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.

Picked Sweet Curtains!

A photo of these beautiful curtains were sent to me by Cindy and Mary Jo! They used the cherries fabric and the mini print that coordinates with it from my Picked Sweet collection with Henry Glass Fabrics. They really look fantastic!! Thanks for sharing them Cindy and Mary Jo. You definitely know your way around a sewing machine. The fabrics are now available at all Hancock Fabric stores as well as their online shop. I have added links to the fabrics in the "Buy My Products Here" section on the left side of the blog. I would love to see what other people make with the fabrics, so please share your pictures with me.

Peaceable Kingdom Cards and Stickers

I really enjoy doing projects with Peaceable Kingdom  in Berkeley, CA. They are always developing new and innovative products for kids and anyone who is young at heart. These are a couple of products I did with them that turned out really nice. One is a tote full of Valentine cards with an ice cream theme. The cool thing is that they are scratch and sniff cards that smell like your favorite flavors! The other product is a tote full of reposition-able stickers with activity cards to decorate with them. It has a bakery/ sweet shop theme and tons of great little stickers for kids to play with. You can buy them here and here.

Start thinking spring with flowers!

Time to chase away the winter blahs with some spring flowers! I love how they wait quietly all winter, gaining strength and momentum in their bulbs before springing up to put on an amazing show of color. What a welcome sight for so many looking for that sign of vitality and renewal. My parents had daffodils every spring that lined the sidewalk of our front yard when I was young and it was exciting to see them poking up through the ground when everything else around them was still brown and lifeless. It was always a terrific cure for the winter blahs!

Love Love Love

Ok all you sweethearts out there. This post is for you. Happy Valentine's Day!!

New Pattern

This pattern was inspired by some of the early advertising work of Andy Warhol. The textural line work is a nice contrast to the softer colors and white background.

Rooster Dinnerware

I am once again on that quest to design some dinnerware. I am hoping that my slightly modern take on the country rooster icon will get me there. My agent at Mosaic Licensing suggested a layout of roosters marching around the edge of the plate and I really think it works. Just waiting for feedback from some manufacturers at this point.

Birthday Card Designs and More

I really enjoy sitting down at the beginning of a new project and brainstorming for concepts. It's all about possibilities and the adventure of trying something new or finally bringing an idea I've had brewing for a while to fruition while staying within the project's parameters. I did these designs recently for greeting cards and enjoyed the process from start to finish.

And the winner is...

The winner of the Blog aversary give away is Becky!! Congrats! Please send me an email with your shipping info and I will get the scrapbooking stuff to you. Thanks everyone for your comments.

blog versary giveaway!

I've now been blogging for one year. I appreciate hearing from all of you and look forward to more of the same this year! My sample closet is full, full, full!! To celebrate the blog aversary and help clean out the closet, I am giving away this collection of products from my dog and cat scrapbooking collection with the Momenta Company. There are over 30 products here from stickers to charms, papers, etc. Just leave a comment on the blog by end of day Thursday and I will randomly pick a winner and the collection will be yours. I look forward to hearing from you!

Folk inspired!

I really wanted this pattern collection to be warm and energetic, so I enlisted some saturated colors to do the job. The coral colors next to the yellows and greens really make me smile and I just love the shapes of birds and foliage in folk art, so that was my inspiration.

Dog Friends

I redesigned one of my existing dog patterns last week and this is the final result. I love the combination of green and blue with bits of coral here and there. Plus, the addition of some texture gives the pattern a more tactile quality. I would love to see this collection on fabrics! Here's hoping.