Being Polish, I've gotten used to having very different traditions from all of my friends. You know, the things your family does on holidays and you just assume that it's customary. For example, when I found out that egg tapping is not a widely participated Easter activity in these parts, my world was turned upside down.

Anyways, our Christmas Eve dinner always starts and ends with the same food: mushroom borscht, rye bread, fried fish, pierogi, uszka, chrusciki, and poppy seed cake. The uszka are my favorite part of the meal. They use the best mushrooms and take just about all day to make—so we only have them once a year.

Thank you to Book By Its Cover for featuring my sketchbook! You can take a peek into a handful of spreads here. Hope you enjoy!

I'm happy to be out of my city apartment and back in NJ for a few days. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Classic autumn outfit. If I do say so myself.

Another Tuesday came and went.

Fancy casual with a hint of lime.

This is my submission for Penmanship, a type show being held at Vox Populi as a part of Design Philadelphia. If you live in or around Philly please come see work from so many talented local designers. It's up until the 23rd of October. You'd be sorry to miss this one.

Vox Populi
319 N. 11th Street, Third Floor
October 13-23, 2011.

A few of my favorite earrings. All hand-me-downs from my mother.

I was playing around with some new type treatments at work and came up with this. Not right for the project but I like it all the same. October really is my favorite month.

My grandma gave me this necklace when I was little. I kept it safely tucked away in my jewelry box for probably ten years before I felt mature enough to wear it. And yes, those are tiger earrings.

More state shapes!

Keeping it simple for a walk through the city.

My favorite shirt! I mostly wear it with simple skirts because it's extraordinary all on its own.

My favorite part of the first day of school? Finding out who you get to sit next to! I hope all you teachers and students have a very scholarly year.

When I was little, I had a big wooden puzzle map of the US. Every time I picked up a state I couldn't help but turn it into something else. Like Oklahoma...? A frying pan obviously. The square states to the West are a different story. Unfortunately those were just squares. But here are some of my interpretations. More to come!

So, a little while ago my coworker asked me to make a circus themed baby shower invite for her sister. She trusted me and gave me complete freedom, which is the recipe for a happy designer. The invite came out exactly as I hoped! Anyways, it turned out that this baby shower was in need of a cake as well. So my very talented friend, Ryan, used my invite as inspiration and created this masterpiece! I think he did a great job incorporating my colors and design elements. I had a leftover slice at work the next day, and it was so very tasty.

This was my submission to Anthropologie's new tumblr. It shows pictures of my grandparent's house, which was a very special place to me growing up. You can see more entries by some very insightful contributors right here.

Lots of new personal projects to share. Including this Humpty Dumpty (and friends) pattern.

Duck watching season is upon us! This weekend why don't you go to your nearest pond and make some feathered friends.

It didn't occur to me that all these guys live in water until I was nearly done painting them. I think I like the angelfish the best because he reminds me of my childhood trips to Mr. Fish (our local exotic fish store).

I made a sketch of this underwater scene last winter on the back of a piece of paper. I thought that I had thrown it out but luckily I rediscovered it last week! I completed my vision with some gouache and ink. You can see a larger version here.

I was digging through some of my elementary ceramic work this past weekend and found this gem. I can't tell if it's a cat or a rabbit but I think it's kind of cute, no? My 3D work (for the most part) is pretty awful so I was really excited to find this little guy.


He reminded me of this series of chickens I made in college. Probably my two best clay creations ever!

This is an homage to my favorite cat, Runner, who (ironically) ran away when I was 8.

Here is a banner that I made for my coworker's baby shower. She had an adorable little baby boy named Tater Tot (aka Jude).