Vale Design : Freelance Package Design & Branding

New Color, Old Age

Yeah! The rooms are done! I am so excited to share our new an improved dining room, kitchen and family room. They are now the heart of our home. First and foremost, thanks for L and ASH for helping push me hard enough to learn this lesson and helping with color choices, thanks to the brother for helping me paint these rooms in such a quick amount of time and the mom for helping me accessorize them. I think she has been waiting for that mother daughter shopping trip for 31 years. Enjoy!

Dining Room Before and After

Family Room Before and After

Kitchen Before and After

One of my favorite antiques, this little lamp, is very happy in her new home!

Now to the old part of that statement. I am usually a very quick painter. I climb like a little monkey all over the place, up and down ladders, all across counters, and anywhere I have to to paint. This time around was a different story. I am so out of shape! I hurt all over every morning after painting. I pulled almost every muscle from my kneck down. My forearms hurt so bad and my hands were cramped to look like I was holding an invisible brush! My brother even used the word chafe on me! Am I that old that the word chafe applies?!

To break in this newly inspired Italian kitchen, I am going to an old favorite Italian meal. Giada makes a garlic chicken that is sooooo good, flavorful and easy. It is called Garlic Citrus Chicken. Please if you have a couple hours, try it out. The sauce at the end is so wonderful!

Thank you again for everyone who helped me pull the trigger on this project. It has been two years overdue and hopefully not too late...Universe...I have learned my lesson...I PROMISE!!

CHEERS

Calling all designers and creatives

It is amazing what you discover when you are "on the grid!" There are so many talented people out there in the world. It is inspiring. I wanted to let my fellow creatives in on 2 new sites that I have recently stumbled onto and one site that has been in my personal reference file for quite some time. It is like 6 degrees of separation out there on the web. Stumble onto one site, then another, and so on and so on...The last site is one of my new morning staples. If you have some time, talk a walk on the web. The creativity is infinite and inspiring!

I am an absolute fan of pattern and color. I try to push myself on every packaging or stationery project and come up with new patterns. It is challenging to create them, but that is half the reason I love doing them. The other half is the end result! It usually looks so amazing!

Kris's Color Stripes   -   This first site I discovered fulfills my love of color. She is inspired by objects in nature and creates a palette from them. Gorgeous color groupings. I will definitely use this as a reference when I am working on projects to push my standards of color combinations. She also showcases her inspirations, books, nature, flowers, illustration etc. I love to see what inspires other designers. Plus, she's is in Italy! 

Ink & Spindle   -   Lovely fabric printing is all I can say. The fabrics that they screen have beautifully simple designs. I love the one with the birds. I love simple and clean design patterns. So gorgeous.

Secondhand Rose   -   This site is one of my resources for patterning. It is an antique wallpaper shop in New York. They have such a plethora of patterns to use as inspiration and to start building from. They have paper from all eras it seems like. Definitely one of my favorites.

This other site is one of my new morning pleasures. I am not someone who is gifted with a needle and thread, but I can definitely respect someone who is. She is just gifted with her talent. Her writing style is lighthearted, heartfelt and witty. Reads well with morning coffee. Enjoy!

Posie Gets Cozy

I raise my Pantone book to all the creatives out there. Thank you for making our world a little more rich and right brained!

CHEERS

Free Stuff!

Don't forget to check out Fresh Picked Whimsy for her free stamp giveaway. They are so cute! I can not wait to see them in person!

Our Mexican vacation

Hola! I am scheduled to play fetch with the dog shortly and then lay down and sleep off this little flu bug that I seem to have today. I wanted to share our Mexican adventure with everyone. We had a wonderful time and soaked up as much sunshine as we could. Enjoy!

Our hotel: Aventura Mexicana in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

Walking on 5th Avenue in Playa. It is a super long pedestrian walkway. We were on the far north end. It was very quiet. Some areas of this street got pretty loud and crazy. Lots of hotels, shops, restaurants and bars. The blue light picture was taken at a swanky bar. The steps to get in were 2 stories up and there was no railing, just a straight drop down. Ummm, hello?! Can someone say dangerous? 

Town we stumbled onto after getting lost trying to get to the ancient Mayan ruins at Tulum. The water came out of nowhere and just took your breath away. No camera could capture the color accurately. It is a see it in person experience. The town was sleepy and beachy with quaint little shops. Some of us purchased hats to keep us cool for the rest of the trip (and just to look cool!).

Tulum ruins and the husband. Tulum is right on the ocean. You can walk around the ruins and then climb down this rickety staircase to the ocean to go swimming!

Then we headed to the ruins at Coba. The ruins are about 1.5 miles into the jungle. You can either walk it or rent bicycles. Most people bike. It was so much fun. I picked this little kid bike so I was more in control while I was carrying bags for people and Dad's cane. That is why there are no pics of bike riding! I believe other people have some. We were too funny! Anyway, we figured this pyramid is about 34 stories tall. You still can climb this one. There is a rope laying on the steps for helping you up, and DEFINITELY down. It feels like a straight drop.

After all the ruins and the mosquitos, the husband and I decided to blow off the most famous ruins, Chichén Itza (I know new wonder of the world). We decided that it was time for our vacation to start and we headed for the beach!

Last, but not least, the reason for our lovely trip...the brother's wedding. They were staying in a huge all inclusive spa resort. It was quite amazing and the ceremony was so beautiful, with an unexpected guest.

We had a lovely time and I would recommend Playa Del Carmen to anyone who has not been there. It is about an hour south of Cancun (too spring break). Definitely rent a car so you are free to come and go as you please. I think this may be the best way to really "see" Mexico. The exchange rate was pretty good. About $1 to 12 pesos. The locals are very nice and helpful. I would recommend exchanging money and not using USD though. It makes tipping at restaurants a bit of a math challenge. Overall a wonderful time and making it even better is that I officially have a new sister-in-law!

CHEERS

The Shiba is home!!

The girl is home! She was so happy to see me this morning when I picked her up from the kennel and I was beyond excited to see her. As you can see, she quickly settled back in at home. She is currently passed out in her bed in the office sleeping off her adventures of nail trimmings, a bordatella shot and her froo-froo grooming. She has a strange smell right now of cherries and a French...

The new banner shows my fav pic from our trip to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. We got lost on our way to the Mayan ruins at Tulum and stumbled into this sleepy little beach town where the water takes your breath away. I snapped this very quickly out the car window. Half of us found perfect little cowboy hats for the rest of the trip. 

I am currently catching up on laundry, organizing, and de-Christmas-ing the house. There is just so much! I am very anxious to share our stories and pictures with everyone. It will take a bit to get caught up, so please be patient with us!

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday season! We are looking forward to a fresh start and getting our vision boards in order for 2009. As we do not believe in resolutions, we did not make any. I think that if you have a goal or dream, go after it any day, anytime with everything you've got!

Another thing I am super excited about in '09 is our new trash service! Why you ask?! They have given us a recycling bin almost as tall as me and we now have the opportunity to recycle just about anything not nailed down! Recycling is becoming easier and easier. Please do your small part. If anyone needs something recycled and does not have the means, please just save it for us or find a friend or neighbor. Also, the big stores such as Kroger or Walmart usually have bins outside in the parking lots. Super easy!

CHEERS

PS We were saddened to hear of the Travolta family's loss. Sometimes, life seems to give us very hard reminders not to take a single minute or instant for granted with loved ones. Do not waste time. It is never a given. We are sending our prayers and condolences out into the universe for that family.