Postcards

I was supposed to post these postcards yesterday, but when I say "tomorrow" on this blog, I usually mean "the day after tomorrow" or "never". At least in this case, it's the former and not the latter. So here they are:

As with the business cards, they are double sided, have a glossy finish, and are keeping with the theme of the blog/website by showcasing the little girl with her umbrella and dog. On the other side, I chose to include an illustration that had a similar color scheme and style to keep the overall look uniform. The big blank spots are the places my phone number resides.[ Forgive me, but I don't want to give my number out to the world...just a bunch of strangers I meet at a conference.]

So there are my promo cards. I am working like a mad woman to get my dummy book completed and my website up and running. Perhaps I'll have something to show for it "tomorrow."

xo

nessa dee

Hello, business cards!

I spent the weekend working in preparation for the Austin Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators conference. The conference is in two weeks, and I still have a lot to do to get ready including finishing a dummy book and refining my portfolio. But I can cross two big things off my list: business cards and promotional post cards. I can now breathe a huge sigh of relief knowing those are ordered and I don't have to pay $300 in shipping charges to get them here before the conference.

For today, I'll show you my business cards:

I decided to go with my blog [and soon to be website] header design to keep things uniform. This isn't necessary, but it does help to let people know they've made it to the right place when they get to your site. Plus, I'm kind of fond of this little girl and her dog. I think there's a story brewing with these two, but that'll have to wait. One step at a time, Ness, one step at a time. My business cards are double sided and are going to have a glossy finish, and once printed the little dog should be sitting on the bottom of the card. 

I can't wait to see the final results!

I'll show you my post card designs tomorrow.  

xo

nessa dee

Crafty Crafty: hand print monsters

The kids were excited about making hand print monsters...at first. But once Saturday morning tempted their  eyes with cartoons and Saturday afternoon tickled their senses with mild weather, crafting wasn't the first thing on their brain. I finally got them into the studio to turn out some rather hurried monsters.

At least they liked getting their hands messy with paint.

scary, huh?

happy crafting, or cartoon watching, or playing outside, or eating, or not.

xo

nessa dee

Crafty Saturday?

We are making hand print monsters! I meant to have it done today, but between a flat tire, and late movers [Audrie's inheriting a baby grand!] we didn't quite get to our monster mash. Here's a baby kiss to tie you over...

xo

nessa dee

polar bears

I've been working on a new piece for my portfolio that goes with the children's book I've written. My goal is to finish a dummy book along with at least one more final illustration. I'm also working hard to get my website up before the conference, so a lot's going on around here much of it being done with a baby in my lap. Have you ever tried painting while holding a 5 month old? It's no easy task.

xo 

nessa dee

5 Months

I finally got my pics uploaded, so I'm posting these now that he's almost six months old. 

[You love your quilt. It's hard to get you to look at the camera if you're laying on it.]

Oh sweet August boy. What a joy you are! At 5 months old you are a bundle of energy. You still move constantly, and I don't think that's going to change. I'm already tired thinking about chasing you around. You found out that rolling can get you places, and you can be across a room before I know it. I can't leave you alone anymore because the house isn't quite ready to handle a baby. You've been testing the waters of crawling [too soon in my opinion], and I'm a nervous wreck. Please slow down a bit! You love watching your brother and sister play, and Finn just walking into a room makes you giggle, which makes us giggle. You love drinking the last drops of water from my cup. You get so excited when I fill my water bottle up that you almost kick yourself out of my arms. You're still growing like a weed. You weighed just under 19 lbs. and were 28 in. at 4 months, so I'm assuming you're around 20 lbs./ 29 in. now. You talk all the time, dadada being your favorite phrase.You sing to yourself when you're sleepy. It's more of a monotone growl, but it's sweet and funny all the same.

You are happy and smiley, which makes me happy and smiley!

I just want to eat you up. I love you so.

xo

mommy

Hello, Monday!

I've been neglecting my house, blog, children...ok, not my children, but everything else lately to get some work done. I'm preparing my portfolio for a conference and meeting with a literary agent next month, and the perfectionist in me wants to redo every illustration to make it portfolio worthy. Of course, I know that's not practical, and I do have a lot of pieces that will work, but the fact that people will be looking at my work, judging it, and telling me what's wrong with it makes me nervous. I can't expect everyone to like my work, I realize that, but art can be very personal, and I want people to like my work, I want my illustrations to make people smile. So, I've been a bit anxious lately. 

Here's what's been keeping me from cleaning my house:

And here's who's been keeping me from getting much work done:

And here's who's been having fun with nail polish:

And here's who's been getting into chocolate:

And here's to eating more chocolate!

Happy Monday!

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

xo

nessa dee

Hello, Monday!

I hope this Monday finds you all well! In the two short weeks that make up the beginning of 2013, I've learned so much.

:: I've learned how quickly I can give up some of my New Year's resolutions. [No, not two weeks...more like two days]. With so much on my plate right now, it was silly for me to think I can also add making something everyday completely separate from my projects I'm currently working on, especially when it took me an hour and a half to do the first project. I still want to embark on an everyday year long project, but making one project a week is more feasible at this time.

:: I've also learned how quickly a baby can go from easy to "how in the world did he end up by those choking hazards?" hard. The baby rolls. Everywhere. All the time. My house is full of Legos.

:: I've learned that I would rather move than try to baby proof this house, but since he's already starting to get up on his knees, he'll be crawling before I can get this house on the market. I'm just going to have to buckle down and clean out, plug up, lock, pad, and gate every inch of this house.
:: I've learned that a trip to Petco is a lot cheaper and easier than going to the zoo, but the kids have just as much fun, and I'm not grumpy and tired by the end of it.

::I've learned to relax about things I can't control like the fact that I don't have a way to upload my pictures from my camera to my computer yet. I apologize for the bombardment of Instagram photos, but it is what it is, so here's another one:

:: And lastly, I've learned that there is such a thing as underpants for your hands.

Happy Monday!

xo

nessa dee 

crafty friday: button hearts

 Buttons, glue, paper, and a willing participant are all you need.

And voila! 

Simple, quick, and cute.

Happy crafting!

xo

nessa dee

At the farm

Some of the perks of having a farmer for a grandpa...

:: There's a giant machinery playground

:: Plenty of open land to roam

:: And endless amounts of fun sprinkler jumping!

 

xo

nessa dee

two projects

A couple of little projects I worked on over the holiday. The first was a color version of a sketch I did a while back. It was a request from a blog friend for Christmas. 

The second was for the Tomie dePaola Award contest through SCBWI. It is an illustration of Tom Sawyer sulking in the woods. 

xo

nessa dee

twelve

twelve years ago today I became a mom to the most beautiful, kind-hearted, creative, talented little girl. she forever changed my life.

happy birthday my sweet audball!

I love you to the stars and back!

xoxoxoxo

mom

First

About that last resolution of mine...my plan is to not reduce the amount of blogging I do. Compared to a lot of people, I barely blog at all, so reducing an already scarce amount of blogging doesn't make for a good journal. Actually, I hope to blog more, but I need to be more efficient at it, like maybe blog at night after the kids go to bed, or early in the morning before they wake up. Right now, I just blog when I have a few minutes to sit at the computer, but it's rushed, and always takes longer than expected, the baby's usually crying while I'm trying to finish, or I'm ignoring the kids. I don't like blogging that way. It's no fun all around.

So efficiency is the key. 

While I'm figuring out the best time to blog [which is not at this moment, by the way], I have a bit of catching up to do. It will take a few posts, as I don't have time to edit photos at the moment, so we'll start with someone's first taste of food....  

xo

nessa dee

 

Happy New Year and hello again

  

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had fun welcoming 2013. We kept it pretty low key around here, what with a baby and kids and being old and all. We rang in the new year with movies, bubbly, and ice cream sundaes.

I didn't mean to go on such a long hiatus, and I apologize. With the craziness of Christmas, computer troubles, and then a lovely sinus infection that affected three of the five of us, I didn't feel much like blogging. But we are on the mend, are solving problems, and making resolutions, so the new year is quickly filling up with to-dos. Yea productivity! Want to know what's in store for us in 2013? Sure you do. Why wouldn't you want to know a long list of to-dos from one random family in a world of billions. Yea delirium!
[I might be a bit sleep deprived]

#1 Create. Audrie and I are embarking on a year long project to create something everyday with prompt from this book. She will be blogging our progress.
#2 Improve. I'm brushing up on my illustration, honing my skills, and improving my portfolio in the hopes of getting some illustration jobs this year and possibly even an agent.
#3 Organize. [I say this every year] It's a pretty broad statement, but mainly I want to organize my time. If I get the hang of making better use of my time, things will start falling into place in terms of school, family, work, blogging, life.
#4 Sleep. Maybe this should be #1. I'm a pretty grumpy grump when I haven't had my zzz's.
#5 Simplify. I want to remove all the excess, time-sucking, clutter so I will be able to...
#6 Focus. I have a clear goal of what I want to accomplish with work, which will dictate what I can or cannot take on.
#7 Be Present. In the age of distraction, it's so easy to get caught up in the documentation of living rather than the living itself. Don't get me wrong, I love having an easy way to journal my life, and I love being able to share our life with friends and family who we don't get to see on a regular basis. But when I'm with my family, I want to be with my family. I want to listen, play, snuggle, read, watch, grow, and remember. Our time on this earth is short, and our time with our children is precious. I don't want to miss it.

So that's it. It's the short, broad list, sans all the micro goals, and subsets. You should see the web diagram for my 2013 year. It'll make you cross-eyed.

Hope the new year brings new adventures for you! 

xo

nessa dee