Sugar Rush

The promised photos. Dallin had some great expectations for this little house (as in it was going to be a two story monstrosity and probably three times the size), but he ran out of ingredients to make more gingerbread dough. So we gussied up the yard instead.

 

 Can't forget to add one drunk little candy man (courtesy of my brother)!

The Christmas Project that Could

This holiday break has been packed to the brim with nothing but projects! Scrambling to finish in between visits with family and friends, parties, activities, and giant gingerbread houses (photos to come), it's only a matter of time before one of those projects falls a little short of my vision.

Meet, my "Together in Paris" adventure:

My plan was to make this a cute and classy piece, peppered with little ribbons and swirls and maybe even some strategically placed hearts! Once I got the vision down, I was really excited to get to it, but time was definitely not on my side.

The major players (the couple, the Eiffel Tower, and the clouds) turned out really well! But those daggum trees! And all the other little details I still needed to add! There was still too much to do and not enough time to do it in and do it well. So, I painfully decided to chop down my piece. Majorly. And this is what came out:

I agonized over the background. I still wanted to include that Eiffel Tower daggumit! But around midnight, I realized that the new size and overall simplicity of the piece needed to be echoed in an equally simple background.

Despite my starting sketch, I'm not the least bit disappointed. I still feel like I achieved my goal:  cute and classy. :)

"Simply Us"

Holiday Noms

A holiday-themed doodle break before I plunge back into the work and gift crafting crunch.

I feel like she should have a sister balanced on the rim of a cup of hot chocolate. Hmm.... maybe next doodle break...

Theme:  stripes

Owlie

I feel like December's going to be a very chaotic month:  crunch time with work, Christmas presents, more Christmas presents, and... oh yeah! Christmas presents. So there will likely be a small explosion of posts after the holidays, but until then... enjoy this teeny tiny owl (3in x 3in)!

(inspired by the owls of Brittney Lee)

Toys

More fanart of a different storyline:  Skip Beat!

Everyday life side note:  My mom's coming for a visit tomorrow! Huzzah! :) Oh and ~ hApPy HaLlOwEeN ~

Theme:  Obsession

Sketch Snippits

Body-less faces and face-less bodies.

Those days...

You know those moments when you are so zoned out that you don't realize that you put the laundry detergent bottle in the fridge? I was writing a note to a friend, and I started dropping in html tags. Uh... wait, what?

<strong>MY BRAINS!</strong>

The Morning Coffee

More fan art!! Woo!!

Theme:  Drink

Blondie + New Avatar

Theme:  Smile

The 'Blondie' illustration was just for fun, and then I thought, "Why not update my avatar as well?" Viola!

Love, Justice, and All That Jazz

Is it SO obvious that I'm still watching Sailor Moon? Wheee!!

Theme:  Teamwork

Supreme Thunder

Definitely still on a Sailor Moon kick. ;) Re-watching those episodes made me curious as to whether or not some of the old websites I used to spend hours on when I was 11 were still live or not. Most of them weren't. But www.sailorjupiter.com is! AND the site is undergoing an upgrade, so I volunteered to do some illustrations for the site. Tee hee! It's been a very, VERY long time since I've done anything in manga/anime styling, but it was fun to revisit! Here's the first:

Initial sketch:

 Final render:

Final render modified pose:

Theme:  words

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon

Weddings! Family! And babies! OH MY! Talk about one incredible non-stop month! The highlight:  my brother married his little bride on the 17th, and then my brother-in-law married his bride on the 24th. Slap in a ton of traveling, some family events, and a dash of people coming and going and you've got yourself quite the sandwich!

Which brings me to this fan-based paper art. I've been trying to work on this for the past 3 weeks, but between work and all of the hullabaloo I haven't been able to touch it. I finally got to really dig into it on Friday and Sunday, and viola! It's been about 15 years since I was first introduced to Sailor Moon, and I still enjoy the quirky antics of those sailor senshi.

Theme:  Stars

Kiki

Meet the newest addition to our little household! Kiki! Last week, a friend of mine was backing out of her parking spot at her apartment. As she glanced to the side, she saw a teeny-tiny-itty-bitty scraggly ball of black curled up right where her car was parked. Without a moment's hesitation, she slammed on the breaks, jumped out, and rescued the poor, heavily undernourished, abandoned kitten.

We love this little scamp! And she loves to wage war on the wii-motes, our feet, my bra (for some reason), the laundry bags, the guitar, foam and fabric scraps, felt balls, jingle bells, feathers, books, paper, hair, glasses, annnnnnd spiders. She also loves being right up in your face (the shoulder is her favorite)! And she LOVES Dallin, which I find hilarious because of how worried he was about inviting a cat into our home. But I don't think it's a problem now. HE picks her up and puts her on his shoulder. :)

Summer!

The final installment for the owl season series. I wasn't as gung-ho to finish this one as I have been the others. A large part of that is due to a top secret hush-hush commission I received while in the middle of working on this piece. I'm ridiculously excited for the upcoming project (it sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun to put together). But! In the meantime, summer owl:

(This collection idea came to me after seeing one of Brittney Lee's pieces)

Cloudy with a Chance of Love!

Whew! Talk about work! It took me three tries to get that cake right (mmmm...meringue)! And don't even get me started on those waffle cones! But I must say that it was worth it. I really love the stylized credit sequence at the end of this movie so I decided to implement it to the fullest! My only regret is that I couldn't fit in other characters, but that just begs the question..... round two? :)

I might add that this is my husband's absolute most favoritist animated movie in existence. It makes him giggle every time he watches it, which I find adorable.

Sneaky Treats

In an effort to update more often, here's a little sneak peak of what's in the works...

Spring!

Can you tell that I'm working through all of the seasons with owls?  :)  Before I move on to summer, though, there's a really fun piece I have planned that needs to be completed before the 7th.

Here's Spring!

Theme:  Flowers
(This collection idea came to me after seeing one of Brittney Lee's pieces)