My job:

Not TOO much. I mean, I’ll still have my blog with the recipes and stick my dog in your face now and then, I’ll still have the garden updates and illustrations, military cards, etc.

But my fruit houses? gone. This lavendarishbluish-spring-green color scheme? Gone. Bigcartel shop? Gone.

I’ve made a new logo, one that’s much simpler. One thing about most “great logos” is that they’re really simple and identifiable. They look good in black and white or in color, and they’re usually not huge and sprawling… Check out the new business card to see my new logo and color scheme! I hope you like it! If not, too bad… I already ordered the business cards.

New color scheme is vaguely patriotic, because most of my designs are military cards and that’s probably how things are gonna keep going.

Meanwhile, I’ve been extremely busy, preparing some wholesale orders and getting ready for my Spring Open House (Meridian, MS folks: Mark your calendars. March 20th 4pm-7pm and March 21st 11am-2pm).

Look out, Kingsville, TX! Your order is currently in Dallas so it should get to you really soon.

Along with 50 coupons to use at my website. Woot!

Everything should be “fresh” by the middle of April, if things go as planned. I’m super-pumped about the whole thing. Yay!

Are you giving anything a spring makeover? A room in your house? Your hair? Your website or blog? The sunlight is definitely motivating!

Student naval aviator (advanced – tailhook), just finished a bunch of formation flights. The first plane in the movie is being flown by him.

My job:
Illustration and teaching kids.
In one word? “Coloring” sums it up pretty well (of course I do other things too).
This is what I did at work today while the kids were painting:

I just finished reading Everyday Matters which inspired me to start trying to draw from life a bit more. So after I drew the cartoony giraffe straight out of my head, I decided to sketch the buffet table across from me (and the pictures on the wall above it). This is what came out of the end of my crayon.

When I showed it to one of the kids she declared, “A Giraffe!!!”
I asked her, “What else did I draw? Can you tell what that is?”
She looked from my picture to the buffet, the actual piece of furniture, back to my picture, then nearly screamed while laughing, “A giraffe… in your house!” Because it’s all obviously one very cohesive image, that.

In the mail were most of my new military card designs back from the printer! So of COURSE I had to package them so they’re ready to go out… There are two more I’ll have to call about and make sure they got my order, but other than that, I have:

• US Marine Pilot Wings Cards
• US Navy Aviator Wings Cards
• US Naval Flight Officer Wings Cards
• T-45 All-Purpose Cards
• Naval Officer’s Crest Cards
• US Marine Eagle Globe and Anchor Cards
• VT-7 Eagles Squadron Patch Cards

Stacks and stacks of them… It’s very exciting. I need to buy more storage boxes for all of this stationery! I have so many other things I want to have designed, ordered, and packaged before my next open house in March! (Military and non-military stuff)

Also, 2009 is gonna be all about the illustration for Joyful Abode (the shop, not the blog… don’t worry, all those domestic posts and recipes will still be here!)

Also, emblems/insignia/whatever you want to call them. The Naval officers’ crest, and the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor for Marines.

Patches for the squadrons here at the great NAS Meridian, MS. VT-7 Eagles, and VT-9 Tigers.

And you can’t leave out the flight officers! NFO wings and Marine Flight Officer wings.

They’re not in the shop yet as I just finished the design. I’ll probably order them from my printer tomorrowish, and I’ll have them in around 2 weeks. Let me know if you want to pre-order any, or if you have suggestions for future designs!

• “Wings of gold” – Naval aviator / Marine Corps pilot wings
• NFO/Flight Officer wings
• VT-9 Tigers (Traron Nine patch)
• VT-7 Eagels (Training Squadron Seven patch)

And I’m also going to be working on the Naval Officer insignia and the Marine Corps Officer insignia (those will be great for thank you notes for commissioning gifts, or as announcements to let far-away family members know you commissioned, or as invitations to your commissioning ceremony, or… just as “here’s a note from me” type notes, once you’re commissioned.

Well, as you can tell, it’s not quite ready yet, but I’ve been working on the drawings all morning. There are definitely a few things I need to clean up to make them nicer, but soon I’ll be scanning them in to color them and design my new flat note sets!

I also ordered some more T-45 holiday cards to be printed up, and they should get here the first week of December, so if anyone in NAS Meridian, MS or NAS Kingsville, TX needed more of those, let me know! I’m also planning on designing some gift tags with the holiday T-45 on them too… no words on the front; just the plane wrapped in lights… and the back will have To: and From: .

I’m off to take Zora for a walk before it starts to rain! Then back to the drawing board, quite literally.

I’m packaging up all of my new note card sets. The holiday ones have white envelopes, and the Bright Organics have orange, green, and blue envelopes. They’re all packaged in clear boxes, ready for display. I have to put little stickers on the boxes, but that’s about it now!

Some will be going to MAUstudio (which I am VERY excited to soon be a part of!), and the rest will be traveling with me to two holiday sales here in town, and they’ll also be at my open house coming up.

I’m so excited about them! It’s so satisfying to see them all stacked up in their boxes, ready to be sold.

It’s not that I don’t have things to write about, or that I don’t want to, or that I’m not thinking about it. It’s just that when I sit down to write lately, my mind goes blank and I don’t know what to type… and then I have to go draw or sew or something. It’s like the entire left side of my brain (that’s logic, right?) has shut down in favor of the more artsy right side.

I’ve gotten my Military training aircraft holiday cards designed, and they’re in the shop now!

So what’ve I been doing?

• Drawing and designing. I have TWO new notecard sets that will debut tomorrow in my shop. One is a holiday set and the other is all-occasion. Keep an eye out for that!
• Sewing! I’m making a new line of smaller, more affordable baby blankets. These would be perfect for snuggling or dragging around as a “lovie.”
• Planning an open house! I’ve never had one before and I am quite excited. I’ll have to write later about all the details.
• Applying for two craft shows that happen in November. It’s kind of a stab in the dark, but hopefully they’ll be good. The general wisdom is to attend a show one year, and then if you think it’s a good fit, to apply for the next year. As the wife of a student Naval Aviator, that’s not really possible at this stage… so I’m taking a chance.
• Preparing to paint. Just two walls, but I’m excited because I think it will really warm up the place, as long as we pick the right colors. So I’ve got paint chips all over the walls, and I’ve been writing notes in pencil beside them throughout the day. “9:00 am – Looks great!… 1:30pm – Baby poo color” etc.
• Teaching my preschoolers. We have a lot of fun. This week they’ve been learning the /k/ sound (for letter C) and the /m/ sound. We’ve also done some cooking… we cook every Wednesday. Much fun.
• Playing with my adorable dog.

So… Are you ready for the new notecards? Too bad! You’ll just have to wait till tomorrow.

My first series features the T-34 turbomentor, which is the plane used at Whiting Field NAS for aviation training for the Navy, Coast Guard, Marines, and Air Force.

Heck… I’ll just post what I had in my descriptions at the shop.

“When you are part of a military family, you move quite often. And you know that it’s important to keep in touch with friends you’ve made along the way. These notes will help you let everyone know when something new has happened in your life.

These flat notes feature a glossy illustration of a T-34 (which is the plane the Navy, Marines, Air Force, and the Coast Guard uses for aviation training at NAS Whiting Field) on one side, and a matte blank side so you can write your own moving announcement (or birth announcement) and a quick note. This is a set of 10 notes and envelopes.

Since I’m a military wife, I’ve decided to create a series of flat notes to correspond to various life events. I’m always working on new illustrations, so if you have a suggestion, please send me a note! ”

I’m working on a series with the training helicopter right now. After that, who knows? Let me know if you have an idea!

I was at work the other day when I thought of a hedgehog on a tire swing. I don’t think the children remind me of hedgehogs or anything like that… but children are cute and so are hedgehogs. And children like swinging on tire swings, and so do…um… hedgehogs? So maybe that’s part of it.

Anyway, I sketched it out and squeed with the adorable factor of it all.

So I refined my drawing, and then traced the “final” version in pen. Then, I decided, why not try another medium? I love embroidery. It’s like doodling with thread. It’s so organic and flexible, like crochet is.

I still need to stitch in the rope and the tree’s branch, but I couldn’t wait to share this little project.