Allie & Danny's Baby Shower

Brandi was planning a coed baby shower for her sister-in-law and she asked me to create an invitation and some extras for the shindig. The theme was “a baby is brewing” and Brandi sent me a photo of the bedding set that Allie had purchased for their baby girl. I was able to use some of the same floral graphics for the invitation and I love how it turned out!

Since Allie and Danny don’t live in the same state as where their baby shower took place, we made sure to mention it on the insert that listed their registry information.

In addition to the invitation, I also made signs for a headband-making station and for a time capsule that guests made for their new baby.

Best wishes to the new parents!!

Family Forest Fest

I had the privilege of creating artwork for the Family Forest Fest; a camping experience designed for families with young children. In 2017 they had events in two locations; one on Whidbey Island outside of Seattle, the other at Leaping Lamb Farm in Alsea, Oregon. In 2018, they had one event in Alsea, Oregon. They hosted a teddy bear hunt, outdoor play for kids, live music, bubble professionals, a movie night, a costume carnival, night hikes, family yoga, and so much more. There were also outdoor gear vendors there with gear for campers (and kids) try out. It looked amazing and I was sad to see them stop the events when it was becoming too difficult to make it sustainable.

I designed t-shirts for the events along with magazine ads, social media graphics, event maps, signs, and banners. Here's the adult t-shirt from 2017. It was printed in kelly green for staff members and navy blue for adult attendees.

The kids tees were printed on lime green.

I also created signs to identify different parts of the camp and a map of each location so campers knew where everything was. Some spaces were even sponsored.

Event map for the Oregon event:

For the 2018 event, they were able to use many of the same signs, but we did revamp the t-shirt designs:

Kid’s shirts were bright blue:

For the adult tees, they went with this lovely shade of dark green along with some lighter green and gray options:

Image by Heartbeat Photography

Image by Heartbeat Photography

Image by Heartbeat Photography

Image by Heartbeat Photography

It was such a pleasure to work on all of these items for Family Forest Fest. Thank you so much Shanti and Erin!

Alex's First Day of Freedom

It’s September 2nd and summer has flown by in a flash. This year I tried my best to pack our summer with as much fun and adventure as possible while squeezing some contract work in the crevices between travel, camping, hiking, biking, swimming, and sleeping in. We spent a week with family in California. We camped and hiked with friends. We went on bike rides (which are way more fun now that I actually have a bike!). We had a real, week-long vacation in Lake Tahoe (the first in many years). We spent lazy Sundays fishing in high mountain lakes with Daddy. We had shave ice dates, frozen custard dates, gelato dates, and lots of swimming play dates.

Now school is back in session and my youngest and last baby started kindergarten! Since I make a sign for both of my kids every year, I figured that after eight years of being a WAHM (work-at-home-mom) I deserved one for myself. In case you can’t zoom in, it discusses how I would like to be on vacation when I grow up. My favorite foods are anything I don’t have to share and hard lemonade. My hobbies include quiet time, hiking, reading, cooking alone, and anything without an audience. My teachers are Netflix and Amazon and I’m 40 years young. I thought it was fitting to take the photo from my hammock overlooking a beautiful alpine lake… which is where we spent the whole Sunday before the first day of school.

Next summer I’ll add this sign to my Etsy shop so fellow parents can have a sign of their own.

All summer my youngest has had nothing but positive things to say about how awesome kindergarten would be and I’m so happy that his first full week lived up to the hype. Every day he came home tired, but ready for another day of fun.

My kindergartener is kind and smart and quick to laugh off scrapes of bumps that might slow him down, but fully admits that a BandAid will take the pain away. He loves Crocs, Lego, Paw Patrol and anything his big brother is into. He often narrates whatever he’s doing or playing with and when asked who he’s talking to, he’ll tell you he’s narrating a YouTube video for his subscribers. He loves taekwondo and his flexibility allows him to kick higher than his own head , much to his brother’s chagrin.

My oldest started fourth grade and is really excited for what this year will have to offer. He is so smart and wants to know EVERYTHING and show everyone that he knows EVERYTHING. We joke that he’ll be a Jeopardy! champion some day. He continues to train in taekwondo every week and is currently one belt below a black belt. He will be eligible to test for his black belt next year. He loves history and we watch YouTube videos about random history together and discuss the historic places we can visit. He also loves to play soccer and run cross country. He adores fishing and camping and has rather suddenly fallen in love with exotic cars. He is also becoming a foodie and loves to cook and try new foods.

Since my printer is down at the moment, I had all of our signs printed on card stock at my local Office Depot (it was less than $2 total). They did an amazing job and in photos they almost look like real chalkboards. These signs are available in my Etsy shop in the summer and ready to be customized for your kids.

Happy first day!!

First Day of School Signs - 2018

I was thrilled to get to create a bunch of First Day of School signs for so many awesome kids this year. First Day of School signs are available in my Etsy shop in the summer months through the end of September. They also can be ordered by sending me an email if you’d prefer to not go through Etsy. I customize the text using your child’s information and their favorite colors. Then you print the sign yourself.

Here’s a sampling of this year’s kids with their signs:

Here are my two boys this year. I wonder how many years they’ll let me keep doing this??

There will be three different font styles to choose from when they are available. The backgrounds look like a faux chalkboard and they’re set to print on 8.5x11 paper. If you want it to look more like an actual chalkboard, you can trim off the white edge and/or print onto thicker card stock. Or your can back it with a piece of cardboard. The colors print most vibrant on glossy paper, but then you have a potential glare when taking a photo. It looks more like a real chalkboard when printed on matte paper. The choice is yours.

If you live in a country where A4 paper is the norm, just let me know and I can send it at that size.

Happy First Day!!

Cecile & Francis

Cecile and I have been friends for just over 20 years. She grew up in southern France and we met when she stayed with my family through an exchange student program when we were teenagers. The following year, my brother and I saved our summer job money and spent a couple of weeks exploring France with her family hosting us. It happened to be the same summer that France was hosting the World Cup and while we didn't have the funds to attend any games, we got to watch from bars and public venues as France made their way through the quarter and semifinals and eventually won the World Cup. It was an amazing trip, and one I still have very fond memories of. 

Cecile went on to attend college in the United States and fell in love with Francis; an expat from Uganda. They settled in Minneapolis with their kids and this past summer, I was honored to work with both of them on the printed items for their long-awaited wedding. 

Their wedding invitation paid homage to their backgrounds with a world map marking Uganda, France, and their home in Minnesota using their wedding colors in teal, navy blue, coral, and copper. I absolutely LOVE how this turned out.

They went with Panel Pockets from Cards and Pockets in Imperial Blue with matching envelopes. These are an awesome solution for wedding inserts if you don't want the pomp and circumstance of a traditional pocketfold. The 5x7 panel simply has a pocket on the back for any inserts.

The two inserts included R.S.V.P. information along with maps and directions to each of the two venues.

A fun detail that I have been doing more and more for clients is a custom return address stamp. I created what we later named their "family logo" and had it made into a 2" rubber stamp with Hello World Stamps.

Don't stress, the magic of Photoshop allowed me to change their home address.

Kelly with Hello World Stamps is amazing to work with and HIGHLY recommended. Cecile went so far as to emboss the stamps for all 200 envelopes that were mailed out. They look wonderful with the metallic copper finish!

My oldest son and I had the privilege of attending Cecile and Francis' wedding this past August. My son is eight and had never attended a Catholic wedding ceremony before. He was confused about why we kept standing up and sitting down, and why he couldn't use the rail for kneeling as a foot rest. But he made it through and had fun dancing with new friends he made at the reception, including Cecile's oldest son.

When guests arrived to the reception there was a red carpet and this step and repeat backdrop that Francis had printed with their "logo" and their wedding hashtag. It was so fun to take photos!

Cecile sent me a few photos from their wedding photographer: 

For wedding favors, Cecile was originally planning to use traditional Ugandan kikoy fabric and sew it into small bags to hold Jordan almonds. But the fabric connection fell through. Then I suggested we create our own kikoy print and have fabric custom printed. She sent me a few photos of different kikoy stripes and I created one that used their wedding colors. Cecile ordered the fabric from SpoonFlower and it tuned out really beautiful! 

In this process, I also learned that Jordan almonds are originally from France! I will try and find my favor and take a closeup photo.

There were also a handful of Reserved signs for family.

These little signs were scattered throughout the reception too, reminding guests to share photos with their wedding hashtag. 

They printed this giant map in lieu of a traditional guest book. Everyone was encouraged to sign with well wishes and love. It will look wonderful in their home with messages from their guests!

Finally, a few weeks after the big day, we created this thank you card that they sent out to guests.

We continued the travel theme with the map and turned it into a mock postcard with two of their wedding photos. I really love how this turned out. The back was left with empty space so they could handwrite a thank you message.

Cecile and Francis, thank you so much for thinking of me when it was time to create beautiful printed items for your wedding. It was truly an honor to get to play a tiny part in your big day and to actually be there too was just the icing on the cake! Congratulations and I wish you many, many years of joy. XOXO!