Milestones - January

Can you believe tomorrow is the first of February?  Once again, time seems to slip away so quickly.  This has been an exhausting week for me, but as I look back on the month of January, I have so much to be proud of.

While I am a very task-oriented, list-making person, I tend to not dwell on big goals for myself.  I think it can be difficult to look in the mirror and into the future, and know what you are supposed to accomplish.  However, this little business of mine has had my head-spinning with ideas and things I want to achieve.

I'm a big fan of celebrating when even small accomplishments are achieved.  Here's what has me smiling this January.

1. I completed my first start-to-finish wedding invitation suite for a client.  This was such an amazing experience for me.  I learned SO much, and truly enjoyed the customer interaction and challenges that were introduced.  I cannot wait to work with more brides this upcoming year.

2. I signed up for Stationery Academy 2013.  If you've been following along on my journey, then you know this was one of the main conferences I wanted to attend when I first started my business.  I am so happy that I have committed early this year.  It will force me to work hard to pay for the expenses of this trip!

3. Freshly Minted.  As most of you know, I have been competing in the Minted Challenges for about 6 months now.  It was my goal for 2013 to have a winning or picked design selling on their site by the end of 2013.  Well friends, this goal was officially accomplished as of Tuesday.  Much more excitement to share in this category, but happy to announce that one of my baby announcements was selected.

I encourage each of you to look back on the month of January and pick out a few things that made you smile or proud.  Let's celebrate the small accomplishments that will eventually make up the big picture of 2013.

Minted: Baby Announcement Challenge

For those that aren't familiar, Minted is a company that promotes independent designers around the world by hosting design competitions.  The winners of the challenges are then sold on their website and the designers receive a percentage of the sales.  This has been a wonderful resource for me as I grow as a designer and it allows me to practice, make mistakes, and try new things.  I have already improved tremendously since my first entry back in August.

The current challenge is baby announcements and voting is now open.  If you have five minutes, I would love it if you could create a profile and vote for my designs below.  I hope your week has gotten off to a great start!  

Tiny Miracle

Sweet Stripes

Portfolio

I have spent many nights the last month on my MAC designing and practicing with type, color, and graphics. It's very difficult to not let your mind go crazy with ideas and to stick to one theme or concept.  Part of my current struggle is to really refine who I am as an artist.  What is my look?  Are my designs cohesive or all over the place?  I think it's going to take me some time to really figure this out, but all I can do is plug away and improve and hope that my style shines through over time.

My cousin recently had a baby so I jumped at the opportunity to design her baby announcement.  Luckily the photographs were amazing (courtesy of Katie at Exhale Photography).  I really like the way it turned out:

Photo credit:  Exhale Photography


I've also been really starting to work on a portfolio of pieces to eventually sell in my Etsy shop.  I really liked the below phrase that my sister sent to me and thought it was perfect for a Save the Date card.  Since, I only got to make one Save the Date for my wedding, I thought I would use one of our engagement photos for this design. (courtesy of Lang Thomas Photography).

Photo credit: Lang Thomas Photography

I can't believe summer is almost over, but I'm so ready for football, bonfires, and cooler weather!
Happy Designing!
Brittany