Oh, Hey!

Long time no blog, right?

Life has been just a tad crazy since my last post “The End”.

What have I been up to…
I moved to a new job, which is great. I certainly keeps me busy, that’s for damn sure. I’m doing a lot more website design rather than graphics design. But everyday is a bit different. I miss my old co-workers, but I’m lucky that I still see quite a few of them often.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of Freelance design work in my “free” time (I use that term loosely!!). A website for a friend of my sister has been the big one. I’ve also been doing some work with a local photographer.

Hmmm… you wonder about Charlie, do you?
There’s a lot of mischief that comes along with this sweet face, let me tell you!

At nearly 20 months old (how the heck did that happen?!?), he’s definitely keeping Mommy and Daddy on their toes. He’s such a big, independent boy now.

I’ll be doing a more detailed Charlie post in the next few days (and by days, I mean hopefully before his 2nd birthday!). So watch for that if you're interested in what my little trouble maker has been up to!

What else…
We’re prepping our house to put it on the market!
Yes, even after the kitchen and bathroom remodels. We finally have the place looking spiffy and now we’re OUT OF SPACE!!

The process is slow going, but we’ll get there. The housing market in our little city isn’t the greatest right now – most houses are taking 1+ YEARS to sell, so I’m trying not to get too excited. Things will happen when/if they’re meant to (according to my wise husband).

Anyways, that’s what’s been up the last… has is really been four months? Wow. Sorry for leaving you all hanging!

More to come, hopefully soon!

Announcements : Etsy Showcase

Time for another Etsy showcase!

This time around I'll be sharing a few birth announcements.

Fire Truck Announcement Available Here!

All of  my current listing are completely customizable. I do realize they are all a little on the boy-ish side, but they can most definitely be customized to fit the birth of a little girl. Custom colors can be requested by sending me a message for a custom item (link on the left-hand navigation of my shop), it's pretty simple!

Elephant Announcement Available Here!

As I mentioned, all announcements are customizable!

All Listings Include:
- Announcement design (4"x6" unless otherwise specified)
- High resolution digital file that can be adjusted to a specific size for your printer of choice

Giraffe Announcement Available Here!

 When placing your order please include the following information:
- Your child's name as you would like it displayed
- Your child's birth date
- Your child's birth stats (time, weight, height)
...plus any other information you may want to include!

(More details in actual listings!)

I also design birthday and party invitations! I have a few listed right now and more designs in the works. Watch for more on those soon!

Here's a favorite so far:

Curious George Invitation Available Here!

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Have you entered my Etsy Giveaway and checked out the coupon code?
CHECK IT OUT AND ENTER HERE!

It ends this Sunday!

New Look

Pardon my dust around here. I've decided that with spring on the way, it's time for a new look!

I'm going to use my new web design skills for something not work related for once, and attempt to give my blog a little overhaul.

You may notice a new header... and the rest does NOT match at all right now! The header is just a little preview of the new look :)

Watch for more changes coming soon!

Dr. Seuss : Etsy Showcase

I'd like to present my first Etsy Showcase today!

Today I'll be sharing a small sampling of my Printable selection.

Now if I were thinking ahead, I would have done this post on March 2nd - which is Dr. Seuss' Birthday! Oh well, I'm only a few days behind.

Anyways, here are some of the Dr. Seuss inspired printables that I currently offer in my Etsy shop:

They are available in a few sizes: 8x10, 11x14 and 16x20. I can also customize the colors and currently offer 9 default color options - but you're not limited to just those - you can choose any colors you'd like!

I also offer several other popular quote printables, not just Dr. Seuss! I'm also available for custom orders, just send me a message and I'll see what I can create just for you.

View these Printables and MUCH more in my Etsy Shop!

Behind the Name

NuhHeart Designs, my Etsy shop.

How did I name it?
It was actually pretty easy. NuhHeart is actually a combination of my married and maiden last names (sort of). There was a little tweaking involved in the spelling of Heart, but it still sounds the same!

It's pronounced "New-Heart", I know the first part probably throws some people off at first glance.. it throws telemarketers off too, trust me on that.. haha

I know it's not a super exciting story, but I wanted to share anyway!

The colors and design of the logo was probably the more challenging part for me. I'm pretty picky when it comes to that stuff, so I played around with different colors and fonts until I found just the right combination. I'm pretty happy with the way it came out.

In the next few weeks, my friend Rachel at Rachel's Nest is going to be hosting a giveaway for my shop! So stay tuned for that, more details to come.


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I am participating in NaBloPoMo. In other words, I have committed to blogging every day during the month of March. I can’t guarantee I’ll succeed, but I’m going to try! If you’d like to join me (and a TON of others), you can click here to sign up (you only have until 3/5 to do so). There are blogging prompts available, but you are also free to do your own thing - prompts are great for writers block :)

Open For Business!

It's been a long process, but I'm happy to announce that my Etsy shop is finally open!

Check it out here: NuhHeart Designs

I mentioned it briefly in my 2013 Goals. But now, it's finally come to fruition. The shop itself is still in it's baby stages, that's for sure, but I'm working on it as often as I can. It's not an easy thing to do! There are so many fantastic sellers out there, it's really hard to find your own little niche.

Right now I have a mish-mash of randomness, in hopes that one area will take off and be my aforementioned "niche".

So, what do I sell?
Right now, I have about 20 different items for sale and I have many more listings in the works...

• Photography Prints
• Digital T-Shirt Designs
• Digital Design Files for Invitations and Announcements
• Custom Applique Onesies

Random assortment, right? Anyways, I'm hoping one of those areas will take off. I feel like my main focus will eventually be the Photo Prints and Digital T-Shirt Designs... but who knows? It's so hard to tell in these early stages.

I have plans for possible seasonal craft items as well, but I want to see where my current items go first. Time will tell!

Coming later this week... "How I Named My Shop"

 

Baby Shower

Our baby shower was held this past Saturday and it was a big success!! It was put together by my Mom & Mother in Law with help from my sister and Jamies sisters.

Our family and friends were very generous and baby now has a lot of the things he will need when he arrives. We're very grateful to receive all of those gifts!

Now for some pictures! I don't have a ton since I didn't want to be running around snapping photos the whole time at my own shower - but here are a few that I took before the guests started to arrive...

First up, check out this AMAZING diaper cake that my sister made!! It's a freaking bear on a tricycle, how awesome is that?!? I really don't want to take it apart!

She also made this cute little bib/wash cloth/onsie "bouquet":

We had a very cute froggy cupcake tower - cute AND delicious:

There was some great blue punch, it was a big hit!!

The recipe involved Sprite, White Cranberry Juice, Blue Raspberry Kool-Aid and Vanilla Ice Cream.

And here is a picture of most of the gifts - it's not even everything though, there was more on the way to our house in Mother in Laws trunk! How I managed to find room for everything is seriously beyond me, but it's all put away!

And since the shower is over, I'll share the invite design with you! Designed by me :) Personal info is covered up.

 

Thank you again to everyone for making this a great baby shower!! Thank you notes are in the mail :)

Baby Shower Preview

My baby shower is in the works and I jumped at the chance to design the invites.

Why would I want to do this for my own shower? Why not!! I design the same things day in and day out at work, so this gave me a rare chance to get outside my comfort zone and design something fun!

I don't want to share the full design here, since they haven't been mailed, but here's a little preview:

And this little saying is on the backside:

I'm really excited about these. The little owls turned out super cute :)

Upgrade

I decided to make use of my newly acquired student discount and hook myself up with some new goodies...

So I ordered Adobe CS 5.5 Design Premium.

I've been running on CS2 at home since... 2006 I think? So I figured "what the hell" and dug out my credit card to get with the times. I work in CS5 at work, so it won't all be new to me, but I've never had Dreamweaver before.

I'm excited to spend some time getting to know Dreamweaver better. Going back to school for Web Design has gotten me all pumped up to learn, so learn I will!

This wouldn't have happened without my student discount --

$1,499.01 in savings. 

Yes, you read that right. Thank God I didn't have to pay full price. At 82% off list, I got one hell of a deal!

I'm hoping to install this weekend, so playtime will have to wait a few days.

Mardi Gras Invites

I recently had the opportunity to create an invite package for a friend of mine, for her daughters Quinceanera. I did a lot of items for her wedding last year as well, and I was happy to help out with this too!

Hours were spent creating these from scratch in Photoshop. This is the first time I've used Photoshop exclusively to create artwork, I normally use Illustrator for artwork and leave photo editing to Photoshop. I don't like to brag, but these turned out pretty damn good if I say so myself!

I normally don't share my design work on my blog, but I just fell in love with how the final product turned out. I had to share!

All of the personal information and the photo has been swapped out, but here is the final design...

INVITE:

RECEPTION:

RSVP: