A Reason To Dance

Today is definitely a reason for me to dance.

A reason to make silly faces and shake it. 

A reason to twirl around and smile.

Because.........

I have finished the illustrations! 

All 84 illustrations, borders, and chapter designs... finished.

Weeks before my deadline too! 

It's time to start new things! 

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Little Dead Riding Hood Cover Reveal

So, technically I should have posted it earlier today when the author did. Sadly, the deadline I've had on this book has driven me quite crazy. The last book I did, I had about 40 illustrations and the cover to do in 6 months. This time I have over 80 illustrations (literally twice the work) to do in less than 2 months. Last week I had an ulcer, and a migraine, this week I've had a migraine and nausea due to the stress. So, forgive me for not rising early and posting this at 6 am. I was up until 4 getting illustrations finished. 

 If I sound cranky, it's because I am. 

I'm honored to be illustrating the series.. don't get me wrong. 

I am super proud of the work I've done on this book so far. 

The cover was done a little while ago and I had a lot of fun with it. The trees in the background were painted separately, and Scarlet was done on her own board as well, so it was a total of three paintings both front and back. The spine of the book will be a giant tree. The text was added in with Photoshop later. It was tricky getting the trees in the back ground to stay a warm color like Scarlet's hood, rather than just turning pink. All in all, I love it. The character Scarlet is just a doll. She becomes friends with Cindy from the last book. It's a pretty cute story. 

I wish I could share the illustrations with you guys, but you will just have to wait and see. This book will have over 80 illustrations, all done by me. It's quite literally killing me to get all these out with the deadline I have. I am not meaning to complain and sound cranky.. but illustrating is hard work... and on such a tight schedule, all work and no play has made Rachael TreeTalker a vampire herself.

Little Dead Riding Hood is on GoodReads already. I'll post a link once it's available on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com. I will also probably be offering 15 signed copies in the shop again like last year.
Okay.. back to illustrating.

The sooner I finish, the more paintings I can do for the shop, myself and others!


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All Over The Place

 Guys. Today was off to a bit of a rough start... just computer problems and a backache.. stuff like that. But, I've got lots of little announcements to make! Like lots.. this is a pretty big update post.. Be prepared... this post is all over the place!

First of all, Talk2thetrees hat shop will be closing on January 7th 2014. This is to give me time to work on illustrations more. I'll be illustrating another book here pretty soon, and will need some time!  So, if you've got your eye on a hat, get it now while it's open!

My sale section of the art shop will also be closing on January 7th. This means that any and all art in that section will be taken down from the shop. A lot of these paintings are already at 50% off. So, now is the time to get them before they are gone for good!

Cinderskella comes out in TEN days! Yikes!!!! It's now on preorder at Amazon too! I will be selling signed copies here on the blog. But, I will only have 15 copies available. I know some of you have already preordered the book. If you want it signed, send it to me, I'll write you a sweet note and send it back! OR I can send you a signed book plate that you can attach to your book. Or, you don't even have to get it signed. But, still get it cause I worked real hard on the illustrations, and I know the authors worked real hard on the words. It's a pretty cute story, and totally worth the 12 bucks.

This is the screenshot I sent my family at like 1am last night...

Super excited that Illustrator is behind MY name. 

And look! On the front cover...!!! My name is on there! I totally didn't think it would be on the cover.

The publisher asked me how I wanted my name on the book.

If I wanted Rachael Caringella, or Rachael Tree Talker.

Let me tell you... this was a really hard decision to make. 

I decided to go with my REAL last name, and in my bio I put Tree Talker. 

Speaking of Amazon.. Well, kind of speaking of Amazon.. AllMyWalls picked up my art! Their stuff is sold at Amazon, and even Target. They have taken my paintings, and turned them into metal work! Okay, this whole ordeal has been under construction for like 2 years. I haven't got to say anything at all! They first asked me about it like 2 springs ago, and I was super excited, but didn't see anything come from it, and kind of forgot.... but then today the Art Director emailed me and told me my stuff was getting added today!

See? It's my painting, but redone on metal panels. This website gives full credit to the artist as well! I know some companies who do this take the artist's logo or signature off, but they prompted me to keep mine on. Plus, their website is searchable by the artist.

As for more shop announcements... I will soon be adding some new framed prints to the shop. 

10 of them to be exact.. though there are only 9 in the picture... the 10th was on the shelf.

(I KNOW one of you would count...) 

And some stationary will be added to the shop! 

These ones here are actually really very old. 

I've had these locked away in a drawer for like 4 years, so there are only 2. 

But, I'll be making more and selling those! 

I'll keep ya updated on that.

Also,

I've decided to try to do an illustration a day. 

What a task huh? 

I decided to do either dreams of mine, or quotes that I like.

And once a week I'll upload them to the blog and shop. 

I will probably just be selling the originals.

No prints. 

This guy was from a dream of mine.

His octopus face was made out of the same skin as a dog's nose.. and he could smell very well.

He found a suitcase of someone's stuff, smelled the guys shoe, and decided to kill him that night. 

I was a cat and he picked me up to eat me! But I scratched him and ran away. 

I couldn't shake that dream until I drew him! 

And speaking of dog's and their noses...

I'm keeping him! (And his nose)

I went and got him a little tag yesterday.

I decided to spell his name Meko, instead of Miko.

Since it's pronounced Meeeeeeko. 

Wicket actually loves him. 

So does the kitty.

I've had him for a week and a half now.. and I've gotten to know his personality.

He's such a silly little guy. He's sleeping next to me. 

He kicks violently  when he rolls over, it's so funny.

(Unless it's in the middle of the night and he kicks you in the butt.)

And soon, he might grow into his head! 

It's quite large for his little body..

Which usually ends up with him stumbling and falling. 

Thanks for hanging in there on this random post.

I've got some exciting things coming up in my life.

Lots and lots of work to do.

But, I wouldn't have it any other way! 

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Cinderskella Cover Reveal!

I was supposed to announce this on Monday..

But I was sleeping most of that day.

Pretty terrible huh?

Cause this was the big cover reveal of the book I illustrated!
The book is now available for presale!
I'm hoping to have some signed copies or something, or some way of doing that.
I'll have to talk to the publishers on how that would work.

Maybe, if you are interested in a signed book,
let me know if the comments and I'll figure out how to do that best.

Anyways.. here is the cover!
And inside that cover is a pretty darn cute story, stuffed full of 27 full illustrations done by me.
And 26 mini illustrations done by me also.
It was a lot of work. 

The Authors, Amie and Bethanie Borst

About the Authors:
BIO –

Amie and Bethanie Borst are a mother-daughter writing team. Amie believes in Unicorns,
uses glitter whenever the opportunity arises, accessories in pink and eats too much chocolate.
Bethanie is a spunky 13 year old middle-schooler who loves archery, long bike rides and
studying edible plant-life. Cinderskella is their first book together and is part of the Scarily Ever
Laughter series. You can find them on Facebook
Twitter,  Pinterest,  From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle-Grade Authors , and blog 




About the book:

Cindy is just a normal, average girl. At least until she wakes up one night to find out she is dead. 

Well, she isn't technically dead—she just doesn't have any hair, nose, or . . . skin.
Yep, she is a skeleton—all bones and no body.

Human by day and skeleton by night, Cindy is definitely cursed. It doesn't help that her mother 

recently died, only to be replaced by an evil stepmother who makes her do gross things like eat 

liver and clean rooms with only a toothbrush. It really doesn't help that her father is scared of her strange nightly body appearance and that there's no way she can attend the
 school dance “dressed” like a skeleton. 

What ensues is a hysterical tale of a young girl who, while coping with the loss of her mother, 

embarks on a journey of self-discovery, love, and forgiveness, all the while learning to deal with 

an evil step-mother and her "skeletal" abnormalities.

Cinderskella is available for purchase at Barnes & Noble 


It's a cute story. I read it. Several times as I illustrated it.

Enter the Cinderskella giveaway over at the Authors Page!

GIVEAWAY –

Amie Borst is celebrating her book release and cover reveal with a monthly giveaway in The
Great Cinderskella Giveaway! If you’d like to win a $25 Amazon gift card, just fill out the
Rafflecopter form below. You’ll be automatically entered into the grand prize drawing for a
Kindle Fire in October!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Days Like These

Days like these are divine. 

I've been talking to Sterling lately about anxiety with working from home.

How terrifying it is. How freeing it is.

It has been coming in waves. 

But days like today, I woke up feeling refreshed and confident. 

I decided to show you some photos of my days lately.

Snapped with my phone, and shared on Instagram.  

1. Drawing little bows and strings onto plain brown paper packages in hopes to make it look a lil cuter. I love shipping my paintings in brown paper! I feel it's a little old fashioned and it looks so nice. I need to get myself some postal stamps, like "Handle With Care" OR make my own! Hmmm tutorial coming? Hopefully.

2. I have found the source of my sleepiness, my back aches, neck aches and probably my headaches. My bed. I've been sleeping on a futon for a while. It's been laid out with about a foot of mattress pads and blankets. Yesterday I woke up in so much pain. I slept terrible, was sleepy, but knew sleeping wouldn't make me feel better. I decided that day, it was time to find me a new bed. I gave myself 50 bucks to spend on either a full size or a queen bed. Sterling and I searched out mattress shops, furniture stores and even online stores. We were almost laughed at when we said our price range was 50 bucks. But I'm a determined girl, so I went home and looked at some used ads. I found one bed, queen sized, barely used for 50.00. So, we drove down and snagged it. I've never slept so good in my entire life. Wicket usually crawls around all night. Sleeping in my arms, the foot of the bed, above my pillow, you know.. He wanders. Last night, he slept in one spot for about 10 hours. We all slept in. Except the kitty. Who is too insane to sleep in bed with me and the dogs right now.

3. I was printing out some big orders the other day, and had all of my prints laying down on the floor waiting to be signed. I looked at them, some of them were painted over 4 years ago, some painted last week.. and it was interesting to see MY style in their faces. Even though they are so different from piece to piece. It felt cool. Almost like smelling one's self. Everyone has a different scent, and it's hard to know our "own." I think this is the same way with styles of art.

4. My pretty red and teal kitchen. I love having a clean house. When I went to get Kneesaa from the neighbors I noticed her environment was very very messy. I don't want to speak ill of them, but it was a pretty unhealthy place for anyone to live... I gave me inspiration to scrub my counters extra. I love having a clean home and organized things. I can't think of anything more inspiring.

5. My Day of The Dead prints. I love these girls. I can't wait for Cinderskella   to come out! You can preorder it here! I can't wait to see what the book looks like filled with my illustrations. I can't wait to see what the cover looks like. Well, I already know, since I did it. But I can't wait to see what it looks like on the actual book. I'm pretty stoked about this..

6. Remember that mystery plant? The one taking over the lawn? No? Well, here is a back story. I weeded that flower bed. I put down weed killer, tarp and bark. Then a huge plant started growing. I was hoping it was a beanstalk that would take me to the land of the giants, but instead I have huge pumpkins growing on my porch. Magical pumpkins. Which I shall carve, and eat the seeds, and hopefully make a pumpkin pie entirely from scratch. That is my hope.

7. I'm a Tarot Reader! For reals though. I will soon be joining Lotus Tarot as one of their professional readers. This is a dream come true to me.. And I will expound more on this when I have a link to my professional profile on the site. We can do readings straight from that website. But I will still offer Webcam tarot readings through the blog via paypal. Once again, more details on that to come..

8. In case you were wondering how Anubis and Kneesaa are getting along.. wonderfully. These two are best friends. They run around and play together while Wicket pouts under the couch. Kneesaa and Wicket are slowly becoming friends. But, it might be tough.

9. I sold some prints of my painting "Celestial Happenings" from last week.  The prints turned out so well! I saved up and invested in a very nice art printer, and I'm so glad I did. The print quality I get is excellent. There isn't a single print I've sent out that I'm not proud of.

10. I'm trying to figure out how to remove Kneesaa's tear stains! If you know how, let me know. I don't know what the poor girl was being fed before. I've got her on some nice grain free organic food now, and filtered water. I'm hoping that will help. If anyone knows more than me, please share!

11. This is me sitting Wicket and Kneesaa down and explaining what sharing is. How it's okay to share mom's, beds, toys, and even food. Wicket is having dominant issues, and Kneesaa is just a puppy. So, everything is hers. I think we will all adjust soon.

12. I listed the hand painted Galaxy Necklaces in the shop! A few of them have been sold or reserved. So grab them while you can, and grab them while the sale is still going on! The sale ends midnight Saturday morning. Enter SALE25 for 25% off everything in both shops! Click here for hats, and here for art.

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