Ocean Collage Birthday

 For: Sandie
Occasion: her birthday

Sandie loves the ocean more than just about anyone I know! To help her celebrate this big birthday, I made her a collage of lots of watery papers paired with sand and sky. I hope she gets to go to the water just as often as she wants this year!

Book Birthday

 For: Molly
Occasion: her birthday

To celebrate both Molly's birthday and her love for the written word, I created an illustration of her lost in the stylized pages of a good book! The text reads "hope your birthday is one of the books!" and I really do hope it is! 

Guinness Birthday

 For: Uncle Joel
Occasion: his birthday

Uncle Joel loves Ireland more than just about anyone I know, so for his birthday card this year I drew him a Guinness with a clover in the foam of the beer's head. "Sláinte" in gold rounds out the delightful design -- I really do hope we get to head to the Isle together some day!

Gorilla birthday

 For: Lucia
Occasion: her birthday

Lucy loves a wild animals, so for her second birthday, I drew a purple gorilla to celebrate! I so appreciate getting to watch her grow and cannot wait for another year of play!

Monkey Birthday

 For: Arwyn
Occasion: her birthday

To celebrate sweet Ari's birthday, I drew her a monkey with a banana phone that is saying, "Happy birthday, Arwyn!" I love hanging out with this little lady on our Tuesday fam hangouts and cannot wait to play again soon!

Cake Birthday

 For: Jimmy
Occasion: his birthday

Jimmy always loves getting my birthday cards so much I wanted to make something extra fun for him! The result of that wish is this colorful and layered watercolor birthday cake with as many candles as I could fit with my small brush (who is counting, anyway?). I so appreciated connecting with Jimmy recently and hope he has an amazing year!

Origami Birthday

 For: Mari
Occasion: her birthday

Mari made a bazillion origami cranes for her wedding, so I thought she deserved at least one for her birthday! I had a great time figuring out how to cut the sprinkle paper into the right shapes to make this crane collage, and I have to say I love the design! Mari has been such a dear friend to me and I hope she has the very best year a person can have!

Ruby Anniversary

 For: Mom and Dad
Occasion: their 40th anniversary 

My parentals have traversed the quite impressive "married for 40 years" benchmark! To celebrate their achievement in love, I created a ruby-themed card (with gold accents)! I hope they had the best time on their trip to celebrate and hope their love endures for decades and decades more.

Mountain Birthday

 For: Mollie
Occasion: her birthday

To celebrate my Mollie-dear's birthday, I drew her a colorful mountain range atop a gray background. I love this style so much and I really hope it gave her a taste of the highlands to enjoy. Cannot wait to see all the growth and adventure this year brings!

Birdie Birthday

 For: Aimee
Occasion: her birthday

For Aimee's birthday card this year, I did her a doodle of a goofy and colorful bird! I really love the funky style of the design and am forever the biggest fan of Aimee in general (and particular!). I hope she and the fam had a lovely day celebrating and this next year brings all kinds of adventure!

Baby Blocks

 For: Mollie and Collin
Occasion: new baby

Sweet squishy baby Maggie is here with us now, and so to celebrate her arrival, I made a simple card with  alphabet blocks that spell out "Yay Maggie" with a heart. I love this sweet niece so much and cannot wait to watch her grow!

Abduction Birthday

 For: Adam
Occasion: his birthday

For Adam's birthday card, I created an image of a UFO abduction some birthday party essentials: a balloon, a cake, and a party hat! This is a really fun idea to me and I hope Adam enjoyed it as well!

Cell-fie Birthday

 For: Elly
Occasion: her birthday

Elly is a fierce advocate for science and an all around excellent human being. For her birthday card this year, I played off a science pun of a cell taking a picture of itself (a cell-fie -- get it, get it?). I hope Ells has the best day and year and I CANNOT WAIT to watch more Trek together soon!

Cycling Birthday

 For: Seth
Occasion: his birthday

To celebrate Seth's birthday this year, I watercolored him a stylized image of a cyclist going down a hill (which some people say is the most fun part! I am a climber, myself). Seth gets up to lots of cycling antics in Minnesota and I hope he's had a great summer of riding!

Pickleball Birthday

 For: Jack
Occasion: his birthday

To help Jack celebrate the big day, I created an illustration of a pickle with a pickleball paddle in a pickleball-themed party hat (notice the wiffle in place of the typical poof!). I love that Jack plays with various relatives and I hope he has the best time living up a Chicago summer!

August Flower

 For: Sharon
Occasion: her birthday

The poppy is one of the assigned flowers for August, and I love, love, love their papery petals so much! For Sharon's birthday card, I featured the flower on a lovely teal background to lean into one of my favorite color combos. Sharon has been such a dream to have as a friend and I hope this next year is amazing for her!