Tales of a Graphic Designer

Some favorites From YouTube

2008-09-27T20:33:00.000-07:00

I have some time here before I head to bed, that i wanted to share some of my fave youtube videos.

Enjoy!

Josh Groban From the 2008 Emmys

A personal favorite from Dolly Parton.
The video is from a live tour in London, i think the year is 1982

I have more...but those are 2 favorites of mine!

Enjoy!

A new shop & New Items

2008-09-24T07:39:00.000-07:00

As you may have seen in my shop, I have some collage sheets. While searching the web i cam across this site called http://www.instantprintables.com/. It is a place were you can buy and download the collage sheet right then. No need to wait on some one to email you the graphic. Cool huh?
Here are a few of my items I have placed up.

Cutie Pie Collage Sheet That can only be found thru BannerChild Graphics

There are a total of 9 images on this sheet.

This image will come to you in PDF format.

Image ...

Price: US$3.95

Proud As A Peacock Digital Collage Sheet

There are a total of images on this sheet.
14 - 1” x 3”

This image will come to you in PDF ...

Price: US$3.95

You can check out all of my graphics here --> My Instant Printables

Thanks for looking!

Very long time since my last post!

2008-09-22T15:46:00.000-07:00

I am very sorry that it has taken me this long to get a new post out. But my life is so busy right now!
My son is turning 2 in October, so i am getting ready for a birthday get together
My husband found out he was doing another tour in Afghanistan
And i have been swamped with orders.

I just finished all my order, other than my new one that is a photo touch-up.
I really enjoy doing those. I will make sure to post the before and after once i have them finished.

I have started selling collage sheets. I don't know how well they will go over, but i thought i would try it out! You can see them here --> Collage Sheets

I have started my Christmas shopping. I have bought my mom some great earrings from Glitterbug Originals. I just LOVE her shop. Make sure to check out her shop! You will love the earrings too!

I also have bought Incense from CraftySteph for stocking stuffers and to add the extra touch to the gift wrapping! Her prices are just right and her product are beyond perfect.

We are doing my son's birthday in a Thomas the Train theme. I have ordered all the decorations and even had a shirt made by Peanut's Boutique for him to wear on his birthday. My parents are buying him this cute tricycle & we have bought him a large assortments of Thomas the Trains. He is going to be in heaven!

Well that is whats going on with me and my family.
Thank you for reading and make sure to check out these cool shops!

30 Sales, and more showcasing!

2008-08-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

I was very happy to reach my goal in July. I had set myself a sales & money goal. I reached both on the 29th! I did 30 sales in the month of July! :) *Happy Dance*

My aniversary is on the 5th this month. Me and my hubby will be married for 7 years. :) I wonder what kind of surprise he has in store for me? He did take all of this week off!

I changed around my blog to give me more room to showcase people. I just love looking around etsy. There are so many talented people there, and i just get lost in my little world of window shopping. LOL You will see 3 showcases at the bottom of my post. Please PLEASE check them out!

My first show case is a random person that i picked from my comments section.

shabbyvintagemom.etsy.com, her shop is very cute, and i love her Inspiration Memo Boards, please check them out. They are very nice!

My 2nd showcase is from one of my searches that i did on etys. I am looking for the perfect peair of yellow rose earrings. I stumbled on this shop, and man was i surpise i have not seen this shop before now! You can see her shop here --> strandedtreasures.etsy.com. I fell in love with all her items and was wow when i saw that she hand crafts all those flowers!

And last but not least is GlitterbugOriginals.etsy.com. This shop was also stumbled on due to my search for yellow rose earrings. I just love lampwork beads and this seller makes them shine with the way she portrays her designs! Please make sure to check out her original designs!

Now onto something that is a little new, and i can not promise i will do this all the time due to my funds, but i will try! I will now showcase an item that i have bought from another etsy shop.

I was in need of a "friends" card and i decided to go with Creative Scrapping to make me that perfect card. I told her how i would like the card and she did my idea justice! I was so happy with my card, speedy delivery and everything! Her shop is very new and i was also happy to help out a fellow newbie! Below you can see my card, for give my picture and trust me when i say that when you buy from her you are buy the best! I was very happy! :)

Well that is all from me tonight! I hope you enjoy window shopping from my showcases and even hope you decide to buy something!

Thank You For Reading :)

New look

2008-07-31T14:05:00.000-07:00

Well not too much of a new look. I changed the layout just a little.
I wanted a little more room for my posts.

I will still be showcasing items, but you will see them at the end of the post. Instead of listing bunches of pictures, i will have the "showcasee" make me a "mini Etsy" to place at the bottom of the page.

I will still pick etsy shops at random from the comment sections. So if you want to be showcased, make sure to comment!

I really don't have much to talk about. So i will cut this post short and list a picture i have as my desktop!

Thanks for reading!

Bulky Bracelets, Pretty Paper & Smell the Air

2008-07-27T11:01:00.001-07:00

With this post, I would like to do nothing but showcase! I have been doing a lot of window shopping on Etsy and I would like to share with you what i have found!

1st We will start with Bulky Bracelets. These beautiful clusters are breathe taking and personally i have never seen anything like them until I found Etsy! Here are a few of my personal favorite.
Shades of Brown -- splashdesign.etsy.com
Cherry Cluster -- jpbeads.etsy.com
Vintage Style Charm Bracelet -- roseimperial.etsy.com
A Pearl Charm Bracelet -- thevintageone.etsy.com

Now on to the pretty papers of Etsy! I have never been one to like scrap booking or card making. I tried it in the past and it never clicked with me. But oh my the over whelming talent on etsy is crazy! Here are a few of my favorites!
Set of 2 Handcrafted Cards -- luv4design.etsy.com
Set of Christmas Gift Tags -- SallyTiffan.etsy.com
Mini Origami Dress Card -- KittyKatKards.etsy.com
Mini Thank You Cards -- Jeneane.etsy.com

Lets smell the air! One of my weaknesses is smell good items, From candles to Incense! So here are a few of my favorites. I have bought from 2 shops here, and with there items they have won a returning customer!
Pear Berry Reed Diffuser -- Reeddiffusergirl.etsy.com
**Charcoal Incense Sticks -- craftysteph.etsy.com
**Cocktail Votive -- WoodcraftsandCandles.etsy.com
Coconut Cream Pie -- candleconfections.etsy.com
** = I bought from them and my mail box smelled great for days!

Ok That is enough showcasing for one post!
If you would like me to showcase you, please comment. I pick random people who comment to showcase their Etsy items.

Now i would like to show you a digital scrapbook background for my computer! I love it. It is of my husband and my son in the rain! I just love it!

Thanks for reading! :)

Busy week and a new computer!

2008-07-18T07:23:00.000-07:00

My my my another busy week.

Let me start off with the good thing that happen to my family personally.

My husband and I will be married for 7 years on Aug 5th. I wanted to get him somthing really nice, but i didn't know why. Well the answer slapped me in the face when his old computer started locking up and spazying out. So I got on Tiger direct and ordered a brand new gaming computer for him. I did want to hold the gift till the 5th...but i could handle seeing him sulking. So when it was delivered I let him go help the UPS guy. He looked so confused to what it could be. He was speechless when he opened the box! That was so well worth it. Now he has it up and running and as happy as a child. It sure made my day.

Well now onto my banners!

This week i will talk about 2 people. Let me start with CreateAThought:

She was one of my very 1st buyers. She is a very sweet and talented person that makes Buttons, Journals ans such. Please Check her out : CreateAThought

She wanted 2 banners. So that she could swap out when ever she pleased. She liked what she saw with my vintage pictures and that is what she wanted in her.

Here is how they turned out:

The Next shop i will talk about is Creative Scrapping.

This sweet person found me in the chat room of etsy. She makes the cutest Scrap Book Items & Cards. Please check her out here: Creative Scrapping

I really liked the idea of doing a scrap book like banner.

Here are the choices i gave her.

Do you want to know what she picked? Well you will have to check out her shop her shop to see! :)

Now onto Showcasing!

I will show case jewelry once again! **I Love Jewelry**

"Envy" Pendant from PoppyGlass

"Imagine" Cross from Moondogtreasures

Jade Bracelet from Anias Jewelry

Thanks for reading! :)

Busy Week

2008-07-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

Oh my what a busy week I have had.

First I am going to vent at the fact that Etsy will not allow photo touch-ups or enhancing to be sold. I get many messages from other etsy sellers telling me i am breaking rules, so i started a forum to see if this is true. There is such a fine line with the subject too. In a nutshell, they say as long as something artistic comes from it, its ok. Therefore re-touching is not artistic. Making a picture look like something that should be in a magazine is not artistic.... As you can tell I'm still sore over this, as many graphic designers are. So if i can't sell it on etsy, as you can see to your left i still offer it, but thru paypal only. If you are interested, please feel free to contact me.

Ok enough about that.

Well this week, my main project was:

Paw Prints Project

This great person wanted, at first, a banner, 2 avatars, business card, and a blog banner.

I looked forward to working with this very talented artist! She turns beautiful pictures of the poor animals in need of a home, into great pop art! To top this off, 10% of her sales go to help these poor animals. And after looking into those eye of her art made me wish i leaved were Arizona just so i could save a few of those poor kitties (sorry dog lovers, I'm a BIG cat person)

OK onto the 1st samples i showed her:

The first 2 banners were my personal favorites. I really liked the paw print background in those. But I try to give at least 3 to 4 samples to get started on. So after many flips thru her store I got the idea for banner #3. For the idea of banner #4, she had told me she liked Midnight Gypsy's banner. Which i made from vintage pictures. So I pulled out my vintage pictures and created banner #4.

But we started off on the same page from the get go! She liked banner #2, but she wanted a little more color to it. So what you ask is what you get.

After making her banner & avatars we jumped into her business card. She wanted a front and back to her business cards. To the left is what they look like. She wanted her basic information on the front and a little story, to say, about the pound and animals.

Very touching.

After that, onto her blog banner. But she wanted to spruce up or blog all together.

In the past I was taught web design in school, then in my last year of school i was the teacher to the 10th and 11th graders. After that I designed web pages for churches and such. But it had been years since I had even looked at HTML. I had seen other people on Etsy selling blog layouts, and wanted to get back into it. So I re-taught myself with my blog being the Guinea pig. Well Paw Prints Project liked my banner and she was willing to be my Guinea pig. So i went on to design her blog lay out as well.

Want to see how it turned out? Well you will have to go there to see.

Paw Prints Project's Blog

Well that is it for.

In my next post, I will showcase some more talented people from Etsy.

Thank you for Reading!

Starry Night Earrings

2008-07-03T08:14:00.000-07:00

Do you ever find something online or in a store, tell your self that you can't buy it? You walk way (or click away) to never look back but you can't get the item from your head? Well that happened to me last night. With these breathtaking earrings.

These earrings have everything I would want in a pair. Labradoite & Sapphire. Strung on sterling silver and hung beneath a Lapis Lazuli.

I have always love the stone labradorit. Its a lovely shade of grey but when hit with light shimmers shades of blue. Sapphire is my birthstone, and Lapis is your blue jeans best friends.

These earring are breathtakingly beautiful and maybe with some persuasion with my hubby, I'm hoping to buy them.

But with this blog post maybe I can promote this talented jewelry maker.

Please check her out here!!

The one thing I have noticed since i started my new shop on Etsy was the amount of talented jewelry makers! And so many of them are over looked. Sad really. I think there are more jewelry makers on Etsy than there are any other artisan. I really don't know if that is because jewelry is easy to get into or what. But below are a few shops that i would like you to check out!

The 1st picture is from Angelique's Boutique
The 2nd picture is from Diffraction
The 3rd picture is from Midnight Gypsy

Now for a list! Please take out to check them out too!
::Anias Jewelry::Calorie-Free Eye Candy::DaniellesDesigns::by robin lynne::cool jewelry designs::ShadesJewelry::Timeless Designs::RockLove::

If you would like me to showcase you, please comment!

Baylli's Jewelry Boutique

2008-06-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

Hello all!
I am very sorry that i didn't post on the 28th like i said i would. For some reason my little blog was flagged as spam! How that happened i really don't know. So i had to wait before i could even post anything!

But anyway...

I wanted to talk about my past banners i have made. I am going to start out with Baylli 's Jewelry Boutique. She had contacted me wanting 2 banners and 2 avatars. One banner and avatar for when she is having a sale and the other 2 for her main shop front. For this post i will only be talking about the main store front banner. She told me she wanted something "pretty" like out of a magazine. So with that i dove right into her banners. ( I love making banners!)

You can see at the left the 1st set of ideas that i sent her. Sadly enough, she didn't like any of them. Personally liked 4th banner in that picture. But i LOVE bright colors. (makes you wonder why i decided on Pink & Grey as my color theme)

When i made these 4, i wanted to showcase her work. She does such great jewelry, i thought i needed to shown off!! I really love her DragonFly Necklace! You can see it here. Please check it out!

Ok now back to making her banners! She told me try something a little more simpler, something white with just her name. So back to the drawing board I went. (did i happen to tell you i really like making banners!) Now you are going to look at this image and ask: "Why didn't you do what she said?" Well I can't answer that, i guess i wanted to show her some other ideas! :) LOL

She had told me she really liked the font that i used in my banner, that i do not use any more by the way. But i have to agree i really like that font. So pretty. And i thought it went really well with the "swirls" that i used in banner #1. And like you pretty much know by now, she decided on the 1st banner. But she wanted a few things changed. Very simple changes.

I really liked the 2nd banner from these 2. I could have slapped my self for not thinking of the making the font 2 different sizes. But oh well.

So do you want to know what banner she decided on? Well you have to go to her shop to see.

Baylli's Jewelry Boutique

The First Post

2008-06-27T20:10:00.000-07:00

Here is my 1st post to this brand new blog!
I started this blog because one of my clients asked me if i had one. The another client asked if i do custom blog designs. So in a round about way I started this for my clients. That's a good thing right? :)

Before I started this blog, I completely redesigned my etsy shop. From the banner all the way down to the thank you image, and this blog layout(which i had to teach myself). I think it looks a lot better than the basic black & white that i started with. I wanted a vintage flair to it...but the 1st 2 designs just didn't pan out. But I'm really happy with this outcome.

So how about i tell you a little about myself?

I am a mother of 1 son. He was born back in October of 2006. I can't believe he turns 2 soon!
I am married to my high school sweetheart. We got married in 2001. I love cats! I have 5 of them. Marvin, Kit Kit, FunnyFace, Tort, & Gabby. I really do love cats! Well i can't think of anything else to add to this...

so onto the next topic.

I was wanting to talk about my banners i make for people here, they get noticed and you see what I'm doing. Starting tomorrow, i will start telling you about my past banners i have made.

Well i am going to call it a night now.
Hope you liked this 1st post!