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!

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.