So I turned the big 27 last Tuesday and have been collecting some cash gifts as a result. Thanks family :) While pondering what I could spend this cash on (seeing that I haven’t bought an article of clothing/accessories for myself since 2007), I think I’ve found the perfect purchase.

I admit, buying things for myself is a hard thing to do these days. When it comes down to it I’ve kind of become a comparison shopper. My thought process usually goes as follows, “$100 shoes vs. $100 vial of insulin” or “clothes for me vs. clothes for 4 year old who’s finally growing now that his body is on insulin therapy.” Or maybe “new car/$400 monthly payment or $400 worth of prescriptions/month for healthy child”.

Not that I’m complaining – I find that even with the difficulties that we face as a family with newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetes there are blessings that come with it too. One being that it’s good to have things to pay for to help your children live vs. having other things that aren’t considered a necessary “living” expense. The others just don’t seem that important any more.

However since it’s time to treat myself I’ve looked long and hard for something I really need (with a little bit of want in there too). A watch has been one of those need/but can’t find the right one sort of issues. But alas! My problems are solved. Presenting the limited edition 4×4 Nixon Rubber Player watch. I know it’s a men’s watch but I like large wrist accessories. AND that yellow is really the perfect color for a purchase like this. I can already imagine this watch saying things to me like: “I’m happy” and “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” or  “You need something to get you places on time now that you have 3 kids.”

And lastly the most important thing this watch says is, “Life goes on, you’ve made it this far how about adding another 27 years of bliss to the mix!”

It goes on sale st 10 am PST so wish me luck in snagging one, I’ll be aggressively stalking their website minutes before launch. If I come away empty handed I think I might just cry.

So I’ve been trying to create a printer’s colophon/emblem for my stationery ever since I started selling stationery for retail. I’ve always been happy with the logo, but it poses a strange challenge with incorporating it into anything else. It’s never been something that I’ve been happy with until this:

Introducing the new mark that will now minimally show itself on all retail stationery printed by yours truly!

So I know we’re not having a girl but just wanted to post this announcement that I printed last spring. There were many good intentions of photographing and blogging about it, but the old photos just didn’t do it justice. Now that I’ve learned a few tricks on how to use my camera and shoot product so that it actually looks like the real thing, this set finally made it through the rounds of getting re-shot just in time for the March thaw. 

On a completely different note, I ordered all my seeds the other day for starting my annuals and vegg garden and can hardly stand the wait to get them here. It’s going to be a big planting day with the kids in the house, and hopefully will bring some lovely greenery for the last few months of frigid weather. Anyone as crazy as I am with plans to garden a lot this spring/summer?

The first post is always the hardest. Although I’ve been blogging personally since 2004 this will be my first professional blog. I am a graphic designer/stationer and have been in the profession since 2002, having received my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from Brigham Young University – Idaho. This blog will show musings, experiments and hopefully help me develop and organize some of my ideas on how to further my passions, and help me put together where my inspiration is derived from in a round-about way. I confess I am not a formal writer – run-on sentences are my forte – but for what it’s worth, hopefully this will be a place for one silly dingbat to learn and grow in the business of design and hand-made goods.