Creativity vs Fear

Barn Owl and Mouse Cupcake @ LiPeony

I was on the verge of not posting the little print above because I thought to myself owls have been so overdone and they're everywhere on etsy and also in stores. That changed when I read this article on etsy called Fearless Creativity... it really spoke to me. There are always so many ideas bouncing in my head but few make it on paper because of the reasons mentioned such as "this will never be as good as xxx" or "it's been done" etc. This can be applied in life as we're always besieged by fear and it creates this glass ceiling. Not letting this fear get you down is an ongoing struggle but I hope reading this little article would give you encouragement to combat those little voices in your head.

Until next time... don't let fear bind your creativity!

Happy Holidays!

Sir Octopus and His Afternoon Tea @ LiPeony

Happy holidays to all! I hope everyone had a relaxing and awesome holidays. I spent mine relaxing in South Jersey and Philadelphia where with my boyfriend and his cousins and friends attempted to make sushi. It wasn't so bad but next time we'll be more prepared! Which reminds me a lot of the drawing above. I must have made several versions of it but never seem to get it right until now. I think it's like most things... when at first you don't succeed try try and try again. Though it can get frustrating but in the end you have this sense of "ahh" when it all works out. I'll try to keep that in mind for 2011... to try try try.

Until next time... happy holidays and always keep on trying =D

And the Winner is......!

Little Gift Giving Chicks Print @ LiPeony

A number was randomly generated and the winner is...

Pesky Cat Designs!

CONGRATULATIONS! Thank you to everyone that participated and here's a 25% off coupon to my art store LiPeony. Just input the coupon code IHEARTNYC . I hope everyone have an awesome holidays and even though we may be frantic with the shopping, gift giving, partying, planning etc... remember to take some time out and relax!

Until next time... live, love and relaaaaaaaaaax!

Chibi's NYC Contest!

Green Tea Cup Spa @ LiPeony

Who else is stressed over the holidays and need a nice pick me up? Or if you're going to be visiting NYC soon then here's a little contest for you guys! I've made a mini prize of the new Chibi's Guide to NYC Eats (a limited run of a mini illustrated zine with info on some of my favorite eats in the city, also includes spaces for note taking) also a "Choose Your Three 5 x 7 Prints" from LiPeony I recently brought an extra spa voucher to Townhouse Spa in New York City and I thought it would be a great little prize for a contest! It's for a mani/pedi and also massage or facial and worth $300 (of course tip is not included so you still have to tip them) This expires October 25th 2011. I'll be sending everything in one package to the winner.

For the Chibi Luvs NYC Giveaway:
1. Mini Chibi Food zine
2. Three 5 x 7 Prints of your choosing
3. A single spa voucher to Townhouse Spa (expires 10/25/11 for mani/pedi and facial or massage)

To Enter leave a post here with your name and email (some way I can contact you) and the THREE prints you would like from my store LiPeony. On December 14, 2010 I'll randomly pull a name out. Happy Holidays to all!

Until next time... spread the cheer around...

Sneak Peek

Sneak Peek to Chibi's Mini Guide to NYC Yummies!

I'm extremely excited to give you a sneak peek of a mini food guide of my favorite places in New York City. It's going to be a couple of pages of illustrated goodness with restaurant addresses and small tips on some of my favorite eateries. I'm planning on making it about wallet sized with some blank pages for note taking and stuffs. The one above is for my "Ramen" page and I'm trying my hardest to finish some for Brooklyn Flea this Sunday that I will be vending at. I'm also planning to give a copy or two away for the upcoming NYC Giveaway I will be introducing hopefully this weekend or at the very least early next week. So keep an eye out for it!

Until next time... live, love and eat tons of good food!

DIY Flowers for Wedding? Hmm?

For a wedding for about 300 people and about 34-36 tables my friend decided to go though the DIY flower centerpiece arrangements. It took about 8-9 hours to create a bouquet of 15 roses (salmon and light pink color) for 30 odd tables. Though for the first few hours it was just two people making it but it sure got a whole lot quicker when five people were bunching them up. If you're going though the DIY route you better have time set up for:

1. re-hydrating flowers ( can take up to 12 hours)
2. make sure you have enough buckets and room to store them.
3. good pair of gloves and shears etc (if you need to de-thorn them)
(not all roses are created equal- the salmon colored one had bigger but fewer thorns compared to the pale pink one)
4. Watch or print out some DIY tutorials on how to arrange flowers.
5. great slaves... I mean friends to help you out.

All in all the flowers (600-700 roses) and four bridesmaid bouquets, 1 bridal bouquet and a throwaway bouquet (all premade) and vases roughly came out to under 2k. They were ordered from Grower's Box (For some reason they don't deliver on Mondays but the flowers did arrive earlier then expected by Fedex. They have instructions and I think they also provide some tools to help cut the flowers. The flowers were fairly fresh and looked nice) . Another similar site is Fiftyflowers. The vases the flowers were put in were at a dollar a piece came from Dollar Tree (They can ship it to the store to be picked up and let me opened and inspect every single vase before I left the store).

It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun as we all rushed to make everything ready for the wedding that turned out to be an awesome time!

On a side not I'll be vending at the Brooklyn Flea this Sunday so if you're in the neighborhood stop on by! Also I'll be announcing a new contest sometime this week and it's going to be a doozy!

Until next time... have an awesome day!

Quick Peep for Fall

Deer Girl and Her Bird Friends @ LiPeony

It's been a while since I updated and it's been busy busy! I've been helping my friend and her wedding this Thanksgiving and it's drawing mighty close! I'll have photos of the DIY things I did with help from my buddies. I'm in the middle of making tiny personalized tags for the chopstick favors and just finished creating the "money box" where people stuff monetary gifts for the couple. Wrapping fabric around a box is hard then it looks!

The uniqueness of this wedding is that its a blend of a traditional Chinese and white wedding. This is my first time as a bridesmaid it's definitely an eye opener on traditions and the actual cost and time that goes into it. There's the traditional tea ceremony where teas are exchanged with both sides of the family as a sign of respect and union. The banquet is usually around 8 different dishes (8 in Chinese sounds similar to the word "good luck") and each dish has it's own significance. For details this site explains what each dish represents Chinese Banquet. I hope to take some awesome pictures if I'm not too busy to running around.

Until then here's a little deer and fall inspired print. It took a couple hours of tweaking and putting it down and picking it up until I was satisfied! I hope everyone is having an awesome autumn!

Until next time... eat them turkey and be thankful =)