I haven’t written a post in a while, so I thought that we should get things up to date around here!

Right around the new year I took an online class to learn some calligraphy. It’s honestly hit or miss and I’m still practicing, but the one thing I’ve been loving is the watercolor and hand painted look.

It seems that designs requests come in waves. Out of my last handful of designs, I had 2 recipe sites then 2 photography sites and then 2 requests for watercolor-esque designs that although different (one desert-related and one herb-related), were similar in that they were both green and leafy images after the same aesthetic (and one that I love).

Try finding a watercolor image of thyme or a watercolor image of a succulent in a terrarium. Try it. Dare ya. So you found one, right? But is it a stock image? Is it editable? Likely not (and if it is, well, you’re better than I am then – email me, we should chat!). I do not like having to rely on the availability of stock images so I’ve been taking that into my own hands (literally!).

Here is a sneak peek at the hand-painted elements that I am working on for one client. Notice the custom succulent in a terrarium? I kind of rock. I’m not saying it’s the best image ever created, but c’mon, it’s not bad. Better yet, my client loves it!
That is a subscribe bar in mustard yellow and just try to find that font anywhere online-ha! This design will also have hand-painted social media icons and we’ll just have to see what else.

A snapshot of hand-drawn elements for an upcoming launch.

My client requested specific font and color choices so my job for this custom header design (below) was really to make everything flow…and to find the right thyme.  Actually, I did find a stock image for thyme, but it was not easily editable and it wasn’t the right look anyway. So I went to it and created it myself. And I kind of like my design more than what was available on the Internet. Who knew I could draw thyme?! Hidden talents over here, folks.

Custom header with hand-drawn elements

And now for my latest design launch.

I have always believed that the design is half of the beauty to the site but the content makes up the other half. Lauren from Lauren Gay Photography contacted me to get her over from Blogger to WordPress and to redesign her site. I took just a quick glance at her photos and I instantly knew that together the design and content would make a beautiful site.

I think we rocked it.

Style board for Lauren Gay Photography

So that’s just a bit of what I’ve been working on and there is lots more to come! Thank you for allowing me to create and have fun creating for you.