Thank You for Voting

Thank you EVERYONE for voting on my Fluevog shoe ad. I know it was a close race, and I came in second place by a very tiny margin. I am thankful to be a finalist in this contest, and I am also thankful for all my family and friends and fans who voted, tweeted, and shared on Facebook! I am amazed at the response to this contest. I am truly lucky to have you all as friends helping me out. You are all super! Thank you.

Well, after all this hard work over this contest, staying up late and trying to get the word out, I am very tired! I told Raoul it feels like pulling an all-nighter in college, and I have circles under my eyes to prove it. I think I need some retail therapy. I know, how about a nice new pair of shoes?

Fluevog Love!

Now there are a few brands I am loyal to, and I don't usually like to be an advert, but I am a HUGE fan of John Fluevog shoes. I have been for a while, but it took me until 1999 to get my first pair. At least I think it was 1999 or so. My very first Fluevogs were the Familevog!


The FAMILEVOG was made for the Danielson Famile, a family of musicians that dress as nurses and doctors to promote the healing power of their soulful music. The gold stitching! The handbag heart! What is not to love about these? I absolutely love them, and so does our bun, Oreo.


I love these Anastasia Mary Janes. I had to have these when I saw the embroidered birds on them. They had them in a red and blue colorway, but I thought black was the way to go with these. They are great to wear with colored knee highs, skirts, or culottes!




I love Fluevog Mary Janes! They go great with all my dresses and skirts.


And here are my Erika Fellowship shoes. These are sort of saddle shoe-ish to me. This photo was taken at Le Meridian hotel in Xiamen, China last year. I love the doily pattern on this carpet - and my Fellowship shoes! I wore them the whole time while in China.


And here is my very well-worn pair of Angies. Oh, Angie. These have been all over the place! They have seen better days! I love these shoes cos they do not have laces and can easily be slipped off on a flight or in the movies.


This is the whole glorious herd together for a family portrait! Check out those boots! They are POWDER BLUE!


Nilla is even a fan of the 'vogs!

John Fluevog has a contest to see would get to design their next print ad...I am one of the four finalists! YOU can help me win this contest by casting a vote for my design HERE! It's the cute one with the girl walking her dog! There's only a few days left for the contest, so be sure to vote daily. THANK YOU!

Illustration Friday - Toy

Here is another drawing of mine for Illustration Friday. This week's word is "toy." As you may know, I love toys! Sometimes I even sew and make toys. This illustration is of my Long Bunny Plush I made a few years ago.


This Long Bunny in particular was made to be a travel companion. I took this with me when we first went on a business trip to China and Hong Kong. These are pictures Raoul took. This was in 2008.




What a great travel buddy! This Bunny was great on my plane rides and car rides cos I could fold her and use this softie as a pillow. Needless to say, she is also very worn out and loved today. She does not look as "fresh" as in these photos.

John Fluevog Ad FINALIST!

I entered the Fluevog Creative ad contest last week. The design brief was for their new beauty shoe, the Curie, which is inspired by Marie Curie. As you all may know, we would not be where we are today in modern science and medicine if it weren't for her unique vision. Please take the time and vote each day for my ad, and tell your friends, too! VOTE HERE DAILY.

Nilla's Celebration

We made a chocolate silk pie to celebrate Nilla's Special Day! No, she did not have a taste, but she was interested in the pie! We used coconut on top and then added jellybeans for her eyes and nose. The features are drawn on with black icing. It looks just like her!


Nilla thought so, too! The pie looks bigger than my cat in this picture!


And look at my amazement when Nilla loves the pie as much as I do!

Nilla is Six!

We are celebrating Nilla's Adoption Day, or we call it her Birthday! She is six today! Hooray Nilla!


More photos from the last six years can be seen here at Rancho Cocoa!



❤

Crafty Pals!

Please meet my crafty pal, Becky. She is the artist behind Sweetie Pie Press, as well as my favorite improv comic. She sometimes commissions different artists to create a set of buttons. This is my set, Crafty Pals!

Fly Wild Flag, Fly!

We went to see Wild Flag on Saturday! We had such a good time! Wild Flag is a super group made of Carrie and Janet of Sleater-Kinney, Rebecca of the Minders, and Mary Timony of Helium! I love all of those bands, so we were for sure to love Wild Flag! Here are some of my favorite pics from that night.












I especially enjoyed the songs "Electric Band," "Glass Tambourine," and their amazing cover of the Rolling Stones "Beast of Burden." What a great night!

Almost Spring

We are having a lovely spring day, but I took some pictures last weekend of my Blythe, Noelle. It was springy, but still a little chilly. We looked at our miniature daffodils, tulips, and crocus blooming in our front yard.

Luck of the Irish

I made some new buttons to get ready for St. Patrick's Day! They are ready for you to celebrate and wear on your green shirt while you sip a Shamrock Shake! Ready for you in Shoppe Sugar Cookie!

Sketchbook Project - Comparison Drawings Number 7

My final drawing from my Sketchbook Project is of a plush fruit. I love this orange! Raoul gave it to me when he first moved here from California. It is from Giant Robot. We are big fans of Giant Robot and went to almost all the shop locations when he first took me to California. They are made by artist Mari Matsuo. I do not think I got the face right, or the smile, and I totally left off the hair!

Sketchbook Project - Comparison Drawings Number 6

Here is a weather station that used to belong to my Gram Gram. I love this so much, it always reminds me of her and the places she lived. As one can tell, I lost some of the details in this drawing. I forgot about the window, bird, flowers, and mushroom. Silly me!

Sketchbook Project - Comparison Drawings Number 5

I got this ring on Etsy. I do not think they have a shop anymore, but it is from a shop called Hello Natacha. It does not look like she has anything in her Etsy, but I love this ring. As you can see, I really forgot some features of this ring. Where is the hair? The nose? The pressed design around the edge of the flower shape?

Sketchbook Project - Comparison Drawings Number 4

This is a bunny figurine Raoul got from X-Ray Café, a shop our friend Paul used to run here in Athens. X-Ray sold books and antiques. Raoul thought this was funny, so he chose it. As you can see, I had a bit of trouble remembering fine details of this antique. I mean, what happened to his hat, basket, flowers, and coat?

Sketchbook Project - Comparison Drawings Number 3

This is a sketch of my bird-shaped tape roll. As you can tell, I forgot some important details and got a bit of the color and pattern wrong. That is okay, it was still fun to draw this tape roll.

Sketchbook Project - Comparison Drawings Number 2

This is another of my memory drawings. This one is a vintage Avon bottle that my mom found for me at a yard sale. I thought really hard about this drawing, but you can see some of the details that I over looked. I forgot about the cute little cheeks, hair, and the heart is misplaced. Now when I look at this little gingerbread man bottle, I think about the shape of it and the placement and what I forget when I am trying to draw from the top of my head.

Sketchbook Project - Comparison Drawings Number 1

So for my Sketchbook Project towards the end I started to make drawings and watercolor paintings from memory. After I sketched and added color, I photographed the item I drew and attached it to the back page of the drawings. This was an exercise to see how close I came to remembering details of everyday objects, as well as paying close attention to detail. I think this is a fun an interesting exercise to play. As you can see, I forgot and left out some details on this toy Jibibut that I drew. I have some more of these that we can look at and explore in the coming week.