Casara

A side project: Let’s try to grow some food!

My potato plants were not looking too good – probably because I opted to forget to water them – so I decided to go ahead and start digging.  My first potato harvest…and it was like hunting for treasure.  You think your done and then you hit gold as your shovel grazes a nice plump purple fruit in the ground.  Suddenly playing in the dirt was enjoyable again, like childhood.

An early harvest, yet I consider an awarding one. Maybe next year I’ll take better care and get more than just this bowlful.  But for now, I am fairly happy with myself.

Next is tomatoes, and peppers, and cucumbers.

After weeks of printing, gluing, and addressing the wedding invitations are out! Guest should be receiving them in the next few days. The stock is from Hobby Lobby, the ribbon is the color “poppy” from JoAnns, and printing was done at home on my ol trusty Canon. To create the ribbon effect I used a ribbon stitch punch on the cardstock and tied a small ribbon around a larger ribbon through the punch outs.

Also check out: Our Wedding Website

Here are just some of my favorite places to waste time on the web:

Blogs

Paramore|Redd
One of the few feeds I continually click through every week because of their Internet marketing advice, current topics, and variety of talented authors.  If you want to learn about ppc, seo, email marketing techniques, social networking and all things Tennessee, one word: subscribe.

Smashing Aps
A truly great resource for learning about all the little apps out there that try to make your life easier.  Because of this feed I learned about TweetDeck, TextWrangler and EverSave – 3 apps I use continuously.   Many apps listed are both PC and MAC friendly – and even Linux.

Typography
The blog: ilovetypography.com/
The gallery: welovetypography.com/

Inspiration
designarchives.aiga.org/

http://juxtapoz.com/

Free Tutorials

http://www.tutorial9.net/

http://www.layersmagazine.com/category/tutorials

Design Journalism

http://www.atissuejournal.com/

http://designobserver.com/

Political Work

http://www.powertotheposter.org/

Coming to a mailbox near you.

Three weeks, couple paper cuts, several trips to Hobby Lobby, and four changes of the ol’ xacto blade is what it took to create over 100 of these handmade invites. Printed on my home Canon inkjet printer, constructed of three staggered squares of white linen paper and tied together with a bright orange ribbon, these are just the start of this crazy process people call wedding planning.

With a whooping guest count of 230 people I better get started on favors and invitations if everything will be handmade.

Inspiration was just waiting in our mailbox.

It is really fantastic how going to a design conference gets your name into so many mailing lists. Now, granted, everyone hates junk mail. But getting packages of free paper and product samples showcasing great flexibility in what the final product can look & feel like – I will never complain. Be inspired by printing processes. From a soft touch spot on a chocolate to a foil with emboss on a fun heart shape – Sappi’s greeting cards were a nice surprise at the end of the day.

“Design is art people use”
~Simply stated from the book D.I.Y Design It Yourself edited by Ellen Lupton

So, thank you Sappi for your greeting cards, created by Michael Osborne Design. I am surely to use them to brighten another designers’ day.

Logo options for non-profit GIFT gardens. GIFT stands for Growing Illinois Food Together.
Budget-wise I couldn’t spend a lot of time on this project. Completion time: 1 week.
Currently the logo is under review… I will update when design is chosen.

My fish tank is stable again and in full swing.

I got 15 fish – and I thought if I named them and wrote their names down I would notice more readily when one mysteriously gets abducted or disappears. Damn Aliens..

So, here we go:

6 Tetras: Beast, Bullseye, The Cheat and Minno. Fox & Sea (blue striped tetra)

2 Aussie Rainbows: Trout and Blush

2 Chinese Algaes: Beater and Beauty(the albino)

2 Ghost Catfish: Xray and Bones

1 Hatchet fish: Bling

1 Dwarf Gourami: Rain

The Pleco : Ogre

This has been such a project. If you have any tips let me know, I want to add more fish – but carefully.

You Are Invited!
Wedding planning and jewelry shopping go hand-in-hand, don’t you think?
Please join me for an afternoon of fun, fashion and great jewelry from Premier Designs!

Friends are welcome, snacks and drinks will be provided, including some bubbly, so come happy and leave happy.
Hope to see you there

When: July 11th, 2:00pm
Where: Casara’s House
1246 Visitation Dr, St. Louis MO 63125

I am ready for summer vacation!
Just a few more weeks and I will finally get a break…..I work too hard. Work isn’t allowed in my house anymore, it started to come home with me – so I just stay at the office.

I realized today how many home projects I have started and not finished…and only added more projects. Like painting the spare room (2 walls done), creating paintings for the office (1 half way there), landscape the front yard (its pretty dirty and dry right now), tile back-splash in the kitchen (I bought the tile….), Create a schedule to run a few miles a week (if I get a GOOD walk with the dog I am lucky), update my personal web site, and….I think thats it.

Vacation…I will be going to Virginia Beach to visit the amazing Celia for about a week. The only person on earth who probably knows me in and out just as well as my Mom. But getting to VA will be just as fun….Road trip with Mrs. Presley (Celia’s mom) we are gonna be singing and dancing all the way from Muncie, IN to VA.

I love roadtrips.