I have been swamped since the beginning of the year and am just now finding time to update the blog. I’ve been working on so many projects! First up is an invitation to the Swiss Avenue Women’s Guild’s Valentine Casino Night, designed in the shape/format of a playing card. I illustrated the queen and the back side’s heart pattern. What you can’t see is the beautiful pearlescent paper stock that adds so much depth and elegance. Beneath that are two shots of the Valentine cards I sent to Luke’s grandparents and great grandmother. I saw the coolest idea for a pixelated heart pop-up card on minieco.co.uk’s blog and had to try it from her downloadable template. I used my Silhouette die cutter to do the cuts and glued a tiny photo of Luke on the pop-out heart inside (I ran out of adhesive right before I shot the photo, so the photo of Luke was a last minute addition). Happy Valentine’s Day to all!

Since this is my first year to blog, I thought it would be fun to post some of my favorite projects from 2011. I do so many jobs large and small, I had a tough time choosing my favorites, but here’s a sampling. I’m so grateful for all of my clients, family and friends and I’m so lucky to be able to be creative every single day of the year. Happy New Year! First up are promotional materials for my friend Pam’s custom jewelry business. Last year I designed her logo, business cards, and website. This year we added small cards to accompany her gift packaging that tell her story, small price tags, and a display card that will appear alongside her jewelry in the Texas Quilt Museum gift shop in La Grange, Texas. I had these printed on pearlescent paper and they are stunning. To see Pam’s beautiful jewelry, click here. Next is a business card for writer/editor Kristy Hurst. I love doing cards for other creatives and Kristy is a very gifted writer. Below are several projects for Akorn Pharmaceuticals. First is the biggest project of 2010-11, the redesign of their corporate website and launch of their e-commerce division, AkornDirect. I put together several concepts for consumer packaging for Akorn’s line of generic lubricant eye drops. Below are the logo and PowerPoint templates for Akorn’s national sales meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona. The resort where the meeting takes place is inspired by Moroccan/Spanish design, so we chose to develop the concept based on artwork and elements found throughout the hotel and spa. I hand-lettered the type with my upgraded Wacom tablet, so much fun! Every year I do an email holiday greeting for 360Limo, an international transportation company. This year I had fun with type: Next up are proposed concepts for Crafts 101, a line of paper/yarn crafts for young girls, and Music 101, a line of musical instruments for young boys. While these ideas were not used for the project, I had a blast working on them. Last but not least is the logo for the Sacred Music program at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church. The logo is an illustration of the organ and rose window in the church’s choir loft.

These cute kiddos are near and dear to me. Meet Madeleine and Jack, my cousin Melissa’s children. We shot these photos for their annual Christmas card, one of my very favorite projects each year. This is the eighth year I’ve done their card and every year Melissa and I have a great time together developing the image, concept and wording. This year I hand-lettered the card and illustrated the ornaments. The final card is the very last image. To see cards from prior years, click here. Merry Christmas, everyone! Accidental homage to Andrew Wyeth…

I’ve known Stephanie for almost 5 years now and I was super excited to take her family portraits and design her Christmas card! Her husband, Jeff, and little boys are just precious. Drew is 3 1/2 and Quinn is 21 months (and just as obsessed with cars as my son). We had a great session and lots of laughs at the lake on a crisp, cloudy fall day. Here are my favorite shots, ending with their Christmas card.

Christine is a client and dear friend. During our first phone conversation, we immediately bonded over our similar ages, backgrounds and dating/engagement histories. She has two beautiful kiddos, Max (2.5) and Sydney (3 months). I photographed Sydney when she was barely two weeks old and I can’t get over how much she has changed — check out those stunning, gorgeous blue eyes! Max is a cutie, so happy and talkative and he adores his baby sister. I love, love, love the shot of beautiful Christine with her sweet blue-eyed babes! I’m sad her husband, James, wasn’t home during our shoot — lucky duck was at the World Series!!