Santa Hats

It's the first day of December, so that means it's time to get into the spirit of things!

I spent an entire day crocheting Santa hats for my amigurumi in order to make sweet little Christmas tree ornaments! Now everyone is festive~

Even my Corgis are ready for the holidays!

Crochet Pumpkin Pie Recipe (Pattern)

Hi everyone!

Since we just had Thanksgiving, I was feeling inspired! So I decided to write up my pumpkin pie pattern and share it here!

Click on the 'Crochet Patterns' tab above to direct you to this adorable pattern!

If you make one I would love to see it, so don't be shy, share it! Just give credit please <3

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

No matter who is at your table today, I hope it's filled with love and fun! Let's be thankful like these adorable little critters.

Holiday fun!

It's almost Thanksgiving! So that means I'm up in the Pacific Northwest visiting family for the holiday. I always feel inspired around this time, so I got down to some crafting since I've been up here which I've got to share!

My mother is baking pumpkin pies and the house smells delicious! I'm always a little sad after I'm done eating Thanksgiving dinner because I'm sooooo full and I want to eat the delicious pie but I barely have any room at that point!

So I made just one miniature (calorie free) slice of pumpkin pie, that would be the perfect size for the end of the meal ;-)

Next, since I am in the Pacific Northwest, what animal suits the area better than a moose? So I set out to start working on a moose cross stitch pattern! Check it out and if you like to cross stitch, go ahead and follow along!

Cross Stitch Fan Art Keychains

This has been an idea long in the making, so I am very excited to share that I have completed my first fully finished batch of cross stitch fan art pillow keychains!

I'm in the process of having a little photo shoot for them now so I can get them into my Etsy shop, but it was so exciting to see them all together that I had to share this fun image.

We have some Mario mushrooms, for the OG nerdies out there, some little Minecraft creepers and of course we all know and love a pokeball!

Felty Batch

Just made a new batch of felty animals in time for the holidays!

I plan to offer them as magnets, keychains, pins or just little stiffed animals.

I'll have them up on Etsy by the end of the week, and I will most certainly have them at the upcoming Crafty Wonderland show in December in Portland, Oregon.

I'll also be at SJ Made if you're in the California area!

New Book!

I'm super excited to announce that the latest book I illustrated is now available for pre-sale on a few different websites!

The official release is schedule for November 24th! They could make a nice holiday present;-)

So lovely to receive my very own copy signed by the talented writer, Kelly Franco!

Corgis!!

I certainly love Corgis, they are such cute little dogs. I recently made an amigurumi Corgi as a gift for a friend on her wedding day and I decided that I like the way it turned out! So this means I must share it with the world!!

I have officially added this adorable little Corgi plushie to my Etsy shop!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/476965032/crochet-amigurumi-cute-kawaii-corgi-dog?ref=shop_home_active_2

Currently my Corgi can be purchased as a small plushie, keychain or Christmas tree ornament!

Could be the perfect gift for those Corgi lovers out there!

Sewing Buddies

Looks like these little critters are feeling crafty today. They're getting ready for a creative and productive week!

Love

I have a special illustration to share today since it is my nine year anniversary!

I feel very blessed <3

Holiday Bunch

The masses are gathering!

I've just completed my first batch of holiday amigurumis! This particular bunch is going to be shipped off to NY for a holiday show at Resobox!

Here is a link to Resobox if anyone is interested :)

http://resobox.com/

Minecraft Stitch

Just cross-stichin' some Minecraft Creepers today. I think I'm gonna sew them into keychains later ;-)

November!

Happy November 1st! I want to kick off the new month with this elephant illustration I did for a children's magazine.

The magazine is called Custer4Kidz :)

Pumpkin Time Lapse

I have been realizing that I don't really show enough 'behind the scenes' of the things I create. So I would like to do more of that, and what better way than with a time lapse video!

My YouTube channel is called RiaArtWorld after all! So I want to start sharing some more videos that show my whole illustration process.

With the holiday season fast approaching, I have crocheting up a storm, but that doesn't mean I can let my drawing hand get rusty! So I decided to illustrate a happy pumpkin in time for Halloween.

 Check it out here:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRWMzkKubys

Pumpkin Line

Can these little crochet pumpkins get any smaller? Yes! They sure can!

Every year, I manage to crochet smaller and smaller and you can too! Don't forget to check out my pumpkin crochet pattern by clicking on the 'Crocher Patterns' tab above!

Spooky Owl

I just got this new app that allows you to put fun movie filters over your photos and I'm having a blast! It is making this photo of my hand sewn owl look way more spooky cute with the moving fog and bright October moon!

October Sketchin'

I've been starting to edit a manuscript of mine called Drac Cat, and it inspired me to have a little fun with one of the characters from my story. So here is a sketch of Young Drac playing around with his candy pack!

Spooky Door

Since I love October, I definitely go all out with the decorating. I have some handmade spooky eyeball door-handle covers all around the house.

So I thought I would share! This particular one is among some of the first objects I ever crocheted!

It's also kinda funny how you can totally see my reflection in the door handle!

Happy Friday!

Just a little October joke for Friday. I hope you are staying dry if you're in San Francisco!

Zombies!

Every now and then I like to take a step outside of my own work and try to follow someone's patterns. I find that it helps me to become more inspired to work on my own projects, not to mention, you can always learn something new from someone's work!

These are from a book called Zombie Felties. Yes, I'm serious. A whole how to book on making handsewn miniature felt zombies.

I made the traditional zombie and of course, the pumpkin zombie. Naturally had to have a spooky-cute photoshoot right after. Soooo enjoy-yay Halloween!

Back of the Postcard

I just wanted to share the back of the Halloween mailer I did for my agent at the end of September. 

I also think it is interesting to show the sketches and thought processes that go into to creating my illustrations, it's something I need to do more of so I included those as well.

I'm sure all the cards have gone out by now, but here is what the whole card looked like all put together!

Easy Pumpkin Pattern

Here is a minute long time lapse video of a simple pumpkin pattern I came up with. People have expressed a desire for this pattern, so I included the pattern along with step by step instructions here on my blog!

Just click on the 'crochet patterns' tab above!

If you decide to make a pumpkin using my pattern, I would love for you to share! Just give credit please! Thanks!

Mmm!

Now this is my type of Halloween candy! I finished this giant crochet candy corn...and is it wrong that I want to eat it? Just kidding! Well...a little.

It's not that candy corn is the bestest candy out there, but the Halloween kid inside of me is filled to the brim with nostalgia whenever I eat it today! So it seems only fitting that I would honor this with a giant crochet candy corn.

Spooky Cute

I was rifling through some old files on my desktop and I came across these little spooky cute characters I did a while back now. They are so cute, that it made me want to re-visit what I made and is inspiring me to make a few new sketches!

For now, I wanted to share these little cuties, that I think could be perfect for a pattern. It is giving me the idea to create some adorably spooking cute packaging for those October Etsy orders.

Pumpkins!

I'm crocheting all day today! So I'm makin' pumpkins, makin' pumpkins!

October is the perfect excuse to do so. I'm considering making a tutorial video or uploading a pattern!

More to come, once I have perfected my craft ;-)

October Mailer

My agent requested that I make an Autumn mailer, so I of course, instantly went to Halloween!

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I love a good pumpkin patch and I certainly remember running around in between all the pumpkins as a kid.

So I wanted to capture that feeling with this illustration!

Spooktastic!

Happy October!

It is now officially one of my most favorite months, and I plan on sharing all things Halloween all month long!

So what better way than to start off with my spooktastic critter earrings! I have my classis candy corn earrings (available in my Etsy shop) and I'm also playing around with some pumpkin earrings. Now if I could only decide on which face to choose! Definitely leaning towards the 'carved' pumpkin face since it's more Halloweeny!

Thread Love

With the holiday season approaching, I knew I needed to make my way over to the craft store today. I re-upped on all my usual colors, but also could not help buying a few new colors that I thought would be fun to try!

When I got home and dumped them out on my crafting table, they looked so pretty that I just had to share. For a crafter, visiting the store and gathering a bunch of fresh supplies is always a lot of fun!

Coloring, Coloring, Coloring

I'm finishing up the coloring book pages for a special edition coloring book I was commissioned to make for a nature children's magazine. This particular photo they gave me, was a doozy! There is so much detail! So when I finished, I decided that I needed to have a little fun and color a fish...or two!

Check out my process!

Critter Pic-Nic!

Just out and about taking some critter pics and these three little guys decided to have a critter picnic, or a pic-nic!

I have a little blue bird, monkey and mouse in this picture~enjoy!

Pokeball!

I'm continuing on the Pokemon train today (feeling a bit nostalgic, I suppose!) by sharing this pokeball crochet keychain I made!

I thought it would be a good addition to my Etsy store with the whole Pokemon Go craze and with the holidays around the corner.

Always good to represent the childhood loves too!

OG Crew!

So growing up with brothers, I played video games, probably way more than many little girls. I still was way into Barbie and My Little Pony, but I loved myself a good video game!

Pokemon was one of those video games! I was always a Charmander girl, but when I think back on Pokemon, I always think of these three as the OG crew. So I like to imagine them all having a little fun together...like roasting marshmallows on Charmander's flame tail ;-)

Story Time

Just playing around with some cute critter sets today, and here are two little critters who love to read!

It looks like they spent the whole night with some good books~

Rose City ComicCon

It's time to get ready for Rose City ComicCon!! If you're in Portland, Oregon this weekend come on by and say hi!

Here is a new fan art piece I did for the event. I'll have adorable prints and critters ready to be taken home!

Re-Do

It isn't very often that I will consider revisiting older drawings/illustrations I've done. I always like to keep moving forward so that my work continues to improve and evolve so I can always present my best work.

However, I was combing through some old files and came across these character sketches I did several years ago that are supposed to be the characters from a book series I used to love as a kid. The series was called the Bailey School Kids and each book always had a funny title like Dracula doesn't Drink Pink Lemonade.

The series was about these four kids who went to school with some pretty wacky teachers that they always thought were supernatural things like vampires, werewolves or aliens. The crew would proceed to investigate the teachers to see if they were really some sort of 'monster' and in the end, the results were not always conclusive-but in a fun silly way!

Feeling nostalgic, I decided to redraw these four kids and I'm happy with how they turned out! I can see that my technique has gotten tighter and more polished.

 

Here are the original sketches from long, long ago:

The Perfect Match

So my Etsy shop offers sweet adorable critter sets which make lovely gifts. However, I have been meaning to make the perfect critter card to go with critter gift giving!

As the holidays approach, I'm starting to play around with critter cards.

Here is one and I think the match is quite satisfying<3

New Addition

I recently re-vamped my portfolio for my agent and she made me aware that I don't have that many urban environments. So I thought it would be a good idea to work on a new piece!

Since I live in San Francisco, I wanted to capture an urban landscape inspired by this unique city.

I also could not help putting a little Disney into my illustration too! This piece reminds me of an urban Aladdin :-)

Fridge Critters

As I have already shared, I'm getting ready for upcoming holiday craft shows, which means prepping my applications as well!

Since many of the little critters I make for sale are actually magnets, I was trying to think of a funny way to show that they are magnets in a photo. At first I thought I would just take a picture of them on an actual fridge, but it was too hard to get a nice close-up shot of all the critters and capture the refrigerator too.

So I settled on just photographing the critters (and my hand) on a white back ground. Then I proceeded to draw a fridge in photoshop around my photo.

I think it looks a little silly, but in a good way! It's kind of a fun collage-ish photo showing that my critters are magnets!

Plumshies

So I have steadily crocheting some inventory for Rose City ComicCon in Portland, OR and then Urban Air Market in San Francisco. In the process I have come up with these plump little plushies- or PLUMSHIES!

They have been super fun to make and are a nice break from the miniature 1" critters I typically crochet. These cutie plumshies are still pretty small too, which makes them super adorable!

Here is a plump little fox, I love his round tummy!

I'm definitely going to have to add these guys to my Etsy store. I'm thinking of selling them as either just a plushie or a keychian.

New Postcards!

So it has been a while since I have taken the time to make and order new postcards to hand out as promotional items. I brought these new cards to the SCBWI conference I went to over this last weekend, and I think I will bring them to Rose City ComicCon in September.

Here are two new ones, which I am super excited about! I made one for my crochet critters and one for my romantic squirrely illustrations.

I think the critter postcard could be the perfect birthday card for some one in a pinch!

Back After a Bit!

Though I have been working around the clock on many artsy and crafty things this summer, I have not been the best about sharing all my projects! Seems that this is a typical theme of my summers *nervous giggles** with traveling and some family time thrown in the mix, I never want to break away from the moment of things to post.

However, I have many new illustrations and crafts to share! So I thought I would start off with the sketches and final illustration I did for the last SCBWI conference here in SF!

The challenge was to illustrate some lyrics from a Lyle Lovett song:

If I had a boat
I'd go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony
I'd ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go out on the ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat

And here's what I came up with!

Dinner Party

Looks like these little critters had a fancy dinner party~they must have misplaced my invitation!😅 

Pattern Test 2

Here is another pattern I tested for The Wandering Deer!

I love this little chicken in a tree!

Coloring Stages

So I have been working on the final illustrations for a children's book just about everyday now and thought I would share the several stages of coloring that each drawing goes through before it's finished!

It's pretty fun to see it all come together.

The writer is Kelly Franco and it is a charming story about a girl, Olive and her Dachshund, Lulu. These best friends go on all sorts of adventures.

Bath Time

Some little critters are taking a bath, they're squeaky clean now!🛁🙈 

Back with Old Favorites

I took a little break from posting but I'm back with some oldies but goodies! Fruit & veggie critter sets!