Bird Print Birthday

 For: The Twin
Occasion: her birthday

One of The Twin's many quirks is that where she has a healthy fear of birds themselves, she loves bird prints! To celebrate her birthday and this lovely factoid, I did a drawing of a bird picture in black and gray in a square (representing a print), with the rest of the bird visible in blues outside the box. I adore The Twin more than I can say, and hope she enjoyed our birthday.

Flower Birthday

 For: Bridget
Occasion: her birthday

For Bridget's birthday card, I used by white gel pen to create a modern floral scene. I hope Bridge had a wonderful birthday and is looking forward to some fun stuff this year!

Train Birthday

For: Uncle Greg
Occasion: his birthday

To celebrate Uncle Greg's birthday, I did an illustration of some round train tracks with two little trains carrying "Happy" and "Birthday" for fun greeting! If I recall correctly, Uncle Greg has a pretty elaborate miniature train set up in his basement. I hope he had a great birthday and is finding ways to stay entertained. 

Dreaming Birthday

 For: Sarah
Occasion: her birthday

To celebrate Sarah's big day, I did a gouache painting of her dreaming and hanging out outside! Her beautiful curly hair floats up to capture the moon, stars, and clouds and adds so much quirky mysteriousness nighttime fun. I loved painting this card (and giving it a glittery background!) and hope it helped Sarah have a wonderful day. 

Haiku Birthday

 For: Mike
Occasion: his birthday

For Mike's birthday card this year, I watercolored a fall mountainous scene and paired it with a birthday-themed haiku: "A new year arrives / On this, another birthday / Lovely evening"

The concept comes from a video game called Ghosts of Tsushima wherein you can create haikus to help capture your journey. Mike very kindly allows me to pick the haiku verses, and it's so fun! I love Mike so much and hope this year brings all kinds of adventure and joy. 

Happily Ever After Wedding

 For: Justin and Natasha
Occasion: their wedding

To celebrate JMac and Tash's nuptials, I created a fairy tale card mixing metallic gold swirly font and a soft watercolor background. Though the wedding itself was rescheduled and changed and down-sized, I do hope that they had a wonderful wedding to kick off their happily ever after. 

Mountain Appreciation Day

 For: Kelsey
Occasion: not her birthday

Kelsey didn't want a fuss for her birthday, so this card is a random celebration of mountain appreciation! Kelsey loves the outdoors, so I depicted the sun, the mountains, the trees, and sun with a happy little tent and trail in the foreground. I have so enjoyed working with Kelsey, and I hope this next year brings all kind of adventure!

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.