Some laughter for you

Have you ever encountered a social situation where you really wanted to say something to someone but didn't have the guts? Your problems are solved! ScotiaMade on Etsy has created a line of notecards that can be handed to someone or left on a poorly parked car to let those people know just how you feel. How many of you would have the guts to hand one of these to someone? I'd like to say I would but probably not!

They have several different versions, ranging from 'PG' to 'Adult'. Here are the 'PG' versions:

ScotiaMade has so many other hilarious products in their shop. There are great greeting cards, notepads, and gift tags, all with cheeky animals saying what you wish you could but won't. Here is another of my favorite groups:





I'll be posting later today about WWGs but I couldn't not share these with you!

Tears, laughter, and a little bit of Graphic Design

Man, it has been a crazazy day for me (yes, I said crazazy. That's how I rizoll.) I've been working on three different projects today because I took the day off yesterday to read through a wonderful blog called My Semblance of Sanity written by Michelle Brownlow. Michelle is a SAHM (stay at home mommy), writer, and illustrator (how does she do it?) who writes super duper funny stories about her kids' antics and how she deals with them. I'm totally addicted and highly recommend checking it out!

Her blog is not all about laughter, though. There is a really touching, sad, and amazing story to be read. Through her blog, she met another mom who had a little boy named Julian who was fighting brain cancer. Together she and other mommy bloggers got together and raised over 2,000 for that family in part by selling a piece of cheese (you heard me...). They also organized a prayer and fasting day and touched so many lives with his story. Julian lost his battle with brain cancer on January 19th of this year. He was 4 years old. (Crying again...does anyone have any kleenexes they can loan me?)

Recently Michelle started selling her beautiful illustrations on her blog with half of the proceeds going to pediatric cancer charities. Here is some of the work she has done:







Michelle is looking to expand this vision and is starting an organization called 4 The Kids which will have her art as well as other handmade products for sale with half going to charity. We were so honored to created her ad this week for that organization. Here it is (click to go to her store-front where you can purchase cards of the images you see in the ad):

I'm adding the ad to my sidebar so return often to see what else she is up to!

A Recap on This Crazy Week

Wow, wow, wow. Never in a million years when my sister and I started Wildwood Girls did we think it would take off like it has. We are so appreciative for all of the support and love we have gotten from our family and friends. This definitely wouldn't be possible without all of you, so thank you!

This week was definitely a learning experience for both of us. We're both learning how to work with our clients to get the best end result. It's been hard to figure out which questions to ask and figure out exactly what the client is looking for. Hopefully this is something we'll get better at as we go along.

Last weekend we had some free time to spend creating some new pre-made products for our Etsy shop

This week we also worked on a few custom banners for some clients. The first banner completed is for cake-business.com (They are still working on their site). We started out by creating a banner based on the lovely close-ups of cake elements they already had on their page. Here is the result of that:

The client liked it but expressed a desire to go more for vector/illustration based design. We also wanted to create an image that could be used as a logo throughout their site. We went for a frosting feel on the flourishes and we love the way the final product turned out! Here it is:



The next banner we worked on was also a challenge. This project was for GypsyCharmsJewelry's Etsy shop. She wanted something that could create a business identity for her and translate into brochures and business cards. Here is the banner she started with:




To begin the banner we first started with a color scheme. Her favorite colors are rusty reds and oranges and lilac/purple tones. We originally went with purple, green, and gold to tie in the Mardi Gras theme she has in many of her pieces but soon changed to the rusty reds and gold. We wanted to give her a logo as well so here is my first attempt at that:



After reviewing it she decided the mask put her too much in to the Mardi Gras theme and she wanted something that evoked more of New Orleans than just Mardi Gras. We decided on an interesting Fleur De Lis (which ended up being the same one she has in her carpet at home!) and a vintage feeling background. It took a while to get the color just right but everyone was so happy with the result!



The last image I will leave you with this week is an avatar we did for someone we know very well...our mom! She is fairly new to the Etsy community and needed an image to represent her on her shopping excursions. Here is what we came up with:

Are you a color lover?

One of the first things we do when we start designing something is come up with a color scheme. This can prove to be a challenge at times because we often have to tweak the color many times before finding something that works together. That is why this website I'm going to share with you is so great.

Colour Lovers is a website where people can come up with and post palettes and patterns of colors that they feel go well together. It's a great resource when you've hit designers block (trust me, there is such a thing). Here are a few palettes and patterns I love.

Here are some examples of palettes:

So there you have it. One of our secrets is yours for the taking. Enjoy!

No Rest for the Wildwood Girls

As I mentioned yesterday, this has been a busy week for us at Wildwood Girls. We've already had five projects from various places! We feel pretty good about that considering we've only been up and running for two weeks. Here are a few of the things we've been working on this week.

The first is a business card for LadyEireland's shop on Etsy. This was actually our first official purchase on our shop (Thank you!). She wanted something that felt kind of ornate and went with the theme of her shop. We all love the way it turned out!

The next project we have been working on is a custom animated ad for Liza's Boutique. She makes adorable hair accessories for babies, clothes, jewelry, and even pre-made banners for Etsy! She wanted something that reflected her shop and complimented the images that are included.

Finally, I will leave you this week with the design for our new business cards! We finally ordered them and can't wait to see them! We wanted to stick with our look so they are basically a variation on our banner but we think they will look so cool as a printed item!

Working Hard!

Wow, what a week it has been! Jen and I finally got our shop up and running and we had our first sale (which I will post more about later). We've been working out the kinks of being partners while living 45 minutes away from each other (lots and lots of phone conversations, emails, and IMing). We are having such a blast putting our creative vision out there.

One thing we wanted to do this week was create a little buzz for our shop. We ran a promotion in the forum section of Etsy for a custom banner and avatar. The winner of that promotion was tiff705 for her shop Princess Tiffany's Creations! Congratulations again Sarah!

This banner proved to be a challenge for us because she already had a very nice banner and avatar. We wanted to create something that was completely different, yet on par with what she currently had. We took the colors she suggested and her love of polka dots and created a banner that we feel reflects her shop nicely. Here it is (click on it to view it larger):

And here is her avatar:

Take a moment to check out Princess Tiffany's Creations. She has cute handmade hair ribbons and headbands as well as crocheted items and patterns. Very cute stuff!