Karoline's 1 2 3 Vehicle Illustration

Karoline had contacted me, requesting some artwork for her new little guy's nursery. She had some colors set for the bedding and furniture, and was looking to pull them all together using all of the colors in the artwork. We did two separate illustrations - this 1 2 3 Vehicle Illustration, and another set of animals (that I will post later). She was such a sweetie and so open to ideas - I hope that they fit in to her nursery as she imagined that they would!

Katherine's 1st Birthday!

A little "Kitty" party for Miss Katherine - I had the honor of creating the invitations, party hat and birthday onesie. This is my second "1st Birthday" party for the family, as they asked me to create for big brother William's first (Piggie) party as well. I'm thankful that they come back for more *and* are sweet enough to refer my Mooka.Ink name to their friends for their art and illustration needs. Such dear friends for me to have! Happy First Birthday dear Katherine, hope that it was a wonderful party!

Phineas's 1st Birthday!

A quick update - I am a bit behind on projects and updating this blog .. but here are some pics from a recent project -Phineas's 1st birthday party! 30 invites, a party hat, and t-shirt, all for a little guy and his first birthday! Hope it was a fun party!

Baby Girl Thank You Cards

Just before my maternity leave began, my Kindergartners and teaching partner, Marcy, planned a surprise baby shower to be held at school one morning. I honestly had no idea about the shower...until the day before, when one excited little girl said, "Mrs. Johnson, just so you know - tomorrow is going to be a REALLY good day for you. I can't tell you why, but it's going to be a REALLY good day." Too much fun!

Well, it was a really good day, as sweet Marcy had planned a delightful shower, and each kindergartner gave my baby-to-come a copy of their favorite book. Penelope's own library of childhood classics began, along with a Room 109 original - a book of baby advice written by the children. (Honestly- a hilarious book full of kindergarten advice and illustrations.)

I was touched by the shower, and, as always, chose to make my own thank you cards from Mooka.Ink to those thoughtful kindergartners of Room 109. Oh how I'll miss them next year...

My Little Logo..

All these years I have been drawing the same little baby face for the Logo of Mooka.Ink. Who knew that some day I would have a baby of my own with the same rosy cheeks, cheerful grin, and spiked hair that I have been illustrating all this time?! Kind of funny, I think, that my little Penelope Rae would be just like the baby in my imagination - only better!

Since March, I have been on "Maternity Leave" from this and haven't been working on very many new things for Mooka.Ink. I have been busy with lots in my life - especially with Penelope! However, we just moved and I did get a new 'art room'! Once all my paints and prints are set up, I will all ready to start taking more orders and creating more for Mooka.Ink.

Start thinking of what you'd like to order for your little one!

Good Night, Sleep Tight

"Good Night, Sleep Tight".. wouldn't that be lovely... I'm writing this after a pretty decent night's sleep - for having a 2 month old baby. Since having this little baby, a good night of sleep is something that I dream about! This cute little cat cradle was painted for Breck School's annual applause auction. I believe it's my third year of painting something for the auction, previous items were an ABC table and chair set and the "Get on Board" table and chairs. (click on the Furniture label on the right to see). I was happy to paint it for my school, and even happier when I saw who received the doll cradle in the end. Now ... back to bed for a quick little snooze before you-know-who wakes up.

Christian's Birthday Party

I was contacted by a friend of a friend... and she wanted some invites, a T-Shirt, and party hat for her son's First Birthday Party. We met for coffee, and talked about what she had wanted, and having seen some of my previous work, she wanted my elephant illustration to be a part of the design. She and I also added in the ideas of the cake and little bug friend... Overall - I think it came together in a very adorable sort of way! Happy 1st Birthday, Christian!

Fall Art Show : 3D work.

So... I was invited to show some of my work at my school's gallery. I am sharing the gallery with another art teacher, and a lot of her work is 2D, so I did a lot more 3D..(with some 2D.). I'm thankful to have the opportunity to show some of my items . .and looking forward to seeing the other art work! Here is a taste of some of the items:

Fall Art Show : 2D work.

Here is a taste of some of the 2D work that I did for the gallery. I'm really workin' the pig, owl and elephant theme ... I guess it's what is going in my mind at the time? I'm sure I'll move on to new animals eventually!

Elaine's Onesies!

So my friend, Elaine, is having a baby! Hooray! She emailed me, asking to draw out 6 onesies in various sizes. I was honored and excited to get going on the designing.

Elaine's Onesies cont..

Here are the rest of them! They were fun to create for an old friend! Happy Baby-ing!

Cabin Activities

So.. I am a teacher, and at the end of the school year, I was the recipient of some really kind and generous gifts. I truly appreciate that my students think to get me something, and so I like to take the time to send them a little card over the summer... We were at the cabin when I worked on these, and it was nice to have to time to get these drawn and written.. Thanks!

ROAR! First birthday shirt for Flynn

I was asked by a good 'ol art-teacher friend to make a design for her son's first birthday. Mags had the idea of what she wanted, and we put it together - and ta-da! Party shirt was complete.

Bryn's Baby Onesies

I received an email from someone asking about my hand-painted onesies, saying that she had saved my business card from an event that I participated in over 3 years ago. She explained that she was having a baby soon, and was hoping to buy some onesies for her newborn. I was touched that she had saved my business card for so long - and of course was able to paint her what she needed! After looking at images on my blog, Bryn asked for this bird and Mooka.Ink logo to be painted on her onesies. Pretty neat!

You, of course, can order your own special baby onesies- either for your own baby, or a friend! Email me for any of your requests.

"Get on Board" Table and Chairs

Another great opportunity to paint an item for my school's annual auction! The theme for this year's auction is "Get on Board", and so I was asked to paint something train-like. ... and here it is! A kind parent delivered the table and chairs to my house, and I just finished painting them last week... I hope that they do well!

Gwynne's Birds

My dear friend, Katie, asked me to paint some birdies for her daughter, Gwynne's bedroom. Katie had seen the birds from a previous blog post, and so we talked about how to do them so they would work in Gwynne's room. Eventually Katie decided to have 3 paintings, with the birds on a somewhat connecting branch (shown connected in this post). These two individual little friends are sized at 8 x 10, and painted on watercolor paper with watercolor paint. I'm pretty happy with the paintings, and it was such a joy to work on a project for a dear old friend. ..