Living the Creative Life

Forget what I said earlier about states clip art . I found the research part of that project totally tedious and mind-numbing. I tried to push through and slave away at it, but it hit me this weekend... why am I slaving away at something that should be fun? I should be working on stuff to sell in my shop because it's interesting and makes me smile, not because it seemed like a great idea but now is a chore. So... I'm revamping my entire digital shop to include mainly blogging and scrapbooking elements, ranging in price from $2-$15. Ribbons, backgrounds, clip art, etc. I'm combing through my computer to find all the stuff that I've experimented with over the years to see if any of it will fit in my shop, then I'll work on expanding ideas, adding new stuff, combining stuff into related sets, etc. Basically my goal is to fill up my shop fast and sell lots! ;) Here are a few of the items I've listed this so far this weekend: Seamless Blog Backgrounds Seamless Blog B

I recently finished up a design for Victoria, over at Giveaways 4 Mom . Victoria wanted a fun, feminine, yet professional-looking banner design for her giveaway blog. Her basic layout was already determined, but I was able to give her a new color scheme, banner design, and "About Me" area that would compliment her blog's fun, feminine vibe! If you are looking for a blog design of your own, click here to view my current rates!

I'm in the middle of uploading a states-related project to my Society 6 shop . To be honest, I'd kind of forgotten I had that shop, but while I was working on my clip-art project for Etsy, I realized that these state outlines could easily be transformed cute merchandise over on Society 6! I've only got a few states up currently, but be on the look-up in the coming weeks as I roll out all 50 states! Prints, t-shirts, & other merchandise available at Society6 Prints, t-shirts, & other merchandise available at Society6 . Prints, t-shirts, & other merchandise available at Society6 .

How's it going, guys? My new job's been slow but fairly steady. I'm only working two days a week right now, but it's been fun to have some different projects to work on. I've worked on a couple logo designs and a page layout project, both of which I had to do about 10 million revisions on (not really). Sidenote --> If you're ever feeling creatively stuck, that's actually a very good exercise - take one design problem and solve it about 20 different ways. Then solve it again 20 more ways. By the end of that, you might actually have something good to show for it. ;) I've also started a new project for my Etsy shop. I'm making states-related clip art! I started with Oregon, since that's my home state, and I'm going to do California next. I'll probably work my way through the most populated states after that unless you guys have any preferences for a state you'd like to see sooner! ;) Get your auto-download today on Etsy for just $5!

I recently finished up another blog design. This one was for Ellen, over at My "not so" Simple Life . It was fun coming up with a cozy, farm-like feel for her. She's a home-schooling mom who lives on a hobby farm, and wanted to reflect that sophisticated, yet country feel in her blog design. It's Giveaway Time! She's also running a blog design giveaway over on her blog for me, which you all are free to enter. You can win a "Quick Makeover" for your Blogger blog (sorry, not wanting to tackle Wordpress at the moment). This includes a new blog header, "About Me" photo blurb, and a coordinating background. You also win 30% off a "Complete Makeover", should you choose to upgrade to a full blog design. That gives you a $450 value service for just $315! Check out this giveaway before 10/4 if you'd like a chance at a free blog makeover! ***** If you are interested in scheduling your own blog design, click here to learn more !

I've been knitting up a storm this week for my Etsy shop . I haven't felt like knitting since I've been down here since it's so HOT! But... it is just about to "hat-selling season", as I like to call it, so I figured I better break out my yarn and needles again. ;) My brother-in-law's old college roommate was giving away this gigantic tv and asked if we wanted it. It's not super new, but considering that we literally only brought what we could fit into our cars from Oregon, we were having to make due with a little, itty, bitty, 13" one. Lol. This one is so much bigger than we even had in Oregon, so it's almost like having a theater right in our living room. ;P My mom and I visited the local mall the other day. I hadn't been to this one yet, and I was pretty impressed! It reminds me of the ones up in Salem or Portland that actually have a double-layer of stores and lots of people in them. There was one mall in the town next to where