A colorful thrift.

I cleaned up our closet this morning and took out anything we hadn't worn in a while. Tonight I took it all to the resale shop and lucked out when they decided to purchase the majority of it. So I picked out a few new items for myself and when I got home decided it was appropriate to put them all on at once. I loved the colors, and apparently I picked them to match my kitchen. 

(Bowie approved.)

Sketchbook progress.

I had intended to share a lot more from my Sketchbook Project as I filled the pages, but it seems as if I never remember to do that. I got a new scanner at my desk in cubeland so I decided to scan a page from it as a test run.

It's hard to be devoted to two sketchbooks at once, this one and my regular one. I don't ever remember keeping any of my regular sketchbooks for more than a year because I always ran out of pages...my current one is going on two years. I'm getting antsy for a fresh start as usual. 

A Very Standard Christmas - Volume 3.

Every year I illustrate the Christmas compilation album for my friends at Standard Recording. This year it just so happens to feature one of my favorite subjects: cats. Which makes sense because all of the money raised by this album goes to the FACE Low Cost Spay and Neuter Clinic in Indianapolis. So what's holding you back? Go here to listen to and download the album: http://standard.nuvo.net/

(Side note: The album cover subjects include our two cats, and cats in the Standard family. And one fluffy grey. Also, Marla Hansen is fantastic. Check out her EP.)

The tinsel tree.

I had spotted this great idea somewhere on the vast internet to drill a hole in a log to make a base for an artificial tree. I absolutely loved it and luckily enough, my uncle happened to have the perfect log for us. I love that it gives my great grandma's tiny tree some nice height. 

Most of the ornaments on our tree have some sort of sentimental value to me. I remember the times that I received them, or bought them, or they remind me of a particularly good Christmas from the past. Some of the ornaments have been around since before I was born, and some of them were just purchased on our honeymoon last year. 

This is the third year that I've set up this old tinsel tree and although I definitely miss the smell of the real deal in my living room, I love how sparkly this one is. 

(And yes, there's already a present under the tree! It feels very odd for me to have something wrapped up already since I normally do it much closer to Christmas, but one of Andrew's gifts came in the mail and I had no idea where to hide it.)

Let the festivities begin!

Saturday I did a little thrifting with my aunts and cousin to get Christmas presents. Our gift giving theme this year is "everything old is new again" so I picked up a lot of stuff that I'm going to repurpose into new gifts. I also found this box of vintage glass ornaments that I had to get. I just love the colors so much. Andrew and I set up our little aluminum tree last night and some of these made an appearance on it.

The Christmas Cactus is blooming.

These plants are named after the holidays because these times coincide with the time of year when they will bloom naturally in the Northern hemisphere. The Easter Cactus blooms in the spring and the Christmas cactus blooms in the winter.

The flowers produced are red, pink, peach, or white and can appear in massive numbers on a single plant. They open in daylight and then close in the evening.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holiday_Cactus)

Moustached Bear for Moustache Sunday.

A friend of mine at work organized this event for next Sunday:

All procedes will benefit cancer awareness and you can learn more about it at http://www.movember.com/

I'm contributing this piece to the art raffle:

So if you're in the area and free next Sunday then I highly suggest coming out. Especially if you're tired of turkey and have a hankering for a tasty hot dog.