Church Banners

By the way, I had the privilege of designing Advent banners for our church this year. I kept forgetting to take a picture, but someone else did.

Initially, way back in August, I was approached to help make fabric banners. My main job was to work on the concept. It took quite awhile for us to decide on colors, fabrics, all the special bits and baubles that go onto banners, etc. Suddenly, it was November, one of the ladies bowed out of the project, and I figured out I was supposed to be sewing it all together, as well. Now, I like to sew, but it's time-consuming for things I'm familiar with. I had no idea how long it would take for something like this. There was no way it would be done in time for Advent.

So, I suggested we scrap the plan.

"Let me do what I'm good at. I can design the banners and have them printed. They'll look great, won't cost us any more, and best of all, will be up on the wall for the first week of Advent."

The music director (the one coordinating this) was a little hesitant at first. She is very aware of the traditional nature of our church, and not having fabric banners might be a shift some people weren't ready for. Plus, she really had her heart set on fabric banners and felt she wouldn't be happy with anything else.

"Just let me see what I can do. I'll give you a call when I'm ready."

With that, I got busy. I really love designing. It's so much fun to choose fonts and colors, then carefully piece it all together. I enjoyed adding meaning through text in the background, for those who would care to look (verses referencing the attribute of that particular banner). And I added in some light flares reminiscent of Advent candle flames. I kept a traditional font and hoped the sunburst wouldn't be too wild for our church.

When our director saw it, she loved it. She had some reservations about the initial color choices, and I immediately saw that she was right. My choices (aqua, orange, pink) were too contemporary and not related to Advent. I think I chose them because they worked well with the Advent purple background. Muting them to red, green, and gold made much more sense. After that change, it was final! I made the order, we stayed under budget, and the banners were up for the first Sunday after Thanksgiving. They were on curtain rods that were held up by Command strips!

The response was great. Everyone really enjoyed the burst of color it gave our sanctuary, and many commented that we should have something similar up all the time. I had fun doing it, and it's always gratifying to be "in one's element." I'm grateful that I can use my knowledge for such purposes.

Home Tour: Living and Dining Revisited

Last weekend we had an Open House for all the members of our church. Our home is 45 years old and feels brand new because of all the hard work that the church put in before we even moved here. Every day Jon and I enjoy our home (and really have trouble picking our "favorite" room) because of what the church did. I found out at the Open House that the church built the house, so the members (many of whom remember when it was built) have seen it transform as ministers come and go. As my mom put it, it's like a Tour of Homes that comes to them, instead of them having to go to it!

So, the Open House was a chance to offer our part of the Tour of Homes. It was a chance to thank our friends and say, "Now you've seen it; feel welcome to come any time!"

It was a fun day, and many people loved the yellow walls (which had been a bit of a sticking point when we first moved here). I loved showing them the many handmade things around the home, some by me and many by friends and family. There isn't much in our home that can be found at Kirklands or someplace like that. Most of our decor has a story and a face behind it, which I love.

As a bonus, I just managed to snap a few pictures of every room before the first guest arrived, so the Home Tour blog posts can continue!

Before I start on any new rooms, I wanted to update the post about the living and dining area. Since then, I have framed some of my student artwork and put it in the dining room. We've also moved our baby swing out of the boys' room. I'm not sure it'll stay where it is, but it is the most convenient spot at the moment.

Here's the update!

Power to the People

If you've been to Wal-Mart lately, you've probably noticed their new branding for all their grocery items. And if you're like me, it's caused you to lose your appetite. Seriously, what focus group told them this was appealing??

You know what I think when I look in my cabinet?

"All I've got to eat is chili and refried beans, and that just sounds gross."

I can't just look on the shelves and see green, yellow and orange and think, "Oh good, I've got green beans, corn and carrots...yum!" (Not that I would ever say that about carrots, but that's beside the point.) The point is that these cans have sat untouched in my cabinet for two weeks because their contents are not easily recognizable by their can design. What does that mean? Boring meals for me, and less money for Wal-Mart. Someone was not thinking when they came up with these designs.

What do you think? I'm putting up a poll, so vote and let your voice be heard! I may not buy name-brand, but that doesn't mean I deserve bad design!

Creative Suite 4 Announced!

Today, Adobe has announced the latest version of the Creative Suite: CS4. If you're a designer/photographer/illustrator, you'll know what that is. If not, it is the gold standard in creative software, providing InDesign for print, Photoshop for images, Illustrator for graphics, and Dreamweaver for web.

The initial thoughts on the upgrade seem to be pretty good--it's certainly a far cry from the original CS, which is what I have on my home computer--and I hope to upgrade, at least with Photoshop. I have CS3 on my work laptop, and I'm not sure I'll recommend the upgrade there...I usually upgrade every other time, because in reality, I can put out good work with what I have, despite the fact that something new and shiny has come out. However, it's not that expensive to upgrade--a drop in the bucket for my work, if not for myself--so maybe I'll go ahead and suggest it.

If you're interested, check out more information from CreativePro.com. CS4 is scheduled to come out in October!

Proofreader Needed

E-mail forwarded to me regarding a piece I put together for work....this was the fourth unique request for corrections of the piece this week, and by far the most eloquent.

Dear Messrs. F-- and E--,

In appreciation of and in receipt of the same new C-- form, I humbly refer you to page 2 which provides the instructions for completing the kit. In spite of an overriding willingness to comply with your instructions, I find it difficult to fulfill your fourth, fifth and sixth enumerated request. Each enumerated request refers to pages numbered 10, 11, 12 and 13.

Since the case implementation kit has only (9) yup, count em, nine pages,and pages 10, 11, 12, and 13 are absent, would you please consider this notice as satisfaction of all my present and future administrative requirements in this regard.

Thanking you in advance for your simplification of my responsibilities,

I remain,
H--

Marketing, Chonko-style

Just wanted to make quick note of this. One of my goals for work is to gain a better knowledge of the marketing aspect of my job. I know how to kern titles much better than I know when to start a new ad campaign. So, I was charged with finding a class I could take. Today, I checked out UT Arlington, and guess who is teaching Intro to Marketing? Dr. Chonko. The professor every B-school student at Baylor had for Intro to Business. As an art student passing through the suits and briefcases of the B-school every day, I never imagined I would be taking Chonko's class! Depending on the times available, I may not take him (and maybe I shouldn't...I don't even know if he's a good professor), but it's still crazy that the option is there.

A Lotta Numbers

Today, my car rolled over to 100,000 miles, and it's still in great shape. We gave it a makeover with a steering wheel cover, new rugs, and pretty soon a tuneup.

Today, the money got to where it was supposed to be, and we bought my new camera! It should be in on Monday or Tuesday. And I already have two couples who have booked photography sessions, with one even referring to me as "the photographer" in her e-mail to her family.

Today, I presented an ad budget that was 84% higher than last year, and the president accepted it. He also loved the new web site, which is scheduled to be online Jan '08.

Today has been a great day.

Snippets

I don't really trust ads done by famous actors. I know I should use L'Oreal because Sarah thinks I'm worth it, and women should take Boniva because Sally does. But really. Sally Fields is Oscar-winning for a reason. She's convincing in whatever role she's paid to play. And I doubt Sarah Jessica Parker has ever invited a girlfriend over for help and stuck her head in the tub with a home coloring kit. So I totally don't buy it.

The ghetto-fabulous cat tree got retired a while back (not too long after it was created, actually). Jon wasn't a big fan of having...well, trash...in the house. Anyway, I was cleaning out the garage the other day, and brought it back into commission. Friday, was ecstatic over his "new" toy, and I've been quite smug over my success of reinstating it into the home decor.

Confession: I wrote my Compassion Kid for the first time--maybe second--the other day. I know, it's sad. I've been sponsoring her since I was a freshman in college (our dorm hall sponsored her and a little boy, and I took her sponsorship over the next year). I save all her photos and letters, and her last one asked me if I was still in college, and why I didn't write. So, prompted by guilt from a 15-year-old in Ethiopia, I wrote. I included a recent pic of Jon and I, and one of my doodles. Her birthday's coming up (Dec 13, same as my dad's) so maybe I'll send something else for that. It was cool to send a letter. I have grand ideas that she'll squeal with delight of getting a letter from her wonderful sponsor, and she'll run in the streets waving the letter around, proud to show it to anyone who will look. Then I realize, and I've written her twice in 7 years. Yeah, I'm a real hero. So, maybe she'll just read it and tuck it into a box somewhere, but the more I write her, someday she'll be proud to tell someone about the sponsor who loves her enough to be consistent in her letter-writing--and she'll have a whole box full of letters to share. Still, I can't believe I've wasted 7 years of getting to know her, and I only have three years left before she becomes an adult and no longer needs sponsorship.

For some reason, it doesn't feel like we're nearing the end of the year. But alas, it's fall. My faithful flowers have run their course, though they still manage to eke out enough blooms to make me happy. I've planted irises so they'll be ready to bloom next spring. And, now that fall is here, I've found that I'm not quite ready for summer to leave. This summer was so great, and the weather perfect.

But, I've got a lot to look forward to this fall and winter! Garage sale, camping, biking, the State Fair of Texas, Silver Dollar City, Christmas!! So, I'm glad it's time to move on.

At the end of October, Jon and I are going to try our first biking adventure beyond the normal exercise route. There's a "rails to trails" route from Weatherford to Mineral Wells State park, about 20 miles one way. We'll ride in, eat lunch, then ride back out. It will be leisurely and hopefully the perfect fall weather. Our normal route is 10 miles at an "exercise" pace, so I think 40 spread out over the whole day will be just fine. I'm so excited, and I hope I've earned the money I need for my camera by that time! (And yes, that picture is of me: muscle-y arms, cropped top, long flowing hair and all...okay, maybe it's more representative....)

I've finally decided on sale prices for my photo equipment. It was a struggle to balance the original value with what people will actually pay. We'll see if I'm in the ballpark when the garage sale comes! I really hope I sell it. Partly because it took me awhile to realize I needed to let it go, and for it just to hang around makes it harder for this pack rat to keep trying to get rid of it. And partly because I want the money. :)

Thursday at work I'll be attending an all-day diversity training session. It seems to be a fad in companies lately, and we've had one session already. The first session was to recognize that our mostly female, white, middle-aged group of employees is actually diverse. Now that we've established that, we've all taken personality tests to be explained at the second meeting. I'm pretty sure I know what my personality is, though it's different at work than at home. We'll see how it comes out! And that photo on the left there....it's just as representative of our company as the photo of the biker was of me.

It's quiet here today. The cat's asleep (big surprise), Jon's in class, the a/c is off, and it's just me, working on a work newsletter. I'm trying to spice it up with clipart. I know, I've been working on it for two years and this is the first time I think of it. That's why they pay me the big bucks! Anyway, we have a subscription to clipart.com, which is not great for ads or anything serious, because the images aren't high-enough quality for press printing. However, they're fine for desktop printing, and I've found "Photo Object" to be my favorite search option. This pulls up only photos with clean white backgrounds behind the objects, which helps when I use them for the newsletter or whatever else. For example, a normal search for "peppers" brings up this image:
But, I just want a few of the peppers, so I have to Photoshop out the background, which turns out to be impossible because none of the peppers are shown in their entirety. Without some major time spent Photoshopping in what's missing, this won't work. So I use the "Photo Object" option, and find this photo:
Perfect! I can stick that into my story, and it looks great.

For anyone who has trouble reading the small text on a blog, you can change the text size that you view pages. On an Apple, do this by pressing the apple button and the plus sign at the same time. Decrease it back down by pressing Apple minus, or go back to original with Apple zero. If you're on a PC, press "ctrl +" to increase the size, "ctrl -" to decrease, and "ctrl 0" to go back to original. Thought I'd throw that out that for those grandparents and soon-to-be grandparents reading the blog. :)

Speaking of, I'm going to have a nephew! Yeah, I'm pretty excited. It must be scary and a little intimidating to face parenthood. But aunthood...piece of cake! I've got it made in the shade! I've already learned how to change diapers, give medicine, put to sleep, and give zerbers when distraction is necessary. Oh, and throw rules out the window when his parents aren't around. I'm a pro at being an aunt. :) Now if only I had a camera to take great pictures of the little guy.... Can you tell I'm excited about my camera...and the kid of course!

Well, I think I've rambled enough for one day...this should tide you over while I'm gone getting diversified tomorrow.

Veer

Check out veer.com! It has stock photography and fonts, but what I thought was great was the merchandise! Pretty much everything under T-shirts, Apparel, and Accessories made me laugh. If my dad read blogs, he'd really appreciate the merchandise, too. He's the one who got me started, teaching me the differences between serif and sans-serif, em dashes and en dashes, and leading and kerning. So, few others may get it, but Daddy, this is for you!

New Logo

Our church is going to be putting an emphasis on service this fall; we have several projects and trips going on that are related to service. To help spread the word and get people involved, the Design Team (of which I'm a part, and Margie is, too--Hi Margie!!) was charged with making a logo. The theme is "FallOut'07--This fall, we're reaching out."

Logo ideas don't always come very easily to me, but this one did. So, I worked it up in Illustrator and sent it on. Surprisingly, there were no edits to the logo I'd sent around, and everyone seemed to like it. So, my logo will be on all the stuff for this fall's emphasis! Crazy!

New Things (Random Post)

Last week, I got the latest and greatest design tool, Adobe CS3, which has everything I'll ever need...at least until the next upgrade. I put it on my computer yesterday, but I can't bring myself to uninstall the CS2 programs. For some reason I'm afraid CS3 will be full of bugs or something. CS3 includes Dreamweaver, the gold standard of web developing programs. Dreamweaver used to be owned by Macromedia, which Adobe bought last year. So now Adobe has Dreamweaver. Adobe's web program, GoLive, is no longer available. GoLive is what I learned and used for my own website and anything I've done so far on the work website. I'm not very good at web stuff in the first place, and the learning curve just got a whole lot steeper! I'm going to have to find a Dreamweaver class pretty soon, or I'll be lost.


This past weekend, I got to play with my mom's new iPhone. It's pretty neat! Some people bristle at all the hype, but you gotta admit, it's a well-thought-out phone. Things like seeing all your voice messages, and being able to pick which one to listen to (and fast forward and rewind) is brilliant. Also, simple changes like having a button on the phone to record your voice mail greeting solve the pain-in-the-neck problem of punching through options to finally get to record what you want. ("Press 1 if you would like to....") And then, beyond the phone functionality, the rest is pretty cool, too: iPod (of course), camera, widgets, internet. Everything carries the signature simple brilliance of Apple design. I only had a couple of problems: 1) you can't pick a song on your iPod for a phone ringtone. What's up with that?? and 2) there was one design element I thought should have been different, and I was really surprised it looked the way it did.

Last night we had some friends over for burgers, so we bought some flowers for the occasion. This huge vaseful of flowers was only $4.50! And I set some aside for the table arrangement:


Along with burgers, we served Caramel Frappuccinos, a new concoction Jon put together. We froze coffee in ice cubes, then added about a pint of cream (yep, whole whipping cream...yum...), and some caramel in the blender with the coffee ice. Top with with RediWhip, and you've got a good thing going!

We had some cream left over, so I did something I've wanted to do for a long time...made butter! Do you remember making butter in class? I was in 1st grade maybe, and I remember passing a jar filled with cream along the rows of desks. We each got to shake the jar a few times, and then we had to pass it. That was so fun! So, I made butter last night, and used it on my waffles this morning. :)

I found that the best way to shake cream to make butter is while playing Dance Dance Revolution!! Yep, Jon got the XBox fixed that Cliff gave him, and we headed to GameStop yesterday for some used games. I came home with DDR, something called Corvette (how could I pass it up??), and a racing game. Since the controllers are still in the mail, we couldn't play anything but DDR, since it uses a separate dance pad as a controller. I totally stunk it up, but it's still fun. And it passed the 20 minutes of shake time I had for making butter!

In other news, I have my curtains up! Leanna and I have hemmed two of the panels, but the two shown here aren't hemmed, yet. I love the new colors in the house! I've also added a new welcome mat in the entryway, which Friday promptly claimed as his own:

So, that's pretty much a recap of what's happened lately. It's been a busy week! But I'm so thankful for the blessing I have: a good job, family, friends, and a home that makes me happy.

Fabric Fabulous-ness!

Last week, KarenD and I went to Hancock Fabrics, because it was closing. I just wanted to look around, and didn't have anything in particular in mind. However, while we were browsing, I found the best fabrics! They're fun and trendy, and I thought they'd work perfectly for LMNOvations, Leanna's and my craft business. So, after sending Leanna some pictures, and talking it over, we ended up buying 45 yards of fabric. It was perfect.

So, it's been sitting in my house for a couple of days, and I realized how much I loved the fabric. It would never go in my house, because of the very traditional blue/maroon/beige flowered-y couch that we have. Then, someone suggested a very good idea to me: why not cover the couch! We've tried a slipcover before, but those things are always sloppy looking. However, if I cover it myself, and cover each cushion individually, it will not only stay in place, but also look nice. So that's the goal. And I've picked out a coordinating fabric for curtains.

KarenD saved the day today by getting the fabric for me at Hancock's. She called me at the cash register, and the girl had rung the fabric up wrong, so it was going to cost me over $100. However, Karen pulled out her haggling skills, and in the end we got a good price.

Here's the amazing part. The fabrics were originally sold at $16.95/yard. Then, because they're being discontinued, and the store was closing, we got a great price. I bought a total of 75 yards (yeah, I'll be sewing...a lot), which would have originally cost $1,376.89. How much did I spend on it?

Sixty bucks.

And half that is LMNOvations costs, so my couch and curtains are $30. Sweet.

Goings on in my day

Well, today has been a different day for me. It started at 5:30am, getting ready to go to the hospital. Holly's baby, Sophia, was getting tubes put in her ears. I was going along for moral support, and, it turns out, to hold things as we went from room to room. Anyway, I felt very important with my arm band that identified me as One Who Could Enter the Recovery Room.

Sophie was not a happy girl. She hasn't been for some time, hence the tubes, but she was particularly unhappy for several reasons.

1. Her ears hurt.
2. All the medicine to make her ears better made her throw up (I was covered in green bean goo last night–another first for me).
3. She couldn't eat anything this morning, and anything she had eaten last night (the aforementioned green beans) had been thrown up. So she was pretty hungry.
4. She hadn't slept since 2 this morning, so she was pretty tired, too.
   
5. Doctors have scary snake things hanging around their necks, which they kept touching her with. (Also known as stethoscopes, but she didn't know that).

Then...she went into surgery (we were thankful she had been cleared, even though she was sick) and came out about 15 minutes later. We headed to the recovery room, where lots of little babies were being comforted by their mothers. Sophia was even less happy than before. Now, her ears felt better, but according to the doctor, everything would sound like a scream to her. She has been virtually deaf because of all the gunk in her ears, and every noise would be a rude awakening. Kind of like after your ears finally pop, only probably ten times worse.

Finally in the car, she fell asleep on the way home. I dropped she and Holly off on their side of the duplex, so they could make up for all the lost sleep last night, before heading to mine to start work for the day. Supposedly, Sophie will wake up a whole new kid, happy and pain-free. I can't wait to go visit this evening.

I also bought the Big-E Pak of Eclipse gum. That was actually last night, on a late night trip to Walgreens for Pedialyte, but it was still exciting. It has 60 pieces of gum in it. I thought it would fit in a cup holder in a car, and it will, but it's still sort of small. So "big" is relative. I still like it, though. Does anyone else buy a product for the package? Reminds me of the time my mother-in-law bought this great milk for me in Kansas City, just because I fell in love with the way it looked. It was in a glass bottle, with a really clean design. Very cool. I still have it, and use it to hold water when I'm painting. It was from a dairy farm in Missouri.

Speaking of dairy farms, did you know you can buy your own dairy farm? Don't tell me you're not tempted! Fresh (and warm...ew...) milk every day!

In regards to farming, my little seedlings are starting to take a turn for the worse. Several that had looked so healthy are starting to droop and die. There's just the right amount of water, so I'm wondering if it's the amount of light, or if it's too cold in the house, or what. Needless to say, I'm starting to look for coupons to our local nursery. Maybe I just wasn't meant to grow plants from seed.

Ah! That reminds me! You might know that my birthday is coming up. Last year I asked for things for my garden. I feel like it is pretty well-established (unless, of course, I go buy plants from a nursery), so I have another item on my birthday list. It is a handy dandy camcorder! A lot of you have seen videos of Friday; I've even put one up here before. But, my little digital camera has only so much it can do. And, it's starting to get lines running through the video, which just won't do. Anyway, I've picked out a nice camcorder (left), which is, of course, very expensive. However, I'm hoping to save up for it, and if that doesn't work out, I'll get the one right below this one in quality (and almost $300 less!). Or wait until a good price comes up on this one at eBay. All that to say, if you want to help with the Lydia Wants To Be Spielberg Fund, just cash would be great, instead of gift cards to any certain place.

However, if you feel like you want to give something else, I've decided to start utilizing the Amazon Wish List. (Link to the right.) It has some limitations, but it should give a general idea of things I think are fun, if you're ever stuck for an idea. For example, I would like a reclining chair for my back yard. At Amazon.com, the cheapest one I could find was almost $70. That's ridiculous, and if you see one for $10 at Big Lots, I'd be perfectly fine with that. However, when you see the H180 Holton Farkas Double French Horn with Fixed Bell, that is exactly what I want. :) Oh, and I also put a lot of accessories for the camcorder I like, but if I end up getting the cheaper one, then none of those accessories would work, so you might as well stick to the other stuff.

Whew, so much explanation for how to give me stuff! So silly, too. Any one of you could come spend a day with me, and I would be a happy girl. Of course, if you came with an indoor/outdoor weather station, that would be really great! Haha! :) I'll try to update my list, and add some more stuff, mostly because it's fun to "shop." Karen N mentioned the other day that she appreciated that her brother had an Amazon wish list, so I thought that maybe it would be a helpful thing for people. Of course, I notice she doesn't have one of her own.... :)

Friday has his own little medical drama over the past couple of days. He got his yearly round of vaccinations on Tuesday, and he got pretty sick, probably worse than Sophia, in proportion. I was glad he hadn't had any green beans, and that we were able to keep him on the tile. Poor kitty. Anyway, we ran him back to the vet for a shot to calm his stomach, and to make a note to give him medicine before his vaccinations next year, so it won't happen again. He's been kinda puny since then, but started playing a little this afternoon, and eating a few bites. He's resilient, and he'll make it. His eye is looking pretty good now, and I think it's all healed up. It still waters a bit, but the vet thinks that is a side effect we'll have to live with because of scarring in his tear duct.

So, I guess that's about the last few days in review. Our lives seem pretty busy right now, and March isn't looking very calm either. But, I guess that's life. Might as well live it instead of sitting at home!

Which is what I'm doing right now....

Tada!!

The booth and banners came in! I set them up, almost all by myself, on the receptionist's floor at the office yesterday. That way, we could see how it all goes together, plus that's where the break room is, so everyone coming by would notice it. It turned out so great! John came by, and he was very complimentary of it, which meant more to me than my boss liking it. (Brothers don't worry as much about making you feel good, so they'll tell the truth. Plus, John has a good eye for things.) He took a picture of me in front of the booth.


And here it is with the banners and everything. It's a lot bigger than I had imagined!


I sat in a chair nearby for about 30 minutes, listening and explaining as people came by. It was so much fun. I missed seeing the president when he saw it for the first time, but I was there when he wanted his picture taken with it, so he could send it on to his president at MetLife. I guess he wanted to show it off, too. :)

In other Tada news, here's a picture of my little plants.


Since I planted extra seeds to every pot, I've had to pull quite a few little seedlings. But I've been strong, and I've done it! The tall ones in the back are the morning glories. Those are an experiment going directly in the ground by the columns of my front porch, so I hope they work. It looks like I may need to start giving them a stake to grow up on already!

Things I do to amuse myself

Yesterday I did not have a good day. It seemed like it took me forever to drive in to work. I honestly thought, "I've been driving so long, I must have passed it up altogether!" But no, it just felt long. Then, I got to work and realized that my lunch plans had been canceled, and I would be eating lunch by myself. "Fine," I thought. "I'll just catch up on blogs during lunch."

But no, my internet wasn't working. Apparently my floor's wireless internet decided not to let me play. So, unless I spent the entire day in my brother's office on another floor (where the wireless did work), I would have no internet. "Fine," I thought. "I've got the desktop computer that stays in my cubicle. I'll just use that for internet." But no, that computer decided to commit suicide before my very eyes. I've never seen it happen before, but there it was. Everything was lost, and it took the entire day just to restore the operating system. No internet there, either.

"Fine," I thought. "I'll just call Jon during lunch, and maybe he won't be busy, and we'll have a good conversation." But no. A misunderstanding led to a frustrating and much-abbreviated phonecall. So by the time I hung up, I decided I was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

So, instead of moving to Australia (click link above to understand), I decided to vent with some creativity. And it really did make me feel better. It wasted about 30 minutes, but I figure it was time well-wasted to get my attitude back where it should be.

Without the internet, I couldn't search through stock photography for the perfect photo for our next magazine ad. The theme for it would be, "Working with Texas Life is as easy as..." and my assignment was to find something that denoted "easy." I had decided on, "Working with Texas Life is a walk in the park." To really catch attention, I wanted the park walker to be something unique. Without the ability to search for photography, I decided to do what I haven't done in a long time--sketch the idea out.

Here is the setting:

And here are my different park inhabitants:

I cut each of them out, and placed them in the park. My favorite is the elephant. One, because it's the only one that really fits proportionally, and two, because I just like elephants.
Although the skipping penguin really makes me laugh, too.

The idea didn't go over so well with the rest of the team. They decided it was creative and funny, but not in the normal vein of Texas Life's ads. We decided on something more sedate, most likely, "Working with Texas Life is as easy as child's play" with a photo of children playing. No, it won't catch people's attention as much, but it won't be vastly different from the previous ads, either.

But that's okay. The therapeutic value of these drawings vastly outweighs my coworkers opinion of them. And my day turned out just fine.

More new things

Today I'm working on something I've never done before. I'm designing a booth and accompanying banners for my company. Up until now, the largest thing I've designed for work has been an 11x17 poster. The booth is 10ft wide, and about 7ft tall. The banners are 3ftx8ft. This has been a challenge, to say the least, for several reasons.

My first challenge is that I'm very used to InDesign, and these should be set up in Photoshop. I actually set them up first in InDesign, because I couldn't figure it out in Pshop. My mind just wouldn't switch over to the different program. However, the printer wants it in a Pshop file, so I've spent the entire day re-setting it up in Pshop. Yet, somehow I still think I saved time by doing it in InDesign first.

I've also done more math than I've done in a long time. First, the file in ID was 1"=1' to keep the file from being huge. And because I figured I would have to redo it, I wanted a small file that would be easy to work with. In Photoshop, I'm setting the file at half the size it needs to be, with twice the resolution. That way, the file is smaller (at least relative to the full size), and all the printer has to do is blow it up times two, and it's the right size at the right resolution. So, the dilemma is that I have to convert my ID measurements to actual size (1"=1'), then divide by two (1'=1/2'), then convert to inches, because Pshop doesn't deal in feet (1/2'=6"). That works fine when dealing with a simple measurement like 1 inch, but when it's 3.125 inches, it gets difficult and my eyes start to cross. I was an Art Major, people!

My final challenge is trying to visualize it at full size. Will the logo look too large at 2ft wide? I've never seen it 2ft wide. Will the people pictures be overwhelming as large as they are? How large are they in relation to real people? Is this a design that people will want to look at? This challenge is the hardest, because I won't know for sure until it's done, and that's a mighty big risk (because it's a mighty big check to pay for it). But there's no other way. I've actually tried, by cutting the banners out and holding them up in front of doors or other things to give me the illusion of the right size. And it looked okay, but I'm not sure if that really gives me an accurate picture.

So, this new assignment has been quite a challenge, but I'm almost finished, and nothing's blown up, yet. Here's a picture of what it looked like last week. It's changed quite a bit since then, but I had to mock it up to show my boss. It took way too long for me to do it again, unless I have to. If I have to, I'll post the latest version some other time. :)

Toot Toot!

Tooting my own horn here, I wanted to show you what I made for the Love Offering for Jesus push that we do every year at our church. The offering is a year-round offering, and it gives money to the major things like Annie Armstrong, Mary Hill Davis, etc. Because it's a pledge to give year-round, the amount we as a church give to these individual emphases is much higher.

I made this banner! It's 4 feet by 12 feet, and it hangs above our baptistry. The Minister of Media helped with it, as well, so I can't take all the credit, but I was there to teach him how to use Illustrator, and for design instruction. It's the biggest thing I've ever made, and I think it turned out great! So fun!

In other news, I won the Most Positive award that my coworkers and I have been in the running for throughout this past month! I won $100! Considering that the Big Boss smoothly pulled out a hundred dollar bill from a wad in his wallet when he presented the contest, I don't think he would have really appreciated the money had he won. I, on the other hand, have only seen a hundred dollar bill one other time in my life, and I'm excited about it. I'm thinking it should either go to Friday's ophthalmologist bill...or to the State Fair!!

Yay for blessings!