Sweet me ?

I have been quite busy with my work this week and will be so next week too with the Chinese New Year Day added to it :-). I think what is challenging to me right now is how to balance all the things I want to do (work, Etsy, sketchbook) properly and productively. I try to create at day when there's enough natural light for me to work on computer without stressing my eyes. Communicate at night when I can just sit back and enjoy all the beautiful blogs and sites. I still think I haven't visited and commented all of your blogs often enough though. Will try harder. I love the feeling of commenting and getting feedback. ^-^

I have just added this new illustration card in my shop. It comes from a doodle I drew last November The doodle was done in red and blue lines, which I really like but I also wanted to see the flower in color too :-) I always like pastel pink. The color gives me a feeling of fresh air and sweet moments or rose tea. Something innocently romantic :-)

I think 'Thinking of You' is an appropriate caption for this design, but I like this 'Sweet me' better. It sounds like cute and friendly 'tweet me' :-) What do you think?

You can find my card here : Sweet Me Flower Girl card

It's Saturday already. The weather is a bit cool this morning and I feel like doing nothing all day!

Hmm...this post seems written incoherently, sorry about that. Somehow my head is so foggy that I cannot even take in a good news that comes in my mail this morning :-)

Better get up and do some exercise to clear my head now.

Thanks for coming. I wish you a merry day :-)

Come fly with me

Hmm...I have just realized that I completely forgot to post about my latest illustration card! How could I let it slip from my mind??

Anyway, I listed this Come Fly with Me Hot Balloon design card in my shop just last week. I got the concept from my best friend. She wanted a cute illustration New Year card for her fan club (she's a novelist). Book and traveling were keywords. I thought of airplane and travel luggage first but they seemed so dry. Then I thought of a blogger talking about her hot balloon experience over canyon. I was impressed. It must have been mesmerizing moment to be up there in the sky, feel cool breeze and admire the beauty of the earth.

So, here is my illustration originated from the idea. My friend got her personalized version, of course. She is kind enough to let me put the design on my shop too. I really enjoy drawing this and the result is satisfying.

If you like this, please share. It would be nice to see my girl riding balloon and be out in the bigger world of internet!

Sunday sketch

I have tried to make Sunday my non-digital day, no digital drawing, no internet just hand drawn art or reading, for some time. But sometimes, like today, I just can't help it. I turn on computer, check mails and do some work. I know that I will feel tired tomorrow, probably feeling like I have no rest from previous week. So, I think I'd better be offline and read something now :-)

Have a merry weekend everyone!

sketchbook : new theme

So now I'm beginning a new sketchbook. This time I prepared the book first. I use the same kind of book which is Moleskine cahier. The downside of this cahier is that its paper is very thin so I have to back up every other pages to make it thicker. My Sketchbook Project has all kind of different colored paper sheets. But for this book, I choose to limit only yellow, brown, gray and black :-)

As for the theme, I first thought of 'nature', something that I always enjoyed drawing but it might be too familiar already so I thought about 'birds', which I rarely drew and wanted to practice drawing. Then one of my MerryDay FB page's friends, Susi Art suggested this theme of 'friendship'. I think the idea is very interesting and challenging. So, here my first page of the new sketchbook.

Now, do you want to join me in building this book? I'm looking for nice, cute or funny quotes about friendship to draw. Just tell me your favorite quotes or your own words and I will draw for you!

My most favorite quote right now is:

"A good friend will always stab you in the front." — Oscar Wilde.

This is not nice nor cute but quite funny and definitely true!

Drawing Lab Challenge compilation

I spent last week taking new pictures of all my Etsy items on my shop. I think the shop looks more refreshing now. I'm also creating a new cute design set. Will talk about it soon. But for today, let's talk about some sketching!

I have totally neglected my participation in Drawing Lab Challenge for so long. It's about time to catch up with it now.

These are 3 labs I just did last weekend. Not really complete pieces, just hand drawn practice and I enjoyed them very much :-)

Lab 41 : Nature Walkabout

The idea of this lab is to grab paper and pen and walk outside, observe and draw whatever you see. Fill the page. Come back and connect all the things you draw together to make one piece of work. This is my final:



And this is what I had drawn before:



Lab 12 : For Your Eyes Only

Basically just to draw eyes. There are more details in this practice but I was too tired to follow everything. So, I just enjoyed drawing. First realistically:



Then stylized:



I wish I would draw more weird shapes, play something with these but it seems that I kept repeating some similar lines. My imagination didn't work very well that night :-P

The last one, Lab 24 : Scribbly Drawings

Just scribble. Work lines from within not from outline as we generally do. I drew my little bear doll. It's a strange feeling not to draw outline first but It's getting more fun as I drew and drew. I guess I could keep on drawing through the whole book!



I love my little bear running on the lower right corner, do you?

Last Day of FREE SHIPING!

Today (January 15) is the last day of MerryDay's FREE SHIPPING! There is more cuteness to come but, to save some money, why don't you grab this chance first!

Have a merry day! ^-^

Sketchbook Project 2011 : mission complete!!

And now it's all done! My Sketchbook Project 2011 is all done! Forgive my repetition but I'm doing happy dancing and feeling so relieved now :-D I spent my whole yesterday drawing and coloring like mad, all 22 pages! I got really dizzy at the end of the day :-P

There are some pages that I don't quite like so I don't put them here but I have already uploaded the whole book on my flickr set for you to browse. The pages are not in chronological order as I jumped around through the book.

Now I think I will choose some of these pages and make them into digital prints or cards for my shop. What do you think? I have already done my most favorite : Savor the Moment and will show it here soon.

If you have time, please go and look at the whole book and tell me which one you like best. I'm really curious!

Thank you so much for all your comments. You really keep me going and please come back as I will continue another sketchbook project, this time of my own! :-D

say hi...

Say Hi Balloon Notecard



Have a Merry Day Lettering Notecard

Glad you enjoy my post of Stylish Blogger Awards :-) Those who are on my love list, please tell me when you post about it.

How was everyone's weekend? I spent my two days trying to finish my Sketchbook Project (will update the whole batch tomorrow) and making 2 new notecards for my shop. My mind has been occupied with the shop lately. It seems that there are so many things I have to learn and figure out how to improve and make sales. I try not to get overstressed and balance it with my other things. But yesterday I got a feeling like one of my drawing here that I have million ideas going on in my head and I don't seem to catch up with them all!

Anyway, what do you think about my notecards? I try to create more of my lettering design. Have fun doing it!

I'm off to finish my Sketchbook now :-)

By the way, I think I will change my Book beauty Monday to some other day because I always want to talk about something else on Monday :-P

Sketchbook Project progress : almost there! part2 :-)

Another pages for my Sketchbook Project 2011. If you just happen to come here, I have uploaded all my previous pages of this book on my flickr here There are more to come and I really really need to finish it by Sunday *finger crossed*

In the mean time, I have just been given a Stylish Blogger Award from 2 lovely fellow bloggers, yeevon and Saralynnart! Thanks so much you guys. I feel so honored :-D

Basically, the award works like this:

• Thank and link back to the person that awarded me.
• Share 7 things about myself.
• Pay it forward to 15 recently discovered bloggers.
• Contact those bloggers about the award!

Here are my 7 things:

• I am a super sleepy person. I don't fall asleep too easily, not like that, but I can yawn all day and always have a look of Garfield, you know, with half-lidded eyes like this (-_-) Coffee just makes me sleepier too, really!

• I grew up reading Japanese manga and spent my time after school drawing paper dolls, mostly with same repeated outfits :-P

• I never kept a complete sketchbook. I could fill only half of school sketchbook and never colored in it. That's why I'm pretty proud with my Sketchbook Project here:-)

• I'm a book-buying addict. My speed of reading is far behind the speed of buying :-P Anyone knows any group therapy?

• One of my client once said that my work looked much merrier than my appearance (read the first one) -_-

• My favorite time of day is at night when I sit quietly reading or sketching or doing nothing :-)

• I love using my favorite mechanical pencil drawing on Caslon Sketchbook. Never use ordinary pencil.

• My favorite drink right now is banana milk :-)

That's it! Just silly things but now you know me better ^-^ and now I pass on the awards to:

the yellow umbrella
Kristin Dudish
Facets and Fractals
Evelyn
Illustrations and Fimo Characters
The Quotidian Journal
pop-i-cok
melissa liban illustrations
Property of Kelly
My Giant Strawberry
vink design
life without novacaine
red yarn
waterstone
sweet tidings

Before you go, have you seen my new item for Valentine's Day yet? >>

I Give My Love to You Valentine's Day Gift Card by MerryDay on Etsy

Sketchbook Project progress : almost there!

I try to draw every night. There's still more I have to show here and 12 spreads to fill in. My mind already jumps to the next sketchbook. This time it will be my own project so that I don't have to part with it at the end as I have to for the Sketchbook Project 2011 :-(. I feel sad already but to think that more people will see my drawings, it's kind of exciting!

I should finish this book by the end of this week. I must, actually :-P

I Like : Saralynnart's beautiful drawing

Last month I was so lucky that I won 2 giveaways from 2 inspiring artist bloggers. One is on the way and the other is this lovely postcard pack from Sara Lynn Art a talented illustrator whose hand drawn illustration just captures me :-)

The giveaway includes 3 lovely cards above, among which I like this one the best >>



Look at the stroke details. Amazing, isn't it? I also like the faint red that blends very well with pale gray strokes. This really gives out a sense of a cozy, peaceful night. Outside is cold with falling snow, but with a cup of hot coffee (or chocolate?), she's just happy enough, I think ^-^



Best of all is this charming mini print. She uses this drawing as her avatar and I think I remember her from the beginning because of this unique image.



There are other drawings that I like, such as this one and this one. OK, I think you'd better go to her blog and see for yourself. ^-^

And don't forget to stop by her Etsy shop too!

My Etsy week with new items!

Hello everyone, how was your New Year Holiday? I had a great time reading, sketching and preparing new items for my shop:-)

I had decided to make my first week of this year my Etsy week. That is to add new items and renovate shop appearance. I spent the whole yesterday taking photos of the new items and just finished listing them this afternoon. There are 17 items on my shop now but I still have more to create and add so that people will have some variety to browse and enjoy.



Let me introduce you to one of my newest listings here: This Growing My Love For You gift card set was transformed from one of my doodles I did when I just started the shop. As some of you may know, I love drawing things on little girls' heads. No reason, just have fun with it. I also found from my drawing practice in The Sketchbook Project 2011 how much I enjoy doing curvy lettering. So, I added the 'love you' to the leaves. Do you like it?



It's funny how just a bit of little girl's head tilting can give cuter and more lively expression. Sometimes I just have to force myself to stop playing around with my drawing or else it will never be finished!

As I once said that my little girls seemed cuter in small size, I made this card half of what I used to do. The size is 7.5x10.5cm. Pretty nice for a gift card. I even made her smaller on mini tag that comes with the set.

I'm still not sure if selling this as a set will work. Maybe people might see the little tags unnecessary? Or should I separate them into 2 listings? What do you think?

I have so much to learn for this shop. It's a hard work but I like the feeling of seeing my drawings turn out good in real prints and even happier when someone appreciate and order them ^-^

I have some other items to talk about but you can go ahead and visit my shop now if you would like.

Oh! Have I said that the FREE SHIPPING period will end on January 15. 2011? Grab this chance to enjoy this cute little girls!

Thank you so much for coming. I will do my best to visit all of your blogs and comment. Have a merry day!

Happy New Year 2011 (and a free calendar desktop :-)

Happy New Year everyone! The rabbit year is welcoming us and I'm pretty sure she will be kind and cute just like my rabbit ^-^

There are so many projects I have noted down for this new year. One thing is definitely the Sketchbook Project 2011 which I haven't completed it yet and there are 15 days left! My Sketchbook fellow, Catherine has just finished her book and I feel so happy for her. What could be happier to complete a project at the end of the year? It makes us more confident and ready to start a new journey at the beginning of the new year, I guess. I envy her :-)

Another thing that I vow that I must make it better is my MerryDay shop. I started the shop on January last year but I admit that I didn't put enough effort to make it live. This year I am going to push myself more. Be more creative, be more disciplined. That's what I try to recite to myself since I did the Art Every Day Month last November

These two projects (Sketchbook Project and Art Every Day) really help me focus and I feel that they have already contributed to my Etsy attempt. My shop still looks the same just now but I have already prepared new items, new look for it. Just have to shoot photos and make new listings :-)

Meanwhile, do you want my January rabbit calendar for your desktop? You can download it here. There are 2 sizes :

1024x687 : pavinees.com/wallpaper/merry_wall01_1024.jpg
1680x1050 : pavinees.com/wallpaper/merry_wall01_1680.jpg