I recently had the pleasure of redesigning Erika Brooks Adickman’s home page. She wanted something that was playful but still professional — I think we accomplished just that.  Have a look at the whole thing here!

I met Ashley a year ago through a friend and was so excited when she approached me to help her redesign her entire site. Ashley has a really fun almost whimsical approach to life and we wanted to incorporate that feel into her new design. 

She was inspired by an artist who sketched designer heels,  so we photographed her shoes and then I hand drew them to create the custom header, footer, twitter and facebook icons. AND it’s a completely responsive design that changes with the size of your browser all the way down to a custom mobile site!

If you love shoes, definitely check out Shoerazzi and her brand new design!

DIY: Clocks with Pop!

I found these little clocks the other day at Ikea for just 99¢ each. I grabbed a couple with the idea that I could probably do something with them.  I decided I would create each clock in a different timezone: California because that’s where I live (duh), New York for East coast time and Utah because that’s where I’m from. 

Using a small screwdriver (the kind you’d use to fix eyeglasses), I took apart the whole clock. It was really simple: 6 screws total. I taped off a small design with some painters tape and used acrylic paint to add a bold pop of color to each clock. I had a few issues with the paint peeling up when I took off the tape so I’d recommend using spray paint or paint pens if you have them. If you do end up using acrylic paint, just make sure to peel up the tape before it’s fully dry and you should be fine. 

I used the clock face that the clock originally came with as a template to create a custom face on my computer. Last step is to put the clock back together — again, really easy. And there ya go! 

Download the template that I made here. 

Freezer Paper Stenciling: This is such a quick and easy alternative to screen printing when you want to make a simple one of a kind piece. Works great on t-shirts, pillowcases, bags, etc. 

Supplies:

Fabric 

Freezer Paper (found near the saran wrap in the grocery store)

Fabric Paint

Iron

Exacto Knife

Foam Paint Brush

Cardboard

Directions:

Draw your design on your freezer paper with the shiny side down and then cut it out with your exacto knife. Then place your freezer paper stencil on your fabric in the desired location. After you’ve placed your art, with the shiny side down, iron the freezer paper with medium heat. I went over mine several times so that I made sure it was secure. Pay attention to the edges. 

Now that the paper is secure, it’s time to paint. When I painted the heart, I made sure to pull the brush in from the edge to the center so that it didn’t push any paint under the freezer paper. Once everything is covered, let it set for an hour and then pull off the paper. Check your paint instructions as they may vary, but mine took about 4 hours to fully be set.  I did the same design on a tshirt and washed it inside out the next day and it turned out great! 

Inspired by the many people that ask me for help on creating and coding tumblr themes, I have brand new theme up in the theme garden called Framework that will hopefully make it much easier to build a theme you love!

Framework is a stripped down theme jam packed with well over 100 appearance options to help you design a theme that’s totally you!

With Framework you can control the overall size and positioning of your theme and side column. You choose the font, size and color of almost every element on your blog. The background and header graphics are completely up to you. This theme supports large photos and videos creating a clean, beautiful way to showcase your work or inspirations. 

I can’t wait to see how people end up using it. Get it here!

And to see how I used framework check out these:  one / two / three / four

And since that cookie recipe makes a million, it’s the perfect recipe for sharing with friends. Plus who doesn’t like getting a package in the mail? I found the boxes and patterned wax paper at Michaels, tied them up with ribbon and sent them off. 

Pretty sweet, huh?

The other day I made a giant terrarium for my dining room table. The scene is complete with a man trying to climb out, a dude running to help (I’m assuming) and then a couple that’s probably going to make out soon. 

Today I launched a new site for a client who is a super 8mm filmmaker. He just started this company so it was great to help create a style and branding that really fit him! I’m really happy with how the whole thing came together!

Check out the whole thing here!

From this to this to that.

I’ve been busy working on drawings for a new project all day. I love when I get to use old skills and practice new ones. (Also nice when the project is fun and involves fancy shoes!) 

I gave an old (free) table a facelift yesterday with a little creative taping and a can of gold spray paint. Now it’s oh so fancy!