Yup, pretty excited over here. 

Not only because tomorrow is Halloween and I’m wearing my favorite orange eyelet lace inspired top from Anthropologie in spirit of the season but...

Next week I’m announcing a brand new e-course!

{note: this is not another session of "in the fish bowl", but a completely new course!}

The announcement will go out first to those of you have subscribed to my email mailing list under the category of "Workshops/E-Courses". So if you want to be the first to know, you can sign up right here.

I hope you’ll be just as excited about this new e-course {maybe even love it!}

have a great weekend everyone!! and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned completing a first-ever sewn creation that I managed to "pull-off". An apron it is! 

While I have sewn off and on my whole life, an expert sewer I am not. And never before have I even come close to sewing something I could wear. So THIS apron is a very exciting accomplishment for me. I bought most of the fabric I used, and the gold super size ric rac, at a great little fabric store on main street in Ashland on my trip there earlier this month. I practiced and learned more of the 100 or so stitches available on my sewing machine. I tried different threads and ways of sewing on pockets. Crazy fun, I tell you.  And I also have to credit Liz Elaynefor the inspiration on this one. She makes the most beautiful aprons. She sold them last year at Squam and this year everyone had their aprons in tow. Every chance I could I tried to borrow/steal someone’s apron because they are especially great for teaching and keeping your supplies at hand. Plus they are just so pretty~  a fashion statement all on their own. 

Turns out aprons are also great for wearing to the farmer’s market. Many pockets equal keeping your cash organized and easy to get to. I don’t know about you but by the time I leave the Farmer’s Market what’s left of my cash is always rolled into a ball.

So I love, love, love my apron and wear it every chance I get. In fact I usually have it on at home. OK, I wear it every day. I wore it to Trader Joe’s and the checker complimented me on it, then proceeded to make fun of my intense enthusiasm when I practically shouted "I MADE it myself!"

My apron also makes me want to SEW MORE. How did I miss the joy of sewing my whole life? I think sewing has always felt like one of those skills "that other people have", but the truth is that it is much like any other form of creating. You just sit down and start making something.

*Edit* October 29. Jen over at Indie Fixx invited me share a peek inside my home, something I’ve been meaning to do for ages, invite you all in for a little tour, and the post is up today! And you should totally check out all of the homes in Jen’s blog feature, A Peek Inside: Indie Home Tours. SO inspiring.

That’s right, last week I promised a Halloween treat. 

I have recently been talking to the fishies, a term of endearment for e-course students, about going into this world, especially this online world, thinking about how you can give to others. You know sometimes when you have a business and a blog related to such business, it can be a little bit heavy on the about me, me and ME {exhibit A:  photo above ;)} and then what can you do for me, me and ME ~ and while I know a blog is also meant to be about you and your creative expression, it’s also nice to thank your readers for taking the time to come by and visit. {exhibit B: photo below}

Any time I try to thank you, all the things I want to say just become an overwhelming lump of emotion and it comes out sounding like blog sap. Is there such a thing, "blog sap" = when one tries to convey emotion on a blog and it reads as helplessly sappy. Anyway. It’s late. I have a number of {exciting} projects that have all come due at the same time, but I didn’t want to let this week slip by without

saying thank YOU and happy halloween!

For you, one of my Papyrus Halloween Cards! Just say hello in the comments below if you’d like to enter the giveaway. If you feel inspired, tell me one of your favorite halloween traditions. I’ll get the ball rolling by telling you how much I love pumpkin carving with Sean accompanied by the playing of Halloween music, {haunted house ride @Disneyland meets every classic scary movie}, and THEN pumpkin seed roasting. My favorite, favorite, did I say favorite? snack during Halloween time. It only comes once a year.

I’ll announce a winner Wednesday morning at 9 am PST. 

Yay! Shari Sherman is the winner of the card. Thanks everyone for sharing your Halloween traditions. I’m officially in the halloween spirit now ~

And they’re here! A limited edition of 95 85 80 68 are available in the shop. They will begin shipping the first week of November.

Consider this post not only an announcement of the calendar, but an early wish for a happy 2010!

A limited edition of the 2010 Creative Thursday calendar will be released in the shop this Thursday

Clementine and the Skeleton ~  3 x 3 in.

Clementine and the Pumpkin ~  3 x 3 in.

You know it’s exciting for me this time of year, because I get to paint things all black and "dark" in the Creative Thursday kind of "dark" {which is clearly, always, still cute} And in case you’ve been wondering what inspired my new banner? Clementine. She’s a new character that made an appearance in my sketchbook over the weekend. And as is often the case with a new character, I’m slightly enamored. In fact if these paintings don’t go to a good home soon, I might have to keep Clementine for me! 

Should I keep her, I did also make 5, now 4, limited edition archival prints on panels. With painted edges and a matte finish, these little cuties are ready to hang just like my original paintings are. You can find them all over at the shop

Another Halloween treat to come this week...

Seeing as how I’ve been somewhat of a "chatty cathy" on this blog of late. I thought I’d share a pictorial of my recent trip to Ashland to visit with my mom. Whenever I’m asked what inspires my creating. This would be it. The world around me, where ever I may be.

happy {fall} Sunday.

6 x 6 in.

First: Couldn’t leave you this week without at least one new creation as promised.

Second: it’s time to move on from my last blog post. It was seriously starting to bum me out reading the words "steal"

Third: thanks so much for all your kind and supportive messages. I just want to assure you especially now that the dust is settling, I am really doing ok with all of this. I heard from many of you how many times this has happened to you as well, and as I mentioned before it has happened to me before too ~ so I think we all have to accept that sharing your creations with the world, any creations at all there is a chance this can happen. It’s just one small drawback to putting your work out there. And I say small, because it is just that. The benefit of sharing your work with the world far outweighs a situation like this.

What I realize again and again in this life, especially in my creative career, is that no one can keep you from where you are wanting to go. No one can "steal" from you unless you let them and by let them I mean, allow them to crush your spirit. Sadly, and what I think stunned me the most in this situation is the realization that there are people in the world who would even consider behaving in this way. But at the end of the day I can’t convince anyone that my way of living is best. And I’m not supposed to. My other realization as I mentioned in my "less is more" post is that I don’t really want to convince anyone anymore either. We can’t change others we can only change our perception and reaction to how others behave ~ a tall order on some days I know. Clearly this week has been more challenging than most.

With that said, I will still always speak out for what I believe is right in the world, recognizing that sometimes it can make a difference. {Now you know ~ don’t understimate the power of a voice{s} combined with social media}. I will also continue to create, so that means it’s back to business as usual over here. I thought today’s painting was a good fit for this sentiment. Since my characters often hold hands in my paintings, this is a sign that I still {mostly} believe in the good in all people.

And you see in all the energy put towards this, I completely forgot to say thank you to Amy for inviting me to share some thoughts over at her beautiful blog this week.

to my lovely creative community ~ have a great weekend. xo

{"Owl friends and a bird with an orange hat" Yes. this is my art. Please don’t steal it and claim it as your own original illustration to sell. thank you.}

Well then. There’s nothing like someone stealing your art, claiming it as their own and then selling it in their Etsy shop to consume an afternoon and snap you back to blogging.

Look, let me say that this kind of "knocking off of my work" has happened to me before and I’ve come so close to blogging about it. But then I realized that I would just be venting, and as you may or may not know I don’t usually vent on my blog ~ however I do speak up from time to time. {Thank you to Sean, my mom, and my close personal friends who are a patient ear on the days I need to vent} 

And look again, I get the whole "flattering" aspect to people copying work. I mean they wouldn’t copy it and try to sell it if it wasn’t already selling.  But this time it’s different. And personally I’m over this idea that "oh that’s flattering" is the way to take this kind of, in my opinion unthinkable behavior. 

This time is also different because someone didn’t just use my work in their blog banner, or Etsy banner or copy my exact painting composition and characters in their own style. This time someone stole my exact art along with at least 10 other artist’s as their own. And this created an opportunity not to vent but to SPEAK OUT, on twitter and now here on my blog.

Let’s just say I’ve been passionate about injustice for a long time. Some family members say I was born with this innate sense of right and wrong. Others have said I should’ve become an attorney. And others still have wanted to fire me for it. But alas, I did not get fired, and I did not become an attorney. I became an artist, and the intensely fair side of me has never gone dormant. In fact it has only become stronger, especially in the face of the creative world of which I am a member. Let’s just say without opening up a whole other can of worms ~ that the unfair way in which artists are often treated is INSANE. And that is not an exaggeration. It is INSANE.  Having also been in business in many different fields in this life, I’d be hard pressed to find other careers where people are this taken advantage of.

Before I ever entertained the thought of becoming a selling artist, I had a friend who built an entire business from her art in the 1990’s, a time when she didn’t nearly have the opportunities we now have. From just one creation she took to the Atlanta Mart, she grew her business to over a million dollars in sales and supported 40 employees. Then one day, Target and Crate and Barrell decided to knock her designs off. She didn’t have the legal strength to fight them. Starbucks also returned a huge order of hers because she didn’t have the where with all to have a contract signed by them that stated an their understanding that "all of her products were handmade and might vary slightly". No, my friend just trusted people. And that was it, her business came to an end. A gracious end as she slowly sold everything off and paid off all the debt accrued due to these situations. She then sold the remainder of her business to another artist who took over what was left of her brand.

This friend was one of the people who inspired the early seeds of my own " life as an artist". I looked up to her and admired all her passion for building a creative dream. This unfair ending of her business made an early impression on me as well.  I still cannot believe that she had no re-course for her creations and ideas that were stolen. 

And sometimes in the case of little guy vs. big guy in the corporate world there is no re-course. But now that’s all changing too. Thanks to the internet not only have our business opportunities grown but our opportunity to have a powerful voice has as well.

Another early mentor once told me that it is inevitable ~ people will copy you and when they do it is just up to stay ahead of them and keep making something new.

Somewhere in between these scenarios ~ all of us who are creative, all of us who share our creativity into the wide world {which also due to the internet exposes our creations to far more people than was once possible} we have to decide which road to take. Ignore it or fight it.

Today was a day to fight it. Today, enough was enough. Today several voices of one could reach far and wide through this immense but ultimately small community of online artists. I say this in my e-course again and again, but times are changing for all of us. No longer do just a few powerful people have all the say on this planet. Each one of us has a voice. And while it is still up to us to use that voice wisely and responsibility with grace and kindness ~ when it’s time to speak up, we CAN make a difference.

The best part of today ~ someone in the community had my back and alerted me to this, the shout of support from my fellow creative peeps or tweets I should say :) the realization that yes I DO finally have a voice in this world and that combined with the voice of many kindred creative spirits we are indeed a very BIG VOICE. 

And last but not least due to this experience I was introduced to several wonderfully talented artists {my comrades, whose art was also stolen}. Not an ideal way to meet each other, but I’m so happy to learn about them and their work. Corrabelle, Julia Denos,  Cathy Peng, Abigail Halpin

Enough is enough artists. If we want change, all we have to do is create it.

Officially home as of the weekend ~ turns out all the traveling this month caught up with me and I actually feel a little like Riley in the photo above, small and very far way at the moment ~ I’ve been taking a few days to get back into the groove ~ which worked out well since today I realized was a holiday for us here in the states.  Love when that happens, accidental holidays. Three day weekends always have this nice sense of calm to them  {especially on the streets of L.A. ~ a perfect time to drive and run errands minus all the usual traffic.}

Highlights of the weekend for me ~ well the cuteness of Riley cat napping in the sun in these photos, and some long overdue creative time. At least two afternoons were dedicated completely to creating, including painting and a first ever sewn creation I managed to pull off. Very excited to share it all with you. Hope you had a lovely weekend! be back soon! xoxo

Remember this post? Do you also remember how exciting it was to grow an inch or two when you were little? Honestly I think I’m still trying to add on one more inch or two to my height.

Well, it’s official. I’m introducing the first Creative Thursday growth chart! Now your little ones can see just how tall they are getting. 

Made to order, you can find the growth charts and all their accompanying details in the shop. Also take note of the adorable packaging {just like the nightlights}. Might be a good gift giving possibility, especially for the holidays? I hope you’ll enjoy this new addition!

I looked up the definition of "impromptu" just now and it says something about "without much preparation" and I have to say that actually more than plenty preparation has gone into this shop update. The part of the impromptu that is correct is that I’ve decided at the last minute to make tomorrow the day to  release a bunch of new items into the store. Seeing as how we are slowly, but surely approaching holiday time ~ and I have a brand new product I will be releasing... that might be just perfect for gift giving, I thought I better get on it over here, sooner rather than later. I will plan on having a special update, with all kinds of holiday treats, shortly before the holidays, like I did last year. Consider this your first bit of notice about the next shop update. 

Back to tomorrow! The announcing of a brand new creation to add to the collection {the packaging above is a hint} ~ and along with some other goodies {time permitting}, I will be releasing new canvas wall art in sizes ranging from 12" to 26". There will only be one available of each design, so if you have your heart set on one, get it! 

to check the time where you are just click here

see you then!

from Ashland, Oregon.

That my mom was once a Flight Attendant for TWA?

And also ~ that I am spending the week with her in Ashland, Oregon. Just the two of us catching up and reminiscing. Hours and hours of conversation accompanied by in no particular order, coffee, tea, a homemade German torte that was DELISH, champagne, wine, more good food including fresh vegetables from her garden, making Spatzle, fried green tomatoes, watching an episode of Mad Men and listening to the music of Pink Martini for starters.

You know how easy it is when you are growing up to think of your mom only as "your mom"? You forget that she is also a person with a full, interesting life, with her own completely unique way of being in the world. It’s really nice as you get older to recognize this. It can take a while to put that child/parent dynamic aside and let your relationship evolve. However when it does you like me may be able to finally get to the know the person who also happens to a mom.

So, technically I’m still here in the work/internet world this week, but if I’m away/and or a little harder to get a hold of for the next few days you’ll know where I am, visiting with Erika.

First day of October. I figure it’s good day to get a little Halloween spirit going? Yes?

A long time fan of Papyrus cards, I’m honored to have one of my designs included in the collection this year. I have to say it’s pretty adorable. If I saw it in a store, I would most definitely snatch one up. They left my original design as is, but embellished all the black with a little touch of glitter, as only Papyrus can do. How’s that for Halloween spirit?

happy October!