A Sock Monkey Mermaid and Some Tattoo Art

Mara the Mermaid Sock Monkey

8x10 and 11x14

After spending last month doing nothing but writing, I've had itchy fingers to draw again. I still have those cupcakes from last months contest to illustrate and I can't wait to sit down and draw them, but after getting some customer requests, especially for more sock monkeys with a fantasy look, I wanted to get this done first.

So meet Mara the Sock Monkey Mermaid, as she sits pretty at the bottom of the tropical sea. When April of Apple Blossom Designs suggested a mermaid monkey illustration, I was a little hesitant... sounded strange to me. Luckily April has more vision than I do, because I think Mara the Mermaid turned out pretty cute. Thanks for the inspiration, April! I couldn't have designed her without you!

And at another customer's request, I have a sock monkey princess and a sock monkey fairy all ready to be colored in. They are going to be adorable and I can't wait to give them some color!

Sweet Swallow Tattoo
8x8 and 10x10

And I'm a little bummed that this one doesn't scan in nearly as pretty as the print is in real life. Something off about the pink and the blue.... I have no idea why. The print is much more vibrant.

Anyway, I'll have a whole Sailor Jerry style tattoo collection in the new year, as I just can't get enough of the classic tattoos. They are so cute!

Hope you like the new prints! My shop is closed for the moment, as we are leaving town for the holidays tomorrow and I'm supposed to be cleaning and doing laundry - ugh - but I'll add the new prints anyway, and be ready to resume business on the 27th of December.

Enjoy!
xoxo,

Handmade Ornament Exchange

I've never done a crafty swap before so I was excited when Andrea, one of the girls from my street team, the Fabulous Artistic Moms (FAM) - which is the street team that helps me keep my sanity on a daily basis, as it is full of other crafty mamas who cope with kids while running a crafty business - decided to organize an ornament exchange.

I was excited to make Christmas ornaments, as I've never done that before, so I designed a Santa Sock Monkey mini print just for my swap.

I love being crafty and my fingers were itching to get a hold of my glue gun, scrapbook paper, and some glitter. All the ornaments have a generous sprinkling of holographic glitter across the top, as glitter makes the world go round. And there are two little jingle bells hiding under the green ribbon. Glittery and jingly - nice and festive.

Too bad I forgot to make one for myself. I think I might need to have more Santa Monkey prints made so I can make some for my own tree.

I think they turned out pretty cute. Hopefully everyone in my swap group agrees! And I hope you are all enjoying your holidays, so far.

xoxo,

Early Morning Gymnastics

On the weekends, Will and I take turns sleeping in. If I sleep in on Saturday, he gets Sunday. The girls like it best when Will is the one who has them in the morning. I'm a grouch, and still half asleep until cup of coffee numero 3 kicks in at about 10:30 am. Generally, I pass the girls some toast and then stand in the kitchen with coffee in hand until the caffeine is running strong in my veins. They don't think I am any fun at all.

Will, on the other hand, cooks lovely, big breakfasts - breakfast tacos being the usual tradition - and the girls have the best time with him. He always lets them do stuff I don't let them do.

This past weekend, it was early morning gymnastics. I awoke to see the girls both in swimsuits - oh sorry, I mean leotards - practicing their jumping off the couch and sticking their legs out... just like the gymnasts in the Olympics.

We live on the second floor of our apartment complex... jumping is not allowed. And, as it is the middle of winter, I don't generally let the girls run around in nothing but a swimsuit. See what I mean? I'm no fun at all.

My girls are so talented. Just look at the dedication and concentration as Annelie stands on one leg. I give her a 9.8.

Our downstairs neighbors must seriously hate us.

I can't wait until the girls are older and I really get to see which hobbies they love and want to stick with. Perhaps one day, Gracie or Annelie really will be in the Olympics (although I do not see myself as a big hair-do and too much make-up wearing gymnastics mom). In the meantime, I think it is pretty cute to see them posing in their swimsuits - ahem, leotards!

And I make Will answer the phone all day so that he is the one who gets shouted at for all the thumping.

Enjoy!
xoxo,

More Babies!

**Disclaimer: for those of you who thought, based on the title, that this was going to be a post about how I wanted more babies... please be rest assured that there will NOT be another crazy Hopkins in the mix anytime soon. Three kids are swell, I'm sure, but I wouldn't be able to handle the insanity.**

"More babies!" is what Annelie shouts every night at bedtime.

Annelie and bedtime rituals have been on the annoying side since she was past the days of actually sleeping (like, at 6 months or so) and I'm going a little bit nuts here.

I had hoped the worst of it would have been when we first moved to Abilene this past summer and she was cheerfully harassing me at all hours of the night by fake sneezing in my face {remember this post?} or just the other night when when she gave Gracie her first black eye {remember this post?} when she was supposed to be happily tucked in bed. We finally moved Gracie in with us last week because the poor girl wasn't getting any sleep at all as a result of Annelie sitting on her head.

But the other night, when I just couldn't handle Annelie and our bed time ritual of taking a bath, having a warm milk bottle, reading Goodnight Moon and saying 'goodnight' to just about everything on Earth, and then spending the next two hours chasing her around the house and getting her to lay back down (she even knows how to remove childproof doorknobs - how? I'm not sure. Perhaps she was MacGyver in her past life) - I came up with the brilliant (read: desperate) plan of surrounding Annelie with all her 'babies' and then covering them all with her blanket and saying goodnight.

Wanna know what? It worked. Annelie didn't move a muscle. She just curled up with her babies and went to sleep. It was a MIRACLE!

So now, all bedtimes are preceded by Annelie chanting 'More babies!" while I cover her with every stuffed animal and doll in the house. My fingers are crossed that this will keep working for the rest of her life, but, as I'm slightly more realistic than that, I figure I have maybe another day or two before she goes back to her terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, bed-time self.

But my favorite story is when my mom was visiting last weekend and went in to check on Annelie after she had fallen asleep, only to find that, besides being surrounded by her babies, Annelie had also tucked an entire case of diapers around herself and was happily snoozing away.

Funny how, when they are sleeping, you actually forget how annoying they can be - if only for a second.

xoxo,

Oh, Captain Wentworth, How I Love Thee

I just finished reading Persuasion (again) and *sigh* I am hopelessly in love with Captain Wentworth. Don't get me wrong, my husband is great... but Captain Wentworth.... *swoon* how I love you!

I'm a huge and happily obsessive Jane Austen fan. Love the books, love the movies... love everything about the Regency Era in general. I was so excited to do my study abroad in Bath, England back in college, and couldn't believe my luck that our class field trips were to the places that Jane Austen frequented and wrote about.

And my absolute, without a doubt, favorite book of hers is Persuasion. I read it each time in agony - does Captain Wentworth love Anne still? or will he marry Louisa Musgrove? will he ever forgive Anne after eight and a half years? or is their love hopeless?

And of course, who can resist that love letter?

Gah, not me!

Luckily, Will is super understanding of my Captain Wentworth obsession, although he thinks Mr. Tilney from Northanger Abbey is the best of Jane Austen's heros. Its pretty awesome how I persuaded Will to join the ranks of Austen lovers.

Wasn't hard to do, actually, as who doesn't love Jane Austen? {if you don't, please don't tell me, or I may cry} But I do think it is pretty funny how, after watching one of the Jane Austen movies, Will usually spends the rest of the day talking in an old English accent - though I hate to tell him he sounds more Shakespearean than Regency.

And funnier still, when we were married, he brought his wedding suit with him from England, and I didn't get to see it until I was walking down the aisle... to discover, low and behold, he was wearing a cravat. A cravat! This was before he knew about my Jane Austen obsession (some obsessions are better left a secret until after the wedding) and before he knew that cravats, along with Regency heroes like Captain Wentworth, are on the list of Things That Make Marisa Swoon.

He said it was just a typical English wedding suit. Isn't it just so appropriate that, to this day, the typical wedding suits of England are fashioned after the most romantic era ever?

For Captain Wentworth lovers everywhere, feast your eyes on these fabulous Etsy finds:

Flame Gold Dupioni Silk Cravat - Gentleman's Jabot

Mmmm... delicious

Feather Quill and Paper Set - Traveling Chariot

Make sure your letter is fashioned after Captain Wentworth's letter to Anne, of course.

Love Letter Picture Frame - Red Bird Road Design

So you can dress your man in a cravat, have him write you a love letter, and then frame a picture of his Regency hotness.

Okay, maybe not -- but worth a shot, eh?

And just before I go, let me obsess for a minute over the mighty fine Captain Wentworth (played by Rupert Penry-Jones) from the 2007 Persuasion. So far, I haven't been completely satisfied with any film adaptations of the book... but this Captain Wentworth is by far my favorite.

*swoon*

Enjoy!
xoxo,

NaNoEDMo: This Girl Has Got A New Goal

As if the pressure of NaNoWriMo wasn't enough... I've learned that March is NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month) and with it comes the encouragement to pick up that red pen and let a nice little community of writers tear your manuscript to pieces.

Am I going to participate? You betcha. Am I terrified?

Uh, yeah. Very.

So far, besides my Creative Writing class in college, and my high school English teachers, NO ONE has read my stuff. -- Actually, that's a lie, as Will read a paragraph over my shoulder the other day and nearly lost a limb as a result. I'm hideously insecure.

So that's why I'm going to push myself to participate in EdMo come March. That gives me 3 months to get this story finished and suck it up for some major revisions. I've bitten all my nails off just thinking about it!

I'll keep you all posted. I'm scared, but excited to reach my new goal! And if you want to find out more about NaNoEdMo - or if you have a finished, but unedited manuscript laying around and want to join in, be sure to visit their website {BY CLICKING HERE}.

xoxo,

NaNoWriMo... The Last Update (Get Out the Confetti, Baby!)

So, I'm going to toot my own horn here for a minute, because, after typing 141 pages (aka 50,000 words) for NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month - I feel completely entitled.

Yup, that's right. I DID IT!! Whooo boy, I'm exhausted. This has been the longest month of my life, as my days have all been from 8am until 3am. I think I will need a solid week of hibernation to recover.

I have to say with complete honesty, that if it wasn't for you lovely and encouraging readers and all the comments you left me throughout the month, there would have been no way I could have finished.

Especially not last week, when I was thousands of words away from being done and I hit a brick wall. My sweet, funny and tough-as-nails main character turned on me. Completely out of the blue, without giving me anytime for preparation, she morphed into a wimpy character I didn't like. I was crushed and it took me days to figure her out.

Between popping endless sheets of virtual bubble wrap {CLICK HERE} and watching goofy, random videos on YouTube { you've gotta CLICK HERE} - I'm the ultimate time-waster - I sat down and had a chat with her. I'd previously known everything about her, from her favorite band (Jack's Mannequin) to her favorite food (Fettuccine Alfredo). I thought I knew how she would handle any situation that came her way... but I didn't and she became a stranger to me. When you are trying to crank out hundreds of pages about a character, it helps if you know them, ya know? And I was ready to quit until I got more encouragement from all of you to keep on typing. So I did.

Luckily, after three days of character soul searching and pages and pages and pages of deletions (arrrgh!), she got over her funk and morphed back into the girl I knew and loved. Hurray. I was off and it didn't take long to knock out the last 15,000 words.

My story is far from being done. I still have about 50-75 thousand more words to go, and then I have a million years of hardcore editing when that is done. Remember I said before that I have never written a book and I have no idea what I'm doing? I meant that.

But I'm still feeling pretty awesome. Here are some Etsy items that sum up my feelings of awesomeness.

You're Awesome Scrabble Tile Pendant - Home Studio

Love it.

First Place Prize in Radness - A Minor Thread

Nuff said.

Hate Mail - Did You Expect a Parade?
- Junk Yard Greetings by Carol Lee Designs

And yes, I DO expect a parade! Bring on the marching band!

Thanks again for all of your encouragement!

xoxo,