Valentine's for Us

     Were you a Christian in the 90's? Are you still a Christian? Good. Let's keep it that way.

Did you have a crush on Toby Mac or Michael W. Smith? Of course you did.

Do you wish there were better Valentine's Day cards for you that appeal to your desire for romance and your respect for your girl's relationship with the Lord?

Well now you can use your favorite lyrics from your favorite artists to tell your significant other just how much you love them!

(this caption brought to you by my cousin, Tiffany)

You're welcome. 

(Note: I'm sure there were some missed opportunities here, but I was born in 1989 so I don't remember much.)

Fake Band Covers Part 2

I'm not going to give much introduction to the second part in my series of fake band covers. If you like what you see you can click here to see Part 1!

These bands are all completely fake. But maybe one day they'll be real. 

The final product for this one was a happy accident. 

I hope you all enjoy what I'm creating. I have had a really fun time with this project. It's great practice albeit time consuming. Keep your ears out for fake band names and send them to me or leave a comment. I'll make a cover and put it in the next installment of the series with a shout out for you!

When I Was a Kid

    When I was growing up, I doodled all the time. I was constantly drawing something. Anything. I went through Crayola markers monthly. I was always begging for new colored pencils. I adored drawing.

     I wasn't super creative about the content of my drawings, however. I began thinking last night about what I remember drawing often and I narrowed it down to only 11 subjects. I even went through my 8th grade sketchbook and found some actual proof, along with some doozies that made me question my upbringing. But it was mostly funny to see what 14-year-old me was thinking about.

     Let's start with my discovery of real music. I had grown up mostly on Christian music- not that there's anything wrong with it, DC Talk were the bomb, but sometime into my early teens I was given a Beatles CD and I was never the same. I began to branch out listening to other well-known artists, and in that search I found Sir Elton John.

    I was impossibly good at memorizing music lyrics. I always learned something better when there was a song to help me remember it. And since this was the days of CD players, and I was in school, I had to rely on my head to "listen" to the songs that I loved. The contents of my 8th grade sketch book were almost entirely drawn during my final period study hall. So most of the time I was bored. So bored that this was the result:

I don't know why. I just don't know why. 

      I had no clue back then that I would now be a graphic designer. I was just trying to deal with braces and frizzy hair. I don't know the story surrounding this next photo- all I  know is I don't think it would be a huge success. 

Who is Jared? The Subway guy? Has he been around for that long? I have so many questions. 

      I'm sure most children has their go-to scenes when their parents told them to "go color". Really you can only draw multi-colored squiggles for so long before your parents wonder what kind of brain damage you suffered and you need to move on to something better. Mine drawings came down to the following: 

Every kid drew the corner sun. Mine got squiggly lines because I liked to think UV rays were happy rays. 

It always had the hole. Always. 

Not only did I draw this flower. I think every girl I knew drew this flower. I always wanted to get every petal perfect. As you can see I don't care anymore. 

The palm tree varied over the years but it was always a constant. I might have even thrown a corner sun in there with it. 

I loved the Powerpuff Girls. A lot. I was particularly fond of Bubbles. Which is weird because I usually don't like blondes (sorry). As you can see I still have the ability to draw her likeness with astonishing realism. *note: her left eye got struck by a lazer from Mojo Jojo and she's really insecure about it so stop staring at it. 

CATS. I've always loved cats. And you almost couldn't be my friend if you didn't love them too. I always gave my cats tails with personality. This one I call Zazzles. I think you'll find he's quite zazzy. 

One trip to the Scottish Highland Games and I was obsessed with this flag. I don't think I ever drew it proportionally correct. But that didn't keep me from trying, yo. 

I have pages and pages of pillow designs. I'm not sure why I wanted to sew my own pillows, but I never learned to sew and most of them are pretty ugly. 

I was not a fan of the typical star that children drew. You know the one where it's all one continuous motion and there are lines EVERYWHERE. No that didn't fly for me. So I decided I was going to draw them the real way. Except that's actually pretty difficult. So they ended up just looking like happy stars. And I was okay with that. 

The only reason I can think drawing lots of tornados is okay is that they're relatively easy to draw. Squiggly lines galore. 

Particularly the flags hanging in my classrooms. I almost never attempted the American flag. There were too many lines and stars. But the Christian flag was perfect. I have pages and pages of these flags. They were probably the thing I drew best. 

"I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag and to the Savior for whose Kingdom it stands. One Savior, crucified, risen and coming again, for life and salvation for all who believe." 

For eleven years I said that pledge every morning. Christian school gets into your bones. In a creepy invasive way. 

I will leave you now with retarded Simba. 

What did you used to draw when you were a kid? Leave a comment! 

Fake Band Covers Part 1

     More than five years ago I began playing a game with my peers. Any phrases that came out of our mouths that sounded odd were immediately deemed as a "band name". I began keeping a list of these names on my phone and to this day I have an entire list of front-and-back names at my disposal. Some of them are fantastic, others I couldn't possibly imagine the context surrounding those words being said, but they are all winners in my book.

      Being a designer I was looking for a small project that I could do on my own time to sharpen my skills. I decided having so many band names without album covers was a shame, and I got to work. I knew quickly that these would be simple, with one or two images topped with the band name. 

      Keep an eye out for the next part in this series. I have 100+ fake band names so there's no telling how many of these I'll do. 

Heart to Heart

     Almost two weeks ago my mother and father sat my sister and I down in our living room and told us some terrifying news. Mom has a mass in one of the chambers of her heart and has to have open-heart surgery. Woah.

      I spent the entirety of last week in the hospital with my mom. Monday she went in to the ER with symptoms of stroke. They were minor. She was fine. But she had to stay at the hospital until her surgery. She then spent the next six days in the hospital, the days after the surgery in the ICU with tubes sticking out of her and barely getting any rest. It was a long week. I brought her home on Saturday and then we entered the "mumu stage". Literally. I bought her an old lady mumu.

      I tried all week to find the humor in what was going on. I'm really good at finding the funny in a terrible situation. I have a hard time being serious and will always be the first one to crack a joke after the chaos. Maybe that's why I was so exhausted the whole week: constant exposure to people and constant exposure to hospital gloom. A terrible combination for my little introvert brain. Either way...it was hard to find the humor in open heart surgery.

       Today I found the silver lining. Above all of the cards in the mail or the free food being given to us the flowers arriving at our door daily have been the best part. I love flowers. I can't keep plants alive but I love it that other people can and I can buy them. We received a beautiful arrangement just after lunch. I opened the door and literally exclaimed "Holy poop! Those are beautiful!" That in itself made for an awkward exchange between me and the delivery lady who had frizzy 80's hair.

       Having such a menagerie of lovely blooms at my disposal I decided to break out my camera and go to town. Photographing inanimate objects every now and then is a good practice for someone who has done nothing but portraits for months!

I had to throw in one of my cat. For good measure. 

We appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers throughout this journey. I know my mom, who as I write this is approaching hour 3 of her Percocet-induced nap, really appreciates every visit, text, bloom and meal! She is getting better every day. Although she cannot do certain things by herself (like drive) for six weeks, we expect she'll be back to herself in no time!