April Wrap Up

April flew by and to be honest, I'm surprised. Considering it was my last full month of school before graduating, I really thought going through April was going to take forever! I'm so ready for May and graduation.

What's Going On 

The weather finally started warming up in April, so I spent a little bit more time outside. Other than that, I've been working on final projects for school. Also, this past weekend I finished my first Wordpress website for a client ever! I love using blogger for my blog, but I enjoyed working with Wordpress for this project and am looking forward to using it more in the future.

Instagram

A picture of nearby trees on one of the most prettiest days this April.

Links

This particular link is one of my favorite's ever. I went to high school with Caitlin and I am so incredibly proud of her for writing this article. She hit the nail on the head when she wrote, "Health comes in all shapes and sizes." I urge to you all to read Caitlin's article.

Earth Day was earlier this month and Free People posted tons of articles, but this one really caught my eye. I'd love to make the multipurpose lemon cleaner: The Green Way to Spring Clean.

I look forward to Elsie's Scrapbook Sunday posts every week. 10 Random Facts About Me was my favorite. It's about that time again for me print out a a bunch of photos and catch up on my scrapbooking and I'm thinking of incorporating something like this.

I probably mentioned Kory at least once in every monthly wrap up, but that's because her posts are so good and she gives really good advice pertaining to graphic design! She wrote a guest post for XOSarah.com about freelance business skills they don't teach you in college. Anyone who freelances should totally read this!

Admit it. You've been dreaming of starting up a new hobby haven't you? Whether it's rock climbing or scrapbook, just start already! A Pair & A Spare gives you some tips on how to finally start your passion project.

Speaking of passion projects, Alisa wrote about her friends' new project: opening their own gallery. I'm so excited to read more about Staci and Sara's adventure.

What have you been up to this past month?

8 Pieces of Advice For You Job Seekers Out There

Get ready for the job search posts of all job search posts. This is a compilation of advice that I've complied from other sources as well as some of my own input. And you'll probably notice that a good amount of advice comes from The Muse and The Prepary, but they seriously know their stuff. Look into them more than just the posts I mention here.

This is a last minute tip I just found, but I'm seriously going to put this one to use soon to keep up with possible employers: The Free, Career-Boosting Google Feature You Should Be Using by Aja Frost published on The Muse.

If you're not quite sure on how to go about sending a thank you after an interview or when to follow up, read this by Jamie Petkanics: The 3-2-1 Rule of Following Up After Interviews published on The Prepary.

I think these networking tips could work for anybody at any time during their career (5 Smart Networking Strategies for Career Changers by Lily Zhang published on The Muse). I really like Tip #5: Going to Industry Events. Just recently, I went to an art career day at school. Though my field is graphic design, I decided to join in a printmaker's talk and really liked it. I'm even thinking of taking a class!

These resume dos and don'ts are some of the best advice I've heard (or read): 42 Resume Dos and Don'ts Every Job Seeker Should Know by Aja Frost published on The Muse. One piece of advice I liked: don't hide any gaps. Embrace them. I took a semester off between graduating from community college and starting a four-year college and I let people know that it was the best thing I've ever done. For that semester, I interned two days a week in the city and worked the other three.

If there you are going to read one link on this post, it's this one. It's an actual to-do list of what you should do prior to a job interview: An Interview Prep Checklist on Wunderlist by Jaime Petkanics.

And some of my own input:
1. Get a LinkedIn account. And keep it updated. And post things relevant to your field on it. Now that my senior year is wrapping up, more and more people are getting LinkedIn accounts or are using them more frequently. It's a great way to connect with your peers and other professionals. Trust me, you'll thank yourself later.
2. Lists are your friend. Keep lists of jobs you found, where you found them, who to contact, when you applied, when you followed up. Made an Excel spreadsheet. It's something we've gone over in class and something I've seen on Pinterest. Lists will be your saving grace.
3. Just because you're graduating doesn't mean you stop learning. Maybe it's the field I'm in? But just because I'm no longer going to be attending an actual class doesn't mean I'm going to stop learning. Future employers want to see that you're excited about your career and are willing to learn more about it.

What job search tips do you have? Share below, whether it's from a personal experience or another blog post you found online, let us know!

The Last Weekly Wishes... Get Ready For So Fearless Goals

Melyssa announced last week that this week would be the last weekly wishes. Instead, she's going to be talking about her goals monthly and will be launching a new project called The Blog Hive, which I am so excited to hear more about. With this series ending, I thought I'd take the opportunity to recreate my weekly wishes.

But first let's talk about last week's wishes.
• Make some time for myself: This might be hard to judge, but I think I did pretty well with this goal this week. I'm finishing up my final projects for school, but found some time to just relax.
• Go through my closet: Done! I woke up on Saturday morning, grabbed a trash bag and got rid of all the clothes I no longer wear. And guess what! I went through my drawers too! I'm planning on donating them soon.

As I mentioned, I'm going to recreate my weekly wishes posts into So Fearless Goals (named towards the name of the blog). I don't know about you, but after I post my goals on Monday, I sometimes forget about them for the rest of the week. Unless I write them down on in planner. I mentioned my planner rather frequently on this blog I think and it's not an exaggeration. I'm lost without my planner.

What I had been doing was if I wanted to achieve a particular goal on a certain day, I'd write it down on that day, but it seemed more like a chore, which I do admit that some of them are. I wanted to be excited about my goals and have them motivate me. So, I made this printable for myself. I use a paperclip to put this in my planner, but you could easily tape it in or if you like to journal, include this in there. How cool would it be if a couple weeks from now, you looked back and saw all the goals you made for yourself and how much you've done!

I decided I want to break down my goals into categories. I may not use each category every week, but these are the ones I'll use more often.

And here are my fearless goals for this week!
• Enjoy my last week of classes: Yeah, I know. Enjoy class? But I take art classes, not regular lecture classes and I love seeing all my friends in class. It makes it ten times more fun. This will be last week of classes before finals start and then I'll be done with my undergrad degree.
• Walking: Go for a walk at least twice this week if the weather's nice. I don't know what happened last week, but one day it was sunny and 70 and for the rest of the week it was all in the 50s and 60s. Kinda cold for Jersey in late April.

So those are my goals for the week and my new printable. I'd love it if you would join in with me! I'm including the So Fearless Goals printable here as a PDF (it's free!). There are four to a sheet of letter-size paper with each printable measuring 4x3 inches.

If you decide to join in, feel free to leave a link to your blog post below or share it on Twitter or Instagram with #sofearlessgoals or tag me! It's @melissahebbe for both!

Free Wallpaper Download #1

iPhone / 1280x800 / 1440x900 / 1650x1050 / 2560x1440

So I thought it'd be fun to create a wallpaper that you could use on your computer or phone. I chose a quote that I liked and worked some Photoshop magic using my Wacom tablet. I'm thinking about making this a monthly thing. It was so much fun to make! Later on, I'd like to eventually incorporate my own handwriting into the quote, rather than using a font.

If you have a quote in mind you'd like me to use for next month's free wallpaper download, leave it in the comments below!

Weekly Wishes 04.20.2015

Happy Birthday Mom!

Last week! Wow, I was right. It was going to be busy. I figured it would be with school ending in a few weeks and everybody's trying to finish up their last project. I did get some time of this weekend and went to Atlantic City with my boyfriend for formal. We got to dress up and it was so much fun! But now it's time to buckle down and get ready for finals. Eeeppp!

Last week's wishes:
• Plan some more blog posts: Done! Totally looking forward to next month's blog posts. With graduation season approaching, some posts will relate to that.
• Set aside some time to work on my website: Not done. It will be though. Eventually. I've been working on a client's website mostly, so that's been my focus lately.

This week's wishes:
• Make some time for myself: I won't deny it and a lot of people have said this to me: I'm a workaholic. People look at it in a negative way, but I don't. I like to work, but that doesn't mean that I don't like making time for myself. So even though I'll be freaking out about my final projects, I want to take some time this week to just do something for me: hang out with my dog, go for a walk, scroll through Pinterest.
• Go through my closet: I'm going into a minimalist phase right now and I just want to get rid of everything and anything I don't use anymore. And I really want to go through my closet and get together a ton of clothes to donate.

What are your goals for the week?

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

How I Plan Out My Blog Posts

I've been really into planning out my blog posts to help me stay organize and stay consistent with blogging, so I thought I'd share an update on how I keep up with my blogging calendar. Some people use plug-ins and maybe down the road I will too, but for now I use my regular paper planner. You may have seen my post a few weeks ago about how I organize my planner. I figured since I carry that thing around with me just about everywhere, it would make the most sense to include my blogging calendar in there.

I use the monthly spread in my calendar. (By the way, how cute is my minion mug!!) To plan out posts, I use a sticky note and write down the blog topic or title and then I place it on the day I'm going to post it (for me it's either a Monday or Wednesday). After I publish the post, I remove the sticky note and write the topic/title on the actual day it was posted and highlight it in blue.

Sometimes, I think of a blog post idea, but I don't have a particular day set for when I'm going to post it. In the back of my planner, I have a notes page that I made just for blog post ideas. Instead of writing on the page itself, I write the topic or title on the same kind of sticky note and stick it on that page. That way when I'm planning for future posts, I have some ideas in mind already and I can place those sticky notes on the day I'm going to post.

This is the system that works for me right now. I recently found this post by Chloe Social and loved how she planned out her blogging and social media schedule. I'm definitely going to incorporate some of her tips into my own blogging planner in the future.

How do you plan out your blog posts? Comment below and be sure to leave a link to your blog so I can check it out!

Weekly Wishes 04.13.2015

It's only Monday and I can tell this is going to be a crazy busy week. Who's with me?

Last week's weekly wishes:
• Get my portfolio book: Change in plans. I'm no longer creating a print portfolio. Instead, I'm working on iPad/tablet publication of my portfolio. It's a really interesting way of approaching a portfolio and I can't wait to share the process with you all!
• Start working on my job search: Done! Found a few jobs I'm interested in, but I'm still open and available to freelance. (Sidenote: Made some great progress on my friend's branding!) Feel free to contact me if you're looking for a graphic designer.

This week's weekly wishes:
• Plan some more blogposts: We're about halfway through April, so I need to start planning for May.
• Set aside some time to work on my website: I mentioned by Behance account several times, but last week I decided to take the plunge and create a portfolio site through Wordpress. If you have any advice for Wordpress users, leave a comment below! I'd love to gain some new insight to the program.

What are your goals for the week?

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

Weekly Wishes 04.06.2015

 
Hope everyone had a wonderful Passover and Easter!

Last week's weekly wishes:
• Continue with the walking program: Ha. No. It just didn't happen. Maybe once school winds down some more, I'll be able to make time for working out.
• Update my Behance account: Semi done! I put up a few new projects and updates, but I still have more to put up.

This week's weekly wishes:
• Get my portfolio book: We're working on our printed portfolios in class now and I finally settled on what kind of book I want. What do you guys think about me writing a post about putting together portfolios? There's a couple ways to do it: print, website and an iPad/tablet publication is what I'm going to do. Even if you just look a print alone, there are so many ways to approach it!
• Start working on my job search: I'm definitely interested in some kind of full time work when I graduate, but I also want to freelance. I'm actually starting to work on some branding for a friend – I'll share more about that project later!

What are your goals for the week?

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

Graphic Design and Animation Senior Show

There's a pretty good chance this will be the last time (or one of the last times) that I bring up my Senior Show. Cause it's done! It's done! The show itself will be up for a little while longer though. I must say it was a long process, but totally worth it.

We started off branding ourselves as graphic designers. (Shameless plug: If you're looking for a graphic designer to work with, you can check out my portfolio here and contact me here.)

My logo up on the wall!

We then worked on our Senior Projects. Mine was recreating these three book covers. I'm in the middle of reading Wild and can't wait to see the movie once I'm done with the book.

Left: series of bookcovers (Wild, Tiny Beautiful Things, Torch)
Right: digital college book created through Blurb.com and stamp brochure

Throughout the past few months, we've been working on new projects and reworking our old ones and ultimately this is what it came to... my wall. I must've rearranged my wall several times. It was to the point where my professor basically said, "Melissa, you're rearranging your wall again."

My family and friends came to the opening of my show and I don't think it could've gone any better! So a million and one thanks to you guys for listening to me go on and on about the show and a million and one thanks to everyone who has supported me and continues to support me throughout my career. You guys rock!