Two College Moms

Tags

business card, freelance, graphic design, web design, wix, wix.com

Besides some exciting web UI design I’ve been doing at work (which I may post about later), I’ve been working on a project for an old employer and friend of mine.  She, along with another friend, started up a Facebook page for college students, called Two College Moms.

Their mission and purpose, stated in their own words:

Glorifying God by providing life skills coaching and spiritual encouragement to college students as they journey toward independent living.

It is a great resource, and something I think I could have used during college. Be sure to check out their Facebook page!

Their website, which hasn’t officially launched yet, is designed and hosted at Wix.com.  The site builder is surprisingly intuitive, although once you’ve ventured into the world of HTML, any third-party site builder seems fairly limiting!

Below are the business cards I designed for Two College Moms, as well as a PDF for tips on what to do if you lose your wallet. It’s been a fun project working with such a flexible theme – sticky notes, torn paper, and scribbled doodles are elements that just come naturally!

(In fair disclosure, I did not design the logo. That excellent work was done by Janise Cookston.)

Textile and wallpaper printing?

Tags

design, fabric, fabric printing, inspiration, printing company, project ideas, spoonflower, spoonflower.com, textile, textile printing, vector, vectortuts, wallpaper

This is a category of design and personalization I had never considered: wallpaper and fabrics!

Perusing Twitter this morning, I found a link to this Vectortuts tutorial on preparing a file for textile printing.  “But who really prints to fabric?” I wondered.  At the end of the tutorial, they had a link to Spoonflower.com, a fabric printing company open to the public with no minimum order.  They also do wallpaper!  My mind was blown.  New project ideas are coming fast and furious…

I’m back – with earrings!

Tags

bead, beading, beads, crafts, diy, earring, earrings, jewelry

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted or updated the website – let’s just say life has been busy!  Tonight I’m sharing with you some earrings I made on a whim.  Enjoy!

(I apologize for the photo quality – I took them with my phone, as my camera is currently MIA – probably in storage!  Woops.)

I started with some bits of memory wire that were originally made for a child’s bracelet.  It was just the right size of loop for a nice earring.

I planned out my design ahead and put the small beads on first, then the larger ones.  I know they’re not evenly distributed, but it’ll work out, I promise.

Then I slipped the other end of the wire back through the bigger beads

I trimmed the wire so that it fit just inside the larger beads. This way the wire passes twice through the larger beads, but doesn’t show, creating a complete and (mostly) secure loop.

Distribute the little beads evenly, add the ear wire, and there you have it!  No funky twisting or soldering at the top of the memory wire to close the loop.  This would work for many different variations…if you like it, be sure to Pin it!

‘Tis the Season….to make fondant!

Tags

baking, buttercream, cake, cake decorating, decorating, fall, fondant, food coloring, halloween, icing, leaves, marshmallows, orange, pinterest

I recently came across this recipe for homemade fondant on Pinterest.  I always assumed that fondant was something special and hallowed, something only the professionals were allowed to use.  When I saw you could make it at home, I began to wonder if it was within my grasp to decorate with fondant; to take my cakes from yummy and lovely to yummy and beautiful.

For our office’s Halloween party, I had already been planning on making this cake. But I decided to take it one step further: with brazen boldness I went to the store and bought the giant bag of marshmallows and two pound bag of powdered sugar required for the fondant recipe.

The fondant recipe is rather long and involved, so I glanced through it, and got started.  It had been a long and stressful day, and I didn’t start the whole cake process until late in the evening.  But I was determined to have fun, even if the fondant didn’t turn out how I hoped!  The fondant was simpler to make and handle than I imagined, but harder to knead and color than I would have thought.  I worked late into the night attempting to get a bright orange color, then realized that I was also supposed to make butter cream frosting in addition to the fondant!

To make a long story short, the whole cake turned out amazingly well.  The fondant was smooth and easy to handle, and (as you can see!) inspired some creativity.  At about midnight, I decided to start making leaves with the leftover fondant (using a hexagonal cookie cutter and some pinching); at 12:30, I realized that using a small brush, I could give the leaves a little bit of life with a quick stroke of food coloring; at 1 am, I decided to add some sparkle with orange sprinkles; and at 2 am, I cleaned up the kitchen, said goodnight to my cake, and went to bed.

The art of slipcovering chairs

Tags

anna chair, anna slipcover, chair, diy, reupholster, slipcover, staple gun, upholstery, world market

I have been put in charge of “sprucing up” the office where I work.  At first I was excited, but then I realized it’s not the same as decorating my own house – it’s not about nick-knacks, and making things pretty, and hunting for bargains at garage sales.  It’s about being professional, functional, and staying within a reasonable budget.  Also, there are far more opinions to take into consideration!

We needed some chairs for our entry/lobby area, and I found these slipcovers at World Market that I just loved, and felt like brought in a lot of color.  From the picture, it looks like it fits REALLY snugly on the chair, and looks really sharp.  Well, I found some of World Market’s chairs on Craigslist for super cheap, only to find that the fit was not exactly what I expected.  I don’t know if I had the wrong chairs, or the picture just didn’t represent reality, but I was less than pleased.

So I decided to take my staple gun and and “de-frump-ify” these chairs! (I ended up doing two chairs in white linen – shown above – and two in the bird design.)

Even though the slipcover was short, it still came a little long on the chair legs.  So I folded a bit of it up and stapled it down.Since the back was still loose, and there wasn’t really any way to staple it, I created my own elastic “cinchers.”  For the clips, I used some jewelry findings and then hot-glued the elastic to it.  It works fairly well!And the final product!  I was pretty pleased – it still isn’t perfect – but it will do.  I would be more okay with the imperfections if this were for my own home, and still feel a little embarrassed about it being in the office.  :  )  Luckily, the flower slipcovers fit better, and they are the ones we have in the lobby.  Hope this helps if you are having slipcover issues!

….and, it’s here!

Tags

15 inch, 15", adobe, adobe bridge, anti glare screen, bridge, iphoto, macbook, macbook pro, macbooks, scrolling, track pad, trackpad

My new Macbook Pro arrived today!  At work, I had the FedEx tracking page open and would occasionally hit “refresh” until I saw the little green “delivered!” arrow pop up.  I rushed home as soon as I could to de-box my lovely new toy.

I don’t have too much to say right now except that Time Machine backups make switching to a new computer very smooth, and the new screen is BIG and SHARP and BEAUTIFUL!  Going from a 13″ to a 15″ screen makes a bigger difference than I thought it would, and the anti-glare screen is great.

My new computer has given me motivation to be more organized about my file-keeping, so I’ve spent the better part of this evening transferring my photos from iPhoto to Bridge and adding keywords to make them easily searchable.

I’ve had the most difficulty with the clickable track pad, and the new “intuitive scrolling” that scrolls the page down when you push your fingers up (like on a touch-screen).

It’s going to be hard to go to work tomorrow and chug away on my PC Desktop.  : )

The Passing of a (white Macbook) Era

Tags

15 inch, 15", 2.3GHz, 8GB, anti glare screen, apple, apple store, computer, dvd, laptop, macbook, macbook pro, macbooks, RAM, retina, retina display, technology

A wonderful era in my life has passed – I will soon lay to rest my faithful white Macbook, which in a few months would have reached the age of 5.  It’s been an amazing computer – my only real issues with it have been external.  It still runs great, but the body is chipped and making it difficult to connect to the power cord.  That, to me, is the great claim to fame of Apple products.  They aren’t perfect, and they are expensive, but they are high quality and run a long time.

This machine went through college with me, and I discovered graphic design with it; it is the passing of an era.

Although it will be sad to see my old faithful computer go, it does mean something very, very exciting…..

A NEW MACBOOK PRO!

I went to the Apple store last night to compare screens.  I had not seen the new Retina display in person, and must say it is incredibly crisp.  However, it’s a large jump in price for me, and not necessary for my day-to-day existence.  Also, the Retina display Macbooks do not have DVD drive, which IS necessary for my day-to-day existence!

Just in case you’re interested, I’m getting the 15″ 2.3GHz model with an upgrade to 8GB of RAM.  I’ll also be getting the anti-glare screen.  I’ll let you know my thoughts when it arrives – hopefully in not too long!  I don’t know how long I can wait.  : )

Turkey Trot Austin – Logo Submission

Tags

austin, caritas, caritas of austin, coat of arms, emblem, laserfire, logo, matthew lindley, shield, thundercloud, thundercloud subs, turkey trot, turky trot austin

Each year, ThunderCloud Subs hosts a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day with the proceeds benefiting Caritas of Austin. I stumbled across their logo contest for this year’s race, and I decided to give it a try. Although I was pleased with my entry, I knew that it was not the same style that had won in years past. As predicted, I did not win (congrats to Matthew ‘Laserfire’ Lindley who did win!), but I am glad I entered and I enjoyed creating this logo.  Thoughts?

Venice, Florida

Tags

beach, canon, canon rebel, cybershot, florida, ocean, photography, photos, picture, pictures, rebel, sea, sony, sunshine state, venice

I haven’t taken any photos in a while; I think I am partly spoiled by getting to use a co-worker’s Canon Rebel at a company event. However, this past week, I took out my trusty Sony Cybershot and began snapping.

My husband and I took a short trip to Florida to visit family; I had never been to the sunshine state and enjoyed myself thoroughly.  The weather was perfect, the beaches lovely, and the water cool and blue.

I can’t say I’m in love with any of these shots, but I am constantly amazed by the longevity and quality of my 6-year-old point and shoot camera.  Enjoy!

Venice on Dwellable

Headboard Success!

Tags

bedroom, craft, diy, duvet, frame, head board, headboard

I’ve been wanting to make a headboard for a while now…our bed is currently up against a window, so you tend to fall backwards when trying to sit up and read in bed. Rather than just padding and covering a piece of plywood, I decided that I would like to use a large frame and make a padded head rest inside the frame.

I happened upon a large, simple frame with cracked glass that the owner said I could have for free.  I believe it originally came from a hotel.  I took it home, and diligently painted it white – first step complete!

I then proceeded to layer three sheets of batting onto foam core (actually, the picture that came in the frame!) and wrap the fabric around it. I cut each layer of batting a few inches smaller than the one before, with the smallest next to the foam board. This gives the headboard a nice rounded shape.  We happened to receive a late wedding gift that was a duplicate of our duvet cover.  So I just cut out the design and -voila! – matching headboard fabric.  (As usual, Eddie wanted to be right in the middle of the action.)

Next, we got some wood slats and nailed them in to the frame – this kept the actual padded part in the frame and created stability (foam core isn’t the strongest material around).

And, the finished project! I am so pleased – this head board was created for under $30, and I can change out the fabric if our bedroom decor changes!