Blog Roundup: Part Two

Welcome to day two of my blog roundup!  I've got three more blogs to share with you today that I hope you'll enjoy.  By the way, though, please read and look at these blogs with discretion just as you would any site you're not familiar with.  I'm recommending them because I like them and I have learned something or benefited in some way from them, but that doesn't necessarily mean I endorse every single thing on the blog!

The first one for today is I Heart Faces.  This blog is a wealth of photography knowledge, so for all you camera-lovers out there, I'd definitely recommend checking it out!  Every week, they host a challenge-like competition and pick winners, but besides that, there are frequent interesting articles on various photography subjects.  The design of the site is nice, too.

I really like the cute-but-not-cutesy type of style to the design.  It's fresh and fun, but not overpowering.  The camera icon is especially great.  I love the heart in the lens!

Another blog I enjoy is Justin Taylor's Blog.  The writing is very well done, and a lot of his articles are very interesting and thought-provoking.  He writes about everything from growing in the Christian life, to political issues, to reading literature.  I've linked to his blog before, but I thought I would tell you more about why I like it.

I hope you take some time to read a couple of his posts!  I've really enjoyed it in the past couple of months, ever since someone recommended it to me over the summer.

My final blog recommendation for today is How About Orange, a blog by a graphic designer and fabric designer named Jessica Jones.  I really enjoy the neat things Jessica posts, from links to freebies around the web to sightings of her fabric in use, to cool tutorials.  I think you'll like it, too.

I like the design of this blog as well.  The orange-ness of it fits the theme really well, but also, the flowers on the blog header are just so cute!  I love them.

I hope you've enjoyed my little blog roundup. :)  Have a great day!

Blog Roundup: Part One

There are lots of blogs that I really enjoy reading, and I thought I'd share them with you in a quick mini-series!  Today and tomorrow I'll talk about three blogs per day and give you a glimpse into what they are like and why I love them.  It's a blog roundup!  Let's get going.

First up: Hannah Joy.  This girl is one of my good friends, and her blog is so neat-o!  It's really colorful, to start with.  See?

And Hannah likes to post about some of the same things I do.  She posts about creative things she's found, cool craft ideas, etc.  She also posts a lot of quotes and verses that have been encouraging to her, which I love!  It's so cool to read what other people are being encouraged by.   Then she writes about her daily life, which is really fun, too.  Hannah's posts are always so fun, and so her.  Definitely go check out her blog.  I like it a lot.

Blog number two... Bloesem: Living.  This blog is really fun.  It talks about interior decorating, jewelry, books, design, other miscellaneous tidbits - I enjoy it a lot!  I love the variety of things that are found on this site.  And it has a really fun, simple design to it.  (Don't be freaked out by the lady's head at the bottom of the screenshot.  If you scroll down in the blog post, she actually is a person and not just a head.)

Bloesem, from what I have read so far in the past month or so, is mostly about finds.  Like my Friday Finds series, but more detailed and much cooler. :)  I think that's why I like it - "finds" is a simple idea, but there's a lot of places to go with it, like what Bloesem has done.  I think you'll like their stuff if you check it out. 

P.S. They also have a blog for moms and kids called Bloesem: Kids.  You might like that as well.

Our third and final blog for today is the Studio Calico Blog.  I adore Studio Calico scrapbooking supplies, and their blog is equally as great as their merchandise!  There are lots of scrapbook pages to be seen, and fun tutorials and sketches.  If you're a scrapbooker, you'll love it.  And if not, well you still might like looking at the creativity that is expressed in this blog.  I sure do.  Here's a picture so that you know what it looks like:

One thing I really like about the design of the Studio Calico Blog is how they incorporate design elements into the post, like headers and signatures.  I think that makes it much more visually interesting, and fun too.  I also really like the blog header.  It's so funky.

I'll be back tomorrow for more blog recommendations!  But in the meantime, did you notice the new widget on the sidebar of my blog?  I added a "grab my button" widget that allows you to add the blog button to your own blog if you would like to.

Prayer

Saw this here and had to share it.  So good!

Our continual praying shows that we are always beggars, and our continual thanksgiving shows us always debtors. Our thanks, then, indeed, is the rebound of mercy heavenward, whence it came, and a holy reflection of the warm sun-beams of God’s benefits shining on us.
- William Cooper

Some Good Songs

Awhile back, I did a post about music I was enjoying.  I still like a lot of the same songs, but I thought it might be fun to add to the list.  Here are some more I've been enjoying lately, some older and some newer.  I'm linking each one to Grooveshark so that you can listen to them!

Empty My Hands | Tenth Avenue North
The Saving One | Starfield
All We Need | Charlie Hall
Born Again | Newsboys
Holy Spirit, Have Your Way | Leeland
I Belong | Kathryn Scott
Declaration of Dependence | Steven Curtis Chapman
Surrender All | Sovereign Grace Music
Richest One | Resurrection Band
Let My Words Be Few | Matt Redman
Pray | Rebecca St. James

I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.  It's so great to have worship songs with rich, encouraging lyrics!  I'd love to know what some of your favorite songs are, too!  Feel free to leave a comment and let me know.

Question Time!

Remember when I had that post where I let you ask me anything at all?  Well, I'm going to do that again!  I'd love to know what your questions are, so ask away!  I have a few questions that people have asked in past comments that I am intending to answer, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to add to those questions and make a new post out of it.  Please comment below, and feel free to ask me anything that's on your mind, suggest a future blog post or series, etc.  I'll get back to your questions in a week. :)

Friday Finds: Crayon Art

These crayon sculptures are amazing!  See more crayon pictures and other works by the artist here.

HT: I Art U.

Thankful List

Today is a day that people all across the country stop to give thanks.  That's pretty neat.  God has blessed me in so many ways, most of all with the gospel, and I thought it would be appropriate to share a few of the things that I'm thankful for today.  Since it's the 25th, I'll share 25 things (in 5 categories).

I'm thankful for all God has given me.

I'm thankful for wonderful family and friends.

I'm thankful for things I enjoy doing.

I'm thankful for creativity in a variety of contexts.

I'm thankful for who God is and what I have in Jesus.

What are you thankful for?  I'd love to hear.

-----

The handkerchief and the flower charm are from Pugly Pixel.  The rest of the graphics are my own designs.

Creating Keepsakes Prizes

I've been mentioning off and on my involvement in the Creating Keepsakes Teen Talent Search Contest.  I was a runner-up in the contest, and my prizes came recently!  I love them, and I'm so pleased and so grateful for CK's generous sponsors.  I thought you all might enjoy a little peek into what I got, so here it is.

First of all, I got a Xyron adhesive package.  I thought that would mean some nice handy sticky tape, but I was blown away when I saw this Xyron 5-inch Creative Station!

This thing is so cool.  I can't wait to try it out!  It is basically a huge sticker maker, with other purposes too.  When you feed paper through it (or other stuff, too, I'm supposing), it applies adhesive to the back.  I also got two other types of cartridges for the machine that will let me laminate things and create magnets.

That is going to be lots of fun!  I'm also excited to try out this 2-inch Cheetah adhesive runner.  It is an extra-wide tape runner and will be very handy for my craft projects.

The final part of the Xyron pack is definitely the cutest.  It's a mini sticker maker, and it's even animal print!  I've already tried this out, and it's really fun to make stickers with it.

I also got plenty of scrapbooking supplies, like these things from Bo Bunny.

And these from BasicGrey (I'm loving that brown mini album - can't wait to make something with that!)

The above items are part of the BasicGrey Obscure line, and I also received paper and die cuts from that line.  I adore so many of the patterns in this line.  They are so very neat!  And I love the retro/funky feeling they have.

Here's a closer look at some of the paper and die cuts.  The die cuts are the same shapes as the raw chipboard shapes, so I could run the die cuts through the Xyron machine and stick them on the chipboard.

There is also a ton of paper from Bo Bunny.  I was told that I'd be getting a "paper pack" but this is so much more than I expected!  It's about an inch of paper, see?

There are lots of nice patterns among the paper sets, like these.

I'm sure they'll be making their way onto my scrapbook layouts and cards, too!  The final thing I got was this cute purple bag from Plano! 

I'm so happy with my prizes, and I hope you enjoyed this little peek at what I got.  Hopefully, I'll be making and sharing some things in the future using these prizes.

Kirstin Photography Logo

Hey everyone!  It's been a good while since I've posted about a design project, but I have been working on some projects!  It seems like it goes in fits and starts - sometimes I'll be working on several projects, and later I'll be finishing some.  The project I want to share with you today is another logo/photography watermark project.

Kirstin, a photographer, contacted me about doing her logo, and after some conversation about her style, we got going on the project!  We went through several different design ideas, and the favorite during the process was a logo with a vintage-like camera incorporated.  This was the original camera design.

In the end, we kept the same camera body, but tweaked the text a little bit so it had a more elegant feel, and so that it would be easier to recognize in a small size as a watermark.  We settled upon this design:

I'm really glad Kirstin chose this one, because I am a huge fan of vintage cameras.  I'm happy that she likes it, too!  Thanks for working with me on it, Kirstin!

-----

P.S. Go check out the freebies tab at the top!  I redesigned my freebies section!  Instead of being a list of posts, it is now its own page with links to each freebie.  I used Katrina's Image Map Tutorial, which was so helpful, and thanks to those instructions, the freebie section has a fresh new look.  The newest freebies will be posted on the blog, and I will update the page periodically with the freebies I've posted.

Some Art News

I read about this new book coming out on this blog and this blog.  I was so excited to hear that a Christian artist is taking on the project of illuminating the four Gospels - how neat!  As someone who enjoys art and specifically design, it's always so wonderful to hear about Christians in the art world.  The Four Holy Gospels, illustrated by Makoto Fujimura, is available on Amazon for pre-order. I'd love to see a copy of this when it comes out...it looks amazing.  You can watch a video about the project below, and read more here or at Makoto Fujimura's website.  I'd definitely recommend taking time to watch the video.  Even though it's over 8 minutes long, it's so worth it and a very interesting documentary on the Four Gospels project and Makoto Fujimura's vision for art.




Fujimura - 4 Holy Gospels from Crossway on Vimeo.

Rainbow Week Giveaway Winner

Hey there, everyone!  Thanks for sticking with me during this past week!  It was such fun writing these rainbow week posts for you, and I really hope you enjoyed them.  There were a total of 108 entries in the giveaway, spanning eight posts (plus some new followers!).  I know you all are ready for me to announce the winner, though, so I'll keep this short and sweet.

Bekah!

Out of 108 entries, your comment on the green day post was chosen as the winner by Random.org.  Congratulations, and enjoy your Amazon gift certificate!  I will send out the gift certificate soon.  For all of you that didn't win, I hope you still had fun participating and the contest.  I loved rainbow week!

Rainbow Week: Violet

First off, sorry this post was a little later in coming up - I apparently scheduled it wrong!

-----

We're already at the last day of rainbow week!  This has been a really fun series for me...it's been great to dedicate a whole week to color.  Today is violet day, which could also be known as purple day or fuschia day.  Anything goes. 

Flowers are one thing that have lots of pretty violet shades.  Here are a few photos for some nature-based enjoyment.  This first one was taken out west in Yellowstone National Park.  It's one of my favorites from my point-and-shoot era. :)

And these next two are from the gardens of the Hermitage plantation in Nashville, TN.

Notice that each of those photos has a green background.  It seems that, in nature, purple often goes with green (take flowers - purple blooms, green stem), but I don't usually think to combine those two colors in graphic design.  I might have to try it sometime.

Here are some neat violet things for you to look at.

1. Fuschia Modern Block Thank You Notes by Ruby Press | 2. Plum Confetti Paper Garland by Kristina Marie | 3. Knit Floret Headband by Anthropologie | 4. Helena Silk Yo-Yo Statement Necklace by Cookoorikoo

My personal favorite is the headband from Anthropologie.  It's really fun and the shade of violet is just lovely.  What's your favorite thing?

Okay, everyone.  I have a few quick administrative announcements before I get on with today's freebie.  I wanted to clarify a few things about the giveaway, before I choose the winners.  Here are the details.

• Comments made on the introduction to Rainbow Week post DO count, but only for people who have not used up the maximum 7 entries (or 8 for new followers) during the week.  So basically, you can comment on the introduction post for a chance to win, but you can only have 7-8 entries.
• Only one comment per post will be counted.  If you make more, that's totally okay with me, but I'll still only count it as one entry.
• You can comment on previous post even if it's not the day of the post.  So if you didn't get to comment on orange day, for instance, you can go back and do that now even though it's violet day.
• New followers: thank you so much for following my blog!  Your entries will be added right on in with the others.  I'm making a huge list and will draw a number (using Random.org) based on that list.

I hope that makes more sense now.  I'm excited to announce the winner tomorrow!  But for now, I've got a little prize for all of you who are interested: violet bookmarks!  (Also known as purple bookmarks, because you see, today is purple day as well as violet day.)  Here's what they look like.

There are three bookmarks, as you can see, and they both have a plain font with different shades of purple backgrounds.  The style is kind of similar to the letterpressed notecards I mentioned above!  If you click here, you will be able to download a ZIP file with the three bookmarks in JPG format, as well as a PDF with all three of them.  Please just use them for personal purposes and don't sell them or claim them as your own.  Also, if you want to let others know about them, can you link back to my site instead of offering a seperate download?  Thanks!
I hope you enjoy the little purple freebie, and more than that, I sure hope you've enjoyed Rainbow Week!  I've loved it!  Your comments have been so nice, and I can't wait to do the big reveal tomorrow.

Rainbow Week: Indigo

Today is another day about blue, but this time, we'll focus on darker shades, like royal blue, indigo, and navy blue.  Let's start off with some fun indigo and blue items from the internet.

1. Screenprinted Flourish Jersey Scarf by Sweet Harvey | 2. Navy Jute by Studio Calico | 3. Agapanthus on Blue Coin Purse by Oktak | 4. Moss Aquamarine and Labradorite Cascade Earrings by Allison Creates

Mm, yes, fun things!  I think those earrings are especially cute, and I love the presentation - it's so cool how the designer staged the photograph by hanging the earrings on the branch.  Neat-o.

One shade in the indigo color family is navy blue, and this is a very versatile color, especially for logos.  It provides just enough interest (as opposed to plain black), but it's not overpowering or distracting.  One such logo is the Old Navy logo.  I'm a big fan of Old Navy - both the story and the brand identity!

Let me tell you why I think this logo is so great.  Starting with the oval shape... well, it's classic and not too fancy or elaborate - just like the Old Navy image.  It also resembles a surf board, which goes right along with the beach-ish kind of style Old Navy tends to lean towards (especially in the summer).  The font is a perfect choice, in my opinion - it's strong and bold, but also laid back and not in-your-face.  A good style for Old Navy.  Furthermore, I really like the overall simple but memorable design of this logo.  It's just an oval with a logotype on top of it, but it signifies Old Navy in a way that people will remember.  Now that's what a truly great logo does.

With today's freebie, I know I can't come anywhere close to designing something as cool as the Old Navy logo, but I will at least follow their color scheme!  I've decided to give you a neutral holiday card for download.  It's navy blue on the outside with a simple design on the front.  It's designed to be printed two-on-a-page, and once you cut the cards apart, you can fold them in half and use the inside white part to write on.  If you click here, you can download a JPG file with the card in it.  I'd recommend copying it into Word, sizing it the way you want, and then printing.

It's hard to believe that the very last day of Rainbow Week is tomorrow!  Wow!  I sure have enjoyed this week, too, and it will be exciting to see who won the giveaway at the end of the week!  I'll announce it on Sunday.

Rainbow Week: Blue

I think, along with red, this is my favorite day of rainbow week: blue!  Tomorrow is indigo day, so we'll focus on darker shades of blue then, but for today, it's all about turquoise, teal, and sky blue...some of my favorites.  Here's a collage of some blue goodness for you.

1. Turquoise Tea Rose by The Gilded Bee | 2. Pixie Hollow Flats by Anthropologie | Roller Coaster Letterpress Notebook by Blackbird Letterpress | 4. Sewn Dreams Vintage Crazy Quilt Earrings by That Old Blue House

Oh, what fun things!  I especially love that roller coaster notebook.  Did you know that I'm a huge fan of roller coasters?  Well, I am.  I think my favorite is the Loch Ness Monster at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA.

Anyway, back to the subject of blue.  Turquoise in particular has a lot of different meanings and uses, one of which is elegance.  Even though that's not the first thing I usually think of when I think of turquoise, it's so true!  I think this concept comes from the gemstone turquoise.  It's the birthstone of December, but it's also used in jewelry, as in this necklace (buy here).

But turquoise also has a retro vibe to it.  It seems to be indicative of the 1950's especially.  Take a look at these turquoise canisters from Etsy.

They are so vintage-looking, both in their design and in the color.  I love how flexible turquoise is...it can be fancy and formal for jewelry, or funky for vintage items.

How about some vintage-inspired freebies for today?  I've made two turquoise quote cards that have both a retro and modern feel to them.  Here's what they look like.

The verses are from Psalm 139 - a wonderful passage of Scripture.  You can download the cards here.  I hope you like them!  As for terms of use, please do not sell them, claim them as your own, or offer them for free download.  But any other uses are just fine!

See you tomorrow for indigo day! :)

Rainbow Week: Green

Did you know that when I was a little girl, my favorite color was olive green?  Yes, olive green as in the color of army uniforms.  Not the typical color for a little girl to like.  But I loved it.  So green holds a special place in my heart.

When I thought about it, I realized that green is probably one of the most versatile and widely used colors of the rainbow.  It reminds us of spring with it's cheery freshness, which is the general interpretation of green.  See this example:

{photo by me}

But besides that, green is the color of Kermit the Frog.  It means "go" on a traffic light.  It reminds us of Christmas, especially when paired with red, green, gold, and silver.  And then there's the whole "go green" idea - in that situation, green means eco-friendly.  And come to think of it, why aren't traffic lights symbols for saving trees?  It just seems logical to me... going green, going on a green light...?

But green can also have beachy, summery associations, such as palm trees and limes.  And then there's grapes and apples, too (cheerful fruits), not to mention garden salad, and all those "green vegetables" like peas and stringbeans, dreaded by almost all children everywhere.

But, thankfully, stringbeans is not one of the cool green things I found on the internet for today.  I do have some finds ot show you, though.  Here they are.

1. Bird on a Limb Shoulder Bag by LB Artworks | 2. Letterpress Poppy Book Plates by Sweet Harvey | 3. Fern Wreath Journal by Night Owl Paper Goods | 4. 50 States Tea Towel by Pepper Sprouts

I'm especially liking those letterpress bookplates (number two).  I'm developing an affinity for letterpress items...they are so elegant and nice.  You wouldn't think the engraved texture would make that much of a difference in the design, but it really does.  Those bookplates would be cool if they were printed flat, but there's something extra special about the fact that they're letterpressed.  And the green flowery pattern - oh! - so pretty.  I love it.

Playing off of the idea that green is associated with Christmas on occasion, and because Christmas is just over one month away, I thought it would be appropriate to make gift tags for today's freebie.  There are four tags, and here is what they look like.

You can download a ZIP file right here.  It contains four JPG files (for those of you who want to get creative with re-sizing and such), as well as a PDF file for quick printing.  The terms of use are as usual - personal use, no selling them or claiming them as your own.  I hope you enjoy the tags!

P.S. The giveaway is still going on, so keep right on commenting!  Also, if you haven't followed my blog yet, you can do that and get an extra entry in the giveaway!

Rainbow Week: Yellow

Yellow.  Such a bright, happy, sunshiney color.  Come to think of it, I really do like yellow.  Not quite as much as red and turquoise, but there is something incredibly cheerful about this sunny color.  It reminds me of summer too, which is so nice in the middle of November!  And we still have the whole winter ahead.  So let's look at some fun yellow stuff today to give us a little glimpse of the summertime.

1. Canary Yellow Ruffled Crepe Paper by The Gilded Bee | 2. Yellow Chuck Taylor All Star by Converse | 3. Yellow - Gray Bird Fabric by The Needle Shop | 4. Hooded Wool-Blend Toggle Jacket by Old Navy

I really love these yellow finds.  The damask pattern in the fabric is so elegant.  And that pattern proves that yellow, while sunshiney and happy, can also look formal and a little bit fancy - in a modern kind of way.  The crepe paper would be so fun for a party, and the coat and Converse shoes....well, they're just so cheerful looking!

In addition to looking at some fun yellow finds, today I thought it might be interesting to see a few color combinations and find out what sorts of other colors yellow is being paired with.  So I scoured my favorites list in Adobe Kuler, and found some neat yellow themes to share!  This theme, called Cold & Warm, is a very pleasant combination that includes a tasteful and almost serene shade of golden yellow with a bit of a green hue as well.

This next theme, Argentina, is super bright and cheerful.  It reminds me of a beach on an 100 degree day. 

And then this theme, Mellow Yellow, lives up to its name.  It's very warm and cozy looking, and the yellow tones in this theme carry some of the warm-you-up characteristics of orange. 

Can you tell that yellow can mean a lot of things color-wise, and when paired with different colors, can have lots of different types of feelings and uses?  For instance, the Argentina theme would be perfect for designing a beach towel, but I'm not so sure I'd paint my living room with those colors.  Mellow Yellow, on the other hand, is more quiet and calm and would be better for traditional home decorating.  And I can just see Cold and Warm on some lovely greeting cards.

Now for today's freebie.  As opposed to the printables from red day and orange day, today's free thing is computerized.  It's a desktop background!  Hooray!  Here is a sample of what it looks like. 

You can download it here in a ZIP file containing four different sizes: 800x600 pixels, 1027x728 pixels, 1280x1024 pixels, and 1680x1050 pixels.  Play around and find out which one fits your computer desktop the best.  If you don't know how to set your computer desktop background, here are quick instructions for Windows.  If you have a Mac, sorry - I can't help!  But I'm sure it can't be too difficult to figure out.

Desktop background installation instructions for Windows:
1. Download the ZIP file to your documents.
2. Unzip the file.
3. Find the JPG file of the background you want in your documents.
4. Right click on the aforesaid JPG file.
5. On the menu that pops up, there should be a button that says "Set as Desktop Background."  Click that!  Then you'll be good to go!

I hope you enjoy this little gift, and I hope you've liked these little glimpses of funky yellow things.  Don't forget to comment for a chance to win in the giveaway.