Introducing Avi Jude

Only 4 months behind schedule I decided to put forth the effort to make Avis' birth announcement and send them off to long-distance loved ones. The upside to waiting until a babys four month birthday to send announcements is that they can really grin it up for a photo. To be perfectly honest I didn’t really care how late these were as long as they got done at all so somewhere down the road Avi isn’t looking at his older brother’s announcement of arrival, wondering what happened to his.

For quite some time I have had a little crush on the Matryoshka or Russian nesting doll for their nostalgia-meets-kitsch image. It was because of this crush I thought it would be fun to hand illustrate our family in nesting doll form for Avis’ announcement.


From the illustration I was able to hand print each card using a gocco printer causing no one card to be exactly alike. It is two-color, double sided and although it folds like a card, by sealing the open end with a clear mailing seal I was able to avoid envelopes and send it like a postcard.

Hope you enjoy!

Just can't get enough...

I just can’t get enough Across the Universe movie and soundtrack, (not to mention Jim Sturgess). Listening to the soundtrack makes me want to watch the movie and watching the movie makes me want to listen to the soundtrack.

However, today I have exhausted the soundtrack and I don’t actually own the movie so I have to result in watching youtube video clips and trailers to get a visual fix.

Obvious Advice:

If you are like me and like to lollygag when you are visiting the library, my advice to you is not to forget your car is in metered parking. The poopiest part of this scenario is realizing you could own at least one of the books you checked out with the amount of money you now owe for a parking ticket!

Story Corps in Denver

If you don’t already know, Story Corps is a project dedicated to celebrating human life through story sharing and listening. This project enables willing participates to step into a Story Corps booth to record memories from their life. The participant is then given one of two copies of their recoded accounts. The other copy is archived in the Library of Congress for future generations.

Lucky for me and every other Denver resident, the Story Corps mobile booth is here today and accepting reservation for recording sessions tomorrow at 10 am. I am so excited for this experience, I can’t wait.

I love the fact that everyone has a history that matters and everyone is important. You can participate even if there is not a Story Corps near you, just go to their website to find out how.

Goober

I was a kid when I first saw Smuckers, “Goober” in the peanut butter isle at the grocery store. I remember thinking that the combination of peanut butter and jelly in a jar was a genius idea and secondly, that I really, really wanted to own one for my sack-lunch sandwiches, (which I don’t recall ever happening). When I saw this same product as an adult I thought, “That’s actually a little disgusting” and it was then promptly scratched off the list of “things I will buy when I am a grown-up” list. Now that I myself am a parent that occasionally takes 12 hours road trips with my husband, toddler and baby to visit family, the convince factor of this product magically turns grossness into not so bad and even maybe a little bit pleasant. So congratulations Smuckers from a fan once again…even if just on road trips.

Lee/Orndoff Invite

This project was a wedding announcement and invitation to an evening reception. Kaisa and Kyle, the couple, wanted their invitation to be unique and appealing without being over the top funky. They wanted their guest to expect a fun and inviting celebration come wedding day.

Beyond trying to integrate this feeling in the design, I incorporated their wedding colors which were berry red, a slate/charcoal color, white and a hint of teal. The main inspiration for this invite though, was from the brides’ modern-meets-vintage wedding dress which had a beautiful lacey overlay, (hence the doily-like graphics), on a contemporary cut gown.

The printing process was 4-color off-set and also involved a custom dye-cut in the finishing process. The dye-cut was needed to create a rounded corner fold out panel with two slits in the flap which was the housing for an insert and/or a wallet size photo.

Sharing = Caring

Fantastic design in any form makes me giddy but sometimes I find it easier to really experience design when I am touching it. This is why I usually prefer reading an old journal entry or an idea from smeared maker on paper rather than through typed words on a monitor. Words just seem to have a smidge more personality that way. Don't get me wrong, writing and creating in any form is better than not at all and keeping record of it is even better. This is why blogging is so lovely.

Another loveliness to blogging is that it promotes sharing life with people you love and, if you’d like, people you don’t yet love. I will admit that I am sometimes not that generous when it comes to sharing. For instance, giving up the last bite of ice cream from my own bowl is a bit of a challenge for me at times. So here is my non-private blog in an attempt to be a better sharer/carer, even if just in my mind. Besides that, I really have a fondness for organizing, especially with bins and labels, and blogging is just that only in digital form.

And here begins a record of my insignificant-important things, what I love and what I don’t love, a collection of random morsels with perhaps a few projects sprinkled about here and there, an assortment of “giant bits” if you will.