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let go my logo... or something like that

9/16/2014

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hopefully you're feeling my eggo waffles reference up there because apparently i can't title things in a professional way. anyway, i've recently completed the logo/header design for an up-and-coming fashion blogger's site. here it is for your enjoyment:
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and here is a mock-up of the design on a fake blog set-up 
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(ahem) dinner will now be served

8/12/2014

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please, read the title of this post in a snooty accent. recently, i finished two chalkboards for a wedding and i'm in love with them. mostly because because working on a real chalkboard is so much better then working on anything sprayed with chalkboard paint. also- i loved all the blueberries in these designs. the wedding had a "Maine style with a little classy prep feel". i never knew there was a style for the state of Maine but i think i got the gist and it was just so courtney - it was perfect. these were really fun and aside from having my sister-in-law point out about 10 spelling errors (errrrr, but i love her for it) it was a very smooth process.  
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these were some of the biggest chalkboards i've done - 20 x 20 inches on the right and 20 x 34 on the left. phew!
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some blurry blueberries for you, ma'am?
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sorry about the strange angle here - there was glare
i also design the programs, name cards, and wine label table numbers ...
i loved her idea for incorporating their two home states on the programs. some may say quirky but i think its adorable. also- the tiny name cards she got in two different designs to help the caterer distinguish which meal each guest ordered (super smart and convenient). 
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ugh, i hate the way the colors show up on the internet. i promise the blue was more navy than royal, much, much darker... but i digress.
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lisa & tyler

5/28/2014

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this past weekend kicked off our wedding season and it was so much fun. we had the privilege of spending the entire day with the bride and groom because we were the unofficial friend videographers (wait, no, we ARE officially friends though). basically we had all the perks of being in the bridal party without having to stand up front and it was SO FUN! I also had the honor of designing their lovely wedding invitations. ^ seen above. the colors here are NOT what they look like in real life and i honestly have no idea how to ... pause while i come up with an idea ...
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here enters a picture of our fridge - the current resting place of all of our save-the-dates (oh hey THATs the bride and groom), invitations (sneak peek for next week's post on the left there), adorable doctor picture frame magnets (emily is a JDC kid! for sure), and apparently robert downey jr... this is way more accurate depiction of the invitation colors. they chose to print them on linen paper and that just made the black ink stand out SO GOOD - i believe the words "letter press" were hinted at when someone described these babies. thats a compliment in my book. (disclosure: they are not letter press) 
a word on the bride and groom:
 they are so fun to be around and we are LUCKY to call them friends. we don't get to see them often but when we do its always enjoyable - both of them bring so much life and confidence into a room. we happened to be at a memorial day barbecue after the big day, one which they would have normally attended if they weren't on their honeymoon, and i distinctly missed their presence. i can tell their marriage will be deeply blessed and a blessing to others - you just know these things, you know?
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polka dots are our favorite

5/20/2014

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if you know us, YOU KNOW! we love polka dots around here. so it was no surprise that this powder-blue, polka-dot fabric shirt would get a rave reaction from my husband. i'm not sure if i like polka dots because ricky likes them or because i always have... does it matter? regardless, we dress emily in as many polka-dots as we can. 
so because i felt successful after making my first baby shirt ever, i naturally made another one (practically) the next day. This time i thought i would document the process a little more. although, i don't even know why i bother since i never take the time to do an actual step by step tutorial and really who reads those anyway? don't we just want to be inspired by the pictures? am i just rationalizing my laziness? why blog anyway? what is my purpose in life... No. i refuse to do a tutorial. (however, i reserve the right to make a picture filled step-by-step post in the future)
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she totally gets the look-at-the-camera-and-smile concept at only 15 months old. however, she kept standing against the wall which was cute but i wanted to see the back!
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here is emily's "blue steel" look
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we can't stop. we won't stop (moving).
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the back is my favorite. i will be adding more bows to future shirts FOR SURE!
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see the resemblance?
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Step 1: birth the most adorable model baby you can. check.
(pro tip: this step takes the longest)
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Step 2: make a pattern out of paper. you can do this by taking a shirt that fits your kid and literally tracing that onto paper. i kind of did that and made some adjustments/plans as shown here by my sketch and the actual brown paper pattern made. 
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Step 3: cut out all pieces.
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step 4: assemble! i remember this part being more of a pain in my college days of making dresses for myself. i think its more enjoyable now because its on such a smaller scale. also, side note, i'm pinning this wrong in the picture and consequently had to re-do this. (seam ripping is also a lot less frustrating when the garment in 5 times smaller too)
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front
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back
step 5: admire! JK. try it on and make any adjustments. magically i didn't have to do this the first time but since i went a little "off the beaten path" with this one i did. I had to make the collar not so thick and lay flatter on her shoulders. i would totally make this one again and it would be way better- i think i might invest a little time in perfecting the paper pattern so i can make it again. 
(can you say baby shower present? whose next people?) 
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i'll call this design "the aristocat" style since it resembles the disney movie character to the left. for the record, i'm more than ok with that. 
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birthday chalkboards

5/5/2014

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so its like "a thing" to make a chalkboard about your baby on their first birthday...exhibit a, and exhibit b-a zillion. it's a super cute idea and i'm glad i stumbled upon it before my daughter's first birthday so i could totally plagiarize/customize/use-it-tize? it for her. 
i designed the whole lay-out for emily's on the computer first and was mighty tempted to add some sort chalk texture to it, print it, frame it and call it a day. BUT, i didn't. i did print it out as a reference to look at as i painstakingly copied every detail with chalk onto a board sprayed with chalkboard paint. of course i had to make mine "not big and obnoxious" so as to make myself feel like i wasn't being all showy. mine was about 11 x 14 and this made the process time consuming, tedious, difficult, and frustrating. have you ever tried to write tini-tiny fancy font words with a blunt piece of chalk? lets just say i used LOADS of wet q-tips as my erasers. i think by the time i was done (many hours later) i had gone through an entire box of them. also, the table looked like there was chalk shrapnel exploded all over it from my on-going quest for a sharp point. i said to myself "if i ever do this again it SHALL be bigger!" but i did LOVE the frame i got for it and it turned out great so alls fair right?  
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in the end i'm really glad i did it by hand (even if no one realized it was real chalk)
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cute frame right? so not obnoxiously showy, i know!
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well, as it turns out- i did get to do it again! three more times actually. two of my friends requested one for their baby's and i volunteered to make one for my niece. it was really fun to design them according to the theme for their party AND every one of them was significantly bigger than my first attempt which made things A LOT easier and more enjoyable. 
for the first two i, again, designed them on the computer first and then took to the board with a fully laid out plan. however, for my niece i just winged it! i didn't really have a choice since i did it the night before the party (but i think it turned out just as good). 
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isaac's airplane themed board complete with planes, clouds, and "sky writing"
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i also had the privilege of designing elsie's birthday invites. they were SUPER fiesta-y and bright. here is one on display with a couple of the awesome party details. i mean there were finger staches... come on! btw those are mariachi rubber duckys in the party favors....
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noah's party was all about the mustache and bow ties and i took the liberty to add some gentlemanly buttons too
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if you'd like to tackle your own here are the materials i used:
- matte board, poster board, or foam board for the base
- chalkboard paint in a spray can 
(i'd do a couple of light layers- so what you spraying it on doesn't warp too much)
- chalk... duh. you could also add some colored chalk. that would be fun
- q-tips and a small bowl of water for your life-saving erasers
-computer/printer*
*i used illustrator for design mine on a computer first but a sketch would work fine also

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everybody needs a sprinkle of lovin'

5/1/2014

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This past summer my sister, Julie, and I bonded over throwing my other sister (in law) Jenn a TINY shower or as i like to call it a "sprinkle". (I could pretend like that was my creative genius but apparently sprinkles are already a THING and no one would believe me.) 
Anyway, we divided up the duties and spent way too much time on facetime talking over the details which really just means we repeated ourselves several times while our babies ran around in the background occasionally stealing our ipads and canceling our call. I never made a diaper cake before so i volunteered for that in addition to these lovely e-vites, some extra flare, a banner, and the cake toppers. I can't claim anything on the wonderful matching plates and cake tower and the DE-LISH cupcakes themselves- that was all Juls. So feast your eyes on all the details of our "When it rains it Pours" Sprinkle for our well deserving sister- Jenn. 
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hand painted gift wrap- i leave no detail untouched when i'm excited (often to my husband's dismay)
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everyone was REQUIRED to wear shade of blue, duh
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"when it rains it pours Ryan + Jenn are having four!" banner
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props to julie for adding "rain" drops to the mix
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these beautiful centerpieces were her find/doing as well
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close up of my DIY "mommy x 4" sash
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We had several of these clouds floating around that outside tent that day. Have i mentioned it was in my parent's beautiful backyard party tent?
Overall, the shower was perfect! Even though it was very small i think that all the effort we put in was all worth it to show the love. Especially since that was Jenn's first shower and we just HAD to fix that injustice!
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that time i fulfilled a life-long dream

4/28/2014

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i'm probably the only person in the world who dreamed about the halloween costumes they would create for their one-day-future children. when we found out we were pregnant its one of the first things i thought about/looked forward to/put way too much pressure on getting perfect. For weeks i would ask ricky what he thought we should make emily for halloween. i took polls amongst our relatives, floated potential ideas to any one who would listen. finally, i arrived at THE PERFECT costume! Emily would be, for her very first halloween, a lima bean! to clarify, a can of lima beans, but still SHE WAS A LIMA BEAN! I googled it- she is from this moment on the FIRST can of lima beans on the internet and certainly the cutest. (if you haven't make the connection- our last name is lima. pronounced "LEEMA" as my former students used to spell it. like the capital of peru.) 
i should say that halloween itself is not a holiday that i'm IN LOVE with. really, i love it just for the fact that you can dress up and have candy. i hate horror movies and anything dark so i just ignore all the goo and gore for the fact that I LOVE CANDY AND COSTUMES!
If, upon googling "best cutest unique amazing baby costume", arrived here and would also like to make your child a can of lima beans (or any veggie really), here are my materials:
- fabric. i bought the silvery fabric for can and green stuff for the beans and hat. the rest came from scraps. 
- stuffing for the beans of course. you could really gut some old stuffed animals but thats sad so you can find this stuff at a fabric craft store. i got my at JoAnnes.
- boning. you know, the stuff that holds your strapless dress up or you maybe what you find in a bar. i got this at my local PA fabric outlet but they would have it at JoAnnes too. I used this to create the frame of the can. I realized afterwards that i just needed two loops at the top and bottom. 
- stiff felt. this i had laying around an was perfect for the lid. i covered it in fabric and although it was kind of floppy still worked. I used boning to get it to tilt up a little and connect it to the main costume. 
- mini shopping cart and fake veggies- if these weren't borrowed from family i don't know if this costume would have been as ultimately amazing as it was. they were the icing on the cake!
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Washing with His Word

5/1/2013

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Recently, I have been going through a sort of revival in my soul. Something about having to rely on Jesus's grace to make it through another day of "nap training" has opened my ears to hear God speaking more clearly. The word has come alive to me through reading the "proverb of the day", daily email devotions, my church's sermon series, and so many more avenues. I've been so inspired that I've taken to illustrating some of these "personal messages" from God's word. I'm sure there will be more to come. I envision a whole wall of scripture in our house someday. We'll see...
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Not ANOTHER gallery wall!

4/20/2013

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This framed print is my favorite in the room. It by far looks the "coolest" in the bright blue frame. I'm so glad I made some choice investments in fellow student's artwork during college. Every piece of art in our house is done by me or someone I know (sort of as a rule). I can't say I know this girl but I definitely shared a studio with her so I think that still counts. 

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Yup. I'm beginning to breach the "over-doing" it point with this gallery wall thing. Forgive me, just hanging one or two picture is just, well...boring. I thought spray painting all these mis-matched frames a bright blue was an funky choice but i like it and Ricky doesn't seem to mind. Also check out the new curtains via Target. They help marry the two colors together. 
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Ricky and I wanted this wall to be all about friends and family. We had so many pictures we loved that i had to create these custom matts to fit them all. Like this shot of my handy work? ... don't look too close!
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F is for Fox: Iron-On Onesies

3/2/2013

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Here are some pictures of a gift I made recently for a friend's baby shower. I LOVED it and it was so easy I know i'll be doing this again soon for my own daughter. I also included pictures of the card I made for her too. (Excuse the cheesy joke- they are keeping the gender of their baby a secret!) 

 If you want to do this too- all you really need is heat and bond paper (buy at a sewing supply store), fabric, scissors, onesies, and an iron. 
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