CATS I Know and Love - A Calendar for 2012

Hooray! I finally finished my cat calendar, ready to go for the holiday season. It's a funny, skinny format. The size is 5 1/2" by 17" - fits into lots of unusual places. Hangs by a sturdy metal ring binder loop. Just flip the page to go to the next month. Printed on 110 lb. heavy weight card stock. All my favorite cat friends posed for pictures and I have more waiting in the wings. Wings? Did I say wings? Today I found feathers in the leaves I was raking. Naughty kittys. The back of each month is blank. This is an afterthought, but it's a perfect place to keep a secret diary.

You can see what he's made of; a kitty and a couger all in one.

To spend the year with my CAT FRIENDS just go to 

http://www.cookiefriends.etsy.com where you'll find them on sale.

Bunny Boy Lives

This spotted bunny boy came to me by default—left behind by my daughter along with a crafty mouse who'd had the presence of mind to hide beneath the rabbit and escape being dinner for Royal Python snakes. I don't know how to reach this animal or if that's possible at all. Food is the main thing he responds to. Lots of times I've been giving him away but he's still here. Please observe that it really doesn't seem to matter. The mouse sleeps in the hollow right behind the rabbit's ears, a good eiderdown substitute. I feel as though I need to do a story about this guy and in so doing I'll make profound discoveries. Who knows. I'm waiting for spring when my friend from Lebanon county will loan me a big cage that I can put outside. Then the bunny boy and I can do gardening together. The mouse can stay inside. Knowing he has no loyalty I need to keep him in captivity while I discover the story.

Happy St. Valentine's Day

I lived in Pennsylvania Dutch country (Perkiomenville, PA) during my teenage years
and certainly my CookieFriends art is a reflection of my interest in the history of the German Baker's Art tradition. Lately I've been rediscovering that area. A visit to historic Schaeffersontown, Lebanon County, PA. found carved on a barn a beautiful heart  c. 1758.

Merry Christmas—Santa rides again in gingerbread

 

I've started my cookie baking and promise not to taste too many!

Soft gingerbread is my favorite and hard to resist.

Happy Birthday to me!

September 3rd is my day. I think I was four years old in this picture. I remember the dress—slippery and the smell of the curling iron—singed hair. This is probably a year before kindergarten when I started to draw and paint and never stopped. The kindergarten room was so wonderful. It was huge with enormous tables and big sheets of paper with pots of paints and brushes and clay and glue. Lots of room to spread out. My father liked to tell the story of other "artwork" I did at home when I discovered a hammer and what it could do and had a good time putting dents in the screen door. No little angel was I.

COOKIE Friends

Looking back over all the years I've spent doing illustration I was always trying so hard to develop my own style. But it happened when I least expected—when my daughter was little and we had time to play and make things together. And we loved to make cookies. When I put these characters all together I realized they were the beginning of a new way of working that combined my love of cooking and baking with art and design. Then there's what happens in the oven that creates a bit of magic over which you have little control.

Constructing an Online Presence

It was exciting to post my card shop on Etsy—www.cookiefriends.etsy.com.  I invited people to come and I waited. Pretty soon I had to ask myself, "Does anyone know I'm here?" So I began to read about other sellers' success stories and their advice and I looked for examples of what worked. The Etsy community is a quite active and supportive place. Plenty of help is available and it's a real study.

I realized that I hadn't told a proper story about what I had for sale. So I took this picture to invite a potential customer to take time out, to sit down at the table or desk and have a quiet moment to write a special message to someone. You can compare this with my previous post of the same card entitled, "Look who's appearing on Etsy." How could I have missed the point of creating the background and attitude that I'd expect in my own shopping experience. I'm learning!