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!

Thank You

So Natalie and I finished our Ornaments & Embellishments class from Nicole's Classes. The homework challenged us to "put it all together" and use several of the techniques that were covered. I decided to try my hand at flowery thank you cards since that isn't a style that comes natural to me.

I was very happy with how they turned out. Even if this isn't a style I plan on using a lot it is always good to try something new! 

je t'aime means i love you

i've been pretty MIA from the blog lately...sorry about that.
here's a sweet wallpaper for all you loverssss out there.

this one goes out to jonny boy.
love.

(it's a white wallpaper...sorry)

whatevs (now in two flavors!)

I dedicate this to all my fellow vinyl-listenin', skinny-jeans-wearin', mustache-groomin', bicycle-ridin', Instagram-usin' hipsters. Oh, and Natterbubs.

Being married to Natalie has taught me (among other things) that I'm WAY more of a hipster than I'd like to believe. But I guess that's not necessarily a bad thing. I save a ton of money on razors.

I did two color schemes to try to mix things up. Personally, I like the blue.

little blue bowties

it's another patterned wallpaper from me. are you surprised?

this little baby is a product of my participation in nicole's classes. 

(jonathan told you a little about it in the previous post.)

can you find the little, blue bowties?

hope you enjoy!

Traffic

So we're signed up for an Ornaments & Embellishments course through Nicoles Classes. They're a great place to go to learn more about Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, and Photography. This will be the third Illustrator class I've taken with them and I have loved them all! Every video lecture I've watched has had at least one "Ah ha!" moment that shows me a new trick for my designing arsenal.

Anyway, I was practicing making symmetrical objects and designing to a grid as part of this week's homework. I'm not entirely sure what I will do with all these traffic themed elements, but I'm sure they'll come in handy some day.

It's a 1024x1024 design, so you could still use it as a background on an iPad I guess. As always, feel free to suggest project ideas for Natalie and I to work on!

watch out for falling houses!

here's some wise words of advice from your friendly neighborhood wicked witch:

Pop

Here's a couple of pop pieces I did today.

 

Enjoy!

geometric? how eclectic!

not only do you get a wallpaper, but here's a weird fact about me:

i could LITERALLY stare at a pattern all day.
i would probably go blind and my brain would melt - but i LOVE finding shapes in patterns.

j and i have a geometric bedspread that i've found many shapes in.
including:
a man with antlers who is wearing a suit
a green pac man shooting triangles from his mouth
a row of neckties
a row of ice cream cones

basically i was inspired.
so here you go - your very own geometric wallpaper.

don't go too crazy staring at it, okay?
otherwise i'll just be worrying about you all day.

p.s. leave us some comments! we want to know what you guys want to see!

Party Invitations

So a friend of ours called over the weekend with a request. Her son is having a Cars themed birthday party and she wanted some invitations that look like tickets. Natalie and I got together and this is what we came up with!

This was my first time formatting one of our project for print. I learned a lot of practical stuff about layout (mostly that I need to take more InDesign classes!), but the people at Weber State University's copy center were really patient with my questions.

The end product came out as I had hoped! Let me know if you have any other projects for Natalie and I to get some experience with. I will do non-Disney work too! ;)

it's a bird, it's a plane...it's a bat?

here's some wallpapers for you comic book/super hero fans out there.

these started out as possible presents for j, but i spoiled the surprise before i could turn them into anything.

now you guys can benefit! you lucky ducks, you.

have a good weekend,

More Disney

Here's more of the Disney idea. I also went back and changed the font on the Gaston design.

 


I like the look of all of them together. Maybe I'll make a few more and turn them into a poster someday. What do you think?