Lavender Birthday

For: Sandie
Occasion: her birthday

Sandie is from England, loves relaxing smells like lavender, loves to garden, and learned French growing up! This all brings me to a lavender seed packet of "Lavande" (lavender en français, bien sûr) with the subtext being True English Lavender. The packet costs twenty cents (for the year 2020), and those are all the secret messages I could pack into a simple card! I hope Sandie had a wonderful birthday and is looking forward to a year of beauty.

Floral Birthday

 For: Molly
Occasion: her birthday

For Molly's birthday card, I did a teal floral gouache interpretation of with some metallic embellishments. I love how the petals fade in and out of the background and are punctuated with a silver center. I traced a few flowers with a white pen for more definition. For some personalization, I added Molly's name in metallic pen with white accents sandwiched between two glittery circles. This card is super relaxing, and I hope it helped Molly have a chill day! 

Brain Birthday

 For: Uncle Joel
Occasion: his birthday

To celebrate Uncle Joel's birthday, I was feeling some complex thought creative brain power. He's an incredibly intelligent man, a brilliant writer, and a teacher to boot! I imagine there's a lot swirling around in his brain, and so this mind meld features a "Happy Birthday" swirl. I hope Uncle Joel had an awesome birthday and got to think some happy thoughts. 

Puppy Birthday

 For: Jimmy
Occasion: his birthday

To celebrate Jimmy's big day this year, I did a marker drawing of a sweet dog holding a "Happy birthday" balloon in his mouth. I had lots of fun with line in this one, and hope the overall playful vibe matched his celebrations. 

Sparkly Congratulations

 For: Quam
Occasion: Congratulations

Quam predictably CRUSHED his dissertation defense, and I was so pumped afterwards I had to make him a glitter-y congratulations card. Because he is now officially a PhD holder, I cut my sparkliest papers to read "Dr. Q!" I will forever be impressed, and hope Quam is settling in to his newfound heights of academic success. 

Dissertation Defense Good Luck

 For: Quam
Occasion: Dissertation Defense

Quam defended his German dissertation(and passed, and did such an incredible job!), so to help pump him up before the big dance, I made this card featuring all the best Google translation I could find. There's a sports crowd with a few signs being hoisted! From left to right: "This is very good!" "Let's Go Quam! Fight and win" and "Yes!" with the classic D and Fence for a good thesis defense. It was such an honor to witness Quam's defense, and I look forward to seeing what Dr. Q gets up to!

Sunflower Birthday

 For: Mollie
Occasion: her birthday

Mollie is an epic gardner and has been giving her land some extra love and care this year! For her birthday card, I drew her a seed packet of some sunflowers, and chose the Nutall variety that grows well in Colorado. I love the design of this card, but more importantly I adore Mollie-dear and hope this year brings lots of sunflower-y growth and happiness!

Llama Birthday

 For: Violeta
Occasion: her birthday

Violeta dreams of the day that she can roam free with the animals! To celebrate her birthday and this noble ambition, I painted a llama with a party hat to get the party started! I love the richness of the gouache paint and the sparkly purple background. I hope it added some joy to Violeta's day!

Skin Care Birthday

 For: Aimee
Occasion: her birthday

Aimee has a deep and true love for skin care products, so I wanted to feature this in her birthday card this year! I love how the green of the mask fits into the peach skin tone without the pen lines from the rest of the illustration. It was so nice to see Aimee at the park, and I hope she's able to fit in some pampering time even with little miss Tills to look after, too!

Silly Birthday

 For: Adam
Occasion: his birthday

For Adam's birthday card, I played with some white space to make a funny face with glasses and a party hat! I am rather pleased with how this turned out, and had fun playing with a new style. I'm sure with two kids mostly stuck at home, there's been lots of play and strange-face making these past few months! Here's hoping the clan had lots of fun on his big day!

Lumos Birthday

 For: Elly
Occasion: her birthday

Elly is an awesome fan of the Harry Potter universe, so for her birthday card this year I used some of my new-found Potter knowledge to adapt a spell for birthday mischievousness! "Lumos" lights up the way, and so for this card, it lights up the cake! I did my best at a HP script and love the colors and the cloak and the sparkles of this card. Elly is just a dear, and I hope she had a wonderful day!

Psychedelic Guitar Birthday

 For: Jack
Occasion: his birthday

For Jack's birthday card this year, I doodled the grooviest guitar I could dream up. I did so because Jack somehow seems to know all the coolest bands from yesteryear, so this concept pays homage to that (kids these days with their internet searching, amirite?). I hope Jack had a great day and is ready for what promises to be a wild first year at college!

Doggy Chair Birthday

 For: Sharon
Occasion: her birthday

Sharon's sweet pup Bella is in the background of lots of our work zoom calls, so for Sharon's birthday this year, I did a paper cut of a dog hanging out on a chair! I am a big fan of the white pen highlighting and the festive party hat. Sharon is such a treat to work with -- I hope she enjoyed her special day!