And the Winner Is...

Gordy is ready to choose the Mystery Prize Winner!

We paws to find out who it is....

Congratulations, Cathy D!

Your Mystery Prize is a

2013 Hello, Gordy! Calendar

12 months of cuteness!

Wishing you all a supremely wonderful 2013

Love, Nina

Happy New Year Giveaway!

Hello, Hello! 

To celebrate 2013, 

I have a little something up my sleeve.... 

a Mystery Item Giveaway!!

All you need to do to get a chance to win a mystery prize

 is to leave a comment below answering the following question:

What are you hoping for in the New Year?

(Insert cute pug photo here)

Sending You All My Very Best for a Groovy 2013!

xoxo, Nina

(the winner will be announced right here on New Year's Day,

so leave your comment by Midnight on December 31st, 2012)

Live-O-Rama

Little Women has always been one of my favorite books, so I was pretty happy to hear it was one of the books you could draw from (pun intended) for the SCBWI Tomie dePaola Award this year. With the holiday season nearly upon us, I had kind of decided that I was going to pass on the Tomie contest due to lack of time. We flew out to PA for Thanksgiving and I did a little sketching because I had a little idea (to make a diorama of the little ladies decorating their home for Christmas). I brought the book with me and my book amnesia was quite evident: they weren't decking the halls happily at Christmas, they had been doing without... Ah, geez. So much for that!

Then my youngest daughter did something cute, as eight-year-olds tend to do:

She made this all by herself (so proud of my little artist!) and I thought to myself that it was more than just a coincidence because I hadn't even told her that I was thinking about making a diorama... and then I had an idea that made me feel so happy that I just had to do it. It took me a little while to figure out how I was going to actually build my diorama (and doesn't the word DIORAMA just sound terrible? DIE-o-rama. So morbid. I prefer LIVE-o-rama, it feels more hopeful). It was really, really fun to sketch and measure and think it all out, it was like making my own little paper dolls. I ended up choosing an open ended box (the kind they deliver a vase of flowers in) as the stage. Here are some in-progress photos leading up to the finished piece (click on any to enlarge):

Be sure to check out the Unofficial Gallery of the Tomie dePaola Award to see all the amazing entries!  

Bird Bath

Here we find ourselves on the brink of December. We will all soon be hustling and bustling through the Hols and straight into 2013. Don't forget to take a little time to recharge your batteries. I had a little nap on the couch yesterday and it was really nice, I highly recommend it!

Courtney & Leeza

If you are in sunny Florida, be sure to go check out my friend Courtney Pippin-Mathur's artwork from her upcoming book, Maya Was Grumpy, alongside the works of other amazing children's book illustrators in the Sendak & Co exhibit. I just can't wait to get my hands on this book, and I am so thrilled for Courtney's work to be out there for all the world to see.

My friend, Leeza Hernandez, just made an adorable trailer for her new book and she has been featured over at Mr. Schu's blog. Dog Gone! is completely adorable (just like Leeza), I highly recommend that you run out and fetch a copy, this book truly captured my heart.
DogGoneTrailer from LeezaWorks on Vimeo.
I am feeling very honored and extremely grateful to have such an amazing family and brilliant friends. Sending you all my best for a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Lemurs + Cichlid + Crocodile = Blog Post

Found this in my little travel sketchbook and thought it might be fun to share it. I am especially fond of how the lemurs turned out! Hope all is well with you, I am having a pretty good day. Finished reading The Night Circus (it was enchanting), having my second cup of tea, and working on my book dummy. I guess today is a good idea day because I have been having all sorts of things come to mind. Love days like this. Think I might have come up with a good idea for Tomie's contest, so we'll see if I can get it to come together... Best wishes to you for a terrific weekend!

Tiny Art Gallery

For a fun little surprise, I printed up some of my paintings super tiny for my friend's daughter's dollhouse. It was fun to use some kooky scissors to make some of the frames a little more decorative. Don't tell Emmalou, I haven't mailed them to her yet! Oh, and I have recently discovered Instagram, it's awfully fun! Let me know your username if you are there so I can find you. Mine is NVCrittenden.