A Tiny Reveal

Here's a peek at some work I did approximately a year ago for Kohl's, back when I was first hired on as a Jumping Beans artist for boys. They were just finishing up Summer, so I filled in some spots with some Americana shirts and camo friends. Go clothe your children!

The lower left tank is a super-shiny UV-ink tee.  There was a bit of lacking on visual images when it came to that guy on the Kohl's website, so I'll have try to remember to upload my own picture of the colorful version later.

Dress-Gasms

On March 13th Target is re-releasing 34 dresses from its Go International collection.  I've worked there all five years that the collection has been going on, so there are a lot of dresses I've seen come and go and a lot of cravings I had to (sort of) resist.  Here are some of the ones that I'm really stoked to see come back in--there is no way I'm letting that color blocked dress get past me this time!

(l to r:  Tara Jarmon colorblock dress, Erin Fetherston chiffon dress with a bunny print [I shelled out for the matching long underwear when it was originally in stores], and Zac Posen polka-dot dress)

However, I really wish this gorgeous Zac Posen floral brocade dress was coming back.  I put off even trying it on when it was in stores because I loved it too much and it was around eighty bucks, if I remember correctly.  When it was on about 75% clearance I finally let myself try it on and it was hot stuff, if I do say so myself.  Of course, at that point it was also impossible to find my size.  (Of course.)  Ah well.  A girl can dream.

See all 34 dresses here!

Alphabet Posters

My art class with the kindergartens (at Prairie View, not Section) made alphabet posters as one of their last big projects of the school year. I'm in love with how graphic they look and really want to make one myself. Here are a few of them, with the rest available for viewing riiiight here.

by Dalton (who did a very good job fitting all his letters in!)

by Lorena (who is the most diligent kindergartner I've ever seen)

by Abi (who I discovered half way through the class was actually the daughter of my piano teacher--I remember when she was negative nine months old and she's SIX now! And I'm going to brag and say her name is totally spelled "Abi" because of moi. True story.)

Crazy Kitties

One of my favorite projects we worked on in my art class with the third graders was making cats inspired by Laurel Burch--the best part was I had the time to make one alongside them! Here are a few of my favorites... including my own. You can see everyone's here, at Artsonia. It's a neat website where the kids' art is uploaded so their family members and friends can see what they (as well as everyone in their class) have been working on. It's the best change there's been at my elementary school since I went there, I'd say! I'm totally jealous!

Taylor's cat looks happy and fat. And French?

Jolene's looks dreamy and kind of sad, I think.

Anthony's cat totally looks like he'd be the annoying kid in class. I adore the whiskers.

This guy is mine- it was windy when I was toting him to my car so the pastel got a little smudged in places, but am rather fond of his fat head.

Practically First Graders

Today was my last day with my kindergartners, and as a thank you I got some of the best presents ever! 1. A card they decorated and signed. 2. A class photo! It was great being able to show everyone the kids that I've been working with this past semester, so they can finally put a face to the stories.
(p.s.- Sarah, can you find your dad? :p )

More Kindergarten Quotes

Upon request, here are some more Q & A's from "Our View on Life Topics" for my kindergarten class. The first batch are here.

What does the President of our country do?
Kallin: Give money.
Mariana: Makes everything fun.
Lucas: Abraham Lincoln talks.
McKenna: Tells other people what to do.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Jordyn: Four-wheel driver with a plow in the front.
Adam: Worker man.

Where do you want to live when you grow up?
Cal: With my mom and dad.

What kinds of things make people happy?
Adam: Snow, snow forts, fire.

If you had a lot of money, what would you do with it?
Alex: Go to a store with my mom and buy fruit.
McKenna: Throw it up in the air and be happy.

Who are you going to marry? How old will you be? How many kids will you have?
Jordyn: My poppa/I'm going to try to be 99/ 10 kids
Lucas: My baby sister when she grows up/11/4 kids
Emilie: Andrew, my baby brother/9/10 kids
McKenna: Someone named Derek/23/2 kids


Those are just some of the funnier answers- there are also incredibly sweet ones that remind me just how intelligent these kids are considering they're only five or six.

What do you like about yourself?
Hannah: I like how I am different from everybody else.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Julian: Librarian and paleontologist.

If you had a lot of money, what would you do with it?
Kallin: Save it for college.
Bella: Buy something that costs too much.

Kindergarten Perspectives aka Genius

In my spare time I've been typing up a book for my kindergarten class featuring answers each of the kids gave to simple questions- What does the President do, Where you do want to live when you grow up, etc. I had a copy of last year's, which while very amusing featured a front page full of clip art. I set out to make this year's a bit... dare I say it, better? It was done quickly, but I didn't want anything too sophisticated, obviously- the majority of contributors were five. Oh, and that's supposed to be a hawk there. It's the school's mascot.

Here were some of my favorite answers:

What do you like about yourself?
Jeremy: I like my head.

What does the President of our country do?
Adam: We pay taxes and he gets the money.
Emilie: He sits and waits for people to come to him.

If you had a lot of money, what would you do with it?
Maya: Buy Taylor Swift if I could. Buy my brother and sell him to the gypsies.

I Heart: Liberty of London

I mentioned the collaboration between Liberty of London and Target previously, but now that it's here I had to mention it again, because it's just too lovely. No, really. Way too much money has been spent. Go, look!

It's Finally Paying Off!

A long long time ago I fell in love with these limited edition Nike Dunks with Liberty of London prints on them:And now on March 14th Liberty of London is invading my work, Target, in one of the biggest pair ups Target has ever done- we're talking clothes for everyone, housewares, bedding, and even a kick ass bike for 200 buckaroos. I am saving my discount cards for the arrival so I can do some serious retail therapy. Anyone want to gift me a bike?

This Is MY Coffee

Even the best of us get bored at work.

Phallic Foul

When I'm not working at Starbucks, my lovely employers get great pleasure in shipping me off across the food court to work at Food Avenue, aka Target's hot little hell hole. I'll be perfectly honest, I don't hate it as much as I say I do, but it can get boring as all get out between the swarms of tiny children asking for ICEEs and pulling inaccurate piles of change out of their pockets.

I amuse myself by being anal. Which, truth said, is kind of pathetic, but my manager appreciates it. I cleaned the cookie oven, which was sparkling to begin with. I dusted the main oven, even though it was upwards of 400 degrees and every time I sprayed sanitizer on it, a loud hissing noise would sound as it sizzled right back off again. I even shoved innumerable batches of frozen chicken strips through my pristine oven, even though they expire every hour and no one really orders them to begin with.

I was plopping down another tray full of chicken strips when a particularly interesting one caught my eye. It was crumbly and golden brown and generally misshapen just like the rest of them, but it's misshapenness had taken on an excellent quality of being a prime diagram of the erect penis (and testicles, to be exact, or else I could go crazy and say all the long chicken strips were penises and that Target was trying to tell me something).

I was lucky enough to have a family of four walk up at the exact moment I discovered my happy little chicken friend, and was forced to apologize for my giggling. I'm sure they thought I was either way too pleased to be inhaling popcorn grease fumes or that I was simply insane. Either way, I cooked the sucker with the rest, and then, because I'm a good employee who didn't want a little three year-old girl to be forced to consume it, I shoved it in a popcorn bag and brought it home with me.

Dinner, anyone?
(I think the curve makes it quite realistic, myself. This isn't one of those fake porn chicken tender penises you see all the time, this guy is the real macaw.)