A first time for everything!

So I participated in my first craft show last weekend! It was held at a local church here in Cloquet, and I had a great time. The hubs helped me create this awesome display to showcase my note cards and prints. And my mom stayed home with my noisy, albeit lovable toddler! Thanks guys.

Please to observe pictures below.

Overall I was pleased with how things went! This being my first time, I was just hoping to cover my costs to purchase my spot in the event, but I was pleasantly surprised by my profit. Yay! I'm hoping to do more shows in Duluth this next year. Up nort ya know.

I haven't shared a ton about my art or projects lately, but I wanted to give a little update of the new items in my Etsy shop! We've got a few Christmas cards, and a new hummingbird and robin that weren't in there before.

Check them all out here to shop for your Christmas cards or unique gifts for your pals and fam!!

Oh, and happy turkey week, folks.

Turtle Lovers Note Card Valentine

I put together a quick little note card for lovers - especially lovers that want to grow old together. Perfect for Valentines Day! Available in my shop!

I used my tortoise sketch from way back in the days of daily animal doodling and digitally colored it, and gave the lady hot red lips. Because if Valentines Day isn't the perfect occasion for hot red lips, then I don't know what is! Even turtles know that.

Housekeeping

Hi.

The past couple weeks have been somewhat of a blur of activity, a scramble against time, an endless to do list. Hence, I am feeling the need to catch you up on all of the things.

First, I re-did my blog! Did you notice? You probably did, since it looks very different from before:

(The ghost of Pointsies past.)

I was feeling a little change and I also updated my shop to match. I'm not sure I'm completely finished with it all yet, but so far I am enjoying the new look.

Speaking of my shop, I've been working hard at getting some new winter products all up in there! I've been pastel-ing/printing/photo-ing/changing out of my sweatpants and into jeans two minutes before the hubs gets home (you know I got the hots for you Brian) like a mad frazzled woman these past few weeks and I'm excited to share my new pieces! Here's Papa and Mama Cardinal hanging out during a snow fall. Available in two print sizes, or as notecards.

Check out more over in my shop! 

So I'm hoping now that I have everything all updated for the holidays I'll be able to devote a little more time to writing in this space. Then I can keep you in the loop on important things like that time that I wanted to make chips and cheese in the microwave but then I realized we didn't have any chips so then I made them with water crackers instead but then I realized we didn't have any salsa so instead of chips and cheese with salsa I ended up with crackers and cheese with barbecue sauce and it just tasted really bad but I ate it all anyway.

It's important that you know about these things.

Something about not being pregnant makes me productive again.

I'm so excited to show you my latest note cards for the shop! Now that my preggo belly is gone my creative juices seem to be flowing back to me, which feels great. I'm getting pretty good at snuggling baby girl into her Moby Wrap so that I can wear her around the house while she naps and I can get stuff done. Here are my latest projects!

These are a couple of my animal doodles from last year, digitally colored.

A narwhal thank you note for a pal.

A friendly bunny greeting card for when you just want to say hey. You're cute.

Check them out here!

Shop and bump update.

I added a new 5 x 7 print to the shop today! This friendly horse has dramatic wind blown mane hair. Perfect for any dramatic wind blown member of your family. Who likes horses.

He's also available as a note card (single card or set.) Check out the options here!

In other news. I had a fun first Semi-Mother's Day, celebrating all the moms and grandmoms in our family with delicious food and fun games. I say "semi" for myself because obviously I am a mother as there is a big ol' behbeh growing inside of me, but don't yet have all of the motherly type responsibility as I have yet to PUSH girlfriend OUT.

Yes, that last part terrifies me. (cue heavy breathing, widening eyes and growing panic)

Oh well. I still have a few more months to harbor my fear!

This pic was taken at about 24 weeks. I told the hubs I wanted some "fun candid" shots taken...but as I had a horrible cold I wasn't feeling "fun" or "candid" at all. So this is what we got! Me working hard to get a semi-natural looking smile out while being eaten by the flower bush. We'll try again soon.

New note cards...um finally!

I'm proud to say that I completed yesterday's goal and listed some of my Daily Animal Doodle note cards in the shop today!

They can be bought individually, or in sets of 6 or 12. Check out all of them here! I will be selling these as fine art prints as well, hoping to get those listed by Friday.

There are still a couple of the animal doodles aside from those I finished today that I want to dust off and get in the shop too within the week. Including a frog, a horse, a robin, a squirrel, a hummingbird, a mouse, and a bunny! And perhaps a skunk. Eh, still thinking about that one.

In other news, have you ever had that thing happen where your eyelid twitches?

Well, mine was twitching to the beat of the radio today. I think it means that I'm an innately musical person.

Getting things done.

Finally working on this note card project again. Yesterday was a day filled with lots of editing and printing. And slamming my palm to my forehead. Because somehow, even though I print my work often, it's always a trying (or maybe infuriating is the better word) experience.

Me and printers do not and never will get along. No matter how nice I try to be. They always betray me.

BUT.  Amidst the hair pulling and fighting back the desire to scream, I got a lot of stuff done and ended up with this nice little pile of note cards ready to be folded and then photographed so they can be listed in the shop.

I'm hoping to have them up by tomorrow! Yes to progress.

The one where I awkwardly come back.

hark! avast ye! be still my beating heart.

And such begins the post where she (and by she I mean me, myself) unearths herself from the blogging rock she seems to have buried herself under.

For 2 months! Or a month in a half. Or something along those lines. The whole month of February passed by with nary a post!

For my absence, I apologize. And although I'm not too incredibly sure how many people noticed my absence, for those of you that did and checked in, I am grateful.

And now for my explanation. I am still alive. So are my hubs and kitties. And as it turns out....I'm totally preggers! Have been for a few months now. Surprise! The hubs and I found out on Christmas Eve and have been excitedly placed into the category of expectant parents ever since. Our baby Points is due at the end of August!

But as it also turns out...pregnancy so far has turned me into a sick, fatigued type of person who doesn't seem to resemble my usual, peppy, workaholic self. In fact, growing a child has completely stripped me of any motivational or creative thoughts, plans, and ambitions. It's kind of...a bummer. But in an excited, "we're making a human!" kind of way.

BUT. As I am now at the 15 week mark and the dreaded 1st trimester symptoms should HOPEFULLY be settling themselves away and the 2nd trimester is supposedly high energy and cute baby bump filled...I am hoping to become a productive person again very soon.

And so. I'm not sure if I am completely out from under my rock or if I'm just merely peaking out my head today, but as I was staring listlessly at my computer this afternoon I remembered something.

I remembered that I used to blog a lot, and that I really liked it.
And I remembered that I used to draw a lot, and that I really liked it.
And I also remembered about a note card project that I was about to put into my shop, and that I really liked those too.

And I remembered that maybe I would like to start doing those things again.

So. To sum up. I'm harboring a baby in my uterus. It's a very, very happy thing for the hubs and myself. And perhaps the cats too, although it's hard to tell.  And although I have been sick, lazy, absent, and without any life ambitions the past couple of months, I hope to be coming back very very soon.

Man. It felt good to write that!

New Stuff!

I'm excited to announce that I will soon be listing a select group of my Daily Animal Doodles in my Etsy shop! They aren't in there quite yet, but I will be selling both prints and note cards.

I've been experimenting printing on note cards and I'm really pleased with how they are turning out - it looks so close to the original pencil!

I still have to decide what type of paper to use for actual art prints - I'm excited to try a textured paper instead of just a smooth matte to see if it makes it look even more realistic.

There are a few more animals that I also will be adding, and I have some tweaking to do now that I can see how they print. But I'm so excited to soon be getting new items into the shop! I do hope that this means that my productivity has made it's return.

Shop update and some old tunes.

I added some updates to the shop today - I now have a "choose any 6" and a "choose an 12" option for note cards! I know this will make things run smoother and less confusing. 

I also retrieved music off of my old ipod today. As I worked I found myself listening to the likes of Savage Garden, Imogen Heap, the Garden State soundtrack, Blink 182, and Green Day's International Superhits (the old stuff.) All music that I don't think I've touched since shortly after graduating college. It made me want to stay up all night writing a research paper I had procrastinated on while eating cookie dough, chatting on AIM, and trying not to wake up my roommates. 


(I mean, but not really.)


Ah nostalgia.


What tunes bring you back?

Cyber Monday

Hey everyone! Just wanted to stop in to let you know that I am jumping on the Cyber Monday bandwagon and will be offering 20% off your entire purchase in my shop! Just enter the coupon code 20CYBERMONDAY and you are golden.

The discount will end tonight at midnight (CST).


Hope your Mondays back after the vacation are going wonderfully and not terribly! :)

New Shop Section! Plus my excellent costumes.

I am so SO happy to announce that I have FINALLY added a note card section to my shop. I've been wanting to do this since July so it's only taken me hmm let's see. 4 months?!? To get this done? But who's counting. Right? Obviously not me.

AND. I am working my little (big?) hiney off trying to get some holiday/winter themed cards/prints in the shop very soon. How soon? Dare I say... the end of the week?? Maybe now that I've publicly announced this deadline I may just pull it together enough to make it happen???


mmm????


More question marks??????


Anyway. Since today is in fact Halloween, I thought I should make this post at least a little bit Halloween-y. Unfortunately I don't really have a costume this year. I will be teaching violin lessons for part of the night and then coming home to hopefully catch some of the trick or treaters. (Who the hubs will be joyfully handing out candy to. Because he loves doing that. And I love him. It's a big circle of love around here.)


So since I have no costume to show you, I decided to show you some costumes of Halloween past.


2010: I was a cat. The hubs was a trucker. A dirty one. And my friend Mel was a flapper gal.

My bff Emily was a pretty bird.

And this is my favorite pic ever.

2009: My sister and I went to see BEN FOLDS! at ORCHESTRA HALL! Playing with the MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA! On HALLOWEEN! It was AWESOME! I don't really know that we are dressed as anything other than Ben Folds enthusiasts though.

I think this next picture is from....2007? or 2008. I don't know. The hubs and I didn't have anything to wear for a Halloween party so I had us put on a bunch of random stuff from our closet. I was like, "Let's be idiots! It will be hilarious!!" And the hubs was like, "Wait, what are we being?" And I was like, "Idiots! so funny!!" I'm telling you I'm a very creative soul.

2006: Aww, we were just freshly engaged in this pic. (You can see that we are really in the habit of putting a lot of thought into our costumes.)

2004: I think I shared this picture (and the story behind it) before here. But it's just a good one so I didn't want to leave it out.

Alright, I'm off to do productive things. Happy Halloween!