat gun) I measured out where I wanted the text.  I used 2" vinyl letters in Helvetica font that I picked up at a craft store.  I used my handy 4" roller to run a coat of black acrylic over everything.

Please don't mind the poop-like paint blob.  The white oval is the edge of the foam roller.

I peeled up the vinyl letters before the paint got too dry, using a craft knife to pull up a corner of each letter.

I used a sanding block to knock back the black, revealing the white paint and paper edges from the collage layer.  This gave the painting a great "grunge" look.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  I think I'm going to use the soda tab hanging system to hang it on the wall.  I'll let you know how that works out!

Work in Progress: Rain & Snow

I am in the midst of a huge project developing images to help teach foreign language to children.  It is keeping me mighty busy so I haven't been able to do much personal work.  Here's a sketch for today's illos: the verbs RAIN and SNOW.  Now on to inking!

Shadowbox Name Art: Audrey

 

Here's a shadowbox piece I did for a friend's new baby.  A bit of my favorite Faber-Castel PITT artist pen, Prismacolor markers on watercolor paper, cut and mounted in a shadowbox frame.  It was a nice change to create this piece since I've been up to my eyeballs with home renovations, mommyhood and freelance work and haven't had much time to create something new and fresh.  Wadahathink?  :)