YOU Rule

Recently I read You Rule: The Art of Taking Charge by fab artists and authors Linda Woods and Karen Dinino. Yes, I haven’t had much time to do anything lately since I’m trying to finish my next book and gather materials for my classes next week at Create in Irvine, CA. But that’s the beauty of Linda and Karen’s book: it’s a quick read. (And a kickass read.) This tome, originally available on Kindle and now in print, put many things in perspective and also made me laugh. So I journaled my own Life Rules page:

What are your Life Rules?

By the way, I found out the Fathers Day card I designed and illustrated for Papyrus is available at Target!

On the Chalkboard Today

Another 10 Minutes...

For this week’s 10-Minute Journaling we’re gonna stick it.

WHAT do I mean by that? All you’re going to do this week is pull a sticker off something: produce packaging such as fruit stickers, a piece of label off your makeup...Here are some examples of what I mean:

The "Packed Fresh" at the top is a transparent sticker from a container of strawberries. The black oval is from a Starbucks sandwich.

Below, the yellow triangle is from a box of Keen shoes.

And on the cover of my Paintless Journal is a no smoking sticker I got off the dashboard of my last rental car. And another "Packed Fresh" sticker...

So just open your mind to what you’re using and see what you can stick down in your journal today.

All it takes is 10 Minutes!

Card Coolness

Last year I was contacted by Papyrus to design a Father’s Day card for this year’s line. It was so exciting! Of course, when we work on projects that far in advance, we tend to forget we did them. Yet, in the last week or two, I realized that Father’s Day was approaching and figured I should check online to see if it’s available yet. I wasn’t even totally sure they had printed it! I was commissioned to illustrate the front, the inside, and the envelope liner. Plus, it included two colors of foil embossing. Once we had an illustration established from the text they provided, it went pretty quickly. I made color choices and finished everything up, sent off the digital files and that was that!

Today, I found it online! And I’m thrilled with how it turned out:

The foil embossing turned out even better than I had hoped...And I love the colors! I know if my dad were still with us, I’d be giving it to him for Father’s Day.

Overdrive

Have you ever worked, like CRAMMED, for such a long stretch and then you make your deadline and then you can’t unwind? I feel like my brain is now on overdrive. Of course, I’m physically and mentally exhausted BUT I just can’t wind down. I keep wanting to do all this stuff but my body and mind just aren’t capable right now. It’s crazy.

And I can’t believe how tired I am from this last deadline! I was talking with my mom about it today on the way to the restaurant for our Mother’s Day dinner. She told me in her motherly wisdom that it’s a symptom of getting older. You just can’t burn the midnight oil anymore. You can’t go 10 rounds anymore. When your body says stop, you stop. But of course, when you’re on a deadline, you can’t stop until it’s done. That’s why it’s called a deadline.

Friday night Hubby and I went to get dinner and all I could do was stare. I stared at everything I looked at. Because I was SO out of it!

Yesterday I worked on something for a client and then tried to art journal last night and just didn’t have the heart. I collaged a couple things and that was that.

This week I’m back at it. Back to the grind, back to the salt mines, back to another deadline. This time, it’s two weeks and I have to have the rest of my next book done. I feel like it’s all good, though, because I have a look established, I’ve designed the front matter (which I usually leave until the end) and I feel good about it. But I do have to worry about the cover, which is usually the first thing I design for clients, but I tend to have more difficulty with it when it’s my book. Yes, the self-loathing thing again. And I need to get ready for my classes at Create. And I have another book I’m contributing to. And....

Here’s hoping you have a great week. I will be popping in from time to time!