Watch Birthday

For: Uncle Greg
Occasion: his birthday

I was looking at the clock in my office, and (as I am often thinking about birthday cards) I realized that the numbers on the clock equal the numbers in "Happy Birthday," if you use the 2 space as the Y in both happy and birthday, which you can sort of do design-wise. Anyhow, all these musings lead me to the Happy Birthday watch! The time points to 9:12, with 9/12 being Uncle Greg's birth date, so you can see how clever I really am.
I hope Uncle Greg had a great day and is looking forward to another wonderful year!

Spin it Birthday

For: Michael
Occasion: his birthday

Mike is hilarious in a lot of ways, and one of his very favorite jokes is to pick up anything and spin it in his hand while saying "watch me spin it!" This has resulted in a number of dropped objects, and some minor bangs and bruises besides. This year for his birthday card, I decided to feature the joke in his birthday card: the rest explains itself.
I love Mike so much, and had a lot of fun celebrating his birthday with him this year!

Seattle Rainy Birthday

For: Sarah Sot
Occasion: her birthday

Sarah lives in Seattle, which is one of my favorite cities in all the world. It rains there a bit, and since Sarah is one of my favorite people in all the world, I featured her cute little head using an umbrella to shield herself from the very happy rain. I love and miss Sarah so much and hope this year brings her all kind of joy!

Flower Wedding

For: Julie and Matt

Occasion: their wedding

For Julie and Matt's wedding card, I used some elaborate line work to create flower petals that I then embellished with watercolors in blues. From what I had heard from Ames about the wedding plans, I thought this fit the theme nicely. I'm sorry to have missed the wedding, but saw the pictures and all looked lovely and happy! I hope they have a long life of happiness together. 

Table Birthday

For: Uncle Joel
Occasion: his birthday

For Uncle Joel's card, I had some fun making an aerial view of someone writing a birthday note at the breakfast table. Uncle Joel is a literary type, and I imagine he spends most mornings this way (or, perhaps more accurately, I imagine he would like to). The design is such a fun idea, and I hope to adapt it to other concepts in the future. Stay tuned!

T-shirt Birthday

For: Jimmy
Occasion: his birthday

While searching for ideas for Jimmy's birthday card, I saw a picture of Drake wearing a t-shirt with a picture of his own face on it. It tickled my fancy, and I thought Jimmy might like a picture of himself wearing of a t-shirt of himself that says "It's Jimmy!" Because really, why not?
I hope he had a great day and is enjoying being a dad!

Feel The Bern Birthday

For: Bernie Sanders
Occassion: his birthday

I'm a big fan of Bernie Sanders's policies, and feel like if he were president, my job as a social worker would be a lot easier (or just not so impossibly difficult). To show my appreciation, I created this birthday card to send to the Vermont fundraising office (with a 5 dollar bill in tow!). It features the iconic Einstein hair and a birthday cake with 16 candles on it. 

If you want to donate to the campaign, consider going here or here.

Bearded Dragon Birthday

For: Mollie
Occasion: her birthday

Mollie is a good friend of The Twin's that moved out to Denver last week. It just so happened that her birthday was also last week, so I made her a birthday card to help welcome her to Colorado! Mollie had mentioned she brought her bearded dragon with her when she moved, so I created a whimsical little illustration of a dragon in a party hat. I love, love, love how this card turned out, and I am so excited to become good friends with Mollie too!

Porch Thank You

For: Grandma Dottie and Grandpa Jack
Occasion: Thank You

Grandma and Grandpa are mainstays of The River, and Mike asked me to make them a special card this year as they may be spending their summers down in Florida from now on. I did a watercolor of the two of them sitting on the porch, taking in my favorite view of The River. Some extra special details are the boathouse and Janet's red flowers in view. We had so much fun spending time with them on that porch, listening to 40s music and looking at early photos of New York State. It's always such a treat to see them both, and I hope they enjoy the rest of the summer!

Guzzle Thank You

For: The Keanes
Occasion: Thank You

Mike and I got to spend another lovely week with his family up at TIP, and I wanted to thank his parents for their hospitality and logistical prowess (family dinners for 16 every night is quite the feat!). Last year, I did a watercolor of the Keane Cottage, so this year I continued the theme and did a rendition the beloved and late Guzzle, the ice cream parlor that burnt down last year in a fire. I figured I could capture it for them while it still exists in our memories. Looking forward to the new memories to come at The River!

Peacock Birthday

For: Domi
Occasion: her birthday

I've always felt like Domi has fierce beauty about her in all ways (passion, work, dance), and I have therefore decided that her spirit animal is a peacock (makes sense, right?). I again used my fancy colored pencils on a solid background to create this very colorful beautiful bird. I am so delighted with how the card came out, and I hope Domi had a great day, however she identifies her spirit animal.

Flower Jar Birthday

For: Aunt Marilyn
Occasion: her birthday

For Aunt Marilyn's birthday card, I used my fancy colored pencils to create the image of a mason jar vase. I loved getting the opportunity to work on my water/vase skills, as it's tricky business (note how the flower stems are delicately interrupted by the water line!). Anyhow, Aunt Marilyn has had some health issues recently, and I was more than happy to work so hard on her card as she is a truly lovely individual. I hope she had a wonderful day and that she feels happy and healthy this year!