May's Mini Joys 🍓

A handful of things and experiences that brightened my month

Hello again friends! We have completed yet another month this year and May overall was wonderful. There were so many little treasures and treats that I got to enjoy this month, including a trip to Europa Park, Strasbourg, France and Vienna, Austria! More about that later.

First I would like to share three favorites from this month! But first, please note that NOTHING in this post is affiliated or sponsored. It’s all just genuinely shared because I truly love it :)

Three Favorites of May:

1. Caran D’Ache Neocolor II Pastels

   

   I am very much getting back into my neocolor pastel groove over here. I just love how versatile this art medium is, you can use as traditional pastels or get them wet and they turn into a pretty watercolor texture. This art supply just celebrated their 50th anniversary and Caran D’Ached released 5 new neocolor palettes with a few new colors to celebrate. I’ve purchased three of them already but am probably going to end up going back for the other two 🫣. Planning to do a video soon testing all of them out!

2. These Products I Recently Ran Out of:

   

   a. the Innisfree green tea seed hyaluronic cream. This is great creamy moisturizer especially if you have combination skin.

   b. Origins High-Potency Night-A-Mins I pretty religiously use a night mask in the evenings. I had recently run out of one of my tried and trues - so I picked this up on a whim and I’m so glad I did! My skin loved this. It really helped my skin texture.

   c. Origins Eye Doctor - moisturizing eye cream. My eye area is probably where my most problematic skin. This was a lovely little moisturizer!

3. These Pretty Bookmarks:

   

   I picked up these pretty bookmarks at the art museum in the Belvedere Palace in Vienna. They’re both based on pieces they have in the museum and they both have really pretty gold foil all over them. Just lovely and they make me happy to look at.

May Adventures

Europa Park and Strasbourg France

Early on in the month we visited Europa Park for my son’s birthday. It was very similar to Disney’s Epcot park but with more rides and more INTENSE rides. We had a good time and I would recommend it.

After Europa park we popped over to Strasbourg France which is an absolutely adorable city that looks just like the town in the animated Beauty and the Beast (this becomes a theme in my travels this month). The buildings were very cute and we tried the local specialty: flambeurs which were very similar to pizza but with a cream sauce instead of a marinara. I am already brainstorming the possibility of going back for a little solo art retreat.

Vienna, Austria

Towards the end of the month we drove to Vienna, Austria which is about 5 hours from where we live so kind of like a road trip to another state. The town was beautiful. The historical building all felt very baroque in style and design which I loved. The art was also beautiful and there were flowers blooming everywhere. I filmed a Youtube video where I create a junk journal spread from my ephemera I collected during the trip as well as video clips of what we got up to while they are there. This is a new format for me so if you’d like to have a watch you can view that video here.

All the Books I Read in May

1. More Days at the Morsaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagislava ⭐️⭐️⭐️: This is a sequel. It wasn’t as good as book one but still cozy.

2. Heat of the Everflame By Penn Cole by Penn Cole ⭐️⭐️⭐️: Third book in what I believe is a four book series? It was okay. It felt like it dragged quite a bit for me.

3. First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: This relationship was adorable. The third act breakup wasn’t too annoying.

4. Unfamiliar by Haley Newsome ⭐️⭐️⭐️: My next experiment in reading graphic novels. It was cute and quirky but I felt like the art style was a little hard to navigate with my eyes sometimes.

5. Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: This was very dark. One of the darkest books I’ve read in a long time. Looking forward to book two :)

6. Babel by R.F. Huang ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ So good. So nuanced. Was not expecting it to end the way it did. R.F. Huang is clearly brilliant.

7. Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

New Sticker Collections

Butterfly Collection

Cherry Collection

New Artwork

Spring Convention. Made for my portfolio. This is a scene that has been hanging out in my brain for awhile now. A forest picnic. 🐻

As featured on the newsletter banner this month! This is my ‘Friendly Fox’ Children’s Book Portfolio piece. I was trying to illustrate different expression and positions in a single character. My personal favorite is the skateboarding fox. Always wear your helmet!

My homework for the Character Play ‘Make Art That Sells’ course. In the month of May we were supposed to illustrate the cute little thimble character and show them interacting with the little mouse character. My favorite on this page is the thimble hitching a ride on the mouse’s head shouting ‘onward!’

My idea for a blind box toy! As part of the class we were supposed to design a blind box style toy. But all of the plastic packaging in those toys have always stressed me out! So I tried to come up with a sustainable idea. These blind box toys come in a little terracotta pot with a compostable label sealing the top. Each pot includes the mystery garden themed mouse, a matching sticker sheet and matching seeds to plant! I’m really proud of this idea and would love to create it one day 🥹

My submission for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators May prompt: Dance.

Last but not least, over on Patreon this month our theme was Jane Austen! I did five of her beloved female characters plus the stack of books! All of these are available as downloadable images over on Patreon and there’s even a really cute desktop wallpaper pattern I made out of the books:

And that’s a wrap for May! So much goodness happened last month I’m hoping June is just as great.

As always thank you for reading! Extra shout out to everyone who made it this far! 🫶

🤍Amber