Put yourself in their shoes

Nothing wrenches my heart more than the thought of a child with a life-threatening illness. Nothing. When Ana sent out a tweet asking for donations for Malia, the heartache was especially strong. You see, Malia was diagnosed with cancer at 2 1/2, the age our Mabel is now. She's just a toddler and she already knows what it means to fight for her life.  The thought just makes me sob.

Once again, I can't do much myself, but I do have a couple Wolfie and the Sneak items. I have 2 of these 17 x 22" banners ready to ship. $55 ea. shipping incl, all proceeds (price minus shipping) will go directly to help Malia and her family. If you're interested, send a note to nobiting [at] gmail [dot] com and we'll get it all figured out. Even if you don't need a little art for your walls, consider sending the family a donation. The bills are stacking up as the family concentrates on getting their little girl better.

Under Rocks and Over Joyed

OK, I've been under a rock. I actually knew very little about a certain media-frenzied court case that ended yesterday. Turns out, I'm pretty glad about that.

But this morning I clicked a link to a recipe for jam popsicles and was taken to a blog where I saw another link for an interesting book all about canning. I'm always up for creative and tasty canning recipes.

I clicked the link to the book's site and realized said book {We Sure Can!} was written by Sarah B. Hood, one of my You Grow Girl friends who was also a witness for our Toronto nuptials. {FYI: Sarah is an excellent tour guide!}

When friends do awesome things and other friends don't know it, well, that's a bad rock to be under. Watch out, I'm climbing out. 

Out of utter excitement and love for Sarah, I ordered 2 copies of the book: one for my stash and one to give away! In about 2 weeks I'll have the books in my grubby little paws, which means you have 2 weeks to come up with an entry to win: blog your favorite preserves recipe and post a link in the comments here. If you don't blog, email it to me (link in sidebar). Include a picture of your homemade concoction and you'll be entered 3 times! The winner will be chosen at random, and the winning recipe will be tested and tasted and reposted here.

Contest closes July 20, 2011, 11:59 PM, and limited to North American readers {to keep postage down}.

Hop to it, my little canning kitties!

Buy Art, Give Blood

The Raleigh, NC area is still healing from the tornadoes several weeks ago, and now those tornadoes seems like babies compared the mile-wide nightmare that ripped through Alabama.

If you have a little spending money, all proceeds from poster and print sales in the shop today will be given to the Birmingham, Alabama chapter of the Red Cross. I don't have a lot of money to give, but I do have a bunch of prints printed, and I have to give what I can...right now that's talent and product.

Big Cartel just changed the set up, too, so if you like a design but want a different size than what was listed before there are now options within each design. You can pick print, poster or giant poster sized!

Plus, if you've been eying the 4 seasons print, it's now $45 on sale.

Also, the Raleigh Tornado Relief is still going strong with lots and lots of goodies.  Even if you just need to restock your coffee supply, a NC roaster has donated beans!

breathe the fresh air

Anything that transports me from my desk to the dirt is alright by me. Enter tend. It's an absolutely beautiful collective of gardeners tending their plants and sharing gorgeous pictures that make you feel like you're right there with them.

Go breathe the fresh air and find inspiration.

Tend is:  Shari, Natalie, Julia, Heather, and Amy.

matters of the heart

I've mentioned Puloverchito before, but his work is so relevant and beautiful. This (left) is an illustration for an upcoming magazine article on organ donation. It struck a cord this week: I found out a friend has bone cancer and another friend (a waitress at a regular haunt) had a scooter accident and died soon after. The flowers in this image and the message itself are just what I needed after all the heavy news around these parts. But at the same time, long lost friends have appeared again, and the sorrow becomes joy.
I hold onto things with a deep sentiment. It's not always healthy, and used to become a dark pit of depression. I'm learning how to control the deep depression, and appreciate the revolving door of interactions. It's the same with the little bits of waste that end up in my art. Beauty in the overlooked, just waiting for the day where it fits with something perfectly, not unlike love itself.

The image on the right (top image) is from Erin/Yellow Canoe. With all these comings and goings, the thought keeps running through my mind, "Won't you take your coat off and stay awhile?" Just for a brief pause, let's sit quietly and appreciate each other and be each others home for a moment.

So on the theme of old made new again,

this summer I will be in the Old School Show at the Uppercase Gallery. I'm thrilled to be in such excellent company as Abbey Hendrickson and, well, everyone else. I've been clicking on the links as time permits, and finding new and inspiring work each time.

Just as Sweet Jessie said, it's a little bit terrifying!

And they've had a William Shatner themed show. Which, in my book, is just about as cool as it gets. I love me some Shat.

love+snow

Today is one of those gray, snowy-rainy-sleety days that makes winter seem like winter, and has been long anticipated round these parts. But for whatever reason (Seasonal Unaffected Disorder?) I've been drawing shells lately. Well, a shell. The same one, an oyster shell, carrying it around the house, plopping down at will to draw it's layers and topography and wonder at the beautiful calcium growth and the life it had, the time it captured.

I recently finished one of the topography pieces I was working on, I see this body of work slowly making sense. As I posted the image of it to my flickr account, here are the words that came to me:

"ecology is an ongoing theme in my work, from appreciating the smallest details of nature to recycling waste materials into art. this piece is no different. It's a reflection of erosion and the complicated forms of change our environment endures on a daily basis."

These words were written after I read new plans of leasing out drilling rights in Alaska. And all I could do is wonder about what kind of changes we're fostering?

What kinds of changes am I fostering?

So I have an invitation for you, readers: To donate a work of art to a little group effort that will benefit the Sierra Club. Auctions will start February 1 on eBay with enough time to be sold and shipped for Valentine's day presents. Are you up for it? if so, email me: nobiting [at] gmail.com and I'll give you more info.

Also, don't forget the opportunity to be a part of the Lovely Hearts 2 show!

I'm sure this is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg of giving for me, what are some of your own ideas to instigate change?

During the holidays, as stress levels rise and financial constraints thicken tension, take a moment to think of something you might be able to give to a local shelter. Shelters get busier this time of year, and a few extra resources can be a huge help.

If you want to give to the 3rd (is it really 3rd?!?) Annual Warm Winter Wear Drive through You Grow Girl, the details are here.

{making monday wonderful}

Altruism in the Morning

Sia Grafica (especially loved seeing the interview with Erin Lang Norris of Yellow Canoe)

Jill Bliss and Saelee Oh have made the most beautiful calendar, available via Little Paper Planes.

Sometimes funny, sometimes brilliant shameless self promotion.

Which is a great lead in for my own shameless self promotion:
The calendars are designed and printed and I've got 40 left of the 100!

If you want to support 2 indie shops at once, you can order your calendar through both Modishoppe and the IndieFixx Shop, both places are terrific resources for buying outside the box, so at each place, you're helping the shop keeper as well as Wolfie and the Sneak. Buying from indie shops is like a terrific back rub for your ethos!

brighter days ahead. . . new doorprize!

I have been so glum lately, not posting and then posting horrific news. Yesterday I was really in the pit of my grief, but also wondering why these people I barely knew touched me so deeply.

It's those connections we all make. The ones that open our eyes to see the body in front of us, beside us in the car, the bodies all around us as humans rather than inconveniences. Those guys made me feel human when I was in line ordering lunch. It's so easy to forget the respect each of us deserves simply by being human, especially when another person interrupts our path of travel, sometimes literally, sometimes metaphorically. I wonder if we would be a kinder civilization if we reached out and felt the skin of another person as we interacted. Okay, that might be a little odd, especially coming from me. . .I like a nice distance and looooove my personal space. But finding that small way to contact someone, and for a second feel their tenderness, peer into their humanity and connect with the fragility and significance that deep down makes us all the same.

This is the part where I tie the pictures with the words poured on the screen. It's the little glimpses that count. What you see are small details, little changes. The top is a pile of things to be mailed and delivered. Beautiful, detailed little packages can be such a delight, and they let the recipient know how special they are. A small moment of happiness that shares the philosophy of creating a special gift for a friend. But also, the pink bag and the paper with the print mounted to it. How can I rationalize using plastic bags for my prints anymore? I can't guarantee they won't end up in the landfill. My responsibility towards other people is to use recyclable, biodegradable products, so they can maintain their small glimpses into the beautiful world around us. (The pink bag is for mini-prints and small pieces in the future, the bottom image is an empty record sleeve, trimmed and reused as the rigid packaging for mailing out my products.)

{So the doorprize?}
I'd like to send you a small gift. Comment below and on Friday I'll draw an name and send out some Wolfie and the Sneak delights!

What should you say? Tell me how you've connected with someone you barely knew. It needn't be an elaborate story, just some way you helped connect with the world.
I'll draw 3 names and send them a "collections" poster (winners choose which they want!) and several other little goodies.

I'm on vacation this week, although my vacations seem to be when I'm commissioned to make something, so it's not entirely a vacation.
However, making things + money = one of my favorite things to have the chance to do in life, so I'm very grateful!
Why am I on the computer, you wonder? Well, I seem to be glued to Poppy Talk, since the Poppy/Sneak giveaway started! All you have to do is comment on the post with a link to your favorite design/crafty blog and you're entered to win. The lovely Jan will draw a winner on Friday and you'll receive the first (from a run of 10) print from my newest drawing!
Other things I love? Obviously, giving things away!! I love giving gifts! I also love Cole Gerst's art, which is dangerously close to mine in the left corner, and I'm secretly hoping they'll get their paper-booties on and make colorful little art prints of their own. *sigh*
Okay, time to turn the computer off, enjoy the eerily loud-this-year cicadas, and finish the bathroom project.

get up, stand up! help a sister out

if you're a crafty sort, there's little doubt you've heard of mymy, an indie shopping dream.
perhaps you also keep up with Taryn's blog well enough to know her sister is in the hospital?

as seems to be the too common case, living a passionate existence doesn't seem to coincide with a well-insured one, and Jenifer, a single mother who works 2 jobs AND pitches in over at mymy.

well, the ever-so-lovely Trisha combs has decided to step up and help out; she's looking for goodies to fill a basket for a raffle to benefit Jenifer's hospital bills.

if you have any goodies to give, please contact Trisha at jeniraffle [at] gmail.com
she needs the definites by September 1st!
more info here.