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: