St Patrick's Day watercolor illustration

Oh March, you craft-tiful month you. With every crafting opportunity you already offer, you bring yet another that almost slipped my mind: St Patty's Day. It was almost too late to make something.

Although I'm not even remotely Irish, I still love this holiday. There's something cool in making everything green. Oh, and rainbows and pots of gold, how can you not love that?

And oh yes, and when you lack frames, use whatever you can find. Like unused embroidery hoops. I can't be the only one with those around...

cheeky little fella

Why is it so hard to get good natural lighting at home? Oh yeah, we live in Portland now...

Want to join? Grab some watercolor supplies, draw something easy (like a shamrock), let your kid paint it or do it yourself, and frame it with the hoop. Have fun trying this out and let me know what you come up with.

I hope you have all the luck of the Irish this week. Happy St Patrick's Day!

A free printable thank you card

A couple days ago I received a surprise during a work meeting: everyone in the program had come together to buy me a bunch of baby girl gifts! I was so surprised, happy, and humbled by their generosity.

I wanted to make some thank you cards for them, but in order to finish them in a reasonable amount of time and meet my work deadlines as well (grading, finals, etc) I decided to try something new. I scanned an illustration I had made with copic markers and designed a thank you card to give everyone at work.

I also wanted to thank you all who stop by the blog by giving you the card as a free printable that you can download. It's a simple 3.5 by 5 in card that can be used as a thank you note for baby showers, newborn visits, or gifts. Right now it's only in pink for baby girls, but I do plan on making one for baby boys.

Click here to download.

Puzzled }{ Illustration Friday

My entry for this week's Illustration Friday prompt - puzzled.

I used a sharpie and copic markers for this image.

There are a couple of things that I tried to represent with this, but I'd rather hear what you think this means.

Happy Easter! (And musings on drawing with kids)

Happy Easter everyone!

I try not to bring in religion to the blog too much, but I do hope you don't mind me celebrating some of the more important holidays for me. Easter is of course a big one, so I'd like to wish you all a blessed weekend.

I wanted to do a little illustration with an Easter theme, and N. of course wanted to join in. She never misses an opportunity to draw with me. In fact, it's one of her favorite things to do.

Here are a couple of things that I noticed when it comes to doing that:

1. No matter how stocked her crafting station is, as long as my supplies are out they're the only thing she'll use.
2. She will finish her work first, and then she absolutely must help me with mine. 

I used to worry and fret about her using some of my more expensive materials, but then...

I want her to feel free to experiment with art supplies and have fun with them, not feel like they're so precious she can't use them. She should also enjoy doing it, not worry about what I'm going to do if she adds something to my picture or spills some water on my watercolor.

So, with a herculean effort, I let go of it all. I let her use any and all supplies she wants (unless it's dangerous of course - no hot glue gun yet!), however she wants to, including on the picture I was working on. If it's something I really want to do alone, I wait until after she goes to sleep.

Today, we did these -

A long-haired girl on an egg hunt:

A bunny on a field:

Did you notice her addition to the bunny? She said it was a girl bunny and she needed a hair bow (which N. promptly supplied):

This hair bow makes me so happy. How could I ever say no to adding a hair bow to a bunny?

What are your plans for the weekend? 

Confession

I have a confession.

I've been sick, exhausted, and barely keeping up with our daily routine. But... I shouldn't complain too much.

There is a good reason for it: We have a new Ricefield baby on the way.

Yep. I'm pregnant and just getting over the first trimester. Looking forward to having a bit more energy, but it doesn't like it's getting better any time soon. I'm not going to lie, pregnancy doesn't make me glow or thrive. It makes me sick. But yes, the end result is more than worth it, so all's good.

We're due in August by the way.

Other than that... We had a good valentine's day with pink cupcakes and origami boxes with treats for N.'s friends and teachers.

Ok, hit me with your good news.