Hoot! Hoot!

I swear my friends are still getting pregnant and having babies left and right.

Even though I continue NOT being a fan of baby showers, I am, however, always

delighted to design their invitations. As usual, they don't stifle my creativity with

a lot of restrictions or rules, just the event details, the rest is left to my imagination.

For this invitation, I did know they are having a baby girl and

her room would be decorated in an owl theme.

Before I worked at Gear, I bought a lot of vector stock files because it was faster and

easier than illustrating everything myself. But I learned some tricks on the job, including

learning how to use the pen tool better. Now I can make those illustrations myself!

This owl was based on a vintage trivet I own but modernized with stripes and a fresh

color palette. The font is Napa which I love and got free from here.

Usually, I'm not very good at creating designs that work for more than

one person or project. But I can see this one working as a template with some

color changes for semi-customization. So what do you think?

Wedding Shower Invitation

Some wedding shower invitations I designed last week.

UPDATE: Since Chris is harassing me for more information about my invites, here are some additional details. After trolling the blogosphere for inspiration, I was finally inspired by an oval. Yes indeed, the oval is where this all begins. Sometimes Often, I get creatively blocked and just looking at other people's work help jog my brain into action.

THE CLIENT

Kat, my friend and neighbor. She is hosting a wedding shower for Christine and Garrett and asked for something bluegrass theme. I went for the warm, casual, country feel of bluegrass music rather than anything musically related.

COLORS

Originally this piece was going to be black ink printed on color paper, but Kat didn't sound too enthused so I chose colors to match their Save-the-Date cards (PMS 173 and Black PMS 5)  and printed on cream stock. These were just color copies.

FONTS 

Cowboy Rhumbahut, Poplar Black, Viva la Rivoluzione, Yella Belly

PAPER

80# cover, Sundance Warm White by Neenah Paper Co.

Most of my friends are on a budget, thus they ask me to design things, and I help them save even more money by making some budget decisions. As a designer, I would love to get everything printed and matchy, but as someone who is always watching their dollars, I make certain adjustments.

++ Printed envelopes? Never. Yeah, it makes the whole package look great, but people spend seconds looking at envelope before it's torn open and thrown away. If you want to make it look special, use a stamp. Or choose a color envelope. 

++ Print versus Copy. Copiers are fast, easy and inexpensive for small jobs. With a nice paper, you get  instant quality for less money. I would love to be able to letterpress every single job I get, but the reality is that the money isn't always there.

++ Paper. Spend the money on paper, it makes everything feel better.

++ Do it yourself, but think of how much time you're saving and how big the job is. Sometimes, it's better to just pay someone.

chinese new year

design by Fresh Fish Creative

Chinese New Year is coming up soon, February 3rd, and this year I've decided to throw a party! We'll 

be celebrating a bit late but with my day job, the weekend is just so much easier. This is an open invitation, hope you all can make it. Email me for directions....it's at my house!

And the one below is a free printable, Happy Lunar New Year!

Click on image for a larger print size.
Design by Fresh Fish Creative

Birthday Design

{design by Fresh Fish Creative}

Click on image for larger view.

My sister asked me to whip up a birthday invite for her. We both tend to do things at the last minute - from the party planning to the invitation design to asking people to attend! So this request was par for the course. Happy Birthday, Trinh!