SAHM with Cabin Fever

I've been living the high life of a Stay At Home Mom for the past five weeks, you know- sleeping in, watching TV, cruising the internet, shopping with imaginary money...

for all you SAHM you can start laughing now :)

I went from being a mom of one to a mom of three in a month and I've been working on myself trying to keep up! Being a SAHM is no small feat, especially for this woman who feels its necessary to work outside the home. I can't help but feel I need to go work. I know I'm working enough here. But I would love more to work outside the home and hire a maid.

I've stopped working retail because:

A) I couldn't have the open availability that they wanted anymore, and if you don't give it to them you are punished with next to no hours.

2) It was way too stressful

Thirdly) It was way too stressful

I'm keeping my options open and looking for work, but staying the creative route and searching high and low for design positions. I will probably be at retirement age before anyone decides to hire me. So in the meantime I will make-do on my own because I do not need to be validated by somebody making 100K a year saying "oh yes you are a good designer you can work for me". I know my strengths and my weaknesses and for petes sake I'm a loyal employee- I've stayed at Wallyworld for almost two years for only God knows why. So its cool. I know I'm overqualified for this country town.

I've come up with something neat to share with you all: a 25 Days of Design Christmas. Every day I will post a little how-to in making a design-related craft for Christmas gifts. It's meant to be cost-effective, so try to use as much as you have on-hand and around the house.

Graphic Design is one of those all-inclusive mediums where almost anything constitutes as "graphic design", i.e. posters, apparel, stickers, cards, photos, buttons, magnets, the possibilities are endless.

So stay tuned!

Typography Headache

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Source: pinerly.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Hikers And Thinkers Logo

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I've been pin-diddling around and was asked to help out with a logo design for a budding outdoors company.

Of course I said yes.

I worked for peanuts too.

Just because it was for a *dear* friend. (Simple friends and acquaintances do not qualify for below-the-belt-sucker-punch-fees).

Hikers And Thinkers is a unique service offering guides, tips, and helpful hints for camping and hiking the mountains of Western North Carolina. They have a neato idea for handmade hammocks and I hope they can get them implemented soon.

Follow their blog: Hikers And Thinkers

And for the logo:


This is what I was sent as far as the direction they wanted to take.

The concept

This is my final vision of where I felt it needed to go:

Final Version - Client Approved
©HikersAndThinkers

What do you think?

I've always been told by mentors and instructors to include a design of my own free will when doing anything freelance related so potential employers could see "me". Well. This is me. I always include "me" in my designs. How can I not include "me"?

Thoughts?

Always Work At Creating

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This post is neither here nor there... call it a few pointers for young'uns who want to travel the extremely wide path of the Designer.

I was browsing Craigslist (who doesn't love that site?) and came across an ad that made me giggle and then slap my head.

I use Craigslist to either post stuff for sale or buy stuff. I don't find it very reliable for finding JOBS (you know, work that actually pays you and/or is not a cover up for a drug cartel) but I can't resist looking to see what people are posting.

And I came across this gem:

I apologize for the size, so here's a close up and you will get the picture:

*sigh*

Either this poor child will never receive any REAL offers or he/she will be spammed to death. Worse Case Scenario: this child will respond to a reply and end up dead in the woods somewhere in the Mid-West.

Here Begins A Rant:

I understand everyone has to start somewhere, and you are only as successful as you want to be (i.e. put the work in your success) HOWEVER it is impossible for any 16 year old to have "plenty of experience". A college art class. How quaint.

My Advice and Opinion:

Are you a high schooler wanting to break into the biz? Well quit begging on Craigslist and start working for free for real companies in your city. It's called an Internship. College students have to do it, so do you if you want to be successful in any industry. Let's just say internship = apprenticeship.

I love this: "I don't need insane amounts of money". Yeah. Good luck with that!


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Let's Change Gears A Bit:

I worked as a Graphic Designer for a company way back when and I loved it. I loved the company, I loved the people I worked with, and I loved the work. Unfortunately the company closed down. I'm not sure if it went bankrupt or what- all I know is that we had two offices and we downsized. My office was the target of the downsizing.

So I was laid off.

I received a pretty cool severance package for only being there just shy of three years but it still sucked losing my job. If the company was able to keep afloat I would still be there.

Alright. So my office received news of the lay-offs and I immediately started looking for a job. I responded to an ad locally looking for a designer and I was stoked. It was a fairly new design company in the town I lived in- which was amazing because I live out in the middle of nowhere.

I scored an interview.

Awesome.

I arrived at the interview looking smart and packing my portfolio, and who should my eyes gaze upon? A young kid with a 'fro in a tee shirt and jeans.

Hmmm.

Who is this?

Oh, he's my interviewer.

And a co-owner of the company.

Whoops. I'm definitely in the wrong place.

The interview was totally awkward. The kid was 16 years old (oh wait, he was turning 17 soon...) I had ten years on him. Ok so I wasn't some 50 year old with 30 years experience, but this was unbelievable.

His partner was my age and apparently came into some money and bought an old Heidelberg printing press. They wanted to start this design company but needed help. Well color me over-qualified for their position.

I didn't get a call back.

Nor was I expecting one.

I knew more about what they were doing than they did and couldn't afford me.

Moral of the story?

It's cool if you want to start your own "thing", but for the love of my sanity please don't dive blindly into something you can't handle. At that time I had three years of graphic design under my belt and was still more competent and knowledgeable about running their company than they were.

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So what to do if you want in the biz but don't have enough pieces in your portfolio and can't get anyone to "hire" you?

Just create anyways.

Browse industries that you may want to create for: health care, education, banking, etc. Look at different companies in that industry- find a few that you see potential in by sprucing up their image and just CREATE. Create a whole new logo and business standards. Create some brochures, posters, banners, websites (fake ones of course). Show their marketing and art department what you did and ask them how they like it. Ask for opinions (also called Critiques), get used to critiques because in the art industry you will get a lot of them. And receive them constructively- don't get offended or you won't make it.

And please if you show potential employers these things you need to explain that these are your creations and were not hired by the companies to do work for them. It would also help to read a book or two about Copyright Law.

Go ahead and take those College Art Courses. It's fine. I wasn't downplaying it, merely jesting, you need more than college courses to get you established. It's a lot of footwork and what you put in is what you will get.

So let's get serious and get off of Craigslist.

Pathfinder Tools : Exclude

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Wrapping your head around the Pathfinder Tools in Illustrator:

Okay. A lot of newbies out there may not know or fully understand all the capabilities of the Pathfinder Tool in Illustrator. So if you are an experienced designer you may find this post dull and boring and blah blah blah. But! Please read on regardless and feel free to elaborate and expand upon this little "how-to" in the comments. 

If you'd like to work along go ahead and open a new project in Illustrator in whatever size you want, this is just an exercise/tutorial. I will be using my logo as examples.

Make sure your Pathfinder Tools window is in full view by bringing it forward: easy way is to navigate to Window option up top, find Pathfinder, click!

This is what your Pathfinder window looks like:

I will go over each one in different posts because I have not had the chance to use all of them and some options I just don't understand.

Today I will be addressing the Exclude tool:

If you would like to play along go ahead and make two shapes: circles, squares, one circle, one square, whatever. Just make two shapes that are different colors so you can more readily see results of our actions.

Here is my original logo (one of many actually, but this is my most recent logo I chose to use) and although I like it, it was too tall and skinny to be implemented in all these web applications.

So I wanted to re-adjust some elements

oh where oh where should that exclamation mark go...

After playing around I wanted the exclamation mark to overlap in some way.

Ta-da! Hmm. Still looks awkward.

I want the parts of the exclamation point that are overlapping to be (hmm how best to put this?) "transparent" so we can see the H passing through the point.


At this point in your own exercise, take one shape and put it on top of the other. Not directly on top, but just so one of the edges are overlapping.

For your simple exercise it doesn't matter which shape is on top when we use the exclude tool, however in my logo I want the exclamation point to be in front of the H so the parts of the exclamation point will be taken away and not the H. I want to see the curves of the H. The shortcut on a Mac is "command+shift+]" or just go to Object - Arrange - Bring to Front (I don't work on a PC, sorry folks)

With both shapes selected go ahead and click on that exclude button!

I only selected my H and exclamation point.

Voila! To better see what happened on your end- make another shape a different color and send it to the back ("command+shift+[" or Object - Arrange - Send to Back) and move it behind your other shapes and you should see that the exclude tool took away the shapes that were overlapping:

Seeeeee????

But wait. In my logo I have a leftover piece hanging around that I don't want:

Lets get rid of it. Easy enough since the points are overlapping making it a separate shape.

I chose the Direct Select tool (the white arrow tool) and selected that little shape. Then I hit DELETE! Easy. Peasey.

Wouldn't want to be ya!

And there my friends we have a finished logo:

©Amanda Haskin. Word!

Questions? Comments? Let's hear it!

Feeling Sheepish

My family and I have been on a bit of vacation. Could barely afford it but we made our way to the Carolina coastline for some rest and relaxation. Our First Family Vacation!

And we returned more poor than ever!

But you know, even poor people need vacations every now and then, however the majority would rather stay home and drink then travel. Not that I object to that activity, to each their own! I like drinking away from home... :)

I've been hemming and hawing away at this website dilemma. I don't know which direction I want to take; I want to keep my Blogger account- I enjoy the simplicity and ease of use, but I want more freedom in changing things up. I guess its my total lack of understanding CSS that is keeping me down. I'm reading scores of articles and have watched countless tutorials but my brain just doesn't want to cooperate. It doesn't help that my life is bogged down by a job I am not satisfied with, I'm not ungrateful, there are lots of people unemployed, but good grief retail drains the soul right out of you.

You've been on People of Walmart, you see what I have to deal with daily...

In the meantime I've managed to make a simple vector illustration of my sheep drawing, I may transfer it to a linoleum cut and see about stamping stuff:

Cheers!

Ground Control To Major Tom

Launching A Start-Up. Ignition Fail!



I am only steps closer to being able to stay at home again... it will be so much easier to focus on my own endeavors when I don't have to worry about stress in retail employment.

I was on the phone with my best friend (whom I've had the pleasure in knowing and keeping up with for over 25 years! Dang that's a long time.) and she asked how my freelancing was going.

I laughed.

It is so difficult to do a start-up of any business if you truly cannot devote ALL of your time to launching it and maintaining it. I've been totally neglecting my OHTY re-brand (we are now Yankee Burrow Creations). Been working on a logo and I was so desperate to fix what my *ahem* partner did as far as banners and avatars so I threw something together to get our "look" going:

Deciding color can be a real pain in the ass when you are designing a new brand/company. Orange is used by a lot of big name companies, and quite frankly it would be hard to use a color that NO ONE ELSE is using. Impossible. The color spectrum itself may span as wide as the universe, but I mean when comparing Pantone 3262 and 3272- it's stinking TEAL for pete's sake. Thalo blue and Cerulean blue are both B L U E. So to sit and think of a color that is unique to the corporate world is a complete waste of time. Use a color that fits your brand and expresses it's nature and emotion.

I'm using orange. Preferably a burnt, rust orange that holds sentimental value to myself and my partner since it reminds me of my Nana (my mother's mother. My mother is my business partner if you don't remember). She is the source of our crafty and artsy nature, herself being an artist and her favorite color being orange I thought the color befitting our crafty and artsy handmade shop.

This is just the beginning, I still need to work on a type style that is as close to unique as possible. Just not satisfied with anything I've encountered yet. Time to break out my graph paper...

Been scouring the web for inspiration and I've been sucked into Pinterest.

Oh yes Pinterest you have lassoed me and made me your slave. Not really though. I like getting on board and window shop. I re-pin items that have already been pinned, I very rarely (ok well never) pin original items because of their Terms of Service. But you know. Whatever.

What frustrates me the most about Pinterest is not being able to find the original link of an item pinned. I was on a search to find this because I thought it was awesome and sums up a designer's dilemma when dealing with logo design and clients who just don't understand. When viewing stuff on Pinterest it's super hard reading the small print and since the poster was pinned from this site which is just a scrapbook of cool sh!t, I couldn't find the original link.

After pulling out a magnifying glass I was able to see the url on the poster and I found this guy. He's been at this for a long time and I appreciate his style and keeping his designs classic yet updated. Will definitely be following him for inspired pick-me-ups.

Drop me a line or two if you've found something cool and snazzy that pertains to logos!

I've also been stalking Logo Design Love for inspirations and articles, they rock. If you are having trouble designing a logo that *doesn't* look like someone else's- this is a good article and also encouraging, because everything HAS already been done. We just need to try to do it differently.

Death to Pixellation!

While at my temporary money-making position yesterday I was helping an unfortunate woman resolve why her printed photographs were blurry.

They were pixellated. Because it was a low-resolution file. I get that a lot. Like- A LOT a lot. Those words "it's pixellated" or "it is a low-resolution image" come from my mouth more than "how can I help you?" Easily said, but not easily explained.

I've explained this phenomenon of pixellation twenty different ways and my customers still don't understand. Oh, they pretend they understand, yet they walk away with that look in their eye like they just smoked a doobie.

I think I was more disturbed when she told me the images were NOT from her camera-phone, but her $2000 Canon DSLR (I added the DSLR because she doesn't know what those letters mean). As I have complained before- if you are going to purchase some ridiculous technology you really, REALLY need to take the time to learn about it.

So I carefully explained to her what pixellation is and how to fix it.

"There is nothing you can do on the computer to fix it?"

No.

I can't put back what is not there.

I'm not God. Nor do I ever ever want to be. He puts up with a lot of stupid crap from us.

This is just sounding like a customer-bashing session, which I really want to emphasize is NOT. I'm ranting, and frustrated that people are not taking responsibility and learning for themselves. I *love* learning new things and I wish the same feeling for others.

With that all said and out of the way how about a mini-lesson on what the heck pixellation is? Because unless you went to school for photography, design, or information technology you are probably for the most part in the dark and do not have a true understanding.


What is a pixel?

According to Dictionary.com:

pix·el

  [pik-suhl, -sel]

noun Computers, Television .

the smallest element of an image that can be individually processed in a video display system.

In other terms, a pixel is a square, that is super duper tiny and can only be viewed zoomed in at ten billionth percent (exaggeration). Pixels are used to put together images and type that is viewed on your computer screen, video, game console, etc. Oh, and digital cameras too (since that is what started this whole thing).

To go easy on ourselves lets speak in reference to digital cameras, I'm not going to get into too much detail, if you want to learn more buy a book!

When you take a picture the camera stores the image as little tiny squares- almost like pieces to a puzzle. Based on your camera settings there are only so many squares per inch that the camera is saving. (I really wish America wasn't so backwards and would teach the metric system).

Anyways.

There are only going to be so many squares, or pixels (as is the proper name) per inch (denoted as either DPI- dots per inch, or PPI- pixels per inch). If your camera is set at a low-resolution and you take a picture you will only be able to reproduce or print that picture out as certain sizes. If your camera is a 14MP (megapixel) camera, you should be able to print out a picture that is at least 11"x14" and is crystal clear, that is if the setting is correct.

You see, digital cameras nowadays have various resolution settings! If your camera is 14MP it will most likely give you an option within to settings to lower the resolution so it would essentially be easier to download and e-mail your photos to friends and family. Because the lower the resolution, the lower the number of pixels that are being saved in the file which in turn will make it easier for your computer and internet speed to send it off.

Am I making sense?

If the resolution is set too low or somehow was lessened by lets say clicking "YES" when your computer asks you if you want to reduce the file size (DEEP BREATH) you will only be able to print your picture out as a 4"x6" or 5"x7" at best.

Why?

BECAUSE...

There are only so many tiny squares that were saved within the file and when you try to print a picture at a larger size there aren't enough tiny squares to fill up the enlarged space so the image will appear boxy and blurry because the squares themselves have been enlarged to fill the gaps.

A printer is going to try to print your photos at 300DPI (at least that should be the setting), you need to make sure your camera is going to capture and save enough pixels to print the photo out clearly.

Pixellation happens because when a printer that is trying to read 300 pixels per inch and is only getting 150 pixels per inch it will try to compensate for the loss. The result is boxy, blurry, and yucky images.

I think that last statement pretty much sums it up.

What is our takeaway from this lesson?

1. Do not reduce your file size on your computer if you want to print out the image.

2. Check your camera settings. For the love of all things holy and pure read your camera's booklet. 

3. Your camera-phone is not a replacement for a digital camera. Will never be. Period.

That last tidbit is just an extra thought that oozed out my brain.

Your camera-phone will always suck! Always. Even iPhone cameras, because there is no way to get the pictures off your phone at my kiosk. *insert evil laugh here*

Samples of Pixellation:

Left at the original size, a picture will look perfect.

What happens when a low-res file is forcefully enlarged. Can you start to see the boxes?

These are my photos.

Any questions?

Mission Statements and Such

Our Home To Yours Re-brand Series

Mission Statements

When starting a business it is best to get the core beliefs down on paper before any naming and design takes place. I think if you start with a name and/or design and go from there you have to grow the company around that design so the message is clear and consistent. So what happens when you are stuck on a design or name but the core beliefs don’t measure up? Scrap the name or design and work it the right way.

Ok, so its not the end of the world if you’ve registered your name and logo but haven’t written your mission or values statement yet. Sheesh. Just be sure to hire someone clever enough to intertwine it all together in one cohesive brand.

If you need a refresher of where I started with this go read these first:

Pressing The Re-Start Button With A Re-Brand

First Things First

What's In A Name

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Keep in mind that research is so important during this whole process.

The lack of research is what brought my partner and I to this re-brand experience in the first place. It was our eagerness to start selling stuff that got us off on the wrong foot. Etsy is a great place to start but it’s not the only source to sell your handmade wares, nor should it be your “one stop online shop” for your budding business.

Looking through Etsy shops I see lots of names that are neither here nor there- just the person’s name hyphenised or some sort of hybrid username, which doesn’t make too much sense in my opinion.

We are looking to be successful on Etsy, sure, but we are looking to be successful *businesswomen*, and to be that we need to build our business from the get-go the right way.

What the heck is a mission statement anyway? Why do we need it? According to Dictionary.com a mission statement is, “an official statement of the aims and objectives of a business or other organization” and individuals too. If you don’t have any goals or objectives set how do you know which vehicle to transport you? You wouldn’t drive a car out to sea now would you? Unless you have a crap-ton of money to waste, then hold on a second while I go gouge my eyes out with a spoon.

But for those of us who have a broader worldview and are sensitive to the economic well being of ourselves and our community, lets try to save what time and money we can by planning accordingly. And I did plan and write our core beliefs with my partner before I started thinking of names…

After much consideration, drafts, and research we have come up with this mission statement:

            “To provide quality handmade products which embellishes both the home and heart. Using the gifts given to us by our Father God we aspire to adorn our customers with charm and comfort.”

Yes we are Christians. Lets leave it at that. And yes it is perfectly all right to intertwine your beliefs with your business because after all it’s your business. You would only be crossing the line when you discriminate. And we (meaning my business and my partner etc.) do not discriminate. I am not here to preach scripture to you, I am here to sell you a friggin’ crocheted scarf.

On that note how about a values statement? A values statement is just what is says- a statement of your values, morals, ethics, principles, standards, etc. Our statement:

“We strive to provide superior products that are earth friendly and made in the USA while also being affordable. Our morals and values stem from Christianity, we are not discriminatory and endeavor to be examples of Christ’s love. Hate is unwelcome.”

This could be almost anything. You can be as hardcore as you want; this statement serves as motivation for your employees to remember who you are as a business and how to conduct yourselves.

And what about vision? Where do you see your business? That should be a central element throughout this whole process:

            “To procure a successful online presence while growing in our craft which will eventually stem out to a physical store/studio where customers can interact with the process and purchase merchandise. To support local small businesses in any way by either purchasing services or providing services to them at a discount cost.”

Do you remember the three questions I mentioned at the beginning of this journey? Let’s revisit them:

Who are You?
- An online handcraft shop

What do you do?
- Create unique items for the home and heart.

Why does it matter?
- Because our items are timeless and no two items are exactly alike.

These questions need to be answered with thought and cleverness; your business needs to be set apart from the rest. I mentioned my current employment in my last post and most of you can guess where I work (if you’re super smart you visited my LinkedIn profile), it is true that after morning meetings there is the “cheer” and if you do not participate in the cheer you have to lead it at the next meeting. In this cheer (which is meant to be a team motivational thing) this question is asked, “who’s number one?”

With the reply, “the customer! Always!”

Ok yes the customer is number one, but! Who in this industry is number one?

You are!

No. I am!

Go find your own category to be number one in.

Name Inspirations

This is a post in conjunction with the Our Home To Yours re-brand series about names and my never ending dissatisfaction!

I keep mulling Yankee Burrow over and over inside my head and I just want to be sure that this is the best representation of what we stand for.

Home.

Comfort.

Happiness.

Warmth.

And all that jazz.

The old adage is true: all the good names are taken. So we need to improvise! Desperately.

I like the concept of "cloud nine", you know, being on cloud nine, your happy place. But the name "Cloud Nine" or "9" is used so much across the board its ridiculous. And I'm having difficulty incorporating the word "cloud" within the name. Nothing sounds quite right.

Then "On A Cloud" popped in my mind.

Hmm.

Not bad I think. I kind of like it. I believe I'm going to add a little somethin'-somethin' at the end, you know, a flourish to tie it all in. On A Cloud crafters.... hmmm.... not to thrilled with the whole "crafters" or "craft" thing. I'm going to keep working on it.

Comments are welcome. Be tactful in your criticisms.



OH. And I guess I should organize my archived blogs a little better eh? Yeah I'll get right on that.

After I eat lunch.


Hey! I'm on Tehnorati now... go check it out!

7ZKBV25EUPYP

Pressing the Re-start Button with a Re-brand

Two years ago my mother and I started an online craft shop out of desperation to be useful to the world. At the time both of us were stay at home mothers living in different states; it proved to be a challenge but not so much with modern technology and the Internet on our side.

We are both artists in our own right coming from a long line of pack-rat creatives who have a bad track record of finishing things. (Should I be saying this? You think it will be bad for business? Ha! I scoff at the very thought, its no secret that great artists are messy and suck at finishing what they started.)

My mother went ahead and started the shop through Etsy.com and used the name Our Home To Yours. I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the name but what was done was done and as a designer I needed to make the best of it. Honestly, I hit a designer’s version of writer’s bloc coming up with a logo and brand for our little shop. I wasn’t satisfied with anything, however the show must go on! And it did with a feminine, girly design that in my opinion reflected the style of an elderly woman’s bedroom.

After I hastily put together a brand identity I put our little company’s design focus on the back burner. I tried to concentrate on creating items to sell but always thought about that damn name and brand identity. In the truest form I did not create a “brand identity”, I just chose a typeface, color, and illustrative style to associate with the shop. Here I am, a graduate with a Masters in Fine Arts and I was totally bombing on my own company’s design.

So, whoever you are and wherever you may be: have you now found yourself between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the design of your company? Well its time for change! And we are going to accomplish it together!

This is the beginning of a design journey, a re-brand of Our Home To Yours. I will go through the “steps” from beginning to end of how the process should look. From research to development and final deliverables I hope you find the inspiration you need- and I hope I find it too!

Upper left: original logo work. Bottom right: attempts at re-branding. #fail

Inspiration Pick-Me-Up

I'm trying to muster up the motivation in moving this train along, but lately I've been lacking the proper inspiration. Let's face it- without inspiration from other creatives the excitement of actually being creative is just sucked right out of you. Oh and I'm not talking about the whole "well just look outside at the wonder and beauty of Nature and just let the Inspiration overwhelm your senses!"

No.

That's not it.

I'm all for the great outdoors... I love nature, I'm turning into quite the grassroots-back-to-basics-farming-the-land-tree-hugger. But when it comes to artistic and creative inspiration I wholly depend on other creatives to show me their chops and what they are made of, that sort of thing gets my RPM's revving high and I'm ready to go!

I'm working on a small project right now for a co-worker fixing a family photo. I was moving right along  when I ran into a dead end. I guess my brain decided it needed a break, but I feel drained, I need some creative pick-me-ups! So let's mosey on over to iStockphoto to see what's brewing in the heads of other creatives...

(I found iStockphoto during my younger college days when it was real cheap... the prices are higher, however the quality of the content by their contributors has increased significantly).

This is where I need to be.

This photo is just plain awesome.

Now don't follow my lead on this next photo, I took it at a photography gallery in Charlotte, NC- The Lightbox Factory in Spirit Square... I promptly forgot who the author was- he/she is an amateur- the photos themselves were good, wasn't really digging the theme, however! The matting and framing of the collection was beautiful! I had to take a picture to remember it always...

This is a wall outside of Spirit Square...

So tell me, what gets your creative juices flowing?

Day One As A Professional Blogger

Greetings all! I thought it would be wise to step out of the stone age and start a professional blog in order to advance my creative career. I have another blog, a personal blog, that I update pretty sporadically, however I plan on updating this one at least twice a week if not more.

To continue with introductions my name is Amanda Haskin, I currently reside in the foothills of North Carolina although I am a born and bred yankee (Western New York, not the city...). I do not want to divulge too much personal information (just short of an autobiography) but I would like to highlight my credentials as a graphic designer.

I received my Associates of Applied Science in Graphic Design from The Art Institute of Charlotte in 2004, soon after I worked as a graphic designer in direct mail for two years. After the company I worked for closed down I returned to The Art Institute and completed their Bachelor of Arts program in September of 2008. After graduation I relocated with my family to Kansas where I was a stay-at-home mother. Wishing to expand my horizons I enrolled in the MFA in Media Design online program at Full Sail University. Even though it was an intense program with its ups and downs, I happily graduated in October of 2010. Since then I have moved back to North Carolina and currently work part-time in retail as a photo technician. I am still an active graphic designer, mostly creating designs pro-bono and crafting with my mother for our Etsy shop Our Home To Yours. My goal is to reintegrate back into the creative industry full time because ultimately I am at my best and happiest when I'm creating and surrounded by creative people.

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Some recent graphics I made for apparel

Faces have been blurred to protect the innocent.

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The goal of this blog is to showcase my work and pass on some helpful hints and tutorials. Ideas should be shared freely, but I still charge for my creative services... :)