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welcome! from the wee one and me

happy friday afternoon! yaaaaaaay! i am beyond excited to share some of my latest blog designs with you...but they will have to wait until monday (ah, killer i know. please forgive)! <<that is definitely one of the highlights of my days-getting some alone time, during B's nap time, to create and design. ahhh i love it. with that said, here are just some pics of the babe and i, to say HEY! and WELCOME! to you new followers! i'm so happy you found me here in this little corner of the internet where i like to share my designs and creativity! 


thank goodness it's friday! i thought last week -when i had to write and give a talk- was long and stressful. but man this week things have been popping up right and left. it's ridiculous. and i'm at a point where i kind of want to just pull my hair out...don't worry, i haven't yet :) ...mostly because i know all of these mini "trials" are just that. mini. they won't last forever. and they are helping me grow, stay productive, re-evaluate my time, are teaching me how to work more efficiently, and are reminding me what is most important in my life (that would be my family and the gospel, in case you were wondering). however, i did have a nice long vent sesh with my mom about some of these things, and that helped too. haha. she's the best at listening, especially when i don't want to drop my frustrations on K when he comes home from a long day at work :)

and that's enough about that. in other news, did you know Google Reader/GFC is going away? you guys, it will officially be no more as of July 1st! ahh! i am pretty bummed about it, but have been following peeps via Bloglovin. so if you still want to see what i'm up to, or know when i post freebies, go and follow me there! (i have a little button on my right sidebar you can click, or just click >>here!<<) I have also set up a Google+ page, (which bytheway, i am loving them more and more), so you can follow me over there too, if you want.

i hope you have a fabulous weekend with those you love, and i'll be seeing you on monday!

*what does your weekend look like?
i hope it it stress-free and fun! the heat hit us this week so i am thinking a splash pad would be new and exciting for the babe-ster! we shall see...

t-shirt logo for youth trek

monday afternoon i got a call asking if i would be able to help throw together a logo, to put on the front pocket of some youth t-shirts. it was a fast-kind of emergency-request and i'm happy i was able to help!



i was given the pioneer people and handcart image to work with for this project, so i definitely don't take credit for that! however, i did add the lines dividing the cart from the packaged goods, and the small line that divides the woman's back from the goods, as well as the ground they are "walking" on. and then the text and circle outline-foreground and background. yada yada.

the youth for our church are going to be going on a trek at the end of July. for those that don't know, this is a fun experience where they pull handcarts like our pioneers/ancestors for a week. they follow their trails (think Lewis and Clark), and build great team working skills and create fun memories! all of my siblings have done one of these, and i have always been so sad that i never got to. so i was happy i could help contribute to this project!

nails: blue triangles

i am speaking in my church this Sunday. and i am kind of freaking out about it. besides trying to write the "perfect" talk, i am trying to find the perfect outfit. because hello! i don't want to sound dumb or look dumb. hah. yes that did sounds superficial. but i promise i'm not :) i just want to look nice while speaking. and that ain't no crime. i still don't know what top to wear, but i do know what skirt i'll be wearing. it's a royal blue one from Maurices i picked it up 2 years ago, and it's kind of like this one (but ya know, blue).

of course i want to have my nails match, so here's what i did with them:


the colors:


i know it looks like a lot of polish, but like last time, i promise it really isn't! 

• maybelline new york // color show, pacific blues #985 (my first time using this brand and i loved it. i only used one coat of this!)
• pure ice, starstruck
• new york color // mattifying top coat, matte me crazy
• new york color // long wearing nail enamel, extra shiny top coat #271
• aero // live love dream, new years bash (got this at Aeropostale during Christmas time)

and here, my friends, is my first picture "nail how to":



paint your base coat (i chose white-make sure to let this layer dry completely! because i don't have big chunks of time, i usually will do this part one day, and finish the top design the next day), tape off your nail tips to form a triangle, paint them (let dry completely!), take of tape and put your top coat on....tada! i chose to use the matte coat for my blue nails, and the shiny for the gold. i also had to do 3 layers of the gold to make sure it was bold enough :)

*what is the color on your nails currently?

*when was the last time you spoke in front of a large audience?
i will be sooooo relieved at 10am this Sunday. aka when i'm done speaking...Sunday can't come soon enough (i want to just get it over with already, can you tell?)! haha

fun Lettering Delight fonts

i have this thing for fonts. i love them. i love collecting them, i love looking at them, and i love decorating with them. ever since i can remember, i have been fascinated by type and have tried to change my handwriting to match the wide variety of styles out there. don't know what it is, but it is one of THE funnest things to me! hah :) i am dying to get an ipad just for the sole reason of being able to purchase this app and create my own fonts to use in my design work (hubby if you are reading this...HINT HINT). anyways, so yea i love fonts. and today i wanted to share some fun ones from Lettering Delights!


here are all of their links. just click to check each one out:

ld dear diary •  ld this way  •  ld wild child • ld spudster • ld loud larry • ld telegram • ld modern mix •  ld rock on • ld hacker • ld funky chunky


*have you heard of Lettering Delights?

*do you have the ifontmaker? something like it? 
i want to hear what you think!

//disclaimer...or whatever you want to call it: this is not a sponsored post/no one told me to write it. however, i am an affiliate of Lettering Delights (you can see this in my sidebar). i  honestly love their products and wanted to share their coolness with you today!//

Simply Suzy Photography Design

good afternoon people! here's what i've been working on lately and just finished this weekend:


 working with Suzy was awesome to say the least. she is super easy-going, patient, and hilarious. she is a photographer located in the Salt Lake City, Utah area, she works night shifts at a hospital, and has the cutest little one-year-old baby girl around. just a few months ago i lived within 30 miles of her, and so i was dang sad when K and I moved away, because she has some mad photography skills that i wanted to take advantage of! (so all you Utah peeps better look her up-she's amazing!)

Suzy asked me to help her out with a logo design, header image, and some other tweaks. i was super nervous at first because i haven't "officially" ever designed a logo for someone (eeeek!). but i think it's safe to say it turned out great :) while helping her, i was also able to get a feel for the WordPress platform, which is crazy different from Blogger. not sure how i feel about it still, but it did make me feel a little bit more confident about helping all you WP lovers out there (someday, but not quite yet!).
go see Suzy's site here.

freebie: what e're thou art...{printable}

there were a lot of awesome quotes said during this last session of general conference (not sure what that is? learn more here), and ever since i heard this particular quote from Elaine S. Dalton, i have been wanting to create a printable on it. i finally squeezed some time in to my schedule to bust it out, and here it is!


this quote hit home with me. i think because at the time i was feeling slightly frustrated with a lot of things that  i couldn't control. when i heard it, i was reminded that i can control me, and what i do. i can be the best stay at home mom i can be. i can be the best wife i can be. and those are the things that really matter anyways!

so i hope you like it! i made the above gold as a 5x7 and an 8x10, then i also made another one in an aqua/grey wash that is 5x7. here's how i displayed mine:


you can download them from the boxes below:

>>5x7 gold:
>>5x7 aqua wash:

>>8x10 gold:








nails: gold + mint

i know it seems i am in love with every polish i put on, but seriously, i am a little obsessed with this gold/mint combo lately (c'mon, who isn't?)!


the polish:
(okay i know it may seem like i used an overwhelming amount on these nails, but really it wasn't! ha ha. i'll explain below...)


left to right >>
• new york color, matte me crazy
• pure ice, superstar
• wet 'n wild, fergie
• new york color, long wearing nail enamel, extra shiny top coat (#271)
• live love dream aero, new years bash (got this at aeropostale for like $1 at christmas)
• sally hansen, xtreme wear, mint sorbet (#340)

hahaha. okay so that was a lot to type out....for just being nail polish! here's what i did:

1// painted my nails (all but my ring fingers) with mint sorbet, let dry
2// used the matte top coat on those
3// painted my ring fingers with one light coat of superstar(aka white), let dry
4// painted my ring fingers with one coat of new years bash, let dry
5// painted my ring fingers with two coats of fergie, let dry
6// used the extra shiny top coat on those two



why i used two different gold polishes: because the first one had smaller gold flecks to cover more completely, but i loved the big flecks of the second the most. and i didn't want a lot of white to show through(even though that could look cute too). i used the extra shiny top coat because i wanted the gold to, you know, shine! and stand out. they are so fun to look at, and the gold is so girly! here's the pic i sent my sissys the other day when B and i went out for a walk:


i just loooove this color combo-it's so pretty!

*do you love gold and mint?
i used to hate gold, but it's growing on me more lately. i realize it's been big for a while...i am always just slow to fall in love with the new fashion trends! ha ha

my weekend scare....and lessons learned

so you might have noticed that my blog was made private over the weekend. actually both of them-my family one too. here's what happened:


my email account got hacked. 

wednesday night i turned off my computer like normal, crawled under my comfy covers and fell asleep. i was blissfully unaware of the little nightmare i'd discover in the morning. i woke up to find out that we had no internet access-something about malware or a virus being sent from my computer-so our internet provider had blocked our account?! oh no. oh nonononono. what made this situation even more stressful, was the fact that we were driving up to Seattle that morning for a baseball game. there was no way i was going to leave our computer sitting there with some potential threat for two days!  luckily, i have a computer savvy dad, who i immediately called. he walked me through some things, i called our internet provider, changed all my passwords, and shut down my email account. 

we were a little late heading out, but i felt a lot better about leaving knowing i did all i could do. yes i am a control freak sometimes...okay, actually all the time when it comes to the computer and my images. anyways, i was enjoying the game until i checked my phone around the 6th inning...and realized that the account i shut down had photo albums linked to blogs i had previously designed for. (i should have known this, and you can see me virtually do a palm-to-forehead slap....now) you might have seen some of these blogs that were down-they had big ugly grey triangles everywhere an image was supposed to be? yeah. cue freakout #2. haha (i laugh now, but it was far from funny at the time!). i began texting and facebook messaging everyone who i designed for to give them an apology and a heads up on the situation.

and oh my heck. i have designed for the best people ever, because all of them were so understanding and nice about the whole situation. i know i would have been dying if i was in their position! so THANK YOU again for being so nice and patient with me while i sorted all the mess out. you know who you are. and the mess did get sorted out. thank. freaking. goodness.

so with that drama aside, i was able to learn two very important lessons from this whole experience. 

#1 - host your own images. do not host all the images for the 15 people who you designed for under the same account. or any account. give them their image files to host themselves. this might seem like a "pain" or adds another step when working with someone and doing the installation process, but this way, when your account crashes, 15 other things don't crash too :) ...aka: nightmare averted.

#2 - don't use the same password for all 20 accounts you have (slight exaggeration...but you get it).

happy monday people! yay for new weeks, getting things done, and being productive!



*has your email every been hacked? 

nails: little white polka dots

my poor nails have received little attention lately. for the past couple weeks, they've been slapped with a hurried coat of nude (which isn't  a bad thing per say) and left to themselves. i however, wanted to cheer them up last night with some summer lovin'. this was my "Pin-spiration":


pic1//pic2//pic3//pic4

doesn't yellow and navy scream summer to you? throw in some polka dots and you're just having a ball, right? so i wanted to do my nails with similar colors. here's what i grabbed:


left to right:
• salon perfect: pure azure (#113)
• sally hansen: hard as nails//extreme wear: mellow yellow (#360)
• pure ice: superstar
• new york color: matte me crazy//top coat
• konad nail plate: m60 (buy single plate here or by the bundle pack here and save!)

and here's how they turned out:


pretty fun! 

and  ps: i do realize my photos are grainy. my camera now kinda got beat up a little and iphone pics just don't cut it sometimes-ya know?! i looooooove hate it. someday i will own a nice one that i can take pretty pics with...then maybes you won't have to cringe when looking at them! haha

anyways.

*are your nails ready for summer?!