jeni ballerina

i know little kids might not appreciate getting a drawing as a christmas present, but i do it anyways! i made this little ballerina for my niece, jeni who is 3 and in ballet. i recently saw some videos of her in class and it was so cute! all the little girls love looking at themselves in the mirror while they dance around in their tutu's. adorable! 

heather mcadams

I just discovered the art of Heather McAdams, among her broad collection of work, creates country star portraits. This illustrations make me want to pick up the banjo that is sitting in the back of my closet collecting dust!

Check out this interview I found.

peek a book!

It's been on my to-do list for awhile now to create designs for textiles. A few weeks back Spoonflower was hosting a "cloth children's book" contest and I felt what better place to start? I submitted my design and made it to 4th place! Not too bad for my first time! I'm waiting for a sample of the fabric to arrive so I can actually make the book, but promise to show you updated images of the final project.

In the mean time I'm waiting patiently for this book to arrive in the mail. I can't wait too start creating more fabric in 2012!

a pocketful of riddles

Came across this riddle book at the thrift store. Too bad I can't find much information about William Wiesner, the illustrations are pretty cute! 

eat & enjoy!

I'm heading to a friends holiday cookie party today and like the nerdy illustrator that I am - I designed these recipe cards to go along with my cookies. Vegan, gluten free and sugar free - try finding a cookie that is all of the above and actually tastes good. Well, I did and if you want to make some for your holiday cookie party - check out Nikki's Healthy Cookie Recipe on 101cookbooks.com.  (and if you want to print out the recipe that I made send me a message and I will email you the pdf!)

Eat & Enjoy!

baby diary (25 weeks 6 days)

finally gave in and started going to a Chiropractor for back pain. apparently the hot water bottle I used all the time was making things worse, ice packs from now one. good thing it's winter..

heart burn and acid reflux are in full swing and it's not fun. the most relief i get is when i drink papaya juice. (yep i spelled it wrong in my drawing haha)

dear feet, i haven't seen you in weeks. how are you?

so, as i approach my third trimester, i'm starting to feel more pregnant. all the

miserable symptoms i've been reading about are actually true! 

a little girl

How is it already December? So much happens during the Holidays - I can't seem to keep up! 

We found out we are having a little girl and the due date is creeping up on me way too fast. I could not be more excited! I've already thrifted striped, polka dots and vintage onesies like there is no tomorrow. 

And I just finished creating our Baby Shower invites - they are in the mail! 

ps. I updated my blog layout thanks to Pugly Pixel! Lemon Meringue, isn't it delicious?! 

THANK YOU!

I wanted to post this last Thursday on Thanksgiving, but sitting on our couch, watching movies, reading, and lots of cooking got the best of me! Thank you for all the kind readers who stop by Nisee Made, thank you to those who leave the sweetest comments, and thank you to those who stop by my etsy shop. You all make my day and I am so grateful! Thank you! 

Baby Diary (22 weeks 5 days)

The pregnancy waddle! This started pretty much at the beginning

of my pregnancy, but now that I'm over halfway done, I feel like I'm

walking like a penguin!

rainy day

teepee

(saw this post and thought it would make a cute drawing)

baby diary (21 weeks + 1 day)

The question I get asked the most is "what are you craving?"

I have had some pretty normal ones like chocolate, but I have also

been craving oranges and orange juice like crazy. I hate orange juice!

Grapes are my number 1 at the moment, hemp protein shakes are a 

close 2nd. But the weirdest so far is mussels! I recently read

that your iron build up from many years of having a period is 

depleted around 20 weeks. My mussel craving started just about

at my 20 week week mark - turns out they are pretty high in

iron. Pregnancy cravings are interesting!

halloween!

Panda Party Invites

New invites in the shop! Perfect for birthday parties,

baby showers and for people who love pandas!

baby diary (19 weeks + 6 days)

most weird crying moment so far was when i saw a keebler

elf commercial. a big sis gives her little sis the last cookie... then here's the 

kicker - the elves magically make 1 more cookie appear! haha yes i sobbed 

the first time i saw it!

baby diary (19 weeks + 3 days)

my breakfasts are getting bigger: oatmeal, two pieces of toast, water, orange juice, hot water with lemon. i was hungry an hour later.

finally made it to a prenatal yoga class. i was excited to meet other pregs - i was the only one who showed up to the class - go figure!

sore from yoga. i sat on the couch the rest of the night with a hot water bottle on my back.

amy from pikaland gave me the great idea to start a pregnancy diary - i hope this isn't

annoying. i promise not to turn into a baby blog. at least not the type thats all

pictures of my baby... are illustrated ones okay? :) 

celebrity

My weakness with illustration is drawing realistic people, especially famous people. I was nervous for my first assignment in Multi-Level Illustration, which was to draw a celebrity. The first person who came to mind (not just because I won a look-a-like contest years ago) was Bjork. Luckily, she is iconic and seems like a fun and imaginative person, which made her easier to draw. I am quite pleased with how this turned out!

A few others that didn't make the cut, I still think they are fun even if they don't look like Bjork!

Fa La La La La

Just updated the shop with a new holiday card - Fa La La La La! 

Perfect for

* your great aunt

* friends who sing in the shower

* holiday cheer

* a friendly neighbor

Available as a single folded card with envelope or as a set of 10! 

SHOP

Book Recommendations

At the beginning of the year my husband asked if I would create some posters for his classroom - here are a few drawings that I made for his book recommendations. 

We had a cousins reunion this past weekend in Lexington, Michigan. On the drive out there it was nice seeing all the leaves changing colors; greens, reds, oranges and bright yellows. I felt like the right time to change my blog header. Happy Fall! 

Recipe Card Winners!

Thanks to everyone who entered my little giveaway! I promise to have more soon!

Jayne & Pamela - you are the winners! Look out for an email from me!

Recipe Card Set Giveway!

I'm updating my shop this week with a few items and thought it would be fun to have a little giveaway! 

 Leave a comment to enter to win a 12 card recipe card set. 2 winners will be announced next Tuesday October 11th! 

Tomorrow

I'm having a little giveaway tomorrow - stop by and enter to

win a set of recipe cards! 

Lil Panda

This little guy is appearing on some paper goods soon!

bump!

So, I have an excuse for the lack of posts around here. I had

hoped to draw a lot this summer, have my shop ready this fall with tons

of new cards, and well I didn't get to anything. Turns out we are expecting

a little one in March 2012 - and could not be more excited! 

I just started my 2nd trimester and already feel the energy coming back! 

I got a few things going on that I'm looking forward to this fall:

illustration classes resuming at the end of September, some holiday cards

that I designed going up in the shop, apple picking, a cousins reunion in October,

and coming up this weekend the Renegade Craft Fair! I won't

be participating, however I plan on shopping a bunch!

I'll leave you with a video I made using my iphone - we celebrated my husbands

birthday a couple weekends ago with a bbq and outdoor movie at our friends backyard. 

(a little warning, there is a swear word at the end of the film.. i'm sorry i

thought it was too good to cut out!)

birthday movie

New Nisee Made!

I have been excited about this all summer! Finally, my new website is up and running!

Please stop by and let me know what you think. I put up lots of new work that I've

yet to share. I'm pretty happy today!

www.niseemade.com

mt swan

happy friday! 

i have lots of big news to share in the next couple weeks. it's

so hard to keep everything in. but one is a new portfolio site designed

by the lovely meg of ghostly ferns. 

on my list for today; going to the beach, gotta clean the house for my moms

visit, and work on some cute logo designs for a client. yep i have the

hard life! 

mt girl

doodling with some mt tape

beacon

a business card and shop sign i saw in beacon, ny.

I have such a hard time keeping up with my blog in the summer.  Julia Rothman's new book 'Drawn In' is really inspiring. I love peeking into other artists sketchbooks. 

july 4th

Intro to Illustration Project 1

I just finished taking the 1st class in the Illustration Certificate program at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). I can't believe all the work that I actually completed in five weeks and I am excited to share them here. We worked on 4 projects out of the five weeks; editorial, advertising, institution/children's book, and self promotion. We crammed in a bunch of lectures, critiques and discussions about illustrators and techniques - and along the way I met 4 other amazing illustrators. I hope that we get to cross paths again in the next class. Our instructor was so knowledgeable and great at critiquing our work - the class only confirmed my love for illustration and I'm excited that I am kind of making it legit.

Here are a few pages from my sketchbook. I found that I enjoy making thumbnails however, it's usually the 1st or 2nd out of 20 that I end up using for the final. The editorial article I picked was from the New York Times about Memory and the Aging Brain - basically about how we process memory and that exercising is shown to be helpful in preventing memory deterioration.  

My teacher recommended writing down words and phrases from the article to help come up with thumbnails. It ended up being helpful - go figure!

Some very forgetful people.

Forget exercise, take our memory tonic and you'll never forget another precious moment again!

Ta-Da! My final piece.