Invitations are out!

Ok so wedding invites are out, and I am so relieved!  I honestly didn't think it was going to be that hard doing my own invites, and if I only had to make a few it would have been a piece of cake.  But no, I made 57 of these babies.  It felt like the good ol days of my college internship, where I had to do tons and tons of mock ups.  As crazy as things were making these, I'm super happy with the final product.

Wedding Garter!

I got an awesome sewing machine for Christmas that I haven't been able to step away from since!  It's a Bernette 12.  It's a beginners sewing machine, which is perfect for me since I have very little experience using them.  I've been so busy playing around with it and experimenting with different stitches, patterns, and fabric, that I really haven't been doing much else!   I just finished my hand made wedding invitations (which I will be posting after I mail them out so no one seems them before hand), and figured my wedding garter would be next!  After doing a lot of research, and frequenting youtube tutorials, this is what I came up with!  I wanted to stay away from the typical "something blue" (that is just not me), so I figured I'd make it in my wedding colors, which are black and red.  I did two different ones, and I'm not yet sure which one I am going to wear!

Tis the holiday season!

When most people think of the holiday season, they think of the most joyful time of year!  Spending time with close friends and family, eating delicious baked goods, driving around looking at all the christmas lights and decorations, sending out and receiving Christmas cards, and not only giving, but receiving great gifts!  Not me.  I see the holiday season in a completely different light.  Ever since I've entered adult hood the holidays just haven't been the same.  Decorating the house becomes a chore.  You feel cluttered with the over abundance of christmas decorations in your house (my house definitely looks like Christmas threw up in it).  There are crowds in malls, crowds in grocery stores, traffic everywhere, getting stuck behind UPS trucks driving slow in the fast lane, road rage, and the lovely gesture of flipping someone the bird when they cut you off.  I long for those happy Christmas nights as a child when I didn't have to deal with any of this.  When I was too young and naive to think anyone would ever dread the holidays.

There is one thing, however, I do enjoying doing.  Making Christmas gifts!  Some of my friends have kids, and this is the best/cheapest way for me to give them something, without feeling guilty about not spending a lot of money!  This is a gift I made my little cousin Gennaro.  He is 18 months old, and LOVES popcorn!  I got this awesome little popcorn bucket at Amazing Savings for .99 cents, personalized it with his name on the front, and the word 'popcorn' on the back with my paint pens, and drew little pieces of popcorn and pretzels all over.  And of course I filled it with some weird blue popcorn I found at Target for $2.  Not bad!

Old illustrations

I did these maybe a year ago, but I wanted to post them because I really liked them! I want to continue doing similar illustrations like this, but next time I want to to take them a step further. Maybe not be so stiff next time, and give them some movement?

Old Fashioned Hot Cider Stand

A few months back a friend of mine asked me to make a sketch of an old fashioned hot cider and donut stand. She was getting married and really wanted one of these stands at her wedding, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find exactly what she wanted anywhere! So I took charge and sketched her something I thought would look cool, with the intent that her step father would build it in his garage.

Flash forward to a few weeks ago, I make my way to her wedding, and right there on the grass on the way to the ceremony site sits her larger than life hot cider stand! I was amazed! It was build exactly how I sketched it to be and looked awesome! It's amazing to see something you designed on paper come to life!

Afterwards, of course, I took my sketch to the next level. I scanned it into Illustrator and made a digital illustration of it!

Design work!

Ugh, let me tell you that I spent almost an hour trying to write this post only to have good ol' Safari freeze on me after I was nearly done with my post THREE TIMES...ugh!!!!

Well, over the past few months I have been turned off from drawing. I haven't touched a pencil, and really don't have a desire too lately either. I think I was mostly turned off by last year's The Sketchbook Project. I spent all of last fall/winter drawing in the same sketch book, trying to perfect it, and finish every single page, only to find out that after traveling to 5 major cities, it was only viewed once...ONCE! Needless to say I will not be participating in it again this year.

Instead I've been concentrating on my design work. Aside from my day job working as a photo retoucher, I was able to score some side work for Hazelman Farms. I redesigned their current logo for them, and am also working with them on designing a website for a client of theirs.

Sea Lion

Ever since I watched the Disney movie 'Ocean', I can't seem to get those adorable little sea lions out of my head! They were just so cute the way they sunbathed on the sand, how they played with each other in the ocean, and how they just seamed to enjoy their life. I call them the "ocean puppies" because they remind me of how puppies act. I now want one as a pet!