design, paper n' ink

Interesting Logo Rebranding

2010-05-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

Interesting rebranding for Seattle's Best Coffee. I have noticed that many companies are desiring to give a more clean, simple look to their products packaging or product logos, but does it get to a point that it becomes generic looking? Only time will tell on this new logo. Read a full article about people's thoughts on this change here!

Octopus on Carnaby Street in London

2010-05-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

I've been waiting for months for, Octopus, this absolutely fun shop to put up their website. I accidentally came across them as I was perusing the streets of London last October. From one look at their pink store front and super fun name I was sold, and just had to go in. I bought this fun backpack for my 2 year old daughter. It is way cute!

I also have fallen in love with their logo. It is so simple, fun and I must give the designer, whomever they may be, props.

Anyways, I'm so excited that I now can view their items online instead of having to rely on my memory of the bright and colorful nick-knacks they sell from my stroll that day.

Spring Delicate Paper Flowers

2010-05-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Kate's Paperie has some fantastic seasonal craft ideas. I found these beautiful delicate paper flowers DIY projects. For instructions to the orange Jonquil, click here. For the purple Gerbera Daisy, go here!

Typography Activity Fun Book

2010-05-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is just plain awesome....a typography activity book.

Hyperactivitypography from A to Z is an activity book for typographers illustrated in a nostalgic vintage style to give it a sweet and childlike look. The book is packed with activities, ranging from silly to hard core nerdiness. It's great to test your skills on and to learn new things while having fun. Who said typography had to be stiff and boring? You can flip through it here.

Posh Designs for Puzzles

2010-05-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm in love with these Pocket Posh Puzzles and the design above is my absolute favorite. I personally only have one, but what fun it would be to collect all of them. They keep releasing more and more great cover designs. For 2010 there is another great collection of designs and I'm super excited about the Christmas designs that will be released in October 2010. You can pre-order the new puzzle books on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, or even Borders.

Current Designs

Releasing 2010

Christmas 2010 Designs

Amazing Paper Creations

2010-05-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

I discovered this artist when reading my Martha Stewart Living and was awestruck by these intricate cut paper creations. Definitely love Ferry Staverman's artwork!

Pencil-of-the-Month Club

2010-05-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

AWESOME! A pencil-of-the-month club, an artist's dream. At 500pencils.socialdesigner.com you sign up to recieve 500 colored pencils over a 20 month period from Japan. Each pencil has a unique name and story. How fun!

Now the question of the day...how and where to store them!

Craft Ornaments

2010-03-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while I love taking a sneak peak at Paper Source to see what new craft ideas they have or products. Found these fantastic craft ornaments that would be super fun to decorate. Click here to check them out.

Easter Craft

2010-03-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

These little paper Easter family is absolutely too cute!
For instructions, click here!

Personality Color Quiz

2010-02-23T15:28:00.001-08:00

Take this fun color quiz and find out what color you are and a little description on your personality. I was purple. It's not my favorite color, but the personality description fits pretty well!

Spontaneity is the key to your existence. Quick-witted with a flair for originality, you enjoy situations that allow you to explore your creativity. Comparatively conservative, you appreciate beautiful surroundings, especially if they’re found in nature. Your relaxed and self-assured personality allows you to work well with others. Surprisingly enough, your unique and unusual tastes don’t prevent you from being comfortable among your more conservative peers.

Design Books for Kids

2010-02-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

After spending a morning a week at our local library with my 2 year old, I have surprisingly stumbled upon design books for kids. To be honest, I didn't go out and do an online search or put the librarian to work in trying to find design books just for Toddlers, I actually just came across them and honestly was amazed. It really made me think, I guess it isn't too young to teach kids about Typography, color and art. A little secret, I think I enjoyed them more than my daughter, but in any event I think they are great books and must reads for little ones. And when I find more great ones, I'll let you know!

Alphabeasties and Other Amazing Types :: by sharon werner

Lines That Wiggle :: by candace whitman

Mouse Paint :: by ellen stoll walsh

A Color of His Own :: by leo lionni

It Look Like Spilt Milk :: by charles shaw

Free Handwritten Fonts

2009-08-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here's 45+ fun handwritten fonts put together by TripWire Magazine. Enjoy!

Printable Hand-Finished Paper

2009-08-24T13:26:00.000-07:00

I was flipping through my September 2009 issue of Martha Stewart and saw their highlight on this fantastic printer-friendly paper with a hand-finished edge. I guess the paper comes in 4 sizes and are great for invitations, business cards, fun notes or anything else you want to use it for. After you print your image you remove the perforated edges to reveal a special hand-finished edge. Fantastic.

You can get them here at orangeart.com and get templates and how to's here at Martha Stewart.

Shipping Box Turns Into a Hanger

2009-08-07T07:06:00.000-07:00

This awesome award winning package design is called the Hangerpak by new designer Steve Haslip. It also comes in a variety of colors. It's like magic, first a shipping box then a hanger. Genious!

Cool Buys at SusyJack

2009-08-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

Just found SusyJack's Contemporary Paper and I am a big fan. Love the designs...love them, love them, love them!

Creative Farm YouTube Video

2009-08-05T06:00:00.001-07:00

Thanks to my friend Allison M. I was exposed to this crazy, silly video on harvesting creative juices. It's a must see for any creative! View it here at YouTube.com.

Pen and Ink Drawings

2009-08-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

Absolutely love these pen & ink drawings by Devon Kelley-Yurdin and just had to highlight these for inspiration!

Free Party Invitations from Real Simple

2009-08-03T06:57:00.000-07:00

Real Simple has some very simple and clever party invites you can print out for free.

{ birthday }
{ dessert party }
{ dinner party }
{ cheese party }
{ barbecue }

and....it's never too early to start planning for that:

{ new year's eve party invite } and
{ thanksgiving party invite }

Great Art Websites

2009-08-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

So, I just stumbled on allmyfaves.com for the first time today. Why it has taken me this long to find this site? I wish I only knew. Many might know this site already, but I wish I had found it a long time ago. It's great!

For those that don't know about All My Faves; it is a website that basically does the searching for you. Just find a category you want and it highlights a bunch of sites for you to look at without you having to spend hours searching. I know you'll love it like I now do!

Here's a couple favorite categories I've found already: the Art category highlighting great Art websites and the Coloring category giving me a ton of coloring pages to print out for my little girl.

Free Paper Toy Downloadables

2009-08-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

As usual I stumbled upon this website called thetoymaker.com by Marilyn Scott Waters. She has graciously provided some very unique and fun diy paper toys that she has designed for all to use. Check them out here.

Fantastically Designed U.S. Stamps

2009-07-30T07:16:00.000-07:00

Just found out that the U.S. Post Office finally has two fabulously designed "love" stamps designed by Derry Noyes of Washington, DC, and Jeanne Greco of New York, New York. I've honestly never been so excited about a design of a stamp before until now. Love it...and am rushing off to get some today. Check it out here at the USPS site here.

And to top it all off, Vale Design created some note flats and address labels that were inspired by the new stamp. You can download those on her site here.

Another Great Cross Logo

2009-07-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love finding cross logos. Why? Well because I love seeing designers interpretations. Often I think that there is nothing new that can be done with the cross. Well designers keep amazing me as I keep seeing new cross logos.

This logo is a Christian Graphic Designers logo named sartidesign. Love their work and love what they are doing to further God's Kingdom for churches in the Graphic Arts.

Stitching Your Adventures on a Postcard

2009-07-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Now this is sure a fabulous fun postcard to mark your travels for the summer! Love the idea. Check them out here at uncommongoods.com

Free Fonts at Font Squirrel

2009-07-23T07:17:00.001-07:00

I came across another website with free fonts called Font Squirrel. I really like the layout of this site and the fonts are really nice. So if you are in need of some new free fonts, check them out!

Fabric Envelopes

2009-07-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

I saw this idea on Design*Sponge and just had to put it here in my blog. Absolutely love these fabric envelopes. Usually I love commenting on things made out of paper, but I couldn't resist this one. Now, how to use it?

{ click here for instructions on how to make }

Fun Stationary Designs

2009-07-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ran across some more very creative people online and their great stationary. Just had to bookmark them! Check them out if you want!

bookworm collection from paper + cup
yellow bird invite from Ink and Wit
mini journals by Sarah Drake
paperwink stationary

Room Colors and Mood

2009-07-20T13:28:00.000-07:00

So I was relaxing in my new bedroom, of a couple months, and was enjoying the cool blues my husband and I decided to paint it. Then of course my design brain kicked in and began thinking about the mood of colors and thought, "blues really do relax you"!

So then I just had to pull out this color mood chart that I remembered finding in a book I checked out from the library once. The book is called, The Busy Woman's Home Spa Book by Liz Wilde.

So then the crazy side in me popped out and I took the chart and ran around my house to see if the colors in that room really matched up to what I was feeling when I was in that room. It sure did! Or at least I thought it did. Well...it sure was fun and made me really learn a lot about myself.

Here is the color mood chart if want to test your house!

BLUE
It calms nerves, relaxes and quiets your mind and helps insomnia and depression.

RED
Raises body temperature, stimulates mental energy and helps aches, pains & poor circulation.

YELLOW
Encourages optimism, boosts confidence and helps depression and digestive problems.

ORANGE
Inspires joy, eases loneliness and helps lethargy and detoxing.

GREEN
Aids meditation, eases anger and frustration and helps exhaustion and headaches.

INDIGO
Stimulates imagination, promotes optimism and helps weak immune systems and negativity.

Career Tips

2009-07-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

Was reading through my GD USA email newsletter and saw this helpful little article from The Creative Group. It's always great to keep these things in mind.

TAKE FIVE! CAREER TIPS FROM THE CREATIVE GROUP:
THINK TWICE BEFORE YOUR NEXT MEETING

According to a recent survey of executives, 28 percent of meetings are a waste of time. Here are five signs that a gathering may be going nowhere:

1. Everything But The Kitchen Sink Is Being Covered. Agendas are useful, but one that is lengthy or unfocused could indicate that not all of the information will be relevant to every attendee.

2. It'll Take More Than An Hour.Meetings that are scheduled for more than 60 minutes have a tendency to meander as people's interest level fades.

3. The Attendee List Goes On And On. When a participant list is extensive, it may signal an overly ambitious meeting, or one where people are being invited as a courtesy, rather than because they need to attend.

4. There's A Large PowerPoint Deck Involved. Visuals can be useful for reinforcing information, particularly for designers. But an extensive PowerPoint presentation could signal that there's a lot of ground to cover and perhaps you'd be better served reviewing the information on your own.

5. It's A Habit. Routine meetings can become, well, routine. If regular gatherings have grown stale, consider suggesting that they be held less frequently.

The Creative Group is a specialized staffing service placing creative, advertising, marketing and web professionals on a project basis. Find more information at www.creativegroup.com

Great Party Paper Crafts

2009-07-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

Are you planning a party? Well I found all of these great party paper craft ideas to spruce up any party at a very low cost if you have a ton of paper laying around collecting dust. What a fun summer party you could have with the party blowers and pinwheels thanks to Martha and IS.LY.

petal envelopes from IS.LY
festive drink umbrellas from Martha Stewart
paper pinwheels from Martha Stewart
party blowers from Martha Stewart
party hats from Martha Stewart
origami lotus flower featured at How About Orange

Free Block Party Invite

2009-07-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm helping to organize a Block Party in a couple of weeks in my cul-de-sac and whipped up these summery invites to pass out to my neighbors. So feel free to use them for your next party! You can download a pdf file on the goodie page of my website here.

Cupcake Box Template

2009-07-16T13:54:00.001-07:00

Ran across another blog today call IS.LY.....love it! I found a template for a cupcake box. What a great idea. Click { here } for the instructions.

Saving Kid's Artwork

2009-07-09T22:14:00.000-07:00

Crazy that I'm thinking about this already, but since I have a ton of blank wall space that I'm trying to fill up, I thought about my daughters future artwork. I want to create an artwork wall just for kids artwork.

So I ran across a couple ideas on Martha's site { here } on saving artwork that doesn't quite make it on the wall or artwork that I want to keep to change out later, maybe seasonal. Gotta love organization!

Color Influencing What We Buy

2009-07-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned before that I like to browse through about.com and see what fun and educational things they have on design. So today was my browsing day and I came across this little quiz about how color influences what we buy. I knew most of them already, but it was still really great to study up on things again and I enjoyed reading the answers. Here's the quiz and answers below.

Question #1: In food-package design, what is the most popular color for manufacturers to use?
Answer: Red
Experts say that the color red makes the adrenaline increase and the heart beat faster. The color is used to grab the consumer's attention. Coca-Cola has long been associated with red.
Question #2: When manufacturers wish to make an item appear bigger, which color is most often used?
Answer: Yellow
Yellow is known as being one of the most visible packaging colors, which quickly grabs the customer's attention. It also has the ability to make products appear larger on the shelf.
Question #3: What color is most widely used for bathroom products?
Answer: White
White is known for purity and freshness and is often used to create a "clean" feeling, thus often being used on bathroom and kitchen packaging and dairy products.
Question #4: What color is most widely used to project luxury and premium quality?
Answer: Black
Consumers often relate items packaged in black as top-quality, sophisticated, and luxurious.
Question #5: What color is most widely used for low-fat, low-calorie packaging?
Answer: Green
Although in the past, green was never used because it was felt that it would make consumers think of moldy food, it is now back on the scene. It is seen often in low-cal packaging and as a highlighter on product banners to bring attention to the no-fat, low-fat labeling.
Question #6: What color is a favorite for seafood packaging?
Answer: Blue
Shoppers associate blue with water and sky. It is a soothing color when in the pale hues, somewhat mysterious, as is the ocean, to most of us.
Question #7: What color do designers mostly use to project that a product is inexpensive?
Answer: Gold
Packaging experts decided that the color gold was associated with "cheap" in the shopper's mind. It is often used on inexpensive or imitation generic packaging. A soft gold, however, is used often on children's products because it is considered a happy, sunny color.
Question #8: If you were a packaging expert and you were deciding the color for the low-fat version of your product, what color would you most likely chose for your package?
Answer: White
Green is the most likely answer, right? Well, white is the correct answer because this color is considered to be a successful "sister" color to another product. It also is associated with freshness and purity and is considered to be a "light" "free" color. Just don't be surprised if you see a green banner advertising the fat content.

4th of July Crafts & Decorations

2009-06-30T14:29:00.001-07:00

Here is a whole bunch of 4th of July crafts { here } and decorations from Disney Family Fun! This will sure keep you busy and make for a great day of festivities. Oh and here are some printables from Disney too! Click here for them.

4th of July Paper Airplane

2009-06-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

Download this free patriotic paper airplane for the 4th festivities at Disney Family Fun.

Fun Inspiration

2009-06-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

Today is one of those days that I wanted to have some smiles and fun inspiration. So I headed on over to Share Some Candy where I took some time checking out the pics under the handcrafted section and got a few good laughs, smiles, and inspiration. These pics above are two of my favorite ideas!

Free Vector Birds

2009-06-25T13:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some free vector black birds from a blog called, Designer Daily I just happened to find while Googling.

Summer Gift Wrapping & Paper Flowers

2009-06-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

Kate's Paperie has a couple fun summer ideas for making paper flowers out of paper { here } and wrapping a gift { here }. Great use of the butterflies...really love this idea.

Kerning Space Game

2009-06-19T14:31:00.001-07:00

Try this kerning space game out by Veer { here }! A game perfect for the weekend as you will spend a lot of it trying to perfect it! I pretty much flunked. Couldn't even get the "K" kerned. Good luck and have fun!

My Wish List

2009-06-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been coming across all things great things I absolutely love and want. I then told myself, as I always do; "remember this when someone asks me for a gift idea"! Yeah right, I thought again. I'll never remember this gift idea and will be racking my brain to try and remember all the great things I've come across over this past year. So I thought, forget this trying to remember gig...I'm going to blog about it and then I have a running list! So here they are:

SMENCILS from Paper Source

WRECK THIS JOURNAL by Keri Smith

HOW TO BE AN EXPLORER OF THE WORLD by Keri Smith

3D DRAWING PAD from Paper Source

BIRDS WATER BOTTLE from Paper Source

HYPOTROCHOID ART SET from Paper Source

COMPACT DICTIONARY at Barnes & Noble

Father's Day gift, Stickers and Free Fun

2009-06-17T07:16:00.000-07:00

For Father's Day, here's a last minute gift idea from Martha Stewart. This is a great little picture frame!

These are the cutest space stickers from Lotta Bruhn.

Disney Family Fun has a whole bunch of great stickers for the kids! Here are their 4th of July stickers which kids I know will have fun with. Click { here } for the whole list of stickers.

And Martha Stewart also has these fun free printable stickers for kids! Absolutely fabulous.

Here's free printable popcorn bags from Mushy! Too cute for words.

Every once in a while The Container Store offers free things, craft project instructions or things like free printable labels! Gotta love it!

More Beautiful Stationary

2009-06-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

I found a new online stationary place called greetq and have truly fallen in love with the esquisit artwork. Absolutely beautiful designs by many designers.

Letterpress Process by Picture

2009-06-15T08:57:00.000-07:00

Flickr has a sequence of photos illustrating the steps involved in printing jobs via the letterpress process. Check them out { here } as it's a pretty cool thing to see.

Designer Masking and Packing Tape

2009-06-13T07:49:00.000-07:00

So I was browsing around on Ginko Papers this morning and saw some fun colored and designed tape. My mind started racing through the craft possibilities with tape so decorated like that.

Check them out { here }.

2009 Logo Trends at Logo Lounge

2009-06-12T11:55:00.000-07:00

I was reading Logo Lounge's article { here } on the 2009 Logo trends and found one rather interesting trend, the doily.

I've never liked doily's myself and have always had to hold back when I see those paper ones at parties, but for some reason these doily designed logos look really fantastic. Maybe you really can make doily's look cool!

4th of July Paper Fun

2009-06-10T15:23:00.001-07:00

Of course Martha Stewart came up with some pretty fun paper crafts for this years 4th of July festivities. For instructions, click on the links below.

{ name holders }
{ votive wraps }
{ napkin rings }
{ envelopes }

Puzzels with a Designer Cover

2009-06-09T08:39:00.001-07:00

These are the coolest buys...puzzles with a designer cover! Called The Pocket Posh series, these puzzles have stylish 4 x 6 inch covers and a nicely laid out inside too.

Some people may not care about a cool cover, but I do. Makes me want to carry it around with me everywhere and do a puzzle more often. They have a wide variety of puzzles; Crosswords, Sudoku, Hangman, Logic, Word Search and more.

They are only $8 each, very cool buy and very fun designs!

Cardboard Office

2009-06-08T09:11:00.000-07:00

I was reading my May 2009 GD USA magazine and came across this article about this Amsterdam ad agency with the name Nothing that created their office all out of cardboard. I was of course very intrigued by this concept and took a spin on their website { here } to see more pictures.

At first I loved the idea...and then the more I thought about it, I thought about what it would really be like to have a cardboard desk, shelves, table, etc. I don't know about others, but it would drive me absolutely crazy. The tears, the scratches, the eventual worn look. In about a year I wondered if the cardboard would be all tattered looking and difficult and dirty because of the difficulty in cleaning it. Anyways, it is an interesting concept that's for sure!

Aviary.com Image Editor

2009-06-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm very intrigued by Aviary; a free online image editor. Looks like they are offering a very simplfied Adobe Illustrator (which they call Raven), Adobe Photoshop (called Phoenix) a filter and effects creator (called Peacock) and a color generator (called Toucan).

Their mission is "to make creation accessible to artists of all genres". Very interesting idea. It also looks as though they have a ton more things in the works, including a place to edit audio which will be callled Roc. Can't decide whether to take the time to try it out but I have enjoyed it for fun inspiration.

I'll be watching this one.

Free Coloring Pages

2009-06-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

My 20 month old absolutely loves to scribble! She is now just starting to enjoy scribbling on cartoon characters, so I decided to download some free coloring pages from the internet. Well I soon found myself a bit annoyed at the pixelation of the pictures when I tried downloading the ones I found. So being a perfectionist, I created some of my own coloring sheets and wanted to share them.

Just go to my goodie page { here } at my website to download.

Free Stationary Printables

2009-06-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

Here at Stationary Style they have provided some free stationary {click here} that can be downloaded. Seems like something for every occasion.

Top Sites for the Graphic Designer | Part 3

2009-06-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

And some more. Some of these sites I've highlighted before, but thought I would put them in this list just in case someone missed them.

SHARE SOME CANDY
A collection of inspiring design finds and art.

BRIAR PRESS
A community of printers and artists dedicated to preserving letterpress...free ornaments too.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
An absolute amazing digital library.

SMASHING MAGAZINE
An online magazine that delivers useful and innovative information for designers and Web developers.

LOGO ORANGE
Logo design trends, articles, resources and more.

PIXELGIRL PRESENTS
A huge resource of desktop wallpapers and icons for download shared free by a ton of artists.

MY FONTS
A tool to help you recognize a font that you don't know.

Free Downloadable Stationary

2009-05-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ez who has the blog Creature Comforts has some very cute free stationary you can download at her site here. Absolutely an adorable snail!

Pantone Color Forcast & Facebook Moods

2009-05-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

So my May issue of GD USA came in the mail today and fell in love with the cover. Lots of colorful vintage shoes! The Pantone Annual Color Forecast was published in this issue and so I happily enjoyed checking it out. Here is a sneak peak at a few of the colors for fall 2009.

Of course bright, fun, a bit of 80's and some vintage in there too. Then I ran across how I could post my color mood on Facebook. Signed up right away as anything having to do with color is a must! However, I can't seem to get it to post to my profile even though I followed the instructions they published in GD USA. Oh well, I'll keep checking back with it anyways as I think it is a fun application.

So if your interested in displaying color moods on your Profile page in Facebook, here's the instructions from Pantone themselves:

1. Download PANTONE Moods application by going to http://www.facebook.com/home.ph#/apps/application.php?id+36410659303&ref=ts

2. Then go to Settings/Application Settings/ Pantone Edit Settings

3. Select "Allow Pantone to publish specific story sies automatically without prompting"

4. Select "Short" or "Full" (depending on what options are available)

Great Magazine Layouts & Designs

2009-05-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

I've never been a huge fan of purchasing magazines, except when it comes to a few design magazines. But earlier this year I had the opportunity to sign up for a year's free subscription on several magazines. How you might ask? Well, I follow a couple of blogs, Money Saving Mom and It's Hip 2 Save that highlighted the magazine deals and so I decided to take advantage of the offers.

Anyways, the reason I'm not a huge fan of non-design magazines (besides the extra cost) is that I honestly don't like many layouts. I've always found them way too busy, (like Women's Day for instance which has a yucky design), way too many ads that are poorly placed and poorly designed, color schemes that don't go together at all and layouts that look more like they belong in the classifieds.

Well to my surprise I have found some absolutely fantastic layouts from my free magazines and honestly look forward to getting them in the mail to read and drool over the designs, colors and articles. My top favorite non-design magazines so far that I receive are:

1. Martha Stewart Living
2. Body + Soul (A Martha Stewart Publication)
3. Kiwi
designed by: May Media Group
4. Real Simple
5. Sprouts Farmers Market (my local grocery store's magazine)
designed by: Penton Custom Media

I think my next trip to the store will be a scavenger hunt in the magazine section for more great layouts.

Rock Scissor Paper

2009-05-27T10:36:00.000-07:00

So I ran into this online stationary company called Rock Scissor Paper! On one page it had most of my favorite words; paper, happy, colorful, scissor, modern, vintage and even unique. So I fell in love with this place and had to look around. Great designs and great inspiration.

Father's Day Card

2009-05-26T07:27:00.000-07:00

Well isn't this Father's Day card a fun one! I found it on Martha Stewart's site, which I always enjoy perusing every once in awhile. For instructions, click here!

Top Sites for the Graphic Designer | Part 2

2009-05-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some more fabulous sites for Graphic Designers!

ICON FINDER
A tool to help you locate icons and then download them for free!

DA FONT
Free fonts!

COLOUR LOVERS
Community of color for inspiration!

I LOVE TYPOGRAPHY
Blog with a title that pretty much explain it all...it's all about typography with great type articles and resources.

DELICIOUS
A social bookmarking site that has some great bookmarks on designing.

AG DESIGN
A site full of all things graphic design. You'll love this one.

THE ADS OF THE WORLD
What a fun site posting print ads from all over the world. They even have Radio ads...huh..who would of thought.

LOGO POND
A community where you can share logo designs for inspiration.

LOGO DESIGN LOVE
Blog dedicated to logos with articles and resources.

BODO
Blog about the business side of Graphic Design...marketing, printing, promotion, starting up and more.

Strange Paper Crafts

2009-05-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I was doing a search for DIY paper crafts and I found this very strange craft site called CraftBits. So here's what I found that I'm not to sure about. I think I'll ponder on these ones for awhile and decide if their even worthwhile paper crafts.

newspaper slippers (click here for instructions)

chopstick wrapper bookmark (click here for instructions)

magazine handbag (click here for instructions)

coke can notepad (click here for instructions)

Wordle

2009-05-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is really fun! I ran into this site called Wordle that rearranges words on a page. I pasted in Psalm 112 and this is what it came up with. You can edit it a bit by changing color, font and direction of words. You can print it or post it or simply just waist some time :o) Happy creating!

Flickr Memory Game

2009-05-22T11:13:00.001-07:00

Need some down time or in a design slump? Well, here is an online memory game that uses pictures from Flickr. Just type in any tag at the beginning such as "vintage fabric" or something like "logos" and your memory game will be created from those type of pictures. Have fun.

Another Fabulous Blog

2009-05-21T08:17:00.001-07:00

I ran across a fabulous blog called Bloesem by Jurianne Matter from the Netherlands. She's a paper artist and has some absolutely amazingly fun paper designs and ideas. She also has another blog just for kids things called Bloesem Kids.

These paper latterns and boats are absolutely fun!

About.com

2009-05-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Many years ago I discovered About.com when I would search the web for general questions that I had. I have found it rather helpful and have also began searching it for design information too. There's a lot of tutorials, history, business answers and more posted from very beginner to a bit more advanced. Check it out the next time you need help.

Another Fun Stationary Place

2009-05-19T10:39:00.000-07:00

I'm always keeping a lookout for fun stationary places online. I ran across Tiny Prints, which I enjoyed surfing for inspiration. I then came across their "idea center" and got some great ideas. Take a look here.

Top Sites for the Graphic Designer | Part 1

2009-05-18T06:00:00.001-07:00

I've been collecting a bunch of great sites for Graphic Designers and am anxious to share them with you. Of course I have collected quite a few so I'm dedicating a few Monday's to highlight the top sites I've found that you will want to bookmark, explore and enjoy!

DESIGN YOU TRUST
Daily blog for designers full of trends, news and events, design portfolios, creative advertisements, design articles & more from all over the globe.

COMPUTER ARTS
A magazine originating for the UK with a great bunch of tutorials and free downloads!

BEHANCE
Website showcasing artists portfolios around the world for inspiration.

FREELANCE SWITCH
A community site for freelancers featuring a job board, podcasts, lots of resources and more!

FREELANCE FOLDER
Another community freelance blog posting resources for designers.

BITTBOX
Great resource site for designers..tutorials, free brushes & vectors & lots of inspiration.

YOU THE DESIGNER
A Graphic Design blog featuring tips, freebies and other resources.

PSD TUTS+
A fabulous blog highlighting a ton of Photoshop tutorials.

BLUE VERTIGO
An amazing bookmark of all stock resources on the net....logotypes, stock photography, photoshop brushes, fonts, vector clip-art, sounds and so much more.

STOCK.XCHNG
A free site where creative people can exchange their photos for inspiration or work!

Color Theory Quiz

2009-05-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Give this color quiz a whirl. (click here for the quiz) I did ok...but I should of done better.

The Library for Design Books

2009-05-16T12:39:00.000-07:00

Recently I have gotten addicted to my local library. I used to spend my days at Borders or Barnes and Noble searching the Art & Design section, sitting down, relaxing and flipping through every design book I could get my hands on......and then eventually would spend a ton of money.

Well, I now have a toddler and so those days are few and far between. I go to the Library with my daughter every week for Storytime and now enjoy searching through their Art & Design section. Of course you can't always find the most recent releases and the design section is pretty small, but you'd be surprised at the great books that they do have. I've found a ton of great treasures.

My most recent 3 library surprises were: (I have them linked to Amazon so you can find more info on them.)

1 :: Noah's Ark by Rien Poortvliet

2 :: Mediapedia: Creative Tools and Techniques by Kit Laybourne

3 :: Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God by Sybil MacBeth

Going Green

2009-05-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

So I just moved into a new house, hence the days I missed blogging, but I'm in and loving it....yippee!

Anyways, I love green and come to find out, my husband does too. This past year Crate and Barrel has been selling green things like crazy and when my husband walked in while we were trying to figure out how to decorate our new home, he fell in love with the green. Of course I didn't fight the color choice as in my eyes you can't have enough green.

Soooo, now Crate and Barrel is putting their green on sale so that they can make room for their new colors being introduced soon, so now I'm really going green as I'm buying up all the green things I can find for my new loft/studio! It's not finished yet, but here's a few of the things that are filling up my new space.

Learning How....again!

2009-05-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ok so I finally got an iMac in January and have been enjoying it ever since. However, I hadn't used a Mac in several years as I was still plunking along on my HP laptop. (I don't miss that thing!)

Anyways, I'm still remembering and learning how to use my Mac and the other day I was trying to recall how to take screen snapshots (found here). So I did a Google search and found eHow! And so of course I had to blog about it so that I would remember this great resource.

eHow has a database of over 500,000 videos and articles on how to do things. I've found the instructions very easy to understand too!

Flower Card

2009-05-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

I know that Mother's Day was yesterday, but I came across this flower card that you can make on another blog I follow, mmmcrafts written by Larissa. It is a really great fun card and one that can be made all year round for anyone. Click here for the instructions.

Wrapping Gifts

2009-05-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

Of course I love a beautifully wrapped box or a creatively packaged present as it usually involves fun designed paper, color, crazy bows and making something with my hands. With Mother's Day coming up and Graduation day's approaching there will be another opportunity to wrap a gift. The Container Store has a fun page on their website showing you how to wrap a box, how to be creative when wrapping a present, and bow making.

Another Top Ten from How

2009-05-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

Here's a new "Top 10 Sites for Designers" from How Design!

http://www.awellrespectedman.com
A Well Respected Man
A Well Respected Man is an independent design agency located in Philadelphia.

http://www.lodgedesign.com
Lodge Design
Lodge is a small studio with big ideas. The compelling interactive experience shows off their great work.

http://www.nico189.com
Nico189
This simple site by Acab design showcases the energetic work of Italian graffiti writer and designer Nico189.

http://www.pagecrush.net
PageCrush
PageCrush is an inspirational design hub aimed at giving creative professionals from around the world a place to feature and showcase their best work.

http://www.paperbeatsinternet.com
Paper Beats Internet
This is an "analog" social networking site developed by Grand Creative and illustrator Graham Roumieu for the class he teaches at Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto. The site explores the relationship between hand-rendered type and images.

http://www.pixel-jockey.com
Pixel Jockey
A showcase of some simple yet engaging interactive toys by Sinem Erkas and Joe Davis.

http://www.tropicalzombies.com
Tropical Zombies
Online portfolio of artist Ken Pease. The outsider-style paintings are charming and colorful.

http://www.typetheory.com/
Type Theory
Type Theory is a journal of contemporary typography featuring news, views, reviews and interviews.

http://www.warmforestflash.com/
Warm Forest
Warm Forest offers super-customizable Flash templates made specifically for designers. All sites are designed with a strong focus on typography, grids and usability. The ActionScript source code is included so designers with an interest in Flash can learn how a professional, best practices following Flash site is put together.

http://www.worktodate.com/
WORKtoDATE
WORKtoDATE is the multidisciplinary graphic design portfolio of design director Greg Bennett.

Graduation Gift Ideas

2009-05-01T08:49:00.001-07:00

I have a ton of graduation parties to go to and so I've been out shopping for some unique gifts. What do you know, I ran across these fun gift ideas at Paper Source. I love the Dog Stapler and the 3D Drawing Pad. Click here to check them out!

Neenah's Resources

2009-04-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love all the free online resources that are provided. Another great place is Neenah Paper's resources page. They have envelope and postal tips, paper tips and much more. Check it out here.

How Important Color Is

2009-04-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting newsletter from the Color Marketing Group called The Profit of Color. Click here to get to locate the PDF on their website.

I always enjoy keeping up with how the industry is choosing color in our packaging!

Fun with Photo's for Mother's Day

2009-04-29T10:47:00.001-07:00

I ran across these great Mother's Day gift ideas on Martha Stewart's website. Basically you take family photos and create fun things with them. Check out Martha's site here to see all the ideas.

Another Silly Font Quiz

2009-04-28T12:08:00.000-07:00

Yeah...another fun font quiz when you have some time to waste! Have fun :o) Click here to start!

Fun Paper Crafts

2009-04-27T08:08:00.001-07:00

Here are some fun paper crafts. Some are very quick and easy, others a little more involved. Happy paper crafting!

:: candy placecard at Martha Stewart
:: paper embellished clothespin from Pin and Paper
:: chunky book at Memory Makers Masters Blog
:: butterfly decorations at Martha Stewart

10 Tips to Selecting Paper

2009-04-26T14:20:00.000-07:00

Here are 10 tips from the paper manufacturer, Domtar on how to select paper for your next design job. Click here for the article.

I think the biggest lesson I learn every time I design a job is how important it is to select your paper at the beginning. That's Domtar's number 1 tip!

Mohawk's Blog

2009-04-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

I was reading along in my April 09 issues of GD USA and saw that the paper manufacturer, Mohawk has a new blog. And what do you know...it's all about paper. This is a super inspirational blog and one you must check out if you love all things related to paper. (click here for the blog)

Legible Font

2009-04-23T18:49:00.000-07:00

I recently got this e-newsletter from one of my favorite online printing companies, 48hourprint.com. Anyways, this article was about making sure your small font size is legible when printed. Even though I am very self-conscious of this, this article was a great reminder for me. Every once in awhile 48hourprint.com sends me a tip from their E-Inkspot Newletter that is very useful to for me to read. Again, another great resource out there.

How Paper is Made

2009-04-22T12:21:00.001-07:00

I frequently like to check out paper manufacturer's websites. Why you ask? Well, they are really a great resource on paper. It's always best to go directly to the source!

I always like to keep up on new type of papers that are being created and every once in awhile stumble upon some great learning tools on their sites. I checked in on Wausau today and found this article about how paper is actually made. I'm pasting the small article here in my blog, but you can go here to find the complete article and connect to Wausau's website.

............................................................................................................

Each year the United States produces 87 million metric tons of paper. From gift wrap for holiday presents to the newspapers people read daily, nearly all paper is manufactured following these steps:

Preparation — New trees, lumberyard scraps and recycled paper products must be prepared before the papermaking process can begin. Fresh wood is debarked and cut into smaller pieces. Recycled paper products are treated to remove inks and other contaminants like staples.
Pulping — Next the wood chips pass through a digester (chemical pulping) or a refiner (mechanical pulping). A digester cooks the wood to separate out the fibers needed to make paper. A refiner grinds the wood mechanically to extract the fibers.
Screening — The stock fibers are now combined with water, creating a mixture with the consistency of soupy oatmeal. Water is drained away as this mixture travels along a wire mesh belt. The wet fiber mat left behind is then fed into a press.
Pressing and Drying — Fibers bond as any the last water is squeezed out of the mat. Steam-heated drums complete the drying process. The fiber mat is now paper.
Sizing and Coating — The uncoated paper is next treated with surface sizing to increase its strength and durability. Coating helps paper hold ink and reproduce sharp, clear printed images.
Finishing — The paper is cut into smaller rolls or sheets and packed for shipment.

Now you know. Whether it’s used to produce a bestseller or a movie poster, paper actually goes through an intricate manufacturing process of its own.

Great Gift ~ Memory Blocks

2009-04-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

So my sister just turned 40 and I really struggled to find a gift for her. She is one of those that has everything and needs nothing. She loves handmade projects and pictures of family,so I went on a craft store adventure hoping that I would be inspired.

Well, what do you know I stumbled upon this decoupage wooden block kit and just knew it would be the perfect gift. I scanned in a bunch of old pictures and made collages in Photoshop. Then I just decoupaged them on the blocks. It turned out wonderfully. Unfortunately, I already wrapped the gift and forgot to get pictures.

It was a perfect 1 to 2 day project, which are my favorite, and made no mess. Of course I bought the blocks from a small local craft store, but I thought I would highlight the company that they purchased it from, My Mind's Eye.

HOWs Top 10 Sites for Designers

2009-04-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

How Design is for sure my all time favorite design magazine. I anticipate every issue. In between issues I periodically check How's website to see what fun things they post. Recently I saw a page listing the "Top 10 Sites for Designers"; I of course had to read through them and check out their favorites.

I saw IKEA and was hooked. Now that I don't live near an IKEA I'm in mourning on a regular basis. Here's the link they highlighted:

http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_GB/rooms_ideas/PS/index.html

Then I saw the words "Oh so beautiful paper".....from that moment on I was daydreaming about paper and struggled to focus the rest of the day. If you love paper, then you'll love Nole's blog!

http://beautifulpaper.typepad.com/

Papyrus

2009-04-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

I just walked by Papyrus today in the mall and I of course had to step in. I just love taking a look at their handmade paper selection, and of course browse the cards to see if there are any new designs as well as get inspired by all the color.

As I was in there I ran across another journal that I fell in love with. I'm putting this one on my wish list for the year. It has stitching on it and is so bright and beautiful. Definitely would make me happy every time I saw it. I also saw this orange leather pen that I thought would go nicely with it too. Click here to see more details on the journal and here for the pen!

DIY Perpetual Calendar

2009-04-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

Now this is a fun perpetual calendar! It even uses paper...and that makes it perfect for me. The fact that it rotates is way too cool, very ingenious. What a great storage calendar for an office desk. Click here for the tutorial that's at Design Sponge.

Delicious

2009-04-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm probably way behind on this, but I just discovered Delicious.com about a month or so ago. For those who don't know what it is, here is what they say on their site:

"Delicious is a social bookmarking service that allows users to tag, save, manage and share web pages from a centralized source. With emphasis on the power of the community, Delicious greatly improves how people discover, remember and share on the Internet"

All in all it's another fun resource place. I'm always amazed at what I find. If you haven't checked it out, you must as you may find somethings of great interest to you. One of the bookmarks that fascinated me was 50 Totally Free Lessons in Graphic Design Theory. It's always good to refresh myself and note it for new graphic designers that come my way.

Free Grunge Textures

2009-04-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

I found another great place for free textures at Grunge Textures. This is a very well done site, and offers some really unique textures. Mud, machinery, aluminum and even rust textures. All great things for grunge projects.

Fun Candy Wrappers

2009-04-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Who would of thought that this would be on Rachel Ray's Everyday website. Free candy wrapper designs to download. Of course as a designer, I would most likely design one myself. But, when I'm in a pinch I don't have any guilt downloading free designs. Especially if it is a fun design and it involves chocolate! For candy wrapper free downloads, click here!

Free Ornaments

2009-04-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here at Briar Press there is a great selection of free ornaments to download, gotta love free stuff. There is also a selection that you can purchase for a pretty inexpensive amount of money. Click here to download the ornaments and check out all the great resources at Briar Press.

Kate's Paperie

2009-04-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Stumbling upon the Kate's Paperie shop put a huge smile on my face today. I would have had a bigger smile if I lived near an actual shop. But it looks as though they are only in NY and CT.

Anyways, this is a fantastic stationary shop, highlighting beautiful paper, journals and so much more fun stuff. She also has free project ideas and template downloads. For those not familiar with Kate's Paperie, enjoy shopping!

The Cross

2009-04-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today being Easter I wanted to highlight the cross. It's amazing how many different ways you can design the cross and even color the cross. Of course the cross didn't start out as a symbol but much more than that. However, a symbol is what remains in order to remind us of Christ dying to save us from our sins. It is in my mind the most amazing symbol there is. It is amazing that one symbol is the most recognized, the most talked about, the most not talked about, the most meaningful, the most controversial and the one most used.

I often worry when I've been asked again and again to create a cross in a design, that I won't be able to come up with something original; but yet I always do. Of course the base design isn't original, but how that cross is portrayed is. And it's now become fun for me to see how many new ways I can portray a cross.

If you go to one of my favorite stock photo sites, istockphoto.com, you can see some great cross designs and get some inspiration for your next attempt at a cross.

Crazy Paper Characters

2009-04-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a fun paper craft provided by Christopher Bonnette at Marcula Art. I just absolutely love what can be done with paper. What a great craft for kids. Click here for tutorial.

Blanket Magazine

2009-04-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

Stay in touch with new artists in art, design and photography by visiting Blanket and downloading their free design magazine while your there.

Free Goodies From Me

2009-04-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

I'm excited for Spring to come and because of that I designed a few fun things that I wanted to share. You can find them free on my "goodies" page at, www.jbohlerdesigns.com. Happy Spring to all!

Pantone or Crayola?

2009-04-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

I love color and really, who doesn't! As a designer I rely so much on Pantone swatches for my colors in my projects. However, I have another secret place that I love to look at color and get ideas....my Crayola crayon box! A new set of crayons is a dream come true to me. You open the box and there's that smell, the look of a new crayon, that beautiful rainbow of colors and the fun names. Ahhh....brings back memories. Don't tell anyone, but those memories don't go back too far for me...maybe a year ago?

I also love going to Crayola.com as there is so much fun stuff there like America's Top 50 colors. Check that out here. It's a fun place to be a kid again and find out fun facts. And even get color inspiration for your next project. Happy coloring!

Library of Congress Digital Collection & Web Archive

2009-04-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

I was reading a new book I checked out from the library called Mediapedia by Kit Laybourne and found some great resources that were highlighted in the back of the book. One resource that really fascinated me was one for the Library of Congress Digital Collection (click here for collection).

Wow, what an amazing resource. I stumbled upon old baseball songsheets and a massive collection of prints and photographs. The amazing thing is that you can download some decent high resolution pictures for free.

They also provide a web archive of The Library of Congress which is really amazing to check out. They have the web archive from 9/11 which is a great resource for all.

Collection of Old Clipart

2009-04-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

Clipart ETC has the most amazing collection of old clipart. It is broken down in categories and is a great place to get inspiration. The clipart is free and in tif format, however there are some restrictions.

I'm not sure how I stumbled upon this site, but I love looking through it every once in awhile as it is like a clipart museum. It is absolutely fansinating to step back in time and then try and create something new from it. Have fun!

Font Game

2009-04-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty addicting font game so be careful. Try it out here and see how well you know your font faces.

Free Stock Photo Bank

2009-04-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for some free stock photos? Well here's a website that has some pictures of flowers, castles, Europe, animals and more. Go to www.freephotobank.org or click here. It's another great place to obtain free stock photos, desktop wallpaper or just get some great ideas.