Spoiled Alert: Crabby gets a whole week off!

Hello friends!

It's been a very busy, challenging, and fulfilling year and as such I haven't had a whole lot of time to kick back and enjoy ordinary life. So I decided to give myself a birthday gift this year: a whole week off from burning both ends of the candle. While I couldn't avoid working 2 days at my day job (I did get 1 extra day off!) and one small ad to design for a client, it was the first time in a long while that I spent a week doing pretty much just what I wanted to do without any hardships or craziness surrounding that time. I wanted to share with you how it went!

First of all, my birthday was last Sunday and it was incredible. While it was low-key here in Regina and I spent time with my parents and brother, on Twitter I was getting all kinds of excitement from so many kind wishes and beautiful art from friends! I snagged these off twitter so pardon the quality:

Above: By Schotti, who despite being very busy took the time to make this beautiful belated gift art of myself and Crabby in the Santria art style! This was such a nice surprise, and I am such a fan of that game so it's a big honor! Y;~;Y <3

Above: By Joshua Stevenson, who was inspired when I went to see "The Meg" xD AAAAH! Y;v;Y

Above: By Folkloria! It was such a nice surprise to see Crabby in the style used in the Folkloria game!

Above: By Felisha, who shares the same birthdate as me! Happy Birthday Felisha! This is so adorable!

Above: By Ollie Jamie, in classic Ollie Jamie style, so cute!

Above: By Sabaku, who beat others into submission to ensure they would obey world Crabby day, so thanks for this beautiful piece and for all that soon followed, Sabs! >)

Above: By Priden, who not only drew Crabby, but human me as well! Don't get a lot of those, and it turned out great!

Above: By Trey Poling, who is having issues with his main account, but still took time to make this adorable present for me!

Above: By Maicakes, who is so sweet and talented. I mean, look at how cute this is!!

Above: By Wuggy, who let Crabby be an honorary member of his amazing "Draw Your Friends' OCs in Your Style" meme entry! So cool!!!

Above: By AMENDUHH, bringing her mad animated pixel skillz to the birthday table! She even included some of the Cabana Club friends! <3

Above: By Raou, who somehow made Crabby cuter than I thought possible!

Above: By Kelly "KING" Robo, and now Crabby has TWO mugs!! :D I love seeing Crabby in such a unique Kelly style!

Above: By Julian, a beautiful landscape for Crabby to take in.

Above: By Scrump, who perfectly captured one of my favorite things to do. This really makes me feel at home. <3

Above: By Qannon, who never fails to make me smile with her adorable pixels! Her OC Nami and Crabby have become fast friends! I mean, look at the level of detail in this sand castle! Only good friends can make something like that (even if Crabby only "helped" make the pile of sand in front of him. He's so proud! xD)

That was just day ONE. I also managed to check off a few items from my bucket list for birthday week:

• Set up my newly replaced computer with new monitors and a webcam (thanks to very generous presents from family!) 
• Design business cards for myself
• Send Scary Moonchild her Art Raffle prize!!! :D
• Read a book (I didn't read very long, but so far so good!)
• Played game jam entries of a few friends, everyone did such good work!!
• Caught a stream where I learned how Furious Feedback songs get made. Very excited for the songs Daniel was working on!
• Went to one of my favourite coffee shops to draw (see below for the result)

Above: Some very tasty fresh rolls with peanut sauce, a pear custard bar, and some perfectly brewed dark roast. Also, some ideas for a somewhat experimental series I hope to do someday.

So overall, a very relaxed week where I did whatever I wanted. I have to admit that I spent ridiculous amounts of time binge-watching Bachelor in Paradise and trying out facial masks. I mean, I needed some girl time, what can I say? Treat yourself! ;)

Now that birthday week is over, I'll be hitting my commission work hard, making it top priority for the next while. For those of you waiting, thank you so much for your patience, and I will be in touch soon with some pixel art! <3

Thank all of you so much for helping make this year one of the most rewarding years I've had. Much much love to all of you, and I hope you've had a good week too!

Your fan,

Sam