Today is the day! My new book, Sashiko's Stitches (published by WorthyKids / HBG), is out in the wild!! What can I say that I haven't already about making books? It continues to be magical, continues to be a joy. With each book, I try to challenge myself in new ways, and with this one I wanted to see if I could create a traditional watercolor vibe with digital painting. I used Procreate (and even created my own brushes), and it was fun. My kids' books tend to be on the silly side, but this ... Read more
Empty Nest Prepper
Image taken at Luna Liquida Hotel, Puerto Vallarta I am married to a doomsday prepper. Our basement is filled with vats of powdered emergency food stuffs, oxygen bags, industrial outdoor gear, large plastic containers of water, hazmat suits, and more. There’s even an ice pick hanging on the wall, which he used for mountaineering with a friend, but I’m pretty sure that it’s part of his apocalypse arsenal. He’s researched generators and studied blueprints for bunkers. At one point he ordered ... Read more
Crazy + Cozy
Hello there! 2024 has started out rather crazily for me: injuries, financial upheavals, accidents (vehicular and otherwise), spectacular emotional blow-ups, resurgence of long forgotten ailments, and just general weirdness -- I’ve contended with them all in the last month. And of course, there are the global/national events. It definitely has NOT been boring. When I was getting my teeth cleaned last week, the hygienist was experiencing a bout of craziness as well, and we joked that maybe Saturn ... Read more
2023 Free Holiday Tags
This week I met up with a friend to catch up over delicious green tea, and we both marveled at what a blur this year has been. I can’t, for the life of me, remember much of it. There was the excitement of K’s launch of her first EP, of course. One of her songs from the EP, 1000 Paper Cranes, was featured on KNDD (a local radio station), and we waited with bated breath for her song debut during a segment called Locals Only. Thrilling beyond words. A big highlight for me was working on a ... Read more
2023 Advent Calendar – The Final One
This is it, my friends. The final Advent Calendar for my not-so-little girl. Next year around this time, she’ll be somewhere on a college campus, taking exams or grabbing food from the dorm cafeteria on her way to a class. The daunting phrase is looming above me all the time lately: empty nester. I have a plethora of thoughts on that. But I won't go into them right now. For 11 straight years, I’ve handcrafted a different advent calendar during the month of November to set it up by the last day ... Read more