Well, I didn’t get a facelift, but my blog did! As many of you probably noticed, the header is remarkably different from the boring block lettering which used to be there. One of the great things about blogging is that it connects you with all sorts of people from various artistic corners of the web. One such person is my dear friend Tahira (TJ) Lubrano, the person who is responsible for how snazzy pants my site looks these days. I wanted to give her this little shout out as my way of thanking her for the hard work she put into making my blog easier on the eyes.
TJ’s art speaks to me on so many levels. It’s fun. It’s imaginative. It’s colorful. It’s happy. It’s playful. It’s beautiful. I could go on and on, but I thought I’d let her brilliant illustrations speak for themselves.
As you can see, she’s got talent pouring out of her at all times. She’s a fantastic person (seriously, I can’t express how much I adore her!) and I’m sure she’d love it if you stopped by and said hi.
Linkage
Thanks again, TJ!
Sips of Jen and Tonic 
The header is great, and I love her artwork, especially the cupcakes. 😉 Yum.
The cupcakes seem to be her most popular type of drawing. Cupcakes DO draw a crowd.
Thank you, Carrie!!! You gotta looooove cupcakes hehe 🙂
I love your header! I am definitely going to have to go look at her other stuff. It’s funny because I want to pretend that it doesn’t matter what a site looks like (that it’s all about the writing), but the truth is almost every blog I watch also has its own distinct and fitting look. And I’ve spent more hours than I care to admit designing my own stuff.
I do the same thing! I say, “If it’s good writing that’s all that matters” and then I see a blog with a great layout and think, “DAMN! I am so distracted by all this beautiful shiny stuff.”
Please do take a look at her stuff. I couldn’t possibly include all of the things she’s done that are wonderful.
I just did. Her stuff is gorgeous! I’m following her on Twitter since I’m somewhat hopeless at Facebook. (Avoidance mostly.) And I see we’re both on the same wavelength today, sending people off to visit other blogs…
As bad as that is “for business” I LOVE sending people to other blogs I love.
Love and Lunchmeat…I’m hungry now. That aside, so happy you love what you saw! 🙂 Thank you so much!
And thank goodness, I read that you’re following me on Twitter! So will look you up! I’m not always getting notifications when someone follows me -_-. I’m all for good writing as I often just picture the images in my head when I read, but I agree a fun layout makes it that much nicer as long as its not toooo crowded, because I get distracted very easily.
wow, that’s a lot of talent right there!
Looking Sharp!
Thanks! And yes, she really does have a bucket of talent.
You both do.
And the pun was intended
I thought it might be 😉
Thank you, thank you!! You gotta love Ms. J&T brilliance huh? And I’m not talking about this post, but in general ^_^
Yes, her brilliance is very sharp (ok. enough with the bad puns already) but I love, love, love your illustrations. Love the colours and the lines. Don’t get tired of looking at them
Hahaha Jen’s name is perfect for the cool puns!
Really, thank you, thank you!! So happy here 🙂 By all means, keep on staring! They don’t mind it at all. The cupcakes might even start to ramble to you.
ooooh don’t tease me with the cupcakes.. me so hungry right now.. you evil, evil woman! 😉
Uh oh! My apologies!!!!!
You need food STAT! *runs around*
hahaha, it’s OK. I found your blog so now I’m busy pinning
Ohhhh you are pinning? I’ll look for you on Pinterest! 🙂
Whoops! Just a sec. I blindly assumed your Pinterest name is the same as here. Am I right?
nope, Claudia Petrilli
Ohhh Italian right? 🙂 – Thank you!
Si!
Weeeeeeeee! 😀 (Not that I can speak it, apart from a few words/sentences, but my dad’s side has Italian)
Love those. Does she sell?
She does! Links to her Etsy and Zazzle stores are at the bottom of the post 🙂
Duh. I haven’t adjusted to it being Monday yet. Thanks.
I feel you. I woke up today thinking it was Sunday until I heard my computer going off with work e-mails.
Heey Becca! Thank you 🙂 If you have questions about something just let me know okay?
I am very interested in buying something for my godchild who is due next month. I will be in touch.
Lovely Jen!!! I jumped up and down when I read your post yesterday! Haha. Thank you so, so much for the wonderful things you said. You seriously made my day. Your header really was one of the most fun commissions so far, simply because the character I had to draw is hilarious herself (also in real life…) and I adooooore her (also in real life…hehe) 😀
Ah I never realize all the things I’ve drawn until I see them all together or I put them all together. Then I find it hard to believe that I’m the one who did it. How silly is that?
GRAZIE MILLE! XO!
It’s funny that I happened to schedule this post for your birthday! Even more hopping up and down…possibly even twirling?
Working with you was really fun! Not that I didn’t expect that, but to see the whole creative process was interesting. Anyone who says what you do isn’t work obviously hasn’t had the opportunity to collaborate with you. There were so many steps and choices!!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the header, and think it fits my blog perfectly. You’re the best!
XO!
It was a little birthday present for me and I ran around the living with my phone in my hand! I kid you not. (I often twirl around in the living room, without the phone though as I could make it fly away.)
So happy you liked the creative collaboration and that you looooove the header! There are indeed quite a few steps involved haha. But for me one of the most important things is to keep the communication as clear/fun as possible!
*twirls around in her chair*
I’ve mentioned before that I love your header. TJ’s illustrations are awesome! (My oldest son’s name is TJ – Thomas James”) 🙂
Yes, I do remember you saying that! Ah, TJ is a cool nickname. My initials don’t make anything good.
I don’t even have initials. I dont have a middle name and neither does my daughter.
Rebels!
My mother had 5 names and thought it was ridiculous and a real pain in the ass whenever she had to sign official documents. She swore not to put me through that and I decided to make it a tradition for the females in our family and hope my daughter passes it on if she has girls. 🙂
That’s actually a really cool tradition!
Yup…I’m a rebel without a clue! 😛
Yay! High Five to my fellow TJ! Thanks so much Wendy 🙂
My real initials are T.L., but my mom’s last name starts with a J. So with my artist name I carry both my parents name 🙂
Very cool TJ and I am so jealous of your artistic talent! I can write (or at least my friends tell me I can) but I’ve always wanted to be able to draw, but even my stick people don’t look very good. 😛
I’m curious to your writing now! I will have a look at your site later!!
Haha. At least you are able to draw the stick figures and you’re not staring at a white piece of paper right? hehe 🙂 You’re so kind. When I was younger I seriously couldn’t draw the way I do now. The last 2-3 years is when I really picked it up again, so I practiced A LOT and I still do.
That’s encouraging actually. If I ever get some free time (hot commodity around here) I will have to give it a try again. 🙂
Really?! 😀 YAY! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you’ll have some free time soon. Can’t wait to hear about your doodly adventure now haha.
The cupcakes ARE SO FUCKING CUTE it makes me DIZZY!
RIGHT?!
If you click here, you can see a lot of her cupcake drawings at a glance: http://ow.ly/eEkEj
She also did a cupcake drawing tutorial: http://ow.ly/eEkIo
Whoops! My apologies Sara…I probably shouldn’t mention that I have much more cupcakes waiting huh?
Hehe 🙂
I’ll be updating the tutorial this week for you Jen!
YES! I can’t wait 🙂
Oh. I think I commented on Jen’s reply and now I’m not sure if you’ll see my apologies for the cuteness overload…
I’m still birthday high.
No apologies necessary. Cute overdose is not fatal unless you’re a butt brain. Which I am not.
Ah thank you! Okay….I must get this mental image of a real butt brain out of my brain now.
Love it, Jen. You’ve got great taste, too. I bought the original B&W girl three up from the bottom photo. LOVE HER!
Oh, you own it?! That IS a great piece!
Yes! Janene had dibs on choosing between the original B&W ladies haha. They will be up for sale soon, had to buy a bunch of frames for the photoshoot of the pieces.
TJ has some mad skillz. Love it.
Fo realz!
Can I join you both with my gangsta handshake?
Merci Madame Weebles 🙂
WORD, sista.
What a great post, Jen. Lovely header and selections of TJ’s lovely work.
They were the pieces that really stood out to me when I first saw them. The last one, the one she did the for the auction, is simply incredible.
Thank you Sweet Katy!! 🙂 I forgot about the big fluffy red haired lady until I saw it again haha.
Wow those are beautiful!!!
Right?!
La La, so happy you love them! Thank you!
Jen,
TJ captured your essence. I do love me some cartoon drunk Jen Tonic. It’s a magnificent™, and an amazing shout out to TJ.
Le Clown
Cartoon drunk J&T doesn’t beg people to drive her to 24-hour fast food joints, and also doesn’t sing bad karaoke. I like her much better than real drunk jen.
Le Clown, that’s such a big compliment. Thank you so much. I always find it quite tricky whenever I have to draw someone I know, but usually when I stick to certain features, in this case Jen’s gorgeous eyes (NO staring Jen!), the character sort off transforms into whoever I’m drawing 🙂 Which is…pretty cool and maybe a tad scary? Haha. Thanks again.
I do love how your site is now. I love TJ’s art too. 🙂 What a sweet post this is. 🙂
Tj is so freakin’ talented. It makes me wish I had payed attention in art class a bit more. Although, I’d argue that a part of her artistic ability is innate. Her gift plus all the hard work she puts into it is what we’re seeing in her illustrations.
It is one of the SWEETEST post someone did for me! The sweetest was the Honeymoon ^_^
You can’t top Disneyland!
Jen, I agree with S7 — from the first time I saw your header, I thought it was so cool. I’ll check out this artist — love the drawings and paintings!
When I first saw it I nearly died from happiness! Thanks so much for checking out her sites 🙂
Hello Brigitte and thank YOU!! Hope you like all my other work too 🙂
It is BEAUTIFUL!!!
Aww! That makes me SO happy 😀
Wow. Just wow. That is some amazing stuff. I’ll be sure to have a look at the rest of her sites, back when I’m in front of a real computer again!
Isn’t it?! She has a very distinct style. She has been broadening her horizons in terms of the things she draws, and the mediums she uses. It has been great watching her progression. I’m mesmerized by the first and last pieces I included.
Ciao Ruby! Ah Jen is right, I have been exploring the art world a lot more lately and I loooove to stalk people with whatever I capture on paper. Some stay just a sketch or an idea that I might use for the future, others like the cupcakes…well they get a life of their own and will probably forever be a part of my art portfolio. Haha.
Big thank you for checking out my other sites! 🙂
I freakin’ love your header. It is awesome and makes me weep for my own crudely drawn one. I’m always amazed by artistic talent since I can’t even cut straight with scissors.
I initially attempted to make my own header, and when I finished and realized I had misspelled my blog name, I knew it was time to call in the big guns.
Thanks! I really like it too. She does fantastic work.
Speaker7!! Thanks so much for freakin’ loving the header!! 🙂 Oh. I can’t cut normally with scissors either. I always blame the scissors though. They are just rude.