Blooming

Two times in the past few years I've been lucky enough to be able to work on some of my dream projects. One was the fiberglass bulldog that I painted all over with Illinois wildflowers. Working on it in our family room with my newly-crawling son afoot should make it pretty obvious that I really wanted to do it... or that I'm certifiably nuts.

The other was this: a Project Life core kit that's being released today. I am amazed and quite proud of myself that I created this in only about a month and a half: dozens and dozens of individual patterns, textures and designs; a little hand painting, a little sketching, some collage, even bits of my children's artwork.

I love its name, Bloom, because of the obvious reference to flowers and gardens -- I'm a bit of a plant hoarder and this kit is full of bright, happy blooms -- and because of the metaphor: the strong roots and love of a family helps children bloom and grow.

I was so thrilled to be asked to work on this project and am even happier to finally have it out in the world. Can't wait to see what you do with it!

The Sketchbook Project

Last summer, I was honored to be chosen by Faucethead Creative as one of four artists they sponsored for The Sketchbook Project.

They asked everyone who was interested in being chosen for sponsorship why they should be chosen. I wrote something completely nutty and dumb like "I'm a stay at home/work at home mom of two and we're expecting our 3rd child in the fall. I have an art degree but rarely get to use it."

Somehow they decided to take a chance on the weird cat lady, so I spent the summer ripping paper and gluing random stuff into the book. And it turned out pretty cool.