Monograms featured on House of Marlow

Yesterday I received an email from Crissy of House of Marlowe asking if she could feature my custom monograms on her blog. Of course, my answer was YES!!!

Crissy wrote the feature this morning and it makes me smile to read it. As most of you know, I adore designing my monograms and it makes all the sketches, eraser shreds and pencil sharpening completely worth it when others show their love and appreciation for them too.

I am so honored to be a feature on her blog and can't wait to start working on her custom monogram.

BTW, I have SO many new monograms that I need to share with you!!! Hopefully I will get caught up soon.

Inspiration Overload: Color, Pets & Eleanor Grosch

I am constantly inspired by Eleanor Grosch from Just Eleanor. She has topped my list of "favorite designers" for quite some time now. When it comes down to it, her ability to use simple yet sophisticated color and shape is unexpected, creative and visually appealing. Her illustrations are filled with joy and constantly make me smile. Plus (as if we need another reason) she frequently uses animals as the main subject of her illustrations. And, let's be honest, I am a HUGE animal lover. The two photographs above are for Stir Magazine, the color and design magazine for Sherwin Williams. I adore the illustrations of the animal (through both wallpaper and textile) meeting the cute, four-legged subject in an artistic photograph. Seriously, how awesome are these? Animals in design rule!

QR Code Invitations? I'm just not sure...

via NYT

Did anyone catch the New York Times article about using QR codes on your wedding response cards? It was an absolutely fascinating article on how to blend the staunch tradition of wedding stationery with modern technology. I like the idea and concept, but am just not sure how I feel about it aesthetically. I guess I am old fashioned when it comes to stationery. On the other hand, I want to be "up on the times" so maybe it is a good thing to think about. But, QR codes are just such a bulky design element. But, Crane's, the stationery god, is going to offer them soon. Can you tell I am completely torn.

Maybe I will have a couple ask to use one in the near future. It would be a fun design challenge.

How do you feel about this topic?

Below are other stationery pieces (a valentines card and business card) that use the QR code. The business card is STUNNING! I could get behind this idea. Just think about how easy you could direct someone to your portfolio or website. Hmmm - now my wheels are churning (but I am still not sold on wedding stationery with the code).

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via

Starting Up: It's been one of those weeks...

...and i mean that in the best possible way. Guaranteed, I haven't had a moment to slow down and take a deep breath, but the crazy schedule, stress and abundance of work are all a REALLY good thing. Chena Design is coming into it's own in 2012! I feel so fortunate to get to do what I adore all the time (and I do mean ALL the time). It's taken a lot of hard work, moments of doubt, mistakes here and there, and a few tears to get things up and running (and I still have loads of work to do) but I am finally beginning to see all the tiny pieces of starting your own company come together. I am grateful for all the amazing clients that I get to work with, and am excited about all the new projects in the works. I tend to get so caught up in the "go go go" attitude of life that I forget to stop, look around and celebrate the little things that really matter. So, I want to thank everyone one that has helped me along this crazy, curvy path. This post goes out to my loyal and incredible clients for challenging me everyday, to my mentors, teachers and printers for constantly teaching me new things, to my family and friends for loving me even in high-stress moments, and to my three furry, four legged friends for keeping me sane, and hanging out with me in my studio in all day.

P.S. this started as a letter to explain why I haven't been blogging much, and turned into much more, so thanks for reading.

*Above is a typographic illustration by Jessica Hische, who is a constant inspiration, as she pays tribute to Doyald Young, the master of hand-written letters and another huge inspiration.

New Design: Sweet Pickins Website & Blog

Last night the new Sweet Pickins site went live, and cannot tell you how thrilled I am about the final outcome on this site. Once again, Tony from Evenpar Solutions brought in an amazing client with an inspirational sense of style and creativity. Sausha came to us with a well-thought out vision for her site. She wanted Sweet Pickins (which combines her old blog Show and Tell with her furniture boutique) to have a DIY vibe that combined a variety of textures, but still feels professional, clean and elegant. Her painted furniture is absolutely gorgeous, so it was easy to find visual inspiration for this one. I designed the logo, web buttons and the overall look for site, and Tony made all the web magic happen. Hope you enjoy this one as much as I do.

And on a slightly different note, have I ever mentioned how lucky I feel to design blogs for other creative people? First, it gives me so much internet reading material that I cannot keep up (not even close). Second, I absolutely love when two creative paths (my design and DIY blogging) merge a bit. It keeps my artistic juices flowing, gives me new inspiration daily, and keeps the giant web of internet connections growing. Sausha, thanks for being one of my newest inspirations and making me want to start painting furniture!