Sherri Haab's "Resin Jewelry"

I am so excited to work on resin this holiday season (is it too early to get excited about the holiday season?) Here is an excerpt from Sherri Haab's DVD craft workshop, "Resin Jewelry."

Bubble Magnet Tutorial

I posted this some time ago but it's been brought to the light again. I think I still like it. I find that the most frustrating part of poster design (freelance design) is how you have to change the design to fit all the information they want on there but didn't tell you originally. So you design it with a certain amount of type in mind and then find out right at the very end all the additional type. I think it's too easy for people (me included) to think of type as something different than the design as a whole. Type isn't separate from a poster, it IS a poster.

Santa paper

OK, it makes my eyes bleed just a little being this small...but who doesn't need Santa paper in well, August.

Rhetorical question.

Encore Poster

Poster I did for a show this last spring. The designer is doing an encore show in October and so hopefully you'll be seeing these out and about here pretty soon.

Pattern

I was working on this just on a whim but ended up liking it very much.

Studio update: My new studio is now basically filled floor to mid way with boxes. I have no table yet b/c it couldn't fit through the door. I could just put a plank across the boxes or stack all the books I don't know where to put and then put the plank on that.

It will come together. I know I just need to give myself the time to get everything moved and put away.

Paper Mache Flowers

So it begins

I've been waiting for about a week now for all the parts to arrive. Yesterday the final pieces came, and I know am the proud owner of a digital camera and a macro lens. Let the eye ball photographs begin. No leaf, cat, or Creative Catalyst employee is safe.

Nicky Vector

I came across this lovely profile on flickr and the owner was nice enough to let me use her image. It's been months but here is a draft. I've been holding onto it for awhile because I wanted to use my own patterns. I'm starting to have enough now that I have design options.

I can tell I have some things to fix with the vectors and layers but mostly I like how the colors are coming together.

(Thank you Nicky!)

Thank You Card

Z and I crashed a potluck on Friday, and I'm using it as an excuse to make a thank you card. All patterns here are mine. Some of them are dangerously close to damask. (!!!) Have I mentioned I'm excited about pattern making? Yeah....

In other news, I'm moving. Chaos. BUT tonight I'm getting some expert advice on how to set up my new studio.

Patterns Day 5

Patterns Day 4

So apparently this is pattern week. That wasn't my intention at the onset but it's been a fun way to let my brain decompress between editing chapters.

Here's some more.

Patterns Day 3

Found an image of a friend and thought it could be a great shape. I'm surprised at how well it works. I'm going to pursue this one.

Patterns Day 2

More patterns I'm working on. Some come easier than others. I think the red columns has potential to morph into more intricate designs. Part of pattern making is understanding the simple designs that the more complex designs rest upon. I've been carrying a great book on pattern making around with me wherever I go but haven't really read more than 15 pages. I'm going to a water park this weekend. Maybe I'll be able to find a quiet corner and breeze through some chapters. RIGHT!

Dotted Circle Pattern

I've been making up work hours all weekend on my home computer. Because it has no internet, I'm probably getting a lot more done (or why I'm working today at home again) but I need to find something other than email checking as a bribe to get through a difficult editing chunk. My solution: pattern practice. My goal is to come up with X number of patterns for Christmas so that I can use mostly my own papers in this year's cards.

The first image shows the evolution of one pattern attempt. I still need to add one more circle probably. That need becomes pretty clear when you look at the second set of images. But for the most part I like it. It's not super original, there is paper all over like this, but it's a good starting place. Most of the papers I enjoy using most in my work are pretty straight forward. The day I master damask is the day I'll really feel like I've accomplished a massive goal. Until then, I'm pretty happy with my dotted circles.

PS- You can see the inspiration for this paper in my header. It's the green circle one second in from the right.

Digital Scrapbook Attempt #1 (like ever)

I am not a scrapbooker. My sense of design doesn't extend beyond about 4x6 inches. But when I look around at some of the art people are doing, I can't help but be intrigued. There are some amazing graphic designers who have never probably considered themselves as such in the scrapbook world. What intrigues me most is digital scrapbooking. It links up a lot with what I'm already doing but adds the photo element. I'm getting a camera soon and I think this is something I will slowly edge into. Here is attempt one. Images always come out darker when I move from Illustrator to PSD to jpg. I have a lot of negative things I could say about it but I won't. I'll be negative when I've tried a few and am not completely overwhelmed by the square format.