5/30/11

{music inspiration} the smiths

I LOVE The Smiths and Morrissey so you will see many posts in my {music inspiration} feature from them. As I was working "Headmaster Ritual" came on and I suddenly was inspired by the song. I really, really adore this song.



And here's an added bonus! Radiohead doing "Headmaster Ritual!" I am obsessed with this cover version of the song.

5/27/11

{font love} rosewood

I love the font Rosewood because of it's ornate, vintage feel. I think it's a fun headline font and just great for random, limited text.

When I was looking information on this font, I learned some interesting things about this typeface from the MyFonts.com description. Rosewood is based on William Page's chromatic type design from 1874; hence the vintage look. Chromatic typefaces were created to give a multicolored effect to text and were often used in advertising. The multicolored effect was created by overprinting two or more versions of each letter in different colors. There are two versions in the Rosewood type family, Regular and Fill. The Regular version is designed to overlay the Fill version in a two-color printing process.

In the text example, I overlayed the brown Regular version of Rosewood on top of the pink Fill version. You can purchase Rosewood Regular and Fill at Myfonts.com.

5/25/11

{wishlist} billet

While searching for ideas for unique packaging supplies, I came across the Japanese online shop, Billet! I love this shop. Everything is so simple and understated yet stylish. Here are some favorites I'm adding to my wishlist!


















































The Goods...

Black pot with a saucer (small and large)    |   Scandinavian String (3m)

WORKS & LABO. Rubber Boots   |   A4 paper storage box set of 3 boards

Mini Oirupepabaggu   |   Edeniko Nachurarukureisopu Habon

5/23/11

50% Off Business Cards!

We're having a sale! Right now hip and trendy business cards are 50%* off at The Spotted Olive™ with coupon code: 50CARDNEWBIZ at check out! Choose from a wide variety of designs and paper stocks. Hurry! This offer ends on May 25, 2011.

















*50% of the business card pack net sale price will be deducted when one or more qualifying business card packs are purchased and the coupon code 50CARDNEWBIZ is applied at checkout. The net sale price is the price of the product (excluding shipping and taxes). Offer is valid through May 25, 2011 11:59pm PT. This offer does not apply to past purchases and may not be combined with any other Zazzle promotional or volume discount offers. If a volume discount applies to your order, you will receive either the discount set forth in this offer or the standard volume discount, whichever is greater. Offer valid on Zazzle.com only.

{music inspiration} sigur rós

Music is a huge part of life at our house. We have it on practically all day every day. The type of music we listen to varies from day to day and it often plays a large role as a creative inspiration to me when I am designing.

I have a wide range of musical tastes and loves and hope to share some of them with you on a regular basis through this blog. Today's musical inspiration comes from the Icelandic band, Sigur Rós. Their music is so breathtakingly beautiful. I hope you will enjoy a few clips from this amazing band and their ethereal musical style.





5/20/11

{font love} freebooter script

I have had a love of typography since I can remember. Fonts play such a major role in good design and can make or break a layout. Knowing the rules of typography is the key to understanding how to break the rules of typography efficiently! Since I have a *slight* obsession with fonts and typography I thought it might be fun to do a weekly feature on fonts. Sometimes I'll feature a typeface and other times I'll talk about aspects of typogrpahy.

Freebooter Script is this week's featured font. This beautiful script typeface by Graham Meade makes a lovely choice for invitations and announcements or even a type-based design. What makes this font so distinctive is the over-extended ascenders and descenders. They flow beautifully into one another but somehow still allow this typeface to be legible. I really like this font a lot and although it is a script typeface, I think it is quite versatile.




















You can download a copy of Freebooter Script from dafont.com. As with any font, please be sure to read the license for any restricted uses. Often times fonts are restricted to personal use only meaning you can not use them in any commercial projects. Enjoy!

5/19/11

Our Photo Submission To Jasmine's Architectural Details Photo Challenge!

Jasmine Ward of Jasmine's Merch blog has recently started hosting a monthly photo challenge and I think month's is a pretty cool concept—architectural details! We've entered the following picture that we took of a building in Victoria, British Columbia. There are so many ornate architectural details like the beautiful rosettes and crowns and the eagles are simply striking!

Jasmine's photo challenge is open to all photographers—amateur, professional, hobbiest, etc! Stop by and submit an entry, it might spark your creativity. :) Visit Jamine's post on the challenge to find for details on how to enter. Challenge runs through May 31st.

5/18/11

Our Day Has Been Made!

Like all businesses, we LOVE getting nice emails from customers! It's so exciting to know that someone likes your designs enough to take a few moments out of their day to send an email telling you. Today we received this sweet message from Jessica...
I just have to tell you, I have been searching for business cards and came across your site!!! I am so excited, I have never had such a hard time narrowing down options for business cards! Great job, they are all so cute! Keep up the good work! ~Jessica
 Thanks so much for taking the time to put a smile on our faces today with your nice comments, Jessica! We really appreciate it. XOXO!

Our Wedding Shop!

Did you know that we also have a wedding shop? Two Hearts Wedding Shoppe™ is our shop that focuses on wedding paper goods, custom wedding postage and more! We specialize in fresh, modern Save The Date Announcements. Stop by sometime and take a look!

Below is one of our freshest Save The Date Announcement designs. Available in a variety of color choices and paper stocks.

5/17/11

My New Widget!

Have you seen my new widget? I've entered an invitation design contest! I've submitted two designs. If you click on the widget you will go to the design that is showing. Once you are there, you can click on The Spotted Olive™ logo to see my other design submissions. Currently you can comment on the designs but soon you will be able to vote. Please feel free to stop by and comment and when voting is open, I hope you'll take a moment to stop by again and vote for your favorite design from The Spotted Olive™!

Vote for my
design on minted.
Merry Merry Happy Happy

see more from The Spotted Olive™
vote for me!
Check out my competition in Christmas cards and wedding invitations at Minted.

5/13/11

A Change In The Weather...

The last two days have been cold and snowy, but today the sun is out and the snow has almost all melted! Today was an absolutely gorgeous day. So nice that we decided to have lunch outside on the deck. That's life in the mountains for you.

5/11/11

Snow Day! May 11th 2011

It's almost the middle of May and we just got a big snow storm! Just yesterday, I took a little nap on the deck in my gravity chair and was talking about restaining the deck and getting it set up for summer.  Ahhh, Mother Nature. Oh well, it sure is pretty and it'll be gone in a few days. My dogs are loving it!

My backyard turned into a winter wonderland in May.

Zoe & Jags enjoying the May snow!

5/4/11

A Photo A Day: Project 7: Day 7

I made it through a week of taking a picture each day on my A Photo A Day Project 7 challenge! It wasn't easy and I'm pretty sure it would be difficult for me to do it every single day, but I'm going to make every effort to take more pictures, learn more about photography and try to get better at it. Below is my day seven entry!



































This is a piece of yard art I that I have in my backyard.

Fun Packaging Design for A Great Opportunity

Recently I had the opportunity to include some products from The Spotted Olive™ in gift bags that went to the set designer for the HBO series True Blood via The indiExhibit. I sent mousepads with my original Kawaii Kokeshi Lolita illustration. I created some fun branded packaging that turned out pretty cute.































I also created a packaging design for my friend Brenda Boo of The Bootique. Brenda lives in Norway and the turn around time was very quick to get these packages out the door so they could be included. I offered to have her ship her items to me and told her I'd create some cool packaging for her. I am so pleased with how her packaging came out!!







And more exciting news today! The same wonderful contact who gave the items to the set designer of True Blood wants to give one of The indiExhibit's gift bags full of products from independent artisans and designers to film director, film producer, writer and artist, Tim Burton! All the members of The indiExhibit, including me, are pretty excited about this.

5/3/11

A Photo A Day: Project 7: Day 6




















It's day 6 of my Project 7 Photo A Day challenge. I managed to capture this funny picture of my dogs, Annie & Zoe, just after they finished playing. Annie looks like she's sticking her tongue out at me and Zoe looks like she's laughing a little bit. Not a great photo but a photo not the less! Looks like raking pine needles is in my near future too!

5/2/11

A Photo A Day: Project 7: Day 5

Today is the fifth day of my Photo A Day Project 7 challenge. I love trees and am so fortunate to have many of them in my yard. This is a photo of another of my favorite trees from my backyard. I love to climb up and sit in this tree and often do that during the summer. It is curved in a very unusual but wonderful way.

5/1/11

New Class of 2011 Graduation Announcement Design!

Today we managed to squeeze in a new graduation announcement design! This stylish Class of 2011 graduation announcement and party invitation by The Spotted Olive™ is a wonderful way to announce your accomplishment and Open House gathering. Featuring an elegantly grungy vintage damask pattern background with weathered photo frame and the words "Class of Two Thousand Eleven 2011" in a trendy typeface. Personalize with your information and photo.






Available on a variety of paper stocks.

A Photo A Day: Project 7: Day 4






















Our dogs are a huge part of our life and so today our boy, Jags, is the star of my Project 7 photo a day challenge. This was taken just after he had finished his play session but was still ready to go. He is staring at his ball which is out of the frame. He tends become a little obsessed sometimes.