Here is a sneak peak into a bit of my process for creating a pattern from a hand painting. If you want to see more of my behind the scenes moments, follow me on Instagram! I'm @annewashereandthere.
New YouTube Channel & Tutorials
Hello! I have started a YouTube channel where I will be posting process videos and tutorials aimed at helping other artists. I have learned so much from artist friends sharing tips and tricks about their processes, I wanted to find a way I could give the same kind of support to other artists. I have two videos up so far. The first is showing my process for creating a half drop pattern repeat in Photoshop. The second shows how I go about doing a reverse image search on google to check for unauthorized instances of my art online (previously posted). Click here to visit my channel or the image below to start watching!
Business Cards
I just got my business cards in the mail from Moo.com and I love them! The quality is great and they came faster than promised. They allow up to 50 different designs for the back of the cards, which is great for a designer because you can feature an assortment of your work.
AAAAaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!
I won first place in my first ever entry in a Spoonflower contest and I'm over the moon! My design is available for purchase on fabric, wallpaper, gift wrap & more! Thanks to everyone who voted for my design, your support and encouragement mean so much to me. XO
Iphone 5s
I ordered a new iphone today and I paid a million dollars for it. Just kidding. Not a million, but it felt like it. Like many of you I now primarily use my iphone as my camera, and so I am constantly running out of storage space. Oh you wanted to take a video of your adorable dog? Well you can't. Because you already took 100 videos of your adorable dog and there isn't any more room. So I ended up getting the new iphone 5s with 64gb so that I will have room for all of my shenanigans. And it was expensive. Ouch. So now on to more important things, like, what case am I going to get? Here is a new one I designed that is now up on Society6.
I Joined Society6!
Today I joined Society6! You can shop my store at www.society6.com/annewashere. Here are just a few of the products I have available so far....
Valentine's Day in August
As a stationery and surface designer, I am usually working 6-8 months ahead of a season. While your days (or day-dreams) are filled with images of summer, sunshine, bathing suits and BBQs; mine are filled with images of hearts, cupids and love notes. I am currently designing for Valentine's Day. My first project was to do a series of boxed laser cut valentine cards. I usually start the design process by brainstorming a list of words and then with those words in mind, I create an inspiration board.
Next I start fleshing out a few ideas by doing some simple hand drawn or digital sketches.
Once I have a few sketches that I'm happy with, I start bringing the designs to life by creating digital mocks.
The next project was to design a valentine themed kraft paper party collection, including boxes, gift bags, and tableware.
Valentine's Day reminds me of being in grade school and creating adorable little mail slots out of kleenex boxes and stuffing them with the cutest hand crafted envelopes and cards. I knew I wanted the party collection to have a postal theme, with envelopes, stamps, postmarks and of course lots of hearts. But I needed to push the cuteness factor to another level. What better way to do this than to incorporate dogs?!
First to design were these adorable little gift boxes with kraft paper lids, baker's twine bows and coordinating tags.
The rest of the party collection included, gift bags, paper plates, paper napkins and party bags. Everything you need to throw the most adorable Valentine's Day party!
I can't wait to see the real samples when they come in. I'll share them with you when they do. One of the most gratifying parts of being a designer is seeing your ideas go from concept to reality.
Lastly, here is a picture of my dog, Midji, displeased with me for not including her in the puppy love notes party collection.
