Hey Buttertart Books fans! I wanted to post a book that I worked on a couple of years ago. It was a story I wanted to try and illustrate myself (common theme for me, I guess) and it was extremely educational. Anyway, have a look and let me know what you think!

 

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Hello, Buttertart Books friends! I’ve got some fun sneak-peeks to show you about our latest book…3 Fine Caterpillars!

Aw, poor Daffodil. He’s so sad. (Note: I’m just calling him Daffodil to amuse myself. He doesn’t have a name in the book.)

Aw. Don’t worry. The story has a happy ending. 🙂

 

Stay tuned for more! It’s slow going, but it’s going!

Know what’s more work than I imagined it would be? Illustrating a book! I’m working on my first board book, 3 Fine Caterpillars. It’s in rhyme, and I’m pretty darn pleased about how the story part turned out. I’m now in the process of making the pages fun and engaging and interesting to look at.

I have a lot of respect for illustrators. A LOT.

As someone who naturally thinks in words, illustration isn’t as natural for me…but I’m learning. I wrote a book called “The Animal Hotel” and it has never seen the light of day. Not because I dislike the story, but because the art was such a learning curve. Some pages I’m totally happy with. Other pages…not so much. I did the whole thing in cut paper (I think that’s my style) and each page featured a different animal.

I’m thinking of posting the story here for honest creative feedback.

And, if nothing else, you’ll get a good giggle from some of the less awesome animals.

Win-win!

We’ve got a new book in the works! It’s a board book and it’s all about three fine caterpillars…who find only TWO delicious leaves!

Here’s some (very early) art!

Hello, Buttertart Books fans! We’ve been busy at work  behind the scenes. Duck Fort is out (yay) and we’ve begun work on a new book: Three Fine Caterpillars. It’s early days, but I wanted to show you a sneak peek of the art:

 

We’re trying to decide what the best style is, but according to our Facebook poll, Caterpillar 1, Style 1 is the fan favourite. Which do you prefer?

If you’re in the Woodbridge area on Tuesday, March 13 around 1:30, come on over to Chapters and see me read Bear Hockey and Maurizio teach lots of kids how to draw bears!

We will be at Chapters Yonge and Eglinton on Sunday, February 4! Come by anytime between 1-5 to see Maurizio and me…and to get your own copy of Bear Hockey!

Hi all,

First, the bad news: we didn’t end up getting funded on Kickstarter. Thanks to those who backed us, though. You’re rock stars.

Now, the good news! We’re still going to do Duck Fort. We’ll be selling it via Amazon, and we’re looking in to Etsy as well. Check back here for more information in the near future!

Great news from Buttertart Books HQ! We’re over 50% funded and we sure would like to make it to 100%! If you’ve been looking to get your own copy of Duck Fort, now is the time to visit us on Kickstarter! We’ve got 5 days left, and we’re excited to get this project created!

 

Duck Fort is now live on Kickstarter!

Duck Fort is the story of a spunky duck who happens to be an excellent builder. She also happens to have friends who really like forts. Duck creates a fort for each friend (after the friends remind her of all the ways they’ve ‘helped’ her in the past) and then waits for them to say those two little words…

But no one thanks her.

Duck heads home and has some tea. And broods.

Fortunately, her friends realize the error of their ways and invite Duck to come back to the fort. She does, and…well…let’s just say a lovely surprise awaits her!

The book is all done in cut-paper and the art is turning out better than I dared to hope it would. My talented husband is doing the Photoshop part of the process (cleaning up the pictures, adding the text, generally makings look good).

If you’re looking for a terrific book for your little one, Duck Fort more than fits the bill. It’s funny, it’s sweet, it’s all about a duck building forts for her friends. What more could you want?

Check us out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1810096487/duck-fort?ref=user_menu