Living the Creative Life

San Marino is one of a very few countries that is landlocked inside of another country (in fact, I can only think of one other off the top of my head - Lesotho, which is landlocked inside South Africa). San Marino can be found inside of Italy, and according to Wikipedia , "is the oldest surviving sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world..." having been founded on September 3, 301. Wow! San Marino is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and has a lot of it's economy in finance and tourism. The country has very low unemployment and no national debt. When do I move there? Sounds great so far! ;) Ironically it was this country's poorness that allowed it to remain independent all these years. Ha! But by the 1600's, the papacy recognized it officially as it's own country apart from Rome. When the Italian states united to form Italy in the 1900's, San Marino stood it's ground to remain independent, as it continues to be to thi...

Wow! I just finished up my first blog design job! It was a month of brainstorming, sketching, bouncing ideas back and forth... I've designed plenty of blogs for myself, but this was my first "real" client! Yeah!! I feel like I should be more calm and collected about this, but it's just so exciting!! I was so honored to be asked by my friend Angie, over at Heart of Aloha , to come up with a new look for her blog! She is making some major changes in her life and passions (shh... I am sworn to secrecy about that for now!) and asked me to be a part of helping her step forward into this new phase. This was by far the biggest professional design job I've done and I'm so happy with how it turned out! I've grown so much in my confidence as a designer, and I'm especially happy that Angie is happy with her design! That warms my designer's heart, to make someone smile with what I do. I feel truly blessed that God has been leading me on this path to become a ...

Sorry for the whiplash in blog designs this week. I sort of liked my last design but it just wasn't feeling cohesive to me. I swear the hardest-to-please client I will ever have is myself! I also decided to start a design blog more solely dedicated to my design work and creative entrepreneurial endeavors. I've had the URL saved for awhile and just got the urging this weekend to actually set it up! The blog you're on now is not going away, don't worry. It'll still be as crazy and fun-filled as always. I just really wanted a calmer, more focused spot to display my designs and focus a bit more on the business side of being a graphic designer. So... hop on over and subscribe if that's something that interests you!

One of the best things about knitting is getting new yarn! Other than seeing my new creations come to life, I think seeing all the beautiful yarn colors, yet un-knitted, is my favorite part of this craft. This is a new yarn that I'm trying out called Drops Nepal that'll be perfect for my fall collection . It's a wool and alpaca blend and soooooo soft! I tried one ball of it about a week ago and LOVED it so had to order a bunch more. I may just be tempted to keep one of these new hats for myself!

I've been working on some new designs for the shop this week. I've got some in autumn colors and shades of blue , and here are some in summer colors! Available on Etsy Available on Etsy I also added some new stitched social media icons. (Check out my sidebar ; I'm using some of them!) Below are some free icons for you to use. You can get other colors and icons in my Etsy shop for $5 a set.

Hello Living the Creative Life readers! My name is Jessica and I blog over at Girl Booklet , which is a lifestyle blog with a little fashion and beauty! Today I am sharing my experience with you as a “new” blogger! I began my blog on May 18th, 2012. I chose that date because it was my boyfriend’s and my one year anniversary! I wanted a special day to start my blog and I couldn’t think of a more special date than that (well other than my birthday - he he - but I wasn’t going to wait until next February so…) there you go! That’s how I came up with the date. Now for the name that’s a different story. Creating a name for my blog was probably one of the hardest and most difficult things ever! I mean there are thousands and thousands of blogs and so a lot of names that I liked for my blog were taken or similar, but after all the thinking and name-creating, I finally came up with a name for my blog! I decided on Girl Booklet because my blog is like my diary. I write my opinions, my thoughts,...

We sit alone, typing into our computers, filling up our blogs with things that we find interesting. But blogging doesn't have to be a solo sport. There are many kindred spirits out there, if you just reach out and connect! Join a network One quick way to meet a bunch of bloggers is to join a blogging network. The newest one that comes to mind is the Better Blogger Network , but there are others as well. Some are for bloggers of a certain location, others are just more general. (For example, one that I'm a part of is for people living here in the Pacific Northwest ). Some networks are virtual, while others attempt to meet in person once in awhile. Introvert that I am, I haven't actually attended any get-togethers yet, but I like the idea of it. How do you find these networks? For the ones I've joined, I've sort of just stumbled across them, word-of-mouth style. Some bloggers will have buttons in their sidebar advertising what network they're a part of (a common o...