My Fairytale is Coming True

Jumping in for a quick life update:

Peter and I are engaged! This past month, we celebrated our seven year anniversary, and after taking in a beautiful, sunset view on the Orlando Eye, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course I said "YES!"

Creating a dream life with him is my fairytale come true. I just had to share our exciting news!

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On an art-related note: I'll be resuming my posts on a more consistent basis real soon! Can't wait to share new and upcoming projects with you!

We're off to: Neverland!

Neverland has been, and always will be, my home away from home. I've been "flying" there since I was three years old and know the terrain like my own backyard. There's Cannibal Cove with the villainous James Hook and his crew to the south. Tiger Lily's camp to the west and, of course, Peter's hideaway on the northern end of the island. It's my favorite place to be. (I try to book my imaginary flights as often as I can). So when it came time to choose a location to base my infographic on, it was an obvious choice.

I had so much fun designing this project and coming up with different ways to depict Neverland! What colorful characters and famous travel methods could I illustrate? What testimonials could I include? Once I sat down and brainstormed into my sketchbook, the answers were simple!

I hope you enjoy reading through all the details I've snuck into this creation. May it whisk you away back to your childhood, just as it did for me while I was designing it.

Happy Chinese New Year

I've been lucky to have been invited to Chinese New Year celebrations before! They are wonderful, heartwarming, family-oriented gatherings with an amazing smorgasbord of cultural delicacies to feast on.

I even have been the recipient of my own Lai See - a red envelope that contains "good luck" money inside. Traditionally, these packets are gold (representing fortune) or red (representing luck), and are bestowed from a senior to a junior, for example from an elder to a young child, or from a boss to an employee. The act of giving a red envelope during Chinese New Year shows that you wish that person luck and prosperity in the new year!

In celebration of Chinese New Year, I decided to design my own Lai See envelopes with a complementary greeting card design. The "Year of the Dog" was a zodiac year I was absolutely thrilled to illustrate...especially given my fondness (ahem - slight obsession) with Corgis.

Wishing you all luck and happiness this Lunar New Year!

Happy Valentine's Day

It probably comes as no surprise that one of my favorite things to design is fabric! After studying Fashion in art school, I have accumulated quite the alluring stash of (mainly) patterned cotton and tulle in my studio. To be able to add to my growing collection with my own designs has been an amazing experience!

For Valentine's Day, I expanded on my "Depths of my Heart" greeting cards and created a matching twill fabric, incorporating swirling kelp, seasonal heart motifs, and pretty sea shells! My trusty Bernina machine was put to work again and I've been sewing up a storm the last couple days! (I'm fairly certain there are also some rogue pins lost somewhere in my carpet.)

This sea-themed fabric made for the cutest tote, perfect for a date at the beach! Though I'm not planning on hitting the waves today, I'll definitely be sporting my new bag to the park for a creative brainstorming session!

How will you be spending your Valentine's day? Let me know in the comments!

"Depths of my Heart" Valentine's Greeting Cards

Going to the beach and spending the day frolicking in the salty waves is a cherished childhood memory. Since the ocean was the setting of so many family celebrations, picnics, get-togethers and weekends away, I now associate the beach as a place where love is often shared—if not between family, pets, and friends, then a place to recharge and show myself a bit of self love, basking in the sun for some well-deserved "me" time.

This Valentine's Day, I embraced the ocean with all my heart and dove head first into the deep waters for inspiration, however metaphorically. I started my artistic journey on the sand with some quirky, lovable crabs and then dipped my feet into the shoreline waters, falling head over heels for the baby sea turtles hustling towards the ocean during nesting season. Once fully immersed in the sea, I thoughtfully maneuvered around a bloom of jellyfish with their long ribbon-like tentacles before plunging towards the ocean floor, where eventually, I came face-to-face with a graceful octopus—a marine creature that has long captured my heart. Although this under the sea adventure was but a whimsical dream, it's colors and vibrant details inspired this greeting card collection, luring it from the "Depths of my Heart!"

As always, designing is a process, one that often results in discarded colorways and alternative illustration concepts, which you will find below. It's part of the journey of arriving at a finished collection I can be proud of!

I hope these oceanic friends bring you happiness this Valentine's Day. I put so much love into creating them and am crazy excited to finally be able to share them with you!

Hello February

Why hello there, February! I'm so excited that you're here!

I've been working on quite a few "secret" projects this past month that will be launching soon (sneak peek above), so be sure to keep an eye out on Instagram for more updates! I've been a busy busy bee, illustrating away, planning photoshoots and editing on my computer!

To all my readers, thanks for checking back in despite a lighter post month than usual. I really appreciate all your support and can't wait to share everything I've been working on!

How has your January been? Anything new and exciting to report?

My 2018 Phrase of the Year

I usually make it a habit around this time to choose a designated "word" on which to build my year. But for 2018, despite even breaking out my thesaurus, only this simple phrase would do: Keep Going!

Maintaining momentum is vital to growth, something I realized at the end of last year when I was trying to juggle, well, everything — from creating new artwork, a two week California vacation, all the usual holiday preparations and everything else in between. I may have looked frazzled and felt exhausted, but I sincerely loved every minute of it! Being so busy left me no time to worry, or get hung up on unnecessary doubt. It propelled me forward. It made me get things done! And I promised myself I would keep up that same vigor in 2018.

When we are striving to accomplish feats we've never done before, it's natural to get entangled in insecurity. We're trying to be brave and prove ourselves. But we're also bound to get "caught up" (especially in our own thoughts) once in a while...and when that happens, it may feel easiest to quit. Full stop. But I'm urging everyone, including you, including myself, to keep moving!

Stagnation is the death of progress. So when we're confronted, once again, by the mental quicksand that threatens to drag us under, we must seek out a branch that can pull us from the mud. For me, that's signing up for a design conference, planning a lunch with friends, brainstorming new ideas, or sometimes, it's taking intentional breaks from my computer to restore my focus.

The point is, no matter how you choose to do it, keep going! Nothing worthwhile is easy and it usually doesn't happen over night. But with persistence and enough gusto, the life you've been dreaming of can become more than a mere fantasy.

Lets make it happen!