Alphabet Soup Birthday

For: Tommy
Occasion: his birthday

For Tommy's birthday card, I created an illustration of a bowl of alphabet soup that spelled out "Happy B-day" on the spoon! I love the red and orange mix of the soup color and how I was able to use the yellow cardstock to be the alphabet noodles. I hope Tommy had a great day!

Cuddly Quilt Birthday

For: Aunt Mary
Occasion: her birthday

For Aunt Mary's birthday card, I created a drawing of her snuggling up in a quilt. I'd seen on Pinterest that she is saving a lot of quilting pins, and figured this would be a great way to celebrate her day. I love how cute and playful this is! I hope Aunt Mary had a great day and is enjoying summer. 

Wildflower Birthday

For: Gina
Occasion: her birthday

Gina is a wildflower lover, and a wildflower of a friend! To celebrate her birthday this year, I drew her some iconic Colorado wildflowers--the Columbine and Indian Paintbrush--and then some others--which looks kind of like lepidium montanum, if my flower ID skills are worth anything (which they aren't, but Gina's totally are!). This card was such a blast to create, and Gina was a particular fan of the mountains in the background (they do look swell, don't they?). I adore Gina and am so glad I got to participate in her birthday celebrations! 

Skull Vase Birthday

For: Lucia
Occasion: her birthday

Lucia is a really cool person and has just the coolest style. On a hike recently, she mentioned she was planning on another tattoo featuring a skull and some flowers. In thinking about that, instead of trying to recreate the design she explained, I figured a variation on the theme might make a neat card for Lucia's big day. I really love how it turned out and am so glad that Lucia liked the card!

Mission Control Birthday

For: Augie
Occasion: his birthday

For Augie's birthday, I created a drawing of an astronaut holding a present and birthday cake, indicating that there's a birthday party going on! To corroborate this idea, the sound waves are paired with this message: "Mission Control, we have a birthday." HOW FUN, RIGHT? I hope Augs had a great day and is looking forward to an "out of this world" year. 

Level Up Birthday

For: John
Occasion: his birthday

For John's birthday this year, I did an 8-bit drawing of a cake paired with a full-charged bar and the quip, "You leveled up!" There's such a rich culture around video games and I love an opportunity to explore it. I hope John had a wonderful birthday and gets to play all kinds of games this year. 

Bunny Balloon Birthday

For: Jen
Occasion: her birthday

To celebrate Jen's birthday, I did a watercolor sketch of bunny floating across the pond (or ponds, and a few more landmasses) to give her a bunch of balloons and good wishes! Jen is such a fantastic lady and I'm so excited for her next steps into motherhood. 

Community Table Birthday

For: Brenda
Occasion: her birthday

Brenda now works for a food policy group, and given that food policy and food access is an area I am very interested in, I decided to feature a big community at a long, long table all enjoying a birthday feast together. Look at the perspective! Brenda is in the front right corner wearing the party hat and heart sweater. I am in the middle with curly hair and a red shirt with magenta jello, perhaps? I'm not clear on precisely who all our friends are, but I'm so glad everyone gets a bite to eat and to be together to celebrate Brenda!

Marmot Birthday

For: Kim
Occasion: her birthday

To celebrate my new colleague's birthday, I drew her a marmot having a birthday party on a rock (we talked about marmots once, is why). Kim is a very cool person and I'm excited to get to know her better! 

Definition Birthday

For: Uncle Tom
Occasion: his birthday

For Uncle Tom's birthday card, I hacked apart one of my dictionaries to get "happy" and "birthday" in  all their defined glory. I then came up with pictures for what each word meant, landing on a smiley face for happy and a calendar with Uncle Tom's birth date on it for birthday (it was quite a process--you should see the various sketches of cakes and balloons I did, and the other ideas that I didn't bother attempting). I think this card looks super sharp in all, and I am pleased that Uncle Tom is the one who got these words out of my dictionary--it's a one and done, folks! 

Window Birthday

For: Sandie
Occasion: her birthday

To celebrate Sandie's birthday this year, I did a simple watercolor of a vase of tulips near a window with some pen detailing. I really like how it came out (so serene!) and I hope Sandie had a fantastic birthday even though she's stuck in Illinois for this one. 

Grandma's Birthday

For: this year's stranger

Occasion: Grandma's birthday

Each year in honor of my grandma's birthday, I make a card for someone I find in the phone book that has a name similar to hers. This year, I wanted to share that I got my dream job in a library. (I've been thinking how if I told 9-year-old me that I work in a library, she would not be surprised--I wish I could explain to her how unusual and awesome it is). The idea of a  teddy bear holding a book came to me as I was leaving one branch and headed to the next--I got a little teary thinking about how excited Grandma would be for me. I used watercolor with pen detailing for this little guy, and paired him with purple and red backgrounds. I could not be more pleased with how the card turned out, and I hope both Grandma and my stranger enjoyed it, too.