happy new year!

My man and I wish you Happy New Year from the Grand Canyon!!! I wish you much love, happiness, personal fulfillment and success in the coming year!

merry christmas and happy hanukkah...

©2011, Monika Roe

... and Happy All of the Other Winter Holidays in between! It's been a year since I posted my very first post on this blog! Thank you to everyone who reads it, subscribes to it and comments on it! I really appreciate your presence, it motivates me to keep posting and creating new illos outside my busy work schedule.

I wish all of you a fabulous holiday and most of all I hope you are done with all of your shopping because I went out there today and it's CRAZY!!!

my risalamande recipe featured on TDAC

Until December 21st my illustrated recipe for Risalamande is featured on TheyDrawandCook.com in their Red and Green collection on the homepage! I'm happy to be in this collection with other talented and creative illustrators from Las Vegas, Cleveland, OH, Providence, RI and as far away as Sapporo, Japan! WOW!

i'll have a blue (and red) christmas

©2011, Monika Roe

I had a few blue and red holiday illos kicking around here and I finally decided to finish them up! Hope you enjoy.

The holidays have been so busy for me here. I feel like time is passing by so fast and the holidays are slipping through my fingers. To slow it down I'm making a conscious effort to stop and enjoy everything I love about this time of year.

A few of the things I'm doing to stop and smell the Christmas cookies are:

• making a cup of spiced tea every night and taking in the magic of all of my sparkly Christmas decorations (notice I said tea, not coffee, aren't you proud of me?!)

• browsing through shops to enjoy their decorations

• taking the time to watch kids talk to Santa

• not stressing out about wrapping presents perfectly

• listening to Christmas music as I cook

• baking my list of "must-have" Christmas cookies

• sharing those Christmas cookies with people to get them out of my reach

• taking over the annual baking of the fruitcake from my mom who once took it over from her mom who was the one that found the most amazing recipe to pass down

• driving slow through my neighborhood to enjoy the beautiful lights. Most people don't consider themselves creative but all kinds of creativity comes out when they decorate their houses for the holidays!

I hope you're also taking some time out to really soak in the best parts of the season and enjoy yourself!

it's an american girl holiday

There's lots to do this holiday season, especially if you have crafty kids! In this month's American Girl special Holiday Issue I've illustrated the steps to making cute polar animals out of edible mint dough and how to make your own edible village of candy houses complete with gumdrop trees!

eat pretty for the holidays voting has begun!

The editors of YouBeauty.com have narrowed down the entries for their Eat Pretty for the Holidays contest to 30 and mine is included! If you like my illo for Jeweled Fruit Salad, please hop over to their site and vote for it!

It's number 13 in the queue and you can vote for it by naming it in the comment field. Thanks very much! :)

monika roe illustration in 805 living magazine!

Want to add even more holiday cheer to your December? Pick up this month's issue of 805 Living magazine! I am featured on their back page (page 120) along with my illustrated recipe for Ultimate Peppermint Bark. If you turn to page 20, in their "Behind The Scenes" story, I share some of my holiday food memories along with an illustration of my favorite Christmas Eve dessert, Risalamande.

To read my features and take a closer look, you can go to their site and browse the digital edition.

eat pretty for the holidays

I just finished my latest recipe illustration! It's for TheyDrawandCook.com's Eat Pretty for the Holidays contest. This jeweled fruit salad with tasty lime/honey dressing was the perfect inspiration. I absolutely love vintage costume jewelry so I got serious and designed my dream necklace out of the variety of fruits used in the salad!

Take a closer look at the illo on TheyDrawandCook.com's website!