it's elementary, dear valentine!

we're big into craft projects at our house. and since i was feeling particularly festive*, i decided to use my elementary know how and cut out what, to my poor hand, felt like one million paper hearts in varying sizes.

i used pieces of pink, red and craft brown cardstock (2 pieces each color), some white sewing thread, and (probably too many) pieces of transparent tape and voila. an easy peasy valentine mobile.

it probably took me about 30-45 minutes total and i'm really happy with how it turned out!

i tried this same look for christmas with paper snowflakes, but i think the hearts are my favorite addition to our apartment right now.

i'm really tempted to leave them up year round...

love is always in season, right?

happy valentine's day!

love,

N

*guilty about my lack of valentine's day decorations.

hey lovers.

life has been pretty busy round these parts, but here's a pattern i made for everyone's favorite excuse to eat lots of chocolate and wear red and pink together - valentine's day!

how are you guys celebrating with that special someone?

-N

work signs

At the beginning of the semester I had to update all of the signs around the tutoring labs with the current information. I really wanted to do something simple, but I wanted all of the labs to look like part of a bigger whole. In the end I think I accomplished both of those goals, but it might have been a bad idea to leave them black and white. I don't know. What do you think?

The Solution Space is where we help students with Math 1050 (College Algebra) and other higher math classes. 

The 3 different hubs are where we help students with all the classes in the Developmental Math program (Math 950, 990, and 1010). I really wrestled with this one because of all the information that had to be included!

If some of the logos look familiar it is because I also used them when making the buttons in my last post. I might have overcompensated on the boring colors issue though. ;)

All in all there are 24 different color combinations. Everyone has their favorites, but I personally like the blue/yellow buttons (at the bottom-middle and also the center of the pile).

Next post I hope to have Natalie's wonderful photography again instead of pictures from my phone. Maybe I'll work on something not math related too! ;)

Hub Buttons

Wow, it's been a long time! Natalie and I just got so busy with work and the holidays. Hopefully we'll be able to post much more frequently.

I think I've mentioned this before, but I'm the math tutoring coordinator at Weber State University. It can be hard trying to change people's perspective on doing math homework. I want people to be excited to come in, so I am always looking for new ways to make the center more comfortable/inviting. That's why I recently made a bunch of buttons to give away to tutors or students who stop by to say hello!

Since our last post in October, Natalie and I have purchased a Tecre button making machine. We got it off eBay, so it wasn't nearly as expensive as the ones on their website. It has been really fun coming up with button designs for parties or events. Our particular model makes 1.25" buttons (or magnets or keychains). It was the perfect size for this project because they're big enough to be seen but small enough to not be obnoxious advertising. Hopefully people will like them and it will help a little with changing math's boring reputation.

I really do enjoy making buttons. Please let me know if you'd like some for an event you have coming up. Or head on over to Pinterest to see my button board full of ideas.

we're for sale!

sorry for the radio silence from me, you guys.
i work at an ad agency and it has been CRAZY at work getting ready for 2013...in october.

but i wanted to stop in and let you know about something cool!
you can now get some of my work in print form...and better yet...
AS AN IPHONE CASE.
whaaaaaat?
i know.

and now (until October 14th), you'll get free shipping! hooray!
(but only if you click HERE)
my shop is constantly growing, and jonathan will have one soon, too!
so show your favorite bloggers a little love, okay?

Math

Sorry I've been absent for so long. I'm still doing lots of designs, but I don't find a lot of time to turn them into blog posts. Here's a few of the things I've done for work recently:

My real job is as a supervisor for a couple of math tutoring centers at the local university. Being a math tutor can be a lot of fun because sooooo many people struggle with that subject. I don't know how many students I've met with who said this was the only class standing between them and graduation (tears are frequently involved). But don't we all have at least one class that feels un-passable like that?? It's really good to be able to tell those worried students that there IS something we can do to make it a little bit easier.

This week is National Tutor Week, so I made a little sign to post around our centers to thank the tutors for all that they do!

I've also started to make a few review cards for different Algebra and Trigonometry concepts. They're 5.5" by 8.5" double-sided cards. Let me know if you'd like a copy or if there's another math topic that's giving you a hard time.

cd artsy smartsy

(you thought i was going to say artsy fartsy, didn't you? TRICKED!)

[i want to be cool like husband and share some work that i've done (or am doing) in real life.]

meet stephen.

he makes music.

good music. and that's hard to find, you guys!

i've known steve for a long time and was thrilled to be able to help him with some art concepts for his upcoming ep:  five songs written by the soul of the earth

i thought it would be fun to go with a sort of storybook theme with simple line drawings and solid colors.

i really like how they've turned out.

the best part? i got to listen to stephen's ep early for inspiration and here's a link to listen to some of stephen's other demos.

click here!

(my favorite is "these double sided laser beamed robot boots")

if you live in utah and would like to check out stephen live, in person (and technicolor) - he's having an ep release show on october 12 @ 8 pm. it's at the barn (339 N 700 E, provo, ut) and it's free!

please come!