FREE ENVELOPE LINER

Here is a little freebie for you this week. A free download for a C6 arrow envelope liner. All you need to do is print, then cut around the pink lines and put a small stripe of gluestick on the envelope under the natural glue line (the bit where you lick). Once this is done place your liner inside the envelope and press down on the glue stripe once you have it in place. 

Click here to download the file

Hope you enjoy it! 

The winter wedding

I know a lot of my readers are brides from Perth and the majority of those brides will probably be waiting for the sunshine and heat to return before they say I do. But for those of you who are so desperately in love that you can't wait that long and are planning on getting married during the cooler months here are a few images for your inspiration via Pinterest.

Remember that winter is the perfect time to bring out the big guns when it comes to stationery. Think thick lush paper, deep warm colors mixed with crisp whites and ice like intricate details.

Contact me by clicking HERE to set up an appointment for your very own wedding stationery.

Images are not my own but you can find them all here:

one

two 

three  - SIBO designs Etsy

four 

five 

six

How to talk the talk when working with printers

Last week I gave you the reasons why it’s worth the extra moolah to go to the high grade printers. Now I’ll give you some easy tips for making sure you get what you want when work with your printer. By explaining some of the techy terms that can send people cross eyed, you'll know the terms to use to get what you want so you don't end up with something unexpected.

Offset: Perfect for high volume printing and large sizes. It involves ‘plates’ of your image being made and inked before the image is transferred ( "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket, then on to the paper. This is when you need to know your pantone colours.

Digital: CMYK printing through a machine, great for shorter runs and photo heavy designs. Digital printing has come a long way and you can now print with white and clear varnish inks at some printers.

Letterpress: A type of relief printing where type or image is arranged and then inked before being pressed onto the paper. This can be a lot more crisp than offset as it presses into the paper. This uses spot colour not CMYK.

Screen printing / silk screen: Mesh screens go through chemical and light treatment to create a single colour ‘stencil’. This is then used to press ink through onto the print surface, you can only print on colour at a time with this but has great effects for posters and fabric.

Foiling: Where a foil colour of your choice is stamped onto your image from a heated plate and leaves a slight embossed texture.

Embossing: A raised or relief texture to your design created by using a ‘female’ & ‘male’ roller with your design on them. As the paper rolls through it pushes the paper into the shape of the pattern on the rollers.

Stock: A fancy name for paper or card.

GSM: The weight of paper. For example 80gsm is very thin 320gsm is thicker.

Pixels Per Inch: When you print you need a minimum of 300 pixels per inch. This means if you print an image that is grabbed from a website it is usually about 72 pixels per inch and will not print well.

Diecut: When a shape is cut from the print surface. A series of sharp blades are bent to create the desired shape and is then stamped into the paper cutting away the desired pattern.

Colour trends: Orange & grey

It's always great to see what colours are making the rounds in the design world and this months colour inspirations are so bright and eye catching it's hard not to pay attention.

As orange & grey really seems to be my flavor of the month I thought I would show you my favorites.

Anyone keen on new stationery designs after seeing this?

Image sourced from interest; image links clockwise below:
Image One
Image Two
Image Three
Image Four

HOW TO GET MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK WITH PRINTERS

If there is one thing print designers can unite in force over, it is the benefit of using a good professional printer. I promise we graphic designers don’t purposefully find the most expensive printer available just to screw with you, it’s actually that you do get what you pay for when it comes to printers.

So while I won’t go into the different types of printing here today (check back in next week for that post) I will explain some of the major differences you get from your designer recommended printers vs. the majority of the online services and stationery store options.

The online stores and “instant” print shops (where a youthful employee uploads your file & prints while you wait) often have glorified photocopiers, this means the inks will come out murky as the heads can't be manually set nor is it amazing quality inks. You are limited to digital printing - no offset, foiling etc. A very small selection of papers is on offer which can alter the entire look of your design and you are left to do the trimming yourself if it is not a standard size. They also can have a lot of trouble lining up double sided prints perfectly which isn’t great for if you want a professional looking job BUT they are great for quick cheap promo material or your kids birthday invites.

The reputable / professional print houses have more ranges of paper stocks than you can shake a stick at - if it exists they can get it for you, the machines are programmed to perfection for clear & concise colours so you will never have mismatched brand colours. They can arrange for foiling, embossing, laminate, diecuts, white on black printing etc - so there is a HUGE range of printing options. No size is too weird for them to trim and you get to work with someone who is trained to get your work looking perfect.

So the things to check before you decide on which printer to go ahead with:

• Do I really need this work to look super clean and polished?
• Will I be wanting a speciality paper choice?
• Will this just be a cheap flyer, where quality doesn't matter?
• Is this a double sided print and does alignment matter?
• Am I relying on the colours matching my brand perfectly?

So now you are armed with a list of question to ask yourself next time you need printing done.

Any designy questions? Let me know in the comments and I'll do a big ol' Q & A session.

New Mother's day card

Thanks for not leaving me to be raised by wolves

I’ve just put this card in my shop as it’s mothers day soon and you need to be a good offspring and remember to buy her a card and 6 boxes of chocolate ... maybe even a puppy? 

We all know how revolting we were as teenagers and should probably be repentant enough to treat her like the special lady she is on her special day especially since she didn't leave us to be raised by wolves.

Thunderbirds Are Go

I have neglected the blog it's true... if it were a child, it would be severely undernourished, wearing a rice sack and most likely living in the dog kennel. Bad ownership I tell you, I own up to this grievous behavior and will offer my heart felt excuses just as any owner with little remorse would.

Recently life has simply been too much fun to sit in a corner and write about it... If I did sit down and talk about what I've been doing then it would be almost as bad as those people that take photos of their dinner while out with friends just so they can post on facebook about how awesome a time they are having. Yeah those people.

I signed up for Bschool through Marie Forleo and so far it's a ton of brain draining work but also so incredibly useful and the women I'm meeting through it ... mind-blowingly awesome ladies from all around the world. I've even found a little surf crew!!!

I've had an amazing meeting with Michelle Ward, who pretty much made all my big nasty excuses for not getting on with some new projects seem like piddly little cop-outs. So now I'm working on some really exciting ideas but I won't tell you just yet. Only because I like secrets.

My work schedule has been great too and I believe there may be custom wedding invites coming out of my nose soon if I'm not careful. Now that's a pretty picture and just think of the paper cuts!

So now that I'm a little more on top of things and half way to the weekend I thought I would take a moment to show another board design that I have concocted and will hopefully be painting next week if all goes to plan. Enjoy.

Skateboards that don't have boobs on them

I LOVE LOVE LOVE coming up with designs for skate boards and snowboards. It becomes like an obsession where I can sit (or in my case, curl into a semi feotal position on the comfy rug) and draw for hours.

I'm in the process of getting some blank boards to print on, I think I'll print these 2 first.

Free wallpaper ya'll

I've designed a free wallpaper image for you all today because... I'm a complete and utter sucker for inspirational quotes and self help books (even writing this makes me feel like I'm admitting to some glaring lack of knowledge) ... It's my dirty little secret that I have stacks of 'how to do life' books stacked next to my bed. To match my book tower I also have bucket loads of post-it notes with hastily scrawled quotes on them, these end up in bizarre and unlikely locations only to be put back down, where they then scurry back into the black hole that exists purely to swallow notes, odd socks and the occasional left underwire from bras.

My other vice is far less healthy, watching continuous reruns of The League... I think this almost completely cancels out any zen mind state I absorbed from reading my plethora of books. But hey, whats life without a Rafi bomb or a deranged man beast running around yelling "GATTACA!!!" every so often? Missing zest is what it is.

I'm sharing this free wallpaper download for you, because everyone needs a little pick-me up after looking at thier emails in the morning or a reminder after the hard slog of the work day that lifes not so bad and if it is, watch the league.

DOWNLOAD PDF HERE

portraits

Following on from my previous portrait post here is a portrait series I've been doing recently. Customised family or wedding portraits, a stylised print for your wall or family greeting cards. So simple yet so much fun to work on ...

nest interior design

Last year I got to do some designs for an amazing Perth based interior design firm called Nest. They needed a small gift to send out to their clients, so as you can see from the pictures we came up with a small desk calendar.  Thanks to the swivel screw it also became one of the most fun designs to sit and play with that I made last year. 

ohhh a picnic engagement

Here is the second half of a wonderful shoot with C J Williams and Flights of Fancy from late last year.  Unfortunately I didn't get to be there while they were shooting this later section of the day, but it turned out so beautifully! Those girls have some great skillz...

I couldn't have been happier with how the little blackboard style save the dates turned out and it was so fun making up the little gift boxes. There is something so therapeutic about wrapping boxes, I think my subconscious gets tricked into thinking it's gifts for me.

I was so stoked to have been a part of this shoot, so a big thanks to Kristy from Flights of Fancy for organizing everything. She is such a great lady to work with, she's sure to be do some amazing big-scale weddings soon with her eye for detail and quirky ideas.

Here is the full list of everyone involved:
Mr Sparrow - bicycle, The butcher the baker the stylist & creator - sweet hear cakes, Elvi Design - dresses, Olive farm designs - hair pieces, Fox & Rabbit - floral arrangements, Flights of Fancy - mastermind and stylist, CJ Williams Photography, Pigeon Pie Design - stationery

back to work

How amazing is a couple of weeks off in the summer? I got a beautiful skateboard for christmas from my husband, so I have been spending my time split between the beach, skating and laying around in front of the air conditioner reading a truck load of books that were pure entertainment fluff... I didn't learn anything new other than that Sookie Stackhouse gives herself a lot of pep talks and has a tendency to slap herself in the face during said pep talks. I love summer! I will also be bombarding you with images from my summer time jaunts once I get through them all.

The last week or so I've spent some time updating a few bits and pieces before getting back to client work, I now am the proud owner of an info page in my Etsy shop. My design portfolio on cargo has had the much needed face lift that I've been procrastinating on since about, I don't know... the dawn of time? I've also made a couple of updates to the Pigeon Pie website (soon to be relaunched, I couldn't give it to you all at once!) so that I can share some of my favorite vendors AND there will finally be a new price list pdf.

You may also notice that the fabulous Ana from blog milk  has updated my blog, it's all new and fancy, so thank you Ana!

This year is looking to be a busy one but also so exciting (did I mention I get to be a bridesmaid in New York this year?), I can practically smell the opportunities lurking somewhere in this humid weather.

sweat like a pig

Here's another one from the Babes on the Run collection.
In the next couple of days I will be showing off some of my stationery from a lovely engagement shoot. Exciting!

Train mean

I've been lucky enough to be doing a lot of type work over the last couple of months. One of the clients that I've been doing this for is Babes on the Run, they are currently releasing a full range of women's sport tee's and drink bottles over the coming months and I'm lucky enough to be the one designing the slogans that go on them.

You'll undoubtedly see them being drip fed onto the blog and my website (which is in the process of being updated for the new year).

a time for healing

I got pretty lucky a couple of months ago and got to design the label for an amazing organic beauty brand Bkind. They sell so many amazing products and have also launched a couple of their own pieces to add to the collection.

As I got to design the label they generously let me take both of their products home to try, they are incredible! So if you ever happen to be in need of a completely natural moisturizer / bath oil or a healing balm that actually works (it's good for everything, even your baby) give one of Bkinds products a shot. You can buy it off their website and if you don't want to buy anything, just indulge me in appreciating how pretty it is. It's all shiny and everything... so on that intelligent note, enjoy your weekend!

babes on the run

Here's something a little different to my usual style but still fun. A great personal training group in Perth were wanting a bit of a revamp to some of their posters and flyers and I was the one that as lucky enough to get to do it. They are a creative, fun group with a love of hot pink and so I ran with that theme throughout. 

These ladies seriously know how to train you, I still hurt to laugh from a fairly brutal workout the other morning. Its all worth it though when you can see some muscle that isn't as hidden as it once was. So pop down and see babes on the run if your in perth and getting a bit unfit!

merry christmas

Merry Christmas to you all, I hope that all my family, friends and everyone else out there have safe travels and wonderful feasts with people they love. See you all in the new year, unless I eat my way into unprecedented cholesterol levels...

go get yo' camp on

yeah... we're going camping...

Just to sate your black friday long weekend shopping urges I'm offering a buy 3 get 1 free deal HERE.... so go spend ... go on, you know you want to. (yeah, I'm frantically winking at ya with the best used car sales man lip puckering I got)


Now onto a far less creepy but not less greasy topic, we're just kicking into some super hot weather here, it was 37 degrees yesterday which spells the end of top sheets and skin that doesn't constant sheen. A massive group of us have decided it is a brilliant idea to melt in this heat by going camping at honeymoon lake over the weekend, because really, whats better than going somewhere named honeymoon anything with a rowdy bunch of people, a collection of kayaks and an impending bushfire in 30 plus weather? (Air conditioning, thats what). I appear to be the only person thats concerned about the raging bushfire close by thats been devouring peoples homes but hey, if it gets close I'm hijacking a kayak and hightailing it to the middle of the lake, concerned only with how fast I can get away from the shore line.


So enjoy your weekends and unless I become a member of the BBQ club I'll be back monday.


P.S. Mum, Dad... I don't really think we'll get fried, the fire is about 3 hours south and it really is a big lake that doesn't even house crocodiles... just a few snakes...

giving it all some thanks

Happy thanks giving to all of you in the U S of A. Enjoy your long weekends and time with family and friends. 
Even though we don't have a Thanks Giving holiday over here, it's still nice to look back and appreciate all that we have and are grateful for, like electric fans, a beach close by and a wonderful family. So go get your eating pants on and if you happen to pop by tomorrow there may also be a special Black Friday code up tomorrow if you happen to drop by...