Wintry Save the Date

Just having a little fun with a "wintery" save-the-date.

My Invite Promo Piece

In researching and designing my own wedding invitations, I fell in love with the idea of designing custom invites for others. In the way that a photographer gets to share in the joy of a wedding or a baby's birth, I'd love to be a part of helping people celebrate those things in life that are worth celebrating. So, I decided to create some promo pieces for myself marketing directly to the invitation and announcement side of my creativity. There's an indescribable joy in being asked to design someone's wedding day or announce to the world the birth of a new baby boy. Please, if you need invites or announcements for any reason, let me be a part of your celebration!

Rachael Nicole Photography Promo Piece

I just love working with fellow creatives and bouncing ideas off of one another. It's like a room with a band of light and a bunch of mirrors and who knows what's going to come out of it! I almost pursued photography, so it's super exciting to work with Rachael of Rachael Nicole Photography (www.rachaelnicolephotography.com) and live vicariously through her! Rachael and I met on a GTD trip (www.goingthedistance.org), and instantly bonded over photography, the Bachelor and the fact that she once dated my now-husband! Not only is she a rediculously talented photographer, but also a great friend. It's so empowering when someone believes in you and trusts your opinion and advice when designing for them. It really makes me expand as a creative when I'm given complete freedom on a project and that's the beauty of working with Rachael. These are 4 promo pieces I designed for her that focus around the importance of hiring a professional. We both strongly believe that having a camera doesn't make you a photographer, nor does owning Photoshop make you a designer and wanted to show the public the advantage of hiring a professional for extra-important moments and the difference it can make. Rachael came all the way to Costa Rica to shoot my wedding and did a mind-blowing job; it was so invigorating to watch her get excited as we explored the property and experience her ideas unfolding. If you need pictures, don't you dare look any further! Will be posting some of her pictures from my wedding soon!

Desk Notepads

I had an 18 hour car ride on the way back from Chicago, so what better to do to waste time than design?! I thought it would be fun to create desk notepads.

We've Moved Postcard!

I can't tell you how many people have asked for our mailing address since we've gotten married, so I designed kind of a "we've moved" type postcard. It's inspiration comes from a seed packed and focuses on the idea of "planting" our home.

Hedger Family Tree

For Christmas, we wanted to do something really special for Dan's grandpa because he's struggling with a lot of health problems and we just wanted to let him know how much he's loved. So, I designed a family tree with all of his children and grandchildren's name and their pictures all encompassed by the verse, "being rooted and grounded in love." (The blank spaces are awaiting pictures).

Girl's Night Out

I forget how fun Photoshop is!

Encore Wedding Reception Invite

Costa Rica= amazing! So, we simply couldn't keep that a secret any longer! We still want our friends and family that weren't able to attend our destination wedding to help us celebrate and show them pictures and video all at an encore wedding reception, so here is the invite! Photos are compliments of Rachael Nicole Photography (amazing lady!!!).

GTD Invite #2

It's interesting how you can take the same elements and create something totally different!

GTD Banquet Invite

GTD's banquet theme this year is "New Beginnings" so I decided to go with the whole "planting a seed" idea because GTD essentially is a plant. It needs to be watered, nourished and taken care of in order to thrive in this economic environment. Go ahead, make a donation!

Wedding Menu

Mmmm...wedding menu! Delish! ...and placecards...

Coffee Label

I calculated the other day and if I'm buying an average of 2 caramel fraps from Starbucks a week, within one year, I've spent $445.12 on coffee alone! Now consider the person that buys one every single day...that equals out to $1112.80 in coffee a year! As I'm drinking it, I'm telling myself it's totally worth it to spend a measley $4.28 each grande cup, until I realize I could have paid off two months of my school loans with my yearly expenditure on coffee, or had a nice shopping spree, or paid almost 15 volleyball tournament fees, or a number of other things that I'm sure are more important than coffee. Starbucks so should charge you less if you don't get whip cream...then maybe I could justify it!

Anyhow, the point of this is that I LOVE coffee. Ask me over 2 years ago and I would have said it was disgusting, but the old adage is true that you "acquire" a taste for it...well, more of an addiction. At the wedding, I've decided to give out little bags of coffee for my favors (because Costa Rica is famous for coffee, get it)?

Retro Wedding Invites

Something I've learned over the last 3 months is that the most difficult client to do work for is yourself. But if you push through the bad ideas, frustration and tears, it's a feeling like no other when you can be satisfied with something you design for you. So often, as designers, we focus on making others happy and pleased, but we can be a lot harder on ourselves because we know what we're capable of. I can't tell you how many awful ideas I had before I stumbled across this one. I wanted to do something totally unique for my own wedding invitations, something that would really pull me out of my comfort zone. So I decided to design retro wedding invitations to display characteristics of the 1950's and portray an old love story. The pack included 4 postcards: an invitation, a love letter from Dan to me, a letter from me to Dan and an RSVP. The pack will be tied together with some type of black leather, adorned with some type of pearl and placed in a red envelop that compliments the colors just perfectly.  The pictures are compliments of Angela Sackett and Loving Legacy Photography (what a fabulous job)! What a fun collaboration! 

St. Pete Christian Volleyball Team Shirt

Of course, I volunteered to design the team's shirt for this volleyball season, so here it is! Don't tell my girls I'm showing everyone but them, because they would flip! Our theme this year is "in training" and focuses around the idea that not are we only training to be great volleyball players, but that we're training to be more like Christ. "For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things," 1 Tim 4:8. I fell in love with this verse about a year ago and when chatting with the head coach (friend and partner, Lindsey), we both felt drawn to encourage the girls to play for more than just the glory of winning. Our first real practice she told the girls, "Take it from two people that really, really have a love for this sport-there is more to life than volleyball and that is glorifying Christ." What a blessing to work with someone that has such a pure heart!

Hurricanes Collateral

This is actually a project I did almost two years ago for the Hurricanes club volleyball team I was coaching. It's very rare that I like work that I've done in the past, but I still really enjoy these pieces and have considered updating them and putting them on my website. Though there are definately several things I would change when it comes to the type (oh, the type) and "grunge" look (overdone!), I still like the overall layout and idea. There is a biz card, the inside and outside of a brochure, a letterhead and a warm-up jersey. There's something striking about the colors, I can't explain it! 

Wedding Guest Information Booklet

Though I haven't posted the invites yet, here's a sneak peak of the guest itinerary for the wedding! The top image is the outside, the bottom is the inside and it will fold horizontally and be tied with some type of hemp or black leather. Being that this is a destination wedding, the guest information includes an itinerary, a note from Dan and I and a list of local dining options and their phone numbers. Again, I love working with type, so I wanted type to be the main aesthetic here, of course following the retro look!

Retro Christmas Card

Christmas in...August? The retro look just translates so well for the holiday season; I can't get enough of it! I always thought it would be really fun to custom design cards for families at Christmas time...who knows? Maybe this is the year!

Grad Announcement

I'm messing around doing some graduation announcements and decided to do my own kinda thing. Schools really need to veer away from the typical scripty-type, folded announcement with all of the inserts and move in a different direction. Working with type is my absolute favorite thing, it's more appealing to me than images or color or anything else, so I decided to do a unique invite whose appeal was text. Enjoy!

RNP Text

This is a pricing list for Rachael Nicole Photography; though the information may not be of much interest to some, it's fascinating how just rearranging some text and changing the colors can create a unique, interesting way to display such simple information.

Retro Save the Date

I was inspired to design my own wedding invitations "retro-style" (coming soon!) because it's totally out of my comfort zone and a style I've never tried before. Because we are getting married in Costa Rica, we are having and encore reception here to celebrate with friends and family, here's the save-the-dates! (Photos complimentary of the talented Angela Sackett and Loving Legacy Photography).

Retro Baby Invite

I've coached a middle school volleyball team at St. Petersburg Christian for the last two years and the head coach I've been working with had a beautiful baby girl a little over a month ago. Of course, a store-bought card wouldn't do and since I'm on this retro/vintage kick, I decided to take all the studying I've been doing on the 1950's and design a "congratulations on your new baby" card. 

Rachael Nicole Photography

A couple months ago, I branded Rachael Defayette, a fabulous wedding, children and lifestyle photographer in the Largo area (not to mention, friend)! It was great working with someone so willing to give me freedom and that trusted my "expert" opinion and artistic eye. What a great opportunity to brag to the world about someone who's talent you truly believe in!

Graduation!

As much as I am against all social networking groups (myspace, facebook, twitter and even blogs), I figure I better get my name out there if I plan on making a living doodling on the computer. In celebration of school starting, I figured I'd start with a post to celebrate the fact that I'm done with school (and have been for almost 6 months) by showing my grad announcement!!