Cake!!!! and stuff

First of all, thanks to my newsletter readers who answered my poll about my art! I've only gotten 12 responses so far, so if you haven't filled out the poll yet, go ahead and submit it! I'm getting some interesting answers and I'd love to have a larger sample. Maybe I'll send out these types of polls every so often. :)

I have no idea who said what in this poll, and I guess it would have been smart of me to somehow set it up so I know whose answers are whose. (Probably by making you enter your email address, I'm guessing?) Well, I wanted a very low barrier for participation so I made it as simple as possible. Like I said, I'd never made one before! I kind of like not knowing who said what, actually; it's sort of a mysterious feeling of support from everyone. :)

Isn't this a beautiful gift bag?!

C. picked out these birthday bouquets at the grocery store, to combine into her "fireworks"! I don't really like fake-colored flowers, but these sure look AWESOME!! The pink ones also have glitter!

You've gotta click to see all the cakes!!!>>>

I made a Koalabird plush doll!

For C's birthday, I made her a koalabird plush doll! I had made her one before -- her koalabird toy Cheerful, 2 years ago -- and now Cheerful has a friend! Newsletter subscribers may remember the photos of Cheerful I shared awhile back, but I will have to take more of both stuffed animal friends together. :)

Isn't he sweet??

C. named him Blizzard. :) Appropriate because we were in the midst of a fair amount of snow last week!

More process after the jump!>>

Birthday Month in full swing!!

Since January is birthday month, this week I've been prepping and enjoying all kinds of goodies!

Look at these nice bouquets at the grocery store! I was too frazzled by my list at the time to actually make another decision, but I may go back and buy one. :)

Who doesn't like birthday sushi?? E's special request!

My latest creation after the jump!>>

I made an Alolan Vulpix Pokemon plush!

Finally I can share the Alolan Vulpix Pokemon plush stuffed animal I made for E! This project was a birthday surprise, so I wasn't taking any process photos. But I did make it, I promise! :) She loves it and at first didn't even realize it was handmade!

More photos this way>>>>

January Beginnings!

 This is the last "life news" post in this series as I get back on track for blogging in the new year! (Be sure to read Part One and Part Two and see my hand drawn Pokemon art cards!)

Here is my sleepy, smooshy cat.

More stories this way!

I drew my friends as Pokemon cards!

(Be sure to expand this post to see everybody!!) Pokemon is popular in our house -- my older daughter is a Pokemon EXPERT (seriously), and little sister is not far behind. At this point, I think I'm probably one of the most well-informed moms in town, since I've learned a lot through osmosis. And I admit, Pokemon can be SUPER CUTE, which means by now I like them, too. :)

Anyway, Back in December, I got the wacky idea to make Pokemon cards of some of my friends, and give them out as a fun little gift. The real cards all have "attacks" on them, which I thought would be a handy way to include some character traits that I appreciate about each person!

Here are Kelly and Doug! I made Kelly into a sort-of "rainbow rare" because she's a super unique person! (The silver metallic dots are shiny!)  Plus she's fairy type -- they stopped making fairy type, so it's getting harder to find those! Basically she's a one-of-a-kind friend. Awwww!

Doug is electric type because he's very TECHIE. I love drawing the stereotypical "nerd environment" full of wires and black boxes, so I had fun with that. Although, later his family was quick to tell me that he actually has all those wires neatly corralled and contained. It's Doug! I should have realized that! Ha ha!

I'll walk you through my process for these cards, AND you get to see a bunch more cards, after the jump!

December, Part Two!

(Did you read Part One? Go back to the previous post!)

More life updates! It's been a busy couple months!

I made these cookies (World Peace Cookies) for a cookie exchange. They're really good -- a chocolate shortbread with chocolate chunks! Pro tip: sprinkle kosher salt on top of each one when they come out of the oven. YUM!

We had a FEAST at the December book club. Seafood cioppino* with optional lobster and shrimp (that would be a giant YES to that option!!), stuffies, yummy salad, bread with roasted garlic, then desserts . . . I had seconds of every single item.

On Christmas Eve . . .

Happy New Year -- But First, Here's December!

Hi, everybody! Well, it happened again -- I have a bit of a backlog here on the blog! But that's okay! Today I'm writing a few posts with some recaps of December, and January so far. :)

We had a good end to 2023, with Christmas and New Year's and other assorted fun! Let's go!

I'm not really into doing my own elaborate Christmas displays, but I LOVE other people's!! These adorable critters were on display at my neighbors' party -- along with thousands of other treasures! 

As always, much more after the jump!