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Finally I feel as though I have something good to write about when it comes to the fence. Remember way back when? A jackhammer had arrived and then there were fence posts put up. Then a whole lot didn't seem to happen because it happened so slowly. I grew up in a house that always had projects going on. My dad is a woodworker and he spent a lot of time building houses as well. So when I thought of a DYI backyard project, I imagined a few weekends and we'd be good to go-- that's what always happened when my dad was building things. Give him an afternoon and he'd have an entire room trimmed out arts and crafts style.

That's a craftsman. I guess I didn't consider how architects approach things. No offense (and I don't think any will be taken because all architects I know openly admit to this), but architects are too nerdy about the design for their own good. When I suggested to Andrew that we use an old door instead of building a fence gate, I was immediately shot down. The second time I suggested it, I was shot down. And the third time? You guessed it.

I told my dad, now I finally know why he used to always complain about the architect when he was in construction. And now I finally know why contractors and architects are seemingly always at each others' throats. My dad, joking about the door situation, said something like, "You know what your problem is? You didn't put in a change order with the architect."

The next day, I told Andrew, "That's it-- I'm putting in a change order. The gate needs to be redrawn as a door in your blueprints." And I got my way.


Maybe my dad was right after all.

In other news, despite the slow, thoughtful process of the architect in constructing our backyard, things are finally going in the right direction and we're nearly done! Here are some other photos to enjoy--

Disclaimer: This design was printed with ink that I will not be using again. Am I happy about that? No not really. In fact, I'm super disappointed. I had a bit of an ink emergency. It involved a new recycled ink that I was trying out. As you may know the majority of my paper is recycled and produced using wind power. I am a bit of an environmental tree-hugger-- I'm not going to lie. Even my students call me a tree-hugger, and I accept it for what it is. So I like to offer environmentally friendly products as well. I've accomplished that on the paper front, so I wanted to conquer the ink as well.

It didn't work.

The colors were all messed up.

I did a ridiculous amount of trouble-shooting that involved lots of ink being wasted.

I gave up, for now.

So here is my design--




--but those aren't really the colors they should be. So yeah, I'll give you an update one I get some of those glorious Epson printer cartridges back in my hands. The difference will probably amaze you as much as it amazed me. Let's just say that the pink should be cotton candy pink, the brownish/orange should be a mango orange/yellow, and the blue should be a dark iris purple. And had I used Epson cartridges instead of my poopy recycled cartridges that's exactly what they'd be. Oh boooo. But hope you enjoy the design anyway! :)

I'm feeling in a happy birthday kind of mood recently. So I've cooked up yet another birthday card design. This may be the last printed card you'll see in the next few days as I had a bit of an ink emergency this afternoon. But I won't go into that for now. Back to the new design. Simple lettering on white and gray pinstripes. Plus, a super cool square card with rounded corners.





I kind of wish someone else would have thought of this design and given this card to me for my birthday. I love simple, as you know, so this is just right.

It is depressingly dark out today. Rain, rain, and more rain. And when the thunder comes the clouds get even darker. I've been stuck in the house today with nothing to do so I decided to start designing. Today, I came up with five new designs. I'll share the sunny one with you just so my day will seem a bit brighter.





Ahhh! That's more like it! Get some sun into my life and I feel better already!

Today I felt like making personalized stationery with lots of bold colors. I couldn't choose which few colors to use, so I made an entire collection of colors.

I was thinking that since these colors are so fun, why not really show them off. I went with a nice bold block of color along with the somewhat retro Lobster Two font. I love the inverted white against the block of color on the j's, p's, q's, f's, etc.




I even made some of the samples with my own name so that I could enjoy them to send off to my friends and family! :)