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News
Nov 12: Back with a new skill and some new designs!
I know I've been a bit scarce lately, but with Halloween, Maggie's 5th birthday (*sob*), and visitors in our home, I haven't been doing much designing. I actually spent some of my time "off" learning new skills with my design software thanks to some very cool tutorials I recently stumbled upon. I'm entirely self taught, and much of what I know how to do, I've learned by winging it. Those are the kinds of things I learn by going, "You know, I bet I could do..." But tutorials are awesome for showing me how to do things I'd never even contemplated. My favorite new skill is crayon drawing! Tonight, I put that new skill to the test, designing both a birth announcement and a holiday card. I think the birth announcement is my favorite (the simple drawing is so evocative of childhood and joy), but I LOVE the star on the tree in the holiday design!
Can you tell I have a blast doing what I do? Each new design just makes me smile. Here's hoping these two will make you smile, too!
5x7 holiday card:
5x7 birth announcement:
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Oct 29: Featured Team: Designing Swanky Moms
I do all of my selling on Etsy. If you're not familiar with Etsy, you should be! I like to describe it as Amazon for handmade items. Thousands of sellers who put their hearts and souls into each piece they create vend their wares at Etsy.
Part of what makes Etsy tick is "street teams." These are groups of vendors who work together to give each other support and feedback, as well as help each other market and promote their stores. Some street teams are based on a common location, some are based on a common craft, and others are based on a common background shared by the participants. I've joined two of these teams so far and have found the advice I've received already to be invaluable.
As a part of my blog, I plan on regularly featuring selected sellers whom I've worked with and/or who simply make cool stuff. However, to start off, I'd like to instead feature an entire team, as a way of saying thank you to all the women who have so warmly welcomed me already.
Designing Swanky Moms is a street team dedicated to women. It's a team where women build each other up instead of tearing each other down. Our talents cover a wide range: we have makers of hair accessories, jewelry, personal care products, hand-blown glass beads, greeting cards, clothing, and so much more! Check out our blog to see some of the marvelous creations being made by our artisans:
http://designingswankymoms.blogspot.com/
Next time you head to Etsy in search of a particular item, add "DSM" to your search string and help support a Designing Swanky Mom!
Category: Featured Sellers - Permalink - Read 9 Comments
Oct 28: As I always say, the possibilities are endless!
I came up with another cool use for my design work tonight. My daughter's fifth birthday is on Thursday, and on Saturday we are having a butterfly-themed party for her. The party is at Michael's where all the little girls will make a mirror with a butterfly frame, I'm making a butterfly cake, and the main party favor is a handmade butterfly hair clip made by love2sparkle. On a whim, I decided to see if my photo editing software had any butterfly shapes and was happy to see that it did! Of course, I had no real idea what I would do with it, but as I played around, an idea took shape in my mind.
Next weekend, after the party, Maggie and I will work on filling these out with a wee bit more detail. ;)
This a simple 4x6 design that we'll be able to print at Costco for about 15 cents each. Not bad for something cuter and much more personalized than the standard thank you card!
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Oct 27: On a roll
I've created even more holiday designs! I've been getting into these block borders lately - I've got a set of birth announcements done similarly with hearts instead of trees or snowflakes. I really like pairing these borders with a coordinating, solid (or nearly so) background: it really gives some visual pop!
In addition to creating some nice new designs, a happy accident sprung from my desire to put a twist on a solid black background. As I fiddled with varying shades of gray to add depth and blurring to soften hard lines, I created a series of backgrounds I refer to as satins. They look like to me like rumpled satin sheets! I am proud to say that the satin series was created completely from scratch! No matter that it wasn't my intention when I started; I think some of my better backgrounds and designs have evovled out of something totally unrelated.
As I started making a whole rainbow of them, I realized I really should have a gallery just for backgrounds. This is actually the most difficult part of the design process: creating backgrounds. I don't use any premade backgrounds. Mine are all created either from scratch or from taking some other background and modifying it into something totally different. So when I create one I really like, I tend to then make several copies of it in alternate colors to suit a wide variety of designs. I think a gallery of these would be really helpful to customers brainstorming a custom design, don't you?
Without further ado (and there has been quite a bit of ado, hasn't there?), here are my new designs and backgrounds! (And, as always, click each design to see a larger view.)
8x4 on Black Satin:
8x4 on Green Satin:
7x5 on solid green:
And here are the rest of the satin backgrounds.
Blue Satin:
Red Satin:
Purple Satin:
Category: Designs - Permalink - Read 6 Comments
Oct 26: Choosing good photos
The right photo/s can make the difference between a finished project that is simply good and one that is amazing. Here are some guidelines for helping you choose good photo/s for your project:
- Don't be afraid to use just ONE great photo, even for a collage. Sometimes adding extra photos just ends up being a distraction from the one perfect photo you really wanted to use.
- Multi-photo designs work best if they have a theme. Whenever possible, I prefer to work with several good photos taken from a single photo session. It helps maintain a sense of cohesion in the design if the outfits, lighting, etc. are similar. If you choose photos from different times, they will usually work best if the lighting and colors are similar. There are some exceptions here, particularly if you are doing a monthly or yearly collage, but overall, it is a good rule of thumb.
- An 8x10 design should have no more than five photos, and a card or announcement should have no more than four. I can certainly work with more if you wish, but in my experience, more than that usually results in a cluttered looking finished project OR several images that are so small that they lose detail. There can certainly be exceptions (the Father's Day collage I did in 2006 is one of my all-time favorites), but again, this is a good rule of thumb.
- Choose photos with minimal background clutter. You want the subject/s to be the focus of each picture. I can crop your original photo to get rid of some clutter, but anything in the immediate background will be a distraction.
Category: Hints and Tips - Permalink - Read 2 Comments
Oct 26: Getting started with your custom project
The hardest part of any custom order is simply getting started. I have to be able to get inside your brain to understand what you like. Fortunately, I'm not Sylar, so this won't be a painful/fatal undertaking. (This is a Heroes reference. Non-Heroes fans can just pretend I'm not a geek and ignore it.) There are two main ways you can help me design the perfect custom project for you.
- Give me some keywords. What colors do you like? Are you looking for something funky? Elegant? Simple? Do you have a special quote or saying that you'd like on your project? You don't need to write me a novel. (Although I won't balk if you do! I'm known among friends and family as being rather, um, verbose myself.) Just rattle off the top 5 or 10 words that come to mind.
- Show me some samples. Before I go any further, let me state this for the record: I DO NOT and I WILL NOT copy other people's designs. For starters, it's just a lousy thing to do; I know I'd be frustrated if someone stole my hard work and pawned it off as their own. But beyond that, I pride myself on my original work. I want to make something new and unique for you, not just a pale imitation of someone else's idea. However, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Sometimes you can SHOW me what you like better than you can TELL me. So if you find 3 or 4 examples of designs you like online, this can be a great jumping off point. When you send them to me, be sure to explain what exactly it is that you like about each one. Is it the font? The colors? The layout of the photos? And if there is something you really DON'T like, tell me that, too. All of these things will help me to start creating a design that will suit your tastes.
Category: Hints and Tips - Permalink - Add a comment
Oct 26: Preparing for the holidays
Apparently, all those early Christmas displays that retailers put up are rubbing off on me. It's not even Halloween yet, and already holiday To Do Lists are filling my mind. My goal this year is to have a "handmade Christmas." Not handmade by me, of course - that's crazy talk, LOL! But I'm using Etsy and similar sites to track down handmade gifts for everyone on my list. However, this does mean getting to work early so that I've got time to arrange custom orders, wait for shipping, etc. I haven't minded, though; virtual window shopping is fun!
My top priority, however, has been beefing up my holiday card design offerings. I've spent much of my creative energy in the last year designing birth announcements. I guess as a mother who frequents several parenting boards, these have been near the front of my mind. The result is that I had very few holiday card designs. Which is not entirely a bad thing - after all, my favorite thing to do is create custom designs based on my customer's ideas. But I like to have some stock designs, too. That way, there is always something for people to have right now, and I also hope they can serve as a creative stiumulus for customers who are trying to tell me what they do and don't like for a custom project.
So although I've been quite busy simply trying to promote my site, I've also spent some time doing design work. (Which is infinitely more fun!) I haven't put them in my gallery yet simply because I haven't learned how to FTP. They'll be there soon! In the meantime, here is a sneak peek (click each design to see a larger image):
8x4 designs:
5x7 design:
Category: Designs - Permalink - Read 1 Comment
Oct 24: Grand Opening!
Welcome to the grand opening of Duck and Goose Designs! I've been getting my ducks (and geese!) in a row to officially open this site for a little over a year now, but everything is finally in place! I hope you'll enjoy looking around and seeing my work. I truly love what I do, and I hope you'll love what you see.
I also want to take a moment to thank some people who have been fundamental in helping me turn my dream into a reality. This wonderful website comes courtesy of my good friend, Christine Hogue, who is an amazing, talented, and incredibly helpful web designer. She's slaved many hours and made all kinds of picky little changes at my behest, even after the birth of her youngest baby in August of this year. I'd also like to thank Kristie Chadwick, the phenomenal photographer who gave me permission to use several of her newborn photos in my sample birth announcements. Her beautiful photos have really helped to give my announcements that little extra something. Thank you so much, Christine and Kristie!
And finally, I must also thank my husband Nate and our children, Maggie and Gus. Without their support, love and patience, this website and the work that I do would not be possible. I love you all!
Category: General - Permalink - Read 7 Comments