I can't remember

Did the ground hog see his shadow? We've been looking for signs of spring, and really, can't wait!

Cute card available here!

Waiting and Waiting

You know when you order something on-line, and you can't wait for it to come, and then when it finally arrives, you just love it so much, you can't take it off?

We're having one of those weeks!

Sweet Treats for you!

When I first started blogging a couple years ago, I "met" a super enthusiastic woman named Kim who had just started blogging. As a career change, she started her own imprintable party business called The TomKat Studio which has really taken off in the last couple years...it's a very inspiring story! When I noticed that she had posted one of the projects I worked on, a Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake journal in her holiday gift guide, I sent her a package of cupcake projects I had worked on recently to thank her (plus, they reminded me of her and her business!). She loved the products, and asked if she could do a giveaway...(of course!)...so now you can visit her blog here for a chance to win!

Zombie Invasion

Not everyday is fairies and flowers in my design world...on the other end of the spectrum, I am currently designing The Zombie's Guide to the Holidays. The artwork came in yesterday, and I've been gleefully playing around with the gruesome art done by the very talented Lisa Fargo of Fargo Design, Co. Each illustration is more grizzly and vile than the next...I love it!

Here's an unedited sneak peek:

In stores this holiday season...read it if you dare!

Napping Beauties

After my winter duldrom post, a reader asked about my new found technique to get Jake to nap. As necessity is the mother of invention, here's what I did...

First of all, it's no longer a "nap", it's "rest time". Babies "nap", big boys "rest" (mom's like to too, although I don't care what we call it!). Then, I made up some new rules (that I made up as I went along...this was a process, not an immediate success).
Rule 1: You must stay in your room and sleep or play quietly until I come say rest time is over. (OK, I got this from Super Nanny, but thought it was a good idea!)
Rule 2: If you come out of your room, I'm going to come hold you until Rule 1 is followed.
Rule 3: If Rule 2 is broken, I go in and hold him. After promises are made, "rest time" continues and I leave (basically, my first warning).
Rule 4: If fussing, coming out of room happens, I go back in, and hold him on my lap, no talking, just snuggles. W/in 5 minutes he's ready to go to sleep.

Yay! Naptime continues!

The Making of a Fairy Cover

Do you remember the Fairy Queen I was working on for a Fold-Out paper doll play set I'm designing? Well, the cover of the playset is coming together, and here is a run-down of how we got to the final point. As I've been super busy, I suggested to the talented illustrator, Amy Saidens, that she show me an initial concept incorporating some of the fairy paper dolls and one of the three scenes that will be used in the interior of the play set. She came up with this:

I thought it was really cute, and although it was totally pink and purple fairy sweet, I thought it lacked a little umpf. Also, it seemed that the fairy's wings were not prominent enough.

One of the other interior scenes looked like this:

I liked it because it seemed like a slightly more impish setting. So, I created a quick cover idea for her to try:

The artist came back with this, using one of the fairy paper dolls on the interior:

Not quite right. The outfit of the fairy had less impact (definitely needed more red), and her wings were too subtle. Also, too many leaves at top now. So, she back-tracked a bit, and created the art that will now be used on the final cover:

I love that the opened the sitting fairy's eyes, and she re-sized the playful boy fairy in the background. She also changed the shape of the trees, and lowered the sitting fairy. I love this cover now, and would definitely have loved to play with this when I was little! What do you think of the cover...yay, or nay? OR, did you prefer the original garden scene?

The Winter Duldroms

As predicted, I got the stomach flu with a mighty vengeance. What more can I say about the past week? The good news is that I have finally developed a technique to have my non-napping child nap. And thus, we've had a much more pleasant weekend, and a much more pleasant child.

Between our insane NY winter, the insane sickness, and the insane antics of a non-napping almost three year old, patience and a sense of humor are two things I've been striving for these days! And you?