Dream Big

These are just a few of the paintings I did recently for a little gift book project focused on the hopes and dreams of graduates. These three particular designs were also picked up a few weeks ago as greeting cards for another company.

A Taste of Summer

Watermelons immediately make me think of summertime. I designed this plate and platter for a company that is going to reproduce it on melamine dishes. That way, it can be summertime all the time at dinner time!

New Front Door

We have been living in our house now for about 4 months.

When we first saw the house we knew if we bought the place it would need a new front door to really say welcome with a nice color or two. We chose a traditional four panel wood one that we knew would work well with the lines of the house and added sidelights on either side to add more light and charm. Although it was original to the house and is a nod to the Art Deco era, we are not fans of glass block so we were happy to give it the old "heave ho". The door color is "blackberry" and the trim is "soji white." If you look closely in the lower right corner of the "after" photo you can see the color we are thinking of painting the main body of the house. It is an ochre yellow called "alchemy". The new windows will be a "pebble grey" and trimmed in the "soji white". Can't wait to see it all come together!

Onwards and upwards!

Safari Friends Kids Pattern

I created this pattern out of some animal characters that I had done for various other projects.

Cupcakes: A Big Stack of Deliciousness!

This is from a recent greeting card project. I wish I had a big platter of cupcakes right now!!

Colorful Flowers

More flowers from my recent greeting card project.

A Casual Bouquet

Working on some new designs for a greeting card company and this is one of them. I debated about making it more dense with leaves and blooms, but chose to keep it simple and fresh.

Ladybug Art Licensed to Michael's

Everyone likes ladybugs. They just seem to make us smile. This ladybug painting of mine will be featured on a flag at your neighborhood Michael's store. I loved working with the vibrant reds of the ladybugs. It makes the design very graphic and bold.

Peaceable Kingdom Scratch and Sniff Sticker Packs

Peaceable Kingdom continues to expand their offerings and have just added six new sticker packs that I designed for them. They are all scratch and sniff stickers and feature these scents: strawberry, chocolate, grape, vanilla, pizza, and popcorn. I enjoyed working on such a colorful and fun project.

Sweet Shop Sticker Tote at Barnes and Noble and soon at Target

My Sweet Shop Sticker Activity Tote is now available at Barnes and Noble stores and will soon be available at Target!! The people at Peaceable Kingdom are doing a terrific job of marketing their products to new stores and shopping outlets. It's always really gratifying to see one of the products I have designed in a store when I am out and about.

Fruit Treasury on Etsy

My pear art print is currently featured in an Etsy Treasury. Michelle at Silverhorsephotos did a terrific job of selecting pieces that compliment each other. My print is at the bottom left. You can check it out in my shop here.

Wish Granted Birthday Cake

I'm not sure where, when, why or how the tradition of blowing out candles on a birthday cake began, but it is nice to blow out the candles and make a wish. Hopefully when it's your turn, all your wishes will be granted!

New Project With Adorable Puppies

Everyone loves puppies, right? Well, I just finished up a project featuring lots of sweet little pups . Here is a sneak peek at them. The product is a bit of a secret, but will be out next year and I will post more about it then.

Happy Mother's Day Butterflies

Today is a day for celebrating all of the amazing things that our mother's do for us. Have a great day!

These Dogs are Bored

It's raining here today and our dogs Ruby and Olive are very bored. The pictures say it all. I can't believe how good they are at looking sad.

Celebrate Collection with Merritt International

Last year I partnered with Merritt International to develop this line of melamine dishes featuring ice cream and cupcakes. The dishes will be in stores soon, so here is a peek at how they turned out as well as a picture from their catalog. I am really happy with the way they look!

I Made it to the front Page on Etsy

Once in a great while, my Etsy prints make it to the front page of their site. Today is one of those days and this was the print they featured.

Graphic Flowers

Spring is here and it's all about flowers. I wanted this particular design to be graphic and spontaneous without looking messy and overworked.

Cosmos in a vase

I bought these flowers at a market in San Diego and decided to paint them. It ended up being one of the last illustrations I did there. I love the casual and unstructured feeling of the arrangement. I ended up cropping the painting four different ways to present it to a greeting card client of mine. As you have probably noticed, I also decided to use it as my blog banner.

New Town

I haven't mentioned this in my blog, but we recently moved from San Diego north to the Berkeley area. While I will miss the ideal weather we had in San Diego, the Bay Area is incredibly beautiful. Natural beauty is everywhere from the gorgeous green hills to the deer roaming through the neighborhoods and all of the water everywhere. In addition to the mighty Pacific Ocean, there are rivers, lakes and streams which are not very common in Southern California. We hope to find a home in the Berkeley Hills overlooking San Francisco Bay. It's been quite an adventure so far! More to come. In the meantime, here are a few photos of some homes in and around Berkeley.

The Newest For Trader Joe's

Here is a picture of my latest printed greeting cards for Trader Joe's. I believe they will be showing up in stores mid April. It's always a good mail day when I get a package of printed samples left on my doorstep!

Cats and Dogs Medical Scrub Kits

Springs Creative Fabric Company has licensed my dog and cat patterns onto medical scrub kits through their line of do it yourself projects called FabriKate's. The kit includes everything you need to sew your own scrub! These kits are now available at Walmart. The same patterns will also be featured this fall on fleece do it yourself throw blanket kits at Jo-Ann's fabrics.

Chinese Lanterns

I've long admired the simple beauty and grace of Chinese lanterns glowing and blowing in the evening breeze. They are terrific at adding ambience when celebrating a special event or just to make an ordinary evening just a bit more special. This design is from a recent greeting card project.

Blooming Tree

I came across the phrase "Bloom where you're planted" some time ago and finally decided to illustrate something with it as my inspiration. With spring knocking on the door, it just seems appropriate right now. I love the freshness and newness of spring. I hope you can take a walk in nature today and feel it's beauty in your life. Don't forget to bloom where you are planted!

Monkeying Around

I can understand why monkeys are such a favorite animal among kids and adults. They like to have a good time whether it is swinging from trees or just being mischievous. I have illustrated several kid's books with monkey characters in them and have now created a monkey pattern complete with their favorite food... bananas! I hope to do some companion patterns to turn this into a collection soon.

Gift Packaging

I have along history of designing paper products and I still enjoy working on each and every project that comes along. This gift packaging collection consists of a bag, a pillow box for gift cards as well as some small gift enclosures. The bag features glitter (oooh...aaah!). The collection is produced and distributed through The Gift Wrap Company.