The Birthday Calendar is here!

Ever forgotten someone's birthday? Birthday calendars originate from the Netherlands but we always had one around the house in Germany where I grew up. The difference between a normal calendar and a birthday calendar is that birthday calendars are perpetual. They don't list the days for a specific year but can be used year-after-year with the sole purpose of recording your loved ones birthdays and other important annual events. What a lovely idea – keeping track of all your friends year round. Of course I had to make my own for the shop!

I thought it would be fun to just work with watercolours for a change and take a break from the computer for a while. The outcome is the new Draw Me A Lion birthday calendar. Hang one anywhere in your home, to remember your friends near-and-far all year round.

Lions & Tigers Oh My!

Just in time for some cool downtime Summer fun colouring, our new Colouring Poster is here! The theme is relatives of the house cat with lots of tigers, ocelots, jaguars, leopards, and of course...lions! And don't worry,  we also put a couple of our regular cat pals in there for you:) Make a super cool poster for your room and learn about all the interesting kin of our cute little pet kitty cat.

Sneak Peak: Flower Buttons Bouquets

Want to give some flowers that lasts and lasts? How about one of our new Flower Button Bouquets? So new they're not even in shops yet! 

But they will be soon, plus we'll be sure to sell them at all of our upcoming outdoor fairs and markets we're part of this Summer. Flower time! 

Two New Cards, One New Style

I just finished adding two brand new cards to the shop. They vary a little stylistically from my other card designs. I thought it would be nice to try something a little different. That doesn't mean that I will now make all my cards like this but just that there might be a bit more variety in the works. More room for play, for new drawing and painting mediums. These two were done with brush, water colour and coloured pencil. I always have a good time drawing with mediums I haven't used for a while. It's so satisfying and exciting to dunk your brush into a fantastic colour like red and see how it will turn up on the paper you're working with. This time a little tiger or tabby sitting in the grass and someone who seems to have hurt themselves a bit showed up in my drawing session. I wonder who will show up next time.

We're In UPPERCASE MAGAZINE'S Stationery Issue!

Hurray! This month we're part of UPPERCASE MAGAZINE'S Stationery Issue and pretty excited about that! There are so many other super cool lines featured and I feel very happy to be amongst them. Here is a screen shot of the feature. Can you spot us?

Bought myself some flowers today to celebrate this occasion...but any excuse will do really:)

New Things!

We have new things in the shop and they are all about Colouring! First up I'd like to introduce you to our brand new Colouring Party Invites! Thinking about throwing a party? Now you can have a party before the real party even starts when you're colouring in our new Party Invites! After you're done colouring, fill out all the info on the back and distribute to your awesome friends. Now there's only one more thing that needs to be done. Party on!

 

Want to do some colouring at the party too? How about giving our new Colour Me - Sticker Packs a go? Each pack comes with 20 totally different stickers that you can colour any way you want. Some sticker packs might even vary so that you can trade with your friends. Stickers, Colouring, Trading...What's not to like?

Bad Weather? We've got just the ticket!

Here in Vancouver it's been raining quite a bit lately but don't let it get you down! After you're done splishing and splooshing around in the puddles for the day and and before turning into one yourself , get ready for some 'serious' creative time with our Mask Colouring Book! Colour to your hearts delight and turn into a cat, a lion a train conductor, a princess, a dog, a fairy and tons of other fun characters! It even comes with elastics, so that once you've coloured your mask all you have to do is cut it out and you're ready to play! What does a train conductor do all day? Now you'll be able to find out! Rain? What rain?

Away on Holiday & Valentines!

I will be taking a short creative refueling leave from the shop, and so any orders you place online between Jan.31st-Feb.13th will be shipped promptly after the 14th of February. There might even be a little extra surprise in your order :)
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Speaking of the 14th of February... here is a sneak peak at our selection of Valentines this year around. They won't be available online, however if you're here in Vancouver they are already ready for you to pick up at some of our awesome retailers such as The Window Community Shop, Dilly Dally Kids, Bird on A Wire as well as our brand new retailers Brick & Mortar in New Westminster and Proper Topper in Washington DC for all of our US friends! Go and pick one up for that special someone!...you know who:)

Winter Time & What's A Good Drawing?

It's winter time here at Draw Me A Lion headquarters and I mostly sit in my studio with my trusty and fuzzy studio assistant thinking up new projects and ideas for the upcoming year.

One thing I always make sure of with all of the things I design for my line is that they can't be too perfect if you know what I mean. I always pay attention to keep that handmade feel, especially in my drawings. It's important for me that someone can look at a drawing and have it be fun to look at, in a way that makes them go..."Oh, maybe I could do that..." and then take it from there. When a drawing is too complicated and detailed this doesn't happen as easily.

I think the thing that stops so many people, especially adults from drawing, is this whole idea of the drawing needing to be 'good', ... and usually what they really mean by that is that their drawing needs to look as realistic as possible. For example, if you draw a chair and it looks exactly like a chair then it's a 'good' drawing. I however think just the opposite. To me what makes a drawing of a chair good is if it looks totally different than any old chair that I could just snap a quick picture of with my phone. Who needs a drawing of a chair that actually looks like a chair? Boring I say!  Give me a drawing of a chair that has wings, or a chair that can move and run around with a person, or a drawing of a chair with a hat, or a face, or with wheels, or with totally crazy wild colours or anything else you can imagine. Because I think THAT'S really what drawing is all about.. Imagination. Try is sometime won't you?

Here is a photo of me, of my studio assistant taking a nap and a drawing I did of me in my studio. If you want to  see more of me in my studio you can watch this short movie here that was made in warmer times not that long ago.  

Creativity Can Help

A Word About The Recent Elementary School Shooting in Connecticut

I have been wondering how best to address the recent shooting at the Elementary School in Connecticut. It is such a great tragedy and at first glance seems so out of place to talk about on this blog and yet I don't think it is our of place, because it deals with children and with sorrow.  My heart goes out to all the innocent children and teachers who lost their life's that day, as well as to all the surviving children and teachers who are still with us. What do we do in times like these? How do we cope with all the emotions and thoughts we have? I am a strong believer that art and creative projects can play a big role in helping us make it through hard patches in life and help us recover from traumatic experiences.

With so much tragedy in the world I have made Draw Me A Lion my mission to focus on the positive things in life. And even though many problems are permanent and can't be solved Creativity can be of help in overcoming the harder obstacles in life. Even sorrow.


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The Crayon & Watercolour Repel Technique

Here is a drawing I made between ages 6-8. Me and my mom did lots of crafts together. This was one of my favs. The crayon & Watercolour repel technique. For a nice wintery scene like this one, draw with a white crayon a winter wonderland. Then go over everything with with blue watercolour. The crayon will repel your watercolour and your picture will look great! After the watercolour dries you can add some extra touches like these houses here with coloured pencil.

We Made A Video!

Thanks to the amazing talents of filmmaker Anna Mac Donald I am happy to present to you this brand new video about my little shop. I think it turned out so great. And just when it couldn't get any cooler my good friends Jared Schinosky and Choo Kien made the nicest song for it. I am so lucky to have so many talented people as friends and have no idea what I'd do without all of your help! So I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to making this video and also everyone who will take the time to watch it and help pass it along. 

I feel like Anna portrayed what my shop is all about really well and in a fun way. 

I hope you will like it! 

Here is the link to it on Vimeo again. 

Craft Fair Time!

Catch us at a Craft Fair! 

Visit our booth at one of these fine Fairs. 

Pay online prices, no tax, and of course no shipping costs! 

Strathcona Winter Craft Fair, Saturday November 24th, 10-5pm.
Toque, Friday December 7th from 6-10pm, and Saturday December 8th from 11-4pm. 
Got Craft?, Saturday December 8th from 10-5pm, and Saturday December 9th from 10-5pm. 
Blim Market, Saturday December 15th from 12-6pm
Great Canadian Craft Fair, Sunday December 16th from 10-6pm

Get ready for the Holidays!

Lately every year the holidays do this thing where they manage to sneak up on me even though I definitely know they're coming! I think it's because shops start to decorate for Christmas earlier and earlier now and and so for a month or two we are in this constant state of Christmas, almost forgetting that there is an actual date attached to the whole thing. By the time I realize that it's often too late and my cards end up getting there a week after everything is long over. This year, I have decided to be better about it. I will try to write all of my cards in these next couple of weeks so that later, all I will need to do is to throw them in the mail. If you want to be clever like me might I suggest one of our festive card sets to get you in the writing mood?

Pass on the Christmas spirit with santa and a little Christmas sprite.

A more general holiday card set that is a wee bit on the funny side of things. 

And last but not least these single cards of three cute kids with animals singing songs of Peace On Earth. Wouldn't it be nice if we all just got along? 

So whatever holiday you're celebrating this season, let's make it as awesome as possible.

Colouring Mask Book Launch Photos!

I had so much fun at our Colouring Mask Book Launch at Collage Collage last month! And now that the photos from it are ready I am having a good time all over again looking at them. A huge thanks to Lauren Joan Photography for taking these great pics! What a talented lady you are:)

It was so great for me to see both, kids and adults colour in the masks so many different fun ways and really make them theirs. Very cool! 

The other part of this celebration was the one year anniversary of Draw Me A Lion. I have to say that I am really proud of everything that I have accomplished in this first year with my little shop. It's hard to believe that it's only been one year really. It just flew by and I have learned so much in what seems relatively so little time. I wanted to say a big thanks again to everyone who helped me get there! I am looking forward to the holidays and what the next year will bring for my little line of things.