go deep, then simplify

Well, another road trip to KC for me! This time it was for my sister's baby shower. I took my first vacation days from work since I started back in June! Wooo! I'm glad I took the days off too because we had a lot of setup, decorating, baking, shopping, and wrapping to do. All our hard work paid off though : ) I would like to brag just a bit because I was very impressed with myself, my little sister Shelby, Gina, Leslie, Emily and Kristen's hard work. We pulled off one of the cutest showers ever.

I hope Rachael enjoyed her shower because after all the showers, parties, birthdays, etc. that she throws for others she truly deserved it. I love you Rach - can't wait for Baby Girl Clark to arrive!

Thank you Gina too, for all the great pictures!

The final tablescape : ) Colors worked out great! Coral, Pink, Orange and Gray

Close-up of the chalkboard I designed for the table. I LOVE chalk lettering. Hopefully one day I'll be as good as Dana Tanamachi ; ) On the right is the sign I made for the headband making table. That was a lot of fun. Baby clark will have lots of cute headbands to wear!

Decorations! Fun boxes and yarn balls Leslie made and my Triple Chocolate Cupcakes with little Baby Clark banner flags :)

So much yummy food! Make your own fruit pizza bar with sugar cookies, cream cheese frosting and assorted fruit, Rachael's luscious slush punch (say that 3x fast! lol)

Shot from the living room where we opened all the presents. We decorated the fireplace with more banners, poms, and yarn balls :)

Mini Cheesecake bites with homemade strawberry puree and a dollop of lemon buttercream frosting -def the hit of the party!

Picture time with all the Aunties and Grandmas, and hostesses :)

Bags I made for all the baby's gifts

After the party Rach had a second unwrapping of all her presents at the house. There was so much to go through, everyone was so gracious!

and lastly, a shot of my baby, Wrigs - paws crossed and all :)

Happy Hump Day - Hope you had a fun weekend too!

Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed your Easter Weekend. I had Good Friday off at the office so I took the opportunity to go back to KC and enjoy a long 3-day weekend with the family :) For as fast as my trips back home seem I always manage to cram so many things in while I'm at home. Here's all I did:

1. Finally finished designing & ordering the business cards for Agua Viva International - a non-profit company my dad is part of that helps to bring clean drinking water and spread the word of the Lord to those in need. It's pretty awesome - so you should check them out and find more info : ) (BTW I'll be re-designing their website soon too!)

2. Went on a bike ride with my mommy (almost ran over a giant black snake on the trail - gross!

3. Went downtown to the plaza for some shopping and amazing food :)

4. Did some Insanity with Shelb and mom (had to workout after all the food!)

5. Saw Hunger Games with all the girls plus daddy. He wants to go by Bosley now like Charlie's Angels haha

6. Had queso and margs at Jose Pepper's yumm! I gave up drinking for Lent so this marg was extra tasty :)

7. Did my taxes with help from my bro-in-law, Matt. I'm going to get a nice refund check too. Yay.

8. Helped my sister with more nursey stuff and gave her an early present for her little dresser in the room.

9. Went to Easter Service. Delivered breakfast to my brother who had to work at the golf course

10. Ran to Walmart with Shelby to take pictures for work and then got a picture with my baby, Wrigley for another website I'm working on

Wow, makes me tired just thinking about it all! I had a GREAT time though and loved catching up with the family and seeing baby clark. She's getting so much bigger and  I'm ready for her to come already!

Here are a few pics from my trip back home.

awesome piece of art hanging in Anthro

Chocolate Bag from McCormick & Schmick's. I devoured about 2/3 of that with my mom finishing the other 1/3 haha

On the pretty blue stairs that lead up to McCormick & Schmick's

Mommy and I on our Plaza Outing :)

Chicken Calabrese Flatbread from Brio. One of my fav Italian restaurants. 

at the new Free People store they just opened on the Plaza! Too bad it closed before I got to go in :( I will go back though, that's for sure.

I looove their clothes

The girls going to see Hunger Games. The movie was great! I really want to read the books now :)

and one last picture - some kisses for Baby Clark : )

It's back y'all! I know I've been slacking on my blog and I'm sure you've probably missed Typeface Tuesday : )

Don't fret - I've got a new ad today that I found on Spotify. It popped up during one of the commercial breaks.

*side note* I LOVE Spotify but still not enough to pay for their ad free service ; ) Besides, I'm one of the few who still likes looking at ads.

I'm not typically a huge fan of car ads or cars in general but I though this car ad was very nicely done. Good choice of typography, clean & simple layout, and nice colors.

Here's the ad

Bonus for y'all today too - can you name both the header and sub header typeface?

Leave me a comment and make sure to include this info:

 1. Name of the 2 Typefaces

 2. Who designed them

 3. Comments you have about the typefaces - thoughts, feelings, do you like them?

 4. Any pictures of other pieces that use these typefaces.

Well, that's all for now. It's been beautiful here in NWA the past couple days and today we're supposed to break a record high for this time of the month. I'm looking forward to getting back to the lake and soaking in the sun : )

Images Copyright Amanda Springer (taken via Instagram)

I Just got an email reminding me time is rUNning out for the UN Show entries and saw on Facebook that Sheridan's UNforked just got on Art of the Menu! Two things that are UNderful to me.

I guess UN is in and ONE is out. Sorry I'll leave the puns up to these guys. They did it much better than I could :)

UNcoated stock from Neenah Paper Here are just a few of the promotional ads they did for the contest.

Uncoated stock is so nice, has great texture, & a natural feel...love : )

and

UNforked Restaurant back in my home town of Overland Park, KS

Sheridan's Frozen Custard (can someone please buy me a pretzel carmel crunch with M&M's yum-o!) + healthy, local, fast, fresh food! Can this place get any better? Yes, it could actually. They could open one up in AR!

Such Clever puns : )

Hehe - restrooms

Absolutely LOVING Anthro's window displays this month. They never cease to make me me #drool. 

Uh pretty sure I just discovered what to do with paint can lids and my bare wall. This is gorgeous. 

This reminds me of some artwork I made back in elementary school with rolled paper, called quilling. Here Anthro achieves a similar feel with repurposed paint cans. 

More paint cans. I love how they always manage to incorporate their materials into the art itself. 

Reusing paint can stirrers and hanging them from string to create an amazing installation piece. Can Anthropologie ever do anything wrong?

No. The answer is no - in case it wasn't obvious enough ; )

They give me such great inspiration for the store that I one day hope to open up! Honestly, I think the thing I got excited about most when I decided I am going to own my own store was dreaming about all the window displays and installations I can do for every season, event, theme, or just for the heck of it. Oh yea, I haven't told you about that dream yet have I? Well here's my official announcement to the e-world then. I am going to open up my own local boutique that sells clothes, vintage and thrifted finds, furniture, accessories, artwork, shoes, photography, stationery...and whatever else my heart desires : )

Sounds pretty similar to Anthropogie, no? Well, they are my inspiration after all. It hit me one day when a friend sent me a link to the owners of Red Velvet's Blog - A Beautiful Mess. After I read the story behind the store I became giddy with excitement. It just dawned on me, and within that moment everything clicked. I saw my life flash forward 5, 10, 15 years down the road. A life where I owned my own little boutique. A life that allowed me to have the freedom I wanted within my job while still being creative daily. A life that didn't require me sitting behind a desk for 9 hrs : ) I fell in love with what Elise and Emma had done with their lives and the amazing business they created.

You should definitely check out their store and blog!

So. I'm going to do it too. Now, I haven't gotten much further than that plus a few initial thoughts. But my friend and I still need to get together to brainstorm and write it all out. For now I'm still collecting ideas and figuring out some long term goals. Which just made me think - I should create a board for my store and pin some of my ideas! Noted and added to my to-do-list. Man I love making lists. Tangent. Ok, sorry for thinking out-loud or more-so, writing out-loud  : ) But I just know this is what I'm supposed to do - or at least the direction I need to be moving towards. I've been praying about my life and career and thinking about what I really want to be doing long-term as far as a job. I think God just gave me a little sign : )

Funny Holiday video from a great design studio in Kansas City called Indicia. 

I think all those IE folks can relate : )

ENJOY!

I know I know, it's Thursday, not Tuesday! I was super swamped this week at work, especially on Tuesday and haven't had time to post.

Last Friday was my first official (real-time-job) Christmas Work Party! It was held at Texas Land & Cattle. How perfect for the meat-lover I am.  I ended up ordering my co-worker's husband a steak to-go : ) But the party itself was great. Everyone was supposed to bring in a $10 limit gift for a gift exchange. The gifts that were stolen the most were $10 worth of scratch offs. I ended up with an iTunes gift card and some rubbery, tentacly, light-up worm thing haha. It was entertaining.  There were also some bigger prizes that a few people won for various reasons. One of the big gifts was awarded to the most Christmas-Spirited person...and I won! I have my great-grandmother's Christmas Bow earrings to thank : )

So I went up to the table to pick out my gift and my boss, Michelle, says "I bet it's a year's supply of meat!" as I'm unwrapping it. Turns out, it was a gift card to Honey Baked Ham hahaha. We all got a kick out of that. Luckily for me I was able to exchange that gift later on and picked out a wine, cheese, and chocolate picnic gift basket. It was much more suited to my taste. A winter picnic date has now been added to my to-do list : )

Overall it was a great night and really put me in the Holiday Spirit. My bare bones apartment is lacking any Christmas cheer. I forgot to bring the little 4ft tree my parents have back to AR after Thanksgiving break. With such little storage in my apartment I usually retrieve it from the basement at home every Thanksgiving Break and then bring it back when I return for Christmas with the family. Sadly, this year I will have to go without. 

Last week's Typeface Tuesday was Gotham. Arguably one of the best typefaces ever...in my opinion. Gotham was created by Tobias Frere-Jones and is a "hardworking typeface for the ages."

The package I took that from was the side of the Coke box. Their new design for the arctic winter and save the polar bears campaign has really caught my eye this year.

So now onto Typeface Thursday?

I actually found this infographic on Tuesday, thanks to my friend Aaron, but didn't have time to write the post. It's pretty humorous I think...or maybe just an inside joke but regardless, here it is. Judge for yourself.

Here's the full infographic

So, do you know what typeface is used here?

Leave me a comment and make sure to include this info:

1. Name of the Typeface

 2. Who designed it

 3. Comments you have about the typeface - thoughts, feelings, do you like it?

 4. Any pictures of other pieces that use this typeface.

Sorry again for the late post, but I'm still getting the hang of making myself post regularly!

I hope everyone's Christmas shopping is going well - I know I have much more to purchase in the next week!

Hey everyone! 

This morning I woke up to a little Winter Wonderland of white snow : ) It was so pretty. I enjoyed its fresh, untouched beauty for a moment, until I realized I still had to go to work. No snow days in the Real World! Of course my car, with it's age and all, is not what you'd call a snowmobile of any sorts. I was barley 300 yards out of my parking lot and hit a patch of black ice that almost led me crashing into a ditch on the side of the road. Yikes! After that I proceeded to drive a nice 5mph to work. Every road was backed up, and there was a continuous stream of calls on the radio for traffic updates about wrecks and slow downs. I finally made it after about a 30 minute drive and I hope y'all arrived safely to work this morning too! Even though today's snow accumulation was probably only an inch or so it just didn't feel the same though without a free day to go play in the snow : )

Last week's TypefaceTuesday was an ad ripped from a Kansas City tour Guide. Thank you Anna Jacobs, who correctly guessed the typeface! It was indeed Knockout, designed by Jonathan Hoeffler. Knockout is such a great, versatile typeface and you can buy it here.

This week's typeface comes from a brand that has really stood the test of time. I took a picture of one of their packages and am asking you to correctly identify the typeface used.

So leave me a comment and include this info:

(SIDE NOTE)

I finally figured out how to enable comments on my blog! I didn't realized there was no place for you to leave them before - whoops! Previously y'all just replied via my facebook or twitter which worked just as well. But now you can actually leave a real comment. So go ahead - comment!

 1. Name of the Typeface

 2. Who designed it

 3. Comments you have about the typeface - thoughts, feelings, do you like it?

 4. Any pictures of other pieces that use this typeface.

**BONUS POINTS if you know what brand this is!

I know I haven't posted since last #NameThatTypefaceTuesday. I've been pretty busy around the office and with Thanksgiving break - well, I took a break : ) I want to make sure I do this post every Tuesday though. I've heard great things about having a consistent project that is repetitive in nature. This is my first stab at a side project that repeats each week and I want to see where it goes.

So, for those who participated in the last TypefaceTuesday, thank you for joining in!

Cole & Celi were both correct. Lobster 1.4 was the the typeface used in the Bath&Body Works ad. Lobster was created by Pablo Impallari, a self-taught typeface designer We thank you Pablo for a great typeface.

I also asked a bonus question to see if you knew what semi-popular social media site used this typeface in their logo. The correct answer is Scoville. Have you heard of it? I signed up for an account but haven't become as addicted to it as I am with foursquare : )

Here's Scoville's logo

And now, onto today's typeface! I ripped this ad out of a visitor's guide to Kansas. I was very pleased and proud of my hometown of Olathe, KS. Most of the ads in the magazine were poorly done. They didn't know how to brand their city properly but I think Olathe did a great job. Of course I was really swayed by their choice of type. So here's what words you need to use to identify the typeface in the ad. 'Celebrate 150 Years' and 'Experience Kansas.' 

So leave me a comment and include this info:

 1. Name of the Typeface

 2. Who designed it

 3. Comments you have about the typeface - thoughts, feelings, do you like it?

 4. Any pictures of other pieces that use this typeface.

        Happy Typeface Tuesday!

Welcome to the first "Name That Typeface Tuesday" Where you get to guess the name of the typeface that I've identified in local advertising, branding, or any printed piece that comes my way. The sky's the limit for me as far as where I can get my content from.

It's your job to correctly identify what typeface is being used and tell me your thoughts about about that particular typeface. Do you like it? Do you not? Why? Have you used it recently in any of your work?

I've decided to kick it off with a particular favorite display typeface of mine. I was introduced to this typeface by my friend, Anna, about a year ago and I've been starting to see it pop up more and more in all sorts of advertising. Display typefaces, for me, are usually hard to come by. They are either way over-the-top or waaaaaaay over-the-top (if you get my drift.) However, I really like this one. It's just enough script but at a thicker weight that allows it to stand on its own.

I received this email for a Bath&Body Works promo and happened to see this pretty typeface once again. The typeface that I'm asking y'all to identify is used in the text "In Stores & Online," "item of your choice," "Festive Faves," and "Merry & Bright." They've also continued usage of this typeface on their website, and I think it's a great look for the Holidays.

Depending on how this project goes I'd like to eventually include some sort of giveaway for whomever correctly identifies the typeface. Unfortunately, for this launch I don't have anything to give away. But....Bath&Body Works is offering a FREE GIFT with your purchase of $10 or more : )

So leave me a comment and include this info:

1. Name of the Typeface

2. Who designed it

3. Comments you have about the typeface - thoughts, feelings, do you like it?

4. Pictures of other pieces that use this typeface.

*BONUS POINTS* A somewhat popular social media site also uses this typeface as their wordmark. Do you know who it is? 

**Disclaimer** Bonus Points won't really get you anything except for the satisfaction of you knowing you got the answer right. It's kind of like "Whose Line is it Anyway" The show where everything is made up and the points don't matter. Only here, this typeface is not made up.

Well that's all for now - Happy Typeface Tuesday!

                    Something about this image caught me instantly. Maybe it's the bold necklace, 50's housewife dress, or colorful wall of books in the background. Maybe it's just everything. In any case - I'm drooling. I'm also adding this to my xmas wish list.

This is the first year in my life that I have not dressed up for Halloween - how sad : ( I was just too busy this year and didn't think I would be going to any Halloween parties. My girlfriend Niki had her bachelorette party this past Friday in Tulsa. We were all required to wear black cocktail dresses while she wore a white dress. I guess I could say I was part of her Entourage for Halloween : ) It was a lot of fun and we still got to go out and see what everyone else dressed up as.

These were my top 3 favorite costumes (In ascending order):

3. Mail-Order Bride - She made a skirt out of the priority mail envelopes and wore a white shirt and veil. How clever!

2. Pacman - 5 guy friends all got together and made these costumes from Foam Board, Colored Fabric, and Sharpies. 4 of the 5 were the ghosts and the 5th one was Pacman. He cut out arm holes and wore it on each side so as he walked toward you it looked like he was chomping you! Props to the guys for getting their hands dirty and crafting!

1. Jack - From the Nightmare before Xmas. Now, I'm pretty biased on this because this was one of my sister and I's favorite movies growing up - strange, I know ; ) But he went all out and had this huge styrofoam ball that he cut out for a mask. It was brilliant. He also won 3rd place in the costume contest - I think he should have won 1st though.

Sorry I don't have pictures of the other costumes but they were really good!

Also, I made these cyclops eyeball #cakepops from Bakerella's Blog to keep in somewhat of a Halloween spirit. Let me tell you, for as much as I love cakepops they are always so much more work than I expect. I was up all night making these little monsters. The end result was definitely worth it though. Everyone had great things to say about them, and how delicious they were. Now on Bakerella's Blog post she called them eyeballs and drew red veins on the iris. My edible paint pens were not cooperating though so I simply eliminated that step and called them cyclops cakepops instead. I think cyclops is much scarier anyway. 

Have a spooky and safe Halloween!!

Back on Aug. 25 I tweeted about identifying a font I saw on a magazine. I recognized it right away because I am slightly in love with it and had just recently used it on one of my projects. Since that day, I swear, every other project I come across is using this typeface. Then today, I once again come across it for the new logo of my new city Rogers, AR! 

Neutraface.

It's awesome. I love it. Everyone else does too. It's great for logos and headers. I just wanna put it out there that I've claimed its amazingness and I'm pretty sure designers started reading my mind when I started using it so it became the trend : )

But in all seriousness, if you're looking for a great typeface I would start here.

Here it is in a little action - 

via the Lovely Package Blog

via the Lovely Package Blog

via the Lovely Package Blog

new work from Thoma Thoma and my new city I just moved too!

and where I originally first saw it in print via the Pottery Barn magazine

There isn't much more to be said that hasn't already been said, or tweeted, or blogged, posted, or shared. But I just wanted to take a moment to add to the commentary and say that I myself am also mourning the loss of a "true visionary and creative genius." Although I never met the man myself, Steve Jobs has had a major impact on my life. As a designer, I am constantly working with Apple products. In fact, I owe a big part of my career choice to Steve and everything Apple has created.

One of my best girlfriends, Abbi, was lucky enough to have one of the earlier iMacs back in High School. Her parents had bought it as the new family computer, and I still remember the day I first went over to 'play' on it. Yes, I had already been using an iPod for a while. In fact, I think I was already on my 2nd or 3rd one by this time. So I knew about Apple and loved what I had experienced of them so far, but our family always had PCs. It was at this point that I fell in love. I was already the artsy fartsy of the family and I knew I would need to do something that allowed me to be creative on a daily basis. Once I began working on Mac computers and I grew a strong affinity for everything Apple I knew I had found my calling. Art + Computers = Design and from that moment forward I worked towards becoming a graphic designer. Upon High School graduation I took all my graduation money plus my savings to buy myself my first MacBook Pro. I loved it like one would love their child, and I use to hate it when other people would use it. I didn't want them to ruin it or heaven forbid get a scratch on it. I know - I was a little OCD about my Mac but I've since then relaxed a bit and will allow people to use it : ) However, it still holds a special place in my heart as my first step towards my goal of becoming a designer.

4 years later and a Bachelors of Art from the University of Arkansas I have met my goal, or at least part of it. I've accepted my first full-time position as a graphic designer for Launch Marketing and dived into the design 'real world'. I still have plenty of goals left to reach and bigger plans for my career...still trying to figure out what job incorporates design, cooking food, fashion, music, and decorating though : ) But I have embarked on a path that I know will only lead to future happiness.

For this, I would like to thank Steve Jobs and Apple for instilling in me my love of design and the tools I need (and love) to do what I do. Working daily with such intuitive, smart, and beautifully crafted computers and technology to create new things has never become old and I don't believe it ever will. You will be missed Steve.

Jobs' 2005 Commencement Speech at  Stanford. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc #wisewords

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/us/obit-steve-jobs/

So I never really jumped on the sew-a-feather-in-your-hair bandwagon but I have always loved feathers. When we got this feather headband in at Something Urban I just had to snag one. The feather extensions are so skinny and sometimes disappear in your hair. I love that you can really see the feathers with this headband and you can take it on and off so you don't have to have feathers everyday. My $12 investment was totally worth it : )

You can pick one up too at Something Urban on Dickson Street in Fayetteville or check out these other pretties I found. Of course the Free People feather clip is my fav but I don't have $68 to splurge on that one : (

1: The leather tie can wrap around your head several different ways or even be worn as a belt!

2: Love the colors in this one

3: So delicate and feminine

via ffffound and created by Studio MPLS.