Campus Christian Fellowship Poster

splatters and drips.

I made a mess doing this!

It's up!

I just submitted a new design to Threadless! Check it out by clicking the link below, and, if you're so inclined, vote on it to give me a better chance of getting printing! Woot woot!

Things I'm into lately: #1!

I've decided to start a weekly "inspiration" post. It'll keep me at least a little on task updating this thing, even if it's with other people's design/work/creativity rather than my own! It'll be five-ish things that I'm "into" that week.

#1. Kelly Cutrone.

She's the PR diva and marketing queen who founded People's Revolution, a super successful fashion PR and marketing firm. I first saw Kelly as Whitney's scary-as-hell boss on MTV's The Hills (Say what you will, but I love that show... and if nothing else, the episodes are only a half hour long, so I'm not wasting THAT much time!). She says things like, "Do not roll your eyes at me. Do not question what it is we're asking of you to do. I'm not here to be your friend."* She soon turned into one of my favorite parts of the show--she's sarcastic, down-to-earth, unforgiving, and completely unafraid to hurt others feelings (but in a good way).

I was at my sister's apartment and noticed a book with her picture on the front, titled If You Have to Cry, Go Outside, and Other Things Your Mother Never Told You. It's a book she's written for women that's a refreshing slap in the face. A real-world guide to following your dreams, Kelly talks about finding yourself by listening to yourself and following your intuition. I'm only 30 pages in and I'm already hooked. Who knew the scariest bitch-boss could be so inspirational? Kelly, you're my hero.

2. Crazy Heart

I saw this film starring Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Robert Duvall last week. It's about an old, washed up country singer who is broke, sleeping with a different woman every night, on the edge of his health, and drunk more than he is sober. He meets a younger woman and considers changing his ways. The soundtrack is fantastic, the cinematography is superb, and Jeff Bridges gives the performance of a lifetime. It really is a great film. The back of the movie box said, "The harder the life, the sweeter the song." Beautiful, right? Plus, it takes place in the Southwest, and I'm gearing up for a road trip down that way, so I was especially delighted by the setting.

Speaking of which, this also leads me to the next item on my list...

#4. Palo Duro Canyon,

Located in the panhandle of Texas, it's the second largest canyon system in the United States, and a place I plan on stopping to see on my road trip. Pretty stunning, right? I can't wait to see it in person! I've never been to the Southwest, so I'm pretty psyched to check out that corner of the country. Plus, there's something so completely American about a road trip. The open road, the corny roadside attractions, the fast food stops... it's going to be superb! Plus, we're camping the whole way down, so that should be an adventure in itself.

#4. This desktop wallpaper.

One of my favorite design blogs, Design*Sponge, features a new artist every month by releasing a sweet desktop wallpaper with a calendar on it. I really love this month's, which was made by Betsy Walton of Morning Craft. Pretty swell.

#5. Threadless.

This super cool site features t-shirt designs submitted by designers. Other users of the site score and critique the designs. Then the Threadless gurus hand pick the designs to be printed from the highest scored designs. If your design gets chosen, not only do you get the glory of having your very own piece of art made wearable for anyone to buy, but you also get 2000 green ones! Pretty rad right? Above is one of my favorite shirts that's been printed. Keep your eyes open, I have submitted a couple of designs myself, and am continuing to work on some others! I would be pretty psyched to get chosen, and I know it's a long shot, but a girl can dream! I'll keep you posted when I submit my next design.

That's it for my first designspiration post. I'm suspecting most weeks won't be this long....

Tel-Alumni Posters.

Here's a poster series I worked on for my job on campus. I heart hand-drawn type! This was probably the most fun I've had with a job so far this summer. Yayay.

Upcycled thrift store belt

I recently went on a little visit to the local thrift stores in downtown Kirksville, just to browse. These days, thrift and second hand stores seem to be the only places that I can afford!

Anyway, in addition to a great, super soft vintage-y ringer t-shirt (Iowa State Wrestling Champions 1987, woot woot!), I found this great leather belt with roses engraved into it. It was tiny (I think it must have been made for a little girl!) but I thought I could do something cool with it, so I bought it. Along with the t-shirt, I spent an outrageous 75 cents. Not bad, eh?

Yesterday I finally got around to being crafty and made some leather bracelets out of the belt! I got out my x-acto knife, bought some suede cord, and got crackin'. They came out pretty neat, yes? Oh, and I had another leather cuff that had fallen apart, so I used the suede cord to make it wearable again! Maybe I'll donate them to AIGA for our fundraiser this fall, or give them as gifts... hmm!!

Painted jars and bottles

A few weeks ago I decided to actually use the glass jars and bottles I've been trying to remember to recycle by sprucing them up a bit with some paint!

I've only done the two so far, but I plan on doing more. I also was delving through the archives of a newly discovered design blog that I love, Poppytalk, and saw this post. I thought it was a really cool yet simple way to paint bottles that gave them a really finished, polished look (more so than mine anyway, lol). Hmm... next weekend project? I think so!

4 posters and a thought.

Ey, I haven't been keeping up with this as much as I would like. But here is my post: 4 posters and a thought.

Yesterday I was working behind the ice cream counter at my minimum wage, high school-esque restaurant job, and in worked a group of construction workers wanting some ice cream to help them cool off after a hard days work. I could tell by their accents they weren't from around here; their drawls were so thick I could barely understand them. They each paid with their ice cream with damp money. It was damp from being on their body, sweaty from a full day's work. At first I was kind of grossed out, but then I wondered why it seemed so familiar. I realized it was because I remember the money my dad gave me on hot summer evenings for ice cream was always damp from his sweat after a long day.

This little reminder of a small detail from my childhood is what my creative writing professor would have said was gold. He loved little nothings like that, details that seem so meaningless but can add so much life to a story.

"My father handed me a dollar bill; it was damp, wet with the very sweat that earned it."

And on a different note, here are 4 posters I adore. I could spend hours looking at posters at Gigposters.com.

Doublenaut

Subject Matter Studio

The one and only Hatch Show Print.

Farm Barn Art Co.