Hello, hello my friends! I drew some Halloween-inspired watercolor doodles in my sketchbook today, and like this witch, I'm feeling a bit melancholy about this season. My neighbors are going all out in the decoration department, so there's an air of spooky festivity in our 'hood, but this is the first year in a very, very long time that I haven't sewn a costume for K because: pandemic. Trick-or-treating isn't happening, obviously. Then again, now that she's in high school, maybe it wasn't going ... Read more
Nuanced Not Faded
Hello, my friends! I received this luscious bouquet from a dear friend a couple of weeks ago, on my birthday. We did a social-distanced hand-off of the flowers, which was quite funny. As I gazed at these blooms the phrase that came to mind was, "faded beauty." It's what everyone says, right? The faded beauty of dying roses. Although these roses are no longer in the full blush of its blossoming floral youth, I don't think their beauty has faded at all. If anything, it's deepened and is more ... Read more
Simple
Hello, my friends. How are you? How different the world is since I last posted here. Nothing like a pandemic to stop you in your tracks, to take stock of all that is. It's very odd. I was experiencing a sense of deja vu as events unfolded, and I kept trying to figure out why that would be. It finally occurred to me that I had felt this very same sense of foreboding and out-of-control-ness and unmooring when my health was at its worst, back in 2012. I was homebound for the most part back ... Read more
2019 Advent Calendar + Even more holiday tags!
"I wonder when this Advent Calendar tradition will end?" As K grows older, this is the question that pops into my brain every time I embark on yet another design for the holiday season. She'll be starting high school next year and I don't know if she'll enjoy it quite as much. This was a fun one, my friends. The idea first came to me when I was -- as per usual -- shopping at Trader Joe's. I saw the garland with the felted balls ($8.99! What a steal!), and I immediately knew that it would be ... Read more
Happy Thanksgiving + Free downloadable holiday tags
Happy T-day to all my US friends!! Just a quick little hello today since I'm still working on K's Advent Calendar and tying up a few other fun projects. Today, K and I had a leisurely Thanksgiving brunch, strolled around Greenlake, and now we're getting ready to go out for our annual Taiwanese family dinner at this delicious restaurant. I have given up trying to be "normal" in any way, shape or form and love love love how stress-free our holidays have been these past few years. Also! I ... Read more