A mug like that

I drew these today with colored pencil and pen.

EDM 43: A mug

I also used marker to draw this mug. I think this mug drawing is pretty terrible, but it's the first doodle of the day, so what can I expect? I am happy I drew it because it warmed me up to draw this...

EDM 44: A portrait of Kyle, my sock monkey

The real life Kyle.

Kyle is the first (and only) sock monkey I've made. I think he is so charming even though some of his stuffing is coming out of his leg. As you can see from the photo, I took some liberties with his pattern in my doodle! Maybe one day I'll color in some stripes.

I made these collages last night.

Trash collage 5: Mardi Gras Kitty

This collage is made with the lid to a hummus container, tape (obvs!), magazine clipping, star pulled from another project (it works better here!), and Mardi Gras beads my friend Amy was tossing out. This is hanging from my boyfriend's bookshelf now, but I imagine it dangling from the rearview mirror of some player's car. Smooth!

Trash collage 6: Cry

This collage is made with a soy milk top (why do milk cartons have plastic tops?! #EcoRage), magazine clippings, and yarn scraps. It's photographed on top of a tissue box that I think is topically appropriate and has an awesome pattern.

Somehow I managed to not produce any trash today, but tomorrow I go into work. I'm sure I'll have lots of trash materials to choose from there.

Thanks for visiting my blog and holding space for my dreams. Much love!

Everyday (Still) Matters and Trash

I'm picking up the Everyday Matters challenge where I left off last summer.

EDM 40: Cupcake paper (so. many. folds.)

EDM 41: Big Blue Bug visible from highway but drawn from photo, EDM 42: My dishwasher.

Just to give a little background, Everyday Matters is a drawing challenge inspired by artist Danny Gregory, author of Everyday Matters, to document everyday objects and moments that we might otherwise take for granted. There are 328 challenges/ prompts. People all over the world are doing it and many are sharing their drawings at the Everyday Matters Flickr group.

I like to think of Everyday Matters as "Every Day Matters" as in "Every day matters so carpe diem and draw dammit," but alas that's not what it is officially called. You'll see it spelled both ways in my journals though.

Trash collages 1-4

Last night I hopped onto the 365 Somethings Project on Flickr. Everyone in the group is committed to making 365 Somethings. I've chosen to make little collage treasures out of things I've either pulled from or diverted from my trash.

Trash collages 1-4 are made from tops, glue, and some have glossy medium.

• Top left is a beer bottle cap with a clipping from a previously clipped dictionary page and sequins a friend was tossing out. Okay, those sequins almost ended up in the trash 15 years ago, but they're still sorta trash.
•  The two big ones are the ends of a crescent roll package. (We had yummy vegan piggies in a blanket for lunch this Saturday!) Sparkle is a clothing tag, more of the same sequins, red acrylic paint, and gesso. Kitty is a magazine clipping and a goofy googly (third) eye.
•  The yellow one is my favorite. It's made from the top of a canola oil bottle with magazine clippings, yarn scraps that were almost trashed at work, and more sequins. I have A LOT of sequins!

These are fun warm ups. I'm not naturally inclined to collage so they get me out of my comfort zone, which I like. I look forward to making more.

Thanks for checking out my creations. Huggles!

Quirkyalone Day 2013 Cards

Looking for an alternative to Valentine's Day? I present to you: Quirkyalone Day. What is it?

International Quirkyalone Day is a do-it-yourself celebration of romance, friendship, and independent spirit...IQD is a celebration of romance, freedom and individuality. It celebrates true romance (as opposed to the fake versions presented to us in reality dating shows), independence, creativity, friendship, and all kinds of love–including love for yourself. 

-via Quirkyalone.net

That's my kind of holiday! I adore my guy and one of my favorite things about our relationship is we're both wonderfully aware of how special we are on our own.

I drew some Quirkyalone Day cards today. My hope was to capture a dual celebration of romance and individuality. They are drawn with Sharpie fine tip pen and colored pencil.

When they're apart, Jelly grooms dogs and Peanut Butter sings opera.

Cookie loves to tap dance while Milk collects stamps.

Popsicle couple believe in staying active. She likes to hula hoop and he likes to ski.

I made PDFs if you wanna print out cards and give them to friends, lovers, or yourself.

Peanut Butter & Jelly are Quirkyalone (PDF)
Milk & Cookie are Quirklyalone (PDF)
Popsicles are Quirkyalone (PDF)

In case it's not clear how to fold the card: Print on letter sized paper. Fold in half to sandwich the back/unprinted side together. Then fold in half again to make a little square. You can glue stick the inside corners together if you're fancy.

Thank you for joining me here and holding space for my dreams. Huggles!

Feeding two birds with one seed

So today I've decided to feed two birds with one seed: completely repay my student loans and become a better artist.

This blog is the beginning of this. Here I'll chronicle my daily drawings, and maybe some other crafty adventures. Hopefully, in the process, I'll sell some doodles, meet my goal of paying my student loans ($16K) by February 2015, and maybe even develop a style and become a professional visual artist of some sort. Worst case scenario: I have fun creating everyday. I can't lose!

Today's illustrations are the header for this blog and the (very wee) favicon.

This favicon didn't work out. (Favicons have too small a space for details.) I still think it's cute.

Thank you for joining me here and holding space for my dreams. <3 Hugs!