Hi everyone! 💖

Thank you all so much for your patience during this time 🙏🏼 I know it’s been a little quiet on my end, and I want to keep being transparent here in these updates to keep you all in the loop.

If you didn't read my last update, my mom ended up being hospitalized after a small spider bite turned into a serious life-threatening infection. Not that long after writing the last update, my mom's infection began spreading all over her body and she had to be hospitalized for quite a while to go through multiple surgeries to stop and drain the infection completely. I spent the last several weeks driving back and forth between home and the hospital to be with her during this time.

When she was finally able to come home, we had to go through several follow-up appointments to confirm that everything was alright. It took so long going to multiple doctors because there was a potential cancer scare that thankfully turned out *not* to be cancer (they described it like a layer of fat cells that grew rapidly after the infection, and ended up forming a non-cancerous lump that kept showing up in the MRI). It’s been a long and emotionally draining time dealing with all this, but my mom is finally fully recovered and is doing so much better now 🥹🙏🏼

I'm so sorry for the delay getting back here to give an update, my mom going into the hospital was the last thing I was expecting to happen as I was wrapping things up. I wanted to let you all know I didn't forget about the campaign at all, and I’ve actually been working really hard behind the scenes to keep things moving along 🚂 

Luckily I finished the majority of the pin art in between visiting my mom. The only pins left for me to finish are the Scarlet-Bodied Wasp Moth, the Pink Orchid Mantis, and the Madagascan Sunset Moth 💖✨

I've had the rest of these pin designs done for a while, but I never had the chance to sit down and form an update revealing them. Finally here they are, I hope you love them!!

I have the surveys halfway done and I just need to finish these last 3 pin designs to release the full survey <3 

In between my mom's recovery and finishing the stretch goal artwork above, I also had to wrap up details for a project I signed up for earlier this year: Pintober!

Introducing my Pintober project launching tomorrow: Muerte & Magic ||: La Eternidad! This project is a continuation of my Day of the Dead pin series, this time featuring Aztec deities as the main focus of this campaign!! ✨

Here's the full Day of the Dead collection so far! And more Aztec deities will be revealed/voted on by our community~

There's 50 Limited Slots available at launch, and I'm giving away the most freebie pins here than any other campaign I've done in the past!

Allison and I are also teaming up again to do another Artist cross-collab! ☠️ Here's the 4 pins we'll be giving away for backing both our campaigns together, along with a 3rd Pintober campaign~

Thank you so much to each and every one of you for standing by me through this pin making journey. Your patience and incredibly kind words in the comments is really what keeps me going when I'm down and life seems difficult. It means so much more than I can ever express 🥺 Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for just being here and supporting my art/dream to become a big enamel pin artist 🥺🙏🏼

I can’t wait to show you all the finished insect stretch goal pins soon!! I'll release another update when art and surveys have been finalized~ 

💖 Jess~!