Ventures into Watercolor

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know that I am, for the most part, a self-taught designer. I didn't go to art school, I have no idea how to use computer-aided design, and with the exception of a drawing class I took in college, the last time I dabbled in the visual arts before I started Chelleline Cards was before high school. It's given me a little bit of a complex, so I decided to remedy that this year by taking a mixed media painting class taught by my friend Emily!

A few people asked me if I was planning to use what I learned in the class to supplement my business. The first time I was asked this question, I was slightly taken aback because I had no thoughts in that direction. I really did just take this class to round out my visual arts skills (while I painted as a child, I'm not sure if I actually took a class where they really taught you how to paint) and because I thought it would be fun. And it's a great feeling to do something creative just for the fun of it, and not think about how you're planning to make money out of it. It's so nice. Anyway, I just thought I would share a butterfly-in-progress with you all, just because. Enjoy!

Putting the "Hand" back into "Handmade"

I love this video from Etsy! I'm slightly biased, being a paper cutter myself, but I really love how this video demonstrates the handmade quality of paper cuts. These folks are also putting the 'hand' back into 'handmade'!

Custom Work

Once in a while, I get a request to make a custom design. Although these requests initially cause me a lot of stress, it actually becomes quite fun once I get the process started. It gives me a chance to exercise my creativity!

I made this card above at the request of my friend Cecile. She's started to learn how to sew from her mother, and she wanted a card that illustrated this for her mother's birthday. My idea was to make an image of a girl and her mother sewing a quilt together, and to stitch "Bon anniversaire, maman!" into the quilt Cecile liked this idea, so it was full steam ahead.

I ran into a few snags along the way. I didn't like my sketch and so postponed working on the card for a few days. Then I had trouble finding good paper that would represent a quilt. (I finally found it.) I was originally going to use pink thread to stitch in the birthday greeting, but when I found a spool of orange thread, I thought that would be even better. And that was how the card started to come together! Instead of using patches, I found some origami flowers, which worked with the color scheme better, and I made the girl (Cecile) more active in sewing, as you can see. And it was done!

New cards from Emily Lin

I've been busy filling orders these last few weeks, but my mom has been cranking out some beautiful cards! This one above was inspired by my parents' trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains in the fall.

Two adorable seals frolic in the water in this card. My mom painted the backdrop of the ocean.

I Heart U on an iPad.

White as a Ghost

Knigi is a little ghost who is learning to read. He is given a book that is completely blank. Confused and too proud to admit that he can't decipher the book, he sets off on a journey to figure out how to read the book.

In addition to the clever plot line, the simple watercolor-style illustrations are absolutely adorable. Also love how the ghost is black. Also, I'm not sure if this was intentional, but "knigi" is the plural for "books" in Russian. Available at and published by Nieves (found via grain edit).

Year of the Dragon

Happy New Year! Today marks the start of the Year of the Dragon. As one of the legend goes, the Jade Emperor invited all the animals to participate in a big race. The Zodiac would be determined by the first twelve animals to cross the finish line. The ox, worried that he would be too slow, started to run in the middle of the night. The rat, spying the ox, decided to jump on his back (unbeknownst to him) and, in fact, as dawn broke and the ox approached the finish line, the rat jumped off his back and crossed the finish line first! It is also said that the only reason the Dragon did not finish first in the race is because he overslept - something I can definitely relate to, and which I've illustrated here.

Edible Art

Brittany Powell has taken sandwich art to a higher form, using bread, cheese, mustard, salami, and other condiments to depict famous works of modern artists. Test your knowledge of modern art here, and see the answers here! (Found via Curbly)