fall flapper glam on polyvore

From tiny happy bunny

i stumbled upon polyvore, i think... on someone's blog. having made mood and inspiration boards for years, it was downright life changing to see this online tool for anyone to make one (if you've ever cut yourself mortally with an exacto, or had to take a minute after huffing spray glue, you too will love polyvore). what's especially cool are the people who have amazing talent with pulling shapes, color and trends together on there. i always like finding new places for inspiration... can't wait to explore it more...

on the lookout...

From tiny happy bunny

i've been keeping my eyes peeled for a great new fall bag. i literally feel like i've looked at everything. if i could make something, it'd look like this, and be a soft, saddle brown, washed leather. could someone make it for me ?

kuler is cool

From tiny happy bunny

so the last few times i've worked in illustrator and i've been searching for that... one... color... i just can't get right, this is my newest tool. adobe allows you to go to the web, download palettes, make palettes for others to use, and just generally play around with color mixing. i like when work becomes play.

*that one's called 'avoidance'

tweet II

another background for twitter, just playing around with transparency... my new favourite tool.

From tiny happy bunny

illustration junkie

i have a fashion illustration addiction. i love that there are some very iconic fashion illustration artists, some, you see daily. you might recognize the illustration style, but have no idea of the artist's name. these are a few i've discovered over the years and have come to love.

nordstrom uses ruben toledo in much of their marketing collateral. does this look familiar ? the latest anniversary book has his black and white illustrations on the cover.

he's done a lot of illustrations over the years for nordstrom, and now they're framed and hung in the hallways of the corporate offices.

or what about these... mats gustafson uses simple watercolor silhouettes to render amazing feminine shapes. the first pale aqua used by tiffany&co. you can find more of mats work here.

italian artist simone legno is inpired by all things japanese, including the name he designs under 'tokidoki' which means 'sometimes'. his illustrations have become so sought after, he's started his own company selling products covered in his whimsical scenes. the toki-doki website carries amazing creations of everything from toys to cell phone covers to baby clothing.

twitter page

the inspiration came when looking for a new twitter background. i like some of them, but wanted my own colors... good thing i can draw. if you don't, you can find one here...

found - old baby project

a series i did over six months ago... i love coming across old ideas. what was fun was seeing what this idea evolved into... (click on any of them to make them bigger)

travel pillow for kids II

another option of the pillow...

travel pillow for kids

an interesting project... i received direction to cute-up this idea. i love the concept that a stuffed animal has double duty as a travel pillow. the legs snap together under the chin, the nose area would cradle a head. cute !

don't be craby

in my house, i can usually send an email to my husband and get a faster response than if i go hunt him down (see: not big house, just in opposite corners, both on computers). this was something i sent when i'd been crabby. so crabby apparently, i couldn't spell. i just found it on my desktop and thought it was cute... sweet.

no freakin way !!!!

a few months ago... probably around 3, i was watching heroes. my husband is a fan, i tend to read or peruse a mag while he watches. at the time i was paying attention. there were a couple of men, in charge of a baby... and they had a baby bag. i went insane. i jumped up. 'look at that bag !'. 'i have to have that bag!'. i got online for a few weeks and looked, searched and googled. nothing. as you might know, i do freelance design projects for kids, and i spend a portion of every day looking at baby stuff (i don't have kids, it might be odd). anyway, i was doing some random search for a diaper bag i came across (i took a picture of it with my phone, and was trying to figure out what it was) and had just found it on this really cool site. it IS a cool diaper bag (if something like that CAN be cool). and then i found this. randomly. serendipitously. FINALLY. i'm so excited i'm going to buy it right now. not even invoking the 3 day rule. you could buy it too... here.

kid's inspiration

i decided to do a small inspiration color board, i've seen so much bold baby stuff lately, and it's so inspiring ! i'm glad it's not all the usual pink-girl, blue-boy... that stuff is cute, but as a parent i can't imagine carrying around something so... kiddie. fun, sophisticated and gender specific (if you HAVE to have it) can coexist. i'm glad they caught on. my favourites are... jj cole, boden, and anorak

owls !

colored up a few different ways...only two more to do ! these are quick and fun. instant gratification.

birds !

this is a continuation on a theme... i've always loved these birds. they're from an opening squence to 'down with love'. i've used the idea several times, this will be part of a series to hang in my house.

little girl legs

i remember as a little girl loving tights. and dresses. i went through a very girly phase. these would have been right up my alley. actually they probably still would be. i can't wait to see little girls rocking these...

little feet

i've had the very fun experience of working for a local company dedicated to keeping the legs of babies everywhere cozy. these have been pretty fun to work on (mostly for the creativity), and i learned so many illustrator shortcuts, i'm a whiz. just ask me how to snap that line to grid, move it to the front, group it, ungroup it... oh, you get the point.

holiday mens

holiday seems like such a blur now. i counted at one point, and we'd created over a 100 styles. that seemed like a lot. especially when other people felt overwhelmed with 30. in one category. i loved working in accessories for the diversity. if you got sick of socks, you could always work on scarves for a day. want to learn about leather ? tackle belt design. it was a fun job.

i'm lucky to have had fun jobs.

i took economics in college. i used to fall asleep.

it goes without saying that things aren't the best that they've ever been. but i have this persistent optimism, maybe it's the new guy in charge, the onset of spring (somewhere), maybe it's the right things happening along just when i need them... for some reason, i just can't get down. this has been a challenging year for me, both professionally and as a human. i love learning new things, i love meeting new people... and i love new projects that take me new directions. even when it's not necessarily by choice.

plus, who doesn't love a good excuse to buy a book. here's to an '09 on an upswing.

hopefully.

k.

lingering holiday

ahhh the holidays. nothing says merry chrismas like working 12 hour days, driving in snow in seattle (IMPOSSIBLE) and being homebound for your christmas dinner and eating turkey sandwiches because it's the only food in the house. work was insane this holiday season, but i found time to enjoy what i could. i'll be posting some things i designed (and drew) for hol'09.