Posts Tagged ‘design’

Zero Budget Project: Wall Decals

February 22nd, 2013

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I finally got around to finishing the decal. I decided on simply, “to forever and back”. It’s a nod to “I love you to the moon and back”. It’s not cheeky like I had originally planned, but I really like the sentiment.

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It’s sort of hard to capture this well on photograph, since it is in one of the darkest parts of our house, but you definitely get the idea.

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I’m pretty thrilled with how this turned out, and I think I may be doing more wall decals in my future. I’m putting it on the calendar for next week.

What are your DIYing plans for the weekend?

Sponsored: Business Cards & Laser Cutting

February 20th, 2013

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Ponoko is your personal factory, an online laser cutting and 3D printing service. Upload your design file to make your own jewelry, home accessories, and more. Check out Ponoko on facebook.

Last year I put in about 30+ man hours into my business card. Between all the laser cutting and assembling, it was a TON of work. This year, I wanted to go simpler, but still fun and impactful. Out of pure chance and some diligent searching for DIY laser cutting I found Ponoko. And I’ve been so excited to work with them. My head was (and still is) spinning with ideas.

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Since it came down to trying to keep things simple, I landed on this key chain idea. I used cell phone straps instead of split rings (I knew the split rings would make me want to cry, trying to assemble those). I also didn’t remove the protective backing (not pictured) because doing 200 of those would have also made me cry. These cards took about 11 man hours to assemble. So much better.

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I had some issues with the actual card, the first stamp I ordered was not very legible. It sort of sent me into a panic, but the stamp guys I send my stuff to were more than accommodating. Phew!! Most of the cards were on the white stock, since the ink on black stock wasn’t as readable. I really wish there was a white/silver stamp ink that was more brilliant. If you know of any brands, let me know. The American Crafts stamp pad is the best of the ones I’ve tried, but I’ve had that pad for a couple years now, and it’s not as brilliant as it once was. I can’t seem to find it anywhere, either.

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I used Strathmore art board for my stock, it’s super thick. The black is really lovely and much easier to cut than the white. I actually just took the art boards to Alphagraphics and they cut the paper for me. It saved me a ton of time and the potential flesh wound. I sort of regret not going with the I Still Love You motto, but I really love these little diamond pieces. They’re reminiscent of the new background design and gender neutral.

melissaesplin-ponoko-business-cards-4 I had a few extra pieces from assembly, I made earrings out of them. I dig. Wouldn’t these be fun in wood or metal?

What would you make out of these little acrylic shapes? Leave a comment below. I’ll pick a winner next monday and ship them out to you!

The New Look of MelissaEsplin.com

January 30th, 2013

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Have you noticed something new? Last week, just before I left for Alt Summit, Chris implemented my redesign. It’s been about nine months in the works, percolating in my brain for at least a year. Last year I wanted to implement a new design, but I knew I’d be back to square one if I rushed the rebrand at all. And I was right. I wanted to make sure I took enough time and thought about each step thoroughly.

Hurdles of a Rebrand: The URL

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I refer to my blog as I Still Love You – my place to do the things I still love even when the chaos of motherhood is in full swing (like right now – we all have the stomach flu). It would be perfect to have istillloveyou.com for that very purpose. But the insert explicative noun who own and are still trying to sell istillloveyou.com were looking for $15,000 for the domain. I gave them the middle finger. Frustrated, I decided that I needed to go another direction.

Ultimately we decided that it was more cost effective to stick with the current domain but restructure a bit. I am embracing my URL as melissaesplin.com, but “I still love you” is (and always will be) my personal motto, and a motto that I hope many of you will adopt as well. The reason why I have a blog isn’t for $$$ (although being able to bring in extra income is nothing short of a blessing), but it’s to share my creative process with others and to keep in tact the creative person I was before diapers and drool came to the scene.

Hurdles of a Rebrand: My Style

Trying to nail down my style was like trying to hit a moving target with a bow and arrow, having never shot a bow and arrow before. This is not a niche blog about any one theme, unless you consider that one theme the entire umbrella of creativity.

I love trends old and new, but I didn’t want my blog to feel outdated the second it went live. So I opted for a plainer canvas than I’ve done in the past. I don’t mind the orange and pink from days of yore, but it was getting old, and it was too girly. Each year we will be changing up the theme’s main color for the Pantone color of the year. After I broke down the elements of my own personal style, it made a theme so much easier to work on:

feminine, not girly
handmade surprises
dimension and depth
simple, but eclectic

Features and Implementation

I wanted the site to be the kind that was welcoming to all people and easy to use. I’m hoping it comes across as such. The biggest priority we had was to find new ways to dredge up old content. I’ve been blogging for 5 1/2 years now, that’s a lot of old content! Here are a few things that are new to the site:

Easily share posts to facebook and twitter on the right of the content, click the share and a drop down drawer will show up.
Visual links to Pinterest boards for both tutorials and printables
Shuffle button (in the middle of older and newer posts) to dredge up old pages of posts
Reply inline to comments in the comments section
Sticky menu and search
Simplified mobile site with a swipe-to-view sidebar
Background parallax (currently only in Firefox and Safari)

The build was a lot of work on Chris’s end. I keep saying that this design (between mine and Chris’s billable rates) would have cost in the $6000 range. It was A LOT of work.

But it feels so good to have it complete. I do hope you take a look around and take advantage of the new features. Be sure to send a shout out if something doesn’t look right. I really appreciate the feedback.

Lettered: Clever Betty Logo

December 6th, 2012

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Logos are something that I always love to do. I’m not doing any more until February, and I really miss that actually.

Here’s a completed logo I did back in October. Lauren from Clever Betty was really fun to work with.

Here are some prelim sketch ideas we ran through. I tell all my calligraphy students my least favorite letters to write are C and D, but this was a really fun name to letter. B, r and y were my favorite parts.

Also, a little heads up, I’m offering a live workshop this month at my home in Draper. It’s in the evening on December 17th, and space is limited. To find out more and sign up, click here.

Calligraphy: Celebrations with Design Mom

November 20th, 2012

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Have you seen Gabrielle Blair‘s most recent Celebrations with Design Mom videos? They’re pure genius. She is so thoughtful about celebrating holidays and keeping the time commitment at a minimum. I need more of that inspiration for the holidays, especially with Thanksgiving and Christmas back to back.

I designed her celebrations logo for the videos (you can see it on opening credits). The process was really fun, working outside my very 2D graphic realm to create something with texture and depth. Color me addicted to experimenting like this.

Blair’s latest video about the Thanksgiving table has got me thinking about my Thanksgiving traditions. Every other year we do a “Newton Family” Thanksgiving; we’ll go over to my grandparents on my mom’s side and eat like kings. Grandma always sets the kids’ table with fun china. It’s her “cheaper” stuff, but it’s better than anything I have. She also has these brass goblets and flatware that she’s busted out on occasion, too. The brass goblets are my personal favorite. More than table settings and food, however, is our painting tradition. I feel like I’ve mentioned this a few times. My grandpa sets out canvases and paints (and has since I can remember – I think my first painting was at 3 or 4), and we paint something. It doesn’t matter what it is, or how it turns out, Grandpa is proud of our creations. He lacquers and frames each one and gives them to us around Christmas. We also sleep over (usually watch old family videos of Christmas parties past) and my grandma makes us hootenannies and tea for breakfast. If we’re really lucky, we’ll wake up to snow and sled down their driveway.

Maybe grandpa’s tradition is the reason I studied painting and drawing in college? It’s definitely a tradition I will have to continue if he ever stops.

Can we take a break from the Christmas music, decor and gift giving to remember the forgotten holiday of Thanksgiving?