Morning kind of sneaks past, doesn't it?

Last strip of 2013! Thanks for sticking with us over this crazy year as I tried desperately to keep up with family, shows, work, deadlines, more work, and comics. I succeeded in varying degrees, but mostly it was pretty much a train wreck, as I forgot things, over extended myself, and ultimately spent the last month kind of sick and hoping for it all to end, so I could start over in the new year. ha-ha-ha-ha!

We had a great break with Mrs Handmade on winter break from teaching the Saint Louis Kindergarteners all the things, visiting family and cleaning out the studio. We also had a couple of simply beautiful warm days here in Saint Louis this past weekend, so we got some yard work done and took a trip to the City Museum.

2014 is shaping up to be an exciting year for us, and I'm really looking forward to it. One of the biggest changes is the new website which is mostly complete now. Check it out over at www.LifeWithGirls.com. In addition to the comic, we have an online store, the blog, lots of great artwork and we're working on some really cool extras like downloadable goodies, tutorials and demo videos.

You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter for show announcements, coupons, and specials in the sidebar of the website or under the Email signup tab on our Facebook fan page.

One Two Three...Not It!

Babies seem to have a sixth sense that tells them whey you're taking a breather. Remember the days when you could just sit on the couch for hours at a time? Ha-ha-ha! After a while though, the whole family gets into a sort of rhythm that's pretty much only disturbed on special occasions...Like when the kitchen is torn apart and rebuilt.

Just two more strips until the end of this first story arc. Talk about timing, right? If all goes as planned, we'll be starting off the new year with the second episode of Life With Girls, season one. Pretty exciting stuff!

Saying Goodbye to Grammie

It's always amazing how fast a weekend goes by, especially when you're busy. No matter how much you get done, it's never as much as you'd wanted or meant to. Weekends where family is visiting and helping with projects are even more so, as we try to cram as much into the visit as we can.

Christmas is next week, and we're looking forward to a bit of a break. I'm not sure yet if I'll be posting any strips, because the schedule is pretty full and wacky, but I'll definitely get something up for you. In the mean time, shipping is still free in the online store, and we're updating with new items most days. Thanks for looking!

The Hole in the Wall

This seems to be the fate of every DIY home project. Start on something you think will be fairly straightforward, and discover that whoever was there before you left a complicated present. This is the beginning of an ongoing storyline that just goes on forever it seems.

There's definitely an element of teaching yourself stuff in the DIY community though. It's like we never left school, and that's one of the things that I love about my job. It always feels like I'm learning something new. Speaking of learning new things, have you seen the Webcomics Handbook by Brad Guigar yet? It's really fantastic, and covers a lot of ground that's useful to comicers, crafters, and small business people. And it's great to see that we're not alone out here working for ourselves. There are so many other people sorking and striving to be better at what they do. It seems like there's always something to do, and lately for me that something has been working on my lettering. Slowly but surely, it's getting better.

Don't forget that through Christmas, you can get FREE SHIPPING from my online shop. That's almost as good as seeing me at a show, or stopping into Fusion in Chesterfield Mall.

Guest Comic By James Hornesby

Today, I'm taking a little break and doing a guest post by my friend James Hornesby from Botched Spot, the pro-wrestling webcomic! He was my table mate at Wizard World Saint Louis, and is also a regular artist for Hex Games. This is his comic of me at conventions hassling passers by.

Most of my comic time this week was taken up working on the new website and client work. I've been scrabbling to get the shop up and running before the new year so that I can close my etsy shop as their new policies take effect. We talked it over, and feel like they just represent too much of a shift from the local, sustainable, handmade model that we value. If we're going to be forced to compete with factories anyway, than we want to do it from our own site, and not pay etsy for the privilege of the fight. So where does that put us? The shop is about a third complete, and I have some things to tweak on the back end. All of our urls now point there, so if you want to see some really great handmade gifts, games, accessories and illustrations check us out at www.LifeWithGirls.com or www.HandmadeFamily.com

How To Remove a Tile Back Splash

Sometimes, jobs are easier than you expected them to be. Sometimes they are harder. Sometimes they are just...different. One of the joys and curses of buying a home is discovering what was done to it before you got there, and every job that you do often creates two more.

I stumbled across this trailer today, from the folks who made Coraline, and Paranorman. There's another one of behind the scenes footage on their site. I LOVE seeing miniatures and models behind the scenes, and it always makes me itchy to make little figures and models of my own. Speaking of little figures, I made a whole bunch of Peg People for the shop a couple of weeks ago, including this one that I think looks a lot like Luke Wilson.

He'll be at Fusion this weekend, and if you sign up for my mailing list either on the Life With Girls website, or on the Life With Girls facebook page, you can get a coupon for ten percent off Handmade Family products which is good through December.

Kids Can Be Terrible Helpers

It's a lot of work, training willing helpers. We always let them help when we're cooking or doing projects, but kind of hate it when they do.

If you're looking for a cool gift for the holidays (or birthday, or whatever)we have super hero capes, baby blankets, games, and original art, as well as the Life With Girls Fairy Tale book and Calendar in stock in our online store at HandmadeFamily.com. Not only that, but we have a special going on right now through Christmas. Free shipping on your entire order with offer code SAINTNICK.

We're also giving away a calendar on both the Life With Girls and the Handmade Family facebook pages. Check it out if you like free stuff!