Christmas Place Mats for Kids - digital, printable

For those of you with kids, and a lot of holiday dinner plans with friends and family, here's an idea... printable colouring place mats for the kiddos (or easily bored adults ;)  I have two kids, and I know how fast they eat, and then how quickly they lose interest in being at the dinner table.  Why not have printable place mats (like they do at restaurants!). Have a cup of wax crayons at the table for the kids to share. 

I have created a few options for you, an 11 x 17 option (that you can get printed at any print shop), or a 8.5 x 11 option (if you are stuck and need a quick print at home!).   
Links to the PDF files are below each image! Enjoy and happy holidays.  

 

 

11" x 17" Elf in colour
11" x 17" Elf line only
8.5" x 11" Elf in colour
8.5" x 11" Elf line only

 

11" x 17" Woodland in colour
11" x 17" Woodland line only
8.5" x 11" Woodland in colour
8.5" x 11" Woodland line only

Spoonflower Winter Animals - fabric

I got my winter animal series done as throw pillows... and have the fabric available for sale on my spoonflower site, for those of you who sew :)

I envision these as the fronts with some fun geometric patterned back fabric, or maybe faux fur (in fun colours, maybe light blue for the polar bear?) I still have to sew mine (this one is just pinned to another pillow for the photo).  For those of you who know me, I am trying very hard to learn to sew, but it's a work in progress, eventually these will be my throw pillows!

They would also work well as shoulder bags as reusable shopping bags. They measure 16" x 16" (I chose this size because it's easy to find pillow inserts to fit this size (Walmart and Ikea both have them). 

Here are some close ups of a couple of the fabrics, I got these printed on Linen-Cotton Canvas. The print job and detail are terrific, I also love the texture of this fabric, something very natural feeling about these.

 Here's the spoonflower link again if you are interested! Feel free to send me pics of your sewing jobs too, I always love to see what you guys do with my fabrics!

Celeste

Advent Calendar - craft time

Happy December! Elliott and I made an advent calendar last week, to help us countdown to Christmas.  I made the cards out of card stock I had in the house, and Elliott decorated them with glitter, stickers and buttons (again, whatever we had kicking around the house!).

 

Elliott was very proud of his work, and couldn't wait until his big sister got home from school so she could see and share in the fun.  If you are not crafty there are lots of places you can get some really beautiful pattern or ready made calendars (check out Etsy, or if you are good at sewing there are lovely patterns at Spoonflower!)

In the pockets I like to to do something a little different. Sometimes there are treats for the kids (chocolate, or stickers or a small toy...like a lego man), and sometimes it's an activity we will do that day (bake a Christmas cake!). But because Christmas is not only about getting things (something I work really hard to teach the kiddos), at least 3 times a week the message in the calendar is something they do for someone else, for example...

- Bake cookies for a neighbour

- Complement 3 people today

- Write and mail a letter to a friend to tell them how special they are

- Make a small bag of donations for the shelter

- Hug everyone in your family

etc... you get the idea ;)

 

We love Christmas here, and try to make the most of out it for the entire month.  This is just one way we like to have fun with it.  Hope you all have a happy December, and take time to enjoy it throughout all the busy time that comes with it! 

Celeste

 

Printable Christmas/Holiday Labels - pencil, photo

Hi everyone! As requested on my Facebook poll here are some holiday gift tags for you to print and download! I had a lot of fun making these, hopefully you will have a lot of fun using them! Feel free to share the link, everyone likes free stuff during Christmas time! 

To Download printable page click here! Please remember all illustrations are copyright and the property of Celeste Gagnon Illustrations.  These are for your personal use only. 

Print on matte card stock for best results, cut out and hole punch, then use a ribbon for an old fashion feel!  

Want to see previous years labels? They are still there for downloading! (again for personal use only please!) :)

 

Download Echo labels

 

Download Canadian wildlife labels

Download Echo and Animal labels

 

The Grey Wolf

 

The Polar Bear

 

The Snowy Owl

 

The Chickadee

 

  

The Caribou

 

 available as 5" x 5" prints...

 ... and 9"x 9" prints

Canadian Wildlife Winter series - pencil sketches

These past few weeks I have been working by hand, which is something I haven't done in a very long time.  Since the kids were born I found working on the computer easier and more convenient (since they can't get into anything!).  But I've missed working with traditional tools, this one being the most basic, then pencil :) It's made me very happy and given me something new to show you!

I am selling these as prints on my Etsy store.  I am also in the process of making fabric versions for you sewers out there. I think they would make fun winter themed throw pillows or shoulder bags. I will keep you all posted on the fabric versions. 

I might also use them in a freebie download of Christmas and Holiday gift tags for this site later this month...

(All prints are on Hahnemuhle fine art Inkjet paper.  It's made with bamboo and cotton, is a warm white, archival grade acid free paper. Because it is bamboo paper it is also made out of a renewable resource so earth friendly too!
Prints fit the RIBBA frames at Ikea, for under 10$.)

Check out the store here :) 

Celeste xo

New Dolls!

 

This is the other project I worked on with Maplelea this past spring and summer.  They've come out with an entire selection of high quality Canadian dolls that you can pick from.  These dolls don't come with ready made stories, but do come with a journal (just like the other girls) where you can create her story, as well as a section for your child to fill in about herself! I had the pleasure of doing the illustration work for the clothing (shirt and shoes) as well as all the art and design work in the 148 page journal!

 

Here are a few examples of the journal pages that come with the dolls...

 

As well as the other dolls you can choose from! (images from Maplelea.com)

To order these dolls or see what other items please check out the Maplelea website. 

 New Maplelea Girl items!

This past summer I've been working a lot on new merchandise with the fine people at Maplelea! These hard working women come up with cool fashions for these dolls, and the quality of the clothing is terrific! I wish many of the outfits came in sizes for my kids (and the above outfit for myself!)

 This one does come in kids sizes! So there is a matching pj for the doll and the child :D

 

 

In all these items I did the illustration work, the patterns and the journal pages that come with each product. My job is so much fun ;) 

 

Each clothing item comes with journal pages with information on Canada, or the province the doll comes from.

 

Where to purchase these items:

Strong and Free
Kaleidoscope PJs for doll  for child
Brilliant Bedding
Night Owl Nightwear
Ice Cap Backpack Set
Clam Digger
Green Team

Photos of the dolls are from the Maplelea catalogue and are the property of Maplelea.  To order a catalogue of all their items visit their site here!

Halloween Treats - baked goods

Halloween is always fun with little ones. Now mine are old enough to be having Halloween parties! So I had to put my baking hat on and make some cookies for the kiddos.  For those who know me, I've been forced to get in touch with my domestic side since I've had kids ;) Not doing too badly for someone who never fit this definition (just don't look at my laundry room!). 

These cookies were actually a lot of fun. Once they were baked I just thought of them as tiny artworks instead of cookies and had a blast! The kids loved them too ;)

Celeste

Halloween Pumpkin icons - digital illustration

Happy Halloween everyone! Feel free to use these icons for your avatars if you want :) (Just click on the one you want and save to your computer!) Have a safe and fun Halloween! xo

(if you want to share the love please post where you got them! Always love to have new visitors to my page. Thanks! )

Celeste

Echo Halloween paper toys - digital, paper

Hello everyone, it's been a busy month, lots of work (hooray!) and family stuff.  Since I haven't had a lot of time to do any freebies, I though Halloween would be my perfect excuse to push aside some work and do a little something with Echo for all those of you who continue to visit and encourage me.
There are two different Echos in costume. And one that is Echo without a costume (not in photo) to download the pattern please click on the following links for the two page pdf.

Echo in Mummy costume


Echo in skeleton costume


Echo as herself

Thank you, and enjoy! (if you take cute pictures of your paper Echo send them my way, I'd love to see them and might even post them with your permission!).

Celeste

 Ginger's Cupcakes & Desserts - logo and character design

Here it is! The wonderfully fun project I got to work on this past month. I was asked to create the character Ginger as well as a logo for a local bakery.  Anna, the very talented baker who runs the shop (I know this because I got to sample the cupcakes today!) didn't want to go with the traditional pinks and browns that seems to be the trend right now with baked goods and cupcakes and chose a really cool clean retro feel to her bakery. So Ginger had to also have a very cool retro feel! Here she is! I am very happy with how she turned out :D

 

It was so much fun to work on this project with Anna, if you live in the York region, or the Toronto area, you need to stop by. Her bakery is colourful and cozy and smell WONDERFUL! Here is a link to her Facebook page, and her website. She does custom cakes and cupcakes too, her entire bakery is peanut free, and she can meet other dietary needs as well, because, let's face it, everyone loves cupcakes! Her grand opening is September 14, 15 and 16 with samples, colouring pages for the kids, sweet deal, and did I mention samples?! ;) 

 Seriously? After seeing this photo, how can you resist?!!!