Observations on Working from Home

12/17/2009

Last week one day my boss let me work from home for the first time. I LOVED it. Here are some reflections from throughout the day:

8:06 am
No shower, no make-up.
Holey jeans, zip-up hoodie, fuzzy socks that don’t match & my winter hat.
Sunlight is pouring in the window.
I’ve got a pot of my favorite tea, a bowl of cocoa pebbles and a clementine for breakfast.
I’m getting started an hour earlier than usual.

2:13 pm
Having a more productive day than yesterday and the day before.
Maybe combined.
But I set the bar pretty low the past 2 days.
Nonetheless, I’m feeling pretty good about this arrangement.
Thinking of taking the dog for a brisk walk before it gets dark.

I’m praying that this is a new arrangement I’ll be able to do at least once a week. I LOVE saving 1 hour a day (drive time) and gas money and most of all getting to work in a quiet sunny office 10 steps away from my bed.

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Peddling Together into Marriage

12/16/2009

Between Christmas parties, cookie making, work, present wrapping and working on CCM, I’ve been finishing up two sets of Bicycle Built for Two wedding stationery this week. This is just one of several sets of wedding invitations available through my etsy.com shop Light Hand Design. It may not have anything to do with mid-century modern homes and housewares but I love designing wedding invitations! (Shameless self-promotion.)

Front of invitation, RSVP card & thank you card:

Backs:

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Wishing You a Shiny Brite Christmas

12/09/2009

I love my vintage Shiny Brite ornaments … as you can see from my Christmas decor the past few years. This year I was inspired to make a Christmas poster to add to our decor, ya know, being a graphic designer and all. I scanned one of my Shiny Brite boxes and made a design based off of it. I had so much fun making these.

The first one is the original.

I know it’s hard to read at this size … I changed the words to read “Wishing You a Shiny Brite Christmas.”

I’d sell this poster in my etsy shop but I have a feeling I’m infringing on copyrights here.

I’m going to order the last one for my home – brown, red and white. I’m thinking white frame.

Which color combination do you like best?

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Free December Calendar

12/03/2009

I just created a December calendar for my computer background (desktop wallpaper). It’s a sort of collage/montage of my dining room table set for Christmas.

Would anyone like a copy? The only problem is, it’s formatted for my macbook pro (1440×900). If you want it in a different size, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

If you click on the image above it will open the full size (1440×900) where you can right click or drag on to your desktop to save.

Let me know if you like this idea. I’m thinking about making one every month in Twenty Ten as a free gift for my mid-century modern life readers.

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Go On – Touch the Screen

11/24/2009

Have you seen the commercial for the new HP TouchSmart PC? As a devote Mac-user, normally an HP (or any PC) commercial would not excite me. But this got my heart a-racing! Mac has been using touchscreen technology with the iPhone for years now so I don’t know why a touch screen computer like this caught me by surprise.

Can you imagine the possibilities for an artist/designer? Envision Photoshop that you can manipulate with your fingers on the screen. After years of doing art and graphic design through a mouse cursor controlled by one hand, I’m so excited about the idea of getting both hands into my work, so to speak. We’ve perfected the scroll ball, the subtle right hand movements and fingers on the track pad; how cool would it be to get to use our fingers to actually draw, paint, cut, smudge, shadow, enlarge/shrink, turn …

Does this potential excite anyone else??

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Posted by mahlbrandt

On a Bicycle Built for Two

10/07/2009

For a couple who met four years ago on a bike ride and in planning their wedding found a vintage Schwinn tandem bike to use as their getaway vehicle, these wedding invitations were the perfect fit. Congratulations Paul and Erin! I hope your wedding is beautiful.

tandembikeinvites

It’s such an honor to be able to create unique wedding invitations for friends and strangers. It’s not that expensive to get something custom made and what a difference it can make in the first impression of a  wedding. Wedding stationery is definitely one of my favorite things to design.

If you’re interested in seeing some of my other wedding invitation designs, visit my Etsy shop.

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Posted by mahlbrandt

The Spice of Life

09/29/2009

I love the variety that comes with doing freelance work. Today I finished a web site design for a dentist office, resized an ad for a masters program at a university, cut up some business cards for a guitarist and designed/printed/cut fliers for a guitar teacher. And that was all after work!

guitarlessonfliers

Tonight was some catch up work. Feels good to get a bunch of things knocked off my to-do-list after a couple of really busy weeks. (The last 2 projects listed are for my lovely husband. He doesn’t pay me but he’s still my favorite client…and if he’s successful, I benefit too, so it all comes around.)

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Judge a Book by its Cover

09/21/2009

Have I ever mentioned that I actually have a real full-time job? I mean besides collecting MCM junk from dark, dusty corners of the earth? Besides baking sweet treats and crafting? Well I do … I have a very cool job as graphic designer and art director at a Christian publishing (magazines & websites) company.

For part of my job, I collect a bunch of images of covers for books, movies and CDs that are being reviewed for a youth worker resource guide. There is a lot of good design out there, especially that which is targeted towards young professionals. And sadly, there is a lot of mediocre design, too. Occasionally a book cover design really stands out to me. Here are a few good ones from my latest collection:

books1

Ok, so the first one isn’t really that special. But isn’t that umbrella cute? Fun rain gear makes rainy days so much better. The second one isn’t super cool either but I do like the use of texture mixed with sleek graphics.

books2

I like this third one because I’m a minimalist and I like that the font is uncommon AND the title placement is creative. I’m a fan of the watercolor map of the world on the Matt Papa cover. I tried to do something once with watercolors on one of my hubby’s band’s CD design and it didn’t come out anywhere near this cool.

books3

My whole point in writing this post was to celebrate this fifth book cover. I love it! It’s got several things going for it: 1. Nice use of texture & color & depth, 2. Good hierarchy & order, 3. ORIGINAL illustration (I am so sick of seeing stock photos used on book covers!) and—what really did it for me— 4. Unique typeface. It’s so nice to see something other than the typical sans serif fonts used on a book cover.

Isn’t it lovely? Have you seen any particularly good book covers lately?

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