sheep need wool scarves?

but of course they do. starting in on my holiday cards. very into plaid this season. here are some wooly friends to start the season's greetings out with.

(front of card)

(inside of card)

gobble gobble.

(front of card)

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. This is a silly card I made about being grateful for what you have in the world. It is of a cute squirrel, yes. But it shows how the simplest things in life are what matter. The simplest things in life that I have and may take for granted most of the time, such as food and warmth and home, other people don't have. Sometimes when you are walking down the street and in a moment are reminded of this you realize you actually in fact have life pretty damn great. I am thankful for these basic necessities. I am also thankful for my family who I will miss tomorrow and love. I am thankful for my dear old friends who are out of town and who I wish a happy day of thanks to. And I am thankful for my friends who I will get to share the day with. What are you thankful for? It's good to think about.

(inside of card)

I dos.

(back of card) (front of card)

Last wedding card this year? Perhaps. So it had to be unconventional. I got the lovely couple a stylish bike bag for picnicking because marriage is not a picnic...unless you are of course on a picnic, and then it is! Or if you are newlyweds, in love, always doing romantic things such as going on picnics. The weather has been crazy warm in New York this November and I think we all need to take advantage of that before winter finally decides to make an appearance and we shut our windows and become partial hermits until April.

(inside of card)

images above © 2009 by Ivy Hickam

Jazz Rabbits?

Why not. This is a blank card I made for a friend who asked me to make him a thank you card he could give to his student's parent (he is a musician).

Boo.

All Hallows' Eve came and went last weekend so I'm a bit late posting the photos of my pumpkin carving but better late than never. One pumpkin from the farmer's market was big and green and the color of a mango inside and too thick to carve very easily so I cut leaf shape holes in it all around and it ended up like a pumpkin lantern. Also more importantly it made a delicious soup. I used my friend's recipe for butternut squash soup and just substituted pumpkin as the main ingredient. My other pumpkin from the local grocery I managed to thin out from the inside and carve into (not all the way through) with my lino and woodcutting tools to create a creepy owl. A hoot of a good time.

The last days for planting.

Last week it occurred to me that I should be economical and plant some bulbs. It has been getting colder by the day and I was running out of time before the first frost. Although now it has warmed back up again, because it is New York and the weather is unpredictable, especially in the fall. On a partially cloudy, not so cold day I ventured out to the stoop and surveyed the state of it. Dead leaf debris and copious amounts of cigarette butts would have to be cleared away from my slowly fading perennials before I could even get down to the business of digging holes for the bulbs. It has been a constant battle this year between trash and plant life but I have done my best and have learned that part of the fun of urban gardening is the challenge.

I hope the daffodils make it through the winter. I was told recently, after I had already planted the bulbs, that they may not grow in a stoop with the constant freezing and thawing of the elevated ground. I am not sure if the stoop's soil is deep enough to protect the big bulbs from winter and they may not flower. They have already been planted though, and if they don't come up in the springtime to say hello, lesson learned. Perhaps the smaller bulbs (galanthus and crocus) will emerge.

Playing at florist.

The other week when my friend got married she asked me to do the flowers for her dinner rehearsal. I found myself mid day, the day of, in the flower district surrounded by tall bunches of curly willow and rows of decorative green and purple cabbages. It was overwhelming and fun to track down the stores that would sell to me in a land of wholesale and figure out how to focus among all the options. I had to find something that would fit in wine bottles (the bride's vase of choice) and something that would remind people it was autumn despite the humidity and rain of the day. I ended up deciding blush toned dahlias were the answer coupled with berries (some related to eucalyptus and some other red berries that apparently were some form of pepper). I later decided something was missing and added a hand full of deeper colored dahlias from my favorite local flower shop back in Brooklyn. I decided there needed to be more color for the dining room was white from floor to ceiling.