I've moved! (Websites, not location - yet)

Hey Everyone,

So I've moved my blog over to a new site with my own domain name. It's still a HUGE work in progress but I'm hoping to be able to create some more content and hopefully incorporate a shop for some of my upcoming projects.

I'm super excited about this some come on over and check me out at: www.lindsaywilliamsdesign.com my goals are to have new business cards and letterhead set up (in a week?) before we move to Ft. Drum so I can hit the ground rolling.

Thanks so much - can't wait to see you over there!

Cheers - Lindsay

I want this for my coffee :)

So my husband is responsible for getting me addicted to coffee. I never liked coffee until he made me my first french press cup, and then it was over. I'm still not a drip coffee fan but give me french press in quantity any day and I'll be a happy camper. I'm also now a fan of lattes and espresso and basically anything else.

So in the spirit of sharing I have found this wonderful and totally cute, green solution to a cup of coffee that is too hot! (And a way to never forget it) Check out these cozy cuffs at www.shopcozycuff.com/products!

Cheers.

Looking to Reorganize a bit ...

So I'm going to attempt to try and change this blog over from a blogspot blog to an actual lindsaywilliamsdesign website with blog, portfolio and maybe even (gasp) potential store. Any advice you'd like to pass on would certainly be appreciated.

We're getting ready to head out in the next couple of weeks to Ft. Drum, NY near Watertown. We will all be excited to get back into some colder weather and are looking forward to finally having a fall season again. My goals are to settle on into a better design routine while maintaining the wonderful clients I'm currently working with. I hope to start that Etsy shop I've been talking about and have been busy brainstorming a start on my Sketchbook Project! The theme they chose at random for me is: " It must be ...", hmmm... hopefully I will come up with some spectacular material.

In the meantime I've found a great little article on supporting your favorite bloggers. I've posted 3 of the 5 ways and you can check the rest out at  tonic.com.

Five Ways to Help Your Favorite Bloggers

By John R. Platt | Thursday, July 15, 2010 11:00 AM ET

Show the love for your favorite blogger with these quick five tips.

logs, more often that not, are a labor of love. But sometimes they generate enough revenue to put food on your favorite blogger's table. Either way, blogging can be a lonely endeavor, and it's up to you, the reader, to help make sure that your favorite blog sticks around for your to keep reading it.

What can you do? Here are five simple tips, some of which come straight from the bloggers' mouths. (Er, fingers.)

1. Follow the blog. Don't just bookmark it in your browser. If there's a "follow" button, click it. This gives your favorite blogger a better idea of the size of his audience, so he knows his message is getting out there, and it shows other blog visitors that the blog already has visitors, which adds a legitimacy to the site.

2. Pick the best way to follow it. If you use an RSS reader like Google Reader, follow the blog there. Google Reader and other services recommend blogs to readers of similar blogs, so that's where I follow all of my blogs. It's a good way to expand the blog to new readers.

3. Spread the word about their posts on Facebook and Twitter. "Referrals and links are gratifying, because it means that I'm reaching people with my goofy posts," says Christopher Mills, who writes the Space: 1970 blog about old science-fiction TV shows.

Referrals work. "I meet people all the time who have not only read my blog but can mention specific quotes," says musician Randy Granger. "Often, their friends mentioned it on their Facebook pages or other social networks."

(find the last 2 ways to support your favorite bloggers here)

I signed up have you?

I'm so very excited to have signed up for the Sketchbook Project 2010. I've never participated before but think this is a great way to force myself away from so much computer design and back to more regular sketching. It's certainly been a goal of mine since moving but I haven't been able to get on a very regular schedule. I am excited I've been able to start incorporating more hand drawn work into my designs lately which has been a great change of pace and highly rewarding. I've even sketched up a new logo design based on what I already had. I'm hoping to update the logo more frequently as my own personal design mission to keep things fresh.

I also was given a shout out on the pedalin' with a purpose website  the guys are now in Utah and I couldn't be more proud of them! If you get a chance please head on over to their website and donate to the wounded warrior project in support of their cross country trip.

Inspiration: Lorenzo Petrantoni

I just ran across a fun illustration in my husband's Cigar Aficionado magazine and am loving the rest I found on the website of illustrator Lorenzo Petrantoni. 

If you want a great use of scale, type, pattern and image please take yourself over to his website: www.lorenzopetrantoni.com and view the rest of his works. 

Pedalin' with a Purpose: In Colorado now!

Just an update on the 3 fearless pedalers who are on day 30 of their trip and now in Colorado!

You can check out their trip updates and follow their progress here.  If you haven't had a chance to donate yet, or purchase your totally awesome pedalin' with a purpose gear (proceeds going to the wounded warrior project) then check out this site to get some.

Thanks Joel, Pete and Dan for raising awareness for the wounded warrior project! You are an amazing group and we wish you the best as you finish this journey up.

CrossFit Inception Promotional Material

So we have joined an amazing gym here in Columbus, GA called CrossFit Inception and I've been lucky enough to be able to work on promotional material for them. This is a sample of the promotional post cards and a business card design that I've put together for them.

I've really enjoyed working on this material for them as it's a little more "fun and grunge" than my clients' are normally looking for. We're also working on t-shirts and some fun ways to promote the gym here in Columbus.

If you're in the area you should definitely check them out, especially for their free saturday WODs (work out of the day) at 9am - open to all. If you're not in the area you can keep up with the workouts by checking them out online.

Which colors do you like?

My friend Chad Caroll is starting up his own woodworking business and has asked for help with logos, business cards, world domination, etc. I've come up with a logo I think we like and now are working on coloring to see where that takes us as far as moving towards more print work. I'm so excited he's starting this business, if you've ever seen his house his work on his own bookcases, coffee tables - the house itself is amazing! I can't wait until he's up and running and I can share pictures with you of his product.

In the meantime which color scheme do you think works best?

We're No Angles in Denali Park for the Summer

And Lee has some wonderful new goodies available as well! She's started a whole new line of dog soap and shampoo products as well as a "bug away" candle. She's even diving into her own version of a massage candle!

As always we strive to keep things fun and fresh for Lee while keeping that "old time" feel and thinking of all her products as a collection rather than just individual pieces. Below is just a sample of the fun new labels you can look for in her shop over the summer. Check her out in Denali Park at the Princess Lodge and then at home in Healy, AK as well.

Sawtooth Soldiers Logo Design

I've had the pleasure of being asked to do some logo designs for a friend who with 3 others is ambitiously planning to climb Mt. McKinley in  a week! They are climbing the peak to raise awareness and support for the Wounded Warrior Project as well and you can check out their plan and itinerary here.

The boys already knew that their name for this project was the Sawtooth Soldiers with a purpose statement/ tagline of awareness, brotherhood and adventure. They also already knew that they wanted to incorporate a whip saw into the logo as well as the mountain. I came up with a couple of examples, and color may still need to be fine-tuned but this is that (almost) finished product.

Hopefully you can start looking for this in a plethora of promotional items such as t-shirts! It's a pretty fun logo - you have to admit.

Good luck boys!

Baby Bonanza part II

So the package has arrived safely with the hopefully very soon to be new parents and I am now able to post pics of the very fun baby gifts I made for them. I love being able to personalize gifts like this especially for 2 such deserving and fun people! Leslie and my husband go back and forth with Anchorman quotes all the time so that of course had to be included in the designs. Todd was a little nervous when he first found out they were pregnant so in order to aid him and eliminate confusion I included the "this side up" shirt, just in case. So here's the photos of the work - it's all fabric paint on the shirts with hand made custom stencils.

And on a completely separate note, except for the mom thing these two have in common I wanted to post this super fun video/ song from pogomix: Comprising my mother's voice and the sounds of her garden, this video is my first Pogo mix of the real world. I hope I've done my mother justice in capturing her passion. Enjoy!

Happy Mother's Day!

So I'm hoping that my mothers won't see this before Sunday, I'm also hoping that the mail gets them their cards in time. Again, I decided I wanted to make a one-of-a-kind hand cut paper card for my mom and my mother in law. I wish I had decided on a darker yellow for this particular card but it is what it is and I'm learning as I go so hopefully next time will be even better. In the meantime to all you mothers out there: I am nothing but amazed by what you have accomplished, for all the little things that go unnoticed by almost everyone but that make the hugest difference in your child's life. Thanks for all that you do, even when it is not appreciated or noticed. Cheers to you moms!

Baby bonanza

OK, so I've been working on some baby gifts for a friend that I was able to finish up today but can't post yet because she needs to get the package first. I've been having a lot of fun making gifts for friends and family lately. I like staying busy and coming up with unique gifts. I'm also hoping to be inspired to create such wonderful things I'll just have to start selling them on Etsy or maybe even creating a website to sell my own products. I'm so incredibly excited about these cute little gifties I had to post just a little something so here's the one-of-a-kind hand cut congratulations card that I think Leslie won't mind seeing in advance. Please excuse the poor photography, my actual camera is still in the shop so the phone will have to suffice for now. Come soon little Addison so that we can meet you!

Pictures anyone?

My most recent projects for We're No Angel's Soap Co. have been to create souvenir photo frames for this summer's fun at Denali Park! You can now have your very own naughty negative inserted into one of these 2 frames as a keepsake of your trip and perhaps the freeing of your own inner goodtime guy or gal!

Pedalin' with a Purpose Postcard Idea

So after much brainstorming and sketching based on the Ork posters I posted a little while ago this is the post card concept I came up with for the PwaP boys. The idea is so that while they're on their trip they can circle, check, x or mark in whatever way they'd like the location they are currently at to send out. They can also hand these out as promotional material where people can mark and sketch on it in the same way.

We might do a couple of rounds of this but this is the initial concept with a hand sketched and lettered United States as the main portion of the post card.

Death & Taxes Poster, holy wow!

I just stumbled across this awesome poster project. Jess Bachman spends 2 months every year researching and creating this visual record of our tax dollars at work. It's an amazing endeavor and turns out beautifully. Check out this small section of it and view it's entirety here.

Design Inspiration

So I am loving these posters by Ork Posters:

And then of course there's the lovely promo poster for the Cooper River Bridge Run that happened last weekend: 

Find the whole poster at the poster store for the race.

Updated PwaP logo

So not wanting to change the original logo that these biking boys have been using too drastically we've come up with a happy, simple update that is vector based so that we can use it on a variety of promo materials. First steps: business cards and postcards and then on to bumper stickers and buttons. I'll keep you updated as to where you can find the goods to support this group!

BEFORE

AFTER

Also on a side note - if you've been leaving comments and I haven't responded it's because I haven't been getting any.... thoughts anyone? Just email me at lwilliams.design@gmail.com. Thanks! 

Pedalin' for a Purpose

So I'm working on a bunch of promo material for a couple friends, 3 to be exact, who plan on biking cross country to raise support for the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) which helps wounded soldiers transition to civilian life. Please check out their website to learn more about the project.

Peadlin' for a Purpose has their website setup with info about the undertaking as well as a donation page that donates under their mission to the WWP. We're trying to raise awareness and have a goal of $250,000 in donations for the Wounded Warrior Project. Check them out at: www.pedalinwithapurpose.com. You can see the map of the route the want to take from Portland, Me to Portland, OR and then down to California so you can head out to support them if they're coming through your area.

I will be posting updates as I get the promo material together so you can find it and promote the project yourself with your friends. In the meantime go to the donation page and please donate whatever you can for this wonderful program. Thanks!

Catching up

So we've finally made it to Georgia and I've been spending the last week and a half unpacking. There's still so much to do though. It's surprising me how long this is all taking but moving from a small apartment to a house is actually crazy to do. We've realized how much storage/ shelving we don't have and would like and how much furniture we didn't have.... like a couch or coffee table or anything.

Anyway, no fun pics or anything yet as I just got up and running yesterday but the 2 invitations I was working on just arrived in the mail and turned out beautifully so I'll update sometime soon.

In the meantime wish me luck with unpacking!

Packing up Shop

Well the apartment is almost packed, Pearl is slightly worried about what's going on and we're getting Robert prepped to head out. This is it until we land in Georgia most likely. Wish us luck on the trip :)

New Addition to the Family & More things I'll miss about Alaska

So we're so pleased and humbled that our friend Sue is allowing her sweet boy Robert to come be part of our family. Joey and Robert have had an amazing bond since they met that no one can deny (and he likes me too). We're so excited to be adding him to our family and even Pearl (the cat) seems like she might tolerate the addition. So as we head out down the Alcan next Sunday we'll have our own little pieces of Alaska to take with us in the form of a dog & cat, we couldn't be happier.

Here's our boy's favorite room in the house: the kitchen.

Now here's an amazing thing that I'll miss from Alaska: The Gourmet Girls Book/ Cook group. We get together to eat different meals from around the world based on a book we've read. For example it all started with the Julie/ Julia night as we cooked from Julia Child's cookbook. Bon Appetite! <-- says it all. Then we moved on to Italian with Donna Leon books and lastly (for me) an Indian meal with The God of Small Things as our book of choice. Here's some mouth-watering images from our Indian night. Cheers!

Fun clothes shopping at Mod Cloth

So I ran into this site the other day and wanted to share some of the goodies I've found here on Mod Cloth. I'm really loving all their clothes, shoes and accessories. I definitely plan on bookmarking this one and showing it to my husband, I definitely have a birthday coming up....

Things I will miss about Alaska: Sunrise over the mountains & killer crows

So I would like to assert that no state does mountains like Alaska. Sorry, just have to throw it out there. I'm terrible at distances (which frustrates my husband to no end) but these mountains are a highway drive of about 4 hours away from me and they look like they're right next door! There's McKinley there and the rest of the range and it's so beautiful to see when I drive home from work (assuming there's enough sunlight and it's not cloudy/ foggy). I love the sun rising over them, which happens about 10:30/ 11 now-a-days.
I will really miss the beauty of these mountains out my window.

I will also miss the HUGE crows that inhabit Alaska. I was worried they were going to carry me away when I first moved here. They're big enough that it's only half joking. My poor 7 lb. cat is convinced if given the opportunity she could kill them, I'm not very confident she could though.

You can see the sunrise over the mountains in the top 2 images, the sunrise takes so long that it's a beautiful thing to watch the light play over the mountains at its different stages. Then a not very large crow on the street light, it was the closest one I could find to take a picture of. Then there's a view of my street with the light from the sunrise hitting it.

I love Alaska.

Success! Wedding Invite Designed

So with different information and some color changes I was able to mastermind an invitation for my friend Jamie Boshart who is marrying Matt Riordan. This is the first go of the invite. Size will change as well... this one was set up for a square invite we've since decided against. Thanks Jamie for such a fun project to work on!

Things I'll Miss from Alaska: The Pups

So in getting ready for our move down to Georgia.... I've been thinking a lot of what I've loved so much here in Alaska. We're hoping to return as soon as we can manage, but in the meantime I wanted to share the love of this wonderful, wonderful place.

First and foremost we've completely, head-over-heels, utterly and completely fallen in love with the dogs here, specifically the working dogs. I can understand, if you haven't been here and seen it, how you might think that people are crazy and even mean to run these dogs or have them hauling sleds all over the place but then you get here and you meet the dogs and the mushers. The howl of a pup just waiting to be set loose to run in harness is an amazingly inspiring sound. It's the craziest thing!

These dogs want nothing more to be in harness and pulling for all they are worth, it is their purpose and their enjoyment. The dog probably won't even stop. The musher needs to know the pups and let them know when it's time to stop. The dog/ musher/ handler relationship is an amazing thing that I just love to see. The musher know they can't do it without these dogs and vice versa, they are each helping the other complete and amazing task and loving every minute of it.

We've had the amazing opportunity to meet up with a lot of pups here in AK:

 Sue's dogs (all but one former sled dogs) have taught us about the working dog and have been able to teach us how to skijor (attach yourself to the dog, stick on some skis and go! - or fall... it's all good). There is nothing cooler than skiing with a dog attached to you, even if they may be slightly disappointed with your ability to stay on your feet.

Our friends Rod and Julie were kind enough to take us out with 8 of their pups on a tandem sled run that was so amazing. To be behind the power of 8 dogs is an incredible experience.

We've also been able to take in events such as the Yukon Quest (endurance dogs) and the Open North American Championships (speed dogs) as well as the Dog Pull Competitions. To see a working dog be able to pull unfathomable weight with no assistance other than the encouragement (all hands free) of it's owner is beyond words.

Here are some pics of the working dogs. Sue's dogs haven't been included in this one yet - they're a special group that'll get their own pic but here's Rod and Julie's dogs and the a pulling competition pup.

1. At the trails end with Rod and Julie's whole team behind us. 8 dogs pulling 2 sleds (tandem is one sled ahead and one hooked behind, this way we got to ride a sled without worrying about not knowing what to do), 2 grown men and me (probably around 450 lbs in people alone).

2. Tandem sled on the trail, Joey is on the sled here and I'm ahead on a snow machine.

3. Our fearless leaders, these dogs are smart and quick and definitely dogs you need to trust and rely on when you're on a sled. They know better than you a lot of times.

4. Dog pulling competition: This guy was in the 100 lb weight class (there's one more weight class above this) and he's pulling 1640 lbs. all on his own - crazy awesome!

Eco friendly with a great illustration

I was checking out reclaimed wood furniture online and stumbled upon this awesome illustration on the webpage for the old wood co.  I love the use of the tools in the body and feathers of this rooster as well as the different textures. I'm working on some bird illustrations for an upcoming project and this patterning is great inspiration. Enjoy!

Save the Date: Kevin and Liz

So I have friends in town that will be getting married soon and have been working on invitations, save the dates, rsvp and reception cards for them. They're a super fun couple and were going for a nature themed, earthen colored invitation set. They decided the yellow/ stone/ brown colors suited them best and this is what we came up with. I'm finishing up the rest of the package but this is how the save the dates turned out.

Mr. & Mrs. Plumber: the wedding invites

These are the wedding invitations I was able to put together for our friends married on Jan. 2nd - congratulations to you Jess and Dave! Jess picked up the actual paper invitations and we worked on a type layout that they both really liked. It's a simple, elegant font that turned out beautifully.

Camping is IN-TENTS!

So this is a present I made for my cousin and his new wife Caitlin as part of their wedding present. I don't know where Andrew heard it but it's one of his classic "Andrew" jokes. I do the joke terribly but it's awesome when he does it. Either way, inspired by bustedtees.com (which is a great pick me up anyway to look through) I made my own matching shirts for the couple. Caitlin's was green and Andrew's fire-safety orange.

My Christmas Cookie Adventures

Well, we're back from all our Christmas fun and the wedding extravaganza of the year. I can finally post some of the things I was working on for presents! I did a mason jar full of the dry ingredients for the most delicious white chip orange cookies. They're a huge hit when my husbands Army friends come over for dinner. Here's an image of my own little army of mason jar cookies:

The recipe is inside the label and is as follows:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

2-3 tsp grated orange peel

2 cups (12 oz. package) white chocolate chip morsels

Combine flour and baking soda in a small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in egg and orange peel. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop dough by the tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven at 350 F for 10-12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Let stand for 2 minutes, remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Enjoy!