Author Archives: Candice Hartsough McDonald

Coming soon: Fancy paper garlands! I just love these little bugs.

I don't mean to brag. I really don't. I just want to help myself remember how amazing this time in my life is. Sure, I am just like the rest of you: I forget to go to the grocery store, so we eat McDonald's for dinner last minute. I go to bed angry sometimes. I leave the house 3 times because I keep forgetting something I need. I don't do the dishes every day. I don't always feel like the perfect mother (who is?). But beyond all that, the main fabric that is my life is really pretty perfect. My immediate family is happy and healthy. My extended family is wonderful and supportive. My husband and I wake up every single day and know that we both get to do what we love: make art, and play with our baby daughter. We don't make enough money to take long extravagant vacations, or have a huge house, or hell, even go to the movies all that often. But we never go hungry. We are confident of the roof over our heads and our love for each other. We are surrounded by amazing men and women who are also making their dreams come true by illustrating, sewing, binding, photographing, selling, cooking, baking, and just creating in general. Inspiration and love is around (almost) every corner here. It's pretty sappy, and it's pretty amazing.

With all of that out of my system, I'm going to use this space to announce the winner of my latest facebook contest:


#31, Peggy M! Congratulations! I will contact you later this evening.

If you'd like to be in on future contests, become a fan of Cordial Kitten here.

Tonight we watched a movie about zines, called 100 Dollars and A T-Shirt. It was pretty good. It kind of almost made me want to make a zine again, but not really. I hypothesize that all those people making zines grew up and opened etsy stores (like me. I prefer that my "hobby" makes my living, rather than working at a coffee shop). Now instead of having interviews in dirty disheveled apartments, all these etsy sellers and bloggers have interviews in these glossy magazine-ready cottage homes, with perfectly decorated windows and accent rugs, globe collections, and other thrifted and repurposed knickknacks. A sweet little 4 year old and his 2.5 year old sister cutely run through the shot, almost blurred beyond recognition. I won't tell you I don't like looking at the glossy perfect lives of other people, but I will say it makes me feel a bit inadequate about my own home and life sometimes, which is dumb. I look at everything every awesome person has done, and sort of lump them into this one giant amazing awesome person, who never has crumbs on the floor, who always folds laundry right away (in a beautiful natural light filled laundry room), who has an amazing wardrobe, who works for all the publishers I want to work for, who gets flooded with unsolicited calls from art directors, who has cameos on Martha Stewart, who has 10,000+ sales in their etsy shop, who goes to the gym, who eats organic food, only free-range meat once or twice a week, and still has time to make personal work to fill a small gallery or two per year. A totally unrealistic person to look up to. Not real!

In the zine world, people seemed a lot more real. They weren't afraid to write about gross things, or personal things, or to have their picture taken next to their dirty dishes, or before they had a shower. Or maybe all those people were just college kids who didn't give a crap, and I used to be one of them too.

Ps, I haven't had a shower today, and have worn my pajama shirt all day, even though I did leave the house (just to the studio, but still). The hell with perfection right?

Here is what my life normally looks like:

(Virginia, putting a whole new spin on the phrase "food truck.")


(This truck offers a wide selection, including cheerios, broken pretzels, and bits of peanut butter sandwich leftover from lunch. Notice the mid-air cheerio, and the ones already on the floor, which will later be ground into fine multi-grain dust by my feet)

Oh, internet. I am finding artworking to be difficult these days. The problem seems to be a huge mixture of a bunch of different things. I have a ton more free time since I am not getting ready for shows, so I end up not going into the studio quite as early in the morning. And in the evening I've been watching a lot of movies. I have a couple of commissions to work on, but do dumb things like forget my computer cord at home when I go into the studio to work, so I can't use my laptop. Which has all the photos I need to work from for the commissions. I have a ton of ideas for personal work. I started a new series that I will start revealing to you soon. So at least there is that. But that is only like 20% of the ideas I have that I want to be making now during my "non-busy" season. Another huge part of my personal work is to make a children's book dummy (actually, two ... no it's more like 3), and I just can't seem to get started on it. I am intimidating myself, and I need to figure out how to let go!

No more complaining, me. Here is one of my favorite portraits right now:



Funny to work on a summery portrait in the middle of all the wintery-christmas themed ones. But it makes more sense when I tell you this portrait made its way to Australia where is is now, yes, summery.

And so the year draws to a close.



Christmas with a 14 month old was much more fun than Christmas with a 2 month old.




Virginia loves the (many) gifts that light up and play (horrendous repeating) songs she received from family. Brandon and I knew those gifts were coming her way, so we tried to balance it out by making her a few things. We also gave her a "Band in a Box" so she can make her own songs, and many books (including Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus).


(She makes funny faces because of the bright lights on the camera :)

Here is the kitty I made her:


It does not meow on its own, but she loves it just the same.


Brandon and I also decided to hand make all the gifts we gave out to our families. Among the many things we made were:

Turtle Popcorn


Manly Mustard

(Made from an Ancient Roman Recipe! We're going to use ours this week with some roasted pork.)

Relaxing body lotion

(Bee&Kitten is a fake business name I made up for an imaginary cosmetic company my friend Megan and I have.)

Brandon and I thought it would be fun to give each product its own identity and special treatment for the package design. I think he did an amazing job creating all the different logos.

Next year we may not be so ambitious to hand make EVERY gift we give, but if we do have to buy anything we hope it will be from small businesses and/or handmade shops.

How was your Christmas?

Oh hi, it is me! Did you think I had disappeared? Because I really thought I did.

This holiday season is kicking my behind like never before, but it's ok! Being busy with work means that my little family can eat and live in a house and sometimes do fun things like get sushi (Virginia really loves spicy salmon ... just kidding).

What have I been busy with you ask? Mainly portraits. Here is one I just finished up for a repeat customer:



This family is great to work with, and they must think I do a pretty good job since they keep coming back for more. This is their Christmas card this year.

I have also been to several holiday craft shows this season, including the Bloomington Handmade Market, The Crafty Supermarket, Art Vs. Craft, and Renegade Chicago. Tomorrow I'll be at an awesome Yelp party in downtown Indianapolis, and then Bizarre Bazaar over the weekend and then I'm DONE! With shows. Will still have to finish up 2+ portraits. But then it will be Cordial Christmas Break! At last. Maybe I will work on that needlepoint I started LAST Christmas break. hmm.

One last thing: if you sign up for my mailing list you can stay up to date with what is going on in my Cordial World, as well as get access to free offers from time to time (including a free card pdf I am giving away right now! Limited time only!).

Things have been quite hectic around here.

I made this drawing:


And this one:

And some more, but they are secrets.

In other business news, I decided my skin had once again become thick enough to try looking for an illustration agent (this happens about once a year or every two years). It has been a pretty rocky road on my way to getting an agent. It is more or less nothing but rejection, which can be kind of hard to take. I usually end up crawling back into my hole to nurse my ego, and to try to continue getting by on my own. I know all it takes is that one person who really loves my work, and who is in the right place to take on a new client, but I just haven't come across that person yet. I try to tell myself that the rejection I am getting isn't (usually) a direct blow to my craft, but is usually more of a personal taste issue. When I think of it that way I feel a bit better.

In personal news, Virginia turned one!


Personalized cupcake stand from Vessels and Wares.


Party hat tutorial on Oh, Happy Day!









It was a really lovely day, and a pretty successful party.

Maybe later I will tell you about the pumpkin eating dinosaur we saw today ...

Awhile back I was reading this blog and the author mentioned something about his friend who keeps a list of things that he enjoys. "'Watching cartoon cats eat fish' was one of them .. when I saw that, I smiled ... I like that too, especially when they pull the fish back out and it's just a skeleton." That list has stuck in my head. I keep thinking about it, and today I decided to start my own list. Firmly at #1 is "When people call babies busy." I don't know why, it's just so cute to me, and makes me so happy thinking about a baby being busy doing "very important things."



What would you put on your list?

I have felt simultaneously busy and lazy the last couple of weeks. It was a scramble to get ready for Renegade, and now I am just sort of coasting by. I haven't been to my studio in almost a week (although I do a little bit of work from my satellite office, aka "the couch"). I have portraits to finish, a top secret poster project, and my ever growing list of personal projects.

I am also trying to plan Virginia's first birthday party, which is coming up very soon! I might be crazy, but I'm envisioning fringy crepe paper, homemade cupcakes, and maybe a diy photobooth!

I'm gathering ideas ... I'm starting to write *stories* again, and it feels good. For awhile I felt burned out from children's literature, but I think I'm ready to take another stab at it. Look out!

ps These mittens are adorable!

My lovely studio mate Kathryn Dart and I are back from vending at Renegade. Man, it was a trip. A real trip!

We decided to drive into Chicago early in the morning on the first day of the fair, which was this past Saturday. That could have proved disastrous, but it was ok. We were bleary eyed, but with coffee in hand we soldiered on.

It was quite foggy, which made for a mysterious hour or so at the beginning of our journey. We were chatting and laughing, heading into the abyss when suddenly cars were STOPPED RIGHT IN FRONT OF US! They just materialized out of the fog, too quick for us to stop. Luckily there was quite a large shoulder and Kathryn headed that way to safety. Before we had a chance to process what just happened, traffic was already moving. We could see a ghostly semi-truck turned sideways off the other shoulder, which caused the whole thing.

After that things were more uneventful. For awhile.

Of course I forgot my camera (and my toothbrush. and my beautiful stock inventory sheet), but here is a picture I stole from the Renegade flickr set:



Our tent was somewhere to the right of that balloon man.

We ended up being right next to the Yard Sale Press, which is nuts because I was right next to them at the Handmade Arcade in Pittsburgh back in ... May or whenever that was.

We had a long and busy first day, and ended it by meeting up with my best friend from grade school, Chrystan. We hadn't seen each other in probably about 10 years, but thanks to the magic of facebook we've been connected for a little while. She was nice and brave enough to let two silly girls stay in her apartment overnight, so we took her out for the most healthy dinner of all: macaroni and gouda and fries.

The second day was also busy and tiring. At the end, we packed up quick, and Kathryn went to get the car. She was gone FOREVER. She called to tell me she couldn't get onto the street yet, and then her phone died. She was gone for forever again, then suddenly appeared on foot. She parked just as far away, if not further, b/c she kept getting turned around, and didn't know what to do. Eventually we could see cars were driving onto the street, so she went back out to the car again. All the tents around me were packed up, my friendly neighbors were wanting to leave, and were wary of leaving me standing there alone in the middle of the street. But finally, there she was! Yay! We packed up, then decided to hit up the bakery one more time for road cupcakes. After a moment of sheer terror thinking she just locked the keys in the car with it still running and the gas tank on empty (it wasn't locked), we got our sweet treats and were finally off.

And then we got pulled over for speeding in a construction zone. Someone was watching out for us because we left with only a warning.

Then finally finally finally, after hours of driving into the night, eating french fries, identifying mysterious looking night-windmills, we made it home and I was never happier.

Until I discovered way in the back, trying to hide from my toothbrush and floss, I have my first cavity. Crap.

Life has been busy around here, but we still try to find some time for quiet contemplation.



Yesterday morning I woke up to bring Mona her breakfast outside, and realized it was definitely sweater weather. 59 degrees! When just the other day it was 100 degrees! Quite a change, but a welcome one. So I broke out some sweaters, and Virginia's new long sleeved shirts and overalls, and we had a little photo shoot.



She is very mobile, now!

From time to time I am jealous of my friends living in such places as San Francisco, which has my most favorite kind of weather pretty much year-round. However, to miss those few days each year that happen as winter melts into spring, or when summer fades into fall, would be a tragedy. Really nothing else is quite like the change of the seasons. It makes me feel renewed, and ready for a fresh start. I feel happy every day I can open the front door or a window and just breathe in the change. Bring it on!

In business news I have been working very hard getting ready for this weekend's Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago. My prints are all printed, my pendants are all pretty, and I have a small pile of plush awaiting their final stitches. Not much time left to go now. I am nervous and excited!