Weekend Links: Present&Correct

I saw Present&Correct linked to on the Fossil blog, and it is so delightful. It's a neat online shop with fun office + home items that have a bit of a retro, whimsical feel. I like almost everything on the site. Please check it out! I will post a few pictures and links below.

colour book | present&correct | HERE

patterned planner | present&correct | HERE

eraser mix | present&correct | HERE

Weekend Links: CB2

I recently looked at CB2, a home decor shop that is connected with Crate&Barrel. And I love it. It's a little bit like Ikea, but has an even more designer type of feel to it. Browse around and then check back on Monday for lots of neat home decor finds, including some from CB2. Here are two favorite things in the meantime:

6 piece cubist modular wall shelf

acrylic tripod easel

Weekend Links: The Vitrine

Today's weekend link is to an online shop called The Vitrine. They have some neat, creative items that I think you'd enjoy looking through. For example...

This cool yellow tray.

And this woven bracelet that is so neat!

The Winner

I've chosen a winner through Random.org, and I'm happy to say that the winner of their very own copy of Celtic Cross's new album Commence is...

Really.

Truly.

Most definitely...

Brooke!

Congratulations! I will be mailing you your CD, and it should get to you within 3 weeks.

Act Quickly!

The giveaway for the Celtic Cross album Commence ends today at 12:00 noon. Hurry and enter before it's too late! 

I'll announce the winner here on the blog by the end of today.

Celtic Cross: Commence

Today's post is one I've been just itching to write. I cannot wait to share this with all of you! This past fall, I had the opportunity to start working on a really neat graphic design project: CD packaging. I loved designing this project (and I got to take the pictures of the band for the album), and now that the CD is finally in print, I can share it with all of you!

First, a little background. The CD I designed is called Commence, and it's the debut album of a band called Celtic Cross. This band is amazing and they play both traditional Celtic music and Celtic Fusion. Musically, the album is fabulous (I'm listening as I'm writing this!), and I saw them in concert this past week which was also amazing. So I cannot recommend the music more highly to you.

For the design of the cover and the rest of the packaging, I chose green, gray, black, and white - colors that are a little Celtic looking but also a little funky. The Celtic Cross emblem is a main design element throughout the whole package, and I'm so excited I found a font that mimics the lines of the cross so closely.

The background on the front and back covers, and the inside pages too, is a combination of a plain gray color, a picture of telephone lines, a picture of wood from the stage of the Ryman auditorium in Nashville, and a picture of blurry wood. It was fun to blend those together to make this one-of-a-kind background!

I wanted to keep a good deal of continuity throughout the whole design, but I did add in some different colors to keep from making the texture background overpowering. The CD itself is plain black with white writing (I like the contrast that gives).

And then the inside of the booklet, with descriptions of all the tracks, is green with a slight texture.

I love this album, and it's so exciting to finally have a copy in my hands after working on it for so long.

And you know what?

I'd like to share a copy with one of you. I'd like to put a copy in YOUR hands.

So I'm doing a giveaway.

Here are the details:

• You can win a copy of Celtic Cross's new album Commence, with the packaging designed by me.
• If the winner lives nearby, I'll give their CD to them in person; if not, I'll need a mailing address. I will get your prize to you within 3 weeks of the giveaway's end.

How to enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post (easy, right?).
2. Follow my blog. (Only new followers get an extra entry.)
3. Like Celtic Cross on Facebook HERE.

If you follow or like Celtic Cross on Facebook, you must leave a second or third comment on this post letting me know you did so that you can gain your extra entry or entries.

The giveaway ends on Thursday, August 25 at 12:00 noon. I'll announce the giveaway winner before the end of the day. I hope you enjoyed looking at the CD cover, and please comment to enter the giveaway!

Important information:
My portfolio (where you can see images of the album).
Celtic Cross on Facebook.
Celtic Cross on MySpace.
If you would like to buy a copy of Commence, please email: celticcrossmusic[at]gmail[dot]com.

Some Design Inspiration

I'm planning to talk a lot more about inspiration soon, but for now I wanted to show you some of the work of a designer I recently found. Jonathan Ogden is a web designer for Message:Creative but he also does graphic design, and his work is excellent! And he's a Christian, besides, which is so encouraging for me. I love seeing believers doing great art.

Here's some CD packaging that he did. (View more about it here.) I really like the natural, almost woodsy style mixed with modern, cool, and simplistic.

Jonathan Ogden also curates Typographic Verses, a Tumblr site containing posters of Scriptures and lines from hymns. Here's one of the posters he did.

Another set of work by Jonathan Ogden that I really like is his 100 Daily Designs. There's lots of really neat design there that I've enjoyed browsing through. Here are two of my favorite pieces.

Aren't those neat? I'd recommend the rest of the designs, but do be aware that there's one mild swear word in one of the designs (on page 3).

Jonathan Ogden's work is great, and it inspires me because it's not cluttered or crowded, but it's still purposeful and detailed. I like that balance. I hope you've enjoyed the things I've showed you! I'd love to know what you think!

P.S. Jonathan Ogden is also a musician. Check out Maffiss Music!

UPrinting Giveaway Winner

Today is the big day for announcing one of the winners of the giveaways that were going on right now. The UPrinting sponsor giveaway is done, and one person has won 250 die cut business cards free!

And the winner is....

Christa!

Congratulations! I will send your contact info. to UPrinting, and they will contact you about how to claim your prize within 30 days. If you don't hear from them after that time, please let me know. Enjoy your prize!

Giveaway Ends Soon

The sponsor giveaway from UPrinting ends at midnight tonight! Please enter here if you haven't already.

Sponsor Giveaway: UPrinting

I am SO excited to offer you all a really cool opportunity today: a sponsor giveaway! In conjunction with my business card sale, my favorite business card printing company, UPrinting, is sponsoring a giveaway on my blog! Please read on for the details...
 

One person can win 250 die cut business cards!

Details about the business cards:

• You can choose a size of: 1.75” x 3.5”, 2” x 3.5”, or 2” x 2”; 2.5”.
• You can choose a shape of: Rounded Corners, Leaf, Rounded Single-Corner, Half-Circle Side, Circle or Plain Rectangle.
• You can choose a paper type of: 14pt Cardstock Gloss / Matte / High Gloss (UV), or 13pt Cardstock Uncoated.

Please note: the giveaway is restricted to U.S. residents ages 18 and older.

Other information:

1. You get free shipping if you win.
2. The turnaround time is 6 business days.
3. You'll be notified of how to order within 30 days of the end of the giveaway.
4. You can download die cut business card templates here.

Disclaimer: This business card printing giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting. No monetary compensation was given for hosting. For more information about online printing services, please visit UPrinting.com.

So, what's so good about UPrinting? Well, they do a great job with business card prints (I ordered my business cards from them!). Their process is user-friendly and very helpful, and their prices are reasonable too. Even if you don't win the giveaway, definitely check out UPrinting if you need a place to print business cards.

Now, I'm guessing you probably want to know how to enter, right? There are a couple ways:

1. Leave a comment on this post.
2. Leave an additional comment if you are hiring me to create your business cards (you get an extra entry for that!)
3. Follow my blog and leave a comment saying you did. (Sorry, existing followers don't get an extra entry.)

The giveaway ends on Friday, July 22 at midnight. Enter away! I'll announce the winner on Saturday the 23rd.

Two Neat Things

I found two things online lately that are really cool, so I wanted to share them with you. First up is the blog Design Seeds. It has really neat color ideas based on photos, and the design and presentation of the posts is really neat, too.

Here's one of their images - isn't this so happy and fun?

HT: PunkProjects.

Another thing I found is Photoshop's online editor. I didn't even know this existed, and it's pretty neat! It's not that much like the actual software, but I like that Adobe has created a free, online version. The adjustments are pretty basic, but it would be a good tool for simple editing.


HT: How About Orange

Here's a before and after of a beach photo I edited with this online tool:

Before

After

I hope you'll check out one or both of these cool sites!

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?

Blogroll Spotlights

You all have probably noticed that, since I redesigned my blog, I added a blogroll page at the top menubar. I think it's a fun way to show the blogs I'm enjoying these days. :) But I realized that the blogroll page doesn't really say anything much about what each of the blogs are about. So I thought I'd pick a few and tell you a little more about why I like them.

First up: Two, a diptych project by Beth Altrogge and Carissa Gallo, both great photographers whose work I really admire. Their project was partially what inspired me to try The Bird and the Plum with Jalynn.

If you check out this blog, you'll see some really creative photos & ideas.

Another blog on my blogroll list is Smrvl, a blog by graphic designer and artist David Somerville. It's fun to see what projects he's working on and neat to see other art and design he posts about. One of the descriptions on the site is "like a notebook," and I really enjoy that aspect of it. Most of the posts are pretty short and to the point - and looking through is like seeing a collection of artistic items.

If you check out this blog, you'll see a selection of art and design snippets.

One more before I go... Tullian Tchividjian's blog. It's another great blog from the Gospel Coalition (ah, how I would've loved to go to their conference!) and what I like most about this blog is how it's so gospel, gospel, gospel. Over and over again, in different ways and from different angles, the main thing on this blog is the "main thing" of Christianity: the gospel of Jesus Christ.

If you check out this blog, you'll see encouraging thoughts on the gospel.

I hope you all enjoy this little peek into a couple of my blogroll favorites. If you're looking for more, check out the other blogs I like. And I'd love to hear from you, too - what blogs do you like?

Giveaways

Just a quick note to let you all know about two giveaways going on now on some friends' blogs!

Ellie B Photography is running an inspiration series + giveaway this week. See the rules here and go to Ellie's blog for the recent posts!

Bekah Grace Photography is also running a giveaway! The instructions are here and check Bekah's blog to see when the first giveaway post goes up.

Both of these girls are good photographers. I can attest to that - they've each taken some pictures of me that I really like! So if you need a photographer, check out Ellie's work or Bekah's work.

Things I Like

This post is random.  Just sharing things I'm liking these days. :)

Google Reader.  So handy - it's what I use for most of my blog reading.  (I have it fed into my iGoogle page, too... which is another great Google invention by the way.)

This bag from Etsy.  The use of the Futura font is so clever and I love the all the compartments in the bag!  Click here to see more pictures.

MagCloud.  I just ordered a literary magazine from them and it was such a great process.  They told me all the problems with the files, let me re-upload when it wasn't working, and now they're sending a free proof.  If you need something magazine-y printed, definitely try them.  And their prices are good, too.

This dress from Anthropologie.  I want to go to one of their stores.  To take fun pictures if nothing else!

The Curious Sofa.  It's a fun little online shop, and I especially like the jewelry - great stuff!

I hope you check out some of these things.  And I'd love to know some of the things you're liking these days - feel free to share in the comments section!

A Favorite Etsy Shop

I recently discovered the Etsy shop The Fancy Lamb.

The subtitle is "reinvented vintage goods," and I think the things this shop sells are so cool!  There are some re-purposed vintage items, like vintage book journals, and some really funky retro antiques, too.  And the shop header design (above) is very well done as well.  I really like it.

Here are a couple items I like in particular from The Fancy Lamb.  First, one cool vintage book journal.

 Isn't this such a great idea?  There are also several listings for creating your own vintage book journal (you get to pick which book you want your journal to be made from).  Here is one such listing.  I really like the "Adventures in Literature" one and "Familiar Quotations."

And then there are some cool vintage supplies in this shop, like these packages of book pages.  How fun.

I also like these packages of vintage treasures.  The label is good, too.  Very simple but vintage - it fits with the items it's labeling!

Please check out all the other neat things at The Fancy Lamb.  I really like the shop and I think you will, too.