Living the Creative Life

I've been working on some clean, minimal Blogger templates this weekend! I have toyed with selling templates in the past but didn't really know what I was doing yet. I think I'm starting to wrap my head around CSS though, so that definitely helps a LOT when designing templates! Both are available for purchase on my Etsy shop for $40. You can expect a lot more templates coming this summer, so get ready! Fresh & Clean Template - Available in my Shop These two templates are very similar to each other - both are two-column templates with the same coloring. The one is 1110 pixels wide, allowing for an x-large sized photo in the post area. The "skinny" version is 900 pixels wide, allowing for a medium sized photo in the post area. Both also have mouse-over effects in the navbar and links! That was really fun to figure out how to do - it's one of my new favorite CSS tricks! ;) Fresh & Clean Skinny Template - Available in my Shop ***** What does your ideal Bl...

I've been making a ton more of those cable knit watchcaps over the last couple months. They're super cute and VERY fun to make! I have enough of the "normal" length hats to last my shop a lifetime, so I've been having fun stocking up on this more versatile style! Get your own today while supplies last !

Today's prompt kind of cracks me up. I'm sure some people have a "lot in life" that is no joking matter, but for me, myself, I don't feel like there's any great experience/situation hanging over my head that I'm constantly trying to overcome. I am who I am and what I've been through has made me who I am today, so... Maybe it's just me, but I don't really think about life's circumstances like they're something to overcome. I work towards goals and move on from things that didn't work. I don't dwell a lot on the past, other than to try to learn from my mistakes. Sometimes I think our "lot in life" can really be a mental thing. You either have it in your head that you do do/be anything, or you don't. Not that everyone has the ability to do anything they want, but just that a lot of people needlessly censor their ideas and dreams because they think they're not worthy of them or that somehow they're unable to...

The bad part of posting blog posts late is that when you're trying to follow a prompt that has you taking photos of your day... it's already too late because that day has passed! Lol. I checked my iPhone for any recent photos that I've taken though and ran across this one. My apologies for the fuzzy photo. I was taking this more to remember the quote and less to blog about it, but... you can see how well that turned out. Lol. This photo is of a quote from one of the fliers for our gallery opening (if you know who said this, please let me know!). Anyway, this gallery opening has pretty much been consuming my life lately, so I haven't had time to take personal photos lately! Sad, but true. ;) So you get a glimpse into my design life instead. ;)

In no particular order... Walking around downtown Portland Watching iPod commericals My cat, Carlita Rain Going to the movies alone Figuring out a new trick in CSS via: puglypixel Watching a new episode of Grimm w/ my family Eating Cheetos Going to the Oregon coast Starbucks Christmas coffees

Today's prompt is to talk about something that I miss. The first thing that came to mind for me was living in Portland. I love the city atmosphere, where there are always things to do, places to go, etc. I don't mean necessarily going to parties every night (I'm definitely not the type of personality that enjoys being super social), but I loved having the opportunity to go to the ballet, for example, or the opera, or to a pro basketball game, even. It's just fun having those types of things within the city you live in, so you can do that rather easily in an evening if the fancy strikes you. I also loved having public transportation at my fingertips. Portland has a particularly good system for that, which fascinated me endlessly when I lived there. It would always amaze me that I could literally get from one end of the city to the other merely by walking/busing/taking a train. I lived there about 5 years before I even got a car... and even then, I would leave it at ...

I'm an introvert who loves designing, reading, & learning! ***** On a sidenote... if you've been paying attention, you'll know that I haven't posted in about a week! School's been majorly busy so I put blogging on the back burner for awhile - this post will be dated for the date is was supposed to be posted, for example, since I'm trying to do the Blog Every Day in May challenge. ;) We put up a gallery exhibit this weekend, showcasing our graduating class' design projects from the last 2-3 years. It's crazy how much work goes into a show like that! I probably put in 50-60 hours of time over the last week and a half getting ready for the show. Needless to say I've been playing hooky part of this week so I can rest up. ;)