Flower Birthday

For: Maddie
Occasion: her birthday

For Maddie's birthday, I decided to play around with some shading of my fancy colored pencils. I went with funky flowers, and look how cool they turned out! I hope Maddie is enjoying school and that this next year brings all kinds of whimsy and fun.

Blue New Home

For: Alli and Mark
Occasion: New Home

Alli and Mark just bought their first house in Summit, and to celebrate, I did a whimsical version of their home. It's playful and fun while still demonstrating a fair attention to detail. We wish them many happy years and memories--can't wait to come see the place!

Hip Get Well Soon

For: The Twin
Occasion: Get Well Soon

The Twin had hip surgery recently, so to usher in a speedy recovery, I drew her a skeleton of hips telling her "You'll heal up just fine!" Below, I borrowed a line from Shakira to offer them some reliability: "These hips don't lie." So far, The Twin is doing just great and I'm happy to help out and watch Gilmore Girls while she recovers. 

Fox Birthday

For: Alyssa
Occasion: her birthday

For Alyssa's birthday card this year, I created a watercolor of a classy fox that I paired with a background of similarly colored shapes. I loved doing the shading on this little guy. And it seems like foxes are becoming the next owl in hip animal illustrations, so I was excited to be on trend for one of my chicest friends!

Hanger Encouragement

For: A Friend
Occasion: Encouragement

Someone close to me recently got some discouraging news, so to send along my good vibes, I created this card featuring a hanger bent into a "hang in there" message. I used my metallic marker with some colorful accents to give it some shape; unfortunately it's hard to make out in the photo on the dark background. I'm sending good luck to the card recipient and all who may need it!

Flower Birthday

For: Theresa
Occasion: her birthday

Theresa is a fabulous inspiration, support, and guide to so many who have been fortunate enough to cross paths with her. For her birthday card this year, I created some flowers and used my fancy colored pencils to do some shading. I think it came out beautiful and I hope Theresa had a wonderful and relaxing day. 

Camera Birthday

For: Uncle Jim 

Occasion: his birthday

My uncle is a photographer extraordinaire, so for his birthday card I did a happy doodle of a camera and a lens in party hats. Since I used a green background, I decided to only use greens to color the design for some monochromatic fun. It was tons of fun to draw and I hope Uncle Jim gets to take some great shots this year. 

Snorkel Cup Birthday

For: Tom
Occasion: his birthday

Tom is one of my favorite people, and as such, he gets some of my most interesting cards! This year, it's a snorkeler in a slurpee cup floating a "Happy Birthday" sign. What a weird idea, right? I had fun playing with light blues to be the water and the straw on the light blue background of the card. I miss Tom so much and I hope everything is going well in Wisconsin!

Fly Fishing Birthday

For: Johnson
Occasion: his birthday

Johnson has been big into fly fishing this year, so to celebrate his birthday I created an illustration of a fly fisherman doing his thing in the glow of the mountains. The colors of this card really knock my socks off--so rich on a light blue background! It was awesome celebrating with Johnson and I hope he gets plenty more opportunity to fly fish this year. 

Goat Birthday

For: Lidia
Occasion: her birthday

Lidia often jokes about goats, since apparently there are a bunch of goats in Albania. After all her cards, it didn't occur to me to feature a goat until this year! He's super colorful and wearing a birthday hat on one horn--he's all ready for the party! It was so great to see Lids so close to her big day--I can't wait for the wedding this summer!

Watering Can Birthday

For: Daissy
Occasion: her birthday

Daissy is a force of energy and passion in her day-to-day life. To help celebrate the birthday, I recreated this image of a woman growing flowers in her hair. Something about it really spoke to me, and I hope Daissy enjoyed it too!

Ironman Triple Birthday

For: Chris
Occasion: his birthday

Last year, Chris completed the half Ironman in Hawaii and the Triple Bypass (aka 120 mile bike ride over three mountains that I also did). To honor this ridiculousness, I imposed the elevation map of the bike ride inside the Ironman symbol.

And, since it's a birthday card, I made a removable party hat for the guy. Chris is seriously the best, and I hope his day was equally amazing!