PRETTINESS COMING!

You know those signs you see
when construction is going on:
"Pardon Our Dust?"

Well, that's sort of what I dropped by to say.
But it's more like "Pardon My Absence"
while my concentration has been needed
in order to get a new site and shop up and running.
Things have been pretty quiet around here ...
but I certainly haven't been laying around!

Thanks for your patience everyone ...
I'm stopping by today just to say that
while the construction is going on for the new website,
shop and wordpress blog,
things around here will be a little sporadic
but I'll stop by every week or so to keep you posted
on how it's going.

It takes a lot to add something like creating a
new site and shop
to my normal heavy illustration schedule,
but I'm working hard to get some pretty
things created!

You may have seen this on Instagram:
The design of the illustration for the first journal cover
has begun and this was the beginning ...
more girls have been added and it's almost ready to paint!

Thanks for hanging in there!
I'm excited to launch!

xox

Till later,

SANDY M

OOH LA FROU FROU

is the blog of illustrator

SANDY M

For custom illustration inquiries
contact SANDY here:
artistsandym@gmail.com

Golden

Don't you just love this golden season?
It's so magical with all of its lights, music and wonder.
I like to turn the lights down in the house after dark
and marvel at the beauty of the trees glowing
and casting sparkles and shadows all around.
And the golden memories we have
of the holidays from years past and time
that was spent with cherished friends and family
seem to linger and sparkle in our minds forever.

I hope that you're having some very sparkly moments
this holiday season.
I decorated the house early this year
before leaving for out of town for Thanksgiving
and it's really made for
a more relaxed Christmas season.
I may adopt that practice forever!

Speaking of golden,
my fabulous clients are
are golden in my mind and the list
of these "golden ones" is growing all of the time!
They bring me a constant stream of
fun projects and give me the opportunity
to design and create for them ...
what could be more golden than that?

One of the members in this chic group of "goldens"
is Jennifer of Bella Clinique
and I'll share with you
the new illustration that was
recently created for their Christmas card in a moment.

You may remember the first illustration (below)
that was commissioned by Bella Clinique.


It was the first illustration that the logo girl
I designed for them appeared in
(she's named "Bella" and is fashioned after the owner).
I recently posted
where that illustration is now being used ...
as a mural in the spa ...

In the first illustration, above, Bella is carrying
her favorite LV handbag (just like the owner's),
and she is walking in front of the spa window
that's filled with spa goodies.  It's not a coincidence
that the dog on the leash is
the image of the owner's cherished pet!

For the Christmas illustration, below,
Bella is doing a little holiday decorating inside the spa
in front of the spa's cozy fireplace while snowflakes
gently fall outside the window ...
I can almost here soft holiday music

playing in the background ...

To see the holiday illustration on their website
during the holiday season, go here.

Have a simply golden remainder of the week, everyone!
Until later ...

OOH LA FROU FROU

is the blog of illustrator
SANDY M

If you have a custom illustration
inquiry, contact Sandy here.

The photos in this post
were sourced from:
Butter London via
Gold Confetti Dress via

Valentino Rock Studs via
Sparkly Trees in Street Scene via
Sparkly Reindeer via
Sparkly Gold Tree Decorations via
Group of Hanging Gold Ornaments via

Gold Confetti Garland via
Gold Flatware via
Champagne Flutes via

The above custom illustrations
created for Bella Clinique
are by SANDY M
(c) SANDY M 2013 - All Rights Reserved.

Merry Merry!

Just stopping by
to say
Merry Merry
and wish everyone a
fabulous weekend!

It's definitely feeling a lot like Christmas!
I actually love the hustle and bustle of the season and
I'll be out and about this weekend,
whittling down my Christmas shopping list.

Thinking of holiday crowds reminds
me this commissioned illustration,
which was one of three holiday card illustrations
I created a few years ago for a beautiful, luxury hotel,
The Royal Park ...

Enjoy the season, everyone!
Till next time ...

OOH LA FROU FROU
is the blog of illusrator
SANDY M

For custom illustration,
contact Sandy here.

Artwork above (c) SANDY M ~ All rights reserved.

Someone's Coming to Town ...

I hear that
"YOU-KNOW-WHO"
is coming to town soon ...

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Have you found yourself
getting into the spirit?

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I've started making my Christmas list, have you?
I usually don't have an idea of what
I'll add to my list when I sit down to write,
but before I know it, I start to worry that the list has gotten too long!
I'd really love to know what's on your wish list!

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter,
you've probably seen glimpses of the holiday decor mischief
that's been happening at my house already ...


Now I feel I'm ready to begin shopping ... sort of lol!

I wanted to share with you
exciting news of where one of my illustrations is appearing now ..
Macy's!
The Christmas illustration I created some time ago for
the Michel Germain sexual fragrance line
is now featured on their collector's edition
 holiday gift box containing three mini-bottles
of their best-selling fragrances ... and it's
FREE with a $70 fragrance purchase.
Take a peek at it HERE on the Macy's site!

On another note,
some time ago an illustration was commissioned
by Aliana Events
for an upcoming surprise party ...
I was shown a photo of the guest of honor ...
and here she is illustrated ...



Aliana of Aliana Events
was kind enough to share with us
a few photos from the event
and one of the ways the illustration was featured ...
quite a glamorous affair!


Image courtesy of (c) Aliana Events


Image courtesy of (c) Aliana Events

Thank you, Aliana!
You can find Aliana on Instagram as @alianaevents

Lots of custom illustrations are in the works
and some very fun project ideas are up my sleeve for next year ...
more on all of that later!

Thanks for dropping by, everyone!
Happy Holidays!


OOH LA FROU FROU
is the blog of illustrator
SANDY M

For custom illustration inquiries
contact SANDY here

Romancing Tiffany Magic

Hi everyone!
Let's talk Tiffany for a moment
(because don't we always love to?) ...

With the magic of the season beginning all around us,
I always look forward to one of my favorite things
with such anticipation ...
the beginning of the unveiling of this year's NYC holiday windows.

I love the the glamour they add to the holidays!
I've been listening to all of the buzz
as each store prepares to show the world
the fabulous windows they've been working on all year
and watching for photos as soon as they're released.
Magical excitement!

Tiffany and Company has been unveiling the new holiday windows
of their Fifth Avenue flagship store in the last couple of days on Instagram
and this year's windows are my kind of magic!
When I saw the Instagram photos they posted,
it  reminded me of how much I love the Christmas video
that Tiffany and Company puts together for their site each year,
so I took a peek at this year's film, entitled
"The Perfect Holiday Comes Wrapped in Blue" ...
have you seen it?
If not, or if you'd like the joy of watching it again,
 go here to get into the spirit even more!

The pug puppy in the video
reminds me a little of the pug in this holiday illustration
I once created because they are both playing
with the holiday ribbon ... so fun!


You probably also know that one of my favorite things
is the golden light in windows of stores and homes
 during the evening.
It makes sense, then, that this magical light
appears in many of my illustrations.
It also should be no surprise, then, that I love
 that the theme of Tiffany's holiday windows
feature holiday scenes in the golden windows
of Upper East Side Townhouses.

You may remember that last Christmas season, I posted a photo
of miniature glittery townhouses dressed for the holidays
and sparkly taxis that I created for my living room tree ...

My personal townhouse illustrations made into ornaments.  Photo by SANDY M

The following romantic renderings of Tiffany and Company's holiday windows
(courtesy of  Tiffany and Company)
are almost as magical as the windows themselves, don't you think?

Tiffany window rendering images via

And following are the two photos of the windows recently unveiled
via Tiffany and Company on Instagram ...
I'm sure that very soon we'll begin to see more and more
photos of the windows on line,
but as of yet, they aren't quite out there ...
but aren't these magical?

I hope you've begun finding your own magic already this holiday season.

What's on my studio desk?  Well, I just completed an illustration for
a client (Bella Clinique) for their company Christmas card ...
(I'll show you after it's released by the client) and am now
assembling thoughts for another client illustration.

I've also just begun dressing my home
in glitter and twinkle lights so that holiday magic is felt

 the moment someone steps onto my front walk.
I'd love to hear what you've been up to!

OOH LA FROU FROU

is the blog of illustrator
SANDY M

For custom illustration inquiries
contact Sandy here.

Let's Catch Up

Happy Wednesday!
Let's catch up with each other!

Can you believe it's already mid-November?
I hope you are having a wonderful week ...
I feel as if I just stepped off a plane ...
actually, I did ... I arrived back home Monday evening
from a beautiful family wedding weekend in Arizona.
If you follow me on Instagram and/or Twitter, 

you may have seen some of my snapshots of the weekend ...
if not, here are just a few ...

This dramatic sunset happened as I sat having pre-dinner appetizers 

with a group of family and friends by the resort pool Sunday evening ...

This was my view as I looked up from my lounge chair by the pool
on one of the days ... blue skies and palm trees ...

And, of course, a shot of the resort pool ...
I just love relaxing by a pool, don't you?
Lately, anytime I'm by a pool, I take photos of the water
because I'm planning on creating a large canvas for the house
of pool water with all of it's light reflections and sparkle ...

It was 85 degrees (F) everyday while I was in Arizona
and when I stepped off the plane back home it was in the mid-30's.
That's a shocker!
And our first snow of the season was also there to greet me ...
talk about night and day!

Image via 

In The Studio
This week, I'm working on a custom Christmas illustration
for the beautiful skincare spa, Bella Clinique,
to use for their Christmas cards and holiday newsletter.
As that illustration isn't quite finished yet, I'll share more on that later.

So excited that they've recently had the previous
illustration that I created for the spa
made into a mural for their Montreal location and placed it
on the spa entrance wall (below)!

In the mural, you see the logo girl that I was asked to design for them
(her name is Bella and is based upon the looks of the spa's owner)
walking her dog in front of a spa window filled with spa goodies.
The window in the illustration is flanked with lanterns and pretty topiaries.
The spa's name is on the awning illustrated above the window.
For the illustration of Bella's dog,
I was given photos of the owner's beautiful dog
 to refer to when illustrating him ...
I love that his reflection can be seen in the adjacent mirror ...

On Another Note
Are you already in the holiday spirit?
I am!
I can't wait to decorate for Christmas this year
and am planning on finishing it all before I leave for
our family Thanksgiving weekend celebration out of town.

Of course, Pinterest does help in getting in the spirit, no?
Thought I'd share with you
some of my recent holiday (Thanksgiving and Christmas) pins ...
if you're not in the spirit yet, maybe these will help get you there!
 

For Thanksgiving,
do you love these Pumpkin Pie Slice Cookies as much as I do?

And this Caramel Apple Cake stands so tall and pretty ...

A Thanksgiving placecard idea ...

Click here to go to this yum-looking
Coconut Pumpkin Chiffon Pie and there's also
nine delicious Pumpkin Pie recipes in the link from Southern Living!

A little Christmas inspiration ...

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It's coming soon ... are you feeling it?
Till next week, everyone ...
so glad you could stop by!

OOH LA FROU FROU

is the blog of illustrator

SANDY M

For illustration inquiries,
contact Sandy here

Personal photos of
Arizona sunset sky, palm trees and pool
taken by SANDY M

Thanksgiving and Christmas photos
via Pinterest and individual links are above.