They Call Me Adventure

I love adventure stories. Torture, revenge, giants, monsters,chases, escapes, miracles, true love. And of course I like to think that in the protagonist's place I would be just as butt-kickingly awesome.

The truth is, probably I'd be more like blondie here.
But with less poise.


Bugs gross me out. 
I'm scared of heights. 
I have no upper body strength to speak of. And no skills that would suddenly come in handy were I to be thrust into the middle of a secret government conspiracy.


I want to be capable, independent Marion Ravenwood from Raiders of the Lost Ark, but I'd honestly be whining Wilhelmina in The Temple of Doom. Screaming and crying my way through the entire story with even small children becoming annoyed at my incompetence. 


C'est la vie. That's why I'm an artist.

.

Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes

Even when I was a kid, people - sometimes strangers - would tell me that I ought to draw children's book illustrations. And I wholeheartedly agreed.

When I was 8 I wrote and illustrated a book for my youngest sister. My mom helped me make a hard cover for it out of cardboard and cloth and she stitched in the binding.
Encouraged, I illustrated a bunch more, but those had less impressive staple binding and copy-paper covers.

At the age of 12 I wrote and illustrated another book and submitted it as a 4-H art project at the county fair. I got a blue ribbon and went to the state fair where the judges looked at me as if I had gotten lost.

It's been a long time coming, but I'm proud to present my first ever, full color children's book. It's not technically mine - it's the Amish couple's who published it. I'm just sort of the in-house illustrator. But it's all public domain nursery rhymes and my illustrations, so it feels like mine.

It's 43 pages long, hardcover and is printed on glossy paper with gorgeous, full-bleed color.

You can pick it up in Amish shops in Northern Indiana and you want to order it drop me a line on etsy or facebook  or twitter and I'll get you the contact info for ordering your own copy.

I've got little previews of the illustrations inside here, here and here.

Christmas Time Is Here

I'm not a super festive person. Left to my own devices I don't really decorate for Christmas and of course any kind of seasonal clothing is out of the question. I have no explanation as to why, it's just how I am. But I do enjoy that other people are festive. I love the lights, when they're done tastefully - which is apparently not going to happen in my neighborhood this year. I love the shop displays. And I love carolers. They're so cute and picturesque.  So feel free to print out this coloring sheet for the you or the kiddos to color (you know you want to) . Please don't use it for any other purpose, personal or commercial. It is for coloring only.

Card Give Away

I'm doing a 2-card giveaway over at Heavenly Savings.
There are all kinds of ways to enter and two people will get to choose
the card they desire and have it shipped off to them for free. Check it out!

I also have a new ooak card, Winter Sunshine, perfect for holiday correspondance or for those notes you know you won't get around to till well after new-year's but still while there's snow on the ground.
This is me every year. I never finish writing them till sometime in January
and they don't get send out till it's pushing March.  Some how I never have stamps.

Have a great Thanksgiving everybody :)

Thanks!

A big thank-you to The Curious Pug and to Ittybit Delights for featuring my shop on their blogs!
I write my answers fresh for each interview, so if you're interested in that kind of thing, they're both worth reading.

Also, blog readers can get 20% off a set of 10 Christmas cards through the end of the year, just convo me on etsy, tell me you saw this post and which cards you want (they can be all the same or you can mix and match) so I can make you a reserved listing. Regularly $30, but at 20% off only $24!
(plus shipping & handling, $2 state side, $4.50 everywhere else) 

Excuses Excuses

 When I was a kid I have a book called "Excuses, Excuses" and it had all kinds of ridiculous excuses a kid might use to get out of chores. Like if you want to get out of cleaning your room you could make a bear print stamp and stamp the prints all over the house, so then you'd tell your mom you can't clean your room because you have to track down a bear. What? you think your mom wants a bear loose in the house? You'd totally get out of it.

But most people use their excuses differently.

There are excuses for things you don't want to do,

"It's a bummer, but I can't! I totally would, but I have so much to do at home! I just can't tear myself away!" - from The Sims 3.

"I can't, because I'm sick, coughcough." - of helping you with your home projects.

And excuses for things you forgot to do,

"I couldn't because I ran into this lady who lost her dog and she was so heartbroken that I just had to help her find fifi and it took the whole afternoon!" - or two minutes of it.


Or for things you want to do,

"I'm sorry, I have to attend this ball game, it's really important to my dad and he's dying." - at some point. 

And for things you shouldn't do,
"Well you see officer..." Yeah, I bet you have enough practice with that one.

Yesterday I dealt with a lady who had a huge list of excuses.
I don't think she was lying either, she had a lot going on.
Probably last month was a bad month.
But the more excuses she gave me, the angrier I got!
Because the way she said it, it was like it was my fault her month was bad. And I should have known it was bad.
 
Probably she felt judged by my frustration with her, but I tell you nothing makes me so inclined as to go easy on someone as a big old, "I'm Sorry!"

"I'm so sorry I murdered that man, I just didn't like him!"
"Oh honey, don't worry, probably no one else did either! Plus he had ugly hair."
"It's a toupee."
"Well there you go."

The truth is that before her irate excuses I was feeling bad because I'd voiced my frustration, but when I listened to how it was all me being inconsiderate of the bad month I didn't know about - shazaam!  No more sorry. It's magic!

What excuses make you more angry instead of less?

Silent Songbird

I have a condition called Fibyomyalgia. Or Myofascial Pain Syndrome. Or both. My doctors didn't agree and now I don't have health insurance so it's a little unclear.

The main thing is, my muscles hurt.

I'm not a person that this is a big deal for.
Some people have such severe pain that they can't work, it's hard to sleep, and even small household chores can wipe them out for the day. I hold down a full time job, keep my apartment respectable, sell my personal art on the side, volunteer weekly, and have a decent social life.

But every now and again it becomes problematic.

It isn't the biggest problem I've had, but this past week I've had a bit of a pain in my jaw. At first I thought my teeth hurt and I had cavities again and, I won't lie, I was pretty upset. But as I considered it more I realized that my teeth were not bothered by crunching up hard foods, drinking ice-water, or eating sweets - all cavity related issues that popped up last time.

I came to realize that actually my jaw didn't hurt at all in the early morning (like it might if I were grinding my teeth at night) or in the late evening (when, this week, I've been home alone).

Kids, my mouth has been hurting whenever I've been singing! I tend to sing when I'm in the car or the tv is off in my apartment (though I try to not, because I figure my neighbors have never done anything to deserve that)
So I decided to quit.  It's not like I sing well, so what's the big deal?

Oh. Apparently I love to sing. I catch myself trying to sing all the time. I hear the chorus of a song I love and I just want to belt it out. It's been all of two days since I had this revelation and I'm going nuts!