Happy Christmas!

Happy twelve days of Christmas everyone!  I hope you all enjoyed the holidays.  Here’s the winter postcard I sent out recently.

The last few days, I was in Vermont with my family.  Unlike last year, when we all seemed to be consolidating on the east coast, these last days of December seemed to mark the last time our family will be together in one spot.  My sister and husband are off on a grand, four month long, trip to explore Asia, and my brothers are teetering towards moving out of RI.  I’m happy for all of them, (and a little jealous of two in particular,) but it made our time in Vermont all the more special.

Plus it snowed.  How lovely.

Tis a gift to be simple…

Here’s a rough sketch of an illustration I just finished for Time Out New York magazine.

Other than that I’ve been working on knocking things off my monthly goal list, as well as some Christmas-y things.

My immediate family is considering “simplifying”  gifts this year.  We’re  in the process of deciding what exactly that means– no gifts? just stockings? a price limit?  donations in lieu of gifts?– but I think we’re moving in a nice direction.  We’re all grownup pretty much– my youngest brother is twenty– and everyone seems to be interested in less stuff lately– either in the interest of pairing down in general, or because of near-future moves.

I love to buy gifts, but I tend to be a little insane about it.  I get caught up in needing to find the perfect gift.  It starts out as fun, but it can turn stressful towards the end.  I think a simpler take on things, might open up the holiday for us.  Leave more room for enjoying each other and the season.

Which is what I’m looking forward to this weekend.  Getting a tree, decorating, some gift making, some baking… our apartment smelling  yummy…hot apple cider.

New Goals + Happy Thanksgiving!

Oh dear, this post is a couple days late.  The group over at Modish Biz Tips all posted on Monday.  Ah well.  So it goes.  But I’m here!  Just busy, like everyone else.

1. Finish and mail out holiday mailer. I got the cards today, and they look great!  I’m cranking up hulu tonight to stamp and address for a couple hours to get these suckers out there.

2.  Get everything ready for the workshop. Done! And the workshop was pretty amazing.  I think it deserves its own post.  Another thing I meant to do already.

3. Set up a time to organize and clean up my studio every day. Um. Still working on this one.  I’m having trouble motivating myself at the end of the day.  It’s just the last thing I want to deal with it.  But there’s never a time I want to deal with it.  I think I’ll have to resort to self-bribery…

4. Continue looking for a wholesale account for Magnetic Kids.

5. Contact publishers with new work. Nope.  But I have some new leads after the workshop.

6.  After the workshop, make a plan of action based on what I learned there. I need to work on this one some more though.

7. Sign up for the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators Conference in New York. I’m torn.  I asked a lot of people what they thought of this conference and from I gleaned, it doesn’t sound like a good place to make connections.  I’m thinking about waiting until the New England one.

8.  Participate in illustration online communities more. Hello Pikaland!  Hello Illustration Mundo!

9. Organize and make special holiday gifts for clients. They aren’t quite done yet.  Or organized.

10. Make a list of things to do during our week in Vermont! Alas I made the list, but the trip with Mr G was canceled.  Don’t be too sad for us though. We made it up there for Thanksgiving.

Sooo.  Yikes.  December already.  Here we go…

1. Mail out holiday mailer.

2. Organize special client holiday gifts.

3. Make and send them.

4. Make a list of publishers and potential new clients in the children’s market.

5.  Bribe myself to clean my office.

6. Collect my thoughts from the workshop.

7. Make time for making fun holiday things and gifts!

That’ll do it for this month.  It’s crazy enough already, don’t you think?  Is anyone else excited to look back at all your goals you made through out the year?

A huge thank you to the wonderful Jena for creating Modish Biz Tips and this meetup.  I’m sorry it’s ending, but am so excited for you!  Jena, you summed it up perfectly:

…here’s to not being afraid to try things, to experimenting and being brave in your ideas, and to not being satisfied until you truly find the place you’re meant to be.

Here, here.