A Watermark for my Sister's Photography

My sister has been familiar with a camera for a long time, mostly because she is completely photogenic and has always enjoyed having her picture taken. This eventually led to her being captivated with the other side of the camera as well and now she enjoys being the photographer. I especially adore her outdoor photography with clients (or with her adorable kids!). She has the skill for outdoor lighting, and more importantly, she has an eye for balance. Last year as her photography business was beginning to grow, I asked if I could design a custom watermark graphic for her pictures. It serves as both copyright and promotion. (At the time her business name was simply typed on the side of the image.) Now she can mark her photos with a fun, logo-type design element that can help promote her contemporary style. If you are in the Santa Fe, Rio Rancho, Albuquerque areas, you can find out more about setting up a photo session here at her FB page.

 

Let The 5th Graders Party

In April, a close friend emailed me that she was on her 5th grade son's (also a close friend of mine) grad party committee. She asked if I would help with a t-shirt design. There was just no way I could say "no" to that. T-shirt designs are a fun project for me... probably because it's clothing and graphics combined! Plus working on youthful graphics always makes me feel young.

At first I forgot to ask how many colors it would be printed in so I was playing in full-color. Luckily, they ended up using the colored ones for some posters and then I converted the design into two-color for the t-shirts. All the 5th graders got their own, each with the full list of their names. The school did a great job of decorating for the event and it sounded like a really fun time. I'm glad I got to be a part of a fun event for such a big moment in a kid's life =) 

Sweetheart of a Dress

Summer is the time of year when I am busier with sewing... and with socializing (ah, summer). I absolutely love summer for many reasons. Being able to wear skirts and dresses is definitely one of them.

In addition to my bias-cut skirts that I sell, I really wanted to add a few dress styles to my shop as well. This year I made a pattern for a retro-inspired, sweetheart neckline, strapless dress. I made a few in my size so that I could show their fit (and so I could have one for myself =). Then I offered them as a custom made dress in the customer's size and fabric request.

As with most of my patterns I make, I incorporated a comfort/ease fit. This way I can send a completed custom sized dress to a customer without them needing to have a fitting during the construction. I even got to make one for a gal in Australia and I am making some for a group of bridesmaids in Florida.

I am a big fan of pockets in dresses! (and photoshopping my head of out of the shot =).

Save-The-Date Magnet Fun

While there are a variety of products and services I endeavor in each month, most fall into one of three general categories: invitations, graphic design or sewing. This post is a combination of two categories. It's what happened last month when I took my list of little phrases in my graphic design files and give a face-lift to my save-the-date magnets.

I've been offering save-the-date magnets for as long as I've been making invitations. They incorporate pattern papers and ribbon to nicely coordinate with the invite. They are sweet but I really wanted to offer something a little more modern too.

Long before I made invitations I began collecting a variety of little phrases that I've been using on cards and magnets. Some are known slang, quotes, phrases, song snip-its or other pop-culture reference. Others, usually my favorite, are a mash-up of words from the list or completely random word combinations. For my new save-the-dates I grabbed a couple phrases to combine and then enjoyed a little graphic design. Voila.

Angry But Cute

When it comes to Christmas gifts, I make as many as I can. This also means I am making things I've never made before nor ever imagined I would be making. The one that stuck out this Christmas was the Angry Bird stuffed animals I made for two [super fun] young boys I know. I designed them from a popular little computer game of the same name. I thought they turned out cute even though they are meant to be "angry."

Cute photos don't really NEED fun frames

There are a lot of great photographers taking artistic photos. I even happen to know some. Artistic photos can be so inspiring and when I know the person pictured, I can't help but love them all the more. These photos could be in just a simple black frame a still overflow with joy, but since they are so inspiring, I can't help but let the creativity continue with fun frames.

I've been recovering frames for several years. Here are just a couple examples.

The Life of an Image

There are a lot of great images on stock photography websites these days. They are no longer just the kitschy, stale image selections they once were. This can sometimes mean spending too much time looking through hundreds, if not thousands of images! Other times, no matter how hard I look, I know my ideas are just too specific to find the perfect image. I've learned to pick a few that stand out to me and envision the potential to take them where I want to go, as it is with this photo. This is when I get to play around in photoshop. (These images will then become backgrounds for postcards, brochures, etc).

I find the key to combining images is all in the lighting (intensity, direction and shadows). In the photo to the left, the flowers may feel a little bright, but in this case they were meant add a playfulness and so I didn't mind. With an artistic eye, I don't think there is an absolute moment that two photos perfectly fuse together. I don't want to get caught up in fine-tuning it to death. Nature itself isn't concerned with composition and yet it's very successful at visually communicating.

This combination of photos is not about convincing the viewer that the fish are at that location, so the difference in lighting wasn't an issue. The image instead is more about creatively conveying a concept. The fun part is how one image can convey several ideas. In this case the image was used in a message series titled INSPIRED.

Mostly, as I look through the images I've worked on, it's the creative and fun aspects, much more than the believability, that I enjoy most. Here is an image that I got to add a VW bus and make look like an old photo.