Lee Lee and the Bee

Illustration Friday: ONOMATOPOEIA

2013-10-01T00:38:00.000-07:00

This weeks topic at Illustration Friday is Onomatopoeia, and since that is a word that I have loved saying since I first heard it when I was little, I decided to try and find the time whilst taking care of the baby viking to upload a submission for the theme.

I was lucky again in that I already had a design that popped to mind when I saw the theme. "Giggly Ghost" is my go to. Not just because of the onomatopoeia of the word 'giggle', but also because of the classic ghostly refrain of "Boo!".

I reworked the image slightly to suit the theme, but the original design and indeed range of products can be found here.

You can purchase this design on a great range of products at

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
*You may share the work, but you must attribute this work to me and link to the product/post, and/or to my blog Lee Lee and the Bee
*You MAY NOT use this work for ANY commercial purposes excluding earning affiliate commissions (where applicable) through linking back to a product offered on selected websites with affiliate programs.
*You MAY NOT alter, transform or build upon any part of this work, unless customizing a product prior to purchase on any of the websites where this design/work is offered for sale.
*To contact the artist regarding purchasing exclusive rights to this image/design, or for more information, please use the contact form at my blog Lee Lee and the Bee

Cowboy stuntman!

2013-04-06T04:29:00.000-07:00

Yeeee-haaaaaa!

Aerial Daredevil

2013-04-04T04:35:00.004-07:00

Geronimo!

For some reason, my camera decided to make every shot of him blurry this morning, and I didn't have time before his nap to take any more. This was my favourite of the slightly-out-of-focus bunch however. I quite like the little smirk. Like he's saying "Yeah, so I jump out of planes with nothing but a handkerchief as a parachute. Don't you?"

He Likes To Be...Under The Sea

2013-04-01T02:13:00.000-07:00

Erik: Deep Sea Explorer.

I'm really loving doing these little illustrations of our little guy. It takes so little effort on both of our parts, and he loves when I lay him down on the sheet and we make faces at each other while he has his photo taken. Then when he goes down for his long midday nap, I get to do my version of 'relaxing'....to whit: drawing.

So, now that I am for the most part, completely busy with being a mum and not being able to do much in regards to my online shops or making general designs and illustrations, I can still get to explore the artist side of me most days, if only for a few minutes (or at best hours)

One of the most fun parts is actually going through the pictures we take (sometimes up to 100) to find one that has the perfect expression, or body positioning. Weirdly, for this one, it was the first I took in a series of about 60. He was looking at something on the TV and thought is was very amusing.

Giant baby!

2013-03-26T06:04:00.000-07:00

Erik would definitely be a big friendly giant

My Viking Son

2013-03-24T07:18:00.000-07:00

Considering he's half Danish, it had to be done didn't it?

He's like 'Tra-la la-la-laa! I'm off to do some pillaging!"

Fun with Baby Photos

2013-03-23T05:14:00.000-07:00

Our son Erik just hit the four month mark recently. What better way to celebrate than by taking some time out to create some fun pictures for him to look at later in life.

I got the idea to do this from Adele Enersen who originally started doing stuff like this with her children, Mila and Vincent. Check out her site http://adeleenersen.com/main it's awesome!!

Erik, The (Viking) Spaceman.

Because, as his archaeologist Dad knows, this is what really happens in the field.

Erik Rocks Out.

These works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. *You may share the works, but you must attribute the works to me and link to this post, and/or to my blog. *You MAY NOT use the works for ANY commercial purposes. *You MAY NOT alter, transform or build upon any part of the works.

Currently Working On: 'Garden Wedding'

2012-12-30T08:25:00.000-08:00

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
*You may share the work, but you must attribute this work to me and link to the product/post, and/or to my blog Lee Lee and the Bee
*You MAY NOT use this work for ANY commercial purposes excluding earning affiliate commissions (where aplicable) through linking back to a product offered on selected websites with affliate programs.
*You MAY NOT alter, transform or build upon any part of this work, unless customizing a product prior to purchase on any of the websites where this design/work is offered for sale.
*To contact the artist regarding purchasing exclusive rights to this image/design, or for more information, please use the contact form at my blog Lee Lee and the Bee

Illustration Friday: Whiskers

2012-11-29T03:50:00.000-08:00

I love getting to use this image for Illustration friday, mainly because it still makes me giggle.

We have a little persian rug in our hallway, and our mad grey and white cat, Kalimah, just loves being pulled around the room on it. I like to imagine that this is how she sees herself when we play this game.

This image is available on a whide range of products in my Zazzle store, Lee Lee and the Bee.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL RANGE.

New wallpapers now available at my spoonflower shop!

2012-09-25T06:17:00.000-07:00

Exciting news!

Spoonflower is now offering wallpapers and decals! So, now there are even more fun ways to use my designs to decorate your life.

So far, I've only made a few choice designs into wallpapers, but will of course be working on more in the future.

Check out what I have available so far here:

http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/leeleeandthebee?sort=freshtastic&substrate=wallpaper

New wedding range: Rockabilly Wedding

2012-08-12T05:36:00.002-07:00

I made this design for the wedding of a wonderful friend of mine, in fact, it's her wedding dress that features on the cute bride depicted here. I had great fun making it, and was really pleased with the outcome. The simplicity and cuteness of it really makes me want to try my hand at more in the same vein.

This range is completely customizable, right down to each individual element. Don't like the stars? Remove them! want the background colour to suit your wedding theme? Change it! It's as simple as clicking 'CUSTOMIZE IT' on the Zazzle product page!

Make it unique, make it yours!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
*You may share the work, but you must attribute this work to me and link to the product/post, and/or to my blog Lee Lee and the Bee
*You MAY NOT use this work for ANY commercial purposes excluding earning affiliate commissions (where aplicable) through linking back to a product offered on selected websites with affliate programs.
*You MAY NOT alter, transform or build upon any part of this work, unless customizing a product prior to purchase on any of the websites where this design/work is offered for sale.
*To contact the artist regarding purchasing exclusive rights to this image/design, or for more information, please use the contact form at my blog Lee Lee and the Bee

Illustration Friday: Bounce

2012-08-05T05:58:00.000-07:00

I must admit, when I saw the title of this week's Illustration Friday theme, 'Bounce', I giggled with glee, because it meant I could use one of my favourite silly zombie images. I made this one back in 2010, and it still makes me smile every time I looks at it. BOUNCING ZOMBIES!!!!

This design can be purchased on a wide range of products from the following stores. Click one of the banners below to be taken directly to the relevant section of the stores:

Illustration Friday: "Space"

2012-06-22T12:25:00.002-07:00

I had quite a bit of fun doing this.

Mainly because I'm a space nerd and always have been. But also because after being asked to recolour one of my older Kokeshi designs the other day for a friend, Kokeshi Dolls were back on my mind, so this gave me a chance to space one up.

Hopefully someday, I'll find the time to get this cute little one up for sale about the place as well, for now though, she'll just be here gazing at the majesty of the universe.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
*You may share the work, but you must attribute this work to me and link to the product/post, and/or to my blog Lee Lee and the Bee
*You MAY NOT use this work for ANY commercial purposes excluding earning affiliate commissions (where aplicable) through linking back to a product offered on selected websites with affliate programs.
*You MAY NOT alter, transform or build upon any part of this work, unless customizing a product prior to purchase on any of the websites where this design/work is offered for sale.
*To contact the artist regarding purchasing exclusive rights to this image/design, or for more information, please use the contact form at my blog Lee Lee and the Bee

Illustration Friday: "Secret"

2012-06-17T06:22:00.000-07:00

If you are like me, and you've chosen a vegetarian lifestyle, people often ask you 'Why'?

Often, this question is shot with a note of derision in their voice and a smug smirk on their face even as you calmly explain your reasons for not wanting to stick the rotting flesh of another living creature into your gaping maw. After hearing about this decision, which for me often includes the point that I do not wish to cause harm to animals, these people will often trot out the 'genius' argument "But what about vegetables?? What if they have feelings?"

I tend to get sick of this idiocy, so I like to fire back with some idiocy of my own. Usually along the lines of explaining to them that there is a massive conspiracy amongst the vegetables of the world to take over and enslave the human race, "Especially the potatoes." I say "Potatoes are bastards!"

This week's Illustration Friday topic 'Secret', therefore prompted me to go back an visit an old illustration idea I had that revels this vegetable conspiracy. So I give you "Plotting Potatoes".

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
*You may share the work, but you must attribute this work to me and link to the product/post, and/or to my blog Lee Lee and the Bee
*You MAY NOT use this work for ANY commercial purposes excluding earning affiliate commissions (where aplicable) through linking back to a product offered on selected websites with affliate programs.
*You MAY NOT alter, transform or build upon any part of this work, unless customizing a product prior to purchase on any of the websites where this design/work is offered for sale.
*To contact the artist regarding purchasing exclusive rights to this image/design, or for more information, please use the contact form at my blog Lee Lee and the Bee

IF: "Shiny"

2012-06-11T08:02:00.000-07:00

For the Illustration Friday theme: "Shiny"....

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
*You may share the work, but you must attribute this work to me and link to the product/post, and/or to my blog Lee Lee and the Bee
*You MAY NOT use this work for ANY commercial purposes excluding earning affiliate commissions (where aplicable) through linking back to a product offered on selected websites with affliate programs.
*You MAY NOT alter, transform or build upon any part of this work, unless customizing a product prior to purchase on any of the websites where this design/work is offered for sale.
*To contact the artist regarding purchasing exclusive rights to this image/design, or for more information, please use the contact form at my blog Lee Lee and the Bee

Vote now in the Spoonflower "Family Crest" competition!

2012-05-31T11:45:00.000-07:00

VOTE HERE > http://su.pr/2aoZi6 < VOTE HERE

Fodio. Delineo. Ludo. Amo. Our new Family Crest.

2012-05-27T06:43:00.000-07:00

The upcoming spoonflower competition asked designers to create a family crest. I had so much fun doing this it's hard to describe. My husband had a fair bit of input too, because in the end it's all about him too!

My husband is Danish, so to represent him, there is the Stag and the Viking helmet. I'm Australian and so I have the Koala and the flip-flops. We met on the internet so I have included two linked computers, and we both share a love of gaming and reading - represented by the gaming dice and books. In the centre, a shovel, to signify my husband's job as an Archaeologist, and a paint brush for my job as an Artist. Our motto, written out in Latin, has therefore become: "Dig. Draw. Play. Love." (At least that's what I think it says. I translated the verbs from our Latin/English dictionary, so fingers crossed it doesn't actually say something like "Poop. Bottoms. Daffodil. Merkin")

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
*You may share the work, but you must attribute this work to me and link to the product/post, and/or to my blog Lee Lee and the Bee
*You MAY NOT use this work for ANY commercial purposes excluding earning affiliate commissions (where aplicable) through linking back to a product offered on selected websites with affliate programs.
*You MAY NOT alter, transform or build upon any part of this work, unless customizing a product prior to purchase on any of the websites where this design/work is offered for sale.
*To contact the artist regarding purchasing exclusive rights to this image/design, or for more information, please use the contact form at my blog Lee Lee and the Bee

Illustration Friday: Sight

2012-05-20T06:25:00.000-07:00

This illustration can be found on a wide range of products in my 'Lee Lee and the Bee' Zazzle store.

Click here to see it at Zazzle.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
*You may share the work, but you must attribute this work to me and link to the product/post, and/or to my blog Lee Lee and the Bee
*You MAY NOT use this work for ANY commercial purposes excluding earning affiliate commissions (where aplicable) through linking back to a product offered on selected websites with affliate programs.
*You MAY NOT alter, transform or build upon any part of this work, unless customizing a product prior to purchase on any of the websites where this design/work is offered for sale.
*To contact the artist regarding purchasing exclusive rights to this image/design, or for more information, please use the contact form at my blog Lee Lee and the Bee

"What's The New Owl" Fabric Design Comp - Voting Now Open!

2012-04-27T07:05:00.000-07:00

As some may remember from my previous post, I've got a design in the latest Spoonflower design competition. The competition, entitled "What's The New Owl?", is now open for voting!

You can click the image below to be taken to the voting page, or use the link underneath the image.

VOTE HERE > http://su.pr/2Qf4de < VOTE HERE

Remember, you can vote for as many designs as you like!

Currently working on: Party Tarsiers.

2012-04-25T03:07:00.000-07:00

So the recent Spoonflower design competition called for people to think about what the new 'owl' would be in the crafting world. Cause anyone who crafts and visits craft sites and blogs, knows that owls are hip. Hip like rich kids pretending to be poor and liking music you've never heard of. Hip like dressing like your dad used to dress in the 80's and making sure everyone knows you're doing it 'ironically'. That's how damn hip owls are. Spoonflower just wanted to take these hipsters down a peg I guess.

I had a bit of a think about what cute animal I'd like to see rendered in crochet, knit, crepe paper, macaroni, macrame, collage and gauche paints, and for some reason I went straight to Tarsiers. Because to me, Tarsiers are way too cute for their own good. Cute and creepy. An excellent combination in my opinion. I mean just look at this guy and try not to giggle/get creeped out:

Shush. He's awesome and you know it.

Now I know that what I find cute is generally standing a long way away from what everyone else finds cute. I kept trying to tell myself that the Tarsier idea should go on the back-burner and I should choose another animal.

But the Tarsiers must be obeyed! I simply couldn't resist the urge. So to try and make them appealing to others, I made them have a party and do cutesy party things. I'm sure given the chance, Tarsiers would party like, well, animals.

So I created 5 little guys to work into a pattern, and to have as a stand-alone design for other bits and bobs. I think they turned out kind of fun. I'm working on getting the design on a bunch of products about the place, and of course will update everyone as to when voting starts on the Spoonflower design competition. For now though, here is a little sample:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
*You may share the work, but you must attribute this work to me and link to the product/post, and/or to my blog Lee Lee and the Bee
*You MAY NOT use this work for ANY commercial purposes excluding earning affiliate commissions (where aplicable) through linking back to a product offered on selected websites with affliate programs.
*You MAY NOT alter, transform or build upon any part of this work, unless customizing a product prior to purchase on any of the websites where this design/work is offered for sale.
*To contact the artist regarding purchasing exclusive rights to this image/design, or for more information, please use the contact form at my blog Lee Lee and the Bee

Recent sales at Lee Lee and the Bee

2012-04-23T06:35:00.000-07:00

"Boat" business card template (pack of 100) http://ow.ly/as8ee

"The Fisherman's Feast" postcard http://ow.ly/aqFHB

"Sunshine, Lollipop and Rainbow" shirt http://ow.ly/9W8SI

"The Zombie Panda Jump-rope Team" shirt http://ow.ly/9Vbwd

"English Garden" customizable letterheads http://ow.ly/apxTO

"Cycling Aarhus" shirt http://ow.ly/9VbvM

Work in Progress: Intersecting Chevrons

2012-03-28T06:18:00.002-07:00

I've been experimenting with simplicity a bit in the last few days. Trying to come up with designs that are simple yet classy, especially for my dedicated wedding store "Bee-autiful Weddings". For someone like me who tends to love the fiddly-ness of finely blended work or multi-coloured explosions of weirdness, it's actually been quite a challenge to go 'simple'.

I have also been loving the trend of chevrons. Such an incomplex little pattern, it can really pack a punch visually. So I decided to mix this need for simplicity, with this newfound love of little zig-zag lines, and came up with a new design called 'Intersecting Chevrons'.

So far, I've just started placing it on some wedding items, but all of these can be customized to suit any occasion and hopefully, in the near future, it will also be available on a wider range of products across the board.

For now though, here is a little sample....

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
*You may share the work, but you must attribute this work to me and link to the product/post, and/or to my blog Lee Lee and the Bee
*You MAY NOT use this work for ANY commercial purposes excluding earning affiliate commissions (where aplicable) through linking back to a product offered on selected websites with affliate programs.
*You MAY NOT alter, transform or build upon any part of this work, unless customizing a product prior to purchase on any of the websites where this design/work is offered for sale.
*To contact the artist regarding purchasing exclusive rights to this image/design, or for more information, please use the contact form at my blog Lee Lee and the Bee

Sparks McGee - Badass of Geekdom.

2012-03-21T06:10:00.000-07:00

If you're a Star Trek enthusiast like me, or even if you are just a bit of a geek (again, like me) you may also be a fan of the wonderful Mr. Wil Wheaton. I love reading his blog, and twitter feed, and adore the way he encourages his followers to 'get excited and make things'.

Recently, one of his 'from the vault' blog posts concerned an awesome missive he received about his character on 'Star Trek: The Next Generation', Wesley Crusher. Basically, the author of this note laid out how Wesley could have been made more 'badass' by having a name change, adopting some cool new phases and personality traits, driving a muscle car and a wearing cowboy hat. And so was born Sparks McGee.

Mr. Wheaton has since proceeded to encourage his fans to make Sparks come to life via making stuff for the net and by dressing up for conventions. Unfortunately, being on the opposite side of the world from where most of these conventions are held, means that I cannot don a cowboy hat and an awesome Wesley Crusher-esque sweater and show my love of Sparks, so I have settled instead on using my trusty graphics tab to draw something silly.

So here is yet another free to copy/download/share image, sized especially to be used as a Facebook timeline cover image. Ladies and Gentlemen: Sparks McGee!

UPDATE: This seems to have been a bit popular, so I made a square version for people to use as avatars, profile images or just for reposting on blogs.

(To download these images simply right-click on them and choose 'save image as')

UPDATED UPDATE:So I started giggling the other day cause I saw the Sparks McGee catchphrase had evolved into 'Suck It, Picard" and just had to make a newer version of the image that featured this. I posted it over on Tumblr, and was quite over the moon this morning to discover that WIL WHEATON HIMSELF HAD REBLOGGED IT!!! **Commence Fan-girl flip-out**

Here is the most up-to-date version for your downloading pleasure:

(To download these images simply right-click on them and choose 'save image as')

Sharing the luck and love of the Irish!

2012-03-17T06:28:00.001-07:00

I'm going to start sharing some free images for all to use once in a while. I've been reading a lot lately about how copyright and the current trend by artists to limit the use and sharing of their work can really put a crimp on them building an audience and reaching out to people, so I figured I'm going to start being a bit more open with some of the things I create in the hope that people who like my stuff will share it with their friends and lead to more connections between my audience and my art.

Now, since today is St. Patrick's day, I thought I'd start with something to celebrate. It's a facebook profile cover image for you to use and share as you will. The image can be found on my facebook page and below so feel free to download it/copy it/share it as you see fit.

(To download this image simply right-click and choose 'save image as')

So, from now on, keep an eye out for free to use images here at the Lee Lee and the Bee blog, via my twitter, via my facebook page, and via my pinterest free images board.

Pin It

Building on designs: Pointed Intricate Arabesque

2012-03-12T08:27:00.002-07:00

So last week, I blogged about a pattern I created called 'Intricate Arabesque', which I added to some invitations and stationery at my dedicated wedding store "Bee-autiful Weddings". Later, I played around with the pattern a little more in photoshop and came up with a great 'edged' pattern version which I was smitten by instantly, and realised that there was no reason why this variation of it could not also make a great wedding range. And so, that has been my focus this week, getting this range up as well. I've called it (not very creatively) 'Pointed Intricate Arabesque' and as of writing this there is only about half of the full range available, but keep checking back if you love it, as I'll hopefully have the rest done by the end of this week.

For now though, here is a little sample....

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
*You may share the work, but you must attribute this work to me and link to the product/post, and/or to my blog Lee Lee and the Bee
*You MAY NOT use this work for ANY commercial purposes excluding earning affiliate commissions (where aplicable) through linking back to a product offered on selected websites with affliate programs.
*You MAY NOT alter, transform or build upon any part of this work, unless customizing a product prior to purchase on any of the websites where this design/work is offered for sale.
*To contact the artist regarding purchasing exclusive rights to this image/design, or for more information, please use the contact form at my blog Lee Lee and the Bee