designerstacie

Love Shilo’s vision on creating “magical” books for children

designerstacie — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:12:45 +0000

Shilo Shiv Suleman: Using tech to enable dreaming

Shilo’s has wonderful vision on creating books for the iPad using the great technology that is already available. Can’t wait to see what she creates in the future!

Ad Design for The Depot

designerstacie — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:18:08 +0000

If you’re lucky enough to live in the greater Charlotte area, you can come to The Depot in Concord, NC to see a HUGE collection of antique treasures. The Depot is inside a refurbished old cotton mill that has old fashioned charm and warmth.There is nothing else like it, anywhere.

Here is the ad I built for them this week. Makes you want to go shopping for treasures, doesn’t it?

Advertising Design

designerstacie — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:08:04 +0000

This is an ad design I did for Flatiron Kitchen in Davidson, NC. Great place to eat if you’re in the neighborhood!

Magazine Design

designerstacie — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:51:05 +0000

Check out this magazine!

I am so proud to show off this amazing publication!

I am just now finishing designing the Spring 2012 issue, soon to be live. Watch for it!

Let me know if you need help designing your magazine or publication. I have reasonable rates and quick turnaround.

— Stacie

Valentine’s For My Students

designerstacie — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:18:45 +0000

Part of what I do on a weekly basis (other than design for my clients) is volunteering. I am a tutor in a classroom at a high risk elementary first grade classroom. Not only am I giving my time, but I am also learning. These children are so full of love and life and they just want to get the attention they desperately need. In return, they show me how I can be more patient and understanding and accept them as they are. They truly are remarkable and I am blessed to get to be with them once a week.

I am putting together these cool goody bags for them this week to be handed out on Valentine’s Day. I chose the items carefully taking into consideration on what they would like and what would help benefit them the most.

1. The card. It’s fun and I made it personal with my name on it. I wanted them to know it was a gift from me. The reason why I did not put their names on them is because it would take forever to pass them out and my time is limited in the classroom. I also made a few extras just in case there is a new child in the classroom. I want the new child to feel just as welcomed.

2. The pencil. They never have enough of them. I am considering sharpening them before I put the packages together. They are not allowed to use the pencil sharpener in the classroom. This is the teacher’s rule, I don’t know why.

3. The eraser. If they have a pencil, the eraser is usually gone and used up. I want them to know it’s o.k. to make mistakes. Erase it, correct it and move on!

4. The candy! Hershey kisses have always had the message of love and Starbursts are just plain fun!

Here is the finished product.

I had to take the pictures on my iPad, so it’s not perfect. I just couldn’t find the two cables I have for my camera to upload the pictures to my computer.

I hope they love their Valentine’s as much as I loved putting them together for them!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Learn Something New

designerstacie — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:54:50 +0000

We are very fortunate that we live in a time when technology is moving so fast. It seems just as we learn a new technique or thought we knew everything about a particular software, something new pops up. The exciting part is that it’s so fun to learn! Something bigger and better is always coming along and the internet is a great resource to find out new ways to do new things with graphic design.

Just this week, I spent several hours…. hours(!) working on a new signature for my email. I thought I cracked the code until I could not make the links work. Seems like it’s a huge flaw in using Mac Mail. I am not defeated, however. I am continuing to search and read and watch YouTube videos until I figure this out. Meanwhile, my signature is link-less but at least it looks nice! Eventually, I want a link to this blog and my Twitter and LinkedIn addresses, so that’s my goal. Anyway, here it is below, version 1!

Social Media Success Summit

designerstacie — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:13:08 +0000

This afternoon, I was fortunate to watch a one hour video conference about Social Media thanks to Michael Stelnzer at Social Media Examiner.

There is a lot to learn!

There are so many avenues and choices for social media, you really need to use what you are comfortable with and what your clients are using. You don’t have to post in all of them, just link them up and one post goes across all the platforms and updates them for you. My task over the next week is to get up to speed on getting my own pages updated and refreshed so I can help my clients be more successful with social media. It’s going to be a blast!

Happy Friday!

designerstacie — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:02:11 +0000

What are your plans for the weekend? Mine are to get caught up with household projects. One, mainly, is to change all of my hardware pulls in my kitchen. 78 of them! Wish me luck!

Follow your heart

designerstacie — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:54:08 +0000

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” — Steve Jobs

What am I working on?

designerstacie — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:24:41 +0000

This is a cropped sneak peak of a new logo design I’ve been working on. Top secret!

I’m sure it will go through many changes before the final is approved. Overall, I’m liking the celestial look and feel of it.