2011 Print Design Favourites

 

Here is a small collection of, as the title image says, some of my print design favourites from 2011. They are all Insights magazine covers or spreads, and only a smidge of what I got up to this year!

This top image is all of the 2011 magazines, minus July, which never went to print because of the postal strike (still not over it, thanks a ton Canada Post).

 

2012: A New Year

I know, Duh right? I confess, I didn't put too much thought into the message . . . today I was exploring hand-drawn (then vectorized) type. It feels ridiculously good to sit down with a pencil and graph paper!

"No Place Like Home"

all the possible captions I came up with (I couldn't choose):
"Take Risks! Be Brave! Try New Things! ... all from the comfort of your own home."
"Don't be a chicken."
"Afraid to get your feet wet?"
"Why stop at wings? Water wings are where it's at!"

Narrowing it down

Are you a "goal" person? I sure am NOT. I've never been good at them. People ask me to create goals and I can't come up with anything better than: "work hard and do a good job." I think it relates to my difficulty with decision making, because I just can't commit to a future plan that I "want."

We can argue about the wisdom of making future plans that leave no room for God to move, but I think that my lack of goals is just as bad as having too many! God gave me passions and gifts to USE, and being effective requires some forethought.

I lay awake at night sometimes wondering why I do what I do (don't we all?) and what the future holds for me. I am a sucker for comparison and often beat myself up for not being as good as "so and so" at "such and such." I've always (since elementary school) wondered why I could be so good at so many things but not the best at ANYTHING. My journey through life has led me to realize how selfish and misguided these ideas are. Not only am I choosing to find my value in the opinions of others (and myself!), I am ignoring the incredible value I have in being a child of God, and being ME. Its like when I look at myself all I see is a bunch of little packages that don't amount to much on their own, and fail to see what an amazing package they make bundled up together (like a gift basket)! No wonder I feel too insecure about myself to actually commit to personal goals - I'm always trying to be someone else.

So. Lately I've been working on it. Stripping away the evaluating and comparisons and trying to narrow it back down to ME. What I am good at, what I like, who I am.

• I love to take photos and learn photography
• I love to create full-colour design that engages people
• I love working with type, and designing around a typeface personality
• I love the crispness of designing for the screen, but even more the crispness of a print piece gone RIGHT
• I love to DIY and craft! It refreshes me and builds me up. It seems to relate more to people than my design work, which is something not a lot of people can understand in regards to the work I've done
• I really like creating multiple pieces with a cohesive theme
• I'd love to connect with more "professional creatives" since I often seem to be on my own 
• I'd like time to create personal work - its the only way to really discover and refine "my style"

What does this amount to? Someday I'd like to be able to do it all. All at once. To have some kind of work environment that facilitates me being able to pursue and excel at these things I love! And to be confident that these things make me who I am professionally, which is a true reflection of who I am personally. Me, myself, how God made me.

How's that for a personal goal?

Fog and frozen fingers

This past weekend I did a secret photo session with some cool people. I don't want to spoil anyone's christmas gifts, so I'm only going to post my nature shots, sans-people. You have to see what kind of GORGEOUS morning we had to work with! I will confess, I've been itching to take some photos in the fog on each of these frozen mornings we've been having on my way to work, and I was quite happy to get my chance :D

 

It was a dark morning, which was a challenge, but we definitely got some winners! We finished just before my camera got cold enough to call it quits, and I think that can be said of the rest of us as well lol. I'll post the actual shoot someday after christmas... :D

DIY Wreath

Its almost christmas! and I am definitely getting into the spirit of the season this year. I love the coziness of Christmas - just ask my Hubby, I go on and on about how I love being cozy. Blankets, fireplaces, candles, the smell of a real live Fir tree living in my house...Christmas is cozy!

As always, my DIY project had humble beginnings at a variety of second hand stores. I got the wreath and Styrofoam balls at MCC on two separate shopping trips. I got like 25 of the balls, and used most of them on my tree! I stole two for the wreath though, because they're just cute. I am starting to acquire a nice collection of neutral fabric bits which I used to transform the balls into cuteness!

The bells I got at the dollar store, which always makes me happy. I have a whole bunch hanging on my tree as well.

The star was the most involved part of the process since it involved hand-sewing! But still, it took me a max of 15 minutes to sew around the edges and stuff it with fabric bits.

I attached everything with string so that next year, if I so desire, I can re-use the wreath for an entirely new look! I know, very thrifty of me.

Soo, now all I need to do is have a Christmas party. Where we eat fancy cheese and admire my wreath. Kidding!

I think its almost here!!

Don't forget to have a ball this Christmas.  :D

one foggy afternoon

I saw it and my heart stopped. Almost. In all honesty I just gasped out loud and started looking for a place to u-turn without killing anybody! I've been pushing myself to take the pictures when I see them - each one I lose is kind of like one less way to express and explore me and my art. And one more way to fuel my dwindling design tanks. So basically - FOG ROCKS.

ahhh fall!

I couldn't resist anymore. I found myself leaving work early last week (I had a photo shoot later that evening) and since I had my gear with me I finally gave in and transformed my commute home into a photo shoot. I always have to fight the negative voices when I decide to stop on the side of the road and maybe trespass a bit to take a photo cus...well I feel silly and like I might get in trouble. But every time I do it I forget all that as soon as I start clicking and its rather freeing.

The evening sunlight, the grey-blue clouds...my favourite recipe. These aren't earth-shattering, but don't I live in just the most beautiful place?? Glad I caught those autumn colours before the rain threw them all to the ground!

I just may have to give in to "part two" on my way home today, I saw that snow dusting the tops of the mountains yesterday... :D

Cozy Toesies

This post is 100% for fun plus another 100% to say thanks to my sister for her very entertaining birthday gift. I was so excited to see that package covered in british stamps and an address from England! I closed my eyes while I opened it so I wouldn't see the spoiler tag (where you have to declare the contents of the package...lol). True to form, the contents of Jenna's package made me giggle from the get-go. They were awesome right off the bat, but now that I've had enough fun to blog about them, the entertainment factor is upped significantly.

Some of you may think its weird, some of you may think its silly, but Jenna, I know you will think its juuuuust right.

THANKS sis! Say hi to the queen for me ;)

pillow fun

So, I made these pillow cases probably over a month ago (you see how the photos are sunny? Not exactly the weather we've had lately lol...), soon after we came back from "the honeymoon." I had two bare big pillows that I picked up cheap at a garage sale (gross? not when you make your own cases for them...lol!) and I wanted to get them covered and on our bare couches! So here they are...not super exciting, but the look great and they're pretty cushy. They make movie-watching better.

I staged them out on our back patio with the planter my mom gave me. The silver plants were planted for our wedding, we used them in our bouquets and had some extras! She spoiled me and gave them the left-overs. So far, they're still alive! Although the flowers have died, but I guess that's what happens when it gets cold...we all start to shrivel up...lol! Good thing I've got lots of pillows!

Pulling out the paints and giving thanks

Thanksgiving weekend! Its been good. I've had more than my fair of turkey and turkey comas in the past three days, and I'm loving the "recovery day" that today has become. It may be more out of a lack of plans and potential boredom, but ultimately I found myself with a free morning and decided to take advantage of it!

I finally pulled out the paints, and I'm so glad I did. Its good news all around: I feel great for finally letting out a bit of creative energy in a hands-on way, and our basement suite is a little brighter!

 

This year, this season, I have much to be thankful for. Blessings abound! Can't wait till Christmas... :D lol! 

Wedding Details: Website!

One of my favourite details to work on was our wedding website. I haven't done much web design at all in the last year, especially coding (at work we have a web guy for that...lol! He implements all my designs for me). Anyways, I really do love coding, especially the simple stuff (html and css) so I was excited to build our wedding website! I went cheap, because I'm dutch to the core, and hosted it under my own portfolio website (why buy a domain for a temporary website?!).

I had to do some "soul searching" to decide what to include on the site. In the end, I just had fun building it and found it a good way to share our engagement photos and our "love story." It also seemed like a good place to share last minute details in case the weather didn't turn out how we planned...but of course it was a lovely day!

My first draft of the site had "Wednesday, august 8 2011" on the top of it...um oops! I guess I was thinking more about html tags than the actual date of my wedding...lol! thanks to sisters for calling me out on it before I went live! 

Click on the photo to view the site:

Wedding Details - Bookmark Favours

Rather than spend money one a party favour that would be consumed in 3 minutes, forgotten on the table, or die in a cupboard (favour tree's anyone? I've killed a few...), we decided to  support the International Justice Mission in the name of our guests. I've seen this done before at weddings I've attended, and each time I've appreciated it a lot. Its a reminder to think beyond ourselves in the middle of all the blessings we have, which are so obvious at weddings! Our wedding verse was Philippians 2:1-4, which includes in part "...in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."

We both felt this was a good way to implement what we are committing to founding our marriage on - our faith, and the many ways Jesus calls us to live differently in this life.

I designed bookmarks with this information and put them at each place setting, so our guests still had something to take home. I think they turned out great :)

I printed them on a printer at work, so they were low-res but I keep getting told I'm the only one that can tell. lol!!

Sharalee got a few good photos of how we set them up, wrapped snuggly at each spot:

Wedding Details - Invitations

Finally! The wedding is over, I can breathe, and I can share with you my wedding invitations!

The invitation is a tri-fold accordian design based on the wedding design theme and some of our engagement photos. We got married outside on a farm, and had the reception in a barn, so I wanted the design to have a country feel to it. I didn't want to go all out "country western" though! The finished design was perfect, and I am so happy with how it expressed not only our wedding, but us as well.

Here is the finished piece:

and some more detailed studio shots without the ribbon and twine:

The design could have been done 2-colour on the press, but since I was only printing roughly 150, I printed them digitally at Globe Printers and took advantage of the four-colour process and added a full-colour photo and a creme tint in some of the light areas. Globe is awesome by the way, I work with them regularly at work and highly recommend them.

Hope you like them! As I've mentioned before, I really enjoyed designing the invites and look forward to working with brides in the future on wedding print pieces! Drop me a line if you're interested :)

CD sleeve designs

From time to time I get to design CD sleeves for single Chuck Swindoll sermon messages. Its different than your typical CD sleeve design...for one, its not music. Two, we package them in DVD cases so its not the typical size you'd expect. Lastly, as always, I am working within the design constraints and standards of our own and the US office and don't have as much creative freedom as when working with the Insights Magazine. 

But here are some of my favourite CD's I've designed in the past year! I haven't included any designs based mainly on stock photography (which most of them are unfortunately). But these are illustration-heavy, or my own photography! They are all amazing messages as well, but I think the last one is my favourite.

All are available for purchase at insightforliving.ca, or by clicking the photo.

 

(this photo was taken by me: those are my parents wedding clothes!)

D & L's Wedding Photos!!

The day has come! Our wonderful photographer, Sharalee Prang of Sharalee Prang Photography has finished editing our AMAZING wedding photos and posted them on her blog! Sharalee is fantastic... before the wedding, during the wedding, and after the wedding. The photos are better than I could have imagined, and I think they are going to bring me back to that day every time I look at them! She totally captured the excitement and the vibe of the day, which I think should be the purpose of wedding photos!! I am so grateful that wedding photography has evolved from the posed studio photos they used to be. And grateful beyond words to Sharalee for doing such an amazing job. I can't wait to get the photos and start creating our wedding album!

laura & dwayne: married:

 

laura & dwayne: the reception:  

 

Published Ad

Since its going to be a while before I get around to blogging about my wedding (which was everything I've ever dreamed of by the way!!) I thought I'd get back into blogging slowly with some photos of an Ad that was recently published. We submitted it over half a year ago and then I forgot all about it. Its nothing mind-blowing, but it did come out really nice! The only slightly weird part is that its a publication for funeral homes, full of ads of recipients worthy of donations and estates. We have a program called "Lifegifts" that allows those who support our ministry to name us in their Will.

Sweet or Sour?

A shot from a magazine spread I'm working on...

(it is inexplicably fun to doodle on lemons).

Working on this shoot today put some things into perspective...Dwayne and I are facing the probability of his truck kicking the bucket, which, well really really sucks since he depends on it for work. Not what you want to be worrying about the week before your wedding! (or the week after while in Mexico...). But its hard not to evaluate your own reaction to bad news when you spend the first few hours of your morning carefully etching the fruits of the spirit onto bright yellow lemons with a sharpie.

As the author of the article points out, grace has been given and our salvation is assured. All of the issues that really matter were taken care of at the cross. The fruits of the spirit are the tools we've been given to cope when life happens, when we decide to deny our sinful nature and embrace our savior.

There's always something to laugh about. In this case, lets start with the irony of it all...lol!

Jodi and Russel! Its almost here!

Dearest Jodi, only 16 more days! Can you believe it? 2 years ago we were both single and crazy! just over 2 weeks from now we'll both be married and crazy. I've been missing you and thinking about you so decided it was a good time to blog about you, my dear friend, and finally share your wedding invites! Add to the anticipation a little, since I'm sure you're lacking in that area...not!!

I am SO EXCITED for Jodi and Russel!
You may remember their fun (and freezing!) Kamloops engagement session (see the original post here): 

 

Jodi also asked me to design their wedding invites. I have to say, it warmed my heart to be working on these invitations at the same time as I was designing my own. Somehow it makes it easier that due to our wedding dates, neither of us will be able to attend the others wedding. We keep having "Ok fill me in on all the planning you've been doing!" conversations and commiserating about the busyness of working full-time and planning a wedding. Its been fun, even though its been long distance!! 

So here are the invites: Jodi wanted something fun which incorporated their engagement photos as well as a beautiful poem she and Russel found. I have to say, on top of being a fantastic friend and room mate, Jodi makes a great client too :D. She gave me all the right information but also all the freedom to come up with something.

 

After this most special of wedding seasons, I have to say I thoroughly enjoy both engagement photos and designing wedding invites. So future brides...you know who to call!

Laughter 3: Product shot

One of the challenges I conquer each month is displaying product, usually one being offered each month. I try to be creative and make it interesting, but sometimes deadlines or a difficult product gets in the way! But today's experiment was fun and I think largely successful! It did me good to get my hands away from the keyboard and tablet for some classic 'cut and pasting.'

Whats that fowl smell?

 

Today I decided to have some fun and make an illustration based on those kindergarten appropriate jokes, "what do you get when you cross...?" The first one I found did the trick, and was oh-so-fun to illustrate!

Question: "what do you get when you cross a chicken and a skunk?"

answer: "a fowl smell."

What do you think? Anyone have more good suggestions that I should try?

Moustachio?

Lately I've been eating a lot of pistachios because they're delicious and I can eat them in spite of my Naturopath diet. Not that this has much to do with my post, but I've taken to calling them "mustachios" just because its more fun, and once I started I couldn't stop.

The connection is this: I'm working on some concepts for an upcoming magazine that has to do with laughter, and I wanted to create a vector of a laughing "moustache."

I got started and quickly realized it was going to be harder than I thought. The thing about moustaches is that, depending on the size, they can totally obstruct one's view of the laughing face. So I did some visual research via "the internet" and got on the right track! So here is the evolution of a laughing moustache. If it ever ends up in a final design I'll be sure to post it!

sweet sappy love :)

Yup, not much else on my mind lately. I'm getting married in 20 days!! I saw a cute little illustration today and ran with the idea to try and lighten my design mood. Lately I've been getting pretty drained at work, and it helps to have 5 minutes of fun! And I just love my soon-to-be hubby!!

Summer Live! Vancouver 125

This past weekend, we BC lower mainland folk had the awesome opportunity to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Vancouver with a whole slew of amazing concerts, free in Stanley Park! I didn't make it out until Sunday, but that was good enough to see the VSO, Spirit of the West, We are the City, and Dan Mangan: all absolutely amazing acts! The whole experience was AWESOME, besides a few minor distractions (such as waiting an hour in traffic to actually get into the park, and stepping in 2 inches of mud during the dark walk back to the car in flip flops...lol!) I am so proud to kind of be a part of such an amazingly talented city. (lets be honest guys, Abbotsford isn't actually a part of Vancouver...)

Enjoy the photos!

 

(the photos in the dark are Dan Mangan, the others are We are the City)

A Cruising Gift

One of my recent "out of the box" projects at work was getting gift packages ready for those attending the upcoming Alaska Cruise with Chuck Swindoll and Insight for Living. It was kinda like designing a wedding invitation : D and I had fun working with ribbons, and going for a much more formal look than most of the pieces I design.

 

Now if only I could convince everyone that I need to deliver these personally and really don't mind the hardship of remaining on the ship for the duration of the cruise...

fun bits

I'm working on another magazine (surprise! funny how it happens every month...) and today produced a "fun bit" to share. I was working on an ad for a new product we are offering, which involves skunks, and this guys was born:

 

You'll have to check out the magazine come July to see how he was put to use :)

You're a card. No I mean it.

Wedding season is here! This summer is going to be FULL of people tying the knot (including yours truly), and I'm super excited. A few weekends ago I got started with a CRAZY road trip to hit up two weddings, one in Shushwap on saturday and the second in Edmonton on Sunday. For those of you who know BC geography...that means driving through the night!! But it was fun and a welcome break from the usual.

In preparation for our wedding visits I did some card making, and now that it's been delivered I can show it off :) enjoy!

 

(I got some lettering stamps from Michaels for a buck fifty!! I had to pull out the ink).

Open Hearted

Hooray for a new magazine! I've been immersing myself in June the last few weeks trying to wrap up the next issue of Insights. In the process I've had a super amount of fun. Here is a photo/illustration for one of the articles. Obviously the style is referencing ............... yup, Dr. Seuss. And the grinch. The article takes note of characters such as the Grinch and Scrooge and their dramatic heart transformations. A not so subtle urging to make apparent the feelings of the heart with the doings of the hands. Love big, live big. (that is my synopsis anyways lol)

 

 photo credit: old man © shutterstock.com/olly

As usual when I am working on things like this, I can't help but reflect a bit and take it to heart. Actually, that's not true at all. Its very easy for me to read through all of this stuff and not take any of it to heart. Sometimes though, something will pop out at me and really hit home. Here is one of those. 

What does it mean to live magnanimously? 

ummm...give more of myself than I keep. Be selfless not selfish. To be noble, wise, and as the cliche goes, "the hands and feet of Christ."

Am I doing it? 

Ouch. Rarely. I can't even imagine being that person. My best moments barely register on the "magnanimous scale" ... I have an incredible amount of excuses though...

Shouldn't I be?

May Long!

you know what's killing me? I've been creating up a storm and I can't share any of it on my blog! Its either for the wedding, gifts for people, or for work and not blog-able! Trust me, I've been creating! And it's been fun. This week I finished half my wedding invitations and I'm starting to hand them out. They look awesome, but I'll wait until after the wedding to blog about ALLL my creative projects. (you know how i've mentioned that I have this "thing" where I want to keep everything a surprise?)

So for now, here are a few shots from my Whistler May Long, in an attempt to re-acquaint myself with my Rebel :(  It worked I guess, the shots aren't bad, but all I see when I look at them is "the D7000 would have had waay more detail in the clouds, and the sharpness would have been breathtaking..."   I'm spoiled. Thank you God for Creation!!!! (oh and handsome fiances :D)

IFLC flags!

I just realized that I haven't loaded up a design piece in a really long time. So here's a recent piece I did for our year end package. I have so much fun doing these types of pieces, which challenge me to organize information while creating something graphically interesting!

While I'm at it, check out our latest Insights magazine! The magazine takes up most of my time at work and contains a lot of stuff I'm proud of. I love the opportunity I have to create the entire magazine with my own creative vision every month! Best of all, I LOVE being a part of something I believe in, something that brings the truth of God's word to Canadians.

Oh Sister!

I gave a bit of a story in my last post, but here are a few more details! My youngest sister Jenna is graduating highschool this year so we decided to do something fun. Not only was it an excuse to get some fun photo memories, I got to use her as a practice model! The advantage of directing your sister is that you aren't afraid to make her do things lol! 

Jenna is the youngest of 4 girls, and I'm so excited that she's going out on her own next year to adventure. I'm gonna miss her after being at home with her this year, but I'm leaving too (YAY marriage!!) so its a prime time lol! She's taking off to England in the fall for a year of Capenwray and adventuring. I'm maybe a little jealous. Jenna is amazing: gorgeous, independent, charismatic, and adventurous. She's by far the trendiest of the sisters, but I like to think its because she learned from those who went before ;) I can't wait to see what she accomplishes in the coming years! Jenna, you rock! And I'd like my white sweater back please. :D

I brought along my favorite stool as a prop, and we had fun in the dandelions. And oh my word, isn't she gorgeous?!!

Sneak Peak: Oh Sister!

There are a few things going on. First, I did a photo session with the littlest sister yesterday and it was a HUGE SUCCESS. I LOVE the photos!!! I can't keep them to myself! But Second, I'm at work and I want to actually eat lunch during my lunch-break, so I only have time to show you a few from our oh-so-fun session. More to come today or tomorrow!!!

The Colour Moment, part 3

Trucks!

Saturday was such an awesome day to hit up Granville Island because the Cement Factory was having an "open house." Basically this meant that kids could climb into cement trucks. And that I could take photos of cement trucks. And kids.