Some Retro Fun and Real Estate

HUH? I know it makes no sense but what the hay!!! Here are two new releases.

First up is Carole from Mother's Little Helper. She wanted funky and retro with the blue, green and rust color you will see below. I already knew she has a fun since of humor mostly because of Susan but also from stalking her a bit as I usually do. I KNEW I would be able to have TONS OF FUN with this design and I did!!!! I found this great old ad to use in her banner and with some modification it fit WONDERFULLY in the look we wanted!!!! I also created a relaxing siggy and silly footer for her as well. Just check it out for yourself!



Images from istockphoto and iclipart were used in this deign. Fonts were provided by one of my favorite free font sites AND myfonts.com.


And here is another one for Linda! Well it's really for the entire office of Bartek Real Estate. This is a company blog mostly put together by Linda (yes, my mother) but I tweaked it a bit and created a banner. I have also got a couple different domains pointing that way and am working on some search engine optimization for them. So be sure to check out Fort Worth Home Market...they are providing great tips and real estate news for the Fort Worth Texas area!!!!!!!!!



Image from istockphotowere used in this deign. Fonts were provided by one of my favorite free font sites.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!!!!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

**FIRST...if you are in my queue and don't usually READ my posts of new designs you REALLY should this time!!! I have news that may interest you.**

Announcing a brand new look for a VERY VERY SPECIAL LADY, Linda over at Hugs Included! You may have seen her around or even on my sidebar because...she's my MOM!!!!

I wanted to give her a design LONG AGO when she started her blog, then for her birthday and THEN for Christmas but I was just too busy. So I put a few current projects on hold so I could get this done for her just in time for Mother's Day...I can't believe it's actually FINISHED!!

Of course, I didn't have to get TOO much inspiration from her...she is my mother so I pretty much know what she likes. Earth tones with lots of green, elegant and classic yet fun, that's MY MOM! She did tell me she wanted birds and a drew me a little picture of a Stampin' Up! stamp. So when I found these graphics on istockphoto.com I thought it would be just PERFECT for her blog! I think it all came together beautifully and it really is HER!!! She fell in LOVE as soon as she saw it, no changes, no revisions and I was doin' the happy dance!!!! Changes are always fine with me but it's WAY cool when I get it right the first time...especially when it's Mom! ;D



Be sure to pop over to Hugs Included yourself to see it in action! You MUST see the card she made for her "GRAND OPENING"...it is totally PERFECT with the design!!!! The flowers, the flourishy leaves and OF COURSE that stamp...I just love it all together!!!

You may also notice that she has CUSTOM FONTS for her post titles, sidebar titles, post dates and even the comment form (I made my post titles and dates match hers...see it?). This is not something I've tried before. YES, YES I've been making sidebar headings on my designs since the beginning but this is different! Those are just images I make and upload. New titles must be added manually for new sidebar gadgets/widgets and I cannot do that for post titles at all. These fonts are provided via JavaScript and Flash so no custom images are needed if you want custom fonts. I have seen a little about it in the past but just haven't looked into it much. Well, my Mom's design was going so smoothly I decided to give it a try. Thanks to MANY wonderful geeks on the web I was able to do this relatively simply using sIFR. Of everyone writing about this awesome tool I must give kudos to Amanda over at kevinandamanda.com. She's got everything you need to get sIFR up and running on your blogger blog...THANKS Amanda!

Once I got the custom fonts up I couldn't go without a little graphic enhancement with them. I'm VERY pleased with the whole result so I will DEFINITELY have to use this method in future designs!!!!

I did have one small kink. The font I had chosen for the the titles was NOT created with numbers and a lot of symbols were not there either. So I did a bit of digging and found out how to make my very own fonts. After I figured that out I was able to create missing numbers and symbols to match. I know it seems like a lot of trouble (I could have just found another font) BUT I've been wanting to know how to do that anyway and honestly that is just how I roll!!!!

So if you're ***patiently*** waiting in my line...tell me if you would like custom fonts on your blog. We could even use your handwriting since I learned how to make fonts too!!!!! You will also get the font for your own use with your computer as well...TOO COOL!!! :D

All in all I had a GREAT time "working" with you Mom!!! I got to learn a lot and try new things, plus you're my Mom...I felt like I knew what you would like or not like every time I made a change to your design. We really are SO alike!!!!! I love you with all my heart and I can't wait to spend Mother's Day with you!!!!!! And big hugs to all my loyal subscribers, customers and PATIENT people waiting in line! I really do appreciate all of you, have a Very Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!!!

Inky Diva Cards Blog and Boutique

You may remember this post back when Jen released her new design. I mentioned I had some posting to catch up on. Well here is one from that list...my new (well sort of new) friend AILEEN!!!! She gave me lots of time to play around with different aspects of her BOUTIQUE on Blogger...YES, I said boutique on Blogger! Thanks to Google and all those geeks out there who LOVE to post Blogger tips and tricks I have been able to create thumbnail grids of posts, Pages plus MUCH MORE. Just take a look around her store.



Be sure to visit the Inky Diva this week...she is having a 20% off EVERYTHING SALE and it only lasts until May 1st! She has a great inventory already built up so I just can't wait to hear all about her success!!!! **fingers crossed**

Her new look actually started with her blog design. You can see it in action as well at Inky Diva Cards. Aileen didn't want flowers but something with more flourish. OK, OK...I know she has flowers now, but it's spring!!!!! She has one for all seasons so keep your eyes peeled for those designs too. Aileen also wanted these fabulous warm pinks and browns on a very clean and simple design. She got the works for both her blog and boutique...Full page design, watermark and siggy! I have to say this design is still one of my favorites.

Graphics from istockphoto and vectorstock were used for this design. The fonts I used were all provided by my favorite free font sites.

I'll post more new designs as I can!!

Paperie Petals

I am so happy to co-announce Kim Schofield's new blog design! She is a FANTASTIC person and so nice to work with...we had lots of fun!

Once I reviewed Kim's design notes I just started gathering inspiration from several places. I KNEW I wanted her to have stitching and, of course, some paper flowers. I showed her revision one and she was delighted...HOORAY! After working with Kim on the finishing touches we came to this beautiful end result. I think it fits Paperie Petals perfectly!!!



Graphics from istockphoto and vectorstock were used and embellished using Photoshop patterns, I made the lace using a lace brush from spy-glass. The rest of the digi-scraps were made by me. The fonts I used were all provided by may favorite free font sites.

Thanks for hangin' in there and waiting patiently!

My Favorite Things...

...right now are...STAMPS!!!!!

I have SUCH exciting news today!!! You may remember my post SEVERAL months ago showcasing some siggy and watermark work I did for Kim at My Favorite Things. I made these using some of her existing stamps designed by Christy Beckwith (love her work) but she was curious if I had any original artwork. So I sent her a few samples of previous work including a banner (now retired) and a little sample of what Joanne had in store. Well I was just ECSTATIC when she told me she wanted to work with me on some stamp sets of my own!!!!!! After lots of patients with my lines Kim finally has the sets all ready and I just can't even express how excited I am!!!!!!!!! I even took a little time to garnish my blog with a few of the sparkles and swirls from the Funky Flowers set. The blog hop is going on now so start here at Kim's blog and take a look at all the WONDERFUL cards created by her VERY AWESOME design team!!!!! If you are unfamiliar with a blog hop just read the posts and follow the links...you'll see.

I even got to make the SCS ad...Thanks Kim!



I'm also extremely overjoyed to see them sitting there in her store...you MUST SEE! I told Kevin (my husband), "Look! Look! I'm on her sidebar!!!!!!"

Thanks dropping by and don't forget to check out the whole design team to see the stamps in use....that's where I'm going right now!!!!!

And I MUST say again that I just love working Kim! She is so nice and a blast! Her patience with me has been FABULOUS!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you Kim!!