Ciera Design | Brand Identity + Graphic Design Portfolio and Blog of Ciera Holzenthal - page 6

I’m not gonna lie, I am pretty glad February is over! It was a little much with the Superbowl and Mardi Gras going on in New Orleans. I’m looking forward to March being a little more structured!

Popular Posts in February:

- My Alt Summit Recap
- The Cutest Hand Drawn Serif Font Family
- My Map Cork Board Came To Life at Alt
- My Alt Summit Business Cards
- Top 100 Design Blogs To Follow
- Chocolate Flecked Orange Scented Madeleines Recipe

Ciera Design Elsewhere in February:

- How to create a style guide for your blog
- Travel Map Pin Board on iVillage
- Red Hot Valentine on Whimsey Box and Jess in Belgium
- Alt Business Cards on Whitney English, The Proper Pinwheel, Pinegate Road, Thriftary and SillyGrrl
- Adding App to Facebook on Angelorian Tradition

Thanks to everyone who shares my content, I really appreciate it!

Continue reading →

When Ciera and I first started talking about The Font Feast, one of the examples I pitched to her was a recipe for Madeleines inspired by the lovely, delicate font Matilde. And I’ve been meaning to make that pairing happen ever since! For anyone not in the know, Madeleines are light, delicate little cookies that are really more like tiny cakes. They are ever-so slightly sweet, deliciously buttery, and always baked in a scalloped, shell-shaped pan. They are so good on their own, and extra special dunked in tea, coffee, hot chocolate, or ice-cold milk. These Madeleines have just a hint of citrus flavor from a sprinkling of orange zest, and tiny freckles of milk and dark chocolate to make them even more delicious!

Chocolate-Flecked Orange-Scented Madeleines Inspired by Matilde Font

adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

1 1/4 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon orange zest
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup sugar
12 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
3 oz chocolate, finely chopped (I used equal parts milk and semisweet chocolate)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. If your madeleine pans* are at all dark, preheat the oven to 325°F instead. Spray the pans thoroughly with a nonstick cooking spray that contains flour, and set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and orange zest in a medium bowl, and set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs on high speed until lightly and frothy, about 1 minute. Briefly beat in the vanilla. While mixing on medium, gradually add the sugar, then turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until the mixture has tripled in volume, 3-5 minutes. Using a spatula, gently fold in the flour mixture, then the butter, then the chopped chocolate. Scoop a Tablespoon of batter into each shell-shaped well, and place the madeleine pans in the oven. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of one cookie comes out clean. Allow to cool for 1-2 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

*If you don’t have a madeleine pan, but you’re just dying to try these tasty little cookie-cakes, you can use a mini muffin pan. The resulting cakelets technically won’t be Madeleines, but they’ll taste exactly the same. 

Continue reading →

Do you ever find it a little overwhelming trying to figure out which blogs to follow? You can’t follow them all or you would never get any sleep! Well Joe Cole made things a little easier by putting together an infographic listing the top 100 design blogs to follow in 2013. And I am SO proud to say that THIS BLOG made that top 100 list! It’s pretty awesome to see Ciera Design on the list with some amazing blogs, and many of my personal favorites!

To view the infographic (which was a little too long for my blog), click here. And since Joe’s graphic is not clickable I added all of the links for his top 100 design blogs below! Check out the graphic, and the list below and hopefully you’ll discover some great new design resources. And thanks again to Joe for including the Ciera Design blog! Do you have any favorite design blogs that did not make this list?

Top 100 Design Blogs To Follow In 2013

1.http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/ • 2. http://www.colourlovers.com/blog • 3. http://www.awwwards.com/blog/ • 4. http://designmodo.com/ • 5. http://naldzgraphics.net/ • 6. http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/ • 7. http://www.designzzz.com/ • 8. http://www.youthedesigner.com/ • 9. http://coolhunting.com/ • 10. http://www.codefear.com/ • 11. http://graphicleftovers.com/blog/ • 12. http://creativenerds.co.uk/ • 13. http://www.graphicmania.net/ • 14. http://www.icanbecreative.com/ • 15. http://stylishwebdesigner.com/ • 16. http://creativeoverflow.net/ • 17. http://www.booooooom.com/ • 18. http://www.itsnicethat.com/ • 19. http://www.psdvault.com/ • 20. http://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/blog • 21. http://www.smileycat.com/ • 22. http://smokingdesigners.com/ • 23. http://uxbooth.com/ • 24. http://www.orphicpixel.com/ • 25. http://photoshopsupport.com/ • 26. http://sachagreif.com/ • 27. http://www.thefoxisblack.com/ • 28. http://www.graphicdesignblender.com/ • 29. http://www.7boats.com/author/debajyoti • 30. http://www.weheart.co.uk/ • 31. http://www.pondly.com/ • 32. http://www.designfollow.com/ • 33. http://www.designjuices.co.uk/ • 34. http://www.92pixels.com/ • 35. http://designwebkit.com/ • 36. http://www.sitebee.co.uk/category/blog/ • 37. http://www.altitudesummit.com/content/ • 38. http://nubbytwiglet.com/ • 39. http://www.designerblogs.com/the-blog • 40. http://iainclaridge.net/ • 41. http://www.mydesigndeals.com/blog/ • 42. http://www.designpanoply.com/blog • 43. http://theinspirationgrid.com/ • 44. http://www.snapily.com/blog/ • 45. http://randaclay.com/articles • 46. http://www.visualwatermark.com/ • 47. http://www.cre8d-design.com/ • 48. http://www.topcreativemag.com/ • 49. http://thedeependdesign.com/blog/ • 50. http://www.jbiwebdesign.co.uk/ • 51. http://www.tipsquirrel.com/ • 52. http://designstutorial.com/ • 53. http://www.ddesignerr.com/ • 54. http://www.creativepublic.com/graphic-designer-blog • 55. http://www.coalesceideas.com/ • 56. http://akadesign.ca/ • 57. http://couchable.co/ • 58. http://www.designquotes.com.au/insiders/ • 59. http://anothera.net/v2/ • 60. http://www.extremestudio.ro/ • 61. http://inkbotdesign.com/blog • 62.http://www.andybudd.com/ • 63. http://www.circleboxblog.com/ • 64. http://www.topleftdesign.com/blog/ • 65. http://www.dvorakdesigns.com/blog • 66. http://www.re-nourish.com/ • 67. http://www.seascapewebdesign.com/blog • 68. http://godsofart.com/ • 69. http://www.designsojourn.com/ • 70. http://www.sherykdesigns-blog.com/ • 71. http://thewebshoppe.net/ • 72. http://magculture.com/blog/ • 73. http://cieradesign.com/blog/ • 74. http://www.delphine-ephemera.com/ • 75. http://graphicdesignertips.com/ • 76. http://timothybrand.com/ • 77. http://www.designerbooster.com/ • 78. http://graphstock.com/ • 79. http://www.jellylondon.com/illustration/blog • 80. http://www.pixelsmithstudios.com/ • 81. http://boutiquebydesign.com/blog • 82. http://www.artjunks.com/ • 83. http://www.mindblossomcreations.com/ • 84. http://www.promisetangemanblog.com/ • 85. http://www.thesportsdesignblog.com/ • 86. http://www.interactivered.com/ • 87. http://www.squareinchdesign.com/ • 88. http://www.thevisualrealm.com/ • 89. http://www.maxx-design.co.uk/ • 90. http://www.freshlookwebdesign.com/ • 91. http://kolorkube.com/klick • 92. http://www.designers-books.com/ • 93. http://davidnbrooks.com/ • 94. http://sapphiregraphics.co/ • 95. http://www.rairdesign.com/ • 96. http://www.digital-telepathy.com/ • 97. http://www.pinegateroad.com/ • 98. http://www.artbyherbie.com/latest-articles • 99. http://kauaidesign.com/ • 100. http://kittyasapicture.com/

Audit conducted by CouponAudit in January 2013.

Continue reading →

Today I want to introduce you to Dedra, from Prettiful Designs. She has an amazing blog and online shop full of digital paper & clip art and has been a true pleasure to work with. She’s going to tell you a bit about herself and then offer up a great giveaway for y’all!

My name is Dedra Tregaskis and I am defined by many things. Maybe you can relate to a few. I’m a wife, a mother, a graphic designer, a cook and clean, a blogger, an organizer, and a depression fighter to name just a few. I’m appearing on Ciera’s blog today because you know me as a graphic designer. 10 years ago I would never have guessed that would be in my repertoire but I’m so glad it is.

“Designing isn’t just a job or a hobby. It is one of my creative outlets that helps me fight my depression battles. Designing lifts my spirits and allows me to express myself through color and pattern. I’ve been designing digitally in some shape or form for about 7 years. I had a 20 minute crash course in Photoshop and Illustrator while learning how to be an Event Specialist. I liked it and started to make wedding invitations in my spare time. After too many diva brides and their horrific mothers I took a breather and miraculously had a few kids. Life was going pretty good when of course it took a different turn than we expected. Many long and boring details later I found myself needing to bring in some money. I tried my hand at making boys bow ties on Etsy—which is funny to me because I have no boys. (I do have one of every color/pattern waiting if we ever are brave enough to try again!) I literally worked my fingers to the bone and I have the scars to prove it. In the back of my mind I kept thinking about design. Maybe it was my fingers pleading with me to wield a keyboard and mouse instead of a hot glue gun and needles. I finally decided to jump in and I opened up Prettiful Designs on Etsy with a collection of digital scrapbook papers and templates. And then I waited. And waited. And waited. A few months later I got my first sale…and then a few months before the next and all of a sudden everything exploded and I had requests coming from every direction. Skip ahead a few years and we are still in some awkward and difficult experiences but as a family and myself as an individual we are stronger and hopefully a little wiser. Through my designing I’ve made friends from all over and we have survived some pretty hefty ordeals. I think no matter where we start or whatever we have to go through we are all human and being human means that we are capable of awesomeness—we just have to believe it.“

Thanks for such an inspiring story Dedra! Dedra has been so kind to offer one of my lucky readers a $35 credit to Prettiful Designs! And the winner is also going to receive some super cute paper clips and a spiral eraser from me! I love having bright office supplies on my desk, don’t you?

I’m using Rafflecopter to track entries so you can login below and it will allow you to enter multiple ways! Good luck!! Have any questions? Feel free to contact me. If you are in a reader click out to access the Rafflecopter entry form. Please note that your entry will be removed if you do not complete it correctly. Winner.

Continue reading →

Hello, happy Monday! I shared my favorite business cards from others at Alt Summit, now I’m going to share my cards, and some of the drama that went into making them…

When I found out that I was getting to attend Alt Summit THIS year, it was only a few weeks before the event. After I ran around my house screaming with excitement, I totally freaked out. I heard that business cards were a HUGE deal at Alt and I was not sure I would have the time to design and get something produced in time. After hours of brainstorming, I knew that my “Let’s Be Friends” concept was the way to go. After all, I was going to this gathering to make connections and new friends! Once the idea was set, I started designing and ordering supplies like crazy! I went back and forth with myself and finally broke down and splurged on letterpress cards. The night before I left for Alt, I had received all the parts to make my little packages… except for the actual business card, ahh! There was a huge communication breakdown inside the print shop I ordered them from, so sadly I never got them (but did get a full refund). The morning of my flight I was left printing and trimming business cards on whatever cardstock I had laying around and stuffing and sealing the envelopes! Luckily my parents are awesome and they helped! It all turned out fine, but boy was that stressful! My idea was received well and hopefully inspired those I met to keep in touch! SO here we go, my Alt Summit business cards… and lucky for you guys, I have some extras! All you have to do is sign up for my e-news list (don’t forget to include your mailing address), then leave a comment here letting me know you signed up – and I’ll send out as many as I have left!

If we met at Alt and you have a picture of you wearing one of the friendship bracelets, I’d love to see it!

Among many things at Alt, I was VERY inspired by the Tiger in a Jar design camp so I decided to make a video showing the process of me putting my cards together!

Continue reading →

While love is in the air, I want to share the cutest little hand drawn serif font family, Love Potion. Three fonts (regular, bold and ornaments) that include extravagant ligatures, swash letters, catchwords, arrows, borders and other little specials. Seriously adorable, right?

Zander and I are going to celebrate Valentine’s Day tonight. With Mardi Gras on Tuesday we just couldn’t handle it yesterday. Did you do anything special yesterday?

Description and samples from MyFonts.

Continue reading →

It’s Mardi Gras y’all! I’ll be out at the parades all day today, but wanted to make a playlist so you can celebrate even if you are not in New Orleans, enjoy! And here is a photo Zander took of us during Endymion on Saturday. Listen on Spotify.

Continue reading →

When I walked into the Bing It To Life Lounge at Alt Summit the LAST thing I expected to see was my travel map pin board, but there it was, and it was huge! Bing took submissions of writing, creations and ideas to showcase and my DIY creation was chosen to come to life! While my original project was to record travels of my boyfriend and I, it was really special to see bloggers from all over interacting with my idea and pinning their business cards to the map! It was so surreal to see it all over Instagram and it was such a cool way to see where everyone was from. I was surprised to see that I was the only Louisiana blogger there. Louisiana bloggers, where y’at?? 

You can check out some of the other awesome projects from Bing It To Life on Bing’s Facebook page and Alt Summit’s Flickr page.

Photos by Brooke Dennis + Justin Hackworth + Ciera Holzenthal. Instagrams from @agoldenafternoon, @passionfruitads, @armelle_blog, @traceytee27, @macyrobison, @brianna_land, @armelle_blog, @littlelessy, @pencilshavings, @promisetangeman, @jelliottblake, @bunnyanddolly, @artifactuprising, @jeannepmeyer, @prettypleaseus, @linneapaulina, @lindseybuck, @cieraholzenthal, @beckykimball, @momathonblog, @littlelessy, @liagriffith, @caytlynchilelli, @ccpaper, @lauratrevey, @teambing, @darlingstudio, @melbuswell, @pencilshavings, @glitterinclexi, @jennysolar, @theresagonzalezsf, @hilarycarpenter, @squirrellyminds, @stylizedex

Continue reading →

I’ll admit, I was pretty nervous to attend Alt. I’m shy and I was not going to know anyone! Sure, I had a few online buddies, but I didn’t have any real life friends that would be there. I was not sure what to expect, but I knew I had to break out of my comfort zone and go for it! The first night Kristiina (Salt Lake City local) was nice enough to pick me up for our dinner with Honest. This was a huge relief since I hadn’t figured out the SLC Trax system quite yet (and cabs were near impossible to come by). The girls from Honest and everyone at the dinner were SO nice, I was already feeling more comfortable on the West coast! Since I got my ticket pretty late, Mariah invited me to stay in her room. It was really great to have a buddy to walk in with on the first day because the Grand America is pretty intimidating. It is the nicest place I have ever stepped foot into. After finding my way around and talking to a few people during the first session, I was again, amazed at how nice and welcoming everyone was! Whether they were a speaker, a blogger with a huge following, had been attending Alt since the beginning or this was their first year, everyone was nice! I met a ton of awesome people, I learned a lot from the panels and design camps, the sponsor lounges and parties were magical, Stefan Sagmeister‘s keynote, wow! It was overwhelming, exhausting and amazing all at the same time and I’m still not sure I can find the words to do this experience justice!

I also want to take a minute to give a HUGE thanks to everyone who helped to make my first trip to Alt Summit possible! Bing, Passionfruit Ads, Ashley Duffy, Barbara Dallen, Bridgette Rutz, Chelsea Commander, Gabrielle Cyr, Jason Graham, Kara DeMichele, Karl Holzenthal, Katie Pendergrass, Linda Kocher, Mary Ann Cardinale, Megan Pendergrass, Mindy, Rachael Dauro and Robyn. Also, my boyfriend who had to deal with me being a total stress ball for the month before, my sister for dealing with me asking her one million times “what should I wear” and my parents for helping me with my business cards the morning of my flight (the ones I ordered never arrived)! And thanks to everyone at Alt for being so nice!

Since one of my favorite parts of Alt was meeting new people, and they had photobooths galore, I’m going to share some fun photos with new friends! I can call Stefan Sagmeister a friend now, right?!

Photos: The Great Gatsby Lawn Party sponsored by Hayneedle, Clue Party photo by Brooke Dennis sponsored by Joss & Main, Mariah and I in The Land of Nod lounge, Blurb Class Reunion photo by by McKenzie Thompson, Stefan Sagmeister and I talking, Melissa and I, Caytlyn and I in the Method Home, The Girls With Glasses party Smilebooth

Continue reading →

It’s the first of the month (no, I’m not going to sing Bone Thugs-N-Harmony for you) but I AM going to give you a new desktop and iphone wallpaper! Things are very crazy here in New Orleans right now, I just got back from Alt and now the Superbowl is here AND Mardi Gras! So you’ll have to forgive me for skimming over Valentine’s Day this year! I created a Valentine’s DIY last year so I thought it would be fun to make this month’s wallpaper from some of those photographs!

Just a little reminder before we get to the download! Thank you so much to those of you that have provided me with feedback through the reader survey! If you haven’t taken the reader survey yet, I’d really appreciate it if you did! Plus you’ll get some extra freebies if you do!

Valentine's Desktop Wallpaper / Valentine's iphone Wallpaper

Hope you enjoy! I have mine on my laptop and iphone, I love how bright they are!

 Downloads are for personal use only.

Continue reading →