chimesblog

… if you live in Ames.

Remember that vending machine I told you about? The ArtVend project that lives at Wheatsfield in Ames?

My teeny tiny wallets (now not-so-teeny tiny at 5″x2.5″) and my zippy bags will be in there starting in December.

Teeny tiny wallets are $5 …

And zippy bags are $10.

I’m excited! I’m making things in the next couple of weeks for Market Day and will hopefully have 5-10 of each leftover so I can vend in December.

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DON’T WORRY. I’m not leaving my job. I just put this together so I’d have it for the off-chance I’d have an opportunity to do some freelance.

I created a little portfolio booklet out of some FREE paper samples (Neenah and French) in the style of one of my wallets. It’s about half the size of a letter-sized sheet of paper.

Anyway, I like it. And I thought I’d share.

Check it out.

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Every once in a while I get a quickie freebie freelance project request. I don’t do free work. However, I will donate my time if it’s a good cause and if it’s for a person I know won’t abuse my time.

I also like to involve friends of mine in these freebie projects by asking them to use some of their artwork or photography.  One thing I always ask if I do something for free is to put my name and the artist whose work I’m featuring’s name on the piece as well.

So, I got a request the other day from a good friend’s little sister. She’s working with fellow social worker students at UNI to put together a fundraiser for Seeds of Hope to promote awareness about domestic violence and abuse.

Here’s my quickie poster … I need approval yet and I need to add credits to my friend and myself.

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it’s really exciting when something that you design gets printed … but it’s even more exciting when something you designed not-for-work (for FUN) gets printed!

I received these pretty packages in the mail …

They’re CDs that I designed for my friend Flip’s band The Half Hearts. My friend Kim did the paintings and I created the layout. They had them professionally printed and packaged and sent me a couple for my portfolio. Sooooo exciting! (probably WAY more exciting to them though!)

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eventually I’m going to move posts like this to my main site (chimesdesign.com), but until I get a chance to redesign the site and this blog, I’m keeping it here.

I’ve been collaborating on a project with my friend Kim, who’s an artist and activist living in NYC, and I’m starting to pull together some ideas. Here’s a few little scraps of what I’m working on to tickle your fancy. I’ll post the final product once it’s approved and accepted by the client.

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I always have something cooking.  So I’ve decided this is the year that I purge. And by purge, that means I honestly use all of the stuff that I’ve hoarded (ie. art and craft supplies) or they go to a good home or good will.

So, to start the year, I’m going to go through my apartment once a week with three bags (or boxes).  One bag for things that are recyclable. This will go to work with me so I can put it in the bins that don’t need sorting (cuz I’m lazy and apt to get rid of more this way).  Another bag for things that can go to Good Will.  And the final is for anything that doesn’t fit into either of these categories but that I do need to get rid of.  Hopefully it won’t be anything, but just in case.

In addition, I’m going to finally FO all of my WIPs.  For you non-craftsters, that means finish off all my works-in-progress.

This includes, but is not limited to:

1. Travis’s t-shirt quilt (ie. I need to start it)
2. the black and white quilt — still in piecing mode
3. coin stack quilt — needs quilted
4. Hello Betty quilt — needs quilted
5. tattoo dish set — 8 dishes left
6. Roseanne afghan — this could continue to be a WIP since I just pick it up when I’m sick or bored
7. quilted potholders

Also, I realized I have a lot of stuff that I can do things with that I have just been hoarding. Example — jeans.  I refuse to throw away jeans.  I need to get rid of them.  Good will? Likely.  BUT I could be crafty.  I could cut them up and make some patchwork things out of them. Patchwork pillows? Patchwork wallets?  How fun.  I could have a whole jeans line this year.  That would be fun.  Maybe I shall.  But I need to figure out some sort of twist so it’s not just the kitschy “let’s make things from jeans” look that everybody else has.  So maybe I’ll master wonky log cabin patchwork and create potholders, pillows, coasters and the like.  We shall see. Instead, I’m going to blog about it.  But maybe I move my jeans from the random spot they’re living to my fabric pile so I at least have a head start there.

So I guess that’s it for projects.  I have a few other freelance pieces that are in the works.

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Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, but when it rains, it pours.

I’ve been kind of complaining about money lately (really, who isn’t?). I’d taken out some extra flex dollars this year to pay for physical therapy, so my paychecks are $100 less each month. I also bought a car, which means I’ve got a $200 bill each month after insurance. So anyway, things are a bit tighter than I anticipated. I hadn’t banked on the $100 less on my paycheck. I realize that I’ve also been really dependent upon freelance and crafting for some extra income.

Anyway, somebody upstairs (or downstairs, or somebodies, or somebody who doesn’t exist at all — depending on your religious beliefs) was paying attention because fortune has smiled down upon me.

Not everything will pan out right away, but once things do, I will be sitting pretty, or more comfortably at least.

First, a local law firm asked me to redesign their logo, letterhead, business cards and other business materials. Possibly a website.  They are a serious client (yay!) and are willing to compensate me for my work.  This is exciting as many people don’t value design enough to seek out a talented professional and pay them what they’re worth.  Anyway, I sent them an estimate and contract and I’m just waiting to hear back to start. Should be an interesting endeavor!  Something different from most law firms, so it’s very exciting for me to be able to help them out and brand them.

Also, I’ve been working on a website for my friend Kim’s friend, Lisa.  I’ve put the bare bones together and I just have to work through all the technical stuff (you know, the hard part!) … and then we’ll be off and running. She has really amazing work, so I’m glad to be able to help her on this project.  She’s my first official BIG paying freelance job, so I was very thankful for that.  Most freelance stuff I’ve done has been pretty small, so I was excited for this opportunity. Plus, I love helping out the artist community.

AND I found a few other art/craft shows to participate in the next few months.

First — Relish the Hellish. This is going to be way cool. I’ll be able to sell some of my rock/punk/dark stuff here (I don’t usually at Market Day).  It’s basically an art/music event held at a local tattoo shop.  There’s going to be a lot of local vendors there, and I’m especially excited because Sew Zinski is going to be there (I blogged about her awesome work a while back) so I’ll finally get to meet her in person. We’ve been tweeting back and forth and I hear things about her (and vice versa) from my co-worker.  She seems like a cool cat.

Anywho — Relish the Hellish is the SAME DAY as Market Day!! Eep. Oh well. I’ve got it under control!

The other craft show is actually in my neighborhood — I’ll have more details later — but it’s the same day as Market Day in September! This one’s even crazier because there’s only an hour between events… I might need some help for this one!

ALSO, I won two blog giveaways today!! Wow.

Crazy.

I will blog more about the giveaways, Relish the Hellish and the other craft show! Right now, I’ve got to get headed to bed.

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I’ve got a TON of stuff I have to do this weekend! It’s crazy, but I’m staying in and getting it done!

1. I’ve got a couple of paying freelance projects so I’m going to blow their minds and try to get a chunk of work done on them this weekend (one of them that’s not due until Sept. I’m pretty sure I can actually finish today).Kim‘s friend, Lisa Inman, and I are working together to update her website. She likes her current one, but she doesn’t like that she can’t do the updates (or atleast that’s what I’ve gotten from her so far).  She’s supposed to send me the original artwork today so I can work from those files since she likes the current design of her site.

   I’ve got an order for some customized wedding rehearsal dinner invites based on the sunflower invites I listed the other day.  It’s going to be a whole package: invites, envelopes, mailing labels, table place cards and tags for favors. I’ve got the invites and labels done. I need to pick an envelope and order it. I am designing the place cards and tags today.

2. I’ve got an awesome album cover project I’ve been working on since February that I need to throw together a press kit before the end of the weekend.  I’ve been working with The Half Hearts — who will actually be coming to Des Moines on August 19 if anybody’s interested — on their album art for their very first album.  My friend Kim did the painting that’s the basis of the album cover.  The album’s finished mastering and they’re planning to send a press kit August 1, so I’ve got to get a few things together for them to print.  That’s the first thing I’m doing when I’m done blogging here (important things first, right? hehe).
3. I’ve got an order for 2 custom tattoo mugs for my co-worker, Tory.  She’s the one I did the cute sunflower wedding shower invites for the other day. I don’t think she needs them right away, but I told her I’d do them this weekend, so I best stick to that.
4. I’ve got some dishes I started working on last weekend that I need to finish and bake. It’s a set of 8 — 4 bowls and 4 plates. I’d like to get that done today. I only have 2 more bowls left to paint, so that shouldn’t be a problem.
5. I need to paint a set of 16 dishes before Market Day next weekend.  I’m doing an entire set with the tattoo theme. I haven’t completely decided what’s going where…but I’m thinking mainly swallows and flowers on these dishes.  I might pick up a few more colors of paint before I get started on these.  It’s kind of a time-consuming project though, so I might not try to push it for before Market Day.
6. Speaking of Market Day … I need to blog about my deals that I’ll be doing — including a special deal if you advertise or blog about me somewhere.  Details to come!
7. I’m doing a Michael Jackson Craft Swap. Yes. For real. Go ahead and groan.  Unfortunately, I got paired with somebody in Australia, so that limits what I can make because of the price of shipping. I had some really cool things planned before we got partners, but I can’t afford to ship there and I’d rather spend money on the things to swap than on shipping.  I’m completely lost for ideas, which is not good.  I was originally going to make a 16-piece dinner set with silhouettes, but, not shipping that to Aussie for price and fear it will break.  Anyway, I’ll be brainstorming this weekend and purchasing supplies. I have until 8 PM to figure it out since Hobby Lobby closes at 8 and isn’t open tomorrow. I guess I can go to Michael’s but I like Hobby Lobby.
8. And … I have a few backburner projects that if I have time I’ll get done this weekend.  I was hoping to make a bunch of fast t-shirt bags to sell for $1-$2 at Market Day since it’s a BYOB sort of deal. A few people were upset last time that I didn’t have bags, but it’s like Farmer’s Market…bring your own bag.

I’ll probably put my string quilt away. I’m getting sick of looking at it and I know I’ll just end up working on that instead of these projects that need to get done.

Anyway, wish me luck.  I also need to run sometime today, so hopefully the weather cooperates. I had a bad week for working out and I ate terribly the last 2 weeks…so I’m definitely feeling like BLAH right now.

AND … I’m off!

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I’m so excited about this!

My co-worker, Tory, asked me late this afternoon if I could possibly help her with her sister’s wedding shower invitations. She’d ordered 30 invitations from some bogus company (who shall remain nameless — honestly b/c I don’t remember the name!) and they never sent her a proof… let alone sent the ACTUAL invites. But they did remember to charge her card!

Anyway, she really needs to send these invites out on Friday.  Can I help?

Sure!

Normally I’d hesitate, but Tory knew exactly what she wanted and was able to provide me with copy within 5 minutes… so I was off and running.  She showed me the original cards she ordered, just for reference.

She said she really liked the modern look and how the border was brown — her sister’s bridesmaid dresses are brown.

She also said they’re doing a sunflower prairie theme.

So I took the sunflower prairie idea… the modern motifs…and a bit of my own style and whipped her up something in about an hour tonight.

Here’s what I came up with. I’m changing the font to the light version — my hard drive crashed last week and I lost all my fonts, but I can change it tomorrow at work quick over lunch or something.  I also fixed the sunflower in the upper right corner (part of the petal is missing).

I gave her 3 versions.  They went with the first version. The brown one was my fav, but I would have had to clean up the flowers a little bit.

THANKS to BittBox for the free sunflower vectors. I owe that blog my life, I swear.  Textures and vectors galore!

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I realized that I’ve kind of taken on a lot of projects this month…

Just to keep myself sane and to have some ppl hold me accountable (ie. my oh-so-loyal blog readers), I’m listing them and will hopefully remember I have this list so I can add to it and cross stuff off as things are completed.

1. INK Tattoo Studios Website: Change out logo, change up colors, add a flickr widget and make some more themes… most importantly — get Mark to add content (it’s naked now, and the website is on the business cards I just had printed for him!)
2. Kim’s Website/Blog: Get a gallery of some sort up and running (flickr is ideal) DONE!
3. Half Hearts Album: Get final files to the band or vendor for printing (waiting to hear back as to where we’re at)
4. Bras For the Cause: Collaborate with Kim to make a very unique and artistic bra for the event in September
5. Craftster.org’s heavy metal swap: not sure what I’m doing yet since I don’t have a partner, but will know tomorrow who my partner is so I can get ideas of what to do. I’m doing 4 crafts.  I got my partner on 6.10.09!  I’m sooo excited. Got lots of ideas!
   • I have 2 of the 4 done as of 6.12.09!
6. Personal swap of a charm pack on craftster.org: cut fabric, waiting to hear from other person..
7. Yellow dish set from @shanereiser: come up with a design for a set and paint it up
8. craft swap with Tim from work — I know exactly what I’m doing, but I’m not going to blog about it just in case he’s reading it — I don’t want to spoil the surprise! It’s going to be super cool! I just have to get the supplies rounded up for it yet.
9. Lava Flowers mug for Adria, as per her request a LONG time ago
10. Jolly Jabber Quilt Block Lottery: create a block and mail it in. DONE!
11. Father’s day mug and/or baked stuff for my dad and grandpa (need to do this very soon)
12. Baby shower gift for my friend Lindsay: I’ve got booties I need to add buttons to and I’d like to make a couple of other things as well as pick her up something to enjoy since she’s been a mommy for about a month now and probably hasn’t had much time for fun non-mommy things.
13. Wedding gift for my friends Ryan and Steph. I think I might do something similar to the Rocketship Mugs (as in a Mr. and Mrs. mug — not the same design!).  I have no idea what their wedding colors were since their invites/save the dates didn’t coordinate at all.  I’ll have to figure that out. I’m going to do a fleur de lis pattern on it for sure since that was on all their materials (probably has nothing to do with their wedding/tastes…I’m sure their “designer” just randomly picked it — either way… I like it and I’ll go with that). I might just pick colors based on the colors that are in their kitchen items they picked in their registry.
14. Several possible alchemy things…I bid on a LOT of stuff today and am hoping to get a couple of things — especially one that has a cute little teacup logo that she’d like elaborated upon.
15. Finish my mom’s quilt top (add a 4-inch cream/oatmeal border to it), get it quilted (September)
16. Emee’s 1st birthday quilt — coin stack pattern — cut blocks, sew, figure out backing/binding (October) — get it quilted!
17. Finish my mermaid bags (I have 2 of them left)

There’s no way that’s the entire list. I’m so swamped with random projects right now!  I can get them all done since a lot of them don’t have deadlines or have far away deadlines…but a lot of them this month are for occasions.  It’s actually good that I have this many projects right now I think because Kasey’s back home and it will give me something to do.

eeeeee. so here I am blogging again!  I did get my Jolly Jabber block done tonight.  I shall blog about that in about 10 minutes (aka 7 minutes past my bedtime).

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