Noted author E Lockhart hired my friend Alan Lastufka to create her new website.  One of the pages is full of links to fun things, and she wanted the page to be a bit more cheerful than the rest of her site.  Alan was short on time, so he asked me to cartoon twelve little icons to correspond to her links.  Here’s the result (please click to view at full size):

It seems like everything I’ve been making lately has been mostly Christmas or birthday gifts for people, so I can’t post pictures of anything!   I’ve also been working on some Top Sekrit things for LeakyCon 2011, and I obviously can’t share those later.  Maybe eventually I’ll be able to give you a peek.  ;-)

Hope you all are having fun out there in the world!

<3
Monica

Well, it looks as though “Today I Made” as a 365 project has been a complete failure, as we’re approaching five months and I only have 50 posts. I’m still excited to share the things I’ve been doing with you guys though, so if you’re in, I’m planning to start posting on a regular basis again, although it will not be every day. :-)

…also, I’m nearing completion of my first big knitted project, and I can’t show you at all because it’s a Christmas present for someone who checks this site every now and then. I’ll be sure to take pictures before I give it away so you can see it post-holiday, though!

Thanks for checking in!
<3
Monica

I just ordered my very first business cards!  So exciting. Here’s what they’re going to look like:

I’m printing the backs of the cards in four colors:

I debated a long time between designs, how much information I was going to include on the cards… for a pretty simple design, I went through a lot of revisions!  Maybe I’ll upload the preliminary designs another time.

Yay! I’m so excited for these.  They’re supposed to arrive July 1st; I leave for California on July 4th, so I hope they arrive on time. They better!

<3
Monica

More from the countdown!

I went to a Wizard Rock concert and saw The Moaning Myrtles, The Whomping Willows, Justin Finch-Fletchley, The Nifflers and Armoured Bearcub. It was delightful to see Lauren and everyone again!

Then I described my day without using sentences:

I went to Alan’s house to help him fold and ship 1,500 t-shirts:

And I tried to vlog in one take:

I’m going to follow this post with the business cards I just designed and ordered. I love them!

<3
Monica

It’s been forever since I’ve posted!  I have continued making things (almost) every day, I just haven’t been posting them because I am forgetful.

Chellie and I have decided to make videos every day for the 30 days leading up to VidCon.  Here are the three that I’ve made so far (you’ll need to go to our channel to see Chellie’s corresponding videos):

I also made a video showing what I’ve been up to for the last six weeks:

And I made a video for Chellie’s birthday in April:

That’s it for now! I will be updating more soon (with art!!)

<3
Monica

My friend Matt and I have been going on photo shoots around our town lately.  The first one we did was in this nearlyforgotten cemetery with gravestones mostly from the 1800’s.  I used to go there a lot to think when I was in high school. It’s up on a hill and there’s a ledge you can sit on to watch the cars passing by below.

Here are some of the results from that:

035: This Flower Belongs Here

034: Dead & Green

Looking at it on my computer (instead of my tiny digital camera screen) I wish I had focused it a bit differently, but I still like the juxtaposition of the dead flowers with the new buds.

033: Spider Web

I didn’t think I had actually managed to photograph this spider web, and almost deleted the picture immediately after I shot it.  I’m so glad I didn’t!  I could barely even see the web with my eyes, so I’m amazed that I was able to focus on it.  If nothing else, I’m proud of that.

032: Stump

…aaaand here’s what I looked like while I was taking that shot (courtesy of Matt):

031: Grave in the Wild

Me, on my journey to the gravestone in the wild:

030: Edge of the Cemetery

029: Candids

That’s all for now!  It was a fun day.  We went to the MSU Horticultural Gardens too, so expect those pictures soon!

<3
Monica

Finally, some color and warmth in this cold state!  Here are some pictures of the gorgeous flowers that have been springing up in my yard.  (Thanks for planting them, Mom. They’re beautiful!)

028: The Floating Magnolia Blossom

027: Another Magnolia

026: Magnolia Tree

025: Pretty in Pink

024: Looks Like a Tulip, But Isn’t

I have no idea what these are. I thought they were tulips, but when I got closer it was obvious they were some other variety. Does anyone know what kind of flower this is?

023: Still Not A Tulip

022: View From My Bedroom

Most of the time, the magnolia tree looks completely dead. But for one week every year, I get to look outside my window and see all these beautiful flowers!  I love this time of year.

<3
Monica

Hi, everyone!

I haven’t posted in almost THREE WEEKS but I have been keeping very busy.  I took some time to grieve for my friend; since then I have been getting back into the swing of life.  Oh, life.

“Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
And I am Marie of Romania.”
-Dorothy Parker

Every time I read it, I feel so hopeful; then I get to the last line and laugh.  And it makes me feel better.

But anyway.  Onward and Upward!

021: Social Media Buttons

Made for a friend, but we ended up going a different direction that was more suited toward the color palette of his site.  I will post those soon!

All of the sketches below were drawn by request in Photoshop. The t-shirt isn’t going to be printed after all though, so they just get to live here, on this blog.  :-)

020:  A Silhouette of Children Holding Hands

19: Tree No. 1

018: Tree No. 2

017: Tree No. 3

016: Tree No. 4

015: Tree No. 5

That’s it for now. I will continue to make longer posts until I get caught up, and then it’ll be back to dailies!  Thanks for sticking around!

<3
Monica

Yesterday my dear friend Megan passed away after a courageous battle with cancer.   I met Megan my freshman year at WMU, and graduated with her in the spring of 2008.  We were both tiny, red-haired girls with M-names, and our lighting design professor constantly called each of us by the other girl’s name.  It was a very small, rigorous program, which meant we had nearly every single class together and spent hundreds of hours outside of class working together on the shows we were assigned.

Megan was always good for a laugh.  Her sarcastic, sassy sense of humor made her fun to work with in stressful situations, and she always turned out brilliant work as the company propsmaster.  My favorite memories of Megan are the dinner breaks we’d take together after a long day’s work and before the tech rehearsal began that night.  We’d end up yelling to each other about all the things that were making us feel stressed out and under-appreciated, about all the stupid things that had been going wrong with the show, and then we’d just end up laughing and laughing….and then we’d head back to the theatre for another long night of tech.  She made it more fun.

I’m so glad that I got the chance to reconnect with Megan last fall.  It was a chance meeting; we both happened to be in Kalamazoo to see the current WMU Theatre production on the same night. We spent most of the time reminiscing about our time at WMU, talking about what we’d been up to since then, and what we hoped to accomplish in the future.

Megan, I will never forget you.

Megan, Rachel, Monica

From left: Megan, Julia, Monica, Hope

From left: Julia, Monica, Sam, Marina, Rachel K, Megan, Stacey

From left: Katie, Rachel, Monica, Megan

From left: Micah, Megan, Monica, Rachel, Brandon

From left: Megan, Monica, Rachel, Micah, Brandon

Monica and Megan

<3
Monica

Hi,

Just wanted to write a quick update — I have still been making things every day, but then I couldn’t post because they were a gift or they required a cable that I couldn’t find, or whatever…  I will catch up in posts asap, and I’m sorry for those of you following me with Google Reader.  I’m going to clog up your feed with four or five posts when I catch up!

<3
Monica