swallowfield :: jennifer judd-mcgee

twelve.

my girl turned twelve last weekend. we had a little slumber party, and she requested a cake far beyond my technical expertise, so i enlisted the help of a local baker friend with some mad skills.

the result was pretty amazing. long and skinny, full of food coloring, full of awesomeness. pretty neat.

 

i also thought i'd share a few books we gave her for her birthday, because they were all big hits around here.

wildwood - written by colin meloy, lead singer of the decemberists, and illustrated by carson ellis, the genius who also illustrated the mysterious benedict society books. love + love.

finish this book  by keri smith. anything she does is solid gold for book loving creative tweens. we are super fans.

you have to stop this - the 5th book in the secret series by pseudonymous bosch. she adores these books.

it's a girl thing - how to stay safe, healthy and in charge by mavis jukes. full of great information, some of which she'll probably save for later, but i am a big believer in having the info when you need it.

for those of you with similarly aged kids (and i know there are a bunch of you who visit here,) what books do you recommend?

 

catching up

well, september has gone by in a flash.

since i last wrote, i...worked on a book cover, sent the kids off to school, flew across the country by myself, visited with some of my favorite artists + friends, went to my stepbrother's incredible wedding, really enjoyed san francisco, flew home, ran through the philadelphia airport, got sick, lost a friend, celebrated another friend's first birth, moved into our house, kept working on art + ideas, unpacked + got reunited with my favorite things, went to a memorial service, attended cross country and swim practices and events, was pleasantly surprised by some new art opportunities, cooked some good meals in my new kitchen, put one cat to sleep and got reunited with the other one after a year, and celebrated several birthdays. and that's just what i can think of right off the bat.  the big stuff.

october, you could ease off just a little. i'd like that. we haven't even been apple picking yet.

i'm not complaining. life is full, sometimes more than other times. this month it's been extra full.

spring-like activities

hello! i hope you had a good week.  we're on vacation this week and planning to enjoy the spring weather as much as we can. i got a new bike, so we've been having fun taking some short pedals around together. and my brother is running the boston marathon today - he raised over $12K in support of the MS society - so the kids and i are having fun tracking his progress online. (he's doing really well so far!)

we also dyed some eggs:

and then we decorated a few too:

there is something incredibly pleasing about dying eggs. i never get tired of doing it each year.  :)  i did get tired of blowing out the eggs, though. i only did a dozen of them, but my eardrums are not fond of me for it.

ps: i made some new card sets

have a great day!

 

 

i solemnly swear that i am up to no good.

we're starting to pack for our little trip to harry potter world - can you feel the excitement? it's epic. i made a treasury at etsy this morning for the kids' and my own entertainment. there is so much great stuff on etsy that it was hard to pick!

click here to see all of these lovely items!

i am looking forward to a few days of warm sun and watching my kids lose their minds with happiness. say what you will about theme parks, but i give huge credit jk rowling for instilling a love of reading and wonder in my kids.

finding and remembering the light

one thing i love about january is that everyone has new ideas and optimism about trying different things they may not have tried before. i'm loving that a lot of my friends on flickr are planning on taking 365 photos this year. while i don't feel like i can commit to that, and don't want to beat myself up if i don't follow through on it, i am inspired that others are taking the plunge, and it's giving me the push i need to take more pictures, especially of small everyday moments.

like this one:

i took this right before she left for school this morning. i loved the way the morning sun was glistening in her braid. i want to capture more moments like this, here and there, this year.

this week i am also loving the first listen of the new decemberists on npr. so pretty and peaceful to listen to.

i also made a gallery of my favorite twinkling, light filled photos on pinterest. it was fun to do, and i love seeing them all in one place like that. i am keen on pinterest - its format is so pleasing to look at.

cheers and happy tuesday. :)

welcome, 2011

happy 2011!

we rang it in with games of farkle, a yummy dinner, some wine, and movies, barely making it to midnight.  the kids were super excited to stay up late, so we banged some pots around at midnight then promptly went  to bed at 12:05am.

because it's a new year and all, here is a little list of hopes and intentions (thanks deb, i love that word vs. resolutions!) for 2011.

learn to use my new wacom tablet (i am in love with it so far.)

silkscreen my patterns on paper and fabric, and put patterns on fabric in other ways

keep adapting my art in ways that work for me

take pictures every day

work on photo albums (i made one on shutterfly for 2010 as a christmas present, and it wasn't as scary as i thought. and it turned out beautifully. now i only have, er, approximately ten more years to document properly.)

continue to collaborate with other artists and craftpeople

perhaps a calendar? gulp.

okay, that's quite a list. and i won't bore you with the personal and household hopes and intentions, but there are plenty of those too. :)

finally, i just wanted to say thank you to emily and molly at habit for inviting me and all of the other 2010 contributors to post again all together for the month of december. it's been a pleasure i can't adequately describe, and i've loved being back in that space. (yesterday i attempted to take a photo of my ipod playing beautiful day* while i was working out on the elliptical trainer at the Y, but that had calamitous results of epic proportion, so i ended up with a photo of a much more peaceful sunset instead. my kids call me spaz nugget for a reason, you know.)

i hope 2011 is great for you. i have high hopes for it myself, in a quiet little way.

*say what you will about later U2, but that is one fine workout song.

 

 

phew!

  

thanks so much to everyone who came out to my opening last night, to those who've visited the show online, and to those who've written me sweet notes this week. it all means so much to me. i had a wonderful night last night and feel so appreciative. it's been this extremely pleasant, continuously warm fuzzy feeling. (i'll take that more often, please.)

and chase is ten today! holy moly, can't believe my baby boy is double digits. we're putting together some harry potter legos together tonight.

i'm looking forward to some upcoming viewings of elf and love actually to get me in the holiday spirit. and i am having fun thinking about baking projects and handmade goodies i'd like to work on now that the work for nahcotta is completed. because it seems as if christmas might be in 21 days or something. oh my.

oh yes, and i am back over at habit again for the month of december with all of the other 2010 contributors. so much fun. i'd missed it.

 

happy times

we are experiencing perfect weather and a perfect weekend. the kind that makes you think a little bit about potential time-freezing possibilities.

i took approximately a gazillion pictures of these twinkly lights against some big old windows at sunset last night - i was smitten with how beautiful it all looked. 

 

 

 

 

hope you're having a lovely weekend, too. and thanks so much for your nice comments about my artwork in the last post.

summer wedding

i had the pleasure of drawing another set of custom illustrations for my dear cousin and her wonderful fiance's upcoming wedding invitations, printed and executed beautifully, once again, by the super talented sarah parrott. (you can read a little about sarah's process here.) i really, really love working with sarah, because i always know whatever we do together will turn out just as i am hoping. she's a total pro, and i highly recommend her if you're in the market for custom printing!

nina and alex are getting married this summer at pirate's point, a private, family place that is extremely near and dear to my heart - a family spot we've all grown up loving, playing and exploring together since we were babies. i am truthfully a little jealous i didn't get married there!

this is the point in winter:

photo by alexander birdsall

and you can see my little drawing of the stone fireplace on their invite. they chose the colors and the gatefold design, which i really like. my invite came in the mail today, and i am super excited for the wedding.

 

 

 

(all the invitation photos were taken + used with permission by sarah parrott.)

these were a lot of fun to work on. if you're in the market for a special, homespun invite, i think i can safely say we'd both love to work with you, so be in touch!

also, a special thank you to erin from just plain lovely for doing an extremely nice post and a little interview with me about my artwork this week. thank you so much, really.

happy friday, happy summer!

graduation

this little person graduated from 5th grade today, with the sweetest celebration you've ever seen. middle school, here she comes. i can't believe it. (this photo was her baby picture in the yearbook.)

love you so much, sweet pickle.