The importance of reading cannot be underestimated, as it benefits both their wellbeing and mental health. More importantly, reading with your child can be great fun.

This holiday season, we recommend purchasing your young ones a good book. Award-winning designer, author, and illustrator, Lisa Stickley should be on top of your list. Trained at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art, her titles include The Wobbly Waitress, Bernard Makes A Splash! and Dress Like Mummy.

According to Stickley, her inspiration is found close to home. Inspired by her daughters’ everyday musings, her stories are told from a fresh untainted view of the world that children can relate to.

“The thing I love about children is they observe the tiniest stuff,” observed Stickley in an interview with Books with Baby. “We grown-ups are so busy nowadays, with work and social media.”

She also acknowledges the importance of encouraging children to enjoy reading as much as possible. “Before doing my books, I hadn’t drawn people for years,” she explains. “I was scared of it. So I sat down and had a proper look at artists and designers I loved, and tried to put myself in their shoes to get started. It freed me up and now I love it!”

The post Introduce Your Children to Author and Illustrator Lisa Stickley appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Based in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons, Levine has become a staple in shows like The Today Show, MARTHA, NY1, CBS Morning Show, and The View, where she shares her tips and tricks.

“The world has changed so much since I was in school and the word ‘craft’ was perceived very negatively,” she observed in an interview with David Stark. “The whole design/DIY/craft world has exploded which is great for those of us that like to make stuff and dabble with lots of media and don’t fit neatly into the art school categories.”

Levine knows what she’s talking about. Having studied painting formerly in RISD, she admits she felt a little lost during her school years. It was only after graduating that she switched gears, having landed a job in the Craft Department at Martha Stewart Living. The rest was history.

Take a leaf out of her book:

The post Looking for Creative Ways to Keep Your Kids Busy? Start Here appeared first on MobiSpirit.

“I have always been drawing and ‘creating’ things and never really wanted to do anything else,” said Wiehle in and interview with Lake. “I think I would be completely terrible at an office job.” On top of her work as a freelance illustrator, and having written 10 books so far, Wiehle is also a founding member of Paper Ghost Studio, a small illustration studio and gallery space in Candler Park, Atlanta, where she has been organizing art shows for the last two years.

Based in Atlanta, GA, she admits to drawing inspiration from her childhood in Germany, where she was raised in an old farmhouse in a tiny village. Being surrounded by sheep, horses, and chickens, it comes as no surprise that animals, in all shapes and forms, make a constant appearance throughout her work.

“I still travel back to Germany as much as I can,” says Wiehle, “so I can spend time with my family and friends and get my fill of the German breakfast and riding the train around Europe.” Her illustrations might provide you with more insight into her favorite environments.

The post Introduce Your Children to the Animal Kingdom With These Illustrations appeared first on MobiSpirit.

“I use a mix of medias and have a spontaneous approach,” she told Bibelot Magazine. With her illustration, it’s a kind of blend between drawing and collage making. “It’s often collage, but not necessarily photo-based,” she explains.

“I draw and paint, then I cut things up and see what happens – though being contrary by nature, I don’t like to stay inside any box that is too pre-defined,” says D’Aquino, adding that she doesn’t see herself as a collage artist per se. “Whenever someone calls me a ‘collage artist’, I never fail to be surprised – really? Is that what I am? I really don’t know, but maybe.”

Based in New York City, her illustrated books include a reinterpretation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, while her commercial work involves collaborating with clients as big as Anthropologie, Conde Nast Traveler, and Chronicle Books, as well as publications like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Financial Times.

“Some of the best things I’ve made are mistakes,” notes D’Aquino, “however – this does not imply sitting and waiting is any kind of effective choice. I think all art is work, it takes effort and doing things over or just organizing and experimenting without a clear cut goal or without seeing pleasing results.”

See some of those pleasing results in the gallery below.

The post Andrea D’Aquino Finds Joy in Mistakes appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Now a proud mother of two, her brand is still going strong, catering to both children and children at heart. Based around colorful designs and naive, playful characters, Poppekins’ features an array of paper goodies and other delights, ranging from prints and cards to custom made birth announcements, party invites, and portraits.

“My first illustrations were mainly colorful animals, personalized name prints and cartoons,” van der Meer relayed in an interview with the Printed blog. A fashion designer by trade, creativity comes easy for her. But when she needs the extra push she turns to her children for inspiration.

“They inspire me every day with their curious outlook on life and all the funny things they say,” she says. “Their colorful toys and books give me so much inspiration too,” she went on to say, adding that Dick Bruna is one of her favorites, as well as all the bold colors and patterns of the ’70s. 

Follow her Instagram for a spot of fun.

The post It’s All Sunshine and Rainbows With Poppekins appeared first on MobiSpirit.

A printmaking graduate from the Ontario College of Art and Design, Galletta realized there was a need for a brand like Kiriki Press after failing to find a good enough (cute enough) pattern to make her niece an embroidered doll.

“I couldn’t afford to buy her anything, but I hoped to make up for it with my time,” she explained in a short piece she posted on her website. Alas, she soon found out that it was difficult to find contemporary embroidery patterns that weren’t overly simplistic, let alone embroidered doll patterns. And so, she ended up designing her own. “As I was making Madeleine’s owls, I became fascinated with embroidery: the vibrant colors, the countless variety of stitches, the calming effect it had on me,” she writes.

A couple years later, and Kiriki Press has amassed thousands of followers on Instagram and has been featured in publications like Canadian Living, Chatelaine, Bust Magazine, and Homespun. Scrolling through the brand’s Instagram page might just get you inspired to start embroidering!

The post Michelle Galletta Will Motivate You to Take on Embroidery appeared first on MobiSpirit.

“Most of the illustrations start with an urge to draw a particular thing,” she told Love Print Studio, explaining her creative process. “I’ll make a few drawings of the subject, sometimes 2 or 3, sometimes even more! Then I scan the drawing or painting and clean it up on the computer.”

“Children’s books are an endless source of inspiration and wonder for me and I love the current trend for more ‘arty’, interesting styles,” she relayed. “Though my work is very ‘illustrative’, I often look to painters and fine artists for inspiration. I think it’s good for illustrators to look beyond their peers in order to keep their work looking fresh.”

Having studied illustration at Kingston University and graduated in 2005, she now resides in Walthamstow and is represented by Arabella Stein at The Bright Agency. But you can also follow her progress online, through her Instagram page.

The post Laura Hughes’ Illustrations Capture the Essence of Being a Child appeared first on MobiSpirit.

His work has been published in picture books, as well as printed on posters. But Silas Neal also regularly makes editorial art for magazines and newspapers including The New York Times and The New Yorker.

Amongst his inspirations, he mentions the picture books he read as a kid, music videos, and films, as well as his mom’s record collection. All those, have “seeped into his creative DNA,” according to him.

“The design influence comes from having worked as a graphic designer for three years or so before becoming an illustrator,” he added in an interview with AI-AP. “When I make a piece of art, I move shapes and colors the same way that a designer lays out a page. There’s a flatness to my images that stems from that graphic design process.”

We highly recommend you follow his progress through Instagram.

The post Add Some Cheer To Your Feed with Christopher Silas Neal’s Illustrations appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Milo, Hattie, Quinn, Jessie, Leo, and Archie are Southampton Children’s Hospital’s therapy dogs. Their job is to help sick kids get through the hospital experience feeling as happy and safe as they can be.

While therapy dogs are becoming more and more common in all areas of life, the Southhampton Children’s Hospital’s therapy dogs go through special training and perform difficult, yet very important tasks.

They don’t only visit kids and console them between checkups and procedures – they also accompany them to different tests, and help the kids go through with them. If the child has to have an MRI, one of the dogs will lay in the machine, to show him it’s harmless. If a nurse has to check a child’s pulse, a dog will sit up straight and give her his paw.

The SCH therapy crew helps bring smiles to the kids’ faces – but it also brings a smile to ours.

The post These Therapy Dogs Are the Goodest of Boys appeared first on MobiSpirit.

His thought of borrowing one of Michelle’s drawings and a dog like creature named Dongler and have it turned into a stuffed plush in South Florida. From this act, the first Budsie was born and others followed.

When the company started, most of the orders were of kids’ drawings, doodles and other artwork. Nowadays, the company uses everything from a child’s first drawing, to detailed original characters, author’s book characters, sports team mascots and more.

Check out their work.

The post Company Turns Children’s Drawings Into Beautiful Toys appeared first on MobiSpirit.

The importance of reading cannot be underestimated, as it benefits both their wellbeing and mental health. More importantly, reading with your child can be great fun.

This holiday season, we recommend purchasing your young ones a good book. Award-winning designer, author, and illustrator, Lisa Stickley should be on top of your list. Trained at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art, her titles include The Wobbly Waitress, Bernard Makes A Splash! and Dress Like Mummy.

According to Stickley, her inspiration is found close to home. Inspired by her daughters’ everyday musings, her stories are told from a fresh untainted view of the world that children can relate to.

“The thing I love about children is they observe the tiniest stuff,” observed Stickley in an interview with Books with Baby. “We grown-ups are so busy nowadays, with work and social media.”

She also acknowledges the importance of encouraging children to enjoy reading as much as possible. “Before doing my books, I hadn’t drawn people for years,” she explains. “I was scared of it. So I sat down and had a proper look at artists and designers I loved, and tried to put myself in their shoes to get started. It freed me up and now I love it!”

The post Introduce Your Children to Author and Illustrator Lisa Stickley appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Based in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons, Levine has become a staple in shows like The Today Show, MARTHA, NY1, CBS Morning Show, and The View, where she shares her tips and tricks.

“The world has changed so much since I was in school and the word ‘craft’ was perceived very negatively,” she observed in an interview with David Stark. “The whole design/DIY/craft world has exploded which is great for those of us that like to make stuff and dabble with lots of media and don’t fit neatly into the art school categories.”

Levine knows what she’s talking about. Having studied painting formerly in RISD, she admits she felt a little lost during her school years. It was only after graduating that she switched gears, having landed a job in the Craft Department at Martha Stewart Living. The rest was history.

Take a leaf out of her book:

The post Looking for Creative Ways to Keep Your Kids Busy? Start Here appeared first on MobiSpirit.

“I have always been drawing and ‘creating’ things and never really wanted to do anything else,” said Wiehle in and interview with Lake. “I think I would be completely terrible at an office job.” On top of her work as a freelance illustrator, and having written 10 books so far, Wiehle is also a founding member of Paper Ghost Studio, a small illustration studio and gallery space in Candler Park, Atlanta, where she has been organizing art shows for the last two years.

Based in Atlanta, GA, she admits to drawing inspiration from her childhood in Germany, where she was raised in an old farmhouse in a tiny village. Being surrounded by sheep, horses, and chickens, it comes as no surprise that animals, in all shapes and forms, make a constant appearance throughout her work.

“I still travel back to Germany as much as I can,” says Wiehle, “so I can spend time with my family and friends and get my fill of the German breakfast and riding the train around Europe.” Her illustrations might provide you with more insight into her favorite environments.

The post Introduce Your Children to the Animal Kingdom With These Illustrations appeared first on MobiSpirit.

“I use a mix of medias and have a spontaneous approach,” she told Bibelot Magazine. With her illustration, it’s a kind of blend between drawing and collage making. “It’s often collage, but not necessarily photo-based,” she explains.

“I draw and paint, then I cut things up and see what happens – though being contrary by nature, I don’t like to stay inside any box that is too pre-defined,” says D’Aquino, adding that she doesn’t see herself as a collage artist per se. “Whenever someone calls me a ‘collage artist’, I never fail to be surprised – really? Is that what I am? I really don’t know, but maybe.”

Based in New York City, her illustrated books include a reinterpretation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, while her commercial work involves collaborating with clients as big as Anthropologie, Conde Nast Traveler, and Chronicle Books, as well as publications like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Financial Times.

“Some of the best things I’ve made are mistakes,” notes D’Aquino, “however – this does not imply sitting and waiting is any kind of effective choice. I think all art is work, it takes effort and doing things over or just organizing and experimenting without a clear cut goal or without seeing pleasing results.”

See some of those pleasing results in the gallery below.

The post Andrea D’Aquino Finds Joy in Mistakes appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Now a proud mother of two, her brand is still going strong, catering to both children and children at heart. Based around colorful designs and naive, playful characters, Poppekins’ features an array of paper goodies and other delights, ranging from prints and cards to custom made birth announcements, party invites, and portraits.

“My first illustrations were mainly colorful animals, personalized name prints and cartoons,” van der Meer relayed in an interview with the Printed blog. A fashion designer by trade, creativity comes easy for her. But when she needs the extra push she turns to her children for inspiration.

“They inspire me every day with their curious outlook on life and all the funny things they say,” she says. “Their colorful toys and books give me so much inspiration too,” she went on to say, adding that Dick Bruna is one of her favorites, as well as all the bold colors and patterns of the ’70s. 

Follow her Instagram for a spot of fun.

The post It’s All Sunshine and Rainbows With Poppekins appeared first on MobiSpirit.

A printmaking graduate from the Ontario College of Art and Design, Galletta realized there was a need for a brand like Kiriki Press after failing to find a good enough (cute enough) pattern to make her niece an embroidered doll.

“I couldn’t afford to buy her anything, but I hoped to make up for it with my time,” she explained in a short piece she posted on her website. Alas, she soon found out that it was difficult to find contemporary embroidery patterns that weren’t overly simplistic, let alone embroidered doll patterns. And so, she ended up designing her own. “As I was making Madeleine’s owls, I became fascinated with embroidery: the vibrant colors, the countless variety of stitches, the calming effect it had on me,” she writes.

A couple years later, and Kiriki Press has amassed thousands of followers on Instagram and has been featured in publications like Canadian Living, Chatelaine, Bust Magazine, and Homespun. Scrolling through the brand’s Instagram page might just get you inspired to start embroidering!

The post Michelle Galletta Will Motivate You to Take on Embroidery appeared first on MobiSpirit.

“Most of the illustrations start with an urge to draw a particular thing,” she told Love Print Studio, explaining her creative process. “I’ll make a few drawings of the subject, sometimes 2 or 3, sometimes even more! Then I scan the drawing or painting and clean it up on the computer.”

“Children’s books are an endless source of inspiration and wonder for me and I love the current trend for more ‘arty’, interesting styles,” she relayed. “Though my work is very ‘illustrative’, I often look to painters and fine artists for inspiration. I think it’s good for illustrators to look beyond their peers in order to keep their work looking fresh.”

Having studied illustration at Kingston University and graduated in 2005, she now resides in Walthamstow and is represented by Arabella Stein at The Bright Agency. But you can also follow her progress online, through her Instagram page.

The post Laura Hughes’ Illustrations Capture the Essence of Being a Child appeared first on MobiSpirit.

His work has been published in picture books, as well as printed on posters. But Silas Neal also regularly makes editorial art for magazines and newspapers including The New York Times and The New Yorker.

Amongst his inspirations, he mentions the picture books he read as a kid, music videos, and films, as well as his mom’s record collection. All those, have “seeped into his creative DNA,” according to him.

“The design influence comes from having worked as a graphic designer for three years or so before becoming an illustrator,” he added in an interview with AI-AP. “When I make a piece of art, I move shapes and colors the same way that a designer lays out a page. There’s a flatness to my images that stems from that graphic design process.”

We highly recommend you follow his progress through Instagram.

The post Add Some Cheer To Your Feed with Christopher Silas Neal’s Illustrations appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Milo, Hattie, Quinn, Jessie, Leo, and Archie are Southampton Children’s Hospital’s therapy dogs. Their job is to help sick kids get through the hospital experience feeling as happy and safe as they can be.

While therapy dogs are becoming more and more common in all areas of life, the Southhampton Children’s Hospital’s therapy dogs go through special training and perform difficult, yet very important tasks.

They don’t only visit kids and console them between checkups and procedures – they also accompany them to different tests, and help the kids go through with them. If the child has to have an MRI, one of the dogs will lay in the machine, to show him it’s harmless. If a nurse has to check a child’s pulse, a dog will sit up straight and give her his paw.

The SCH therapy crew helps bring smiles to the kids’ faces – but it also brings a smile to ours.

The post These Therapy Dogs Are the Goodest of Boys appeared first on MobiSpirit.

His thought of borrowing one of Michelle’s drawings and a dog like creature named Dongler and have it turned into a stuffed plush in South Florida. From this act, the first Budsie was born and others followed.

When the company started, most of the orders were of kids’ drawings, doodles and other artwork. Nowadays, the company uses everything from a child’s first drawing, to detailed original characters, author’s book characters, sports team mascots and more.

Check out their work.

The post Company Turns Children’s Drawings Into Beautiful Toys appeared first on MobiSpirit.