Prints

I've finally made 5x7 prints from a few pieces of mine. Eventually I'd like to make posters and such, but it was great to see how these turned out.

Site Development

Just began my web and interactive design classes and although it's somewhat stressful to be working full time and taking them, I LOVE it!

This week we began making prototypes of our websites. Here's the first comp. I'm soooo excited to begin developing this.

So far I'm thinking the color is pretty dull and I'm not too sure to do with the circle elements yet. They're not really serving too much of a purpose right now and aren't adding much to the site.

We'll see how things come together over time. I'll have to post progress.

Tea Time

Been thinking about making a Tea Time invitation out of this illustration of this old teapot my mom gave me (which was awesome). Haven't gotten around to it yet to it yet but here's the start of it. 

Illustrations for Northern Virginia Magazine

Pillows at Warrenton's Spring Festival

I recently had some items selling at the Warrenton Spring Festival in my mom's booth for her shop, Sherrie's Stuff.

Post Inspiration

Source: 5 Elements that Distinguish Successful Entrepreneurs, from Endeavor's Dubai ISP

My sister has been talking to me a lot about coming up with a business plan and figuring out how to make a successful interior accents line. Sean Gardner, a social media consultant, (@tomorrowknight) tweeted this article and I thought I'd share for others and even as a reminder to myself. I've learned much from his tweets and recommend following :)


5 Elements that Distinguish Successful Entrepreneurs

1. Find the best advisors no matter what it takes. Endeavor CEO and co-founder Linda Rottenburg, said it best when she said, “stalking is underrated.” Do whatever it takes to find the best people you can who will listen to you and provide feedback. As mentioned above however, at the end, the decisions will be yours to make, and sometimes you’ll need to simply ignore other people’s views.

2. Have a clear strategy. As an entrepreneur, you should know where you want to go. Even if it’s a very rough sketch, try to have a roadmap of how you hope to get there.

3. Be willing to listen. That is, be open to hearing what critics have to say, because it might just be the advice that will save your company from going bust. Being defensive might shield you from a single conversation, but you might be blinding yourself to vulnerabilities that might actually exist and expand with time. As one panelist said, “we have two ears and one mouth, we should listen more than we speak,” following with the idea that no matter what position one is in, we should be open to debate, as we tend to learn more from people we disagree with.

4. Differentiation is key. Hassab Medical Labs of Egypt and Baydoner, a restaurant chain in Turkey, are two examples of businesses that were able to differentiate their product from the competition in their local markets with simple yet novel techniques. Hassab did this by employing a doctor on-site who could provide lab patients with traditional medical checkups at a reduced fee. Baydoner did so by adding an extra layer of service to the traditional mall food court experience, having waiters serve food, and limiting their menu to a single main item- shawerma. Arif Naqvi highlighted the importance of this added value, complimenting a Mexican company for creating a standard product with a unique twist. To position your company in a way that is different (and hopefully better) than the pack will likely make it sustainable in the long term.

5. Execute impeccably. If you want to thrive, you must execute well. For example, 4E, a soap manufacturer, distributor and Endeavor candidate company in Mexico, succeeded in winning orders from industry heavyweight Wal-Mart, among others, by being an extremely reliable supplier in a market of unreliable suppliers. As one panellist said, “McDonalds wasn’t the first restaurant to serve hamburgers, they just did it better than anyone else.”

The First 70

Absolutely gorgeous footage. And had no clue about this! Heath Hen Films

Smoothies

It seems that everyone is crazy about making smoothies these days, and something new to me is kale being used in them. The good ol' veg was introduced to me by my mother, maybe, 2 years ago on either Thanksgiving or Christmas when all of the goods come out. I've never heard of kale being used in, well, anything until recently when I read of kale smoothies and wasabi-soaked kale chips. My frown turned upside down eating these, as my tear ducks were triggered by the thin crips and my face scrunched in response but the feeling was eradicated by deliciousness! Anyhow, I was around many adults this past weekend and food came up often. Discussions moved from who uses what ingredients in what, calorie intake for the day, butter being made of plastic, "don't use that, use this," global food markets and their size and cost of produce, eating bread, not eating bread, "no pancake batter in my omelet, please," and more. It was somewhat overwhelming and annoying to myself and my cousin, who is a 19 year old male still enjoying the free and questionable diets offered by college dining halls. I wont lie--I miss those days! As much as the urge to yell out "JUST EAT!" tempted my tongue while listening to the convos, thinking back on them now I'm realizing that I cant be ignorant to the issue. Although I may feel a budget and lack of time hinder my pursuit of becoming a partaker in food consciousness, really it just comes down to laziness. JUST EAT has not helped anyone's diet in America today. JUST listen. JUST learn. Just do. These will be my new ... to-mottos when it comes to food. Note: This illustration was originally created for an article in Northern Virginia Magazine found here.

Illustrated and crafted ladybug place mats

It's taken me some time to complete these but they're finally done! I made this ladybug fabric and cut the pieces too small for its original purpose as pillows and could not figure out what to create with them. I'm sure there were several things I could have done but decided to make some place mats. After sewing them into circles they were looking a bit bland so I added the loops around the edges. To complete them I created a personalized tag with my logo on it. The fabric is cotton and the loops are made out of thread. $8 each.

Be Still and Know

Words are Seeds

Who enjoys commuting? Eh?
I do...not. But, maybe I can't complain. It could be worse.
I commute 45 minutes to work and while I'd much rather be able to ride a bike, walk, or spend maybe just 20 min. in route, there are a few good things that come out of a commute. Like ideas. What I enjoy about commuting is having some time before work begins to think, sing, pray, plan, listen and/or learn.

On a particular morning, I was driving and listening to something obnoxious on the radio and decided that it wasn't good for my current vulnerable mood or emotions. I suppose it was one of those mornings when I wake up and heavy ideas/words/feelings from the previous day are still weighing on me and alive in my mind. And when preparing ourselves to face the world, we have to be aware of the little things that can occur beforehand that can either rekindle or supersede those emotions.

So, I turned the station.

I'll listen to the Family Life Christian station periodically. It has always provided me wisdom I like to take note of for current or future life situations. In this episode I turned to on this particular morning 6 minutes before arriving to work, they were speaking of words and how they can be used to inspire younger generations. This topic quickly caught my attention because of my interest in working with young people, helping to bring out and speak to their potential.

So this is how this illustration came to fruition. The commentator from the station mentioned how words are seeds and we can either plant seeds of life or seeds of pain into souls.

I encourage all to give life to others through your words and interaction with others. Shine light on the potential and strength in one another and remember that every one of us has a purpose and place on this earth.

The Sky is the Limit

NO MILK LEFT BEHIND

Ladybug place mats

I've been trying to figure out what to do with this ladybug fabric. I made it some time ago but no longer want to use it as I planned to originally. Thought about making them into placemats or little round pillows. I'm also not sure if i want to keep a stitch around it or not. Going to get some opinions from others and look around to see if I can get some ideas.

Ode to V-day

Higher

I've experienced God's blessing and favor this past year in ways I would have never imagined. I'm continuing to understand more about myself and why I am in the place I am now, helping me to embrace the present day and be patient for the future. Anything I don't understand I trust that I will at some point. He is truly my peace through it all.

Newly Designed Table Napkins & Elephant Pillow

I created the above pattern using Illustrator and had it printed onto fabric. I had originally planned to make another pillow with the design but the print came out much smaller than I had expected and I felt that it would have an odd or incomplete look when finished. I then decided to use the fabric to make table napkins--random idea.



I spent some time YouTubing the art of napkin folding and ways to embellish them. I bought napkin rings off of Etsy from Sierra Metal Design. I used two different fabrics from JoAnn's to place on the back side of the fabric I created, and also used some silver straw from JoAnn's to complete the napkins.





New elephant pillow.

Milk and Sugar

The best part about eating cereal when I was younger was drinking the leftover milk and sugar.

Elephants and Colored Water

Happy New Year to you! I pray you have a blessed and prosperous one. It's finally 2012, the year I've been waiting for since sitting in my 9th grade history class watching a movie about the Mayans and learning about our final days on this earth. I was all like "whooaa, I wonder what I'm going to be like and what I'm going to be doing?" Well, at this time in my life I'm learning more about myself than ever, and at the moment I'm making an elephant pillow and have been trying out some watercolor paintings.

A finished pillow will come soon. I'm also working on some place mats and some napkins. I recently ordered some napkin rings from a seller on etsy that I'll be receiving in the mail any day now. So excited about that!



I was just having a conversation with my mom that kind of inspired me. We were just talking about all of these ideas we have and feeling like you sometimes don't have the time to do it all. It's quite frustrating. That's why its so important to plan and stick to it as best you can, and deviate from it only when it feels right in your heart. Never forget who you are, never forget where your heart is, remember what you stand for and believe in, and never lose sight of any vision that you've had for yourself that made you smile, maybe teary-eyed with passion, maybe eager, maybe it gave you the jitters...anyway, stick to it and let all that good energy flow from your toes to the tips of your fingers to the follicles in your hair.

I just rambled :)

My boyfriend and worked on some watercolor paintings together this weekend. This isn't too great, but good fun to do together. I enjoyed experimenting with them.