Archive for the ‘design’ Category

Freebie: Floral Calligraphy Party Invitations

May 30th, 2016
4 Comments

Our sweet Miss Penelope got baptized this month a new member of The Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-Day Saints (aka Mormon, aka LDS). It was a really sweet day for the whole family, it was hard not to get rather emotional over it.

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As a way to make a big deal out of her birthday and her baptism I threw her a party. The first real party since her dino brunch (favors, printables, invitation) when she turned three. I’ve got an amazing track record, folks. AMAZING.

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As I was looking around online, many of the baptism invitations I found looked a lot like wedding invitations (super formal copy, formal design and a glamor photo). Photos usually included the girl wearing the poofiest princess dress. And while that’s exactly what some girls want (hey, you do you!), it just didn’t seem like Penelope. But hey, I’m sure you could use these graphics for a wedding invitation. Just depends upon how formal/informal the thing is. So, you know, I’m totally a hypocrite.

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For the design, I hand-lettered the whole thing with bits of watercolor. Materials used for the design work:

For the process, I sketched out the wreath idea, and inked it up. Instead of watercoloring directly on top of the wreath I used a light pad and watercolor paper to do watercolor. I wanted to have as much flexibility as possible for changing things up as the design progressed.

Then I sketched the outline of the wreath and drew out lines for the text. I inked and scanned. Beyond cleaning up scans, I pretty much just layered everything together and printed. Coming up with the concept took longer than the actual design time itself. It still took a fair amount of time to complete.

 

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Penelope invited her closest friends to the baptism, but since many of them aren’t of our faith, I wanted to include separate information in case a friend didn’t feel comfortable attending the baptism (everyone’s welcome to baptisms, but it can be uncomfortable if you’re not sure what to expect).

Since making the artwork, I wanted to put it out there for anyone to use (for personal use only, obviously). So see below for the printable blank version! I think it’d be the perfect printable invitation for a tea party, outdoor picnic, baby or bridal shower. Prints 2 5×7 invitations per sheet. Single-sided, full color. I hope you like it and use it!

melissaesplin-penelope-baptism-free-printable-3aCLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

Click the link above to download the printable. The printable is free for personal use only. Alteration or distribution of the files without written permission is prohibited. Feel free to email if you have questions about the artwork (see contact form above or comments section below).

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For the actual party, I didn’t get around to taking many photos of the set up. It was just pure family and friend chaos. But so fun. We decorated for the party with handmade paper flowers and succulents. I managed to sneak shots of the cupcakes I made. I made strawberry vanilla cupcakes with these darling liners that kind of reminded me of flowers.

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The food faire was simple. Make-your-own sandwiches, veggies, fruit, chips, dip, etc.

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And I set up a photo booth for Penelope to take photos with family and friends. As soon as the baptism was over Pen swapped her darling dress for play clothes. She had so much fun goofing off in front of the camera. I printed out all of the images she took with friends and created a little scrapbook for her with them.
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I kind of went a little bit on the crazy side for her big day! Part of me thinks I set a terrible precedence by making a big deal out of it; but I’m looking forward to Felix and June’s big days should they decide to get baptized as well.

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2016 Mother’s Day Printable

May 3rd, 2016
5 Comments

I feel grateful for the wonderful women in my life that have been role models for what womanhood is about. It’s about strength, diligence, grace, grit, endurance and creativity. Those women that ooze greatness seem to be all around me. I’m grateful to call them my friends, sisters, mentors and mothers.

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More than laboring and delivering a child, motherhood is about nurturing beautiful qualities that lift others to improve and grow.

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So is there a woman who has mothered/nurtured/fostered something great in your life? Let her know. I hope you enjoy and use this free printable to send someone some happy thoughts this Mother’s Day.

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The printable comes 2 cards on a page, one in each color. Simply print, cut, fold and send.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

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See above link to download. Artwork is free for personal use.

*By downloading the above material, you agree to terms of use: This tutorial/freebie is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without my consent. Altering any files is NOT ALLOWED. If you would like to use this freebie for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

#Hallelujah Easter Printable 2: 2016 Easter Candy Box

March 11th, 2016
6 Comments

I believe in Christ! He did something super awesome for all of us. These printables are focused around our Savior. I hope that if you’re a disciple of Christ, regardless of denomination, you’ll enjoy these designs.

In collaboration with Sugardoodle & Mormon.org, here’s the second printable from the printable series!

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I’ve been totally crushing on blues and watercolor textures lately, so I thought I’d do a take on a painted Easter egg with this printable. The design is similar to my 2010 box, but with a whole new spin.

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Each design element ties back to a symbol and a scripture (see printable) from the Bible (KJV). It’d be a fun way to do place cards for an Easter feast, or give away to a neighbor or a loved one.

  • The cross symbolizes Christ’s sacrifice
  • The scallops represent fish scales/ and we must become fishers of men
  • The three stripes represent the godhead
  • The laurel leaves represent royalty
  • The palm leaves represent Christ’s victory over death

 

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The thing that I love so much about religious symbolism is that you can see a seemingly ordinary graphic and find deeper meaning within it.

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I hope you enjoy this design and share a box or two with family and friends. Click the link below to download.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Check out past year’s printable Easter stuff:

Easter Basket Tag • Easter Banner • Easter Sunday Printable • 2011 Candy Box • 2010 Easter Candy Box

*By downloading the above material, you agree to terms of use: This tutorial/freebie is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without my consent. Altering any files is NOT ALLOWED. If you would like to use this freebie for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

#Hallelujah Easter Printables 1: Basket Tag Challenge

March 10th, 2016
3 Comments

Let me preface this series with disclosing that I’m a Mormon and I believe in Christ! He did something super awesome for all of us. These printables are focused around our Savior. I hope that if you’re a disciple of Christ, regardless of denomination, you’ll enjoy these designs.

I had the honor to work with Sugardoodle and Mormon.org on Christ-centered Easter printables. Not to get overly spiritual here, but I asked myself How do I bring Christ into our Easter celebrations? And the sad answer was I don’t. Not really. So this was a fun challenge for me in a design sense and in a personal/spiritual sense. I plan on using these printables this year to bring Christ into our sugar-induced celebrations. I hope you do, too!

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I love symbolism. It adds power and meaning to every day objects and visuals. So for this first printable, I made a simple tag that reads, “Take some time to go through your Easter basket. Share with your family how each item can relate to our Savior Jesus Christ.”

The idea is simple. And it doesn’t require any planning beyond attaching the tags to the baskets. Try to find ways to tie back even the silliest of Easter basket items to Christ. For example:

  • Peeps: baby chicks are a sign of spring, which is a symbol of life.
  • Bunny: bunnies (because of their reproductive habits) are a symbol of everlasting life. Christ’s sacrifice gave everlasting life to us!
  • Socks: socks keep my feet warm like the feeling I get when I think about how Jesus loves me.

If you’d like, do a little research on the symbols of Easter. I found this article to be interesting and insightful.

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Would you like to play along? Download by clicking the link below.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

*By downloading the above material, you agree to terms of use: This tutorial/freebie is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without my consent. Altering any files is NOT ALLOWED. If you would like to use this freebie for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

Before & After: Basic Leather Chair

February 15th, 2016
2 Comments

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This post is sponsored by Leather Hide Store. Find a massive variety of high quality upholstery-weight leather at a great price.

Connect with Leather Hide store on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. See their upholstery guide here.

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I’ve had this seat for gosh nearly 3 years. It’s been patiently awaiting a loving touch in the corner of my studio. For the life of me I can’t find a before picture, but it’s not too terribly hard to imagine: dark oak legs and a 70s poo brown tweed cover over the seat cushions. It’s a simple silhouette. And for being so old and well-used (it was formerly a chair on BYU campus), it was in fabulous condition. A few scuffs and scrapes on the legs and a whole lot of dust.

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Sitting on it was a dusty, scratchy experience. I felt like it could be easily elevated out of its sad state with a little bit of paint and leather. Unfortunately for everyone, it took a year to attack the upholstery once I started to take it apart.

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It wasn’t that the upholstery work was terribly difficult. In fact, once I started the job, it wasn’t hard at all. The square shape of the upholstery made drafting up a pattern for the new cover super easy. And it didn’t take up a ton of material either. I don’t think I had more than 1/4th of a hide here and I had just enough to cover the entire thing.

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The hardest part about the upholstery job was that Felix put a bolt inside one of the holes sideways (how he got it in there, I have no idea) so I spent a good hour working on getting it out.
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I split a small part of the wood getting the legs on (see the above pic), but overall, it came together quite nicely. Putting the back panel of leather on was the most terrifying thing because I had to measure so precisely, account for the stretch of leather and use the most deadly upholstery tacks to nail into the frame so there are no raw edges. I’m sure those tacks were meant to go only through fabric, so it was a bit tough to get them to go through 2, sometimes 4, layers of 2 oz. leather.

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Overall, I’m pleased with how it turned out. I think it looks nicely finished, and guests aren’t afraid to sit in the chair anymore! It also adds a lot of lightness to that corner of our living/family room. The old chair blended right in to the dark wood flooring.

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Materials used:

Here’s a run-down of the process:

I took off the legs, measured the seat and drafted up flat paper patterns of the seat. I used a 5/8 seam allowance and made sure to write out the SA on every pattern piece.

After the patterns were done and checked against the existing chair, I cut out the leather. Since there were a lot of squares, each pattern piece was labeled and the leather was clipped to the pattern pieces until I sewed them so I could leave and come back to the project and know what pieces were sewed together and where.

From there, I got a bit freaked out about the sewing aspect of it all and switched to finishing the legs.

I used BB Frösch chalk paint for the legs, which was a huge time saver. No sanding or priming required. Just paint and go! The matte finish is pretty great, too. It makes me wish this had been around when we did our rocking chair eeons ago!

After I got the legs done, I (with the help of my intern last year) removed the prior upholstery. I wish we had done this outside because dust, old fabric fibers and countless number of staples just sprinkled my studio floor for weeks. Even now I still find a random staple. This chair had hundreds of hundreds of staples keeping the material on the frame! The dusty fabric made my studio smell horribly for days.

I sewed up the seams on the sides of each section (the top and bottom cushions are two separate pieces) and fit the leather on. I didn’t have to make any adjustments to the fit, thankfully, but I realized I needed to reinforce the ends of the seams so that they wouldn’t come undone. I grabbed my waxed linen thread for that and sewed up those ends for strength. Once I got the top and bottom cushions done, I affixed the legs, attached the back portion and then covered the bottom. I cleaned everything up and conditioned with leather conditioner and voila! It took me several months to complete it, but if I had worked continuously on the project, it wouldn’t have taken me longer than a Saturday morning and afternoon. I just got nervous about each step so I would take long breaks.

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So there you have it! Read more for details on the living room!

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