Who Jesus Is

I really like this article from Kevin DeYoung's blog. What a great reminder of the fact that Jesus "is not one of, but the one." Read the whole thing here, or an excerpt below:

Jesus is not one of; he is the One. Jesus is not a pointer like John, Elijah, or one of the prophets. He is the point. It sounds very lofty to call Jesus a prophet, or a popular teacher, or a wonder worker, or a good man, or a brilliant example, or part of a long line of enlightened figures. But all of these descriptions miss the point. Because in all of them you are saying Jesus is one of (see v. 28). And if you say Jesus is only one of and not the One, you haven’t understood him. You don’t see who He really is. He is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16)....

So away with all this nonsense that Jesus is like Mohammed or like the Buddha or like the Dali Lama or like Ghandi or like your saintly grandmother. He is not like anyone else. And so we will not pretend to be impressed when others call Jesus a good man or an enlightened figure or one of the prophets. He is not one of, He is the One.
- Kevin De Young

3 Friday Finds: Vintage Chairs + Couches

Three links to neat vintage chairs + couches (or art prints of them). Enjoy!

[LINK]

[LINK]

[LINK]

Book Cover Design Inspiration

I'm looking forward to an upcoming for-fun book cover project, so in the meantime, I thought I'd mention some books that already have great cover designs. Here's some inspiration for my own upcoming book design project!

One.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
I haven't read this book, but I noticed the cover at a book sale recently and noticed that I like it a lot. The texture on this cover is fabulous, as well as the way white space is used without seeming "boring." Make sure you notice the faint image of a face...what a wonderful way to add depth to the design and create meaning.

Get book here.

Two.

Betsy-Tacy
This is not the newest version of this cover, but I just love the vintage charm to this design. It seems like it could have been the original cover. Since I've read this book, I know that the happy feeling of the design totally fits the subject matter and story of the book. That's definitely something that's essential in book cover design.

Get book (not with this cover) here.

Three.

Macbeth (and all the Folger Shakespeare volumes)
I love the abstract, modern looking pattern on this book, but also how the colors and pattern look passionate and full of drama, which is fitting for a play by Shakespeare. I also love the font - SO Shakespeare - and the way this book coordinates with the others, but also how each volume is different and unique.

Get book here.

Four.

Fahrenheit 451
I really like this book. I read it recently, and it is so interesting. I really like the somewhat vintage "original" type feel that this new cover has. The torn paper is a neat effect, and wonderfully symbolic to the story. The typography is also great. I like the bold font and the fact that the red is semi-transparent.

Get book here.

So those are foir book covers I like. What do you think of them? Do you have a favorite? What about these designs do YOU think makes them successful?

Jonalee Earles Photography Logo

I recently finished up a really fun logo design project for Jonalee Earles Photography. This logo was a blast to work on, and I really love how it turned out! Jonalee is pleased with the result, too, which is most important. We went through several different concepts at the beginning, and eventually decided on this frame idea:

After some revisions and tweaks, the final copy ended up looking like this. The logo you see below can be used for products like business cards, blog design, etc. and the frame + initials only will be the watermark for photos.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this project, and also, if you're looking for a photographer, check out Jonalee's work. She does a great job!

Neat How-To's

I like doing crafts and projects, and while I don't have much time for it these days, it's fun to find neat online ideas to add to my list of favorite project ideas. I thought I'd share two today.

Idea One
I've seen some neat tutorials lately that I'd love to try sometime. The first one has to do with photography... it's called "Through the Viewfinder" photography, and I read about it HERE on I Heart Faces. It sounds really neat and I love the results. You use this interesting setup, plus an SLR camera, to take the pictures:

Photo by Maryanne Gobble.

Idea Two
Another idea I'd like to try is this amazingly cute bunting lantern project I saw linked to from Dollar Store Crafts. I love how fun and cheerful it looks. You can get the tutorial HERE.

What do you think of these ideas? Or have you tried anything similar?

One Dozen Journals

Journals are so fun, and I thought I'd share some neat ones as part of my One Dozen series. There are lots of different kinds of journals in the mix - so I hope you enjoy looking at the variety. :)

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

He Is Risen!

 You Have Been Raised

Sovereign Grace Music, Risen

How do we know we’ve been forgiven?
How do we know that we’ve been made clean?
How do we know we’ll go to heaven?
How do we know we’ve been redeemed?

You have been raised, the tomb has been opened
Nothing can take away our hope in You
You have been raised
You have been raised, the work is completed
Hell and its powers have been defeated
You have been raised

Now we are free from condemnation
There is no judgment left for us to fear
We don’t have to wonder if we’re welcome
You are the One who’s brought us near

The price You paid for us
Has fully been accepted
Because of Your shed blood
We cannot be rejected

This is what Easter is about: Jesus Christ is our risen Savior! He has conquered death and He is alive, and when we trust in Him as our Savior, nothing can take away our hope in Him.

Beautiful Typography

I [heart] typography. A lot a lot. Here is some really nice type and why I love it.

By Ugmonk. HERE.

What I love: the big number/letter/symbol that really catches your attention, as well as the simple impact of the design. It makes a statement. And I love the characters themselves. Wonderfully executed and just very pretty.

By PAWLING. HERE.

What I love: The fact that the type looks custom, and how it intermixes with the background design. It gives a pleasant, subtle look.

By Hijirik. HERE.

What I love: The red. Of course. And I also like the big, bold font. It supports the bold statement the word "smile" makes. I also think the slightly distressed/uneven type adds a nice effect - it makes it seem more casual.

By Bookhou at Home. HERE.

What I love: How the letters are connected, and how the serif font still manages to look clean, modern, and minimalistic.

By Simply Pretty Prints. HERE.

What I love: The fun, lighthearted type. Handwriting tends to look that way and it's very charming, especially for a cheerful greeting like this. I also like the white type on black background.

By Roberta Grove. HERE.

What I love: I love the vintage-ness of the old yardstick. And I love how natural it looks. I doubt the original designer of this yardstick spent huge amounts of type analyzing the typeface, and yet it's a strong choice that has a signature vintage feel.

By Camila Drozd. HERE.

What I love: The new take on an old book cover, and the simply gorgeous custom type. I really love Camila Drozd's typography work. Another favorite element of this design is the the way the swirls flow so naturally with the text.

By Ugmonk. HERE.

What I love: The huge A. If only my name started with A, this bag would be even more perfect for me! I also love that this is set in Helvetica (it says so on the website).

By Anthropologie. HERE.

What I love: I just love the whole feeling of this delightful vintage looking journal. The type is very vintage, but it also looks funky instead of stuffy or super formal. And it coordinates very well with the border.

What do YOU love about these lovely type items?

Good Friday

Today is Good Friday, the day we remember Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for our sins. I thought it would be a good time to review the gospel. Some of you have heard this message thousands of times. Or maybe there are some of you who are not really sure what the gospel is or what it means to be a Christian. No matter which category you'd say you're in, or if you're somewhere in between, this message is for you. We are all sinners in need of a Savior and we never outgrow our need for the saving message of the gospel. So I thought I'd review just what the gospel is and what it means.

1. God is holy. He is perfect and completely righteous.
2. We are sinful. We can't live up to God's perfectly holy standard. We make mistakes and we fail.
3. We deserve God's wrath. Because God is holy, He must punish sin. Our rightful due is eternal punishment for our sins.
4. But God loved us. Even though we were far from Him and deserve His wrath, in His amazing mercy, He saw us in that state and provided a rescue.
5. Jesus came to save us. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, fully God and fully man. He came to earth and lived a perfectly life that completely kept God's standards. Then He died for us. On the cross, He bore all the wrath that we deserved. He took our punishment when He didn't deserve any punishment.
6. We must believe. If we believe that we are sinners in need of a Savior, and if we are willing to confess that Jesus is Lord and that He died on the cross for our sins, we can be saved.
7. God offers eternal life. If we believe the gospel, we can enjoy not only the most amazing joy possible here on earth, but eternity in Heaven instead of the punishment in Hell that we deserved.
8. This is the only way. I can speak from experience: nothing but Jesus gives true life or satisfaction. It was only when I turned to Him that I experienced true hope and peace. And what's more, there is no other way to salvation. Jesus Christ alone provides our salvation and hope.

This is a day when we get to remember all of this. But the good news is that Jesus didn't stay dead and in His tomb. That's what Easter is all about!

Jesus is alive!

We remember Jesus' death on Good Friday, but His death is not the end of the story. Three days later, he rose from the dead, and His resurrection is a symbol that His sacrifice was acceptable to God. Because Jesus is alive, we can be sure we have hope.

I hope this encourages you today, and I hope that you take the time to consider this message, whether it be for the millionth time or the first time. Whether you've been a Christian for decades or you're just recently starting to think about the gospel, the main point is the same: Jesus is the only way and He deserves all of our lives.

[Thursday] Finds: Neat Freebie

Tomorrow is Good Friday, so I will be doing a different kind of post, but I wanted to show you all these cool airmail envelope images I found on Fuzzimo. They are so cool! Download here.

Writing Instruments

Pens & pencils. I love them so much. Writing instruments are so fun and I love collecting them and finding my favorites. I did a post about pens a really long time ago, but I thought I'd revisit the topic.

First I want to tell you about my favorite pencils, the Bic #2 mechanical ones. These particular pencils are great because they're simple, practical, easy to use, they have good erasers, and they come with lots of lead in them. And besides, they're mechanical pencils, which is great for me because I really don't prefer using normal pencils for some reason.

Buy on Amazon here.

And my favorite pens... those would be Flair pens by PaperMate. They write more like markers, but they're fine point so the line is nice and thin. They write so smoothly and come in all sorts of pretty colors. I love them. :)

Buy on Amazon here.

There are also some really fun pens that make use of graphic design elements.

One example is these cute, patterned ballpoint pens from Etsy. I love the charming designs!

Buy on Etsy here.

I think my favorites are the red stripe one and the green grid one. Stripes and grids are some of my favorite patterns. I like how the stripes are diagonal (like a candy cane!), and the grid has a retro office kind of feel to me which is really fun. Oh, and that photography is so nice, too. Great tones and arrangement of the pens.

These pencils from the same Etsy shop are neat, too. They remind me of State of the Obvious.

Buy on Etsy here.

I like the different colors, the simple sans serif font, and also the white space on the surface of the pencils. There isn't type ALL over it which is great because it gives the eye some resting space.

This final pen from PaperSource isn't really graphic design related, but I thought it was too cool not to post. It actually looks like licorice!

Buy on PaperSource here.

I think it's so fun that this writing instrument resembles a type of candy so closely. Wouldn't it be fun to write with a Twizzler? :)

What do you all think of these writing instruments? Or what are your favorite pens and pencils?

Winners

I haven't forgotten! The winners of THIS giveaway, chosen by Random.org, are...

Sarah

Mary H

Stephen

Congratulations! Please contact me with the answers to the following questions by May 1:
- Would you like a blog header or a quote poster?
- What size does it need to be?
- What do you want it to say?
- What colors do you like?
- Do you have any other preferences for design (font styles, patterns, etc.)?
(You can email me at carrie[at]carrieannedesign.com.)

I Need Your Help

I want to design some book covers, just for fun and for building my portfolio, but I need ideas. I want your help in figuring out what book covers I should consider re-designing! If you are willing, can you think of a book that fits into one of the following categories I'm looking for:

• Any book with a poorly designed cover that could do with a facelift.
• A classic book that could use a new, updated look.
• A series of books that you think would benefit from a cover re-design.

Please comment and let me know if you have any ideas! Thank you so much!

Giveaway Ends at Noon Today

So keep commenting RIGHT HERE. :)

The winners will be announced this evening or early tomorrow.

Sans Serif

I like sans serif fonts, and I've been especially enjoying them lately. I also liked this idea of white type on color. So I thought I would create some white type on color images using some of my favorite fonts, and then link to sites where you can download the fonts. Not all the fonts are free, but I marked the ones that are.

Code Light | FREE | Download here

Century Gothic | Buy here

Calibri | Buy here

Colaborate | FREE | Download here

Geosans Light | FREE | Download here

Raleway | FREE | Download here

TeX Gyre Adventor | FREE | Download here

TeX Gyre Heros | FREE | Download here

I hope you've enjoyed this little catalog of some of my favorite sans serif fonts. Please explore the links and download some yourself! Also, I'd love to know what you think of my white on color creations and also which font you like the best.

Keep Calm and Carry On

[here]

I used to think this poster was extremely strange and vague because I didn't understand it. "Keep Calm and Carry On." Okay...what exactly is that supposed to mean? And that random princess crown - huh? I was sincerely befuddled.

But then Ellie explained to me that the origin of this phrase and motif is a World War II British propaganda poster. So it has historical roots! Isn't that neat? And the crown is not a random princess crown, but a British crown. On Etsy, I read "This vintage poster was initially produced in 1939 during the trying times of WWII, but was lost until the year 2000 when it was rediscovered." Of course, truly "keeping calm and carrying on" is rather futile apart from the grace of God, but if you interpret this message through the view of "keeping calm" in light of God's sovereignty, it can be a good phrase.

Now this poster makes more sense to me. And I actually really like the graphic design style. These posters can be found on Etsy from numerous different sellers. The one I showed above is from Keep Calm Posters, and here are a few things I like about it design-wise:

• The illustration of the crown. It's intricate, but still simple and modern looking. It looks like somewhat actually took time to make it look like a real crown instead of just doodling it on there - and that's a good thing.
• The font. It's big and bold, which keeps the design from looking too "prissy." It really fits what the words say, too, and the historical context.
• The use of white space. There's not tons of blank space around, but there's plenty of "breathing room" for the design. There's a nice quantity of solid yellow around all four edges.

What do you think of this poster? Or these ones below...

These images are all from Keep Calm Posters.

Or this cool necklace from Marolsha!

Buy here.

I'd love to hear what your opinion is of this design!

Friday Finds: Rock Candy Bracelet

From Anthropologie. Find it here.

P.S. Keep commenting on THIS POST for a chance to win my 300th post giveaway. :)

Pretty Craft Supplies

I've found some neat craft items on Etsy lately, and I thought I'd do a post with pictures + links. Enjoy...

old photographs [here]

spring is the thing kit [here]

damaged 100 piece ephemera [here]

calico ribbon [here]

50 library cards [here]

red masking tape [here]

vintage sewing notions [here]

fancy bracket journaling tags [here]

I love Etsy and it's fun to find neat craft supplies there... gets me thinking about my own craft projects. That red masking tape looks especially interesting to me since I've been doing some projects with masking tape lately. What catches your attention? Do you have a favorite thing?