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Long overdue post but one I’ve wanted to do for a few years. Yes, years. The evolution of a product line.

This is the process of creating my “Peace Be With You.” product line for Carson Home Accents. Carson had told my agency that they were looking to expand their bereavement gift line so I concepted some ideas for a product line. What I wanted it to look like, the feel or it, materials, etc. This was just a sketch and a tiny little photoshop mock-up to get my ideas across in color. A lot of manufacturers really want a flushed out plan, color mock-ups, the whole nice yards, but since my agency had a good relationship with the client a rough sketch with ideas was sufficient to see if they had any interest in the product line.

So at this point, this entire line is just an idea in my head and a sketch on paper:

They passed on the idea, BUT my agency wanted me to do actual prototype mock-ups and send to them so they could really envision the line. So I hand sculpted two samples and sent them off to their office packed in prototype packaging as well:

Once they saw the actual 3D pieces, they loved it and wanted to pick them up as a collection for their bereavement line so now the major work comes in. They gave me this LONG list of categories and products (figurines, plaques, crosses, hanging ornaments, prayer stones, etc.) they wanted for grandmother, mother, father, general, pets, etc. I designed several figurines and prayer stones but only a certain number of products made it to the first (and really only) release of the line.

I scanned in lace and doilies my great grandmother made and used those as the main “art” in each piece. Then came all the sentiments. I don’t know how many dozen sentiments I came up with for this line, but after a while it got really depressing thinking of things to say that would be a comfort to someone who lost someone special to them. It was so trying that at the end of the day when I worked on so many sentiments a friends I saw that evening asked me what was wrong because I looked so sad. It was mentally and emotionally exhausting to be in that mindset all day.

A lot of licensing artist will just supply the flat color artwork and everything would then be created by the manufacturer to work on the 3D product. Since I have a design background, I was able to supply all the art needed for the factory. Renderings, b&w art for the molds along with the color layouts that the final product should match:

And here’s the final product line from Carson (It’s all available online through Amazon as well as some gift stores throughout the country.):

I have two books coming out August 1st written by Lisa Bullard and illustrated by me. Daniela’s Day of the Dead and Hailey’s Halloween. I love how the final printed books look and how the color pops off the pages.

Spread from Daniela’s Day of the Dead:

Spread from Hailey’s Halloween:

*links above are affiliate links via Amazon.com

Just in time for teacher gift season I have some products available in Dollar Stores around the country and each one is just a $1!!

Note pad, notepaper booklets & note cards. Each sold separately.

Note pad, notepaper booklets, note cards & gift bag. Each sold separately.

The last 5 robots have been added for the fundraiser and the last chance to buy them in Tuesday, January 31st.

I mentioned in a earlier post that the Woog is going on her first mission trip to Alaska. I am so proud of her bravery and heart to go. She’s been raising money for the trip which is $1250 (big shout out to all her friends & family who’ve donated), she only has $250 more to go! So, to help her out I’ve made some original Junk A Doodles art to help her reach her goal. She helped pick out all the found objects and I put them together. Five are on sale now and five more will be added this week. They are only $20 (not bad for an original piece of art!) and shipping is only $0.20 to cover Etsy’s listing fee and I’m donating the rest of the shipping costs.

Go check out the shop for a look at them all. Here’s my favorite, little ERNIE:

If art isn’t your thing and you want to give a $1 or $2 to the Woog, she’d really appreciate it. You can donate any amount here:

I have some new baby bibs out this fall that your baby can spit-up and drool all over. Some if not all are available at CVS stores. I’ve heard my local CVS has them, but I haven’t checked it out yet. Here we have one cute little man modeling one of the bibs:

I think my days are over with him sitting still for a picture. All the pictures I get of him now are blurry.

And here are all the bibs:

And tomorrow will be my last post of the year because I’m going off the grid until January of 2012. No blogging or social media but I’ll post about that tomorrow.

I ran by our local Target this morning and they were busy stocking their new boy bedroom decor and look what I spotted on the P.O.P:

I did the stretched canvas art for them that matched their Circo Build It collection. They were busy stocking it all so I didn’t want to stand there watching so I’ll have to go back and take a look at the finished product in a few days. It’s a 21″x21″ canvas and I think it’s around $30.

I also did a matching growth chart that will be available on Target.com:

So if you have a little builder at your house, these products would be perfect for him

Fall is just around the corner, so it’s time to start decorating! I illustrated a fun bulletin board set for Creative Teaching Press featuring all things fall. They also have them as stickers and some other items. I loved doing this project and got to incorporate some of my Granddaddy’s barn wood into the mix.

Most of you all know I have a vintage camera collection I inherited from my father-in-law and I love all of them. I literally have cameras on display in every room on my house (yes, even the bathroom, I also have a vintage typewriter in there, but that’s another story!). I’m love of all things camera and I’ve always wanted to make an iphone case that looked like a camera and now I have:

One of them is also available as a t-shirt and hoodie:

You can order these from Society6 and they are available for all iphones and ipods plus they offer them as skins as well. I also have some of my Typography Photography™
collection as cases, prints & laptop skins so take a peek at those as well.

I recently licensed my comic book words series to the great folks at Oopsy Daisy. They are available as large 24″x18″ wrapped canvases and “POW!” is available as a night light too. Come on, you know you want to get them for your little super hero!

Psst…won’t this art look cute on other products? They’re available for licensing. Just email me