Author Illustrator Designer
Hello, li’l blog. Sorry to neglect you for so long. Let’s make up for lost time, shall we?
Here’s a happy recent event- one of my Fred and Friends products is featured in the February 2015 issue of Family Fun magazine! It’s a kid’s plate that encourages you to eat the healthy stuff before getting to uncover a “prize” at the end. Hey, there could be anything under there!
Read more about this particular item on the Fred website here.
So, it seems that after an eternal period of bad and/or middling weather, it’s finally summer! Let us celebrate, shall we?
Maybe you’ll hit a Newport Creamery sometime soon, and grab an AwfulAwful… while you’re there, pick up one of my children’s menus. This one is Block Island themed. It was fun for me to work on this one, as I spent many summers out there courtesy of my uncle, Captain Nick.
And maybe, in your beach bag you’ll have a copy of the current July/August 2014 issue of Rachael Ray magazine. If so, you may find one of my design items in there… it’s TingTing Tongs, which are salad tongs shaped like one of those cymbal-bashing monkeys. Thank you Rachael and staff for featuring it!
So, one of my recent design items has been making the rounds and getting a lot of notice lately. It’s a little tea infuser called Manatea, and yes! It is shaped like a manatee and hangs out in your tea cup while brewing the leaves. He recently showed up in the Oct/Nov. 2013 issue of KIKI Magazine. That made me happy, because not only was it my girls who discovered it while reading, but KIKI is such great magazine! I am glad to have the shout-out in a mag that that I really respect!
(Note: Perpetual Kid is a great online retail shop that carries many of my Fred/design items. Check it out if you’re interested!)
Happy, happy, joy, joy!
Here is some recently published artwork, as seen in various magazines in the Highlights family!
First up is a Find It feature from the December 2013 issue of Highlights Hello magazine:
This one came in a cute envelope that had a little preview of the feature:
Next is a Look and Look Again feature from January 2014’s issue of Highlights High Five:
(I was really happy o get the chance to do anthropomorphic mice for this one!)
And finally (for now), here’s a rebus feature called “Family Band” that is in the February 2014 issue of Highlights:
(I have often done pieces for the younger kids’ magazines, but this is the first time doing a feature page in the “big kids” Highlights.)
Have I mentioned lately how much I love all the Highlights magazines?
I got a happy surprise in the mail today- it’s Volume 1, Issue 6 of Highlights Hello magazine for toddlers- with my art on the cover!
I did this piece quite a long time ago, well before the magazine debuted in January 2013. It’s great to finally see it “in action”!
These nifty little magazines come in a protective sleeve, so they are fresh and ready to be handled by your baby when they arrive. Here’s what the sleeve looks like:
It is a treat and an honor to have my art front and center like this. Thank you Highlights, for always creating quality material for children!
Here’s something I didn’t ever expect to happen- four of my glass designs are currently on display in Shanghai, China. The Shanghai Museum of Glass contacted me a few months ago for information regarding these glass items (which I designed for the FRED company).
They are appearing in an exhibit called “Keep It Glassy”, featuring all kinds of glass works from around the world. It’s an honor to have my designs on display there, though I will not likely manage to see them in person! Check out the place:
Here’s one of the exhibit posters:
There’s me!
You never know where art will end up. It’s exciting to think some of mine is on display on the other side of the earth!
Well, hello, little blog- so good to see you. I’ve been away for while, mostly getting a kid through an extended hospital stay (she’s good now!), and scrambling to catch up on everything else. But hey! Here’s some stuff that showed up recently!
One of my new FRED items, Mr. Tea (a tea infuser shaped like a little guy), was on the Today Show today. Here’s the mighty Al Roker mocking it now!
Watch the whole segment HERE, whereby you can hear Al declare, and I quote, “Oh, that’s disturbing. That’s just not right.” HA! He’s right, you know.
More good stuff:
The December 2012 ELLE Magazine: After you’re done checking out Jennifer Lawrence, perfecting your rosy cheeks and dramatic eyes, check out my Pizza Peddlar on the Gift Guide pages! And now you know how sexy women REALLY think.
Changing themes, here’s the December 2012 Issue of Family Circle (not to be confused with Family Circus, Little Billy). They have Mr. Tea featured in their 50 Presents Under $50 Gift Guide.
Ooh, la la! Qu’est ce que c’est? It’s one of my older-but-wiser items, the Chopstick Kids, featured in the Canadian style magazine, Signature. This is the Fall 2012 issue. Très bien!
TODAY, I was surprised to see that my Aristocakes cupcake bakers were featured on the Today Show! Yep, there they are with Matt Lauer and Bobbie Thomas, the style editor, in a segment about giving your mom the royal treatment. Well, this was a treat for me!
Later, I was flipping though the June/July issue of the Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine that had just come in the mail, and there’s another one of my current products in the Fun Faves section! These are called Tropsticks… flamingo-shaped, easy-to-use chopsticks.
Yeah, it was a good day.
The May issue of Rhode Island Monthly Magazine has a feature called Rhode Readers, highlighting books by local children’s authors. How happy am I to see What Does A Seed Need? in the lineup!
Check out the other titles by friends Anika Denise and Chris Denise, Peter Mandel, and my old RISD teacher, R.W. Alley and his wife Zoe B. Alley. There are so many great artists and writers in this state!
As a product designer, I am never sure where my items will show up, and I must say, it’s frequently a surprise.
Here’s the Winestein in the hands of Hoda and Kathie Lee on the Today Show!
If you follow this link, you can watch the whole opening sequence in all it’s glory… towards the end, they actually play with their Winesteins and talk about them. WooHoo!