Elle Woods Energy 💗

I’m over here editing away, rolling into the holiday season like Elle Woods marching into Harvard with her hot pink fluffy pen.

Narrator: yes, in fact, it is very hard. But she’s doing it anyway.

Here’s the deal: I don’t want to just fling holiday emails at you like Oprah handing out cars. (You get an email! You get an email!). I want to know what YOU actually want more of in your inbox.

Inside My Studio

Scanning and editing, scanning and editing. 

All in prep for an October launch and my biggest shop sale of the year 🎉.

I love the wobbly brush strokes, the imperfect lines, the blobs that scream “yep, a real human made this.” It’s what AI can’t replicate. So when I edit, I’m not erasing the heart—I’m just zapping away stray hairs, paper fuzzies, and scanner dust.  There’s always a surprising amount of errant items on a scan.

The dinos are a four-layer extravaganza: dinosaurs, background shading (which…ended up looking a lot like dino nuggets in the best possible way), highlights, and footprints. Each scanned separately so I can build colorways and bring them together.

Art is also the best form of therapy.  After a stressful week, I got a wild hare to paint a galaxy with watercolors.  I loved it so much that I’m going to add a space theme duo to this fall’s release.

Butterflies, dinos, sports, and now space—October is shaping up to be a full-on universe drop.

What I'm Cooking

I started Pinch of Yum’s fall meal plan, and the timing could not be better. Week 1? SO GOOD and much needed after a busy season. Those gochujang burgers got rave reviews from Nathan and Bonnie.

Nathan went on a guys’ trip this week, so I went into parenting survival mode. 

The plan:

• Day 1: make-ahead hot dish (prepped during my lunch hour)
• Day 2: Instant pot spaghetti because it comes together in zero time
• Day 3: Dinner out, a special mama-daughter date

Creative Sparks

Late to the party, but I found this color-obsessed house account and now I want to repaint everything in my house. I love the way they stuck with a color palette for the entire house.

I may start by repainting my art studio’s trim but also…do I really need another project? That needs to wait until 2026.

Also: a friend sent me anew online painting class and I’m in. It’s always fun to shake things up with a fresh technique. This week-long session is way more manageable than repainting a room so here’s the way to scratch that itch.

What I'm Reading

Escaping my book slump with Silver Elite, 20% in and it’s giving Divergent but cooler(?) I’m hooked. Also finally got my hands on The Artist’s Way after waiting six months at the library. Manifesting big things from this one.

Coming Up...

October’s coming fast, and so are the new duo illustrations (dinosaurs, butterflies, sports and now space!). Middle of October is my target for both the launch and my biggest shop sale of the year.

Let’s be honest, we’re already holiday shopping in October anyway. I’ll make sure you’ve got plenty of time to get things framed, wrapped, and under the tree. Consider this your early gift wrap stress-buster. 🎁

Psst if you missed it, I dropped a framing guide and a how-to-print digital art guide!

<3

Katie