Taylor Made designs

Christmas 2013

I know Christmas falls on the 25th of December every year. No surprise there... but for some reason, I find I can't get my act together. The season is always a blur of activities and before I know it, Christmas is here, and I am, surprised! I find myself saying, "How the heck did that happen?"

Despite my failings, we always have a wonderful Christmas. Nothing brings Neal and myself such joy as the faces of the kids when they open up their gifts. The kids say they are still "believers". I'm not sure if they really do believe, or if they say they believe for my sake.

Anyway, this year, 2014, I am going to try harder to enjoy the holiday season. I have the next 12 months to get my act together. I'm determined to identity the few things that seem to trip me up and do something about it.

I'm going to start blogging again because I have found, it holds me accountable. I really want to document what is going on in our lives. The quote, "The days are long, but the years are short" really resonates with me. Before I know it, my kids will be in High School and I'll be old. It will be nice to look back at this digital space and not just believe, but know, we've had a wonderful life :)  Happy New Year!

Custom Baby Showers Invites + BookPlates

This is just one of the five different baby shower invites I designed last month. I loved that I also got the chance to design bookplates, favor tags and tiny note cards for the entire event. The mum-to-be even contact me afterwards to design her thank you note cards. She said she will be in touch in a month to work on baby announcements :) Love how that works out.

Davis's Piano Recitals

 
On Sunday Davis had her 2nd piano recital at the conservatory, and my baby girl rocked it. I know there will be many things that will make Neal and I proud of our kids, but the sense of pride that surges through my body when she plays is just, well, touching to me.

To be honest, the most painful part of preparing for her performance is doing her hair :) Good god, the knots in her hair. Seriously. 

Like all performers, she gets nervous but the promise of dinner at her choice of restaurant and a cupcake afterwards at the reception seems to quell those nerves a bit. I wish it were that easy for me and her dad.  

{I am trying to upload a video of her performance, but I'm having trouble...damn technology.
I should just get my 9 year old son to do it! Hopefully I got it to work!}  

Baby Shower Invitations + Bookplates

It's amazing how busy I've been the last few months working on baby shower invites and bookplates considering that I don't advertise or sell them in any of my online shoppes. All orders have come via word of mouth, or exisiting customers. So, I finally added them to my Etsy shoppe.

Working on baby shower invitations are always a pleasure. I mean, it's a celebration of an upcoming birth... what's not to love about that? Everyone is happy and excited and generally, easy to work with. I especially love when I can help brand an entire party by doing the invites, bookplates, thank you cards, signage etc. The designer in me just gets off on this kind of project :)

OH, for any relatives or friends that may be reading... the photo of the invite is not real! Renée is not having a baby...at least not yet :)

Missing: Front tooth

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood and before I head out of my studio for the day I felt the need to check in and say hi. {for any of you who are still visiting, HI, and thank you.}

So much has happened in the last eight months and I regret not documenting them. I have made a promise to myself to get back here and start up again. Beginning with my little one, who reminds me, she is not so little anymore, losing her first front tooth. This was her second tooth lost. Yup. Only second one. She's a late bloomer in the teeth department. But that's ok. She's growing up way too fast for me.

Naturally, the tooth fairy forgot to visit last night {she is getting old and tired} ... or so we thought. A little looking around and Davis found a nice five dollar bill tucked nicely under her Sour Ice Breakers container. As Davis said, "she's a tricky little thing mum."

William had the MCAs today. Tomorrow is the second part.The stress of this test had my son, who is smarter than me ask, "mum, what are the signs of anxiety?" Seriously. Why do they start so young?

Spring is here on the East Coast and I could not be happier :)

Davis's 1st Concert | Taylor Swift @ Gillette Stadium

 

Saturday night I took Davis to her first concert. I know, I know. She's only six. {I was 17 for my first concert.} But it's not like we were rocking out to Kesha or Rhianna. Who by the way, require me to switch the station when they are on because the lyrics make me blush. No. We are talking sweet Taylor Swift here. Great performer. Great concert. Great tickets. Great time. 

There were 9 mums and 11 kids who went. We traveled in style in a party bus/limo. It was so much fun, absolutely no stress having to deal with traffic + parking.

The concert was suppose to start at 6:00, but was pushed to 7:00. So we were able to catch a bite to eat at one of the fabulous restaurants at Patriot's Place. {which by the way, have you been there? fabulous!}

Yes, she did not perform till 9:00pm, yes, it rained, yes we got totally soaked, yes it took us 2 hours to get home. But it was Taylor Swift, and it was Davis's first concert. And as we walked back to the bus @11:00pm, her little hand in mind, I looked down at her wet, happy little face she smiled and told me, "this was so much fun, you are the best mum ever." And just for a minute, I forgot all about the rain. 

A Day at the Museum of Fine Arts

 
What kind of parent would I be if I didn't expose my kids to a little "cultcha" :) So, during vacation last week I took the kids to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. We had such a good time.

As an artist myself, it pleased me to no end that both my kids loved the museum. We spent over three hours visiting all the different exhibitions. Naturally, William loved the Egyptian and Greek art. All reminisant of what Indian Jones might have found during one of his digs. Poor Davis was freaked out by all the talk of mummies. She asked if she could call me "kristen" instead of mummy... that's how freaked out she was! We could not get out of there fast enough for her. Poor thing.

Since we are reading all about the presidents, they were overjoyed at identifying Washington and John Quincy Adams in the Art of the Americas. They can name almost all the presidents. I'm lucky I know who the last five were! (and some of them I want to forget! ha!) We also managed to visit my favorite wing, the contemporary/modern art section. 

Now, I'm not a fan of self-serve, fast-food, so we ended our visit at one of their new bistros. I thought I could order the kids a nice plate of cheese + fruit like the good old days. But boy has it changed. Now it's fancy and expensive. Most entrees were @ $16 which for kids is a bit pricey, no? Davis will try and eat anything so I never worry about her. But William is a nightmare to feed. And, seeing that I was much like him growing up, I have a bit of soft spot for him and try not to give him a hard time about it. Anyway, our waiter could barely speak english - and I can barely speak spanish... so there was a lot of miscommunication. And not in a funny "sitcom" way :) The kids were hungry, but would not eat the food because, "it's not what we asked for mum! Tell him to do it right." It was so frustrating trying to explain to the waiter that there was suppose to be no red sauce on my son's pizza etc.  We ended leaving, hungry, tired, and well a bit pissy.

Not wanting this to dampen the kids experience, I found a Dunkin Donuts and bought them a donut + me a large coffee. Yup, a bit of Boston cultcha :)

Be Mine

Another lovely Valentine's Day has past. I baked over 60 cupcakes, made over 60 chocolate lollipops, and 60 Valentine's Day cards for the kid's parties at school. Phew. 

Davis informed me weeks ago that all she wanted for Valentine's Day was a black lab Webkinz. So I went online to Amazon and ordered one knowing I would never find one around here. {see, I've learned not to run around crazy looking for something} William was easy, I just went and bought more Ninjago legos. {they are pretty cool} For Neal, chocolate peanut butter cups has always been the way to his heart :)

Anyway, school vacation is next week. So excited not to be a slave to a routine. Neal is involved in another huge project at work and will be away for a few days so we are laying low. I have plans to visits the Art Museum one day, Museum of Science another day, and then hopefully attend a concert.  {Davis starts piano so we're trying to keep her excited about lessons} Add in some movies, lunches, and playdates and I believe we have a full week ahead.

What are your plans for vacation? If you say Disney, or anywhere warm, I'll hate you :) Teasing. {not really} I so need Spring to come... today was over 50 degrees and I actually put my roof down on my car. Just gorgeous... though I believe on Saturday we will be back to 30 degrees. wah :(

Books + Bookplates

Aren't these a great idea? I just designed these bookplates for a school fundraiser.

Maybe it's all this snow and people are inside reading more, but I have never been so busy designing bookplates as I have this past January/February. How long this trend will continue is unknown seeing we are heading more and more towards digital media. No need for bookplates then :(

Myself, I've been doing my fair share of reading too. {just don't ask me if my books have bookplates in them.} Much like the cobbler's kids, my books are naked too. Someday I'll actually get around to placing bookplates inside them. Although lately the books I have been buying + reading have been on my iPad. A trend I have been slow to adapt. But adapting I am.

I have to admit, it's quite nice to open my iPad and read anywhere: the pool during swim lessons, the doctor's office, the hair salon.  The problem... I like paper. Ok, understatement. I love paper. I like the smell of books. I like the feel of paper and turning the pages of a book. Swishing my finger to turn the page doesn't have the same appeal for me.

I downloaded Treasure Island to read to the kids and it's just not the same as reading a hardcovered book. It's just not the same experience. I'd hate for them not to have a beautiful library full of books. So I continue to buy them books and yes, their books, unlike their mum's, have bookplates in them :)

My latest reads: Cutting for Stone, The Slap,  Peace Like A River, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet to name a few. All really great books.

So, what are you reading? Are you reading a hardcover or have you gone digital?  I want to know :)

Hotdrop!

Remember the logo I was working on last year? The one for the yoga clothing line? The one back in July? Well, here it is again  :)

My client has done a 180. They changed the name. Which I have to applaud. I hated the original name...and very diplomatically told them so :) Around Christmas time they agreed and brainstormed for a new name. They came up with "Hotdrop". They are aiming for "activewear" for men + women, ages 14-65. So far, all they have is yoga wear but are planning on expanding in the future.

So anyway, I needed to design a new mark since the last mark no longer worked with the new name. The mark will be printed on all the clothing. I always strive to give them a variety of looks to chose from.

I have my favorite... #5. I like how simple, clean + modern it is.  It's strong.

#3 the client drew this and had me recreate it in illustrator. For some reason, it does not work for me. The "h" looks like a "b". Perhaps if I rework it and find a good font I could get it to work...though I did try a bunch of fonts, but it felt like an "h" on top of a drop, and it kept looking like a "b" still.

#1,#4,#7 are some of the original marks I created and then reworked. I like the overlapping shapes that create new shapes. #4 created a "heart" and evokes movement, flexibility. #7 the shapes create a "drop" and then I added an "h" to it. It also looks like a bird. Which symbolically respresents freedom, soaring, achieving new heights etc.

#9 represents a bunch of drops that creates "flames" hence, hot drops :)

If you have a moment...can you give me some feedback? Let me know if there is one mark that resonates with you... or if you hate them all :) I can take it! Thanks so much.

Winter in New England

I am tempted to say, sucks. But I'm not :)

Despite the neverending snow storms, tree branches down, and day after day school cancellations, I have to admit...it's awfully pretty outside. Plus, I get to wear my new Northface boots. Which are also pretty and are very warm. They have been perfect for my daily walks with the dogs.

We have been watching my sister Renée's pug, Gracie, for the last week while she has an event down in Miami. {tough life huh?} She's one cute dog!

Go Pats!

We had to celebrate Neal's birthday early today... since the only thing he wanted was to be able to watch the Pat's game on TV :) We take our sports seriously here in New England...when we left Burton's @ 5:00 there was hardly anyone left in the restaurant.

We headed to The Derby Shoppes to buy The Penguin Home Soda Maker at Williams Sonoma for his birthday and then to have dinner at Burton's. Have you heard of "The Penguin"?  It's a godsend for our family since we drink Poland Springs Sparkling Water by the case. You basically eliminate the lugging, storage and disposal associated with store-bought soda and sparkling water. Terrific for the environment. Anyway, after they {the good folks at Williams Sonoma} did a demonstration, and got my kids all hyped up for it, they realized they did not have any left in the store :( Total buzzkill. They have one down in Mashpee, but I'm not too keen on having to drive 45 minutes there and 45 minutes back just to get this thing. Kinda goes against the whole "reducing your carbon footprint" concept of the product, huh?

So, I'm trying to see if anyone else carries this product locally. Companies can't ship it because of the bottled CO2. Once I get my hands on it, I'll give it a review :) Happy Sunday. Happy Birthday to my husband, and Go Pats!

1.11.11

Is it just me that gets excited about dates like this? The date occured to me on my morning walk with Montana. (in the freezing 24 degree weather) He wasn't all that impressed. Regardless, I told him to make a wish. He just sped up. Me?  I'm making wishes left and right...hoping one of them will come true :)

It's been awhile since I've been in this space. One of my 2011 "things to do" is keep my blog up to date. Keeping a blog is a good memory keeper and I'm disapointed that I let 2010 pass by without a lot of entries. 2010 was a good year! I want to remember so many things. Unfortunatly, most of my memories are tucked into my little brain... and let me tell you, that is not the most secure place for them :)

I am determined to take more photos + write more entries so I'll remember things better. I want to create some new artwork, maybe take an art class or two. I want to repaint the interior of our house. Take down some walls, pull up the floor in the kitchen. Seriously. I have big plans for 2011... but for some reason, all I want to do today is go buy dog bones and treats for Montana :)

 

Buy a Goodbyn Lunchbox and Save the World!

 

Ok, maybe not the world...but you'll save @ $190 in a year by not buying plastic baggies + juice boxes.  How's that?

Myself, I hate the concept of plastic baggies and packaging in general. Just today I was in Trader Joe's and they had these delicious peaches and I wanted to buy them, but the packaging was unbelievable. There was a wooden box, a plastic lid, a plastic shelve to hold the peaches and then tissue. I just couldn't bring myself to purchase them. If I wasn't in a hurry, I would have asked if I could buy the peaches but leave the packaging behind. Anyway, this summer  I was determined to figure out what I could do to eliminate waste. Cause you know, all these little gestures do add up!

So, I hit the internet in search of an alternative lunchbox for the kids. I am not sure how I found them, but I stumbled across Goodbyn. I loved the clean design of the site, and fell in love, {as much as one can} with the lunchbox and their overall philosophy. You can read about it here... it will warm your heart to know they are made right here in the good old USA by good + caring people :)

The lunchboxes come in a variety of fantastic colours, with and without ears {to aid in opening and closing} and most importantly, they come with a bunch of dishwasher safe stickers for the kids to decorate their boxes with. They had so much fun adding the stickers to their boxes. Just a creative exercise in general for them. Davis placed stickers on every surface, while William, my minimalist, applied them only to the cover and his drink bottle.

We've been using the Goodbyn for almost three weeks now + we have had no problems. No complaints. The kids love them. I feel great about not using plastic baggies. The kids have truly embraced the concept of being "green" :)

The customer service at Goodbyn is awesome. Overall, it's a company I would totally encourage others to support. Seriously, it will make you feel good to buy from these folks. Those of you local, The Toy Box in Hanover carries them. Goodbyn has a Facebook page and of course, there is their wonderful website.

Oh, no one asked me to write about this product... it's just when I come across a product as good as this, I believe in sharing :)