Christmas / Holiday portraits of 2017
All of November & December I stocked up on chocolate and then drew every spare moment to finish all my orders for Christmas / Hanukkah. Thank you again to all who supported me and my little doodle business. I absolutely loved drawing your families and most importantly making dear friends across the United States and the world in the process. If you are ever in the area, visiting Idaho or Yellowstone National park (just a couple hours from my home) you have a place to stay. My home is always open to you!
I thought it might be fun to write some of my customer's reactions when I sent their portrait.
I loved drawing this wreath and this adorable family. They used this for their Christmas cards. The wife said, "Our card got a great response! Thank you!!"
I LOVED drawing Amy and her beautiful family. I hope it's okay to share this. Amy wrote the sweetest message when she ordered her portrait. She recently separated and this would be their first family Christmas card with just the 3 of them. She wanted something a little different to transition into their new reality. It tugged at my heart strings and made me love Amy even more.
Amy said, "My cards turned out sooooo cute! . . . I have had so many people text me about the cards . . This might be my new Christmas tradition."
She also sent me a Christmas card and it made my whole day, probably even week!
"Thank you so much! I've really enjoyed working with you. My sister-on-law is going to love it!"
"My daughter almost cried when she got it. Said it was her best gift!"
This one was a fun challenge. This family loves their 1973 Scout ii truck. They look like a blast to hang out at the lake/beach with!
The wife said, "this couldn’t have turned out better!! Woweee"
"Wow. Totally nailed it! There’s something personal about everyone so it’s great."
This one was extra special. I drew this family several years ago, but they have increased with a few extra in-laws and more grand-babies. They were so happy with the updated portrait.
I drew each couple or family separate and then layered them together, so that I was able to also send their individual family portrait too.
"Oh Spring!! You make me tear up!! Thank you for the extra of my little family!"
This one was special too because I learned their sweet dog passed away last week, and so this has extra meaning.
I'll be honest, I didn't draw this porsche, I am not great with cars, so I found this porsche clipart on etsy and bought it. My brother-in-law and then husband walked by, while I was editing this on my computer, and immediately they both knew it was a porsche. I still have no idea how they could tell, I'm just glad I didn't draw it.
This was a gift to a friend's parents. I actually worked for the mom at Hallmark in high school. I learned so much there, and they were so patient with me as I probably made a lot of mistakes, but it created a love of cards for me, and helped steer me in this directions in life.
"We loved the pictures. As soon as Nancy saw it she said she knew you had drawn it."
I'm a little hesitant to show this large portrait only because everyone LOVES these large portraits and I am afraid those will be the only portraits I draw. ha ha. These take hours and hours to draw and organize and put together, but when I am all done, these are amazing and so rewarding. This was for a sweet couple who just returned home from a service mission for their church. Their children and grandchildren were so anxious for their return and missed them! And yes the cute grandma really is that tiny and short. So adorable. This was printed 12"x36"
The daughter that ordered this said, "Wow! I knew this would be cute but I just couldn't picture it so perfectly! I love this!"
The minnie mouse ears are my favorite.
Another larger family portrait for my husband's cousin's family. What wonderful people. The daughter-in-law that ordered this said, "I just cried tears of joy!" She did just have a baby, so hormones might have played a part in those tears, but I'll just pretend it's just my drawing that made her cry. :)
"This. Is. Amazing. I can't thank you enough!"
This large family was awesome and I love all the small details that the family noticed days later. "The whole family loved the drawing. They oooooooed and awwwwwwed over it for hours!"
Every year my dear friend Holly orders several portraits. Now her friends order portraits and their friends order portraits. Probably a quarter of my business comes from Holly, ha ha! I don't know how she stumbled upon my business several years ago, but she has become my most faithful customer and biggest fan. I adore this Georgia lady and just know one day we will meet in person. I also always love the ideas she comes up with. This is their friends "the Ring family," the wife was a competitive dancer, the dad is an attorney and always on the phone, ha ha, and they have two fabulous boys who love hockey and tennis, and of course rock the RV.
Also Holly is the best complimenter. I would draw just for her compliments, "I mean, I can’t. I just can’t. This is so amazingly brilliant!!!!!!"
Paula is one of Holly's friends that I drew a portrait for last year, and she had me draw this portrait for her new baby nephew. Paula said, "Is it weird that I cried? It's PERFECT! I absolutely LOVE it!!"
I loved drawing all these grandchildren for their grandma! So fun!!
"So cute, thank you!"
This beach family was fun to draw
I loved drawing the mom's animal print shirt.
"Thank you so much!"
This awesome family wanted to wear their favorite sports team shirts and then also a portrait with regular clothes. So I tweaked a few things when I was editing on the computer and was able to use the same drawing for both.
The mom wrote back to me, "I'm sooooo excited!"
Mary is an old friend from high school and I just love her and her purple amazing hair.
"I love it!"
This one was so adorable. This is my sister-in-law's sister-in-law. Did that make sense. :)
This cute family dressed up as eggs, bacon & Texas toast for Halloween with her cute pregnant belly as the yoke. My sister-in-law wanted a picture of them so they could always remember it. I LOVED drawing this!!
"It's perfect!"
I've been drawing portraits for about 6 years and this was the first year I drew our family for our Christmas card. I think my husband loved that I didn't have to bribe or torture them through family pictures and everyone is looking forward smiling. :)
I loved drawing all these beautiful families. I have yet to see two families exactly the same. They are all different but they are all filled with love. Maybe some eat dinner together every night at the dinner table, maybe some eat dinner in their car on the way to activities. Some have extra love with step-parents and step-siblings. Some families are big and and some are small. But all families are beautiful because that is where love is first shown, where we learn to apologize, forgive and look out for one another. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!! Lots of love - Spring