It all started 6 years ago. A friend of mine asked me if I wanted to make these plates; all I would need to do is design a plate and then we'd send it to a company who would turn that design into a plate. I would have never guessed then that this would turn into a yearly project. We moved the next year, and I wanted to do it again, but noticed that the more plates ordered, the lower the price. I went to church, asked people to do it with me, and that was the beginning of me organizing these plate projects each and every year.
We try to do plates to capture the kids interest or to show something that's special to them. For Shelby, she has been an avid reader and in kindergarten discovered the Junie B. Jones book series. While travelling to and from Utah this summer, we'd give her a Junie B. Jones book and in less than an hour, she'd hand it back to us, asking for another. By the end of the summer, we had about 10 of the books. One of her birthday presents this year is that she's getting the rest of the books, courtesy of Scholastic's AWESOME book club. $2 per book - you can't beat that. When she picked which book cover she wanted us to draw, she picked Junie B. First Grader: Toothless Wonder, the perfect book since she's in first grade and she's been missing her 2 front teeth almost all year long. Tom drew Junie and wrote the words, while I did the border, the background, and the outlines around Junie and the words.
Now Taylor knew exactly what she wanted this year . . . a trick-or-treating dinosaur. Hahaha. She's hilarious. It is a perfect fit for her though. For her birthday this year, she picked out a dinosaur toy that she absolutely loves, and she finally discovered the dinosaur toys that my mom had handed down to us years ago. She plays with the dinosaurs constantly; they are definitely one of her favorite toys. As for Halloween, it's her favorite holiday. She loves the colors orange and black, and she'd wear her Halloween shirt year-round if I let her. Her plate idea is definitely perfect for her. Of course Tom drew the dinosaur, which left the background and the words for me.
We try to do plates to capture the kids interest or to show something that's special to them. For Shelby, she has been an avid reader and in kindergarten discovered the Junie B. Jones book series. While travelling to and from Utah this summer, we'd give her a Junie B. Jones book and in less than an hour, she'd hand it back to us, asking for another. By the end of the summer, we had about 10 of the books. One of her birthday presents this year is that she's getting the rest of the books, courtesy of Scholastic's AWESOME book club. $2 per book - you can't beat that. When she picked which book cover she wanted us to draw, she picked Junie B. First Grader: Toothless Wonder, the perfect book since she's in first grade and she's been missing her 2 front teeth almost all year long. Tom drew Junie and wrote the words, while I did the border, the background, and the outlines around Junie and the words.
Now Taylor knew exactly what she wanted this year . . . a trick-or-treating dinosaur. Hahaha. She's hilarious. It is a perfect fit for her though. For her birthday this year, she picked out a dinosaur toy that she absolutely loves, and she finally discovered the dinosaur toys that my mom had handed down to us years ago. She plays with the dinosaurs constantly; they are definitely one of her favorite toys. As for Halloween, it's her favorite holiday. She loves the colors orange and black, and she'd wear her Halloween shirt year-round if I let her. Her plate idea is definitely perfect for her. Of course Tom drew the dinosaur, which left the background and the words for me.
It didn't take us too long to decide what to do for Payden. We have numerous Little People animals that she LOVES. She is constantly talking about m'amals (as she puts it), and she is always playing with them. We'll always find all sort of containers filled with her animals as she lugs them around the house - the shopping cart, the HEB lunch box, a small red toy bin, and so forth. She was so excited that as I colored the animal she would place the matching Little People animal on top of it. Of course, the first time I had to turn the paper to color something else she realized this wasn't going to work, but it was definitely too cute. Tom unfortunately had to leave to go out of town before he could finish this plate, so he was only able to draw the animals (yes he looked at the animals and then drew them on paper; you'd be amazed at how perfectly he drew them). I got to color them; fortunately, I was able to match each color almost perfectly, so they really look like the Little People animals.
As for Declan, we always do a plate with the kids' birth info for the first one, so we knew we'd need to include that. Tom said I needed to do something with sleeping because Declan loves to sleep and is a really awesome sleeper. I decided I might as well do Sleepy dwarf. After I'd drawn up the plate (Tom was out of town at this point, which left me to do this entire plate myself), Tom decided he wanted me to add a Celtic element, which ties into Declan's name. He found one, but it was so big that I had to redraw the plate so that I could fit the border. It took me a long time to do the border, but we love how it turned out.
Finally, I've always done a plate for each new niece and nephew. My sister Lori fortunately had her baby before I turned in the plate designs, so I was able to design a plate for Adalynn. Now Lori LOVES LOVES LOVES pigs. I drew a pig for her other daughter Avery and decided I should just stick with the theme. I found a different pig then what I used for Avery and then added her name and birth info. It was pretty simple, but I think Lori will love it.
As for Declan, we always do a plate with the kids' birth info for the first one, so we knew we'd need to include that. Tom said I needed to do something with sleeping because Declan loves to sleep and is a really awesome sleeper. I decided I might as well do Sleepy dwarf. After I'd drawn up the plate (Tom was out of town at this point, which left me to do this entire plate myself), Tom decided he wanted me to add a Celtic element, which ties into Declan's name. He found one, but it was so big that I had to redraw the plate so that I could fit the border. It took me a long time to do the border, but we love how it turned out.
Finally, I've always done a plate for each new niece and nephew. My sister Lori fortunately had her baby before I turned in the plate designs, so I was able to design a plate for Adalynn. Now Lori LOVES LOVES LOVES pigs. I drew a pig for her other daughter Avery and decided I should just stick with the theme. I found a different pig then what I used for Avery and then added her name and birth info. It was pretty simple, but I think Lori will love it.
Tom and I love doing this each year. It's so much fun to design and draw up the plates, and the kids love having them and getting to eat off them.
6 comments:
Those plates are so cute! You guys did SUCH a GREAT job drawing them! Im so impressed! I know what I can look forward to...in many many years. I guess you'll have to keep up the tradition for a long time now! haha
Holy Shoot those are incredible!! Both of you did a good job doing your part on the plates!! Tom...you are one heck of an artist!
And that border on Declan's is amazing. I'm glad I didn't have to color that in!!!
Those are unbelievable! What great keepsakes!!! You are both very talented!
Holy crap! These plates are amazing!!! You've done a STUPENDOUS job!!! Good work Tom & Rachel!!
I love the plates! I missed not being able to do them this year. We have really enjoyed our plates. Thanks so much for being willing to head the plate making every year.
Cute tradition! WOW--i'm so impressed with your plate making skills. The art is soooooo good! Tell Tom if he ever decides he doesn't like dentistry that he's definitely got another career option! You did a great job on the borders/backgrounds, etc. You guys are SKILLED! =)
Post a Comment