A box full of these sweet little boxed cards arrived the other day, and I want to give one to YOU!

Based on the huge success of the book Everything Is Going To Bo OK published by Chronicle Books last year (which had 6 of my illustrations in it, yay!), they decided to turn it into a set of 20 notecards as well-- and they included 4 of my images in the set!

And I'm in great company-- Gemma Correll, Jen Renninger, Danna Ray, and more. The cards are all about positivity and encouragement-- right up my alley!

So I'm giving away one set of cards -- all you have to do to enter is leave me a comment and tell me who you'd send one of these cards to and why.

You can get one extra entry, too, by liking my page on facebook! (Just let me know in the comments that you did so...)

Comments will close on SUNDAY MAY 20th at 11:59pm, and I'll randomly choose and announce the winner on Monday morning!

Here are my 4 cards that are in the set:

Hope you like them, and good luck in the giveaway!!

UPDATE 05/16/12 11:30 am: For those asking, I justed listed some of the cards right here; there are only 7 sets, so scoop them up quick if you want them!!

I stumbled upon these adorable little paper wreaths this morning on pinterest (originally from A Subtle Revelry-- great blog!) and can't wait to make some! I have a gift to wrap up soon for my husband-- who is graduating from med school next weekend!! -- looks like i'll have an excuse to make some of these. Yay!

I think I'll also need to make some fun decorations to have around the house. I want it to feel festive and fun when his family gets here!! It'll be a weekend full of celebrating!

I think these little wreaths might become my go-to embellishment for gift-wrapping now. Quick, easy, and so charming!

I had to share this with you because I just think it's so wonderful-- my old family friends, Ann and Nic, are creating a brand new non-toxic skin care line called +plus modern skincare (inspired by Ann's successful battle with breast cancer), and they're raising funds on indiegogo right now to make it a reality! 

Ann is my mom's great friend, and I used to baby-sit Nic when I was a teenager-- isn't that adorable? And now he's all grown up and starting a business! I love it.

Go check out their campaign!! Their products are going to be amazing, and you can get in on the ground-floor and be the first to use 'em. 

Don't you think color just makes everything better?

German artist Horst Gläsker painted these stairs-- I'd love to take a walk all the way up... I wonder what's up there when you reach the top?

{via poppytalk on pinterest}

I want to get married all over again just so I can make it look like this! Oh my god, the COLOR! I love it.

Don't you think this must have been the funnest bridal shower to go to?

I added this print, called Quiet Calm, to the shop yesterday. I'm liking the pink, blue, and lavender (which are quite girly all together) paired with the burnt orange color. It's interesting, no? Not a color combo I've ever used before.

What are your favorite unexpected colors together? Send me images! I love new color inspiration!

I get inspiration for the colors I use from many places... here is one of my very favorite photos that continues to inspire me color-wise:

And look at this one:

Isn't it incredible?? There is so much that I love about this photo. The color, the mustaches, the fact that it makes me want to travel all around the world, those hats (turbans?)....

Photographers really have the coolest jobs in the world, I think. Can you even imagine getting the chance to capture this image and be in that place? SO cool.

OK, this turned into a REALLY random post. To bring it back to the beginning: check out my new print! I like the colors! And feel free to send me your favorite color inspiration! :)

Such a good reminder, no?

I dream about having a backyard studio sometimes-- a little building that's separate from my house, so I can feel like I'm going to work every day but without the inconvenience of actually having to go somewhere else to work every day.

This is a weaver's studio in Washington, and THIS IS WHAT I WANT. This is what I aspire to create for myself one day. Isn't it amazing?

And the fact that it's in Washington is a whole other aside... there are weird Washington coincidences happening in my life all the time lately. My husband will find out where he matches for his medical residency in just over 3 weeks, and the University of Washington is at the top of his list. We're getting strange Washington signs all the time lately-- like, we'll be walking in the neighborhood and start talking about where we'll be moving for his residency, and a car with a Washington license plate drives by. Or we're out to dinner and start talking about where we think he'll match for his residency, and someone at the next table happens to start talking about Seattle. I find a photo of my dream studio, and where is it? Washington.

I'm VERY curious to find out if this is where we're going to end up! March 16th is the big day that we'll find out.... I'm trying to be patient, but it's SO HARD!

Anyway, what do you think about this studio? Isn't it incredible?

Remember the beginnings of 2 experimental paintings that I posted last week? Well, this is the second layer, and I am totally and completely digging them so far. Flora told us in in her e-course to not worry about creating something beautiful at this point, and I tried hard to remember that while working on this second layer and just let go and have fun. I just dripped and dabbed the paint and had a grand old time, loose and flowing. I'm telling you, I haven't had this much fun painting in a while. I feel a new freedom, and it's totally addictive.

While I know these aren't beautiful yet, I'm in love with them nonetheless. I feel like they're totally new and different for me but that there's also a thread of something that ties them to my typical style of work. I suspect it's the color.

Can you see the piles and piles of wood panels in the bottom right corner of the top image? Those are for a whole bunch of gloss prints that I need to make that sold during my fab.com sale-- I find myself once again wishing for more space..... if I visualize my dream studio hard enough, do you think I can make it appear when I move to a new city in a few months? (Please say yes! Tell me your stories of visualizing things into existence!) I'll find out in just a month where we're moving, when Ryan finds out where he'll be doing his residency!! Have I told you how weird it is that my husband is going to be a doctor in 5 months? Totally weird. And also totally awesome. He's worked so hard, and I know he's ready for this next phase. (I am, too!) 

Anyway, back to the paintings. I feel so happy to be doing something a bit different creatively right now-- I get so caught up in everything that I have to do (my to do list is never-ending it seems) that I often forget to have FUN and PLAY. And that's a huge part of why I do what I do! It seems crazy that I'd forget to have fun when I get to create things all day and make art that goes out into the world. (I'm so lucky to get to this every day. I don't know if I've mentioned how grateful I am for that lately. I am SO grateful!) So I'm glad for the reminder through this class.

I'm currently taking Flora Bowley's painting e-course, Bloom True, which began on Monday, and yesterday was the first day of painting. (I was also lucky to work her her and Beth Nicholls to design Flora's new logo and the entire look of the website-- all the graphics and everything! What a fun project it was.) Here's how my first two canvases have started out....

I'm so so excited to learn from Flora and infuse my paintings with some new energy. The canvases I'm painting on are way bigger than I normally use-- they're 30x30"-- and I don't actually usually paint on canvas at all. I paint on wood panels. So this is different and liberating so far for me!

Lately one of the things I'm wishing for the most is more space to work-- my studio is feeling more and more cramped every day. So I'm putting it out into the universe... when Ryan and I move in a few months, I want to find a house with a giant work space, lots of natural light, and lots of storage!