Spring Time Doodles

My niece, Ali, is 9 years younger than me. She was more like a little sister than niece, and growing up I spent all my spare time at my sister's house playing with Ali. She was my little sidekick and I adored her.  Last week she started her first year as a 3rd grade elementary school teacher. I am so proud of her! She spent this summer planning and preparing her classroom. She had a color theme, purple, turquoise blue, and lime green. She asked me to draw the following animals to decorate her room and bulletin boards.  I'm thinking of making these available on etsy as a package for other teachers to purchase for their classroom. What do you think? One wall had a giant shark that said "Fish are Friends not Food" with a fish tank below it. Then she had a board that said "A Sea of Helpers" with assignments for cleaning the room. The owls each have a number on their belly that correspond to the student's number. The owls are also on

It is the end of the school year and the cheesy teacher gifts are coming out! Check out this link to see past cheesy ideas (free printable for hand soap, flowers, bookmark, and pretty quote you can frame). This year I decided to make a questionnaire for my children to fill out all about their teacher. I love the ones they fill out for Mother's Day or Father's Day, so I decided to make one for their teachers.  Here is a questionnaire for younger children. It has room to draw a picture (to download just click on picture to download to computer and then print, or click her for JPEG or PDF ) My oldest is in 5th grade and she thought she was too old to draw a picture, so her questionnaire just had more questions.  (to download just click on picture to download to computer and then print, or click her for JPEG or PDF ) I loved my children's answers so much that I decided I wanted their whole class to fill them out. I sent a stack (30 papers) to sch

I love love love Valentine's Day cards. But I don't love mushy sappy Valentine's Day cards. That's just wrong. A Valentine's Day card should make you chuckle, giggle, or at least make your mouth grin on one side. And if you still want something sentimental you should write it yourself inside one of my funny cards. Right? These cards are available on my etsy shop with lots more, take a look around! (etsy shop link) wait for it . . . You could delivery this to your sweetheart with a plate of sticky buns, cinnamon buns or just with your buns.  My sister and I had a heated discussion about this card. I made a boy version to give my husband. But do you give your husband the boy or girl card? I was thinking you would give a man the boy card because he is the baker, but my sister thinks you would give your husband the girl card because you are giving it to him. As you can tell we have very intellectual conversations, so just give

It's that time of year again when I can finally post the Christmas portraits I drew the last few months. It's always my busiest time of year and I really appreciate your support and love making new friends from all over! I say this every time, but I mean it every time. I feel so close to these families when I draw them. I look at their pictures, trying to get the hair, clothes and hobbies just right, and after several hours I feel like I know them and feel like we are best friends. Even if I already know that family, I feel like I know them and love them even more. That probably just sounded stalkerish, but it's true. I love these dear families and I believe every family is beautiful. This rad family is my sister-in-law. I loved all the details she asked for. Each person has something that represents them, and her arms are full holding her family that she loves so much. Oh and their momma and baby cow. They are certainly part of the family.  I love the Cook f