christmas! tablet!

merry merry christmas!! we decided to drive home to alabama to see our parents for chistmas, so last night maffew and i drove from raleigh to asheville and enjoyed a papa john's pizza while watching meet me in st. louis in our hotel room. the movie got us curious about world fairs, which we spent several hours of today's drive from asheville to huntsville learning more & more about. if you have an hour or so to fall down a rabbit hole, i highly recommend seeing where this takes you - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_fair.

for christmas, matt got me a wacom tablet so i've been trying to get acquainted... it's weird, y'all. i think i need a few more slices of my mom's homemade cheesecake while i try to figure this thing out. hopefully something good will come of it someday!

floating

i made this hot air balloon ornament for a coworker the other day... it was a rushed hour of frantic painting and gluing and glittering, trying to finish it in time to bring to their christmas party. so much fun! 

this coworker is one of the only people i've met who is just as excited and enchanted by hot air balloons as i am! he and his family lived in albuquerque years ago and have been to the balloon fiesta several times... so jealous. SOMEDAY i'll make it out west for that.

i'm actually going skiing with my family in a couple of weeks and i'm sure we'll see a hot air balloon or two over steamboat... mmmmh! that will be my happy thought! not that there is any shortage of happy thoughts lately...

desk

just a blurry picture to show my card line illustration progress so far! it's helpful for me to look at everything as a collection... even the unfinished pieces. it makes me feel sort of accomplished, even though i have a very long way to go! looking forward to sharing the in focus version with y'all someday...

inspiration

my friend caroline told me about clara rockmore a few weeks ago and i can't get enough. also now i'm dying to have my own theremin... can you even imagine how amazing my harp and theremin compositions could be? sprinkle in a little banjo? mmm, dare to dream...

perry's chemical engineer's handbook

you know what's a great use for perry's chemical engineers' handbook? flattening your ultra warped gouache paintings, that's what!

NSS 2015

well guys i applied for NSS 2015 and i got accepted! BOOTH 1867! so. eek! i had 65 copies of my first finished design printed to use as this year's christmas card. it's so cute! in fact, i anticipate that some of the recipients may find themselves here because of that card... so hi, if that's you!

so here's my plan! complete at least 50 card designs by the end of april.

wish me luck! THIS IS HAPPENING!

thankful

so much to be thankful for! for example, ultra cute half korean children and the strength to give them piggy back rides! we spent this thanksgiving with our good friend's family in chapel hill... we actually started crashing their family's thanksgivings a few years ago since my company is normally up and running on holidays and we don't really have time to travel back home to alabama. i really love that this is becoming a tradition!

let's time travel

haven't made a little video in a long time... here are a few of my favs of yore <3

if you're reading this

if you're reading this and you're interested in seeing my progress on designs for the national stationery show... send me a message that includes your email address using the contact form thingy on the 'say hi' page and i'll share a peek with you :)

i have super mixed feelings about posting my final designs publicly before the show... but i really love sharing my progress on things. so. i think i found a compromise by way of secret, selective sharing!

<3, t

lulz! comedy night poster

my insanely hilarious friend randy asked me to illustrate a poster for a comedy night he's hosting october 1. the ghostbusters references were all his vision. i drew everything by hand in my sketch book with micron pens, photographed it, then threw it in photoshop and figured it out from there. i confirmed a couple of truths with this one - 1. i need a tablet. 2. i need a scanner. anyway... someday...

in the beginning

IN THE BEGINNING, there were ideas transferred from back of lunch receipt to sketchbook... from sketchbook to Dedicated Idea Notebook... from misplaced Dedicated Idea Notebook to For Real This Time Dedicated Idea Notebook... and finally from For Real This Time Dedicated Idea Notebook to fancy, slightly expensive watercolour paper i bought specifically for this project.

so! i've officially started a card line! only you won't see it for a while (whoever you are?)... this post is like one of those pregnancy apps that tells you your baby is the size of a small dollop of paint.

i'm really torn between wanting to share all my status updates and pictures of my progress here and feeling like i need to be sure i pick the right time and forum to share my ideas. so that's where i am! enjoying coffee on a rainy day, 'volcano' candle by capri blue making my house smell awesome, painting SECRET THINGS.

placecards

i've been hard at work painting placecards for the tables at remi and nu's wedding. they've got a really adorable idea for the tables. each table is a place that's significant to them, and each place card features a thing from that place (or a thing they experienced together in that place) that they love. this project has turned out to be a good painting exercise. i'm painting way more architecture than i ever would for myself... usually all i ever think of for a subject is pretty girls with pretty hair..

anyway, here's a preview! the wedding is august 24, and i have to travel with the cards to california, so i think i'll leave them in sheets and cut & fold them at the last minute. 20 down, 49 to go!!!

wedding invitations

well, i received the wedding invitation i designed for my friends in the mail this week so i guess i'm officially done with that project. it was such a huge honour! 

we put a lot of thought and care into this design to make it super unique and fitting.

remi and nu are both ultramarathoners. we're talking running 10+ miles on their lunch break from work and often competing in races and relays of insane (to me) distances. for example, last time they were in town it was so remi could participate in a 100 mile race...which he finished in about 18h.

they both also happen to be optoelectronic engineers (which is how they met, awwww). the equation on the back of the invitation is the equation to graph a heart. and as my fellow engineer (NERD!!) coworker pointed out, the fraction isn't reduced... but that was on purpose, of course... august 24 is remi and nu's wedding date! :)

nu's family is vietnamese and remi's family is french, and i knew that several of these invites were going to be mailed abroad, so i really wanted to do something with the multiple languages. we decided to do a tri-fold card with one panel in each language (vietnamese, english, french).

so those are the details... a couple of super adorable, super active nerds are making it legal this august in san francisco. i'll be lucky enough to witness their joyous union in person!! i really can't wait.

workspace & rhubarb

i like creating a friendly and encouraging workspace, even if it means taping shit to the wall because there isn't enough room on my desk or i'm too impatient to wait until i have a frame. i also like that i now have TWO poems about rhubarb, meaning i now have a collection of poems about rhubarb!! swoon!

NSS - the end. maybe.

today was the last day of NSS. saying goodbye to our booth neighbors while rolling out of javits with all our crap felt like camp had ended or something. i'm supreeeemely grateful to have met so many wonderful people and for the amazing opportunity i was given to see what the stationery industry is like (for smaller, independent companies at least).

i've developed a super strong (and crazy?) desire to exhibit my own stationery line next year. i mean, it'd be FROM SCRATCH starting NOW, but i feel like i could do this. i have so many fucking ideas but i rarely make time to let myself explore them and actually create something from them. i should just change that.

i have so much more to say but my brain is a swarm of thoughts and feelings. for now i'm off to enjoy a few more days in new york with my beloved husband!