IF-Disguise

Winstead needed a clever disguise to distract the other rabbits from his bipolar tendencies. ... Ah yes, this scarf should work!
Click on the image to see it larger. Thank you!

IF- Influence

Eili was under the influence of the rain when she got dressed that morning.
This illustration is for the magazine Stories for Children. I've always wanted to put my children in a sailor suit like this one. Now they are too old so I can just dress my characters that way! I like how this illo. turned out. What do you think?

Doggie Wash

Here is an illustration I did for the June issue of Stories For Children Magazine. It accompanies a cute story about a dog named Buster who escapes his bath and wreaks havoc on the neighborhood. Check it out June 1st!

FELLOW ILLUSTRATORS... I'm trying to find more magazines, besides the most popular Highlights and Cricket, to send my work to. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance!

Wheels

This is an illustration for Guardian Angel Kids Magazine. It will be in the June issue! The story is about wheels of all kinds. Very cute! I drew a cog wheel from a clock and a pasta wheel.

Sparrow

This is an illustration I did for an auction for a great ministry at my church. Check them out! Sparrow Ministries at Made for Orphans.

Animals of Israel

Here are some illustrations I did for a kids discipleship book for 10-12 year olds. They are animals from Israel. I think my favorite is the Lemur in the bottom right.

The Night Herons

Did this illustration for Stories for Children. I believe it will be in the May issue. The story that it accompanies is awesome!!! Through this job I learned a bit about Night Herons and Honey Fungus.  Pretty cool since birds and mushrooms are two of my favorite things! Love to know your thoughts.

IF-Stir

Reese and her brother Riff suddenly had a stirring in their tummies for some Big Dipper ice cream!

Saint Patrick's Trinity Shamrock!

Did you know that Saint Patrick had a super amazing life? He actually was born in Britain but was captured by raiders and sent to Ireland. He became a slave of sorts and spent most of his time shepherding. As a shepherd, he spent many days nights alone in the fields. He began to think about things much bigger than himself, he thought about God, and prayed all the time. In a dream one night he thought he heard God telling him to escape. So he did! It took a very long time for him to get back to his family but he made it. With his passion for Christ he decided he wanted to become a priest. Sometime after he had become a bishop he felt a calling to go back to Ireland and preach to them about Christ's saving grace. When he got there he had a hard time explaining the trinity. It is said that he looked down and saw the shamrock, or clover, with it's three petals and used this as a model to teach his faith. The clover has three petals representing God the Father, Jesus , and the Holy Spirit yet they are together and all one. So on March 17th we celebrate Saint Patrick on the date of his death in 460 A.D.
Anyways, I made an illustration of his trinity shamrock. Feel free to print out. Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!!!

Me and My Easter book!

So here is the cover of my Easter book "Why Do We Celebrate Easter?". This month starts the book tour and I'm really excited! I've been mailing out signed copies to those who can't make it to an event. Let me know if that includes you! (The tour is all local in and around St. Louis MO)
This is my first book I've illustrated so I am anxious to see how everything goes with events, sales, and opportunities that come in the future.
I should also state that this whole book thing is the reason I haven't been posting. So much to do!
Here is the link to the book on Amazon.

IF- Surrender

"Surrender the cookies Mam!"

Who Me? Valentine

Here is an illustration I did for my daughter's Valentines this year. As many of you know I absolutely LOVE birds. And of course there is our friend Snaid the snail.
My idea is that we will buy dum dum suckers and punch a hole just above Snaid. Then insert the sucker to make it look like he is holding it (some how). On the sucker will be a circle punch with the words, "Happy Valentine's Day" pasted to the front. Or maybe I should make a paper flag coming from the stem of the sucker with the words?! No... then it will look like he is calling the owl a dum dum. I'll go with the first idea. Thoughts?????

IF-Dusty (AKA Bunny Love)

Don't let your hugs get dusty,

Use them everyday!

Noticed I hadn't done any animal illustrations recently. I thought this weeks word went perfectly!

The Blue Truck

Here is an illustration I did for Guardian Angel Kids. There is a story that accompanies it and you can see them both in the February issue. If you have never visited them. They are a children's e-magazine. Very cute! Now on to illustrate the IF word-o-the-week!

apparently I'm stylish... or at least my blog is!

So Susanne gave me a stylish blog award. Why thank you Susanne!
Part of how this works is I tell you 7 things about myself then I present the stylish award to 15 other fabulous bloggers. So.....
#1 I believe matching socks with your outfit is optional.
#2 I love love love reading!!!!! Historical Christian Fiction Chic Lit is my fav.
#3 Most of the jewelry on my characters I own and some of it is from my awesome friend Amy. She sells it here!
#4 My first major of choice was Fashion Design. Oooo la la!
#5 I love doing food challenges. I was a vegetarian for a year, and a raw foodist and gluten free girl for a week.
#6 My favorite food is Ethiopian cuisine.
and #7 I try to put a snail in as many illustrations as I can.

Now the 15 lucky bloggers are...
aleksandra-chabros.blogspot.com
allididwaslisten.blogspot.com
annejewett.blogspot.com
callyjanestudio.blogspot.com
candaceillustration.blogspot.com
blogdebsart.blogspot.com
double-sideofacoin.blogspot.com
humbleartsjournal.blogspot.com
jessielilac.blogspot.com
kristahamrick.blogspot.com
lovetoillustrate.blogspot.com
sniplings.blogspot.com
shishir-naik.blogspot.com
shirleysillustrations.blogspot.com
sandygrafik.blogspot.com

IF-Resolutions

This is actually my thought from a few words back.."Winter" but I finally got around to finishing it so now it's for "Resolution". 

Click on the image to see it and the caption larger!