Mousekins fan letter

i received a cute fan letter today by snail mail (yay!).
(the sender's info has been removed for privacy).

she writes exactly like i did at her age -
switching out with multiple colors of felt-tip pens.
so fun!

It's that Mousekin time of year!

It's that Mousekin time of year...

 

 

 

There is crafting to be done...

and tasty cookies to be baked.

Make a felt mobile, Mimi & Momo finger puppets, a snazzy Christmas Tree Hat, a mousie sock puppet, old fashioned cornucopias, and a beautiful angel mouse tree topper!

I hope you'll look for Christmas with the Mousekins at your library or bookstore, and join this industrious and very cheerful little family for some serious holiday fun! xo

Pigging Out

A delicious feast was enjoyed by everyone.

And then we all felt like this.

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!
xo

Christmas book

the holiday season is here, and i'm happy to announce my first Christmas book: Christmas with the Mousekins - A Story with Crafts, Poems, Recipes and More!
This is really my dream-come-true book in so many ways. besides taking place in a mouse world at Christmas-time, it incorporates recipes and craftiness into the story. i designed a lot of fun projects for the book.
there's lots of love & hugs & family togetherness,
and lots and lots of cookies!
(continued in post below)

Recipes and craft instructions follow the Mousekins making them in the story. so it's all very integrated.
mimi mouse gives baby mouse this cute felt mobile, and the next page shows how to make it (as well as a Mousie Sock Puppet and Mimi's little mitten bookmarks).
there are lots of projects in the book and even more online, for a real home-made holiday. we had the book printed on un-coated stock (no shine, just matte), which is really neat, and adds to the old-fashioned feel.
i've received some nice emails already from moms who have enjoyed the story and the craft projects with their kids. one woman wrote that her older girls (8 & 12) love the crafts too, so there's a wide age-range appeal ...

and another said they are definitely making Cinnamon Snail cookies this year!
i'm sensing that women enjoy the book for themselves, for its sense of nostalgia and for the crafts & recipes. so that's great.
the story starts two weeks before Christmas, so the book would make a nice early gift so that kids, moms, and grandmas (and hey, maybe dads and granddads too!) can join in with the busy Mousekins as they get ready for the big day - decorating their tree, baking cookies and delivering them to friends, crafting paper garlands and an angel-mouse tree-topper, and making gifts from felt and ribbon.
have a Merry Mousie Crafty Christmas!
xoxo

High-5 magazine job finished

sneak peak of the finish - it will be in the march issue.
painted traditionally on a new water color paper (for me) -
fabriano artistico.
mixed media with a bit of fabric collage.
scanned in and touched up in photoshop.
it was fun!

new style for educational work?

i was playing around in photoshop for an educational job due this month, and came up with this technique which i think looks really cool...
but i was told by the studio that assigned it that it looks like a colored sketch, not a finish. bummer!
what do you think?