Hey folks! If you’re here in the northeastern part of the US, you’re probably like me and waiting for things to thaw out. Problem is, we keep getting dumped on with more snow! This week the temperatures are warming up a teeny tiny bit – just enough for mapling season to start – but not enough to melt the three feet of snow on the ground.
Ever wondered how maple syrup is made? It’s pretty neat and it’s easy to do if you have a maple tree in your own backyard!
Don’t forget – Valentine’s day is just a couple of days away. Send your Valentine some of these cool things… I’m sure they’ll appreciate it. Hope you enjoy!
Last call for Pins!
Pintopia 2026 has been in full swing with over 200 projects this year. Today, February 12th, is the last day you can back any of these projects and claim some really cool artsy pins. Here’s a few of my favorite projects:
- Tiny Robots, a filler pin set of itty bitty robots that fit between bigger pins
- Magical Gamer Pin Set, a colorful enamel pin set celebrating gamers
- Stained Glass Tarot, amazing transparent fill enamel pins that look like stained glass tarot cards
Tic Tac Whack – a board game – just launched!
Client Tic Tac Whack has a really neat mobster-themed board game funding now on Kickstarter. I’m so proud of them, reaching their funding goal in just 24 hours! This indie developed game is a fun party game for 3-8 players and includes play styles of games left right center, tic tac toe, and bingo. I got to try it while taking photos, and it’s pretty fun and simple to learn! Back it now to get an early access copy, which includes some great stretch goals like a mob boss story, lucky dice, and more.
Discord Alternatives
This week Discord announced that it would start age verifying everyone that uses their services on March 1st, 2026. This has had a significant backlash, and many users are trying to leave the service now. Here’s a few alternatives if this impacts you:
Animate right in your browser
CELSTOMP makes it easy to do frame animation right in your browser. I didn’t make anything particularly good (just squiggles) but it’s still really neat, sleek, and easy to make some quick animations. You can even export as an MP4 to share with others!
Draw a horse, let it run!
Gradient Horse lets you draw a horse and let it run free with the pack! All you have to draw is a body, front legs, and back legs, and then let it go wild!
Learn about accessibility in this free course
Web.dev is providing this free course in perpetuity about accessibility! It’ll teach you all kinds of things, including what you can do to help make your internet presence more accessible to others. I know a decent amount about accessibility, but I have it pinned to take it for myself as a refresher.
Birds & their Feathers
Have you heard of Featherbase? It’s a really neat directory of birds and all of their feathers. For example, if I want to see all of a barn owl’s feathers, I can search for Tyto alba and see them all laid out. How cool is that? Such a great resource for drawing and writing.