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Last month Jon and I celebrated our 11th year anniversary. Crazy. I sometimes feel like we are the same young rock-a-billy kids who fell for each other so many years ago. I mean just look at that pompadour on Jon. How could I resist this cutie? I'm not sure what was going on with my fashion, but I think I was trying to channel the "skater girl" look? Who knows really ...anyway...those were the days, right?
On one of our first "dates" in college we walked around my neighborhood for hours into the night. We just walked and talked about our dreams. How we wanted to travel, create art, perform, change the world, you know all that sort of mushy "you just might be the one" type of stuff. We definitely had the rosy colored "starving artist" glasses on and I'm pretty sure we were both hooked from that night on.
Being freelancers - myself an illustrator, creator, and kids craft
blogger, etc. -and Jon an actor, director, teacher etc., life
together has definitely been an adventure. It hasn't always been easy -
not having consistent income, stability, etc. - but I think it's the only
kind of life either of us can really live (otherwise, believe you me,
we'd change things up in a heartbeat! Security and comfort is so NOT overrated, especially with kids).
Throughout our journey together we've been able to travel and live in some pretty incredible places. We started our second year of marriage in NYC and loved it. I think we will always hold a special place in our hearts for NYC. So many things happened for us there and the friends and experiences we had there are unforgettable. We then switched gears and headed south to Knoxville, TN for Jon's graduate school. We bought our first home and that is where we had A (how has it been 6 years?!). Needless to say, this time of our lives, being first time parents, is very special to us.
Then Jon graduated and it was off to LA to dive right into Hollywood. We loved living in South Pasadena and we of course had Little O there. My boys loved Cali and still talk about their friends, the beach, the sun and of course the myriad of exciting amusement parks that were available there. Jon and I also made some wonderful friends who mean so much to us.
We have now moved on and Jon is living his dream as a college acting/theater professor. And let me tell you, he's a natural at it - students love him and he's most definitely in his element in the classroom. In addition to illustrating, I've loved where blogging has taken us and I'm so grateful for opportunities, friends and associations I've been able to make through Mer Mag. Baby number three is about to arrive and we are thrilled about what the next chapter in our life has in store for us (even if we are just a tad bit freaked out about it!).
So as you can see, we don't seem to stay still for very long. In fact, we sort of have a joke that we have a three year limit. When three years hits (right when we're feeling settled and at home) we start getting antsy and life calls for a change of scenery. With kids however, we do hope to find a spot we can call home for a longer period of time (especially for A who doesn't like change so much at all). But in the mean time I think the Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zero's song, "Home is Wherever I'm With You" pretty much sums it up for us.
So as a gift to Jon, I created an original paper cut out based on this song (which we of course both love). I wanted it to be a companion piece to the I Lovely Love My Family paper cut out art that I gifted him a couple of years ago. (I think we have a thing for songs in our family...)
And just like the Lovely Love prints, I'm offering a selection of "Home is Wherever I'm With You" prints (in all the same Lovely Love colors!) in my shop for you to also place in
your homes (wherever they may be!). Skip on over to the shop to take a look!
And what about you? Any good stories about how home has come to mean more about who you are with than where it is you live? I'd love to hear them!
Friends it's almost the weekend and that means it's almost time for another fun and crafty filled weekend with Mer Mag and GAP Kids! This Saturday your little shining all stars will be making their very own custom journal!
I love the idea of getting your kids into journal writing at an early age. My boys each have a journal and we try to have them write in it at least once a week. Little O can't really write as of yet but he can draw pictures and I can write in captions of what he says.
It's so great to look back at these to see what you children were interested in and what little thoughts go through their adorable heads. For example, A used to have a lot of imaginary friends. They have not really been around for the past year and I'm afraid I would completely forget about this stage in his little life if we hadn't written about them all and drawn a number of pictures of them (their names were Pusa - his absolute best imaginary friend - Tiger, Patrick, Weird, and more). I miss the silly imaginary guys but It think that now that Little O is an older playmate for A, his need for imaginary friends has diminished.
Little O's thoughts these days are very Mario centric. Right now it seems like there will never be an end to Mario talk around here but I'm sure one day he'll grow out of if and I'll love looking back at all pictures and stories we've told. (Can you guess what the boys will be for Halloween this year? I'm having fun trying to figure out how to get into that one...).
If you live by one of the participating GAP stores, I would highly recommend stopping in for some journal making and back to school shopping (they have some great sales and I love their selection this fall!).
Journal making will take place from:
10AM - 1PM
at any of the following GAP Kids locations:
New York: 85th & 3rd
San Francisco: Los Gatos
Los Angeles: Sherman Oaks
Chicago: Old Orchard
Boston: Natick Mall
Miami: Coco Walk
Philadelphia: Walnut St.
Dallas: Stonebriar
Toronto: Yorkdale
And like always, I'd LOVE to see any pics of your little ones creating as well as what their final journals end up looking like! Just email them over and I'd love to put them on the blog.
xo
Mer
 It's that time of year again. School is almost out for the summer and A is growing out of practically every shirt he owns. We needed to think fast (and thrifty) so off to the store to get $1 shirts (we found ours at the Dollar Tree) and then back to the craft lab to create some one of a kind tees.
I knew I wanted these to be graphic and simple (design wise at and to make). First we started with a simple little octopus illustration for the navy blue T-shirt. This little guy is hinting at us all kinds of exciting summer water adventures in store for us. I'm really craving the ocean as of late and we're hoping this guy can lead the way.
 For our second heather grey tee, we simplified things even more and went with a large house graphic of sorts. You could take this in a million different directions if you were making your own (add a chimney, front door, windows, etc.) but we decided to keep things super simple, and we love it.
 And for our final black T-shirt we went freestyle and created a connect-the-dots geometric design with white fabric paint. (Sorry the photo is blurry but I liked how this pic showed his shirt, and personality, the best). This is a fun one to do with your Littles. You could paint on the large circles and then have them connect them with lines. My boys loved this and pronounced it to be a "kite" when it was complete.
 If you are interested in making some of these shirts yourself, I've included our little octopus friend in stencil form to make things easy for you. You can download the pdf of him here:
As for the others, I'm thinking they are pretty straight forward. For the house, you can create your own freezer paper stencil house however you like best. And for our geometric "kite"...well the doors wide open for what you could do on your own with this.
Enjoy and happy last few weeks of school!
Speaking of which, are you are already making big summer travel plans? What about summer classes for the Littles? Do you go with sports? arts and crafts? music? or all of the above? How does one decide? I'd LOVE to hear your tips as I'm trying to figure this out now for my little guys and I'm all in a tizzy!
 Mom's are the best, right? And although we should be celebrating them on a daily basis, I'm so glad we have a specific day set aside to show the mother's in our lives just how much we really appreciate all that they do for us. Well, Mother's Day is just 3 days away which leaves just enough time for last minute gift ideas. In fact, this idea was so last minute last year (yes, I said last year) that I didn't have time to blog about it in time for Mother's Day 2011. But for 2012, I've got you covered (I'm just really on the ball for this year, right? Which is a good thing because I've been swamped drawing so many little darlings due to the large amount of Mother's Day portrait orders from the Daily Candy Kids coverage...Way to think ahead, that's what I say).
 With my free downloadable herringbone patterned envelopes and some custom
stamped monogram cards (easily made by you with a stamp or sponge using letter stencils - perhaps with some help from the kiddos?), you have the
perfect gift to let the mother's in your life know how much you love them.
 To download the hand painted green herringbone envelope, just click here.
 And to download the hand painted peach herringbone envelope, just click here.
Wishing you all the most wonderful Mother's Day weekend! And happy Mother's Day to all you beautiful mothers out there!
xo
Mer
Happy Valentines Day friends! How is your day going so far? Jon spelled out J+M in a heart for me with chalk on the driveway which started the day out just right.
I've been stuffing my face with chocolates, decadent cookies and Cinnabun pancakes all week thanks to a wonderful Valentines exchange that I was lucky enough to attend over the weekend. Stephanie Ford, from Sycamore Street Press, hosted the get together at her swoon worthy abode and several of us gals brought unique Valentines to share with one another. For my contribution I decided to use watercolor to write out "love" on several different cards. I then added a little quote about love on each card and passed them out with a little chocolate treat.
I can't decide which card ended up being my favorite but I know I had a lot of fun making these. I love the idea of having Valentines parties for just the gals. Have you ever had a get together like this? If not, I highly suggest it.
Any exciting dinner plans for the evening? A night out with your sweetheart, the gals or just a comfortable night in with the family? That is most likely what we'll be doing. Jon and I used to really live up Valentines Day when we lived in NY. We decided it was our one day of the year to really splurge and celebrate each other and our marriage. I remember some melt in you mouth pasta from an Italian restaurant where there was a dress code and the waiters would come and brush away any crumbs that might fall on your table during the duration of your meal. And then there was Cafe des Artists where I had the most phenomenal fish dish in the world. And there was an Asian restaurant that was out of this world. I think it was a star hang out spot and I even think they have filmed a couple of movies there. They had the most gigantic Buddha I've ever seen. That place was a little too fast and furious for our taste but still a lot of fun. I'll have to ask Jon what the name of it was as I can't recall just now.
But for this year, well I think we'll avoid the crowds tonight and then go out on Saturday. I'll have to come up with something scrumptious to make here at home for this evening...will have to see...
Happy Valentines to you all and I hope you enjoy yourself thoroughly!
XO
mer
If you haven't yet been over to Creature Comforts to check out EZ's fabulous online holiday guide, Gifted, you should do so now. It's a fantastically curated guide chock-full of unique and of-the-moment gift items. EZ was so sweet to ask me to create some free downloadable gift tags for the guide and I couldn't be more happy to share them all with you. You can find them on page 136. I can't wait to get all my Christmas shopping complete so that I can get to wrapping, wrapping, wrapping!
But before the wrapping, there is the shopping, shopping, shopping. And that's where EZ's guide hits a home run. I'm especially impressed with her round up of gifts for the guys (which, trust me, is not always easy). I would seriously get everything from pages, 20, 27 and 28 for Jon if I could. And after showing Jon, he wholeheartedly agreed. And I think Little A needs the ridiculously cute real tool kit by Romp on page 71 and Little O would love to dress up in the darling Kalon Studios masks on page 72.
And if you want to know how I stay in the spirit of things and somewhat on top of it all during the bustling season, take a look at my interview in last years Gifted guide on pages 15 and 16. And as far as favorite holiday jingles go, I simply must add the dreamy vocals of Zoe Deschanel in A Very She and Him Christmas. I've been waiting for this ever since I first heard her smoky voice in ELF and rest assured I haven't stopped listening to it since I nabbed it at Barnes and Noble last week!
So now to that shopping, shopping, shopping....
Little A is going to his first day of Kindergarten tomorrow and we had to pull together an "All About Me" poster for the event. Being up against a clock and having most of our stuff in boxes (I can't seem to find the boys art supplies anywhere and we are all going a tad crazy as a result!) I was worried about how "creative" we could be. So I decided to come up with a simple design that was full of photos and spaces where Little A could write in his likes, etc. I was lucky enough to find our 13x19 glossy photo paper (which also happened to perfectly fit the poster we were given for the task). From there I printed out the images (that Little A helped to pick out) and then had Little A write in his interests.
Little A took to it immediately and began filling it out (it didn't hurt that I let him use a permanent marker, his favorite taboo writing utensil of choice).
He then chose to draw a self portrait on the star and I loved how it turn out.
I loved how proud he was of the poster and he insisted on bringing it to Back-to-School night. And me? Well I was wiping my brow with a sigh of relief, glad that I didn't let my "I'm not so great with changes" little guy down in the midst of all these transitions.
Here's hoping the first day of school goes so well!
And in case you are interested, I'm giving you a template (designed in Photoshop) for you to use as well. As I mentioned earlier, It's a nice large size of 13x19 but if can be scaled down if need be for a smaller paper or for scrapbooking, etc. And if you do want to use the larger size, and don't have a large format printer, you can just take your design, via cd or thumb drive, etc., to your local copy center, such as Kinkos, and have it printed out there for you. It fits perfectly on an 14x22 poster board. Just add a title up top and you are good to go.
Download the template here and enjoy!
*sorry, for some reason blogger won't read the link but if you copy and paste the following link into a new window, you should be able to download it. Link here: files.me.com/merrileel/1m0t3l
Last weekend we were able to attend the fabulous LA Renegade Craft Fair which has become a favorite Los Angeles experience for us. It has also become a beloved spot for finding unique, one of kind, back-to-school t-shirts for Little A and this year we made it a point to be on the look out.
We loved quite a few shirts showcased by a number of different vendors but it seems like our tried and true favorite is Pinecone & Chickadee (It didn't hurt that they were the most affordable, and with an in person deal of two for $30, well, we just couldn't resist).
Last year we scooped up the Kids Whale baseball jersey and Sasquatch T-shirt (seen below).
This year we couldn't resist the bright colors and fun graphic illustrations on the Kids Plant and Tiger T-shirts (seen in the top two pics) and Little A is over the moon about them as well. We have our sights set on the Strong Man Tee for next year. After that, here's hoping they come up with more versions, because we're officially hooked!
I once again have to say a BIG thanks for your lovely generosity and kind hearts in reaching out to little Davy and her lovely family. Together we have raised over $2000 for this incredible little girl and I couldn't be happier. The BOGO offer is officially over but, as I mentioned, the print proceeds will continue to go to the Schultz family.
Every time I look up at our framed Lovely, Love artwork a smile comes to my face. It already held such a special place in my heart for my own family, but now there is even more love associated with it. And that is thanks to all of you.
Thank you for being so lovely.
xo Mer
I can't even begin to tell all of you lovely readers what a wonderful opportunity it's been to be in the middle of such an outpouring of love for darling Davy Jean and her family. You guys are the BEST! We've raised over $1000 and that's just in the first three days! I've heard from Ruth and she mentioned that they are now able pay an ambulance bill that they have since May of last year. Way to go you guys!
You have the rest of today and tomorrow for the bogo offer but these print proceeds will continue to go towards this special family, so the Lovely, Love never stops! And as you can see from this incredible stack of Lovely Love orders (which are x'2 as per the sale), that I'll be busy working away on getting all of you fantastic people your lovely prints. It's just me chugging away at these orders, so I appreciate your patience. I promise to get them out in as timely a manner as possible. And thanks again for letting me see your lovely hearts. Your generosity, warmth, kind comments and excitement about helping this inspiring family has really made my week. Thank you all for your Lovely Loveliness.
xo Mer
*image of Davy courtesy of the mom.
I wanted to start Valentines Day off with a lovely, love story and a new print in my shop to go along with it.
About a week ago I got an email from Ruth Schultz, wife of Scott Schultz - the creator of a little known kids show you might have heard of.... Yo Gabba Gabba. Ruth had seen my Lovely, Love My Family paper heart cut out I had made for Jon for Christmas and wanted to purchase a print of it for her husband's office. Needless to say I was completely flattered and more than happy to accommodate. In fact, her request inspired me to take it further and offer several Lovely, Love prints in various colors in my etsy shop.
After hearing from Ruth I later came across this beautiful story about her, her family and more specifically her lovely daughter, Davy. Darling Davy was born with a cleft lip and palate, congenital heart defects and several other conditions. From there I went on to read more about this amazing mother/daughter team on Ruth's own blog, the mom. It didn't take long for me to fall in love with little Davy and her talented, humorous, gorgeous, and incredibly strong mother, Ruth. Her blog tells the story of Davy's growth, trials and triumphs and is filled with hope amidst weariness, and happiness amidst adversity...all while being shared in Ruth's transparent, down to earth, day-in-the-life-of writing style. Ruth is also a mother to three happy, healthy, hyper and hilarious boys, Max, Oliver and Harper. Just about every post concerning these little guys makes me smile with familiarity (and I think I've even spotted one or two or all three of them on our favorite little show ;)). Needless to say, Ruth's a busy woman.
 After catching up on Ruth and Davy, I knew right away that these Lovely, Love prints had to be for them. It just felt right. So I have decided that the proceeds from all of the Lovely, Love prints in my shop will go to Davy and her family for things such as hospital, medical, and doctor bills, medications, supplies, etc. (something I've since learned that they are always in need of, despite the success of the show). And to kick it off, I've decided to start spreading the love around by offering ONE FREE PRINT with every LOVELY, LOVE print purchase...all week long!! Just indicate which print you want for free in the comment section at check out and I'll be sure to mail them both off to you.    A very Happy Valentines day to all of you!! And get on over to the shop, and start your week off right by sharing a little love.
xo
Mer
(all Ruth and Davy photos courtesy of the mom)
*** And there are more prints now back in the shop! So sorry, I wasn't up to speed on things when Odeedoh posted about this, but now there should be plenty...so keep on spreading the love!
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