Sunday, December 4, 2016

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!

My parents have been married for 40 years!

I had so much fun making this graphic for their anniversary.  I haven't decided which background I like the best yet.  


Congratulations, I love you guys!


PK's Adventures in Houston

So, this is a long post, so TL, DR:  The neighborhood cat had a serious infection over her eye, Montrose Veterinary Clinic took her in right away, performed surgery and saved her life- and didn’t charge a cent.  


Backstory: The cat in question, PK (‘Porch Kitty’) wandered into our neighborhood about 5 years ago.  Both my parents and our neighbors feed, care, and look after her, but she refuses to come inside for any length of time, preferring to roam the neighboorhood.

Last week, as I’m home visiting family, PK shows up acting more lethargic and needy than usual. I try to comfort her, and go to scratch the top of her head.  She leaps up and shies away.  I look closer at her head, seeing what I thought was maybe a big mosquito bite.  Two days later, the ‘mosquito bite’ is a huge, oozing wound, half the size of her head with the swelling forcing her right eye shut.  

She is in a lot of distress, and the wound progressed so rapidly, we needed a vet right away.  With no car, no cat carrier, and no local vet of our own, I stay with PK while my mother takes off on foot for the only vet in walking distance. She arrives around 8:15 am, explains the situation, including how PK is a neighborhood cat, we know little of her age, what caused the wound, etc, and we don’t have a way to get her here.  They immediately said they’d see her, gave us a carrier to borrow, and let us bring her in right away.

 Felicia, at the front desk, was so cheerful, positive, and kind, when we all were exhausted, upset, and scared.  As promised, we were seen right away.   The first vet we saw, a young woman whose name I sadly didn’t get, set the tone by treating our angry little half-face with the utmost kindness and professionalism.  Next, we saw Dr. Valerie McDaniels, who was absolutely wonderful.  She was professional, kind, and so gentle to our scared and hurt kitty.  I was immediately put at ease by the way she treated this street fighting alley cat with all the love of a human who truly cares about animals and wants to help.

She explained that PK’s abscess was most likely caused by another street cat, but not to worry, she will drain it, cut away the infection, give antibiotics and fix her up.  Felicia assured us she’d call as soon as we could pick up PK, and we collected a half shaven, annoyed little gremlin with blessedly no remaining abscess on her face. 


Here is the most amazing part of this story.  We ask, with some trepidation, how much we owe.  Dr. McDaniels shakes her head: no charge. She actually thanked us for keeping her healthy and looked after, and all she asks is that PK comes back in a few weeks to make sure her shots are all up to date, and be kept indoors for a while so she can heal.  We couldn’t believe it.  Felicia again expresses how glad she is that PK is well, and gives us some hard cat food to take home.   


The vets did a wonderful job with her surgery, and PK got better in no time.  Now, one week after the surgery, PK is back to her old self.  Both her eyes are fully opened, her wounds healed nicely, with only a small shaved patch to show for her recent adventures.   Her days at the Kitty Fight Club are hopefully behind her, too.  




Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Happy Birthday Erica!

Today is Erica's birthday!  Erica is a dear friend whose three year old daughter Bea dictates the most hilarious and amazing letters/art projects to me, and never fails to brighten up my day.  I was inspired by the name of her shop and her all over sunny personality.  Check out her site, Some Kind of Sunshine, here and here.  

Thursday, March 3, 2016

New artwork

Hi all!  I've had a very busy couple of weeks, but things are starting to get back to normal.  Thought I'd share a few sketches and works in progress:



A sketch of my little 3 year old pal, Beatrix. Bea likes to write me the most amazing letters, as dictated by her mother, my sweet & talented friend Erica.  She made me some wonderful valentines and a beautiful piece of embroidery, a proper thank you note was required. 


My parents teach 1st grade Religious Ed and I wanted to make some prayer cards for them, using my new laminator.  I am not quite happy with this one yet.  I think I have a mental block when drawing the faces of Mary or Jesus- nothing feels quite correct.  So this is a work in progress.

And finally, a very silly birthday card for one of my dearest friends, Sophia, my first ever friend and roommate at Parsons.   I wanted an early 90's Lisa Frank vibe, but it had to incorporate bananas in some way.  I drew an embarrassing amount of bananas before settlings on this one.

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Happy Lunar New Year! 恭禧發財!


Happy Year of the Monkey!
恭禧發財!
Happy Lunar New Year!  I hope this year brings you much health, prosperity, and good luck.  I am enjoying some delicious pineapple tarts homemade in Malaysia, speciality shipped just for the occasion- I feel very lucky already!

Thank you for visiting!
Love,
Mimi


Friday, January 1, 2016

Happy New Year! Free Card Download!

Happy New Year!  I can't believe it's already 2016!  I've been cooking up a lot of new ideas, and have tons of new inventory to shoot, but first, a free download!




These cards are 5" x 7" and the envelopes are A7 size, 5 1/4" x 7 1/4".  This is the most common size of printable card I could find.  Download the file and print your card front to back either on a precut paper in the correct size, or centered on a 8 1/2" x 11" piece of cardstock, as I did here.  The envelopes print on A7 setting, which is available on most home printers.

Here's the card face:

And the inside:
 The lavender inside makes it easier to collate & cut out, and the dotted line in the center makes for easy folding.

Click Here to download!

Would you like to recieve one of these in the mail?  Just comment and I'll contact you for more info, or send me your details at mimimartnyc@gmail.com

Happy New Year!  I hope 2016 is the best year ever!