Love VS Crohn's.

I met Lauri, a poetess, and her husband Mark, on the Innerwebs four years ago. Those two are crazy about each other. Always holding hands, always kissing, always smiling and laughing. They're freaking adorable with the love!

You'd never know it by looking at photos, but Mark has Crohn's disease. Every day is a battle for him right now. Lauri loves him so much, and money is tight, so I'm drawing this as a gift for her to give to him this Christmas. She also wants it to be a way to reach others who are living with Crohn's, to empower them and to raise awareness.

Mark has had Crohn's about 10 years. He underwent surgery to have part of his intestines removed about 5 years ago. He's currently on cimzia immune suppression treatment and chemo methotrexate treatment. That's the long story.

And here's the short story:

"We want people to know what it's like," says Lauri. "He is in some level of pain 24-7. But things like working in cars and playing with grandkids give him great joy. And we are huge in believing in God to help us get through. It's one of those invisible illnesses ya know."

Did you know that over half a million people suffer with this in North America? Chances are you know someone with it.

Mark and Lauri are fighting Crohn's with all the love they have for each other. Their smiles, hugs and kisses make everything a little more bearable. It's a positive message.

Ladybugs know all about hugs in a teacup.

Love VS Crohn's? Love wins.

Merry Christmas to you!

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PickleWeasel EGG Hunt - WINNER.

Sooooooo....time to announce the PickleWeasel EGG Hunt winner. There were 13 entrants who tweeted the magical words,

"The #PickleWeasel app is simply marvelous for comics & drawing. But don't take my word for it - try it yourself. http://itun.es/i6JL3nG"

and took a stab at guessing where the Easter Egg was hidden. I'm shocked at how many of you guessed it was under the Bunny's bum. YOUR MINDS ARE IN THE GUTTER PEOPLE. No, really folks, it was hidden under his tail.

The winner of the contest has been selected by random number generator, number "1" - the first person to tweet the magical words.

And that person is Pickleope. Congratulations Pickleope! Go now to my Zazzle shop and choose something (mug or t-shirt).

I like Pickleope. Not just cuz he shares some freaky DNA with PickleWeasel, but he's also a very funny blogger. I like him cuz he's not afraid to poke at stuff. Like human foibles. Squirm.

Surprize! I decided to throw this drawing in on a whim.

See? You never know when I might do that. I'll bet you're regretting not entering the contest now eh?

Fear not. There will be more contests, with prizes and drawings, and possibly even an iPad mini in the not too distant future.

All because I love you.

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I draw YOU - Amiyrah Martin.

I met Four Hats And Frugal vlogger/blogger in person at Aiming Low's Non-Con12. She smiles easily and is smart and funny and really good with the whole having-a-fabulous-time-while-not-spending-money-thing. But it was her Halloween costume that made me fall in love with Amiyrah Martin.

She was the X-MISS - a super heroine who lost her family in a tragic tree-lighting accident, so she turned rogue and started to fight crime...but only during the Holiday Season. She had props and everything. She lifted up a bunch of bangles and shook them in my face, singing ominously, "Fiiiive goooolden riiiiiiings...!" I couldn't remember what the five golden rings were for, on account of being kinda tipsylaughing so hard. I had to ask her to remind me this afternoon on Facebook:

Me: "Hey. What were those five golden rings for?"

Amiyrah: "They were the rings of death, so mostly for dismemberment."

Me: "Jeeeeezus woman. Lol. I pity your enemies."

Amiyrah: "I have a lot of pent up anger and I project it all into my characters."

Scary. But clever. Oh, so clever.

Clearly there's more than meets the eye with this one. When I asked Amiyrah what her four hats were, she said this:

I'm like...dude, how do I draw that? I need hats that rep.

Being a frugalista with fashion sense, she wasted no time in giving me a list of her favorite four hats: "top hats, berets, baseball hats and those big floppy hats you wear to the beach".

I assigned them as follows:

But today is her birthday, so she needs a fifth hat:

Her mom made her this cake. (I mean the actual cake; I drew the cartoon version). It makes for excellent headgear.

You can totally cut these out and stick them on Amiyrah's head and they will fit. I am nice.

Happy Birthday Amiyrah!

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