Author Illustrator Designer
Does your website ever get, you know, that “not-so-fresh” feeling?
Yeah, I know how that is.
It took us a while, a long while…but my website is now fully updated and has a spiffy new look. Why, it’s springtime fresh!
Please come on over and check it out- let me know if there are any bugs or weird grammar in there.
Click here to be magically transported to the new site.
Many thanks to the enchanting Eric for his programming prowess!
The first ever Kids Heart Authors Day went really well here in Rhode Island! Barrington Books is a fabulously well-stocked store, and they went all out to make for a festive book signing event. It was truly heartwarming to see so many people (both the kind that make books, and the kind that read books) enthusiastically supporting this event.
Here are the five of us that were at Barrington Books:
Linda Crotta Brennan, Me, Anika Denise, Chris Denise, and Mary Jane Begin.
See what a nice job they did of making the setting as playful as possible? Excellent job!
Linda and I had fun chatting, meeting lots of little people and their parents, and eating M+M’s.
Chris and Anika have a great rapport with their little book fans.
Thank you to everyone who came out, and to Barrington Books for supporting such a great event!
What could be more fun on Valentines Day than to head on out to your favorite indy bookstore and meets lots of authors and illustrators?
Saturday, February 14th is the KidsHeartAuthors Day all over New England. Check out the site and see who’s signing where!
I will be participating at Barrington Books along with several other exceptionally fine authors and illustrators. We will be there from 10-12 to sign and meet and have general merriment…hope to see you there!
Here’s another Valentine from my collection.
Mere words can’t describe how much I love this one.
Here’s another look at Calf and Half, or as I like to call it, The Product That Would Not Die.
I had heard that it was on The Today Show, and I finally found the snippet here.
Happy holidays (haha)!
…is already upon us.
And you know what THAT means:
VINTAGE VALENTINES!
Who cares about flowers and candy.
These are so much cooler!
These are from the good ol’ days of Valentine exchanging.
Kid’s valentines today are so lame…they don’t even come with teeny envelopes that you had to write on and seal. Not to mention, only the very youngest of kids even exchange cards now- like maybe 2nd grade and down. By 3rd or 4th grade, everyone’s too cool for this sort of thing.
Sigh.
Well, I still have every Valentine I have ever received since Kindergarten, plus a few hundred more.
Love them!
I’ll try to post more of these lovely old bits this month. I am otherwise insanely busy with deadlines and will need to be working over the upcoming weeks…woohoo!
Any other Valentine collectors out there?
Check out these beee-you-teee-ful tiles I found at Savers two weeks ago:
Sometimes you just get lucky!
I don’t really know anything about these, only that they are really nice. And made in Denmark. If anyone knows anything more about them- feel free to tell me!
I do love shopping at Savers (and yard sales, garage sales, etc.) purely for the fun of finding the unexpected. I get a lot of my etsy fabrics there.
Check out the current front page of the RISDworks website!
Calf and Half was in the December issue of Oprah’s O at Home Magazine, in which they put a link to RISDworks. That’s the Rhode Island School of Design’s museum shop that features alumni-designed products.
I took a whole batch of pictures of the newly opened Chace Center (where you will find the shop)… I’ll definitely try to get those up here soon!
Wow, I am yet again a lucky girl!
I.D. Magazine chose good ol’ Calf and Half (designed by me) to be their product of the week this week.
Why, that makes this the BEST WEEK EVER!
Thanks, I.D.
You’re so cool.
Have you all been having a lovely time this season?
Been doing a little decorating?
This is my “Five and Dime” area, decked out for the holidays.
Have you been feeding the birds? The muse? The face?
(I have on all counts!)
I have definitely been taking a holiday break from the blog (and a lot of other things) as I focused on other stuff for a while. Most of the other stuff has been good, so no complaints here! I’ve been pursuing a gentle blend of work laced with baking and decorating.
Laundry? Not so much.
We spent a good portion of November and December as stage hands, etc. for the local version of “A Christmas Carol,” which our kids were in.
I don’t know about you, but I am a Christmas Carol addict. I know every version and have read it a load of times, it’s an all-time favorite. So even though the stage production took up A LOT of time, it was very fun.
Here’s Scrooge watching the Cratchits and realizing the error of his ways:
Oh, and look! There he is on Christmas morning, all happy-like!
Our version had Charles Dickens as the narrator.
I made Christmas Carol-themed cookies for our concession stand, and for the cast party.
Here are Marley, Past and Present:
Speaking of cookies, I made lots more of them since we have a cookie exchange every year at the FRED office. It’s a good excuse to whip out the cookie cutters and molds.
Molds?
Yeah, molds!
These are some of my speculaas molds…the must-have accessory if you are a glutton for punishment and enjoy medieval baking processes. I mean, who doesn’t??
After many hours of having the dough “set up”, and then molding them, the cookies end up looking like this:
Closer up, you can see all the delightful detail.
It’s ALL ABOUT the detail when you’re making these.
Here are some of my traditional cutout cookies.
It’s not Christmas without lobsters, I always say. At least I say it this year!
These wintery months have brought a flurry (haha) of good press lately for some of my products.
Calf and Half has been featured on The Today Show (woo hoo!) and in the Chicago Tribune (Yowza!), and even in Oprah’s O at Home Magazine!
Ice Princess made it into the December issue of Good Housekeeping!
Well, isn’t that nice. I love me some good press.
I recently made a few new things for my Etsy shop:
These make me happy because I am starting have a real convergence of my art style overlapping with my craft style, and vice versa.
I think I am finding a stronger “voice”, sort of.
Nice.
Here’s another nice thing, made by a very nice kid who lives here:
Do you know who this is made out of snow? Guess!
In the meantime, I guess I’ll get back to whatever it is that I should be doing.
Oh, yeah…it’s tea time. I should be making tea!
Check out this fun new blog called Flora and Fauna Handmade!
Stephanie at Tefi Designs featured my etsy shop there recently:
Thanks so much, Stephanie!