WOYWW - Bunnytown

I sketched this


then I cut it out


I iron it on to a shirt and then slap some paint over it. I wait some. Then I peel it off, yo.


Moving forward....


Oh like you don't need a bunny shirt? Haha. Now I think I want one too. This is going to be a gift. I'm excited to show off how this turns out.

Hop on by Julia's she's the head elf chicky around these parts on Wednesdays!
What's on your Workdesk?

Put up the Tree Before My Spirt Falls

This is my post-it tree.

This is my work desk for it:

It was mostly made by the passionate yet introverted Tess Nelson and her venerable Doctor cohort, Zach. Regardless, it was made under my dictatorship gentle suggestion. It is in my apartment.
Win.

I think everyone should have a post-it tree. It's such a fun spot to write at now. Everyone who comes over can make a holiday note on it.
True perfection.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday? Wreath By Evergreen

Tonight My workdesk is being presided over by the first episode of Ugly Betty,
which is cuter than I recall and streaming in the background.


If you know me at all, you know that I am NOT patient, and you also know that I HATE rules. However, there are a couple that are paramount to living life to the best of your ability, when I defy these I often regret it.

#1 - Don't ever leave the house in underwear that you wouldn't want to caught dead in. I learned ths one in the fifth grade, when an emergency appendectomy found me in the Dr.'s office wearing care bear panties. Man those were cute, wish I had a pair like that now.

#2 - Never give your number to a stranger, your email, yes, but your number never. I learned this one the hard way Halloween 2009 when I met Jack, who my friends later wrote a song about. He is now affectionately known in past tense as JTR - Jack the Ripper. Haha. Good times.

#3 - Never ever, ever, decorate the house for the holidays until the house is Mr. Clean-clean. HAHA. HAHAHAHAHAH

So, this is something I'm going to for sure find myself regretting.
This is the view to the West of my desk......

And here is the main event. Yep, that's an Evergreen bough!
Tonight I found myself in the flower district, desperate to keep warm. In addition to coming down with a cold, I'm finding myself in the city without gloves fairly often, but usually only on the coldest days of the year. I ducked into a lofted space and before I knew it, I was the proud owner of this fine specimen of wreathdom.


So tonight, despite the MESS, out came the felties.


I created the felties years ago at my parent's beach house on Oahu. I am pretty sure I was 14 when I first pulled out every sheet of red, white and green felt we owned and went to town creating an army of snowmen and holiday stars.

So I made these babies, half my life ago. Now the little fellows spend most of the year in residence in a sandy zip-lock bag in a certain Brooklyn closet, in a particular box, boldly labeled 'Christmas'.


Tonight out came the ribbon, the felties, and the copper wire. I blissfully cut my hands to high heaven. Now the felties live to cheer again.



Felties unite!

So, Now I have an Etsy Shop

I'm left handed and while a hundred people sat down and tried to teach me to crochet as a child, I was so hopeless learning from right handers that it never really took. My stubborn determined personality was pretty strong, even then. So, frustrated with my failure, when I was about eight years old, I sat down with the few pages afforded left handers in my gramma's coveted 'Complete Guide to Needlework".

I remember sitting cross-legged on our deck with the book in my lap as I tortured a skein of butter-yellow yarn into submission.

Crocheting was the first thing I ever entirely taught myself. I remember the shear delight at beating that yellow yarn into a 2 foot tall, overall-clad mouse. I was young, but already I was ready to take up the left-handed shield of truth and glory.



I raised my H-hook in the air, brandishing as I breathed,
"TAKE THAT, RIGHT HANDERS! TAKE THAT!"
I haven't changed this stance in the past two decades, so you know it was pretty inspired for a childhood declaration.

I pledged handmade this year and thought I'd start early with my gal MIka's birthday.
So I made the first of the bacon barrettes. They incited a movement at job-job and with my co-workers support it wasn't long before I felt my dormant need to create something that more dimensional chirpping from beneath the floorboards in my heart.

I am a strong advocate of doing something ELSE creative and fun. Of course I am also an expert of turning everything into some kind of work. Lucky for me I love work. If you're feeling a bit of a lul in the art that you make, make something totally different, but teh same, but different. You'll get it..

Amberbop Shop has been around for two weeks now. I made my first sale on Friday. Pretty sweet huh? LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE LEFT HANDERS!

Old Fashioned

I love it when I can get my Illustration Friday posts to cross check. My design BFFs, Breanne and Jeremiah of BreJer fame, are having a baby girl next month! This morning I schlepped to the Upper West Side for a baby shower with grand views and un-lame games and apple cider that was somehow also orange juice.

Breanne is half Mexican too. Were both built like Victoria's Secret models and we both love running. Haha. Ok, well one of those similarities is true. I often think that if I could live life the Breanne way, things would just be better and even if they weren't they would seem better.

Since Breanne and Jeremiah and I are design friends, and even more than that, now we're licensing friends, there seemed no way to buy a baby shower card. So I hit the drawing board, the old fashioned way.

Here were some sketch ideas.



Then I really liked this little bit:

I spent a nice long time painting it digitally and getting it all purdy. Then my printer ran out of ink. So I had to make it by HAND. WHAT?! OLD FASHIONED STYLE.

So double win, because after all, it doesn't get much more old fashioned than the stork.

I used glue on this baby! Did you hear me?! GLUE. Like PASTE. OLD SCHOOL.

Off With Their Heads!!!

Whaaaat issss thisss?

(You're supposed to say that part like the chef in 'The Little Mermaid'.)

After a particular bad run of lameness at last year's Hell-o-ween in Manhattan I decided to return to my roots this year.

I believe three Halloween things to be self-evident:

1. Dressing up is mandatory
2. Store bought costumes are lame in a bag
3. Funny, Glamorous or Smart always beat Gorey, unless it's Edward

If you know anything about me you're well aware of my Alice in Wonderland obsession.I was drumming my fingers against the table in my studio a few weeks trying to conceptualize this year's Halloween get-up when my eyes caught the vase of white roses on my windowsill.
Mike private joke - Fed Exed them to me a week or so prior to this bought of sketchiness. The first thing out of my mouth as I broke the seal on the box was, "Off with their heads!" Duh. I whipped out this fashion sketch in about ten minutes.
I called my personal seamstress/buddy ol' pal Emily of the Balcon'.Before I knew it we were combing the Fashion District looking for checkers and scarlet reds.
Emily put together the final touches on the gown - her dress making genius is mind blowing. She added the idea of transparent sleeves from elbow to wrist. We did a final fitting on all Hallow's Eve.
I spliced and wove an exhausted set of playing cards to fashion the collar I'd sketched. This dress was design on the fly and while the collar wasn't going to stay up and was a tad overkill - the cards made the perfect crown atop my head - only queens get to use 'atop'. I wanted to make sure I used it for this one royal post. My hair and face were done up courtesy of the Duchess of Justice. She's my personal make-up artist these days. I have always known how important it is to have friends, but in the last few years I've been awoken to how important it is to have talented friends. Haha.
Once I'd been primped and primed I hit the streets of New York and a few Halloween parties of magic and wonder and glitter, always glitter. I actually met a Mad Hatter - we have a date on Thursday. I took pictures with four different little girls dressed like Alice and held some lady's poor tabby. He'd been painted with purple and pink stripes. The costume was a smash and the perfect end to this year's Rock-tober.
Plus it rekindled my Louis Carroll Illustration frenzy.
Here's to genius, mine and others.