Books!

The books I ordered arrived today. I love opening boxes with new books!

You Grow Girl
Follow the Line
Follow the Line through the House



I love these illustrations! I always enjoy the continuous line technique and her style is so fun.


Animals!

Off to enjoy... Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Illustration Friday - Multiple

Multiple eyes and legs.

Keeping it simple due to time restraints, but this was one of my first doodles when thinking on the idea.

Thanks for visiting! Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Tasty Blogs

I haven't had much time to do any illustrations lately, but I did come across these blogs in one of the Real Simple magazines. I will definitely be checking them out more.

-----

Smitten Kitchen

Start Cooking

----- Tweet Follow @kellymedina

A little shopping

Follow the Line

I ordered some books tonight - I love books! I will share them once they arrive. Here is one that I ordered and can't wait to crack open. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Cup-o-Work

I brought home work from my day job, as I am on the last week of February and most of the materials need to be released in the next few weeks - which includes lay out, proofing, review, print time and distribution. I am anxious to get things squared away, so to get a bit ahead I brought some work home. It is so nice to work at home - I control the distractions and don't get interrupted by other projects or people. I like listening to This American Life (I love this podcast) and just plug away - so that has been part of my Sunday. So nothing much to show but the files and the cup of coffee that woke my brain up on what would normally be a lazy Sunday.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Laaaa

Very different styles, but both so fantastic!

Mary Blair illustrations I've been seeing Mary Blair's name popping up quite a bit on a few blogs, I looked her up and began to drool...eer sing! :)

Kirsten Ulve I found Kirsten Ulve's work quite a few years ago and recently found it buried amongst my other bookmarks - she has added a ton of new work and it is so vibrant and unique. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

The Shirt Tote

So here is the final tote. It's not beautiful, but it is functional and I learned a few things since I didn't use any instructions. I need quite a few more shopping bags, so this will be put to use. And I am really happy to repurpose some old clothes I was going to get rid of - I used an old striped shirt, black shorts and long sleeve shirt for the inside lining. I loved the stripes, so knew I had to make something.
Anyone know a good material or method to get a stiff bag with gussets? Tweet Follow @kellymedina

WIP - Shirt Tote

Work in Progress - I hope I have something to show tomorrow. I try to wing it sometimes and I ended up messing up - I'm still not great at sewing, but these little mishaps help me learn. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Illustration Friday - Theory

My take on the String Theory.

Thanks for visiting and leaving comments. I enjoy reading them :) Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Oh, Blogs

Illustration for Kids - this is a collaboration blog of 6 female illustrators that share their diverse illustration styles and methods that always leave me feeling inspired. (Jannie Ho aka Chickengirl - one of the links on my blog roll - is one of the participating illustrators)

Red Fish Circle - this is a new site for me, but I love what I have seen so far. Great illustrator and I love the cute fabrics she has designed - like these. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Zucchini Cranberry Bread

Mmm, one of my favorite quick breads is Zucchini Cranberry. I make it with whole wheat flour and it turns out perfect.

You can make 1 5" x 9" quick bread or 10 muffins with this recipe.

1 3/4 c whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 c sugar
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 c finely grated zucchini (1 to 2 mediums) Usually only takes one.
1/2 c fresh or frozen whole cranberries.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter or spray bread pan or muffin tin. In medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

In a mixer, combine eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla. Stir in the zucchini. Add the flour mixture, stir to combine. Careful no to overmix. Fold in the cranberries. Divide batter up for muffins.

Baking:
Quick Bread: for 40-45 minutes
Muffins: 25-30 minutes
or until bread is golden and toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Rotate midway through cook time.

Cooling:
Quick Bread: remove bread from pan after cooling slightly onto a wire rack to cool.
Muffins: Turn muffins on their sides in their cups to cool. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Loose Tea Labels Applied

Here are the final loose tea labels on their tins. This was a fun project!

Bed time! Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Loose Tea Labels Flat

Here are the labels in full, since you won't be able to see all of it in the final application. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Illustration - Sencha Label Character

I'm finally getting a chance to work on some labels for our loose leaf tea tins. I should have photos of all the labels tomorrow to share. But I wanted to show one of the little characters. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Chips Dog on a Sunny Day

Awww, the weekend. Yay! Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Valentine

I hope everyone had a sweet day! Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Illustration Friday - Choose

I know I couldn't choose, but I think she chose well! Yum!

Which would you choose?

Thanks for taking a look and leaving comments. :) Tweet Follow @kellymedina

The Wake Up Kitty

A friend sent this to me today. I got a big kick out of it and thought I would share. Too cute.

Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Froggin'

Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Cabin Fever

I am really looking forward to spring and this month to be over. I have a huge project I coordinate for about 1.5–2 months every 6 months and it is grueling. The deadline is the end of this month and I am pretty loaded with other work as well this time. But plugging away and keeping my head above water. It does make it hard to come home and create on the computer. I have been drawing and reading though. Oh well, enough boohooing, I'm just saying.. looking forward to the cheeriness of Spring! Tweet Follow @kellymedina

NeeNee the Meanie

I have been feeling a bit of guilt in not showing a picture of my oldest kitty, nicknamed NeeNee the Meanie. She only recently go the Meanie part added since she is very uninterested in being near the new cats. But she is my little princess and deserves her moment on my blog. She is very photogenic - she has the grace and maturity to actually hold a pose, I wish I could get the boys or my dog to do that. Most shots are just fur blurs.

I had a busy Saturday, stayed up late watching The Night Listener and drawing in bed. Woke up with my alarm today at 7:30, turned it off thinking I would wake up an hour later on my own. yah, right! Nope, I rolled over and looked at the clock to find it was 11:30! My morning was gone! It was one of those overcast days that you have no idea what time of the day it could be. So it ended up being a relaxing day - I figured why fight it. ha!

I did get some drawing ideas done for a project I am illustrating at work. I will show it once I have it completed - well that is if they don't revise so much I end up not being too proud of it. You never know with some clients. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Yip Yip!

I recently was reminded by another blogger (I can't remember who it was sadly) about the Yip Yip Martians from Sesame Street. They are so funny. So I watched a few and found this one to be very cute. It is only a few minutes long and so funny when they start dancing to the music they like.



I hope everyone is having a productive or relaxing weekend. :) Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Two Kids

I did this illustration at work recently.

Woohoo, Friday! :) Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Doodle - Pen Test

A month or so ago I asked what folks were using for drawing. I had been using Pigma Micron. I went to pick up more pens at my local art store, thinking I would just get more Pigma Microns, but I saw the Copic Multiliner SP .25 and liked it because it is re-useable, silver, and made nice clean lines. You can replace the nib and the ink. The actual pen is a cool silver metal and it feels cool in the hand.

Then Miss Flora, over at Happy Doodle Land wrote up a post reporting on some pens she had purchased - I think she is a pen junkie like me - I noticed the Hi-Tec-C pen. I love the fine point and it works perfectly for how I doodle - which is usually very small. I ordered a pack of multi-colors from JetPens and they got here quickly and free shipping (spent over $25). I'm very happy with these. Although, they aren't re-useable I love the fine point and having colors! Since I am not into shoes, I figure pen collecting isn't too bad of a vice. :) Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Fantastic Artist - Melissa Moss

I recently came across a new artist that has such beautiful work that I wanted to share with my visitors, her name is Melissa Moss. The artwork is unique and beautiful, you can buy prints of her paintings at her site shop or Etsy shop. She also has a blog.




Back to purging I must go! Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Wooya!

I got the I Love You award from sweet Flora over at Happy Doodle land.
It was a very sweet award and I deeply appreciate it.

Now I would like to make a little list of folks I have met in the blogging world and want to show you how much I appreciate all your support, inspiration and overall wonderfulness. You all are so talented and keep me inspired.

In no particular order:
Flora, Curt, Christine, Danielle, Mushroommeadows, Alicia, Mia_mi and many more. I am meeting new people since I started this blog and feel very fortunate to find some really kind and supportive folks. I look forward to getting to know them better and meeting more people.

Thank you! Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Illustration Friday - Blanket

Thanks for viewing and leaving comments. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Purging

I have been getting the purging bug lately. I am a bit of a gatherer - being a passionate believer in re-using/recycling old things, I tend to get a bit of a build up of containers, old clothes/socks, paper, string/ribbon, boxes and more. One weakness I have is hanging onto magazines for far too long. I always think I will use them for inspiration, but I realized I had very old (1999-2003) magazines boxed up in the closet. So about a month or more ago we pulled them out and I have meant to go through them since. I finally did today! I drank a double shot of mocha, put on a movie for background and began flipping through each. I clipped out illustrations/photos that I liked for putting in my Inspiration binders. I am going to save the organizing of the clippings for another day. I took 3 huge loads out to the recycle bin!

So hopefully this week won't be a bunch of posts with pictures of my crazy mess - but then again it just might, I have to embrace it when the urge to purge comes. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Pay It Forward

I will be giving away 3 sets of the stationery above. So if you are interested look at the Pay it Forward rules below and then leave a comment. The first 3 will get an email from me to get your address. I hope you like it!

Stationery set includes: 6 recycled paper sheets and 3 recycled blue envelopes.

The rules for Pay it Forward are:
Kindly give something to three other people (you can decide whatever amount to give away), and in turn, these people give something to three other people. So paying forward acts of kindness to people who want to participate.

I received my wonderful gift from Mushroommeadows. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Double Chocolate Cheesecake

Made Chris one mini and a 6" double chocolate cheesecake for his birthday. He ate too much the first night and got a belly ache. But he recovered for the next day and resumed eating - what a trooper! I used this recipe - though I made graham cracker crust instead of chocolate wafers, and I did half of the recipe since we did not need to have a huge 9" cheesecake tempting us!

I'm so glad it is Friday! It was one of those weeks... gah. Tweet Follow @kellymedina