Posts Tagged ‘design’

Before & After: Utah Sweet Savings

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I love a good before and after. This one is a doozy.

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I met Becky back in August at a round-table where I taught about the DOs and DON’Ts of web design/layout for bloggers. We had a little time at the end so I did a few open critiques. Becky said I was the only who didn’t say, “Well, It’s not that bad.”

Not only were aspects of the site completely broken, but there was nothing about the design that expressed her personality.

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Chris and I partnered up with Becky of Utah Sweet Savings to give her a site that both functioned and reflected her own personality.

I did the logo and bee graphics, Chris did all the rest. I’m pretty proud of his burgeoning design skills.

Designed: How to Write A Better Blog Post

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My sister-in-law knows how to get stuff DONE. She edits. She writes. She actually writes very well. We were talking about how she needed to write a book.

Three days later she sent me her book.

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Seriously? It’s amazing. Also, her tutorials (i.e. chapters) for writing a better blog post are pretty awesome. She gives me actionable items that I can actually use to make my writing better. It’s not like I follow them all the time, you read this blog, but when I do I feel more confident about my writing.

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I formatted, designed and added my two cents on formatting for blog posts. It’s a must-not miss. The book is available for digital download in my shop.

In other news, the calligraphy workshop was a hit! I’m hosting a second lecture-style workshop tomorrow at a friend’s design office in Redwood City. For details and sign up, click here.

Welcome To Our Home Free Printable

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I’m over at One Good Thing by Jillee sharing a little printable for your door or entry way. I think this would make a great sign and jumping off point for theming a house-warming party. Bright, rich colors are so inviting to me. CLICK HERE for the printable.

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If you’re new here. . .

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Welcome! Take a look around! You can subscribe through Feedly or add your email address to the subscribe widget on the left for email updates. (Sorry it looks ugly, I’ll make it pretty soon.) I’ll be back tomorrow to share with you a little number I made as part of my “Draw it, Sew It” series.

No Solicitors, Please / July Promo

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I’m a new affiliate blogger with Silhouette. Each month I will be posting something in concert with one of their promotions. You can use my code: MELISSA to take advantage of that deal. By using my code, you will get a deal and I will get affiliate kick-backs. I genuinely stand by this tool and I use it all the time! If you have any questions about the machine, supplies or how to get started, feel free to ask in the comments below.

We get a lot of solicitors in our neighborhood. It’s sort of strange since we live very much out of the way of anything. Maybe they like to target our community because there are just homes around us? I don’t know. I’ve had a few incredibly pushy salesmen knock on my door recently, leaving me with a very icky feeling.

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Since then I’ve put a “No Solicitors” blurb on the bottom of my chalkboard, but that doesn’t even seem to help. I needed something a bit closer to eye level.

I sketched up a few different ideas (thanks for chiming in on which was your favorite, I had a tough time deciding), digitized it and cut it with my new Cameo.

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I could have made it bigger (I just got the new Cameo, it’s enormous and even awesomer than my old SD that I loved so much), but I didn’t want that message be the first thing that friends and family see when they knock on my door. It measures about 2 inches tall by 6 inches wide.

Side note: this is as festive as I get around here. 3 glitter stars pinned to my coffee filter wreath. Boom. Done.

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There was quite a response on Instagram requesting the sticker and a downloadable file. I’ve put those up for you. I have 9 stickers left for sale, you can purchase those here. The digital file can be purchased here.

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Silhouette has a great deal this month (discount good through July 10th)! If you don’t have a Silhouette and are thinking about getting one, feel free to ask me any questions in the comments below.

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You can get their portrait for $129.99 (which I think is a steal, but if you want to do anything on a bigger scale just go for the Cameo. Trust me, it rocks). If you already have a Silhouette cutter, you can get the designer edition software for half off. I’ve been using the designer edition for a week now, and I’d say it’s worth it. I still design the bulk of my graphics in Illustrator, but I still found it more useful for cutting than the standard Studio software.

You get more creative license with graphics (creating, erasing, scaling and shearing), you can cut with a wider range of files and you can easily create your own rhinestone patterns. If you don’t have Illustrator, it’s definitely worth the extra money. You can see all of the features for yourself here.

Chalk, TV and Hand-lettering

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Yesterday I was on TEE VEE! I had so much fun hanging out with local tv hosts Brooke and Darin.

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I showed Darin and Brooke how to make paint out of your chalk (tutorial here). And Darin went to town with this method during the segment.

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I was thoroughly impressed with the quote Darin lettered during the commercial breaks. We had a great time. You can watch the full segment here.

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In other news, I finished this logo for fellow blogger, Missy of Missy Dear. We’re thrilled to bits about how it turned out. The design process was so much fun.

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