Leaves. Lots and lots of leaves.

Yes, that's a body.

Today was a very long day... The youth group did some leaf raking at some of the widows' homes from our church today. I'm pretty sure my arms are going to feel like falling off tomorrow. But it was all in fun! The kids really liked playing in the leaves, as you can see...

Do not be fooled.... that is no ordinary bag of leaves. That is a bag of leaves AND Josh. We used this to prank a lot of people who were helping, most of whom jumped back in surprise as Josh jumped out and screamed as they approached. What can I say? We like to entertain ourselves.

"And now, for something completely different."

I've asked around, people have given me suggestions, and I have decided what will be given away for my give-away! Since not everyone who is reading this is getting married, I've decided to keep my prize neutral. I shall be giving away...... (drum roll, please) a set of 50, count 'em FIFTY thank-you cards, WITH hand-stamped envelopes! So these can be for general use or wedding, as they are blank inside. There are a couple options here... I would A) give away a design already on my site, or B) let you customize it on your own. Even though I have not yet listed thank-yous on my Etsy, I can still produce them (hopefully they'll be available for purchase soon!) The best part about this give-away is that I would normally be selling this set for around $70! If you have already purchased an item from my site, this would be a great way to get a matching set.

I have not yet decided on all the rules for this give-away, but as soon as I do, I will be making a huge announcement here, on my Facebook profile, Facebook fan page, and maybe Twitter (if I decide to get one...). So stay tuned for more details!

Whelp, that's about it for now. My arms are tired, my head hurts, and my eyes are getting heavy.

Give-Away!

Thank goodness. I FINALLY posted some new designs to my Etsy shop! I just posted these Save the Date stickers and added Table Number Cards to match all my designs. Menu cards coming next week... If you'd like to see the new stuff I added, click the My Etsy Shop link to the right. Thank ya :)

So meeting my goal of posting some new designs this weekend has given me some inspiration. I would love to host a GIVE-AWAY, right here on my blog! You know, free stuff? The only problem is, I'm not sure what to give away. Should I give away something wedding-related, like a set of Save the Dates? A coupon for my Etsy merchandise? Should I make a set of greeting cards for the holidays to give away? I'm pretty stumped. Any ideas? Even if you don't plan on participating, I always love free advice :) Please leave a comment if you've got any ideas.

Whelp, thanks for reading. Now... bike ride time.

-Danielle

Good stuff.

This is the only good part about my drive to work. Granted, I was a bigger fan of driving to work when it was actually sunny, but this will do. I do like pink! I drive roughly 40 minutes to work 5 days a week. And let me tell you... 8:00am comes pretty early when you have that far of a drive. It takes all that I have to stay awake. I actually had to smack myself a few times this week to keep from closing my eyes... scary? Yes.

So I titled this post "Good stuff." I suppose that means I have to write about more than 1 good thing on here... hmm... well I got to watch my boyfriend's band tonight! The Steve Cipriano Band always puts on a good show. And tomorrow morning, my boyfriend and I are going thrifting for his Halloween costume. Yes, there will be pictures :)

Last, but not least, my best friend's Halloween party is tomorrow night. The moment I've been waiting for... to reveal the costume I've been dying to do for about a year now. Oh no, I'm not telling what it is yet. You'll just have to come back for pictures this weekend....

Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day... thrifting, oil change, haircut, party... What about you? What are you up to this weekend?

-Danielle

Finally.

This is kind of like cash burning a hole in your pocket. Know the feeling? You've got something, ready to use, you just don't have the means by which to use it yet. You want to use it really really badly, but something is getting in your way. It's eating at you, sticking in the back of your mind, buzzing in your ear like a mosquito. Or in this case, a cheap 3-in-one printer that decides to run out of ink as you're about to print proofs for your Etsy shop. Boo on you, 3-in-one printer and your bad timing!

I was really excited last week when I got a record 7 designs done! Well, ok, it's only a record because I just started this business not even 2 months ago and only have 5 designs... but that's besides the point! The point is, I was motivated, set aside time to print and do a photo shoot, and (insert gross squishy noise here), there goes my printer. I can't complain too much, though. They say you get what you paid for, and I paid $29.99 plus tax for this thing! Oh well, it gets the job done. It just eats up ink like I drink water. Or like my car guzzles gas. $40 to fill up... and I'm assuming that's cheap compared to some of YOUR cars out there. And I hope I don't lose any of my 9 followers (make that 8, I can't include myself...) by saying SUV owners are crazy! I heard someone the other day who said they put over $100 in their SUV to fill up! Madness. All the power to you for being able to do that (did I just save myself from losing you, teetering follower?)

So I FINALLY printed these designs today. My printer told me I was out of black, so that's what I got. And it definitely fixed the problem. Too bad the ink light is blinking again, because I'm also about to run out of cyan. Why oh why did I get a printer that takes 4 separate cartridges? Oh yeah... because it was $30!

-Danielle

What graphic designers do when they're bored...

I must say, I've always been a fan of Fridays. I like Fridays even more so now that I have a full-time job... it just brings a whole new meaning to "weekend." 

This past Friday, a coworker and I decided to have a little fun. She bought some small pumpkins and we decided we should decorate them and sneak them onto peoples' desks. Recently, we have become obsessed with mustaches (uhhh because they're AWESOME!), so naturally, all of our pumpkins had to have them, too. So we decided to use our lunchtime to decorate some sweet pumpkins for people. I've gotta say, the ones with the knit hats remind me of every emo kid on Kent State campus. 

So, for your viewing and laughing pleasure, the pumpkins....

He probably belongs to a motorcycle gang.

Gotta give props to ma.

....and his lady.

There's no way I'd want to cross him in a dark alley.

These are my coworker's creations. I'm serious, the left one looks like all the emo kids at Kent!

So if you ever wondered what a graphic designer does when they're bored, now you know. For the fall season anyways. Maybe we'll make Santa 'staches for Christmas....

-Danielle

Artie! The strongest man....in the WORLD.

Last night, my boyfriend pulled up this video for me to watch. Bring back any memories for you, all you closet 90's Nickelodeon show fans?

Artie's Workout

What to do, what to do...

So today at work, we got a ton of Kohl's coupons for 15% off everything (sales, regular, clearance priced) and there's even another coupon attached for a friend. So since there were a ton, I picked up 10 of them. Then, I realized... I have no idea what I'm going to do with all of them. They're only good for this weekend, so I have to come up with something quick! What to do, what to do... Any thoughts, hmm?

-Danielle

Well then.

So I'm sitting here at my drafting desk, trying to figure out this Facebook/blog connection deal, and I look across me to see this painting. Well, MY painting. It's dusty. The edges are starting to curl. It bothers me. Why is it bothering me? I started this painting when I was a junior in high school. I call it "The Unfinished Painting." Original, right? Anyways, it's just that; unfinished. I've got everything painted in but the water and the wheel. I don't know what my excuse is. I could say I don't have time to finish it (that's pretty accurate, actually), even though I've been saying that for almost 7 years. I even make jokes about this painting... "Maybe it'll be like that unfinished portrait of George Washington and be worth a ton of money one day when I'm famous!" Well too bad world, I'm not giving it up! (Maybe I'll sell prints...?)


In other news, I finally made some headway in some new designs for my Etsy shop. Once I finally find a store that carries the kind of ink my printer uses (leave it to me to buy a printer that has hard-to-find ink), I'll print out some samples and snap some photos. It's been weeks since my last Etsy post. Uh...sorry, that kind of sounded like something out of an AA meeting...oops! But seriously, it's been a while. Life has been busy! Causing me headaches, stress, and snapping at undeserving people. But today... today I finally had FREE time and got to go to the gym. It's been 3 weeks since my last gym visit (cue the polite applause).


Yeah, that's about it for now. I hope someone is reading this other than my mom. HI MOM!!!!!


-Danielle


P.S. Can I really follow myself? I  guess I can according to that NetworkedBlogs widget up there. Hm. That's kinda lonely...

Hello!

Well, here's my inaugural blog post (I just want you to know, I spelled "inaugural" wrong the first time. I hope you don't judge me...)! So I've been wanting to do this for a long time, but it's been pretty crazy lately. Because of this, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to all the people I've accidently snapped at in the last couple weeks.... "Sorry!" I need to get away from this anxiety thing... Anyways, hopefully life will get a lot less crazy soon and more...umm... awesome? Tomorrow is Monday, so I'll have to wait until at least Wednesday for that.

Hey, thanks for reading this! I hope it wasn't too painful and that you at least cracked a smile.

-Danielle