Animals! Kenya!

While my mom was here we did a lot of shopping. Probably more than either of us had expected, but there is something that always feels so nice about getting things for other people! One morning, after breakfast we popped into a little kitchen shop to try and find some cookie cutters. (We were on a hunt for a reindeer, which ended up being harder to find than we thought!) The back of the shop had an area where I'm guessing they must do classes with a oven, etc and a long table. At the end of the table there was a couple with dozens of knit animals. We went up to look at them and ended up chatting with them for quite some time. They were from the Friends of Kenya Schools and Wildlife. All the animals were knit by women in Kenya and had tags with the name of the women who knit them and the school or group they were from.


They had almost every kind of animal imaginable and each one was so beautiful in its own way. Something about them made my mom and I both feel so good. The couple was so nice to talk to and you could tell they really love what they are doing and really love Kenya. It reminded me of Aimee Bessire, a professor I had at Maine College of Art. She teaches art history and I took both of her African art classes. One was about the royal arts and one was about the religious arts and they were probably the best art history classes I ever took. But I think the biggest reason was because you could always tell how passionate Aimee was about Africa. Everyone gets teachers who seem to really know their subject, but I feel like it's rare you get someone who makes you feel like they are sharing something they love with you.

Ok, well this is getting longer than I meant so I will just end it with a couple of the animals we got. We also got a horse, alpaca and pig, but my mom brought those back home for gifts.

Aren't they the greatest!? The two little guys are finger puppets and are going to be sent to Adam's nieces at some point. So cute!

Presents!

Here are some of the packages I stamped up on Christmas:






This last one my mom made and it just kills me! She is too cute!

Hey friends!

I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season so far! I have been busy shopping and hanging out with my mom. Last night we wrapped and decorated/ stamped all our presents. Some of them are hilarious and I can't wait to get pictures of them all!

I've been really excited today because my mom got me an adorable Jennifer Murphy ornament at one of the shops downtown. It looks like this:


So cute! It's hanging over the mirror over our mantle right now because it's too big for our tiny tree and it will probably stay there all year!

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you all get lots of presents!

Almost here!

I have been trying to do a little decorating the last few days. I put lights up around one of the windows, which, to be honest will probably be a permanent fixture because Adam and I both really love Christmas lights year round.

Today is Adam's birthday and he turned 26! He doesn't get all nutty about his birthday like I do. I do a countdown and remind everyone constantly. I just think it's exciting to have a special day! I got him a collection of The Middle Man comics and I can't wait to read it after him.

Tomorrow is our 6 year anniversary! Yaaaay, us! And then on Monday night we are going to pick up my Mom! I AM SO EXCITED!@ SEE?! I haven't seen her since last Christmas. I can't believe it's been a year when I think about it because most days it seems like just yesterday. But then, on the other hand there are days when it feels like it's been a million years. Needless to say, I can't wait!!

Hijkids!

This past summer I was contacted by Kristine from Hijkids about doing some illustrations for her website. She was starting up a boutique of children's clothing, toys and accessories and wanted me to draw her some animals sort of in the style of class photos. The illustration came out really cute and I've been dying to share it since then!



Well! I'm happy to annouce that yesterday I got an e-mail from Kristine saying that Hijkids has been launched! If you have kids, or know some that need some totally adorable and unique stuff then you should check it out! Kristine has done a great job and I'm so happy to be a part of it!

Ornaments!!

Snowmen and Houses are available in my etsy and 1000 markets shops. Bears will be availble in the next few days!

Saul Bass

OK. Saul Bass. His opening sequences are just so awesome I don't even know what to say about them! His ability to set a mood through really simple design makes my heart happy. He is, hands down my favorite designer ever. I think I need to just make a list of all the movies that he did sequences for and watch them all!

You can see more of his title sequences here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=20CBAD113AF2550B

What designers do you guys really love?

Yay! Finally!

Yay! Finally!
Originally uploaded by s. jane!

Adam's brother, Paul and his really awesome friend Meredith came for Thanksgiving this year. It was nice having a small laid back day. Especially since we will be doing Christmas at our house and that will be here before we know it!

Back in July, when Paul came out for the 4th he asked Adam and I to come up with a tattoo for him to get. I'm pretty sure I posted the drawing back then. Well yesterday he was finally able to get it and it came out so awesome and adorable! A couple of the guys at the tattoo shop were excited about my drawing and it made me turn all red. I'm so bad at compliments!