Updates as promised.

This week about a bazillion thoughts have been running through my head. It been hard to prioritize what should come first on my giant to-do list: illustrate book, researching grad schools, trying to find a big kid job, not to mention fitting in friends and family.

So as promised, here are a few quick look into the book I've been working on.

This is one of the completed characters.

This is the sketch of the next scene that I'm currently working on. 

 

 

I finally cleared off my painting table to make room to work on this again, I'll still be painting but less so in order to finish the book by my self-made deadline of Halloween.

Today my daily Esty email showed off these too beautiful bags that I just had to share. I wish I could justify spending money on them.

This one is by EllaOsix. She uses vintage fabrics to make each of her  bags (and they're very reasonably priced!)

This next one was the very last on my email (see it pays to look through the whole list!) I just love how chic yet professional it looks. I'd love to be able to take with with me to interviews and business meetings. 

The Cottage Cupboard is responsible for this creation. All her bags are very smart looking. 

Lastly  for today I wanted to share my ribbon holder that I'm so proud of! It was super easy to make. I just bought a dowel rod and hand saw from work (they gave me base made of scrap wood for free!). Next I measured how far apart I wanted the rods and sawed them to the same length. I did make sure to sand and wipe down all the pieces before assembly. This helps the paint to stick better and to make sure I don't end up with any nasty splinters. If I had a cordless drill I would have made holes for the dowels to be glued in (unfortunately that item is still on my need-to-buy-list/on-my-Christmas-list) so I just glued the pieces to the board, taped them in place, and let it dry over night. Next step was just a simple prime and paint job. I chose black since it would be a better base color for which the ribbon colors would stick out on and it would give the whole piece more weight. So ta-da! A new snazzy ribbon organizer!

I'm pretty sure I got the idea from a DYI magazine at work. Either way it's a great simple and easy project that anyone can do. Now no more ribbon going every which direction!