Desktop for August

I love this quote and it reminds me so much of Jenny. This is the desktop for August, er mid-August, make that late August rather. You can grab this for your desktop background along with a 5x7" print and bookmark printable on the PRETTYblog.

July better late than never

July's desktop and printable (5x7" print and bookmark) are up on the PRETTYblog today!

Raffa's 2nd Birthday Invitations

It's only been a month since Raffa's birthday and party (oops! time flies) but I am finally sharing the fun invitations we sent out for his park party turned intimate rainy day at-home get together. I knew that I wanted to do hand-lettered invitations this year and the idea evolved in to a hand-lettered and illustrated set. On the front - the party details and on the back - illustrations of Raffa's most favorite things.

The party itself was a park and donut theme, which covered two of Raffa's favorites. The illustration on the back also included: Raffa's dump truck, his checkered Vans, his crayons, pancakes + syrup, Asher, Starbuck's iced green tea, his Finkelstein kitty, donuts, "coffee" (hot chocolate) from Huckleberry Roasters (the donut + "coffee" also cover Donut Monday, our weekly ritual at Huckelberry), his bunny, the park, his red trike, and reading books.

To accomplish the lettering and illustration, I turned to Shannon Snow. I have worked with Shannon several times and I was confident that she could bring my creative vision to life. I didn't want to do the lettering and illustration myself; I specifically wanted some one else to bring my ideas to life.

I paired the digitally printed, white and royal blue invitation with a small chartreuse, business card-sized enclosure with a photo of Raffa and an explanation that the invitation contained his favorite things. The mint blue envelopes were sealed with a custom return address sticker and some donut sprinkle washi tape. I hand addressed the envelopes and went with "From me to you" Forever stamps.

I had so much fun with designing these invitations this year!

See Raffa's birthday invitations from last year here.

June 2015

June is here; has been for a week. In Denver we skipped spring, it felt like, and it seemed as if February lasted for three months. So to say that June is a welcome sight is an understatement!

June's digital desktop quote and printable (5x7" print and bookmark) are available over the PRETTYblog today! Enjoy!

Flower illustrations by Mia Charro.

Savory Institute Business Card Design

Last month I worked on these business cards under the creative direction of Sarah, Savory Institute's Director of Marketing and Communications.

The cards came as part of the non-profit's rebranding and new website launch. I really enjoy commercial work like this and have been focusing my lead generation efforts of late on capturing more work in the commercial space.

you know when you know

Trust your guts. Have confidence in your decisions. Put faith in your intuition.

This month's digital desktop image and printable with 5x7" print and bookmark are now available on the PRETTYblog.

See the previous results of this collaboration here.

april desktop

My monthly collab with PRETTYblog continues and April's desktop, as well as 5x7" and bookmark printable are available for download on the PRETTYblog today!

REMEMBER the day™ on social media

I have been focusing a whole lot on my REMEMBER the days™. I (finally) set up social media accounts (Facebook and Instagram) for the REMEMBER the day™ brand, and I have been spending quite a bit of my time generating photos and content for those accounts.

For so long I resisted getting the REMEMBER the day™ brand on to social media. I knew it would require a time commitment to generate quality, worth while content that would engage my audience. Well, I was not wrong. Getting quality photography and generating content for my REMEMBER the day™Facebook and Instagram accounts has consumed my time the past couple of weeks (since setting the accounts up). 

If you are so inclined you can "Like" REMEMBER the day™ on Facebook or Follow Us on Instagram @remember_the_day_artwork. We are also on Pinterest. I am putting together some fun stuff across the accounts, and publishing some of it on the REMEMBER the day™ blog, too.

Today on the REMEMBER the day™ blog and social media, I am sharing a "Get this Nursery" post with sources to the exact or similar pieces that are found in this amazing nursery that was featured in Lonny magazine in August 2012:

Click here to read the post and see the sources.

I promise I have not given up on andchloe! I have so much I want to share on here, too, but right now it is a balancing act to deliver on all my obligations (like freelance work), fulfill REMEMBER the day™ orders, blog here, do the REMEMBER the day™ social media, and most importantly - be MOMMY.

Logo Design // Lana Cordes, Realtor

Logo design is always some of my favorite work. I really enjoy the whole process, starting with hearing about the client's vision and translating that in to some initial design concepts. The process can be made even more fun, or maybe just a little easier, when I am working with some one I know well. When I know some one, I typically can "get" their vision even quicker and hone in on what they are wanting easier. Such was the case with Lana Cordes, a friend who I have know literally since I was born. Some use that phrase as a figure of speech but in this case it is the literal truth.

Lana became a Realtor specializing in the residential Denver market in January, and she came to me to help her with her personal Realtor brand. After we talked back and forth and she put together a Pinterest inspiration board, these are the initial designs I sent over to Lana ...

I feel like part of the fun on this whole process is seeing the initial design concepts and then seeing the final product. And, this is the final logo we arrived at:

And that logo is in a classy navy blue, by the way, as dictated by the accompanying brand guide.

And lastly, business cards:

I am super excited for Lana and this new venture. And, to work with her some more on a few more branding and collateral pieces. You can find out more about Lana on DenverSweetHome.com.

February 2015

Wait, what? It's February? Already?! Why yes, yes it is.

Just like last month (and for each month this year), I am collaborating with my friend Jenny to bring you a desktop image and printable (5x7" print and bookmark). February's design, inspired by Robert Frost's, "The best way out is always through..." is up and available for download on the PRETTYblog now. Head over to her blog to get it!

january 2015

This year, each month, I will be collaborating with my dear friend Jenny to bring you a desktop background, 5x7" print, and bookmark printable each month (similar to the calendars I did for Blog a la Cart in 2013).

Each month, I will create a design around a quote that speaks to me ... Jenny will make the designs and printables available on her blog.

I was a little slow getting going this month, so January's went live on Jenny's blog, the PRETTY blog, yesterday. You can get the image above for your desktop background, and you can download a printable PDF that has the 5x7" print and bookmark.

This quote really spoke to me for the journey I am currently on with my family. It seemed especially appropriate for January, a time where we tend to reflect on the year past and make plans, cement hopes, and craft dreams for the year ahead. I try to live present, enjoy the present, and not live in the future at the expense of appreciating the now. That can be difficult. And, this quote makes a good point about all that. We don't know what our future holds; sometimes everything turns out how we expect it to, but other times it doesn't. Those other times can turn out to be so much better than we ever imagined.

So, this quote acts as a reminder to me ...

2015 planners + agendas

I had intentions to get this post up last year, in late December. That did not happen, but it is still worth sharing in case you haven't found the right 2015 planner for you!

Each year I am on the hunt for the perfect planner. I have even gone so far to create my own for 2015! I may not end up using it because I have also ordered a Passion Planner (lower right above), but we will see. In any case, these are some planners that stand out to me for 2015. I always like a planner that goes down to the weekly, if not daily detail (not a monthly planner, in other words), so that's what these are. Other factors that are important to me are whether or not the planner lays flat and what kind of binding it has - so I have included that information below. Lastly, I like my planner on the larger side so these are all medium to large sized planners.

Day Designer

• big (9"x9.25"), detailed, comprehensive planner 
• daily planner (1 day per page / 2 days per spread)
• lays flat
• coil bound
• several cover designs to choose from (although I wish there was a "plain" version)
• available for purchase at daydesigner.com

Ardium Fabric Journal

• medium (5.5"x7.1"), clean, classic, basic
• weekly planner (1 week per spread - one page is the 7 day week, opposite page is for notes)
• lays flat
• book binding
• two neutral fabric cover colors to choose from (beige or gray)
• available from mochithings.com

Sugar & Type Rule the World 2015 Planner

• medium (8.5"x5.5"), design-forward, clean, simple, effective
• weekly planner (1 week per spread - one page is for weekly goal setting and planning, opposite page is 7 days of week)
• lays flat
• coil bound
• black cover
• available from Sugar & Type on Etsy (hurry to get yours as part of the FINAL reorder)

Passion Planner

• large (8.5"x11"), graphic, bold, busy, designed for goal setting and passion planning (duh)
• weekly planner (1 week per spread with 7 days covering spread with room for notes and goal setting and lists across bottom of spread)
• lays flat
• book bound (similar look/feel to Moleskin notebooks)
• black cover
• available from PassionPlanner.com (order now for late February 2015 arrival)

Have you locked down your 2015 planner? It's a big commitment! You'll have it for a whole year. So, which one did you go with? Do you switch it up or always go with the same brand/design?

christmas cards 2014

My Octobers, Novembers, and Decembers are usually packed with holiday card designs. Each year I have plans of photographing each design, but in practice, time always slips away and I either don't get a sample of the printed cards or just don't take the time to have them photographed. With my family's cards, however, it is easy to get samples and have my sister snap photos of them. So inevitably, you can expect to find their's here on the blog and in my portfolio!

My mom desired a simple card this year, and she wanted the color photo to take center stage. That meant a simple type overlay of "MERRY CHRISTMAS" and our names on the front. On the back, a short note about the year's happenings and a couple more photos. The watercolor branch was originally meant for the front, but to allow the photo to shine (and due to all the foliage in the background of the photo), it worked best on the back.

My sister had a simple design in mind, too, incorporating some type and a diamond pattern. The dark green lettering complimented the greens and yellows in their gorgeous photo well. We went with a while envelope because we could not find a good source for dark, dark green ones (a first choice).

You can see more of my holiday card designs from years past here.

minted holiday cards

I will be sharing my holiday cards in due time. I have also wrapped up all of my holiday card designing for the year. However, Minted's deadline for receiving your cards by Dec. 22 is tomorrow. In addition to having a great option for last-minute ordering and amazing Christmas card designs, they also offer some options that I cannot - foil stamped cards and die cut cards. I technically can offer foil stamping and die cut cards, but not at the great price and uber-quick turnaround of Minted.

So not surprisingly, some of my favorite Minted designs include these awesome details. The foil stamped cards are gorgeous, and come in options of gold, rose gold, or silver. And, the die cut cards are actually ornament cards and come with ribbon for hanging.

Here are a couple of the foil stamped cards I love; with an appropriate photo inserted!

And the die cut/shape (ornament) cards:

So, if you left it to the super last minute, hop over to Minted and check out their selection.

Full disclosure: Minted contacted me and asked me to share some of my favorite holiday card designs from their site. In crafting content for andchloe, I only feature brands/products that I truly enjoy/love/have a passion for. I wanted you to know that I was asked by Minted to do this post, but just importantly I wanted to let you know that I choose to post this because first and foremost I am impressed by the design and print quality of Minted's products.

Martha Stewart American Made Market + REMEMBER the day™

Currently, my REMEMBER the days™are part of the Martha Stewart American Made Market. It is a huge honor to be a part of a movement; a movement that supports the handmade and the homegrown; a movement that supports American small businesses, artisans, and craftsman.

You can see my REMEMBER the days™ on the Market here. And, you can shop the whole American Made Market here

Also, it has been a long time since I shared some REMEMBER the day™ designs! Here are some more recent designs from the past month or so.