Blog — "challenge"

Ok, so can we just agree that I'll be designing stuff, but I might not post every day? Ok, thanks. Because really, I've been designing my little butt off and haven't really had time to post much. So if you're curious to see what I've been up to the last few days, take a look.









Note card set, greeting cards, postcards galore! And this doesn't even include the new stationery paper sets that I've made as well! I am waiting on my boxes for those (they're supposed to arrive today) so I've held off on taking photos and revealing to you their awesomeness until then! :)

I may be a bit behind the times in posting this, but I've continued on with my Design a Day Challenge. I will post for Friday and Saturday now and hopefully be back later with something splendid for today. It has been one crazy past few days. First, on Friday, I decided that it made perfect sense to sit in 98 degree (106 degree heat index) weather for 3 hours at Oriole Park for the O's vs Angels game. To make matters worse, our closing pitcher gave up a grand slam in the top of the 9th inning making me wonder even more if even the super cheap $6 ticket I bought using my outdated student ID was even worth it.

Follow that up with Saturday spent in 102 degree (114 degree heat index) weather at a stone and masonry store trying to pick out pavers for our back yard. Andrew decided it was a good idea to keep going back and forth from one section to the next in the blazing sun for about an hour and a half-- of course at the hottest time of day at that! After our masonry adventures, in which I inevitably picked out the most expensive thing, we had planned to go order new dining room chairs. So we had to take our sweaty selves to a super classy furniture store in which the woman helping us proceeded to tell us that she was recently married. In addition, her new husband had just given her a blank check for furniture for their 3rd home (5,400 sq ft of it) in which she spent $20,000. AND that was the third blank check he had given her. Meanwhile, I had sweated my butt off at the stone store and looked a hot, sunburned mess-- she probably thought I was far from classy enough to be purchasing dining room chairs from her.

Needless to say, after all of that, I was done and didn't really feel like sitting near a heat generating computer to upload these fabulous designs:







Two totally different styles of designs, but I love them both! Hopefully that was worth having to read through my furniture lady story! Happy lazy Sunday everyone!

The end is here! Yesterday was my 30th day for my Design a Day Challenge, and don't you worry, I did in fact design something even though I'm not posting it until this morning. We headed out last night to Koopers, a favorite spot for burgers, in Fells Point. Their burgers are so good that they've been voted best in Baltimore. Plus, they even have one of those food trucks that you'll often spot around town serving their burgers. We met up with a friend of a friend that just moved to Baltimore and ended up staying longer than we had thought we were going to (not that it was a bad thing! It was a fun night!) so I didn't get to post my design last night.

So now, for day 30, I stuck with a nature inspired theme of an ocean blue feather and a wood grain patterned note card.






Finally, I paired these simple note cards with matching ocean blue envelopes. I love the simplicity! The downside, drawing things like this in Illustrator makes me desperately want a tablet. I would be so much better off that way! I've been drawing everything with a mouse which is absolutely awful! I have always been pretty good at drawing, but using a mouse is pretty difficult. Why then is this the downside? Well, tablets are ridiculously expensive if you want one that works well. Time to start saving.

In other news, I was accepted on Heartsy, which is like a Groupon for crafts. I'm still trying to decide whether or not to do it-- it's a pretty steep discount, but if a lot of people purchase the vouchers it's a lot of exposure. Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Baltimore is a pretty inspiring place. So much history, architecture, and art in this vibrant city. Baltimore has a bad reputation, but after living here for four years, I feel like it is my duty to let people know just how cool it actually is. My shop name, Row House 14, is actually where I live-- a row house with the street address number 14. My house is my studio and that is how the name came about.

One thing that I love about the old Baltimore row houses is that many people have painted their doors brightly in colors that look fantastic alongside the brick buildings. When we moved into our row house, I was determined to do just the same-- I chose teal. (surprising, right?)


I love doors. They represent quite a bit in our lives. Recently, my mother made a complete doors series of woodblock prints that were beautiful. Her doors represented all sorts of places she had lived throughout her life. The Baltimore doors and her woodblock prints were equally inspiring today when I came up with these colorful door postcards. The colors are Baltimore and design woodblock inspired.






In addition to these fun postcards, I also worked on some note cards today that will eventually find their way into my shop. I felt this design quite inspiring in itself as it seems I have had all sorts of doors of opportunity opening for me lately.

Is it really day 28? Why, yes! That means I only have two more days to go. I'm thinking I won't stop there, however. There are too many super awesometastic things that I've been coming up with!

Take today's design for example-- a set of stationery perfect for a writer. Four note cards with envelopes and four postcards made out of super heavy weight card stock, all hand cut and hand scored. A set of four pens, accompanied by four different quotes from some of the greatest writers of all time.






I love this set! I mean absolutely LOVE this set! Not only do I love the design and colors, but I love the quality. Some of the best quality card stock and envelopes that I have encountered to be exact. And the best part-- 100% recycled paper and made with wind power. Throw in some wise words by Michener, Hawthorne, Wordsworth, and Renard and the set is complete. These are by far my new favorite! Nothing compares!