Laura's Holiday Card - 2020

I have had the privilege of creating some of the most creative holiday cards with Laura over the years. She comes up with some of the most fun ideas. Sometimes they are simple, and she does most of the work from a photography or Photoshop standpoint and all I’m doing is adding text. Sometimes it’s more elaborate and we have fun with Photoshop together. It’s an adventure each and every time.

2020 was quite a year, and her card reflected that sentiment exactly.

Laura did most of the Photoshop on this gem with the gremlins. How about a zoomed in look at those photos!

Click here and you can see every holiday card I’ve done for Laura. It turned out awesome. Thanks, Laura!!

What is Direct Creatives?

I have a little store on Direct Creatives. DC is a marketplace for small business owners to find tools to use for their own branding, customers, and social media presence.

If you’re a small business owner and you’re responsible for your brand, Direct Creatives has artists, creators, and coaches selling content that you can use: custom design services, consulting services, background papers, graphics packs, fonts, worksheets, and templates just to name a few. You can also find Trello Boards, hostess coaching, e-books, templates for Canva and PicMonkey, gift certificates, and more. You can find tools to help with your business that you didn’t even KNOW you needed.

If you want to add even more to your toolbox, you can sign up for Direct Creatives Insider. DC Insider is a monthly, virtual subscription box for small business owners. Each month features something different to add to arsenal. One month was about the basics of using Trello for your business. Another month was about Asana as a tool for your business. One month featured the ins and outs of using watermarks to brand your graphics and photos (I hosted that month!). Learn how to create e-Books in Canva or the basics of PicMonkey for creating graphics. Every month features something new. Joining DC Insider also gets you exclusive discounts from the store that’s hosting each month along with fun, themed graphics that you can use in your own branding.

In my Direct Creatives store, I sell branding packages. I will design your logo and help you establish a visual brand for your small business; including business cards, social media banners and cover images, profile pics, watermarks, rack cards, postcards, stickers, and more.

I also sell background papers and stock photography that can be used for social media and I’m constantly adding more of these as I create them. You can easily add text to these backgrounds and photos using design software like Canva and PicMonkey or Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop. I have some other items like customizable holiday cards, customizable cootie catchers, wall calendars, and artwork in there too.

I will continue to add items to my storefront as I learn and figure out how I can use my skills to help small business owners rock their brand.

What do you need for your small business??

Wasatch Midwifery & Wellness

When I was pregnant with my second baby, I opted to see a midwife and have him at a freestanding birth center instead of a hospital. I was low-risk and it ended up being far and away a better experience than when I had my first baby in a hospital four years prior.

One of the midwives I saw on a regular basis was Adrienne Brown. She was warm, friendly, straightforward, and she made me feel completely at ease while at the same time, I felt completely confident that my baby and I were very well taken care of. She hails from the realm of “you know your body and your baby best, I’m just here to support you.” What more could a woman ask for, right??

A few years ago she opened her own freestanding birth center and practice and I was honored to be able to create rack cards for her birth center. She had a logo already and some beautiful photos, so I created a few layouts and this was the final result. It’s honestly an easy job when there are such beautiful photos!

Check out her site! Wasatch Midwifery + Wellness

I love how they turned out!

Hike it Baby Social Media & Magazine Ads

Aside from the activity sheets and watercolor stickers I’ve had the pleasure of creating for Hike it Baby, one thing I create for them on a regular basis are social media graphics and magazine ads. They work with a bunch of really amazing photographers and I get to turn some truly beautiful photos into social media graphics and, when it’s in the budget or they can get free ad space, magazine ads. Below are some of my favorites:

The graphics below were printed in a couple of magazines like Backpacker Magazine, Outside Magazine, and a couple of smaller publications.

This one is easily one of my favorites, and I think it was the first time we were able to get a full-page ad in Backpacker Magazine. What a beautiful photo!

These are so much fun to work on and it is very exciting to see one of these ads in print!

Hike it Baby 30 - Sept 2020

I had the privilege of creating a watercolor painting for Hike it Baby for their bi-annual fundraiser and challenge. With 2020 being quite a unique year when it comes to pretty much everything, Hike it Baby is aiming to encourage families to simply get outside every day, in any form that works best for them. It was fitting that this sticker depicted a city park.

I also created a coordinating t-shirt graphic that you can purchase from Bonfire:

One of the things that marked a big change for Hike it Baby in 2020 was their elimination of a paid membership model. After becoming an official 501c3 nonprofit company, Hike it Baby looked at different ways they could earn money to stay afloat; especially considering how quickly they were growing. So a few years back, they implemented a $10 annual membership fee to access their website. Wanting to make sure that membership was as inclusive as possible from here on out, they decided that inclusivity meant making Hike it Baby free to everyone.

Of course this means they need to lean on their members more than ever to make sure they have enough funds to stay in business (which is the challenge for most nonprofits). To help boost fundraising efforts for this September’s Hike it Baby 30 Fundraiser, they are offering a poster version of the sticker.

Donate $10 or more starting on September 17th and you will receive a printable 8x10 print via email. My first grader was happy to pose with our print. If you’d like to donate, click here.

Hike it Baby is an organization that’s near and dear to me. Meeting fellow parents through Hike it Baby is what gave me the confidence to explore local trails with my kids and even get back into camping after a decades-long hiatus. They are really building a great community and want to make sure that the outdoors is accessible to absolutely everyone. I feel so lucky to get to create artwork and graphics for them. Please consider making a donation and joining a Hike it Baby Branch in your community.