Academic Calendar Available!

I work in academia, so I'm used to calendars starting in August or September. So, I thought I'd offer my 2013-2014 printable calendar this way too: check in out on my etsy site! For a steal of a $10 deal, you get the digital file calendar starting August 2013 and can print to your heart's content. Here's my copy brightening up my desk at work. :) 

Don't Forget!

Valentine Printables

I just whipped up these printable valentine cards, and I'd love to share them with you! There are three designs, all 4"x 6." They are for sale on my etsy shop for a whopping $2.50. But for my readers, they are FREE! Email me or add a comment and I will send you the file.

Shop Update: Greeting Cards!

I had so much fun creating my 2013 calendar that I recently decided to create a batch of greeting cards with some of the designs. Check them out on my etsy shop!

Spray Paint + Glue Guns = Fridge Fun!

I've seen lots of fun ideas online for whimsical crafts to make with plastic animals (like those on this blog). While buying spray paint for some other projects recently, I decided to give it a try! From the first step of chopping the animals in half, all the way through glue-gunning craft magnets to their middles, I was chuckling the whole way. Wouldn't these make wonderful little gifts to spread cheer to all your friends?

Printable 2013 Calendar: The Perfect Last Minute Gift

I can't tell you how excited I am to share my latest project with you: a printable 2013 calendar, now for sale in my Etsy shop! Each month features a bright illustration that will brighten up your home or office. Print the pdf and gift to as many friends as you like. Check it out here, in my shop! 

Autumn Colors

I thought this was a nice quote for fall in a way: we might lament the shorter days and colder weather, but its gonna happen so instead of trying to delay let's just embrace it! Maybe the connection isn't so strong, but I liked the quote and I liked the photo, so I smashed them together. ;)  By the way, isn't the color of these leaves just divine??? We don't get a ton of this in the Bay Area, so I was liking this tree. 

Super Yard Sale Find: ALPHABET stamps!

I cannot tell you how STOKED I was to find this gem of a stamp set for $1.00 while visiting a yard sale in my neighborhood this weekend. The "Print Craft" set by Superior Marking Equipment Co. has no date, but the design of the whole thing harkens back to another time. I love the little details on the box and the notepad (which is basically unused). Aside from a few small tears on the box cover, the entire set is in tact, including punctuation and even the matching ruler to keep your letters straight! 

The only thing I'll need to supplement from modern times is the ink pad; this cute little metal box only contains the powdered remains of an ink that once was. 

I can't wait to start lettering up my birthday cards and other fun paper crafts. :)

P.S. I think I'm destined for one yard sale triumph at least once per year. Remember this one?!?

Speed Design | Vikram Seth

I've been learning lots of coding stuff this month--not exactly pretty or blog-able! I've also had 

less energy to challenge myself on design projects. I made this poster for an upcoming event in 

record time to make a printing deadline. Improvements could be made, but I think it will do! 

Save the Date/25th Anniversary

You may remember some of my other save the dates here and here! This one was especially fun to make because its our 25th anniversary, and I used this vintage photo of our terrace, where the party will be held. This building used to be the student union and part of our facilities was the tap room. We need to re-create this photo, adding some ladies to bring it to the modern world!

Love More/Worry Less

I'm playing around with designing a series of quotes, and thought I'd share this one.
What gorgeous colors in this bouquet! I think ranunculus are my new favorite flower.

Weekend Getaway: Santa Cruz

I had a wonderful time in Santa Cruz with some friends this past weekend. Though the weather was not as balmy as expected, a bunch of the crew enjoyed surfing (bottom images; those aren't seals!!) and I got some great cafe/reading time in, as well as a nice walk on the beach. I also got a chance to try some new iPhone apps; in the image above I used Photo Frame Maker to create the collage and Phonto to add the text. Pretty fun! The finale to the weekend was a concert by the Shins, one of my all time fave bands. It was great to finally see them live!

Create Something Today

I've been pretty busy with freelance projects lately, which is both exciting and also quite time consuming! Today I allowed myself to play around a bit, taking a break from client work. I've been wanting to do a series of prints with quotes, and so I started by playing around with some simple text on this paint background. Wouldn't this be fun and inspirational in a studio?

P.S. (I thought I found this photo on Lost and Taken, but honestly it has been in my folder for awhile and so I am unable to give credit where its due! Apologies!)

Be Inspired (But Don't Copy)

While reviewing many of my pins on Pinterest the other day, I noticed a few resounding patterns:
1. Triangles/Mountains 2. Collage/blocky feel created by literal collage of patterns and or the use of lots of shapes 3. Overlays (colored objects with transparencies that allow for the overlaps to create new colors). Here's a sampling of the images I pinned, which clearly had an influence on one of my recent projects (pictured below the inspiration board). To see more of the designs I find inspiring, feel free to check out my Design Envy pinboard!

Fredric Jameson Poster (Drafts)

I'm not quite done with this poster for literary theorist and cultural critic Fredric Jameson, who will lecture at Berkeley in February, but I thought it would be fun to share some work-in-process! I've basically decided on the format on the far right, but am still working on refining colors. If you know Jameson's famous book, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, you will see that the image here is a play on that book cover (which uses Any Warhol's Diamond Dust Shoes), relating it to the title of the lecture: "The Aesthetics of Singularity." This visual reference will *hopefully* be recognized by more than one academic walking around campus. Either way, I'm sure the name Jameson (conveniently HUGE, if you didn't notice) will catch their eye, so hopefully we'll get a good turnout. :)

Movie Screening Poster

I recently made this movie "poster" for a screening a friend is hosting this week. I had so many ideas with the camp theme of the movie, but decided to go with the friendship bracelet angle. It was a fun project!

Before & After: Mini Holiday Greeting Project

I didn't make homemade cards this year, but when I ran out of store bought ones, I quickly 

designed this little ditty up. Here's the original inspiration on the left and the final product 

on the right!  I traced the photo, added a more visible tail and a little bling, and I'm quite 

happy with the result! I haven't blogged much recently, but hope that changes in January--

I have tons of design projects on my list to execute! I'm heading home tomorrow and can't 

wait to enjoy time with my family. Enjoy your holiday season!!

Thanksgiving mini-project

I'm so excited for Thanksgiving this year! I have quite a few family and good friends gathering together at my house this year for a potluck. I bought my first-ever turkey and am feeling the requisite anxiety about how to cook the thing, but I'm sure everyone in attendance will help. 

This is also the perfect excuse to do a fun little project: a welcome sign for the door! I created it in just a few minutes using this feather from the Graphics Fairy and this free font.

I hope you have a great, thankful holiday and a lovely long weekend!

Logo Land: Townsend 25th Anniversary

I've had the opportunity to make a few logos lately. Here's one I did for my Center, which will be used on almost all our materials during the year of our 25th anniversary. Woo!

Logos can be a challenge, but I like practicing making something simple that can be really small. Its also a good exercise to work in B&W only (even if the logo uses colors later) so you aren't distracted by colors or fancy effects.

I just finished a freelance project involving a logo as well, and hope to share all of the stuff I created for that with you too!

Another Day, Another Poster

Here's a poster I just sent out to the printer.  I'm not in love with it as a whole, but I do love how the three images in black and white look in a row. Also it is an important lesson about design: sometimes you just have to give your client what theywant, and sometimes you may not love the outcome. That's all I'll say about that.  :)

And moving on, this is going to be an awesome event! Desdemona is a collaboration between Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison, singer/songwriter Rokia Traoré, and Director Peter Sellars, in response to Sellars's 2009 Othello. The play is supposed to be "an intimate and profound conversation from beyond the grave between Shakespeare's Desdemona and Barbary, the woman Shakespeare identifies as the African nurse who raised her." I got to talk about it with Peter while they were still working on it, and I can guarantee it will be amazing!

Toni Morrison doesn't travel much, but we did get her to agree to skype in for a panel discussion. I wish I could have told my freshman in college self (reading Beloved in a lit. class) that I would one day receive an email from Toni Morrison...so cool!