fookaDESIGNS

Let it Snow

2009-11-15T14:25:00.004-06:00

Well, I'm not so sure if I'm ready to see snow quite yet but I am happy to see that I've been featured in this lovely treasury! Thank you to pfdoriginalartworks for including my Snow Bird print with this beautiful snowy group of handmade creations. Be sure to click on the link and leave a comment if you are so inclined. :)

FF: Pretty in Purple

2009-11-14T10:38:00.001-06:00

Lucky 13

2009-11-13T10:11:00.004-06:00

Today is Friday the 13th and it's your lucky day! Wait...What? That's not the way it works!? Well it does today my fookaFRIENDS 'cause today only you can receive 13% off your entire purchase when you order $13 or more (are you noticing a theme here?) from the fookaSHOP. Simply put "lucky 13" in your customer notes at the time of purchase and wait for your adjusted total before checking out at paypal. Hurry...before your luck runs out!

p.s. if there is a fooka item that you've had your eye on but it's not listed in the shop just let me know and I'll add it!

Bedtime Stories

2009-11-11T18:06:00.005-06:00

My sister, mom and I threw a baby shower for my brother's wife, and I must say we are some great party planners. My sis came up with the great Bedtime Stories theme and we just had so much fun with it. We started with the cute bedtime themed invites you may remember from an earlier post.

We set up baby books within all the decorations to add to the bedtime theme.

The color scheme came from the colors in the baby bedding, which we had all set up in the crib to hold all the gifts (which was overflowing for the baby and soon to be mom).

Of course we had to have a cute matching banner.

And what would be better to serve at a bedtime themed baby shower than cookies and milk?

Yummy frosted sugar cookies.

And delicious chocolate sandwich cookies.

Served with regular, chocolate and strawberry milk...mmmmm!

We placed trays of cookies out on these adorable pillows that my talented mom made!

At the end everyone left with a Sweet Dreams goody bag stuffed with a moon and star cookie! This was such a fun shower, I think everyone enjoyed it I know I had a blast planning and setting up! Is anyone in need of a professional party planner? :)

Trick or Treat

2009-10-31T14:40:00.004-05:00

Happy Halloween everyone! Today there is a special TREAT for everyone in the fookaSHOP......Now available are large format prints!

One of my October goals was to add some large format prints into the shop and there's nothing like waiting until the last possible minute! It's still October (barely)! Anyways, there are a couple available so far....hopefully more soon.

Have a safe, and spooky happy Halloween!

Bedtime Baby Shower

2009-10-26T21:43:00.005-05:00

Just thought I would sneak on for a bit to show everyone my latest invitation design. This invite is for a baby shower with a bedtime theme. I just love the cute little owl family....it looks like the "new parents" could use a little (or a lot of) sleep! LOL! speaking of....I think I'm gonna go catch some z's myself. good night fookaFRIENDS!

Great Day for an Art Fair

2009-09-27T10:24:00.005-05:00

The Aaron Douglas Art Fair was a great success. The weather was perfect and the crowd was wonderful. Thank you so much to all my fookaFRIENDS who made it out to see me this year! It was so nice to see your friendly faces and so awesome to meet new friends! I couldn't have asked for a better show. For those of you who weren't able to make it, here are some shots of the event.

One of the best parts about this show is that I get to share booth space with two wonderful artists....my little sister (from the Big Brothers Big Sisters program) and her grandmother. Here is a pic of me and my sis after we set up our show. She is such a talented artist and does amazing watercolor paintings. I'm so impressed by her work and so proud of her!

Happy Fall Y'all!

2009-09-22T19:38:00.006-05:00

It's officially the first day of Fall. Yay....a new season! While I'm a bit sad to see Summer go...so long snow cones, I am happy to see Fall here....hello hot coco! With the change in seasons I thought it would only be appropriate to change my avatars here on my blog, on my etsy shop and on my facebook fan page. :) And here is a print to get you ready for the change in seasons.

I have to say I love all the seasons! But with the cooler weather, football games, the changing leaves and snugly sweaters...Fall is looking inviting! Which season is your favorite?

I'm in!

2009-09-18T07:35:00.003-05:00

Yay! I just received word late last night that fookaDESIGNS will be showing at the Aaron Douglas Art Fair next Saturday the 26th! Due to a mis-communication I'm finding out kind of late but I'm still super excited. I hope it's not too late of notice for you...I would love for any of you that are in the Topeka area to make it out to the fair and see me. The event is from 11-5 featuring all kinds of local artists with live music and yummy food. Best of all, it's FREE! It will be a great time. Hope to see you there!

Studio Love

2009-09-15T20:40:00.005-05:00

I love my studio! Which is a good thing since I spend so much of my time here. :) But seriously, it is one of my most favorite places to be. I have endless possibilities to let my creative mind flow. I can paint, draw, cut, paste, design, sew, listen to music and so much more! I love it here! Here are just a few reasons why:

One of the first things I did in my studio was put peg board up covering one entire wall. With a coat of paint, it's the perfect way to have your tools close at hand and displayed so nicely. I got this idea many years ago from a Martha Stewart magazine (thank you Martha!) and used it in my pantry as well as here in my studio. Love it!

I also added a couple of shelves with totes to keep organized!

Some of my favorite things in my studio are my paint brushes (in plastic cottage cheese containers of course). Unfortunately, I don't use them as much as I would like but they are always there for me when I need them.

One of the newer items in my studio is my very cool Logan mat cutter. I never thought I would enjoy cutting mat's as much as I do now, before I got this handy tool. This is SO much better than running to the frame shop every time I needed an mat cut.

And here is one of the older, more cherished items in my studio.....my grandma's sewing machine. I actually have both my grandmother and my grandmother-in-law's old sewing machines...they are exactly the same so whenever a part fails on one, I can swap it from the other! Now if I could learn how to sew besides cloth napkins and tablecloths! haha

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Epson photo stylus R1900 printer. It's AWESOME! (nuf said)

And finally the number one reason and probably the most obvious reason why I love my studio is because of my mac! I love my mac....given to me by the person I love the most in this whole world...my hubby. ;)

Birds of a feather

2009-09-13T20:16:00.004-05:00

They say birds of a feather flock together...well that sure is the case with my newest illustrations.

I spent most of the weekend cooped up (pardon the pun) in my studio creating. It was one of those weekends where the ideas just kept coming to me and it was like I almost couldn't keep up! The ideas were just flowing in and before I knew it my sketchbook was nearly full! Don't you just love those kind of weekends? :)

As always these will be available in the fookaDESIGNS shop.

Thank You!

2009-09-07T13:42:00.004-05:00

I recently created this fun retro style card as a thank you to a friend of mine. I liked it so much I decided to add it to my paper goods section of my shop.

I thought it would only be appropriate to take this time to thank all of you who have become a follower of this blog and a fan of my recently created facebook fan page. You all rock!

Become a fookaFAN

2009-09-02T17:44:00.003-05:00

I finally decided to take the plunge and create a fookaFAN page on Facebook. I hope this makes it easier for all my fookaFRIENDS to find me and stay updated on fookaDESIGNS new items, promotions, sales and much more! So be sure to become a fan today!

Oh, and if you're not a fookaFRIEND yet be sure to sign up and join the mailing list to get in on the fooka loop. You know you want to...all your friends are doin' it!

Both of these button features are conveniently located to the right of this page too...so click away my friend!

Seeing Stars

2009-08-31T21:18:00.004-05:00

I'm loving these beautiful "fall-like" nights. The chill in the night air and the clear skies make a perfect setting for star gazing. And if it's cloudy you could always look at my newest prints from my star gazed series. :)

I'm adding them to my shop and hope to be mounting them on artboards soon! Keep an eye out for these shooting starts before they fizzle away!

Look what I made today

2009-08-30T20:02:00.002-05:00

Okay, actually I didn't make these TODAY. But they are my latest creations. Four individual 6 x 6 inch digital illustrations simply titled, Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. I plan to mount them on artboards as well as have giclee prints available in my shop. Check back soon!

Greater Kansas City Humane Society Art Auciton

2009-08-23T18:05:00.004-05:00

I'm happy to say for the 3rd year in a row I will be participating in the Greater Kansas City Humane Society Art Auction. Every year fookaDESIGNS donates a piece of artwork to be auctioned off with all proceeds benefiting the shelter and their homeless animals. This is such a fun event and it gets bigger and better every year. My contribution this year is Lil' Mutt:

This is one of my mixed media upcycled pieces created from vintage postcards, colorful papers and pen and ink. Lil' Mutt is one of my favorite pieces from my upcycled series, I almost hate to see him go but I know he'll go to a good home. ;) Plus it's for a great cause so it's a win win for everyone! If you are in the Kansas City area I encourage you to attend this fun event. To find out more please visit the Humane Society website.

Also, be sure to visit my family blog to find out more on how to support the Topeka Helping Hands Humane Society. Thank you!

A new look!

2009-08-15T10:54:00.006-05:00

FookaDESIGNS got a little makeover the other day. I decided my website needed some attention which in turn made me realize my blog and shop could use a facelift too. It's nothing major but it is refreshing. Check out the website at fookaDESIGNS.com

Flintstone Feet - Refreshed

2009-07-27T22:26:00.001-05:00

Long time no post

2009-07-03T11:40:00.003-05:00

I know, I know it's been a long time. But in my defense it is summertime and I just haven't had much time to visit my studio let alone post here. But I will try to do better, I pinky promise! :)

Another thing I haven't done in a LONG time, several years in fact, is figure drawing. I've always loved figure drawing, and I think I was pretty good at it. But without a live model it can be very difficult to do. But I decided that was no excuse, I finally broke out my sketch pad.

Like I said I went years without drawing so I was a little nervous that I may have lost my touch but I think I did ok. Most importantly if felt awesome to be drawing again! I think I will look into taking a figure drawing class soon!

Thank you!

2009-05-10T12:25:00.004-05:00

A big thank you to all of you who made it out to the neighborhood art walk yesterday. It was such a great event with an awesome turnout and perfect weather. I couldn't have asked for a better show. But, I'm definitely looking forward to my next art showing so I can display my newest work. Here is a sneak peek as to what's to come.

What's new

2009-05-04T07:57:00.013-05:00

Hello friends. Sorry I've been away for so long. There have been many things going on in both my fookaDESIGNS life and my personal life. I'll try not to bore you with the details but Mr. Fooka and I now have a teenage boy living with us. It's been a couple weeks now and things are going great. To find out more about this please visit our FouquetFamily blog.

As far as my fookaDESIGNS news, I will be showing in a neighborhood art walk this Saturday May 9th. This is an exciting event showing local artists work at 4 houses with food and live music at the last location. I'm super excited to be a part of it. Thanks to Chords & Oil for putting it together! Visit chordsandoil.org for more details and be sure to stop by Saturday night...you won't want to miss it!

Mmmm Easter cookies!

2009-04-12T20:25:00.003-05:00

As many of you know I love to bake cookies for every holiday or season. So today I baked and decorated Easter/Spring cookies. They were so good and so cute...I just had to take a picture, and share it with all of you! Happy Easter!

Flintstone Feet - Bag and Boots

2009-03-27T22:13:00.001-05:00

IF: Subtract

2009-03-22T14:08:00.007-05:00

Introducing Digit, a robot genius who's good with numbers and has the answer to all your mathematical equations. There's no problem too big or too small this clever robot can't handle. Digit can add, subtract, multiply and even divide at lightning speed!

When I found out this weeks Illustration Friday theme was "subtract" I was inspired to come up with this fun robot. Which has inspired me to come up with a whole series of robots...coming soon! As for now Digit is available now in my shop.

Scientist in a Tie

2009-03-16T18:43:00.005-05:00

This is my first of hopefully many from my clothing series of digital illustrations. It's called Scientist in a Tie. It was a birthday gift for my super smart brother-in-law who appropriately is a scientist...but I don't think he wears ties very often :) I hope to have many more out and available in my shop by Father's Day!