YMCA Small Business Showcase Pics

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas!

I sure did, but now alas it is time to once again return to the land of working. This morning whilst organizing my computer a bit I noticed that there were tons of things I meant to post but did not get around to yet. This is one of them. Back in November Draw Me A Lion was part of the YMCA Small Business Showcase. Here are some pics of the Draw Me A Lion booth and visitors, our little colouring station that we set up as well as some pics of a few other vendors and pals that were part of the event.

*Some of these pics are courtesy of Adele Lewin Photography who was also part of the event. Thanks!

Blog Post for Vancouvermom!

A while back I was asked if I could write a blog post for the local blog Vancouvermom.ca. Well, I did, and now it's up on their cool site. Since I was asked to write about the topic of Instilling a lifelong love of art and creativity is was of course the perfect subject! Here is the article and a few images from it. Enjoy!

NEW! Christmas Cards at WINDOW SHOP!

Draw Me A Lion Holiday Cards! A little late but better than never! You can buy them NOW at The Window Community Art Shop! The cool shop is brand new just like us and doesn't even have a site online yet. You can buy one card at 3.50$ each or the set of 6 for 11$ special Holiday price! IF you haven't bought your holiday cards yet, pick up a set or a few cards at the Community Window Shop! Here are the details:

THE COMMUNITY WINDOW SHOP:

Tuesday – Saturday | 10am-6pm | The Window Community Art Shop (9 West Hastings)

You can also get the cars at these two last Holiday Markets DRAW ME A LION will be at:

Sat. Dec.17th, I HEART CRAFTS, at 1897 Powell St, from 11-5pm.

And

Sun.Dec. 18th, BLIM MARKET, at 50 E. Pender St, from 11-5pm.

Our Colouring Posters are really FUN!

The other day I finally got the chance to colour in one of my own Colouring Posters! I figured since we already have a picture of our Dog Colouring poster coloured in by Miles, I'd give the underrepresented Cat Poster a shot. And you know what... it was super fun! Put on some Holiday tunes, make yourself a nice little eggnog and do some colouring! It's a pretty relaxing thing to do and when you're done you have a beautiful one of a kind print to hang up in your home. Of course you could always leave the colouring to the kids and just draw in a line here and there while writing some Christmas cards and focusing more on the eggnog aspect. Either way. It's really a win win situation! Colouring posters for all! And to all a goodnight!

More Love for our Free Downloadable Gift Tags!

We got another super cute gift tag mention on another super cute blog! Thanks Collage Collage! Two coooool blog mentions in one day! Awesome!

Also while I'm talking about Collage Collage, please do know that if you're in Vancouver, it's a great place to check out if you haven't yet! You can even book a Christmas craft party there for your office if you'd like! And of course you can purchase some of our Draw Me A Lion limited edition prints, colouring posters, story activity kits and colouring postcards there!

Here is a really cool video of the shop! Check it out!

Collage Collage - Shop, Look + Learn from Pike on Vimeo.

Our Gift Tags featured on the LMNOP blog!

Check out how sweet our free gift tags look on the beautiful LMNOP blog! As big fans of the super cool mag we're pretty proud about this!

Free Holiday Gift Tags for YOU!

On the 4th day of Christmas Draw Me A Lion gave to you... really cute Holiday Gift Tags for you to download, colour and cut-out! Yay!

Yep, we opened up our virtual door one month ago today and so what better time it being the start of the holidays to give you a little gift for being so awesome and supportive?

I just finished making these and printed a page out myself to see if they were as much fun as I hoped they'd be and ... they ARE! In fact, I might have to colour in a few myself soon when I get a chance. So if you're starting to think about wrapping presents for your special ones... don't worry about the gift tags anymore. Get some coloured pencils for your little assistants and you're done and done. Plus: How much cooler are gift tags you coloured in yourself? Like GAZILLION times cooler!

Click HERE TO DOWNLOAD OUR FREE HOLIDAY GIFT TAG PDF

Our Colouring Postcard Booklets are a HIT!

Our Draw Me A Lion Colouring Postcards are our biggest sellers so far, and it's no surprise really. They are super fun to colour and a really great way to introduce your little ones to the concept of mailing something,... noooo, not via e-mail, via REAL post! Make a whole project out of it! Decide on who you'd like to send a card to, colour in your postcard, write your name on it, and perhaps even draw yourself on top of the animal somewhere! You could also draw the person who you're sending it to on top off, or next to the animal. Then you can explain the way postal codes and addresses work and go to a mail box or postoffice and talk about how the mail gets delivered!

I remember learning about the mail system in school and it's really a pretty neat thing to know just how many people are involved in delivering a special postcard that you made to your Grandma overseas! Plus they make a for a great little stocking stuffer!

Find Draw Me A LIon at DILLY DALLY!

Draw Me A Lion has a second local retailer! I'm so happy to say that you can now find pretty much all of our items at Dilly Dally! If you're located in Vancouver it's probably the best way to check out All of our Limited Edition Prints in person and pick one up without having to pay shipping fees!

Dilly Dally is a really awesome toy shop and if you haven't been this might just be the perfect time! It's pretty hard to go in there and not come out with a little something something. Claire & Tyler who own the shop are really cool, sweet and helpful. They have a great selection of toys, prints, stationary, colouring books, picture books and games there ... and now of course also Draw Me A Lion Prints, Colouring Posters, Story Activity Kits and Colouring Postcard Booklets! Here are a few photos of our things at Dilly Dally with Claire and Tyler modeling them.

Our Dogs Coloured by Miles!

Just got this pic sent from Mile's mom, who picked up our colouring poster yesterday evening. That's some Really Great and very quick colouring Miles! Awesome job! I'm so glad that you guys loved doing this! I hope it will make your room look super cool. I wonder what all of those dogs names are!?

Check our Facebook Page for upcoming Fairs!

Today Draw Me A Lion was at the I Heart Crafts Fair. It was quite lovely and I got to meet lots of cool new people. I think what I will do from now on is post pics from Fairs and all info regarding markets on the Draw Me A Lion Facebook page primarily. That will allow me to use this blog to post fun things that inspire the collection. I'm also trying to figure out how/where to post some free activities for you to download. I might have possibly made a pretty cool sticker sheet to start it off with. Stay tuned for more!

Hurrah! Collage Collage is our first Retailer!

One of my favorite creative spaces in Vancouver is Collage Collage, and so I couldn't be happier that it also happens to be our first official retailer! You can find a selection of Draw Me A Lion prints, including our cute 1•2•3Duck Parade long format print, cat & dog colouring posters, colouring postcards and of course our Story Activity Kit! Go and check them out and explore all the other beautiful little treasures that are hidden at this wonderful little shop! It's so great for me to see the Draw Me A LIon line up on the shelf along side so many other great things! Here are a couple of pics including Erin, the owner and creator of Collage Collage. Thanks Erin!

Draw Me A Lion at BLIM Market!

Tomorrow is the first time Draw Me A Lion is going to be part of the BLIM Market! Fun!

Sunday Nov. 20th, 12pm-5pm at the Chinese Cultural Centre, right next to the Sun Yat Sen Garden at 50 East Pender Street. There is NO admission fee to this market! :)

Come on by and check out our pretty things! Blim Market is always a good time with lots of cool vendors. Perfect time to start some holiday shopping! You can even pay with credit or debit because we have a terminal at Blim! Even simpler. Hurrah!

I will also be selling a few copies of 'The Day it all blew Away' and 'Paulina P. for Petersen'. Picture books for gifts are nice;)

Draw Me A LIon is on Cool Mom Picks!

Oh my gosh! We're not even two weeks old yet and we're already being featured on Coolmompicks.com! Check out their super nice post on our Thank You Card Set and Colouring Postcard Booklet! Thank YOU Cool Mom Picks! We just might have to mail you one of those cards now!

Plus I love that the Draw Me A LIon line reminds them of The Phantom Tollbooth, because of course, I also love that book! You guys rock!

The Lion at the Robert Lee YMCA!

We're part of the YMCA RLY NVN Small Business Showcase!

Draw Me A Lion will be part of the Robert Lee YMCA/New Ventures Network Small Business Showcase this Thursday (that's in 2 days!)

Date: Thursday November 17^th

Time: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Place: Robert Lee YMCA Atrium and YMCA Coast Capital Savings Family Development Centre (5th Floor!)

Draw Me A Lion on Simply Read Books!

Now we're exactly one week old! I can't believe the launch was only one week ago. So much has happened since then that it feels much much longer.

In my other life I am an illustrator and author of picture books. Both of my books Paulina P. for Petersen and The Day it All Blew Away are published by the Vancouver publisher Simply Read Books. Today Draw Me A Lion is featured on their blog. Check it out. It's run by the talented Kallie George who was one of the first people to purchase the Story Activity Kit and who also happened to be my editor for my second book. Thanks for posting Kallie!

First Orders Shipped!

It's been so busy in Draw Me A Lion Land these couple of days that I forgot to say Thanks to my very first online customers! The first batch of orders were shipped out two days ago already! It was the happiest I'd been to go to the post office in a long time!

The Day of The Launch!

Well, the Launch went off without a hitch! Tons of people came out and helped celebrate the start of it all. I really couldn't have been happier! I was great. Posters and postcards were coloured in, cupcakes were had, champagne was sipped and everyone was excited about the prints, posters, cards and the story- kit. I even gave a little speech, at which point I displayed myself as a little less eloquent and a little more emotional than usually, but hey, it was a special day and so I'm allowed a little outburst of confused stuttering;)

Of course in the general bumble of launch-happiness I sort of forgot to take photos of people's postcards and posters that were being coloured in, but still, there are a few.

Again, Thank You so much for coming out everyone who did! It wouldn't have been the same without you!