Name Birthday

For: Rukiyah
Occasion: her belated

Rukiyah is one of the most colorful people I've ever known. To celebrate her birthday (and really, just to celebrate her since the card is so late), I used a typeface with intertwined features to add more fun and color to the card. With splashes of watercolor and brightly-colored chevron papers, this card is so happy it's perfect for Rukiyah! I hope she is doing well in Japan and enjoying life!

Cheese Grater Valentine

For: Michael

Occasion: Valentine's Day

Mike is the resident cheese grater in our house. For his valentine, I featured a grater with heart-shaped holes. The cheese is also heart-shaped! The text reads, "Michael, you're the gratest!" I love cooking with Mike so much, and I love him so much more!

Parisian Valentine

For: Mom and Dad
Occasion: Valentine's Day

My parents went to Paris this summer (which had been a lifelong dream of my mom's), so to honor their trip to the city of love, I recreated a watercolor of the iconic Metro signs that reads "love" instead. There's an Eiffel tower in the background with some heart garland floating through the streets. I really like how this turned out, and I hope they had a great Valentine's Day!

Dominion Valentine

For: Nathan and Christy

Occasion: Valentine's Day

Twin, Nathan, Mike and I play the funnest game in the world called Dominion! It's a deck-building game where the cards have different abilities to help you build your own Dominion. It's elaborate and fun and you should play! For the Curry valentine this year, I created a new action card, called the Valentine. It allows you two actions, one hug, and two heart points. It also costs two heart points. What a great deal! Here's what the "real" deck cards look like:

Archery Valentine

For: Amy
Occasion: Valentine's Day

Amy loves archery, so I thought I'd play up this hobby in her valentine this year! There's a happy quiver with some arrows, a bow, and one of the arrows featuring it's heart-shaped arrowhead. I hope Ames had a great day and got out to the archery range!

Name Birthday

For: Dylan
Occasion: his birthday

For Dylan's birthday card, I created an outline of his name that I filled in with all different kinds of designs--there's dashes and bubbles and boxes and swirls! I placed that over a chevron paper in blue on a richer blue background. It's a very sharp looking card for a sharp and sophisticated little man. I hope he had a great day!

Swirl Birthday

For: Uncle John
Occasion: his birthday

For Uncle John's birthday card, I tried out a new technique! Using metallic markers on the card stock to make the concentric circles, I then traced some of the lines with a micron pen to add some depth (and mystery) to the card's design. It turned out super sharp-looking and I am excited to play around with this more. And I'm glad Uncle John got the first dabble with this Debbie Dots first!

Birthday Balloons

For: Joe

Occasion: his birthday

For Joe's birthday card, I did my very best trying to draw those big, shiny balloons that are numbers or letters in his name. Metallic is tricky in colored pencil, but I think they turned out pretty good, all told. I hope Joe had a great birthday and has a fantastic time on the upcoming cruise!

Birthday Dogs

For: Jackie

Occasion: her birthday

Jackie loves her dogs Peyton and Eli, so I featured the adorable pups in her birthday card! Her Christmas card this year had an additional photo of the pups (seen under the card), which gave me a great inspiration shot for the subject matter. I had fun drawing these little guys and hope I get to meet them next time I'm back in Chi-town!

Fancy Cake Birthday

For: Lydia
Occasion: her birthday

My cousin Lydia is an all-around cool lady AND she got me some sweet colored micron pens for Christmas! I used them (along with the background papers she got me) to make her the beautifulest, pen-sketchiest birthday cake I could muster. I really love how this card turned out! I love Lydia too and had a blast catching up with her at Christmas!

Hip Jerks

For: Jess
Occasion: Get Well Soon

Jess had to get hip surgery, so I wanted to make her a card to help add levity to an otherwise annoying situation. "Sorry your hips are jerks" became the slogan for this feat, and I used my pastels on black to get the ball rolling. I hope the surgery went well and rehab is off to a good start!