Free Things | Summer Bucket List

Summer has already begun for some and its just around the corner for others!  Here in the beautiful Northwest, we will have to wait a few more months before we see consistant blue skies and feel the warmth of the sun on our skin... I can't wait.  The good news is, that gives me and the kids some time to plan our summer day fun!

I'm not the only one getting excited for the lazy days of summer, my son created his own personal summer checklist.

(Note the "annoy brother and sister" as well as, "avoid summer school", nice one kiddo.)

His creative and thorough list reminded me to come up with our family checklist.  Last year we created a giant poster and the year before that we had slips of paper in a jar with ideas for our summer plans.  This year is going to be a tad busy so, I went with a simple (yet, cute) checklist that we will all fill out together.

Click on the image below to download this free PDF. Once you have filled it out, frame it on your wall or stick it to your fridge.  Use the little boxes to mark off the activities once you've completed them, this makes for a fun keepsake at the end of summer to see all the fun you experienced.

Happy summer planning!
(I would love to hear your summer plans or ideas for the Bucket List,
share in the comments section!)

Office Art

I am switching things up for my office space and wanted to create some inspiring pieces to hang on my wall.  I saw this quote posted on Pinterest and loved it.  I decided to re-create it in my own color scheme and it is now hanging on my wall.  I love great quotes to remind me of what is important.

I also created this pattern and framed it as art to hang alongside the quote. I am in love with the color yellow at the moment.  It reminds me of the sunshine and the warmth it brings.  When I sat down to create this pattern, I was feeling happy and whimsical, I think that came through in my design.

My workspace is a huge mess right now and I'm in the process of purging and organizing.  It is such a motivator to surround my workspace with inspiring details.  What keeps your motivation moving?

Its in the details...

I hope you have had a chance to visit my Color Inspiration boards either here on my website or on Pinterest?  I am so motivated and moved by color.  I am enjoying the process of putting these color inspirations together.  What I wasn't expecting was how it would transform my perspective on how I view the environment around me.

Over the weekend, I kept books for my son's basketball game. During one of the timeouts, I looked down at the bench holding me off the floor, I was instantly mesmerized by the texture and details of this old bench.  It was clear this bench had seen a few coats of paint and endured many sporting events.  I began to study the colors in the wood, the backdrop of the gym floor, and the layers of paint.  It was a beautiful combination of color.

You know that saying, "Take time to smell the roses"?  I love the sentiment of that Proverb.  We need to slow down and soak up the world around us, there is so much to see and admire... even an old wooden gym bench.

Color Inspiration

I am so excited to announce that I have added a new feature to my website... Color Inspirations!

Choosing colors for a design project is one of the biggest decisions for some of my clients.  Colors can evoke so many emotions and you want your branding/website to reflect the emotion your company will bring to its clients.  There are so many beautiful colors to chose from, the options are endless!

By creating Color Inspiration boards it helps to narrow down the color selection process for my clients.  I hope this will be a great resource for my new clients to find inspiration for their projects.  Check out the Color Inspiration page to see the color combinations I've created!

Eli's Art

My nephew (age 6) sketched these darling images of Ironman & Wolverine.  When my sister orginially shared them with me, we both gushed over how cute they were!  I had decided to take his drawings and create a t-shirt to give him as a gift for his birthday.

I usually create things from scratch in my design program but, there was no way I could re-create Eli's drawing without losing the innocence of the colored pencil sketching.  I knew other designers had done this before so I was confident I could do it too.

Without boring you with all the technical details, here is a little of how the process went...

I started with the scanned images my sister sent me:
I opened them in my design editing program (Illustrator for those who are wondering).  I needed to eliminate all the exccess space around his drawings so I used a "tracing tool" to cutout the art I wanted and then I expanded the images.  This process transferred his art from a scanned JPG into vector art.  Vector art gives me the ability to change colors, adjust sizing without losing quality, and erase some of those pesky scribbles around the outside.  After doing all of that to Wolverine & Ironman, this is what I had to work with:

I did his handwriting too because there is just something too adorable about a kids handwriting.  Yes, I could have easily found a font that looked similar to his writing but, this is way more personal.  After these became vector files, I could manipulate them anyway I wanted.  I played around with a few ideas and tried the designs on t-shirts.  In the end, I made a choice to have the images printed on a sketchbook.  Auntie wants her nephew to continue his sketching skills.  I put together a pattern and ordered him a sketchbook with a custom cover featuring his artwork!  I think I will make him a poster for his room too?  Here is the pattern:

This was a fun little project and I hope Eli loves his new sketchbook!  (I'll try to update with a photo of the sketchbook when it comes in the mail.)

It is true that you learn something new every day!