What a wonderful surprise I received about a week ago when I opened the mail. Inside was a lovely card from our dear furiend and most talented illustrator, Maggie Swanson.
Look at the front of this darling and charming card:
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| Courtesy of Maggie Swanson |
About Maggie from her website:
When I was a little girl, we lived in an apartment over our grocery store. My parents sold the basics: canned goods, bread, milk and eggs, fresh vegetables and meat. Customers sat talking to my father while he filled their orders. Sometimes they read to me or we colored pictures together. I spent a lot of time in my nest under the penny candy counter, drawing pictures and sneaking an occasional piece of candy when the coast was clear. I can't remember when I decided to become an artist. It was all I ever really wanted to do.
After graduation from Rhode Island School of Design, I spent three years at Hallmark Cards. In college I learned about drawing and painting and dreaming. Hallmark taught me to start and finish a job in a timely and professional manner. After that, I started my freelance career, and have illustrated over 100 children's books for many different publishers.
Now I live in Connecticut, USA with my husband Rick and our cats Mickey Mouser and Rufus the Red, and In my spare time I like to read, garden, and volunteer at PAWS, my local animal shelter. I also photograph and keep a blog about the shelter cats that I meet there.
We can't thank Maggie enough for taking the time to think of us and for sending us this darling card. Hoping it brings us some good luck! Take a look at the back:
If you were born in the years: 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008 or 2020. Your symbol in the Chinese Zodiac is the Rat.
Looking at the darling illustrations above you can see why I chose to say it could also be the year of the cute mousey. Those little rats are too precious!!
Did You Know:
- The Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival
- There is no set date for the Chinese New Year. The dates range from January 21st to February 20th.
- The most Fireworks in the world are set off that night!
- No showering, sweeping or throwing out garbage is allowed
- You eat dumplings for every meal, every day!
Click To learn more interesting facts/myths, etc., about the Chinese New Year
I think we may just have to go out to dinner tonight to a nice Chinese Restaurant to celebrate!
Thanks again to sweet Maggie and be sure to click to see all of the precious, adoptable kitties that she features on her blog regularly.
We love you Maggie!
Happy Year of the Rat all!!!!
My human loves Maggie's art so much! She is a longtime fan.
ReplyDeleteOh,MY!! What a wonderful artwork in that card! And yes, those rats do not make me shudder...too much, MOL!
ReplyDeleteI hope not to see any real rats, no offense to the Chinese who seem to adore them:)
Somehow I'd never seen Maggie's art work before (or didn't know that I did).
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that Maggie was such a talented artist. That card is adorable.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Caren and Cody! I need to update my website and add our third cat Ernie.
ReplyDeleteWe hope that Cody’s giant mouse/rat brings a lots of luck this year.
xxoo
Maggie
You know...I thought about that and couldn't remember his name! OMG!!! As for Cody's rat....not sure if he has it any longer (have to look, I might have gotten rid of it) that's an old photo (wink) xoxoxoxo and...thank YOU!!
DeleteThat's wonderful artwork! I didn't know Maggie was a talented artist, either.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm confused on the rat thing. These here rats sure are cute-ish, but the other day when mom and dad came home from a home showing they talked about what dad said were rat turds for sure scattered throughout and used words that were none too flattering to rats. Needless to say, that and some other major issues turned them off of that house. Have an awesome weekend!
ReplyDeleteWhat an adorable card! Maggie is obviously very talented and uses her talent well. Thanks for all the info on Chinese New Year too, I didn't know all that!
ReplyDeleteisn't it just the cutest? Maggie's talent just blows me away. I didn't know a lot about the Chinese New Year either and you are most welcome!
DeleteMarvelous artwork! Rats are interesting creatures . . . our cat Franklin wants to know if this is the year he will get to chase one!
ReplyDeleteVery sweet illustrations. Cody, You have a ginormous rat friend.
ReplyDeleteMaggie's art is always so beautiful and we admire her talent so much!
ReplyDeleteSuch great artwork.
ReplyDeleteThat is a wonderful illustration. I like how the eyes are looking at the rats. My wife was born the year of the rat.
ReplyDeleteyes, I love that too! Happy Year of the Rat to your wife! Should be a lucky year for her!
DeleteMaggie is incredibly talented!! Happy Year of the Rat!
ReplyDeleteMaggie is the best! We are honored to be her friends, and fellow PAWS volunteers. She and Rick do so much for the kitties!
ReplyDeleteshe sure is! I always wished I lived by all of you, I would help you at PAWS too! You are all so special!
DeleteTruly beautiful art!
ReplyDelete