DESIGN WORK: bids for bridges

Here is a quick post with a recent poster I designed for a local organization raising money to support the Camp Bridges Foundation. Every year they host a wine tasting and silent auction to help support camps and programs for children with heart, liver, and kidney issues. Here is a snippet from the foundation with more information -

Camp BRIDGES Foundation provides camps and programs at no cost for pre and post transplant children, teens, young adults and their families from Alabama and neighboring states.

We create a fun and educational environment for heart, kidney, liver, and lung transplant recipients that encourages positive self image and healthy transplant living.

Those served receive and provide peer support and form lasting friendships to better cope with the unique challenges of transplantation.

It is a fabulous fundraiser and I was thrilled to help out with this event. This year they wanted to update their look and promote the new name of the event, Bids for Bridges. Here is the poster I designed -

To order tickets online, click here

If you are interested in custom design services, please feel free to contact me! 

GENDER REVEAL PARTY

So, last Thursday night was Baby Owens' reveal party and it was an absolute blast. We had so many amazing friends join in on our excitement and it meant the world to us! The party couldn't have been any better! 

To our wonderful friends that attended, and especially the ones that drove just for the night -- thank you, thank you, thank you for being such a blessing to us! I can't even put into words how grateful we are, but please know how much we appreciate your support and kindness. 

On to the details! Here is the invitation I designed to email to our guests. I used the chalkboard background and elements throughout the rest of the party details. 

Here are some room shots before the party kicked off. I custom ordered the tassel banner and mini cake topper from Tuck & Bonte. I chose a gender neutral color palette of blush, cream gold, mint, and baby blue. I love the way it turned out and will definitely be saving it for future parties! We had the hot chocolate bar set up in the dining room, voting booth on the buffet, and chili bar in the kitchen. 

I designed ballots and stickers for the guests to participate in the reveal. Everyone loved submitting their vote and watching the Owens precinct develop. 

I left up some of my "wintery" Christmas decorations for the party and decided to clip baby pictures of Brandon and I on the garland. Brandon was one cute little boy!

We tallied the votes before cutting the cake and the leading candidate was BOY! Brandon sported a pink shirt in the beginning, although I think he was secretly hoping for a boy, and then changed to blue once the cake cutting was over. He is so silly!

How beautiful is the cake!? The talented Laura Burton from Uprising Cakes made it and I could not have been more impressed. The ombre with ruffles was gorgeous, not to mention mouth watering delicious!

Brandon and I are elated about having a precious baby boy! Now that we know the sex I can really get started on the nursery! But don't worry, I won't post only about baby stuff! Thanks for all the sweet wishes and congrats! 

DESIGN WORK: acoustic soup

I recently designed some marketing for a friend to help promote her organization's big benefit - Acoustic Soup. The event is this Thursday so I thought it was only appropriate to post a few pictures in hopes of gaining a few more supporters. I have heard that this is a great event with delicious soups, fun music, and all proceeds going towards a worthy cause. I am excited to attend for my first time! To learn more about the event or VSA Alabama  please visit their site. 

To parallel the creative work behind VSA Alabama, I used my calligraphy and watercolor imagery to tie it all together. The bifolds were printed on off white uncoated stock. If you are interested in any design work, please feel free to contact me!

CREATIVE DESIGN

Here's some creative Christmas designs for your Cyber Monday! I love finding beautiful typography and illustrations in unexpected places! 

Panera Bread 

This is the bookeyed suzanne font that Abode Love and I have been drooling over ever since we purchased bookeyed jack (I really love all the tart workshop fonts)! We know have both bookeyed fonts and are forcing it onto all our designs! I love the sweet, winter illustration paired with the delicate type - such a great way to warm up a chilly day!

Eddie Bauer

I love seeing different types of mediums used in marketing rather than just graphics. This watercolor illustration is so simple, but perfect for this seasonal campaign - just the right amount of color and detail to not over power the message! 

BLURB BOOKS

Since we received our final disc of pictures from Heidi back in March, I have been slowly working on designing our wedding albums. I have been really excited about designing this book for several reasons ...
• I get to choose which pictures are in it
• It is a great way to have all your pictures in one place rather than individually printing them all
• Blurb now has an amazing InDesign plug-in that allows designers to customize their book any way imaginable


The books arrived a month ago and they are gorgeous. No, not because it is millions of pictures of Brandon and I, but because of the quality. I chose image wrapping for the hard cover, their new pro-line uncoated paper for the interior, and the largest square size available - 12"x12". The large size was quite surprising, but amazing. I love how vibrant and bold the pictures are. 


I would definitely recommend Blurb to everyone - it is not just for weddings. There are so many choices and templates (for the non-designer) to choose from that it makes the process really fun, and straight forward. Here are a few pictures of my blurb book:

you can see the rest of the book here

For the parents I chose a smaller size, 7"x7", and it turned out just as cute, and much easier to handle! I think they have really enjoyed having all the pictures in one place for easy browsing. You can tell the proportion differences in both sets of pictures.

PHI MU ALUMNI: fall phi-esta

I wanted to share these fun gift items I designed for my college sorority's fall membership drive. It was themed "PHI-ESTA" and held at a local mexican restaurant. I designed these pink (of course!) koozies and labels for cupcake boxes as a 'thank you' for each girl. I think they turned out cute, and delicious!

Please let me know if you, or your organization, is interested in any design work! Please feel free to contact me anytime.

USPS REVEALS: new stamp designs

I discovered through one of my many blogs that illustrator and letterer extraordinaire Jessica Hische designed a new love stamp for usps. If you are a detail perfectionist or interested in all things paper, then you understand how a stamp can make or break a design. A beautifully designed stamp can really make a difference - it is the final touch after hours of design, calligraphy, cutting, pasting, etc. Here is her gorgeous, hand-letter stamp that will be available next year:

The usps blog is revealing the new 2012 stamps once a day and Jessica's was one of those released along with many more unique designs. More are still to be unveiled!

As I was browsing the usps store, I decided to take a peek at the current stamps. Low and behold, what did they have? Pioneers of Industrial Design panes! (if you didn't know, I graduated from Auburn with my industrial design degree) They aren't fancy or beautiful, but special in that they provide you with a taste of history through our everyday products. 

I also really like these colorful and organic love stamps:

I think the post office has really stepped up the design of their stamps. A lot of the designs are much more graphic and illustrated than before and it is quite refreshing. Here are a few more that caught my eye:

I'm not a nascar fan, but the yellow and striking design is so captivating. 

go tigers!

so much better than the traditional flag stamp

These butterfly stamps are more than the average stamp, but would be perfect for sending wedding invites that require more postage. The size is so dramatic and would make such a statement!

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT: mary rutledge morgan

Here are some photos of Mary Rutledge's birth announcements that I just finished. I love the picture - it is so sweet and soft and the muted colors are perfect. 

I wrote her name and initials in calligraphy and printed them on a smooth white stock. The envelopes are a shimmery cream: paper source's stardream opal paired with tiny address labels I printed myself. 

printing by Communication Arts, Inc. 

MORE WATERCOLOR

It seems that the fabulous trend of watercolor usage is still growing and making its way into more and more print pieces. If you remember, I posted about watercolor here and here and featured a few of my favorites at the time. I think I continue to gravitate towards this medium because it allows every piece to be unique and original. Watercolor can be as fluid and free as you want it, or controlled and refined. A few of my recent finds have all involved some sort of hand illustration and I wanted to share a few. 

First, some beautiful business cards designed by Jordan Ferney. I posted about her husband, Paul Ferney, last year and his amazing paintings. How awesome is that for them both to be so creative? 

Next, through the world of Etsy I have discovered some very talented artists that lend a great deal of inspiration. I love the simple backgrounds that allow the illustration to be the focus and the colors to really stand out. These featured below would be perfect in a nursery or a very serene setting.

1. amber alexander

2. lulabies

3. the Wheatfield

Anna Bond's whimsical illustrations have really become famous in the design/invitation world and I am dying for a set of her beautiful cards. Anna and her husband, Nathan, started the company Rifle Paper Co. based off of her paintings and it has sky rocketed. Here are a few of my favorites:

Lastly, I stumbled upon the blog Oh My Deer and fell head over heels for her watercolor 2011 calendar. It is available in her etsy shop. I would purchase this, but I am a little OCD when it comes to organization and planning so I feel the need to document everything in my calendar. But, this would make a fabulous piece of art for Melrose. 

If you like the watercolor trend but don't want to spend the money, check out this lovely free printable calendar by Creature Comforts. I just printed off one for myself to hang in the office. Click HERE to go to the link.