Brand identity and design solutions for creative businesses and passionate entrepreneurs
I had the opportunity to work on a really cool rebrand a few months ago. They wanted the new identity to have dimension and be full of energy. This mood board was created to represent the bold, beautiful, current and fabulous woman behind the brand! It’s still in the process of being implemented but I hope to share the full project soon!
Bri Emery / Interior / Letter A / Nicola / Fan / The Girls With Glasses
As I mentioned yesterday, March is kinda kicking my butt already. It’s a little late, but here is this months freebie. I love this quote and thought it worked perfectly for March because of St. Patrick’s day and this photo I took of the clovers makes me excited for Spring to arrive! Hope you enjoy and if you use any of my desktop designs, I’d love to see photos, just tag me on Instagram or send me an email!
This design is now available for free as a desktop and iphone wallpaper over on the Whimseybox blog! Whimseybox is the original subscription for DIY and craft lovers. Each month WhimseyBox sends subscribers a box full of craft projects along with a project idea. If you sign up through this link, you’ll get $5 off!
With getting sick, trying to enjoy Mardi Gras and entertaining our of town guests, I took a little unexpected blogging break, sorry about that! But I’m back today with an awesome giveaway! Y’all know I love finding uses for my Instagram photos right? Well I just discovered Printstagram and they have tons of cool products including calendars, t-shirts, buttons, mini books and contact cards, which is what I got! You can easily create unique business cards by using any of your Instagram photos. Add text to their templates or upload your own image for the back. I decided to keep it simple and use their template with my Instagram name on the back of my cards.
So what about the giveaway, right? Well you guys have the chance to enter to win a set of contact cards for your self! Enter using the Rafflecopter below. Giveaway open worldwide, winner will be chosen at random.
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. I received contact cards as compensation for this post however all opinions are my own.
Mardi Gras is in full swing and I have friends arriving tomorrow, so things are a bit crazy right now. Nothing much happens during Mardi Gras time in New Orleans except for parades, eating and drinking, it’s kind of like a vacation for the whole city! But luckily February was productive for me! Zander and I threw a pizza party for my mom’s birthday. I hosted an art market and met some lovely creative ladies. I added a bunch of stuff to my shop my closet account on Instagram and lot’s of great stuff happened in the studio and on the blog:
– The Made In Mind Social February Meet-up and Art Market
– For Bloggers: WordPress Plugins
– Snapshots of my Desk
– Black Wardrobe Basics
– Baking A King Cake
– February Wallpaper Freebie + A Favorite Font
– The Font Feast Presents Crepes with Nutella & Strawberries
– Blogging With Intention
I wrapped up my first ever packaging design and it was so fun! I can’t wait to share and hope to work on more packaging soon! I added a new invitation design to my Etsy shop that’s perfect for a bachelorette party or birthday. I have some availability coming up so get in touch if you have any design needs!
– My Salvation Mountain photos were featured on Palm Springs Style
– Thanks to Stephanie for mentioning me in her Top 5 Tips & Resources to Prettify Your Blog post!
– Ombre Cluster Necklace DIY featured on Un-complicate
– Best Memories Are Handmade desktop design feature on Megan Snider’s blog
– Make Time To Create desktop design featured on Brit + Co. and Ella Dice
– February’s desktop wallpaper freebie available for download on Whimseybox!
– Red Hot Valentine DIY featured on Style Motivation and Buzz Feed
– Thanks to Brit + Co., Masterfully Me and Paper Crave for featuring my Valentine’s Printable.
From the St. Patrick’s Day Archives
These Are A Few Of My Favorite Green Things
Three Green Mojito Recipe
Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day! Luckily, my husband is a pro at breakfast-making. Fluffy buttermilk pancakes, crisp, golden waffles, savory scrambled eggs, hearty biscuits and gravy–you name it, he can make it. One of my favorite things that he makes for us is crepes! Crepes filled with apples and cinnamon and butter, crepes filled with lemon and powdered sugar, crepes filled with homemade berry jam. And the creme de la creme of crepes, at least at our house, crepes filled with Nutella, fresh strawberries, and whipped cream. They’re really easy to make, but they seem so fancy and indulgent, and are so delicious! They make even regular weekend breakfasts an event to remember!
The font I chose to go with our fancy French crepes is called Little Lord Fontleroy, and the moment I saw it, I knew it was the perfect French-inspired font for this month’s post. It’s just beautiful!
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 Tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
a splash of vanilla
1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon sugar
nutella
strawberries
whipped cream
powdered sugar
In a medium bowl, combine eggs, milk, oil, salt, and vanilla. Add flour and cinnamon sugar and whisk until smooth. Spray a crepe pan or large nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Pour 1/4 cup batter onto the center of the pan and gently swirl the pan to spread the batter out into a thin circle. Allow to cook until golden on the bottom. Using a large spatula, turn the crepe over and continue to cook until golden on both sides. Stack finished crepes on a large plate until ready to serve. Fill crepes with Nutella, strawberries, and whipped cream before serving, and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Makes about 12 crepes.
About the author: Melissa writes about her adventures in food, family, and farming at Lulu the Baker. She develops recipes, cooks, and photographs for The Font Feast column.
I just added a new invitation design to my Etsy shop! I designed this for a bachelorette party but it’d also work for a wedding, birthday or any other special event. Simple, bright and fun, just the way I like it!
P.S. I chose a winner for the Belluccia Pro font giveaway, was it you?
With the new year comes a new set of goals you promise yourself you’re going to reach this year – you’re going to simplify, organize your life, grow your business and make time for what matters most.
But when you’re trying to expand your small business, you can get stuck in the everyday muck of catching up on emails, putting together proposals, planning your blogging calendar and putting the finishing touches on that blog post you wanted to have up yesterday. It’s hard to keep up with the everyday stuff and make time for the big things you want to accomplish too.
While blogging is an important aspect of growing your small business, blogging without passion just to have a post up on your site is the wrong way to go about growing. Lucky for us, there’s a trending idea in the blogging world: blogging with intention.
It’s writing posts that contain all original content, it’s researching the topic and coming to your own conclusion and it’s blogging only when you devote the time and passion it takes to write a great post, even if it’s only once a week or once a month.
Here are some ways to craft a quality, well thought out, intentional blog post:
When planning out your posts, draw up an outline and schedule in time to do some research behind the topic you’re writing about. The more you can share with your readers, the more they’ll feel like they got something out of your post.
For example, if you’re featuring a certain artist on your blog, do some research on their story – share how they got started, the idea behind their brand and what their design process is. If they use a particular technique with their work, research the technique and share that with your readers as well. Reach out to them to get the answers to those questions, or do your own research to find those answers.
Anyone can share an image of the artist’s work, but if you can get the story behind that particular piece, you’ll add more value to your post. Make sure you cite where you found your information and give credit wherever you can.
When you add research to your process, the quality of your posts will increase and you’ll be providing your readers with real information they’ll want to bookmark and share.
If you’re not inspired by the posts you’re writing, it’s time to take a look at the type of content you’re blogging about. One way to fix this is to go back to the beginning of your business and ask yourself some questions. Why did you want to get started? What inspired you back then? Has that inspiration grown or changed at all?
If you go back to the root of why you started and what inspired you most back then, you might be able to come up with some great blog post ideas that won’t leave you procrastinating to get the post written. Focus on just writing about topics you like to talk about or are interested in exploring more, and go from there.
One way to really slow down and take your time with blogging is to create an entirely original post – sharing both your own ideas and your own photographs. While throwing together recap posts or inspiration boards with other people’s images or post content (while properly crediting them, of course) is still very popular, when you create an original post you’re putting something out on the web that hasn’t been seen before.
I’ve noticed that the posts I’ve provided original content for have been pinned and re-pinned more times than any of my themed inspiration boards or style posts – pinned DIY projects and design projects I’m working on bring more people to my website than just about any other source.
Coming up with all original content for your posts definitely takes more time, but your readers will be able to tell that you spent more time on the post and it will hopefully bring some additional traffic back to your website after it gets shared around the web.
When you’re blogging with purpose about topics you really want to talk about, you’ll add value to your brand, contribute some amazing new things to the internet and save yourself the stress from trying to throw together 5 posts a week.
The first few months of the new year are a great time for starting new habits, slowing down and focusing on what you really want to accomplish this year. If you’re blogging with intention you’ll have better chance of accomplishing your goals, and you’ll enjoy blogging even more.
What are your blogging goals for this year? How will you slow down and blog with more passion and intention? Share your ideas in the comments!
Use the worksheet to help you craft quality, well thought out, intentional blog posts.
About the author: Mariah is a Graphic Designer/Wedding Stylist who has a passion for helping creative entrepreneurs turn their passion into profit.
Carnival season is in full swing here in New Orleans and king cakes are for sale everywhere! When I was living in Boston I really missed Mardi Gras and king cakes, so one year Zander and I decided to try baking one. I meant to post a recipe and photos to the blog but never got around to it even though I took pictures of the process. So I’m resurrecting the photos for y’all today! It came out pretty messy and lopsided, but it tasted great and made me miss home a little less!
This is the recipe I used…
PASTRY:
FILLING:
FROSTING:
This recipe’s ingredients were scaled to yield a new amount. The directions below still refer to the original recipe yield of 2 cakes.
I saw this branding for Surup Cafe by Sergey Parfenov and just had to post for Valentine’s Day, isn’t it beautiful?! Do you guys have any plans for tonight?
I took these photos a while back but realized I never posted them here on the blog. So here you go, a little peek at my workspace on a clean day! A few things you can find on my desk on an average day are my glasses, a planner, notebooks and a Pantone mug filled with coffee. So now you know what I look like while blogging or working on a design project (except for the days when I work in my pajamas).
Jasmine snapped the photos of me.
For our February meet up, we wanted to network with creatives AND feature them so that’s exactly what we did at L’Entrepôt on Saturday night during the Julia Street Art Walk! Guests got to view work from amazing local talent while sipping on delicious Passionfruit Sangrias from Carmo Cafe! Thanks to all of the artists and to everyone who came out to support them! Here are a few of my favorite photos from the event and you can see the full recap over on The Made In Mind Social blog!
Be sure to follow The Made In Mind Social on Facebook and Twitter or sign up for the newsletter so you don’t miss out on upcoming events! Interested in sponsoring an event or our blog? Find details here.
Event photos by Trevor Mark.
Debi Sementelli just released a bold version of her beautiful Belluccia Pro font! She sent me over a copy and I was immediately inspired to create this soft, watercolor image for my desktop in February! This design is now available for free as a desktop and iphone wallpaper over on the Whimseybox blog!
I also added print yourself Valentine’s Day cards to the Etsy shop, including this design!
All of you lucky ducks get 40% off of Belluccia Pro Bold with discount code “cieradesign” through March 15!
Debi is offering one lucky reader a free copy of Belluccia Pro Bold!
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. I received a copy of Belluccia Pro Bold c/o Correspondence Ink. All opinions are my own.
I’ve been working to clean out my closet and create a more streamlined and cohesive wardrobe. My wardrobe has been neglecting for too long now! My sister and I had a huge garage sale last weekend and set up a shop my closet account on Instagram to clear old stuff out of our closets. When doing this, I realized that I’m missing a lot of simple black basics that would really help to tie my other pieces together! My black jeans have faded, I have never owned a leather jacket even though I’ve always wanted one and I’m in desperate need of a little black dress! Here are a few basics that need to make it into my closet ASAP! Do you have any basic items that you can’t live without?
Leather Biker Jacket / Studded Leather Crossbody Purse / Oversized Cashmere Scart / Wayfarer Sunglasses / Box Pleat Leather Skirt / Ponti Ruched Dress / Black Skinny Jeans / Leather Kinsey Boots / Scoop Tee
This post was sponsored by Scoop NYC but all opinions are my own. Scoop NYC is now an Ultimate Closet Warehouse Sale where some items are up to 80% off!
Wow y’all, January was kind of crazy… I found out that my sister is moving to New York, had a huge stylin’ garage sale, started a shop my closet account on Instagram, New Orleans had a snow day and I planned my first art market (which is tomorrow!) for The Made In Mind Social. And that doesn’t even include anything that happened in the studio or on the blog…
I’m Ready To Take On 2014
Out & About at Homestead
Valentine’s Day Freebie
Make Your Own Bloody Mary Bar
How To Expand Your Small Business
Sweet Tea & Co. Logo and Branding
The Font Feast Presents Kale Berry Smoothies
The Most Popular Fonts of 2013
I wrapped up the logo & branding for Sweet Tea & Co., a unique tea party experience for little girls. The client and I are both thrilled with how it turned out! I’m currently taking on new clients! If you know what you need feel free to get a head start by filling out a project request, or just email me!
I added a new art print and some new Valentine’s Day items!
I shared what it’s like in my kitchen on Lulu the Baker, check it out! January’s desktop wallpaper freebie available for download on Whimseybox! My DIY Geometric Coasters were featured on The Frisky. Very Shannon included my DIY Air Plant Globes in a very beautiful roundup!
Superbowl Related:
DIY Football Jersey
16 Amazing Grilled Cheese Recipes
Pico de Gallo Recipe
Homemade French Fries
Valentine’s Related:
Red Hot Valentine DIY
Love Potion Font
Brand Spotlight: One Love Organics
Desktop Freebies here and here
For those of you who don’t know how I made the jump, I’ll give you a little background. I got a job right out of college at a great advertising agency and gained a lot of experience in my four years there. However, a time came when I was no longer growing or enjoying the type of work I was doing so I decided it was time to move on. Rather than looking for a position at another agency, I decided to go freelance and pursue the type of work I was interested in. I started getting connections by doing pro bono work while I still had my agency job and it transitioned into full-time freelancing in 2010.
Over the years, I have been slowly branching out and really trying to perfect my dream business. First of all, I don’t want to have all of my eggs in one basket. If I happen to have a slow month with custom design clients, I want something else ready to supplement my income. I’m also not just going to sit around and wait for people to come to me with work. Each year I continue to branch out and expand my business. Here are ten things that can help you to expand your small business:
Think of new and different ways can you serve your customers. Maybe you can add entry and advanced levels to your current options. Think of logical extensions of what you currently offer. You want to keep your clients coming back for more, so what else can you offer them?
I am continuously learning about design and striving to be better. Taking local classes also doubles as networking but if you don’t have access to any, there are some amazing resources online! My favorites are Skillshare and Lynda.
It’s really great to have some income, with little effort required to maintain it. You could sell products on Etsy, create an online store on Shopify, use affiliate marketing, sell digital files, downloads or ebooks.
Blogging not only helps with SEO but is also an amazing way to position yourself as an expert in your field. Guest blogging is also a great way to get your name out to an expanded market. Not convinced? Read Why You Should Have a Blog For Your Business.
While online networking is great, you should also really get yourself out there and network in person! Attend a conference or find a local meet-up. Networking is also a good way to find people to collaborate with. If your city doesn’t have a local meet-up, see how to start your own here!
As I mentioned, I started my business by doing pro bono work. This made me realize that I love helping my community, small businesses, creatives and entrepreneurs. So I continue to work with clients that I stand behind and that have a positive impact on the community. Not only has this given me a great deal of personal satisfaction, but also so many new connections!
If your client work doesn’t allow you to do this, start a personal project to spark your creativity. Take on a project that may be out of your comfort zone if it’s something you’ve been wanting to learn about. Remember that you don’t have to add everything to your portfolio just because you did it.
You can’t do it all, hire people to do certain things for you and learn to say no to the things you are not interested in. This gives you the time and energy to do the things you love!
This could be as simple as writing a blog post or a more extensive option like writing an e-book, teaching a Skillshare class or even speaking at a conference.
Your small business may have great brand awareness in your community, but what’s involved in expanding that awareness to a much larger market? Getting new customers is essential to growing your business. One of the easiest ways to do this is to ask your current customers for referrals. Testimonials from clients are important because without them, potential clients don’t always know your credibility or what you’re like to work with. It’s someone’s outside perspective that gives them the confidence to buy from you instead of moving on to the next website. Here are a few ways to get really great testimonials.
[Tweet “Check Out These 10 Ways To Expand Your Small Business”]
The Super Bowl is less than a week away y’all! I’m bummed that the Saints didn’t make it this year, but I still like to watch the big game for the commercials and as an excuse to throw a party! I love a good Bloody Mary while watching football but a Bloody Mary Bar is even more fun and perfect for a party since everyone can customize their own drink! You can make your own Bloody Mary Bar in a few simple steps.
As a fun backdrop, roll out a big piece of kraft paper and use Sharpie markers (we used these awesome brush tip ones) to write out all of the ingredients you’ll be offering your guests. My friend Ashlee did the drawing while I prepared the ingredients.
Next you’ll need your main ingredients; vodka and Bloody Mary mix. My favorite mix is Zing Zang and I also like to have hot sauce, worcestershire, Tony’s and celery salt incase anyone wants to doctor it up. Then the fun part, your garnishes! I have to include pickled spicy beans in my Blood Mary and some other garnishes I like are green olives, celery, lemon, lime, cherry tomatoes, pickles, bell peppers and pickled okra. Some people get real crazy and add shrimp, cheese cubes and even bacon!
Put out some toothpicks and each of your garnishes in storage containers for easy access. This also makes cleanup super easy on you!
Cristin of Simplified Bee asked me to design a Valentine’s freebie for her blog readers based around some super cute pencils that she had. I decided to create some simple patterns using slightly different colors than your average red and pink. Head over to her blog to download this freebie and to see how you can add feathers to the pencils for an extra special touch!
It seems like eating better is at the top of everyone’s New Year’s resolution list, and really, it’s no wonder. I think a brand new year inspires us to find our best selves, and after the treats and sweets and snacks of the holidays, everybody is ready for fresh, healthy foods. I’ve been having smoothies for breakfast every single day (okay, fine, except Saturdays and Sundays) since January 1st, and I’m really liking this change! It gets me eating breakfast, which we all know is the most important meal of the day, and gives me the chance to load up on fruits and veggies and superfoods and vitamins, and all that good-for-you stuff. We’ve done a little experimenting here and there over the past two weeks, and this Kale Berry Smoothie is my favorite smoothie creation to date. It’s packed with goodness (Kale, people!), and is sweet and delicious.
I have to admit that I chose a little bit of a tongue-in-cheek font to go with these smoothies: Raleway. You probably don’t get the connection yet, so let me explain. Raleway is a great all-purpose font, smooth and sleek, and it comes in lots of weights, ranging from Heavy to Thin. See?? It goes perfectly with healthy smoothies and New Year’s resolutions!
1 banana
1/2 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon coconut oil
kale (I use 3 big black kale or dinosaur kale leaves.)
1/2 cup blackberries
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup strawberries
100% apple juice (I start with a generous splash and work up from there.)
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Stir as necessary. You will still see blackberry and raspberry seeds, but you shouldn’t have any visible green bits.
P.S. Ciera was over on Lulu the Baker last week sharing what it’s like in her kitchen, check it out!
About the author: Melissa writes about her adventures in food, family, and farming at Lulu the Baker. She develops recipes, cooks, and photographs for The Font Feast column.
Homestead is a new mom and pop-style shop in the heart of Uptown New Orleans. It’s filled with superior quality goods for home and life and I’m totally in love! They have gorgeous products like marble cheese boards, wool scarves, memo books and gardening tools with wooden handles. Homestead was created by urban farmer Robert Hohne, of Truck and Barter Farms, and vintage rental company owner Julia Hohne of Mrs. Vintage. I also snapped some photos of the Mrs. Vintage showroom!
Before I start sharing some new favorite fonts this year, I though it would be fun to show y’all the most popular fonts of 2013 (according to MyFonts). I have already featured a few of them here over the past year as some of my personal favorites. Did you have a favorite font in 2013?
Type samples from MyFonts.com. Affiliate links used.
established 2010