First month of 2012 is gone fast! Today I am thinking what is the color combinations for the month of February? I came up this set, hope it will inspire you too see the world in a different way.

Photo: Jing Ling

I am so thrilled to see my new illustrations posted on Print & Pattern today. It is my 2011 Christmas collection for Vigo Cards, you can find my total of 24 illustrations here.

If you are not my FB friends but you come to visit my blog, I like to share with you about there is a new blog I just started few weeks ago. It is called  DoodleDoodlers. I fall in love with doodling about half year ago. The more I doodle, the more interesting I found, and the more challenging I can take. What surprise me is doodling is not just killing my bored time, it actually helps to clear up my mind, to put many ideas on paper. The most interesting lesson I learned from doodling is to make me think and see in different ways. If I don’t doodle I will never draw a piece out of my comfort zone. Doodle helps me think out of the box!

I invited you to join with me to take the doodle challenge on every Wednesday. You don’t have to be an artist, I open to any ages and anyone in this planet. In the past weeks I have submissions from Germany, Turkey, Argentina, Vancouver and so on. It is very fun to see your doodles, I love it!!!

Here are my few doodles to share with you~

Let’s do it, I like to see yours!

design­work­life.com is a part of  Seamless Creative, a New York City-based design stu­dio. I am very happy to be introduced on their blog today, they have posted some of my latest illustration art prints from my Etsy shop. You can find it here, or simply visit my Etsy shop.

I have done so many greeting cards but never made one for my husband, so I decided to draw one for his birthday today to surprise him. If you know him personally, you may understand the illustration better. He is a guy always prefer a simple life. He wears t-shirt, Levi’s jean and Blundstone Boots. His work life and his entertainment pretty much covered by his notebook and iphone. He always has an umbrella and a thermos cup in his knapsack, and of course, he takes his knapsack every day. He has 2 cats, and now I share with him.

It is really fun to draw a card for him, I think I should do this for his birthday every year~ =)

I have to be honest to say that I am not a big fan of Apple products, may be I am just not there yet… but yesterday I went into the Apple store to check out a Mac Pro notebook, thinking this may be my next buy in the near future.

I was surprise to see the crowd in the store! I believe as many people said Mac has changed their lives. Since Steve Jobs passed away, lot of  people have posted sticky notes at the store front window display, what they said have moved  my heart actually.

If you have been The Paper Place on Queen Street West, Toronto, you may fall in love with their paper products and paper selections. They are not only selling paper, they are demonstrating creativity and the appreciation of paper. I am proud to see my cards at this store today. I have been thinking one day I will see my designs in this lovely store and now it happens!

Check out the The Paper Place, you should not miss this place if you have never been there!

Outer layer is located on Queen West and near Bathrust, they are carrying lot of nice gift products, such as jewlery, bags, skin care products, books and greeting cards. I remember few months ago I first introduced my cards to the store manager but I was rejected. I know one day she will take my cards… just one day in the future… and this time has finally came!

If you are looking for a gift for family and friends, it will not hard for you to find a good gift at the Outer Layer. They have two locations, one on Queen West, one on Bloor west near Bathrust.

This morning I am sitting at a starbucks and doodle what’s in my head, enjoying my fun time. : ) Everyone can doodle, you don’t have to be an artist!

I had a wonderful evening to exhibit my illustrations at the Toronto Gladstone Hotel last week. It means so much to me having the opportunity to  talk to the “real” audiences, not from FB or Twitter. : ) I am glad to meet up some other talented artists at the show, many of them did great jobs. Illustrator is a solitude career, most of us work in our own studios, I could work for whole day long without saying a single word to anyone. When I focus on my work I don’t  even turn on music or radio, I enjoy the quietness except sometime my cats came by and said hello to me. During the show I found the other side of me that I actually so happy to meet up people. It reminds me that there were few years from my previous job, I worked with youth everyday. From morning to evening, from Monday to Sunday, I had them in my work life as well as my personal life. Since I became an illustrator I live my life in completely different way. I still enjoy it a lot, I love my career! I like both but it is just a different life stage having different focus.

Compare with my first SpeakEasy Illustration Show at 2009, I am very happy to see the positive changes in my career. It is not only the quality of my arts but also my understanding of the industry, my future direction and the confidence to myself.

I know some friends could not make to come, below I have few snap shots of my display.

I am suprise to see my photo on Blogto.com, click here to see more other artists’ work.

Last Sat I was wandering at Toronto Yorkville area, I went into Paper Things shop to check around and surprise me that I found my cards are sitting on the display shelves!!! Cannot miss the opportunity to take few snap shots for it and share with you here. I look forward to see more in Toronto~ Yeah~

Paper Things Stationary Store is ran by The National Ballet of Canada. If you want to know more about the store, click here.