Ohio - Nerdiest State

I came across this map of shame - you've probably seen it. It shows which states are worst at what. Some are fairly benign other are wretched. But in light of my Summer Reading post/Library Rant a couple weeks ago, I'd like to point out that Ohio is the nerdiest state based on having the most library visits per capita (link).
Unlimited library access at work!

Indiana is the least green state, which I have to say, would not have been my first thought. We have the stupidest city according to some report a few years ago (go, Ft. Wayne!), but with all the Amish using buggies and solar panels I wouldn't considered us to be the least environmentally friendly.

What's your state worst at? Were you surprised?

Goldie Locks

Hand Colored with Ink & Colored Pencil

My latest ooak listing. I hope to have some more up tomorrow. The fact is I have a BUNCH of these in my apartment, I just haven't gotten around to editing the photos yet. They all have bright, colored envelopes to go with them, that have sticky closures (no gross glue taste!) and of course they're all adorable.

I did a show back in December where I had a pretty good crowd of girls standing around carefully trying to select the very best of my business cards to take home. Which was a nice distraction while their mom's were mouthing their orders over the little girl's heads!

But of course the guys weren't as excited. One dad looked at a card similar to this one and said, "It's all about the hair isn't it?" His tone implied he'd rather have his team lose the super bowl every year for the rest of his life than deal with my art on his walls, but his wife seemed interested!

Super Duper V Day Give Aways

Giveaway happening here. Lots of prizes.

Another here

Valentine Cutie

This sweetie is all set for candy hearts and roses.

I know a lot of single people are not in love with valentine's day. The dramatic wear black, the bitter post facebook rants, the embarrassed ignore it.

Personally, I delight in valentine's day. It easily wins the classiest holiday color scheme and all the over decor is cute enough to use year round. V-day has the dubious honor of being the only holiday I'll actually be festive for.

Some years I go to parties with friends, this year I'll probably be alone again, sipping pink whipped cream from my white-chocolate mocha. I love it all.

What's your favorite holiday?

Summer Reading

 I'm pretty certain that this girl is walking back from the library with some summer reading in hand. I never technically had summer reading assignments, but I have a little addiction to books and the library is one of the few places my parent's felt comfortable dropping me off for a few hours.

Parents want their kids to enjoy the library, but with all those suspicious librarians around, trying to corral you into the kids or YA section where they can keep an eye on you  it always felt like a form of rebellion, especially with friends. You get past the guards and sneak off into the depths of the library. Nobody knows where you are or what you're doing. You could be reading anything (no, seriously, anything). They don't know. You could meet up with anyone. They don't know. Heck, you don't know.

So in short, it was awesome.

My love affair with the library has waned a little bit since living in Indiana. The towns are smaller and so are the libraries. Worse, you can only get a card for your town. If you live in the city limits. If you don't live within the city limits of any town (a common occurrence here in the corn-field of America) - no books for you.  Should you desire access to other libraries you must pay for a non resident card, which can cost as much as $92 per year. or a PLAC, for the whole state. This year's is $50 - my local library did not advertise this option.

In Ohio you could get a card for any library. Or every library. They didn't care.
My mom had cards for at least four Ohio libraries and one more for a Florida library we went to during vacations every two years!

Indiana, free with guns, stingy with books.

All you need is...

Ok, so I have no new doodles for you. I've done new doodles, I just don't have anything scanned in at the moment.

To keep your minds off what a terrible blogger I am, I'm going to direct you to this charming giveaway that I'd prefer you not enter, because I'd like this necklace for myself and it's not available in the shop.

Won't I look cute in it?

Pajama Sale - Because early isn't bad enough

Every year the local merchants have a "pajama sale". They don't sell pajamas, but they do offer discounts which you have to be wearing your PJs to get. This is in addition to opening crazy early and ending all the best deals before 8 am.

I've gone a couple of years to photograph the people in their jammies, which are often outrageous. I don't think I can handle going again this year, but that doesn't mean I can't design some cute graphics for our Pajama Sale section to convince other people to go.

January Colors

I didn't live on a hill at all when I was a kid (or now for that matter), but there were parks nearby where we went sledding every winter and had a blast. 

 A wintery coloring page.
Feel free to print and color, but not to profit from or use in any other way. This is strictly a coloring page.