The first

Today marks one month since I arrived in Chicago. I can't believe it's only been a month, really. For as fast as time passes here, it's also so much busier than living in Michigan, that I feel like for as much as I've done so far, 3 months might have passed by. But, nope. It's only been one month! I made a little photo recap of the past month of my life:

 

From left to right: 

1 // Packing up all my things in my tiny Ann Arbor apartment..Crazy how much stuff I've accumulated over the past 3 years! I remember moving in and literally not having ANY furniture. I think I was able to move all my belongings in a few bags and boxes. That's sure changed...

2 // Saying goodbye one last time to the place I called home for three years. Ann Arbor really was a beautiful place to live, and I met some great people there. It's the first city since moving away from my parent's house that I've actually felt like I could call my home. 

3 // Waking up for the first time to my new view. My neighborhood is absolutely beautiful. So much nicer than the parking lot I woke up to every day at my old apartment!

4 // Boxes boxes boxes boxes hundreds of boxes. 

5 // Venturing downtown for the first time. This is the station go to every morning when I commute to work.

6 // Exploring the city with Danny! The great thing about living here is that there is ALWAYS something new to do. Every time Danny visits we explore more places. It's like being on vacation every single time!

7 // Preparing for the first day at my new job! I'm already finishing up week #3 and I feel right at home. I love my job so far!

8 // visiting the Hemingway birthplace in Oak Park. So good!

As I get settled in I hope to be able to start working on some paintings again. The 30x30 was such a great challenge and now I want to do more! I also need to work on opening my etsy shop to sell all the paintings I still have from the show. Soon!

 

Greetings from Chicago!

I have been a resident of Chicago for a week and a half now. It still doesn't seem quite real. I've been exploring my neighborhood and venturing downtown the past week or so, but on Monday I started my new job. It's been a good experience so far, just kind of scary. Think of the first day of high school in a new town. You're experienced enough to know what to expect but still shy and very self-aware. Trying to get through the hump! I know this job is going to be tons of fun. Just gotta get over my fears!

Big Announcement.

It's official!

Yesterday I put in notice at my job and will be taking three weeks off before moving to the great city of Chicago! I will be joining the extremely talented design team at Paper Source.
To say I'm ecstatic would be an understatement!! I've been building a relationship with Paper Source for the past few months, so to join their team is a dream come true.

I thought it would be fun to do a little round-up of my favorite PS products and spotlight some blogs that have featured them in the past few weeks. Hopefully soon I'll start to see products I've designed there popping up in people's blog post round-ups!

To start, yesterday I noticed Bri of DesignLoveFest featured some PS envelopes on her blog. Bri is one of my favorite bloggers, so I was really excited to see this. If she ever posts something in the future from Paper Source that I designed, I think I might die just a little.

Image found here

The Photo Save the Dates I worked on were featured in some great blogs...check out this post by Invitation Crush and this post by talented photographer Carrie Holbo.

I've pulled together just a few of my favorite things from PS. (Although if I had to choose every single thing, I would). Do you see a theme? Yeah, I have a thing for teal + red.

1// Bicycle drinking glasses
2// Striped drinking straws
3// Bicycle oven mitts
4// Nautical wrapping paper
5// Gnome wrapping paper
6// Owl file folders
7// Monkey paper puppet kit
8// Airmail stripe notepads
9// Airmail Save the Date card (one of my designs!)
10/ Ikat notecard
11// Personalized rubber stamp

And there you have it!! I'm so excited to embark on this next chapter of my life. I will be posting a lot more on this subject in the next few months, but for now I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea that I'm moving to Chicago to work at my dream job!

Do anything you want to do.

After finishing the 30x30 project, I've really felt inspired. Like I can do anything.

On another note, my friend Emily asked me to make a banner for her Etsy shop, Little Wooden Hangers. She sells unique vintage children's clothing and toys, it's super cute. Check it out!

30x30: Mission complete

I'm finally finished!

I compiled all of the paintings into a large image so they can be seen as a whole.

My main goal for this project was really to get excited about painting again. It was a really great exercise and now I'm itching to paint even more. I really wanted to focus on bright colors and inspiring messages. I'm hoping each one of these will find a happy new home!

The format of this show is pretty fun because as people come in to see the show, they grab the work they want to purchase right off the wall. So it's possible my work might not even be hanging by the end of the day! It's going to be fun to see what people pick (and it would be really fun to see everything sell out fast!)

I'll be selling each of these as individual 8x10 prints. An Etsy shop will hopefully be opening soon. Stay tuned!

Pinterest Picks- Bold Florals

I have been crushing on bold roses and florals for a couple seasons now. I just can't get enough!

Floral Pattern//Ted Baker
Printed Flats//Nine West

Tornadoes in March

Today was an intense afternoon of thunderstorms and tornadoes. The hail was insane. There were tornado touchdowns everywhere. I'll admit, I hid out in my closet for a few minutes. It was so loud, I couldn't even hear the weather man on TV.  A few reports of funnel cloud touchdowns were being made just across the street from my apartment. I also just learned a friend of mine who lives in Dexter had part of her roof blow away...luckily, she made it out unscathed.

It's the ides of March today. This is CRAZY. Definitely not normal weather for the middle of March. It's still not even officially spring yet.

I'm starting to think maybe 2012 really is the end...

Tumbleweed

Well, I've signed up with Tumblr.
I resisted joining for some time, because it just seemed like another thing I'm required to update. But I needed to create an account for a group show that I'm going to be a part of, so I bit the bullet.

I'll try to post there on a less structured basis. Perhaps more of things that inspire me, rather than posting personal work. I guess that's what most tumblrs are for, am I wrong?

You can find me here: Oh, Swell!

Have a swell day, everybody. It's beautiful outside.

Pinterest Picks: Say Yes to Yellow

It's raining buckets outside, which really makes me in the mood for some cheerful yellows. Apparently, I'm not the only one in the mood for a dose of yellow- a couple of these items have already been sold out since I pulled the images this morning! They're too cheerful to leave out though, so you'll just have to wish them into your life.

1/Studded Purse from Modcloth // 2/Striped swimsuit from Old Navy // 3/Yellow lace dress from ASOS
// 4/Yellow wedge sandals from Old Navy // 5/Clutch from Old Navy // 6/Mustard dress from artsy closet

Save the Date!

At long last, I'm pleased to announce the launch of the Photo Card Save-the-Date program on paper-source.com that I had the pleasure of working on.
Back in December I was approached with the project and submitted 20 designs to be used for the launch. They are scattered throughout the section, but here are a few of my personal favorites:

Thanks so much to the Paper Source team, it was so great working together. I'm so happy to finally see it up and in action! And of course...if you or anyone you know is in need of some save-the-dates, I know the perfect place to go!

Never Give Up.

I've been chugging right along with the 30x30 project. With roughly 2 weeks to go, I've only got 9 paintings left to complete! I'm feeling great about this. I can't wait to see everything hanging up in the space. It's going to be very colorful!

The painting below is one of my favorites from the collection. My friend Brittany told me of a great quote she came across one day while browsing the internet, and it stuck with me. I knew it would be perfect to illustrate for this project.

 

I tried tracking down the original source for this quote, but I'm having some trouble. If anyone knows, I'd love to be able to credit the original author.

In other news, I worked on a special project a few months back that has been in development until now. The launch begins next week, and I can't wait to share what it is I've been working on. Until then, stay tuned!

Do what you love.

I wanted to share a little peek on what I've been working on for the 30x30 show. I don't want to give too much away, but here's a little inside scoop on what I've been doing! I'm going for as much color as possible. 2012 is all about staying positive and adding a little extra cheer to life wherever I can find it!

Black Bean Love

You might remember a few months back when I was worried about my cat, Zoey. She had a freckle in her eye that I was concerned about and I took her to an eye specialist. Everything checked out okay, and I was relieved, because I was reading way too many bad things on the internet. Yesterday I took her back in for a checkup, and it turns out my worst fears are confirmed. The freckle in her eye is now raised, which means she most likely has cancer. The only option is to remove her eye.
It's silly how upset a person can get about an animal, but she is truly like my family. I think pets are so special and important. The surgery is going to cost a lot of money, but I will do whatever it takes to make sure my little buddy can live a long, happy life.

I am a little upset because when I took her in for her first checkup 6 months ago, I could see with my own eyes that her freckle was raised inside of her eye. The doctor used a special lamp to look into her eye and said the freckle was flat. Yesterday, she used the same lamp and said the freckle was now raised, and then took pictures of Zoey's eye with her phone. I looked at the pictures and it looked exactly like what I have been seeing for the past year. It makes me a little unsure if this doctor was being truthful with me the first time around. So frustrating. I hope everything works out okay. Guess it's time to start researching cute eye patches!

Handmade Jewels

 Lately I've been getting more into jewelry. I was never really the type of girl to pile on the accessories, but there's something I really love about these pieces. They're dainty but still a little bit tough, and I love the handmade, quirky look that these pieces have.

1/Hexagon ring at Catbird NYC // 2/ Arielle studs at Catbird NYC // 3/Sunset Rocks studs by uppermetalclass // 4/ Baby Skull earrings by Michelle Chang

Call me immature, call me silly, but whatever you do, call me in Orlando, because that's where I'll be in 3 weeks! I'm going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and it's going to be great. Harry Potter will always hold a special place in my heart. Also, this was on my To-Do list for 2012. Win-win!

3 cheers, grab a Butterbeer!