March Wrap Up

Good-bye March. Hello April! And warm weather. Last month, I came up with the idea of including a monthly wrap up and I'm super excited to share this month's wrap up.

What's Going On 

March was insanely busy because of getting everything together for my Senior Show, but it went so well! We also had our last big snowstorm of the season (hopefully) and the weather's been slowly, but surely getting warmer each day. Oh and I applied for graduation! Yay!

Instagram

I shared a lot of my graphic design work I've been working on. Towards the end of the month, I joined in on the Instagram challenge #TNCLovesSpring. Are there any Instagram challenges you're participating in?

Top Left: Transfer Prints / Top Right: My Business Card and Publicity Card
Bottom Left: Snow Day! / Bottom Right: Working On My Font

Links 

– Earlier in the month, Organized Charm was doing a giveaway and I won a Samsill Duo Binder! I can't wait to put this thing to use. I'm planning on using it for job searching. I really liked Kirsten's post about different ways to use this binder: 5 Ways to Use the Duo 2-in-One Binder

– Alisa Burke (an insanely awesome artist) blogged about creating your own art journal: Make A $5.00 Art Journal

– Found Phyllis + Rosie Jewelry through Free People and now I'm compltely in love with everything they have.

– And I really liked Elsie's simple approach to scrapbooking.

I hope you guys had an awesome February and will have an even better March! What have you all been up to this past month?

Weekly Wishes 03.30.2015

I can't believe how fast March went! But that's alright because I am so ready for spring and graduation!! This week was hectic with setting up my Senior Show, but I had so much fun and I'm so proud of all the graphic designer and animators I work with. Plus, my best friend was able to come and I'm so happy she did. (Sidenote: She might be reading this, so hi!!)

Since last week was super busy, I'm hoping this week will be a little more relaxed.
Last week's weekly wishes:
• Finalize everything for the senior show: Done! I'll write a blog post about it later.
• Start a walking program: Yes and no. I only walked once this week and I was supposed to walk three times. Something's better than nothing thought, right?!

This week's weekly wishes:
• Continue with the walking program: Because I'm not going to let one bad week deter me.
• Update my Behance account: I posted some new pieces the other week, but I still have more to put up. For now, you can see what's in my portfolio here!

What are your goals for the week?

Also, I've been joining in on Melyssa from The Nectar Collective's Instagram challenge. If you'd like to join in, check out this post for the prompts and for participation tips.

Weekly Wishes is a linkup post created by The Nectar Collective.

Etsy Shop Update

Hi everybody! Remember my goal last week about updating my Etsy branding? It's officially up and running. You might have seen it on the shop already or in my portfolio if you checked that out within the past week or so, but I wanted to mention it on the blog as well. I'm super excited with how it came out.

The lettering is still the same, but I used brushes in Photoshop to create this effect. I wanted to keep the banner on the Etsy site relatively simple, but didn't want just the logo to be on it. So I added more of the brand's color and used stamps that I use on the cards to write out "handmade greeting cards."

I haven't put new cards up yet, but wanted to share some of the cards I've been working on.

Do you have an Etsy shop? I'd love to check it out! Leave your link in the comments.

Weekly Wishes 03.23.3015

I had the busiest, but best week ever. Last week was my spring break, which meant no classes for me! I actually feel I am more productive out of class, so I did end up getting a lot done for school. But I did take some time away from school stuff... it is called Spring Break after all.

Now for last week's goals:
• Go to a yoga class: Done! I actually made it to two classes this week.
• Scrapbook: Yes! I'm creating my own, I guess you could call, smashbook out of an old journal. I had a bunch of pictures from holidays and the #shakeitupdaily Instagram challenge that I joined in on in February that I wanted to scrapbook with. So much fun!
• Plan out future blogposts: Done! I didn't look much into a digital organizer like CoSchedule or anything, but I planned out a bunch of posts and created my own system for blog ideas in my own paper planner (I'm huge into paper planners!).
• Update Etsy branding: Done! You can see the new Etsy banner on the shop's main page. I'll be putting up a post about how I re-branded my shop.

This week's goals:
• Finalize everything for the senior show: Enough said. If you follow me on Instagram or checked out my portfolio, you've probably seen sneak peeks of my work. Now, it's going to be hanging up for my Senior Show. You guys, I graduate in roughly 50 days!!!
• Start a walking program: I am not a runner. Never have been and probably never will be. Props to you if you are a runner! How do you do it?! But I do like walking and since the weather is getting nicer, it's about time I get outside and go walking. I found a walking workout routine that I'd like to stick with for the next six weeks.

What are your goals for the week?


Weekly Wishes is a linkup post created by The Nectar Collective.

Creating An Art Journal

**DISCLAIMER: For a class assignment, we were to create a journal using print-outs from different sources and analyzing the type on those print-outs. I found most, if not all, of these images on Pinterest, but I do not have individual links for these images. I created this post to show a class assignment. If you are the owner of the original images I used in my journal, please contact me so I can properly link to your page. Thanks for reading!**

I pretty much said in the disclaimer that this was a project for school –  for my typography class. I didn't just want to use a plain journal, so I dressed it up a bit.

I bought the original journal at A.C. Moore and made a book cover out of kraft paper. The original cover was bright green. The color didn't bother me. I just wanted a neutral color.

For the inside pages, I found some free digital scrapbook paper and printed that out on oversize tabloid paper. I cut it to size and glued the scrapbook paper on each page. As I kept doing this, the journal was becoming overstuffed. I realized I wasn't going to need every page in the journal, so I took some of the pages out. If you aren't able to print out over sized paper, you can buy some larger scrapbook paper at a craft store.

My professor suggested that each week have a theme. One week I chose hand lettered envelopes. Another week I picked out candle packaging. I used a BIC Mark It pen to write on the pages. It didn't bleed or smear on the scrapbook paper.

I really enjoyed making this journal. Do you guys have any journal tips or tricks?

Weekly Wishes 03.16.2015

Guys I'm on spring break!!! Yay!!! I'm not going anywhere warm and sunny, but at least I have a whole week off of classes to get things done. My senior show is next week and I need this week to finish getting things ready. But I am going on a day trip with my boyfriend and going to some flea markets and antique shops. I can't wait!

Last week's weekly wishes:
• Make a plan for spring break: Done! I figured out which days I need to go to back to school to finish, what I can get done at home, my day trip with my boyfriend. It's going to be a busy spring break and I'm totally looking forward to it.

This week's weekly wishes:
• Go to a yoga class: Going to yoga hasn't been a priority for me lately, but I'm hoping to make it to one class this week. I need some yoga back in my life!
• Scrapbook: I have so much that I want to scrapbook and what better time than now. I dug out an old journal in the beginning of the year and started scrapbooking in that.
• Plan out future blogposts: I like to have some idea of what I'm going to blog about in the next few weeks. I need to make a more up-to-date schedule on what I want to post and when. How do you plan out your posts? Would love some input on how to keep up with a blogging schedule.
• Update Etsy branding: I've been working on rebranding my Etsy shop and I can't wait to debut it! This week I will just be updating the shop's branding, but I do have some cards that I need to put up. I'm hoping after my senior show I will be able to dedicate more time to the shop.

What are your goals for the week?

Weekly Wishes is a linkup post created by The Nectar Collective.

Chicken Noodle Soup (Sick Day + Recipe)

I had this wonderful four day weekend and I spent it all on the couch sick. So it wasn't quite that wonderful in the end. On the upside, I finished watching Ghost Whisperer and started watching Once on Netflix. I now understand binge-watching on Netflix. I also got the opportunity to make homemade chicken noodle soup. (Sidenote: Do you guys remember that song chicken noodle soup with a soda on the side?).

My boyfriend was sick earlier in the week before I got sick and I told him I'd make him homemade chicken noodle soup. And he really liked it! He doesn't need to eat gluten free so for his soup I didn't use gluten free products, but for mine I did.

The recipe I used was this one from Picture Perfect Meals. I never really follow recipes to a tee, but I usually have one to guide me along the way. For instance, this recipe called for onions, but I'm not a big onion person so I didn't use any. For my soup, I didn't want chicken in it, so I added a little more of the vegetables and noodles to make up for it and I used a different kind of noodles as well.

Let me know if you try out this recipe and if you make any alterations of your own! Seriously it's so good!

Weekly Wishes 03.09.2015

I had a short week thanks to a snow day on Thursday and classes being canceled on Friday, but I spent all of that time sick. If you follow me on Instagram (which of course you do!), I did get to make some homemade soup, which I'll post later in the week. It wasn't all a lost though. I watched a lot of Netflix and got so much work done (yay for productive days!).

Now for last week's weekly wishes:
• Finish up my book covers for my Senior Show: Done! I'll have to print them out to see if there are any little adjustments that need to be made, but these are done.
• Decorate my planner: Also done! After working on school stuff all day Thursday, I spent part of the night decorating my planner.

This week's weekly wishes:
• Make a plan for spring break: Next week is my last spring break! I'm graduating in May. I'm trying to get as much work done at school this week so I don't have to come back too much on my week off to get ready for my show the following week. My boyfriend and I want to stop by some flea markets. St. Patrick's Day and my sister's birthday is that week as well.

What are your goals for the week?

Weekly Wishes is a linkup post created by The Nectar Collective.

Weekly Wishes 03.02.15

Hello March! I am so ready for Spring and for it to stop snowing and feeling like it's twenty below zero. I'm optimistic about the weather getting better. March is going to be a busy month – I can feel it, but I'm so ready for it!

My goals from last week:
• Put up new cards on my Etsy shop: Nope. But that doesn't mean I haven't been working on my shop. I've been re-branding it and ordered some new packaging. So I'm holding off on putting up the new cards for now.
• Get stuff ready for my "smashbook": Done! I spent part of Friday afternoon looking up printables for my smashbook and I found a bunch. Some of what I printed is from my Pinterest board.

This week's goals:
• Finish up my book covers for my Senior Show: Are you tired of hearing about my show yet, haha? It's going to be consuming most of my life this month, so don't be surprised if that's mostly what I talk about. I'm creating three book covers for my show and I really like how they're coming out so far. Yay!
• Decorate my planner: At the beginning of every month I decorate the monthly view of my planner. I absolutely love doing this and am constantly look at how other people decorate their planners.

What are your goals for the week?