Interactive Book of Mormon for Kids

It's about time I wrote about two books I've been working on (now that I actually have time since they are now finished).  I am really excited about them, and so glad that I got to work on this project!

Last year Natalie (friend, and wife of Jason's cousin) called me up to see if I would be interested in doing some illustrations for an interactive Book of Mormon for Kids book idea she had come up with.  She had already made one for her kids using clip art she found online.  She had posted about it on her blog, and people started asking if they could buy one from her.  She had enough people ask that she decided maybe she should get serious about it.  She couldn't use the clip art since that was someone else's work, so that's where I come in.  She showed me her book and talked to me about all her ideas, and I couldn't wait to get started.  She is so creative and clever for coming up with such a great way to teach kids the stories of the Book of Mormon!

We dove in and got to work, despite the fact that we were both pregnant at the time.  We did take a little break after our babies were born, but for the most part we've been hard at work putting together these books.  It's been an amazing experience and has really helped me better understand the scriptures (I made timelines and everything!). 

After finishing the first 4 or 5 stories in volume 1, we met with a publisher.  My uncle is the creative director for Covenant Publishing, and I had sent him a few sketches and asked him some copyright questions.  He responded with a request for us to meet with him and his team to see our work.  Needless to say, we were really excited and nervous about the meeting.   We were both towards the end of our pregnancies, so we looked super awesome walking into that meeting!  They liked what we had, but the cost of putting the books together joined with all the choking hazard forms they would need to submit (due to all the pieces involved in these books) versus how many they could sell at a profitable price, it just wasn't going to work.  They suggested turning it into an ebook, but that idea didn't pan out, either.

Undefeated, Natalie and I decided to sell it on our own through Etsy (which makes it so much cheaper for people to buy anyway, plus we get to be more hands-on and reap more of the rewards).  So, our Etsy shop was born.  You can visit it here: Book of Mormon for Kids.  (There are pictures of some of the pages and a pretty cool explanatory video there, too.)

 Volume 1 went into the shop at the end of December 2012, and it was so exciting waiting to see what the response would be.  We sold enough to make us buckle down and complete volume 2 in an amazingly short amount of time. Volume 1 has been featured on several popular blogs (of the Mormon variety) due to Natalie's fantastic marketing work, and it has been so exciting to see the response!

 We just finished volume 2 and added it to the Etsy shop earlier this week, so now the whole set is complete!   To celebrate, it is currently on coupon for 20% off with the code CONFERENCE (good until early Monday morning).  It's a PDF download that the purchaser prints off (in color), laminates, and binds/puts in a binder/ puts in folders.  The pieces have to be cut out, laminated, and cut out again, but it's pretty easy to put it all together.

Anyway, it's been fun (and a lot of work) to be a part of this project, and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to do it!  I knew, before Natalie had even told me her whole idea, that this was something I needed to work on.  It's been a blessing in my life and in the lives of my family, and I sincerely hope that it will be a blessing for other families, too.  Addie knows the stories so well now, partly because I talked to her an awful lot about them while working on the pages, but also from her playing with the books.  It's so awesome!

Natalie is the absolute best person to be able to partner up with on a project like this.  She is an incredible person with so much enthusiasm and motivation, and an awesome mom.  She's so creative and has such great ideas, which makes it a lot of fun to be able to collaborate with her.  I've done other illustration/ art work jobs, but this one has been the most rewarding and the most fun.  To sum it all up: it's Cool Beans. 

The Easter Jack-Rabbit

The Easter Bunny came to our house and left some goodies.  Addie swears she heard him in our house, but was too scared to get out of her bed and look.  Doesn't that sound sad?  But she was pleased as anything that he came, and would have been so disappointed if he hadn't.  What a backwards concept. 

 Anyway, he left some exciting things: plastic animals, a sun-brella, flip-flops, fruit leather, a poppy-growing kit, stickers, squishy chicks, hair clips, bow ties, balls, and many other non-candy items.  He must have known there would be plenty of candy later that day.  Smart ol' rabbit.

After emptying the baskets and eating breakfast (eagle-eye toasts, courtesy of Jason) we gussied up for church.  Here are the boys, looking mighty dapper.

And here's everyone but me.  I'm not sure why that happened, but as far as I know I'm still part of the family, even if it sometimes appears as though I'm just the live-in help.

After church we headed to grandma's and grandpa's for more Easter-ness.   Addie wanted to skip dinner and begin on the egg hunt right away, but the rest of us boring and starving grown-ups made her wait until after dinner.  She was out the door, down the steps, and across the yard just as soon as the word was given for the hunt to begin.

 This is the best picture ever taken, I'm pretty sure of it.  It's perfect, and it will be part of every major event in the rest of his life: baptism, scouting awards, graduations, his wedding, 50th birthday, 80th birthday, all of it, baby!  I call it The Easter Jack-Rabbit. 

This one is called, "Oh, Glorious Egg!".

And this one is called, "I Say, Furry Chap, Unhand My Egg!"  The outfit makes me think he should have a British Accent.  (Oh, and I should mentioned that Jack took his first steps on March 12 and has been walking around on his own ever since.  I fully expect him to be turning cartwheels by his first birthday.  That should be one popular YouTube video.)

We finished up the festivities with a Great Easter Race.  We all took turns racing on these little wiggle cars, which was great fun for everyone, especially Addie because she kept winning. 

I tried hard to make sure the meaning of Easter wasn't lost somewhere in all the Easter "extras", and I was worried that perhaps I still hadn't focused on it enough this year.  But, after looking at all these pictures of my family and the fun that we all had together, I don't think the meaning was lost at all.  We were all happy and together, which is exactly what our Savior wants for us now and forever, and exactly why He gave His life for us and overcame death.  So, being happy together now is the perfect way to celebrate how we can be happy together forever.  I can't think of anything to be more grateful for than that!

The Lep Trap

 Every year we design and build a trap to try and catch a leprechaun.  We set it out the night before St. Patrick's Day, when we're pretty sure they'll be lurking around.  Last year we were close to catching one, but he got away.  He did, however, leave his hat.  We decided to use that hat for bait in this year's trap, The Lep Trap 2013.

Here's how it works:  He climbs the lego steps, built out of the typical leprechaun's favorite colors, with the hopes of getting his little lucky hat back.  He's so anxious to get it back onto his fuzzy orange head, that he fails to notice the trap door, cleverly placed between the steps and the hat, until its much too late.

He then lands on a cushy towel (again, in one of his favorite colors so that he won't be too upset about being caught.  Addie thinks of everything, and favorite colors are pretty important to a four-year old.) and finds himself in a rather pleasant trap.  Addie provided a Barbie plate of cereal bits, a Barbie trophy of water, and a pot of gold made of legos.  He should be quite well taken care of and comfortable until we can get to him in the morning and demand he gives us his gold.  It was a perfect trap.

 In the morning, Addie ran into the kitchen and, seeing that the trap had been set off, cautiously approached it and peeked in.

The leprechaun had eaten the food (rather messily), drank the water and, it can be assumed, enjoyed the pot of gold, but was no longer there.  We had failed to foresee the possible use of a leprechaun rope.

He took his hat, but left his rope (fashioned from some twine and a green paperclip) and a tiny scroll.

The scroll had really tiny green writing on it, but we fortunately own a magnifying glass for just such an occasion.  The leprechaun left a clue to find something gold hidden near something green.  The hunt was on.  We checked houseplants, toys, holiday decor, bath towels, you name it.

Addie finally discovered the gold inside her rain boots.  It turned out to be chocolate instead of real gold, which was a relief to Addie.

The hunt left us famished, so we ate shamrock pancakes (sham-cakes?) for our St. Patty's breakfast.

Jack was as happy as ever just to be alive, holiday or not.  It's a shame he hasn't learned how to jig yet...

...but he's working on it.

Jack-modo and the Valentines

 Time to do some catching up, I suppose.  I've been spending all of my time drawing pictures for a book (more on that later) and none of my time blogging.  So I'll begin where my last post left off,way back in February:

I was cooking in the kitchen when I glanced over at Jack just to see what he was up to.  My heart stopped and I feeling of panic crept over me when I suddenly noticed hump on his back that wasn't there before.  "Addie?"  I called, my voice a little shaky, "Did you put something in Jack's shirt?"  "Yes," she answered from down the hall, "just my socks!"  Whew, he didn't have a massive and aggressive tumor or a crazy allergic reaction to lunch.  It didn't help his look at all that he stood with a bit of a crouch and had an insane grin on his face.  This picture really cracks me up whenever I look at!

Addie made Valentine's for her preschool classmates and her neighborhood friends.  She was pretty excited about it, or maybe just the sight of candy makes her giddy.

He is one Cool Dude, and he knows it.

Our first almost-warm day of the year (notice our coats) we spent outside in the driveway. Here's Addie jump-a-roping.  She hasn't quite figured out how to do it, but she likes trying anyway.  Maybe if she kept her head up...

And here's Jack exploring the many wonders of driveway cracks for the first time.  He also tasted a lot of chalk and leaves.

Jack just wants to always be on the move, which is why he took to this wagon so quickly.  It's hard to believe he's only 9 months old in this photo.

Here he is relaxing in his highchair.  He looks oh so comfy with all that luxurious hard plastic surrounding him, doesn't he?  He is such a happy kid, it's hard not to take a picture of him smiling.

But when he gets busted while pulling things out of the cupboard, the smile is gone.  He especially likes to dump cereals and pastas on the floor. 

On another warm-ish day, we played in the sandbox.  Jack was really into banging toys together.  Notice how awesome the sand looks coming out of Addie's sifter.  Man, I love my kids, but my favorite part of this picture is the sand.