Niko in Vector

Practicing tracing photos into vectors in Illustrator. This one is a trace from my last blog post, specifically this photo. Not too bad for just practicing eh? It reminds me of the paper cut out hedgie post card I did a few years ago... which I'll have to post on here since I can't seem to find it in any older posts.

So what do you think? Should I keep practicing until it's t-shirt worthy?

Hedgehog Easter Egg Dress Up

Easter is coming up, and I couldn't resist making my own version of an Easter Egg Dress Up in hedgehog form. There is this adorable animal Egg Dress Up Kit available from HP's Creative Studio, in addition to a bunch of other Easter themed crafts. There's an lion, elephant, bunny, and chick available in the kit, but no hedgehog. Until now...

I created my own hedgehog template available on box.net for anyone to print and play with. Of course I had to test out my own template, but I had no hard-boiled eggs (or the time to boil them). So what is approximately shaped like an egg... a rock! Basically I made myself a pet rock hedgehog, who then of course I had to introduce to my real life hedgehog Niko. Enjoy the photos and let me know in the comments if you make your own!

Milo the cat was watching intently during the whole photo shoot, quiet and curious about what Niko the hedgehog was up to.

Sketches of Niko

I love it when others sketch Niko. I received my latest sketch last week from a co-worker during our 4 day long workshop. The others I have on my bulletin board include Super Niko going grocery shopping (from a telephone style game where you alternate drawing pictures and writing sentences), and a little Niko fan mail from a different co-worker's daughter.

Hedgehog Petting Zoo

Niko's cage now lives in the kitchen - a higher traffic area for more play time, including with the cat...

Milo the cat: "mom, mom, mom, mom, hey mom, can I pet the hedgehog?"

Bonus, video of Milo drinking water with his paw:

Niko and Milo

Niko and Milo are now on YouTube! Here's their first uploaded video together:

Just a little something from when Niko was starting to explore the apartment more with less fear of Milo (since Milo is realizing that Niko is too sharp to really play with). Looks like my previous post's video never made it through processing on Blogger, so I might upload that one to YouTube as well. Enjoy!

Niko, meet Milo

Niko's been happily living in peace at my little studio apartment for the last year. Now? I've moved into a slightly larger 1 bedroom with wood floors (no more carpet chewing!) and brought home a new member to the family: Milo the cat. This 9 month old cat I adopted from the wonderful Cat Adoption Team shelter.

Everyone's been asking me how the two have been getting along together so far, and my answer is this: cautiously optimistic. Milo still doesn't quite know what to make to Niko's quills, but isn't afraid of him nor trying to eat him (phew!). Niko meanwhile is quite aware there's a curious cat and is doing his best to pretend he's just a spiky rock. But I think over time with supervised together time Niko will get less shy and explore the apartment even while Milo's around. A little video below of their interactions so far.

Milo: tap.. tap.. tap ouch! ..... tap "what is this thing?!?"

1 year with my Niko baby

So it's been a year since I got my Niko baby. He's grown so much since then, and met so many people and other pets!




Niko is still my hedgie baby no matter how big he gets, because he'll always fit in the palm of my hand like a ball of quills!







Holding my thumb, and one last 'blooper' photo that's just too adorable because of his little foot sticking out.