In Awe of the Creative Char and her Inspiring Illustrations

Once my mom and found out I was having a little boy we started collecting things for his nursery. I had chosen classic Winnie the Pooh as the theme with baby blue walls. Then one day my mom surprised me with a personalized illustration done by a lovely artist named Char on Etsy. Her Etsy shop is called Blue Shine Baby. It is of a little boy lying on a polar bear’s back that is framed by a little story around the edge which included my son’s name. I hung it on the outside of his door. It was perfect in keeping with the theme, it had a little boy, a bear and the predominate color was blue. I instantly fell in love with all of Blue Shine Baby’s illustrations. I constantly went to her to Etsy shop (and still do!) to check out the new pieces of art she has created.

When I found out I was pregnant with my little girl I had to have an illustration for her. Little’s nursery theme is fairies and frog princes. Mr. R dubbed the room Lilly’s Pad. So I was so overjoyed to find that Char had created the same type of illustration as Boog’s but it was with a little princess on top of a frog’s back.  It was perfect!!!!

Then I discovered that she had a joint blog with fellow artist Tam called We Blog Artists
. I started to read it each morning like most people read the newspaper. She discusses what art pieces she is working on, her family life with her two beautiful girls and other things happening in her life.

Over the last couple of years I have purchased some more of her illustrations as gifts. I got one for Boog’s best friend’s birthday of a little boy on top of a Wild Thing for his room because Where the Wild Things Are is his favorite story. The list goes on and on.

Then just before Christmas this year I became a fan of her on Facebook too. She did a posting of a new illustration she had just completed called “A Mother’s Load”. It was a woman smiling carrying her children on her back. I loved it and wanted one of my own with my children riding on my back. So I contacted Char and inquired about commissioning one. I decided it was going to be Santa’s present to me this year. *Wink, Wink*

I love the illustration and hung it up on the wall in time for everyone to see it during Christmas. I got so many complements about it! “ That is so wonderful!”, “Where did you get it?” Then just a couple of weeks ago I noticed she had done a “Family load” illustration. So I commissioned another illustration of my family, but this time including Mr. R too.

Char is an amazing woman! I am one of her biggest fans and I wanted to share the beauty that she brings into the world with you.