Customized Papers and Stationary

One thing I'm really itching to make is some customized stationary for us as a family with our new address and a little sketch of our house. I think there is something so special about getting something in the actual MAIL. I know that time is precious and many of us have far too little of it, but it's the little things that make people feel special and customized stationary or invitations is something that can be done cheaply and easily with photoshop, illustrator, or even rubber stamping. If you want to get really fancy (I do) then you can even silk screen.

Here are a few things we've made this far.







These were for our wedding, obviously. I came across them today when clearing some files from my work computer. We edited the invitation tons more after this and it was eventually was sent in a foldout pocket style invite that had several pages inserted, including directions, a photo of us, and an illustated gerbera daisy which Sean drew that was the theme of our wedding. It's so special to personalize these elements. Gerbera daisies are the flower that Sean has always given to me and the font we used on all our wedding details (Elephant best font EVER) is OUR font now and we are using it for our new business logo as well.

We also used it on our Christmas postcard this year.


You can print from home or make nice with a local printshop and with a little time and effort go way beyond the generic for not a lot of money.

All the cool kids are doing it.

Yes they are all over the design blogs but I absolutely MUST share these images from the new Liberty of London line for Target which goes on sale March 14th. Check it!

Nicole of Making It Lovely posted the cutest little collage of images from the line. Wanted to give credit and share. I love Making It Lovely, and her digital boards are always inspiring to me.

Musings of a professional student

Last night I registered for classes for next quarter, and in doing so had the most insane realization. I am seriously close to graduation! I've been plugging away at this degree 2 to 3 classes at a time for so long now, it's started to feel like a job. Abstractly, I've understood that yes, this is a school and people occasionally graduate and go on to jobs in the design field. But, it always seemed so far away for me. My degree requires 180 credit hours, with 40 of those classes being program classes. I came into the program with all of my general education requirements complete save 1 (screw you, Physics) but 40 program classes was daunting with a full time job. My first quarter I took one class, Design Drafting 1 and then I knew that yes, this is for me. I took 4 classes my second quarter and I remember feeling so excited at the thought of being a designer, but so overwhelmed at how long this whole thing was going to take. Now here I am with only 12 classes left to finish including my internship. And they are the BEST classes too. I am really looking forward to hospitality design (hotel and restaurant design) and commercial 2. Also, I have furniture design coming up and in that class I get to design and build my own piece of furniture. Next quarter I'm taking a professional practices business class (BORING) and interior detailing and while neither of these set the world on fire for me or anything, it just brings me that much closer to my goal.

One thing I am super excited about is launching my etsy store in March. I plan on releasing my own line of tea towels and pillowcases to start. It's going to be a silkscreen factory in my garage soon! I've got a great teacher in Sean. Check out these awesome Warhol prints he did for a factory party a few years ago. Fance, right?

And because this is a post about skool, here is a project I did a few quarters ago in my commercial design class. It is layouts and concepts for a mobile health clinic for lower income children and parents. My idea was to install temporary clinics into museum and gallery space in a partnership between the artistic community and the city for temporary pop up clinics which would go from city to city on a nationwide health campaign. I used the Contemporaty Arts Museum Houston as my shell building.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Blabber

So here's the thing. For about 6 years I had a personal blog, not related to interior design or anything else. I just talked about my life and my opinions, many of which are STRONG and ULTRA LIBERAL and I offended shit tons of people and it started to take over my life in an unfun way and became a SITUATION. At the time I had a ton of readers which was awesome, but the whole thing bled over into my personal life which was the opposite of awesome.

But in starting a blog again, I recognize the only way I canreally enjoy this experience and have an idea of what to say is to just say everything. I mean yes, the focus will be design and pretty things and all of that but MY LIFE IS MY DESIGN, all dramatic style, you know?

Here is a wall in my studio. Let me tell you stories about these objects.

So first off, this mirrored cabinet? It's one of my favorite possessions in the whole world. It was custom made by my friend Shelley. We met in design school (come on, how could this girl not be an awesome designer, check out that cabinet awesomeness) and Shelley is now seeking her fortune in NYC and I think of her often. The cabinet was a wedding gift and dare I say, the favorite gift I recieved. The best gifts are the handmade ones, I always say.

From top left: Crate and barrel candlestick, silver votive holder from Ireland, piece of silver from my mothers set from the 70's, hand embroidered Happy Anniversary card from Etsy shop King Popcorn, Mexican prayer candle from my grandparents now defunct store in Galveston, 2 other yummy smelly candles, pink box a souvenir from my honeymoon in Paris, found dental mold (I'm calling it a sculpture), another piece of 70's silver, a ceramic sculpture of a hostess cupcake (can't remember artist right this second) and a a handmade rosary made by my Aunt Liz. (I like to wear it and dance around like I am Madonna from the 80's all Lucky Star style.)

Panning out:

ART! I like art. Top center is a portrait of me done by my beloved, ditto to the portrait of my dog Claire bottom left. Oh and he painted the small pink framed water colors. The loteria print is from local artist Elizabeth Hernandez and the bottom right painting "The One Eyed Monster is by Tisha Balli. The kissing booth letter press poster is from my one true love, Etsy and made by Rollandtumblepress.

DUDE, what up with needing the hyperlink tutorial like an elderly.

Hi.

Welcome to my design blog. I am an interior design student and my house is my frankenstein. I plan to feature my school projects, my home, my product design and pretty things I make. I will probably also drone on and on about my life and our business and anything else I can think of here.

Whee.