Artist. Designer. Freelancer. Mom.
Mainly small projects and things that energize my creative side.
This mama is soooo thankful for a little boy who LOVES to pick flowers! (And sticks, and dirt and grass). We are so thankful for God’s beautiful creation that we get to live in. Usually Turner and I end up making a craft with the flowers and plants when we’re done.
If you have the opportunity today, go pick a flower!
My son, Turner, had his FIRST BIRTHDAY on Sunday! I went all out with the decor. We love the Lord of the Rings in this family and I’m a big fan of the Shire. It was a beautiful day for a party!
It seems that everyone has a different creative process. I have found this to be true. Some people have vast differences in the kind of work environment they prefer, the types of tools they use, or the order they do things in. Others, however, are quite similar and only vary in a few areas. While this might seem to be an obvious fact, something even more obvious is this: everyone has a different life process. Every person reaches certain levels of personal and spiritual growth at different points in their lives.
I’m a creative person, and I often feel the most fulfilled when I’m doing creative activities. However, my life process has been marked by highs and lows in creativity. I contribute these variances to seasons throughout my life when I have been struck with depression. For me, depression seems to paralyze my creativity. And my motivation to do anything. When these seasons have come into my life, I have often had the mindset of being “stuck.” Like I cannot do anything until this passes. This got particularly troublesome when I had my son. The depression hit me the hardest about a month postpartum. There’s no worse time to be “stuck” then when you’ve got a newborn to take care of. Forget about getting your creativity back. We’re talking about SURVIVAL.
After many difficult months, my postpartum depression finally subsided. I made it out and my life process resumed. My little boy even helped me by becoming extra cuddly when I was the saddest. I gradually felt more motivated to create again. I had served my time and at last I could move on with my life.
However, I recently discovered that we shouldn’t wait to be “cured” from our depression before moving on with our lives. Rather than waiting until we feel better, those of us who go through seasons of depression should walk with God through those seasons. He gives us everything we need for life EACH DAY. Our daily bread and daily grace given from God is sufficient for today. Not for yesterday. Not for tomorrow. It is sufficient for TODAY (Matt 6:34, 2 Cor 12:9). And every day is different, especially for those of us with depression and anxiety. But instead of constantly wishing for it to be over, we should live in the moment, trusting God with every second.
I want to encourage you, no matter what trial you’re going through, to make it part of your life process. Not a pause and resume. Let it shape you. Let it bring you closer to God and those you love. It might feel like you should give up, but keep going. And remember not to compare yourself with others—because everyone has a different life process.
No matter what kind of project I’m working on, I am always thankful for the company of my puppy. She’s the best!
Oh how I love Shutterfly! I just got this year’s Christmas card in the mail. They’re perfect! The design that I chose is by Poppy Studio. And look how the rounded corners (a new Shutterfly feature) give a unique touch. It inspires me to some creative Christmas crafting!
I also have thank you stickers and return address labels left over from last year, and they coordinate perfectly with this year’s card! Score!
I have ordered many of Shutterfly’s products and I’m a huge fan. Their resources are perfect for the holidays, from Christmas cards, to unique tags, to amazing gifts. Items I have purchased include personalized mugs, calendars, luggage tags, large prints for framing, mouse pads, and photo books. I plan to continue utilizing Shutterfly in the future; I love seeing the new treasures that they come up with and I look forward to making them my own.
Check them out at http://www.shutterfly.com/
I’ve been working on a group project with 3 of my friends and fellow graphic designers. We are developing the brand and touchpoints for a hypothetical company named “Seven Natural Hair Essentials.” We’ve had our ups and downs with this project, but I truly appreciate everything that these guys have put into it. We work very well together and each of us has a unique perspective that we bring to the table. SO, to show my appreciation, I made these pen and watercolor bookmarks for them. I also gave them fruit snacks.
My husband turned 26 today. I have been making him birthday cards since we were in 8th grade! Here is the one I designed for him this year. All it took was some cool paper (that I already had from Hobby Lobby), a standard black and white printer, and a bit of creativity to make a cool card! Work with what you’ve got 🙂
PAINTINGS
I just finished summer quarter at the Art Institute. One of the classes I completed was PAINTING! We used only oil paints. It was my first experience with oils, and I LOVE them. I have done watercolor paintings, which I enjoy, but painting with oils was a whole new experience. I was able to paint in much more detail than I can with watercolors, and with oils I can fix mistakes after it dries. But it does take a looong time to dry.
Basically there are pros and cons to each method of painting. Above are two of the oil paintings I produced for class. The apple one is not quite finished.
PARTIES
One week ago, I attended the 2013 AIGA Membership Party in Indy. It was a blast! I really don’t go to “parties” very often; I am more of a stay-home-and-watch-a-movie kind of person. But I am glad that I went to this party. I got to meet several other design students from different schools and hang out in an artsy environment (it was held at The Hinge Bureau-awesome space!). Sometimes you don’t realize how encouraging it is to be around people that understand and have a passion for the same things that you do.
PROFESSIONALS
This week I began my internship at Tamm Capital Group in downtown Indianapolis. I am loving it! I get to work with professionals and practice my professional design skills. It amazes me that I get paid to do what I love! Through this opportunity, God has really been giving me assurance that I picked the right career field.
My office at the internship doesn’t have a window, but that doesn’t mean I miss out on the great city views! The picture above is the view from the parking garage. I get to see that everyday, so I’m happy with it!
This weekend, I chopped my hair to be short again (do you like it?), I bought some awesome screen-printed shirts from Vardagen in Fishers, Indiana, and my car was subject to a hit-and-run. I guess you have to take the good with the bad. Life is fun!
I don’t know what I would do without my book of lists. I make to-do lists, lists of things I want to remember, lists of supplies that I need. It’s how I stay on top of things. It also helps to have a physical book to write the lists in rather than having a digital list, cause then I can doodle.
Now if only I could make my list book pages look as beautiful as the example below. Quite inspiring.
On top is my list book and below that is an example of notes by Carolyn Sewell (retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedestriantype).
Renee Wilcox 