Already the New Year

Even though tonight is New Years, I already feel like it has happened.

Why? I ate a real breakfast not consisting of just chocolate and cookies and listed a new item in my shop, which is open again!

The Winterwoods.

I have plans for these two. The Winterwoods may return in other prints or items. They already have a back story in my head.

And I have a few pictures from my Christmas visit to my home town, Capreol. (In Ontario, Canada) Prepare to be cold.

Isn't it flat and that special kind of bright cold? Eep.

My parents house all tucked into snow. We had just arrived and I wanted to take pics before getting my Christmas on.

Had to climb it!

I got a bit snowy. Good thing I had just bought boots when I got to town. Go kids boots!

Most of my pictures of actual Christmas are blurred with the excitement of opening gifts and lauging and family. Plus no one wants to be in their pjs on the internet. :-) Let me sum up my Christmas for you...

Eat, visit, eat, Christmas eve, gifts, snow, photos, garage doors, stuck cars, kitty litter, Finnish exchange students, wii battles, gift exchange games, cookies, sweaters, lost cell phones, chasing cats, Levack, thickest fog ever, gravy, shovelling, and cheesecake.

I have big plans for the New Year. Most of which include bat wings. :-)

Off we go!

Its time to visit, eat and hug your parents!

Off to visit family and friends who live in Northern Ontario, where its not just cold but "DAMN that is COLD." Presents are wrapped (well, the ones that arrived by mail in time. grr!) Cookies are baked (and mostly eaten) and batteries charged for dorky family photos. See you in the new year!

Downloadable

Tah Dah!



This year I made little digital artwork of Rocko the Cat (my cat) in a stocking! I backed the artwork in green and white striped paper and then laminated it. I included the flat little ornaments in my Christmas cards to my friends and family.


You can get the original from my flickr HERE.


If you aren't the ornament type, I also made a half page of gift tags you can print out on sticker paper for your gifts.


Yes, I am one of those people who includes their pets name on Christmas cards.

Still alive!

Not having to tend my Etsy Shop is weird! When I hear the email ping I don't feel like I have to run in the room and check right away. I am so unpopular.

I have been busy this week but I can't show much as they are gifts...What if the giftee saw it?? Horror.
- I finished up a gift for new bundle of baby!! Its SO not my usual colour scheme.
- did a little Christmas illustration decoration, which I guess I could make downloadable later this week...yes.
-sketched up a *ton* of new print ideas. Its a sheaf.
-and printed up a new lino print (Which I can show you!)

I had this stamp carved for a year or two, and have used it a few times on paper for tags and things, a few times on fabric. But it was time for a proper print run. These teeny little prints are oil based ink on thick and smooth watercolour paper. They will be listed in my shop when I return on December 30th.

The oil based ink works so much better for me than the water based did. I think I may have to switch permanently. Sure I risk brain damage when cleaning it up...

So even though I have orders from my dude to "not work and watch movies," I don't feel that happening today. Its a day to produce! Vampire boys don't draw themselves you know.

Christmas hobo

Its that time of year!I closed my Etsy shop! Not forever, just for the Holidays.

Its a bit like a vacation, in that I don't get up every morning and get to work emailing and packing and making stuff. But its a weird busy time of year for me. I make Christmas gifts, have baby's and birthdays and all sorts of projects on the go for launch in the new year. Its crazy busy, but I still don't have to answer to the man. I guess the man is really just my inbox...

Its just a weird time of year, where I am loosing money and spending money and being busy and not having a job all at the same time. PHEW. :-) But its nice to have a change, and I always end up making some cool stuff this time of year, so I can't complain.

I have the tree up and I cannot take a nice picture of it.
Its a black tree with only a few pink and white lights and purple and silver decorations. Add heavily patterned curtains and carpet and you get a mess. It looks nice in real life, but its just a blurry blob in all the million photos I took of it. I don't think we *tried* too hard to decorate it this year, we just threw the decorations at it. It shows. Its shows how awesome we are.

Once the tree is up its all holiday around here. No meal shall be cookie free.

It comes from the diaphragm. OF HELL.

Sometimes I get a laugh out of myself.

I am sitting in my studio, dancing around to dudes screaming about eternal suffering or something about life being a deep pit of horrible despair, while photoshopping bright pink backgrounds of the adorable kitty stickers I drew.

If I ever get my own house I am going to build a soundproof room in the basement where I can perfect my metal guy scream. And paint it piiiiink.

Twilight remorse, Jonny Lee Miller recollection

I feel a bit bad about trashing Twilight. Maybe if I had thought the dude from the movie was cuter I could have been won over to the dark side (or the Mormon side, or whatever...) Ok, the feeling passed, its still lame.

My lino printing is also kinda lame. Its not a disaster by any means, but its not as perfect as I envisioned it.

I made a LOT of prints and most of them are too "quirky" for me to be happy with. The ones that are good are good. I want to try some different inks before listing anything. I also want a printing press now. There is one at the art supply store I go to all the time. Its only like $500. :-(

Here is a new product I just listed. Stickers!

I am a label person. I just like them. Plus its useful, cheap and cheerful. (ok, maybe not quite cheerful, but they could be if I wasn't such a freaking closet GAWTH.)

I think a lot of stickers will be in my future. I have approximately one billion ideas for sets to draw. Most of them include gravestones. Ha! Next up is a Batcat set. I have the sketches complete, now I just have to draw them in Illustrator.

So its Cyber Monday (in the states). Today. Yep.
*crickets*
Pretty much what I expected. I hate being told when people are supposed to shop. Who says Cyber anyway? Welcome to the 90's. *Runs off to watch Hackers.*