May Wrap Up

So long May, hello June! And summer! I really like these monthly wrap ups. I hope you do too!

What's Going On

May has been the most exhilarating month ever! First off, I graduated college. I can't believe it! Some people are afraid of leaving college/school. I don't blame them since that's what they've known most their lives, but I love it! I'm still looking for a job (I'm taking on freelance work by the way, so if you're interested, contact me here), but I'm enjoying the time between finishing school and finding my first job. For instance, my best friend texted me on my last day of finals asking if I wanted to buy last minute tickets for to a Brad Paisley concert. I said heck yeah, of course! I started yoga back up too. You probably know that already if you follow me on Twitter because I tend to mention it a lot there. I also started working on more cards for the Etsy shop and have put in some thought of where I want this blog to go. So overall, this month has been intense and I'm absolutely loving it!

Instagram

Top Left: My new yoga mat! Top Right: Spent Memorial Day Weekend down the shore.
Bottom Left: Hello warm weather! I've been spending a lot of time outside lately.
Bottom Right: I graduated college!!!! And decorated my cap — inspired by Frozen.

Links

 A Beautiful Mess was on par this month with their crafts. I want to print out all my pictures in black and white now so I can use this hand-coloring technique. And how cool would it be to make your own stamps!

Free People shared the meaning of home and it truly hit home.

I love reading Alisa Burke's blog especially when she shares pictures of sketchbook. I'm astounded by her talent. Earlier this month, Megan from Makewells posted how to include hand lettering into your sketchbook on Alisa's blog and wow were her journal pictures beautiful!

Can't wait to try this letterpress effect technique on Photoshop that We Lived Happily Ever After posted!

Olivia wrote Your Future Self Wants You To Slow Down and I couldn't agree more.

This is a recipe that I need to try very soon! Stacia and Kate shared a delicious chicken recipe on Stacia's blog, Paper Swallow Events.



Hope you all had a fantastic month of May! Yay for the summer! What have you all been up to this past month?

Happiness... Free Wallpaper Download #2

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

 
New wallpaper is up! Find the size that you need and if there's a size that I don't have, leave a comment below and I can put one up for you guys. I loved making this one. I got to use the font I created, which I talked about a couple weeks ago. I'm hoping to incorporate that font more into my own work.

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!

So Fearless Goals 05.25.2015

Hope you guys are enjoying your three day weekend! Take a break and relax. You guys deserve it. About last week's Wednesday post... I missed it. I was hoping to get the post together, but it was just impossible with working and graduation. Did you see my cap on Instagram?! I'm in love with it! I love seeing how other's decorate their cap. Their personality really shines through.

The beginning of the week was hectic, but I did manage to get some things done by the end of the week. Here are last week's goals.

Personal: Get my clothes to the cleaners/tailors. Decorate my cap!!!! - Yes and yes!
Financial: Work on a financial tracker printout. -Not a hundred percent. I wrote some things down in my sketchbook of how I want to organize. Now I just got to get in done. I was thinking of making some kind of printable, but I may wind up using Excel to really organizae my finances.
Work: Blogging planner. Future of Etsy shop. - Worked on it! I figured out my posts for June. I'm starting to realize what direction I want this blog to go. I also thought more about my Etsy shop, which I will be working on and getting up and running again soon. I found Craftsposure's Idea to Biz Course really helpful. Definitely check it out!
Health: Work in more cardio. - I spent part of the weekend at my boyfriend's shore house and while we didn't go for some crazy intense hike, we did take a couple walks to the bay and back.

Now for this week's goals. By the way, it's almost June. What?!?!

Personal: Clean out my closet. - It's a mess! A couple week's ago I got rid of a lot of clothes, but I have a standard closet and it can easily look cluttered. I just need to reorganize it.

Work: Get together cards already made. Apply to jobs. - I have a bunch of cards made that I need to photograph and list on Etsy. I'd at least like to photograph cards this week. And I'm applying to more jobs this week. If you're looking to hire a graphic designer, check out my portfolio and contact me if you'd like to work together!

Health: Hiking. YouTube workout. - I'm hoping to get a hike in with my boyfriend this weekend, weather permitting. Earlier this week, I caught Rachel Talbott's video 5 Easy Workouts + Post Workout Smoothie and got super motivated to try out the workout!

That's it for this week! You might've noticed last week that I changed the #sofearlessgoals printable last week. What do you think? I replaced the printable so you can download the new one here if you'd like to join in. Make sure to leave a link below so I can check out your goals and tag me on Twitter and Instagram @melissahebbe or use #sofearlessgoals if you share your goals there.

Happy last week of May everybody!

So Fearless Goals 05.18.2015

I don't know about you, but I love the start of a new week. It's like a little mini New Year's Day for me. A whole new week can change everything. Does anyone else feel that way or just me? Anyway, last week was awesome! I finished up finals and was officially cleared to graduate. I decided that there are two kinds of college graduates: those who scared beyond belief and those who are excited beyond belief. I'm the second one. While I'll miss seeing my friends everyday, I'm looking forward to getting a job, becoming more independent and having time to do things that I wasn't able to while going to school. I guess I'm a half glass full kind of person.

Alright, enough of my rambling. Let's talk about last week's goals.

• Personal: Work on my garden. - I think I changed my mind on this one. I went to a greenhouse over the weekend, but they didn't really have what I was looking for. Don't get me wrong, they had amazing plants. I was looking for specific one though, so I think I'm going to pass on growing my own garden this year.
• Financial: Keep looking up better ways to keep track of my finances - I didn't quite look things up, but I thought about how I want to track my income and expenses. I think I found a way.
• Work: Apply to at least 2 jobs. - Done! Fingers crossed everybody!
• Health: Keep up with yoga. Go hiking once. - Of course I went to yoga. I didn't go hiking though.

Here are my goals for the week!

Personal: Get my clothes to the cleaners/tailors. Decorate my cap!!!! - I have a stack of clothes that either need to be professionally cleaned or need new buttons. I've been meaning to get this taken care of for a really long time. I'm walking this week and I'm planning on decorating my cap. Make sure to check out my Instagram for pictures of that!

Financial: Work on a financial tracker printout. - I came up with an idea last week on how I want to keep track of my finances. I want something that will show my income and my expenses and think I finally came up with a way to do so.

Work: Blogging planner. Future of Etsy shop. - I've been wanting to put together a blogging planner. I blogged about how I keep track of my blog posts in my planner, but I want to put together something that will track my stats, notes for blog posts, etc. If you have any suggestions on what to include in my blog planner, let me know! And I've been seriously slacking on my Etsy shop. The only cards on there are from Valentine's Day and I've made a bunch since then. With school now over for me, I'm looking forward to focusing on my Etsy shop more.

Health: Work in more cardio. - Yoga is so much fun. It can be more of a workout that you realize depending on the class you take. Some are not as intense as others, but I am still a big fan of yoga and recommend to anyone who is willing to try it! Still, I need to work in some new cardio. I've never been a runner (seriously, like never), but I was considering trying out the CouchTo5K app. Any thoughts?

Thanks for stopping by. If you join in with my goals printable and share it on Twitter or Instagram, make sure to use #sofearlessgoals or leave a link to your blog post down below so I can read it. Hope you guys have a fantastic week!

5 Graduation Gifts For Graphic Designers (Or Really Anyone Who's Interested In Art & Design)

 

 

Yesterday, I finished my last final of my undergraduate career and exactly one week from today, I will officially graduate. I'm sure many design students are using graduation as a good excuse to conjure up some design equipment that they'll need to keep working on their projects. Up until now, we've had the privilege of using the school's computers, cameras, tablets, etc.

So, I've complied a list of equipment you might be interested in getting with your graduation money.

1. Adobe Creative Cloud: For the past two or three years, I've been using Adobe Creative Suite 5 and don't get me wrong, it works perfectly! But there are some great updates with the Cloud. For instance, I created my portfolio using InDesign and then published it as a folio, which I can view in Adobe Content Viewer on my tablet. I could no longer create folios using CS5; the buttons wouldn't work in Content Viewer. From what I've read, you need a more recent version of Adobe Creative Suite (the Cloud) in order to get your folios to work properly.

2. Drawing Tablet: I have the Intuos Pen & Touch tablet and I love it! It's great for photo editing and for adding handwritten elements.

3. DSLR: Maybe this is more for if you're a photography major, but in all honesty, designers and bloggers would benefit from this. I used a DSLR to take product shots for my final portfolio and it made a world of difference. (Sidenote: If you're not interested in buying one, ask to borrow a friend's!)

4. A website: Yes, you read right. A website is important. It doesn't have to cost a lot of money, but it will cost some: you'll need a domain name and web hosting, but it's up to you whether or not you create your site, use a free template or purchase a template. If you're not interested in an actual website of your own, I highly recommend signing up for Behance and others have recommended using Wix, Squarespace or Weebly. If you're curious, I purchased a template and use Wordpress.

5. MacBook Pro: And lastly this might be something you need to save for, but as a designer, having your own laptop is essential. I'm partial to MacBook Pro, but it's totally up to you! You may run into to jobs or internships where you'd be required to bring in your own laptop or maybe you have some freelance work on the side? It'll come in handy. If there's anything from this list I'd recommend above all, it would be this. It's worth the investment.

Are there any items you'd add to this list? Leave a comment below and tell me what equipment or tools you found useful as a designer, photographer, artist, blogger, etc. I love hearing about what others find useful!

**Just a little disclaimer, I realize it may not be feasible to purchase every single thing I mentioned on this list. You should only purchase what you think you'll benefit from in the end. Also, look around for deals! Usually towards the beginning of a new school year, Apple has some deals for MacBooks and maybe venture out during Black Friday this year, especially for items such as a DSLR.**

So Fearless Goals 05.11.2015 (My Portfolio Site Launched!)

I hope everyone had a very happy Mother's Day! I was lucky enough to spend a good portion of it with my mom and my Grandma, who in my opinion are some of the coolest people ever. After a busy week of finals, I was happy to spend a nice Sunday with my family.

Let's talk about last week's goals.
• Personal: Get a new sketchbook - Done! I received a 55% off coupon from A.C. Moore and walked ran to the store.
• Financial: Look up better ways to keep track of my finances - Not really. When I realized I didn't achieve this goal Sunday afternoon, I looked up some articles through Pinterest, but nothing really made think "woah, that's the system I need to use!" If you have any ideas or suggestions, I'm all for it!
• Work: Get going on my website - Done! I launched it Saturday night! You can now officially visit melissahebbe.com. Be sure to stop by and let me know what you think. For now, I put up 3 final projects. One new branding project will be put up on the site later in the summer once that organization launches the new branding.
• Health: Start yoga back up again - Done! I went to two classes last week and have two or three classes scheduled for this week. I'm loving yoga and the new studio I joined. I even bought a new yoga mat.

Now for this week's goals:
• Personal: Work on my garden. - My sister and I wanted to grow a garden this year. So far her and my mom have a lot of flowers, vegetables and fruit going on, so I need to catch up! Are you growing a garden this summer? Share your tips! I'm sadly not that good at keeping plants alive.
• Financial: Keep looking up better ways to keep track of my finances - Enough said.
• Work: Apply to at least 2 jobs. - I'm so excited to start applying! I'm seriously one of those people who love working. Nothing wrong with that.
• Health: Keep up with yoga. Go hiking once. - Yupp you heard it here, more yoga. Surprised? I didn't think so. I'd love to get back into hiking now that the weather is warming up.

And here's a little behind the scenes of making this blog post... That's my dog Riley. I know the picture is a little blurry, but I thought it was too cute to not to share.

Komorebi: Typeface

Guys! I created my own typeface! And it was awesome!

For my Advanced Typography class, our final project was to create our own typeface. We started off sketching letters. And more letters. And more letters. And when you thought you were done, even more letters. Then, we brought those sketches into Illustrator where we used the pen tool trace over each letter sketch. Those letters were brought into FontLab Studio. In that program, we worked on kerning and finally exported the final typeface. I'm thinking of uploading mine to dafont or another typeface website. Any particular site you recommed?

For now though, here is the type sheet of my final typeface: Komorebi. You can check out more of the process on my Behance account.

So Fearless Goals 05.04.2015

Last week I announced how I was going to keep up with sharing my own goals now that the Weekly Wishes series is over. I'm a huge goal orientated person, so I still wanted to keep up with sharing my goals and I still want to hear what your goals are. If you'd like, you can download my free printable which can help you keep track of your goals if you're the kind of person that needs to write things down for them to actual happen (like me!). If you end up using it, be sure to leave a link to your blog below or use #sofearlessgoals on Instagram or Twitter.

• Enjoy my last week of classes: Totally! Well, as much as anyone can enjoy class (you know what I mean). My friend and I spent some time outside working on our 3D type project #morethanaverage. You might've seen me post a picture on Instagram. And I'm starting to wrap up my final projects.
• Walking: Nope, that didn't happen.

Here are my fearless goals for the week:
• Personal: Get a new sketchbook - I usually get a new sketchbook every semester, but I'm no longer going to be a student anymore! *gasp* So I'd like to get a new sketchbook. You might've caught my job search post last week. I mentioned that even though you are no longer a typical student, that doesn't mean you stop learning and I'm totally holding myself to it. Even though, I'm not going to be going class anymore, I'm still planning on working on other things. For instance, I'd like to work on calligraphy more... hence the new sketchbook.
• Financial: Look up better ways to keep track of my finances - I got lazy with this last month, but I don't want to continue being lazy with it. This month I want to look up better ways on how to budget my money and keep track of expenses and then implement that new system maybe mid-May or next month.
• Work: Get going on my website - I bought my domain, signed up for a host, but now I just got to get going on working on the actual site. I have a Behance account and while I love it, I need/want my own site as well. I'll be making mine through Wordpress.
• Health: Start yoga back up again -There's a new yoga studio opening nearby and I just signed up with them the other. I have three classes planned so far and can't wait to start yoga back up again this week.

What are your goals for the week?