What I learned

Posted on May 14, 2012 by admin

It is time for another what I learned. This weekend was all about setting up wordpress so I could upload my custom theme and get things rolling for my shop. I am getting more and more excited as things start to happen. Ok so this week my tip is as follows.

Tip : When starting out designing for wordpress or any online environment have a plan. Sketch out ideas on a note book or a napkin as long as it all makes sense to you. Then move into a program such as photoshop or fireworks and lay out everything you will need inside there. Make sure you have things sized the way you want them to appear in the browser or else you might end up with what you thought was normal sized text but really shows up as GIANT text.

Having a plan for what you want to accomplish will help you reach your goals faster and will result in less time pulling out your own hair. I also started learning about coding from scratch for wordpress and while I think I can get into that and create some really cool stuff I decided to manipulate a theme that was already created so that I could get a feel for what files were needed as well as which functions.

I hope you all have an amazing week!

 

 

Posted in beginner, CSS, journey, learning, web design | 1 Comment

Inspiration Folder #5

Posted on May 11, 2012 by admin

Here is a peek from my inspiration folder this week! This week I have been out hunting blog inspiration. I am currently designing a custom blog layout and here are some images I found inspiring.

Button – Freckled Nest Blog Signature – Skunkboy Link Love Button – Life, ect. Social Media Buttons – August Empress
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DIY Wall Art and Custom Letters

Posted on May 8, 2012 by admin

Hello again! I am still decorating my apartment and I am bringing you another DIY tutorial. I like projects where you do not need a lot of supplies. This project only requires a couple of things and it was fun to make.

Supplies

Canvas
Acryllic Paint
Paint Brushes
Vinyl
Cardboard
Exacto Knife

I used Illustrator to create a layout of my vision for the wall art. Create an art board the size of your canvas so that when you print out the letters the proportions are correct. Separate the letters and place them so that you can print out as many on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper without waisting space.

1. Gather up your supplies.

2. Once you have this printed out tape the paper to the sheet of vinyl and laying this on the cardboard carefully cut around the letter shapes.

3. Now that you have the letter shapes in vinyl lay them on the canvas where you want them to be. Now begin drawing out your design in light pencil on your canvas. I chose to use circles in my composition. Once you have replicated your artwork start painting.

4. Lay out your letters on the canvas where you envisioned them to be.

5. Draw lightly in pencil the areas you want to paint.

6.  Paint directly over the letters.

7. Give your painting time to dry before peeling off the letters. In some places the paint leaked under the the vinyl and I had to do some touching up.

8. Now your painting is all finished. My canvas needed me to place the hardware on the back to hang it up. After that proudly display your work.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and look forward to seeing your awesome painted artwork.

Posted in DIY, wall decor | Leave a comment

What I learned this week.

Posted on May 6, 2012 by admin

I really enjoy learning new things. One of my missions is to always experience and learn for the rest of …well forever. I am going to start sharing some of the tips and things I learn throughout my journey and maybe they will help you. One thing I have learned this week is that in adobe camera raw I am able to do most of the editing workflow quickly and get fantastic results. I am currently learning how to retouch portrait photography as one of the steps in starting my photography business so this tiny tid bit will help speed up the editing process.

Tip:

You must shoot in camera raw for this to work. Once you open your photo for the first time a dialog window will pop up. This window has lots of buttons and options. If you haven’t taken time to explore this go ahead for a few minutes and become acquainted with some of the options available. Once you are ready to adjust the white balance. Using the eye dropper tool click on an area of the image that you know to be neutral (having an equal value of Red, Green and Blue). This area is often white but can also be a grey color. Once you click the photo will automatically adjust. If you are not happy with the results use the sliders off on the side to tweak the coloring. Often a picture will look better a little warmer or cooler.

With practice this will help you improve your workflow and images!

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Inspiration Folder #4

Posted on May 3, 2012 by admin

Here are a few images from my inspiration folder this week. I know I haven’t done many of these yet but I like how it helps me explore in areas I might not have otherwise.

Illustration - Ekaterina Koroleva

Formica table

Vintage Pant Hangers Art Display - Apartment Therapy

Hand Lettering - Sean Wes

Posted in inspiration folder | 4 Comments

My Vinyl Collection

Posted on May 1, 2012 by admin

I hope everyone is enjoying the first day of May! I started visiting some antique stores about a year and a half ago. Since then I have accumulated a little vinyl collection. I really enjoy getting to listen to the music from them and am glad I have spent the time searching for good copies of albums I like. I hope that as time continues my collection grows. Below is a sneak peek of part of my collection as well as a photo template I created. They are some of my favorite albums although when flipping through the sleeves I have a hard time picking favorites.  Have a great rest of the week!


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Lists : Weekend Fun

Posted on April 29, 2012 by admin

1. play with the baby
2. take pictures of friends
3. take pictures on the ranch
4. take it easy
5. work on a new illustration

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Buying Fonts vs. Free Fonts

Posted on April 24, 2012 by admin

It seems like such a great deal. FREE FONTS. I think “Wonderful, I can find a new font for this project I am working on and it will have a whole new look and feel.” Then I go around and do some of my favorite inspiration finding and I see the font I downloaded over and over again. This is how the discussion goes. Why buy fonts when there are so many free alternatives?

For a while I was the amoeba I didn’t feel one way or the other about the situation. Downloading free fonts, using fonts that were installed on my computer. But now I am firmly decided on my opinion. I think when you are looking for the perfect font for your composition using a free font is just too common. People put a lot of work and effort into creating a font. I want to reward the people who made the effort to produce good quality type.

I really like how a font that isn’t free seems more unique even on simple projects. I am gearing up to purchase my second font and cannot wait. To illustrate the differences here are two posters I am working on one with a purchased font and one with a free font.

Fonts used

Belinda - purchased

Apple Chancery – installed on my computer

Futura – installed on my computer

Bellerose - free

New things are coming to the blog I hope you are as excited as I am.

Have a great week!

Posted in graphic design, learning, personal design projects, typography | Leave a comment

It’s almost Wednesday

Posted on April 17, 2012 by admin

For the last couple of days….(maybe a week or more) I have been needing a mental vacation from everything. I like to think that I work hard I work almost full time during the day, during the evenings I try to practice graphic design, blogging, and photography. On the weekends when I am not cleaning I try to do even more learning and practicing. I guess after a year and a half it all caught up with me and I just needed a break. Well here we go I need to get myself out of this so I have decided that I am going to create some photo layouts for use in collages or on blogs. I have seen really wonderful examples from around the web and am armed and ready to produce photo templates. I plan to make them very user-friendly and maybe down the road will provide them for download. I have been experimenting with the process and if you go back through some of my recent posts you will see an example of my photo templates.

Posted in graphic design, journey, Photography | Leave a comment

My top 5 Daily Reads

Posted on April 10, 2012 by admin

I have never been one to keep a journal, to record my daily life in a diary or post tweets every 2 minutes about the sandwich  I am enjoying. Something changed in 2011 when I moved into my apartment and started looking around online for DIY decorating ideas. I found a whole world in the blogosphere I didn’t know about. The Crafters, the DIYers, the decoraters, the cooks, the list goes on and on; after months of reading and thinking and enjoying I wanted to try it. I brought my dusty old blog which started out much like a diary and I am string to rework it building it up with post about things that are of interest to me. I thought it would be nice to pay hommage to the blogs that I have enjoyed reading and which have inspired me the most.I love discovering new bloggers to read and my list is ever changing here are my most recent top 5.

1. A Beautiful Mess – Everything this girl does inspires I hope that I can craft my blog into such a beautiful place of personal expression as the writers over here.

2. Pugly Pixel – I really enjoy how she shows you inspiration from the real world and takes it into the graphic design relm. Her tutorials are easy to follow and fun to read.

3. Pioneer Woman – I want, I want, I WANT her lodge kitchen and pantry. I think I could craft beautiful meals like her if I had that kitchen. She offers lots of information on photography another topic I am passionate about.

4.  Indie Jane Photography - She has a blog filled with very inspiring portrait photography. I love her use of the great outdoors and the sun to make images that feel fun.

5. Hair Romance - I am a sucker for trying new hairstyles and she has a lot of really fun looks in her ebook.

I hope you all enjoyed this list and had a great weekend with family and friends.

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