Reason 2

Here it is: I have a thing for really awesome fonts. I especially love hand drawn fonts. I recently purchased Hand Job: A Catalog of Type. Its a book all about hand drawn type and it is awesome. 

I have been looking at it constantly because its so inspirational. When i was little I had one of those learn to draw books. However it was secretly a book for pre- designers. The reason why? In the back there was a section of fonts on graph paper! I LOVED this section. I would always be drawing out the type. I really liked to copy the illuminated script type fonts. They were so ornate and pretty to me. I was also a fan of script fonts. I am still to this day loving script fonts. 

So Reason 2: I love Fonts. Always have always will. 

Reason 1

So you are probably wondering, "what does reason one mean and what is Natalie doing? I have thinking lately(by lately I mean the last few years) about why I'm a Graphic Designer and why I love design so much. I sometimes randomly remember a memory of me doing/saying/liking something that had to do with design before I was a designer. Even when I was really young I enjoyed aspects of design. This "reason post" will be the first of many. Stay tuned! 

So this Picture above is me in front of my bedroom door from my teen years. I collected tags and posters. On my door I would place tags that I thought were cool. Unfortunately tape doesn't stick for forever and many of them have fallen off. At the time I wasn't sure why I was so interested in tags. I especially enjoyed ROXY tags. They were always square and had the Roxy logo across the image. I was really into the beach scene in those days so most of my tags were from surf wear. How many 14 yr. olds get excited about a well designed tag? I was one of the few. ;) 

And yes, to this day I still collect well designed tags. But now I know why I enjoy them so much. 

Reason 1: I collected tags 

Quick Update

August has been a crazy month. I just got back from a fun filled week in San Diego. It was a much needed break for me. I just made a new header the the blog due to the fact of wanting a change an a chance to be creative.

So BIG news. Next friday will be my last day at Rusty Pickle. This totally came out of nowhere for most of you  but its time for me to move on to bigger and better things. I have loved working at Rusty Pickle, but for several reasons I decided to seek other employment. Don't worry, i'll still be a busy designer. I interviewed 2 weeks ago at a place and they loved my portfolio and hired me! So in September I will be working for Making Memories. Its also a scrapbooking company. I will be doing packaging design which is a part of design that I enjoy. Yay for a great change with opportunity!

Oh and tomorrow 08.29.08 is my birthday! I love birthdays. 

who doesn't love signage?

Parking Garages always make me nervous. Im always scared that Im going to hit the ceiling no matter how small the car is that I'm driving. You can never figure them out either. I always feel like I'm driving around in circles, but some how I always manage to get out of the garages fine. 

Now to the good part. I was using Googles Stumble and I came across this coolness.  

A-Z (thanks Hillary)

A-Attached or Single? Attached

B-Best Friend? Josh is my bestest 

C- Cake or Pie? Razzleberry Pie from Marie Calenders

D- Day of choice? Saturday, its the fun day

E- Essentail Item? My purse, it has almost everything I need in it besides my iMac 

F-Favorite Color? Purple

G- Gummy bears or Worms? Both but the worms have to be sour

H-Hometown? Chula Vista, CA

I- Favorite Indulgence? Ice Cream and Reality TV (you know, the good stuff Project Runway, Flipping Out, The Hills, Runs House, Rob & Big, Tori and Dean...)

J- January or July? Depends on my mood, but I would usually say July if I wasn't snowboarding

K- Kids? One day... in the future

L- Life isn't complete without? Family and awesome friends

M- Marriage Date? April 29, 2006

N- Number of Brothers and Sisters? Michelle who is 20 months younger 

P- Phobia and Fears? I don't like being out and about alone at night. Oh and dying because I was in a small room that was 107 degrees with no windows. 

Q- Quote? "Michael, I'm an Illusionist" -Arrested Development and anything from the Office. Im really into quotes that make me or others laugh. They are like Pop culture inside jokes. 

R- Reasons to smile? Josh always makes me smile, when summer comes, good memories 

S- Season? Its always going to be summer. But since living in Idaho and UT summer isn't really enjoyable for me unless i am inside in air conditioning or in water. I have no tolerance for heat above 80 degrees. I totally freak out when I get super hot and I shut down. Summer in San Diego is the only way to spend a summer. 

T-Tag 3 people. I tag anyone who reads this!!!

U- Unknown Fact about me? I've been to OzzFest. Ozzy was really good at singing, but not so much at speaking.  

V- Vegetable? Artichoke

W- Worst habit? I am easily annoyed

X- Ray or Ultra Sound? I have had many a X-ray because I had some messed up teeth. Braces saved me! Never had an Ultra Sound.

Y- Your favorite food? Spaghetti, Ice Cream, French Fries and California Burritos. I'm healthy.

Z- Zodiac sign? Virgo 

Cephalopod Chandeliers

Even though this isn't Cephalo-Blog I had to post these images in here also. 

I found these photos the other day and I had to post them. I love the pink one. It would look really cool in a girly bathroom. 

Birdies

I kinda have a design crush thing for plain simple birds. I found these as I was traveling around the web this afternoon and I found a new website called Spool. Spool is a website which has sewing related things.

This is going to be my new project. I'm going to hunt for some cute fabrics this week for my birdies. I'm going use only one branch and i'll hang it by a window. I can't wait!

I might even name them as well. Or not, that might be too much. As you can tell I am suffering deeply because I don't have a cat. 

My New Lines

To see all of my cute new lines click HERE, it will take you to the Rusty Pickle Chef Blog. Ok then click on the link that will allow you to download the Catalog. Please download the catalog. The images on their post really don't do the lines justice. Plus you can see all of my other embellishments which go along with the lines. I created all of the lines except Candy Land.  

I am seriously so excited about this! A year ago I was graduating (almost to the day) and had NO idea where Graphic Design would take me. I wasn't sure if I would even be hired. School makes you think that your work sucks and that you will never be good enough most of the time. I now realize it was a good thing that "nothing was ever good enough." It pushed me to work harder and do great work. I never thought I would have my dream job 6 months after graduating. AND have people purchase the products I make and really love them and be excited about it. Dream come true. 

My Amazing Activity Book

This is the coolest activity book EVER made. I'm not even kidding. Its also completely nerdy. You would have to be a designer to think it is rad. Veer is so great. I got it in the mail on Saturday and I haven't put it down in my spare time. My favorite parts of it are, picking the correct font, matching a color swatch to their correct CMYK match, matching the shadow to the picture, matching the correct Photoshop filter and everything else. Its so cool!

I was really glad I had it yesterday. I was at the press all day doing press checks for all of my new lines(yes I'm excited about that!). The book kept me occupied. It even has Sud0ku and I'm pretty sure I spent a few hours on one game. I'm really not good with numbers beyond measuring. I felt very designerish yesterday with my book and doing press checks.

Any day now I'll post some images from my new lines! I have been working really hard on them and can't wait for the (scrapbooking) world to see them starting Friday at CHA. I can't wait for peoples reactions and responses. That is the one reason why I wish I was going to the show this week. But ill have to hear from my fellow coworkers on how it went. I get to work on the new website while everyone is at the show. It will be nice to have a drama free couple of days. 

I love design!

Summers Heaven on Earth

All I have been craving lately is The Beach! Specifically Mission Beach. You have no idea. I sit at work and day dream about being in my bathing suit and sitting out on my beach towel in the sand. I would have a nice pepsi to drink, SPF 45 all over because I'm so white, and the sound of the waves crashing (and probably some crappy top 40 music station coming from someone laying out or marachi if I'm so lucky). I would have a beach umbrella for when it gets too hot and my beach chair. I would go out into the cold refreshing salt water with my body board and a huge smile would be plastered on my face. Then I would run/shuffle(possible sting rays) in and hop over the waves and paddle out. The water would feel so great and the waves would be so fun to ride! Then i would get out when i became too tired. And when you step out you feel so refreshed and energized and happy. Then I would layout and dry off. Then walk over to Roberto's for some Taquitos with an unhealthy amount of Guacamole. Of course there would be people watching and judging others choice of inappropriate bathing suit attire while I ate. Then I would go in the water again. Then take a walk on the beach in hopes of finding seashells that aren't completely broken. 

I could go on, but i'll stop. I sound obsessive. I love beach so much. Some people like the mountains, or cities or farms. But I love the beach and its accompanying atmosphere and culture. Needless to say I am Beach Sick.   

Near death of a designer, it might happen

I have been super busy at work this past week and will be until CHA next month. CHA is the Craft and Hobby Association and they have 2 shows a year. The summer one is this July in Chicago. This is where we preview all of our new product to the wholesalers. 

Since I'm the only Graphic Designer for Rusty Pickle I have to do everything. My list of "things to do" is quite large. Some of the highlights include, new rub ons, new logo, new stamps, helping with the new website 

(resizing all files and a bunch of other stuff), the several complete paper lin

es which are almost done (im waiting on one), oh and you know the Catalog! Im going to die of creativeness. I'm really going to be pushing it. See i have been working on these things since February, but its really too much work for one designer to handle. Life is going to be great.

On a good note. My whole entire family (mom, dad, Michelle) has been staying with us this week. We have been exploring the Salt Lake area and have been having a good time. We discovered the Hoggle Zoo. I really love it there. Its like a mini San Diego Zoo. Plus they have a Cheetah and I'm a sucker for Big Cats.  Here is a another favorite wild animal of mine   

This is Josh wearing the "manpri." It was 90 something, he didn't wear shorts and this is what happened. As you can see he is really proud. 

Look what i did!

So last monday Josh and I were hanging and I thought hey I want to do a project. Josh got a new Dominant board this past winter and it came with extra grip tape. The concept of the board was to "make it your own." But Josh liked his board the way it came so we had a whole bag of grip tape. We also have a really big stack of broken skate boards (we are saving them to make a chair or bench). So Josh gave me a board and I made this eightiesrific board!                         

Fall Out Boy - Beat It

A Visual Treat (Fall Out Boy - Beat It)

I LOVE Fall Out Boy and Michael Jackson. I can't get enough of this video. Its just really funny. I also believe they did a commendable job at covering Beat It. It makes me want to get up and Dance! I love watching Patricks expression when walking by the crazies. This is because its the same look just gives when he says, "alright" and "oook."

Fall Out Boy is also in my top 16 bands even though I think Pete Wentz is a tool.

This is my top 16 (in no particular order except Brand New)
Brand New
Blink 182
Taking Back Sunday
Foo Fighters
Jimmy Eat World
Senses Fail
AFI
Coheed and Cambria
Fall Out Boy
The Get Up Kids
No Doubt
The Killers
Saves the Day
The Beatles
Something Corporate
Straylight Run

Jeff Lewis in Flipping Out

I LOVE Jeff Lewis. His openness to being completely OCD and anal retentive is refreshing. I also LOVE Bravo. They have awesome shows. Flipping Out is one of my favorites. This scene is hysterical!!! And yes he is completely serious!

Baby Shower

This is an invitation that I did for Nicholes Baby Shower. Stephanie asked if I wanted to help out with the invitations and I said, YES! I think they turned out pretty cute.

Milestone

I have not been into a Wal-Mart for 4 months and about 2 weeks! Yes, this is a milestone in my book. I cannot stand Wal-Mart. Its just tacky, ghetto, ugly, cheap, etc. Its just really draining to go in there. Its sucks the happiness out of you. Kinda like Dementors. When i lived in Rexburg I had no choice, i had to shop there. The nearest Target was 30 miles away!


The good news is , I am now very happy with our Super Target which is 2 blocks away from us. Target is great.

2nd Anniversary

Yes the time rolled around for Josh and I to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary. Its kinda more then two years because we have been together for 4 years total. We didn't want to do the whole I've known you for 2 weeks so lets get married thing. I love Josh so so so so so much! He is seriously the best husband (or else he has tricked me into believing he is). Josh is the best!



He surprised me and took me to dinner on The Roof Top. Its a super nice place with an excellent dessert selection. We had a view of all of SLC and a front and left side view of the Salt Lake Temple. It was a perfect evening.

My FIRST Line

This is my first released line from Rusty Pickle. Its 4th of July inspired, but can also be used for other projects. I'm so, so, so excited! I can't believe this will be sold. I posted this flyer on Thursday to the website and 30 minutes after that we got a phone call for an order. Pretty cool.

A Longggg Overdue Update

It has been a very long time since I have updated! Im going to be on here more often now. I promise! I was inspired last night to keep this thing up. Josh and I have been living in UT now for about 4 months. I have been working at Rusty Pickle as their Graphic Designer. I LOVE my job! I just finished our 4th of July paper line called Bottle Rockets. I'll post some of the paper in a few weeks. Josh is working at ThomasArts which is an advertising agency as a Copy Editor. He also loves his Job. Well life is good and i will continue doing this regularly.