She is another canyon lady...

Once upon a time (last weekend) I made this for my mama for Mother's Day. It's my favorite of a set of four note cards I illustrated.

Now, I'm no illustrator, at all at all.

But I kind of love this.

Farewell, my pretty tree.

I'll see you next Christmas.

Chubby Penguins

I consider myself blessed to be surrounded by such genius friends. Seriously. I think I know more than my fair share of truly talented and gifted people.

Today on the Genius Friends List is my friend Lindsay. She is an animator who moonlights as an illustrator and I love, love, love her stuff.

And, for anyone I know who will have a baby at any point in the future, you will be getting this from me:
Because I think it's adorable. I mean, look at that tiny fish this little guy is carrying around! Man, get's me every time. Now be good, and go visit Lindsay's store. Tell her I sent you. You probably won't get a discount or anything, but that's just what people say.

...Over an open field...

After a year in the "big city," I'm headed back to "small town" life.


Not too shabby, eh?

(I don't think one town is necessarily big, or the other necessarily small, but illustrated my point, no? Pictures were taken on that one road that leads to Utah Lake.)

Triple Treat Tuesday

I feel like I need to confess: sometimes, I miss a day. So I cheat, and under "post options" put the date it was supposed to show up. So before you blame your RSS reader, blame me.

Because I'm mildly late posting this, I decided to give you not one but three treats this week.

Here are a few of my favorite things:

1. My Pride & Prejudice bracelets from brookish.
2. My earrings from Jenna via Calla Lily Jewelry.
3. My earthenware jar from my visiting teachers in my Lehi branch.

Bonus Treat:
My damask drapery from my roommate, Maren via Target.

Like father, like daughter

I can't believe it's Wednesday already! I can't believe I know it's Wednesday! So, the theme I'm playing with for Hump Day is Wordless Wednesday. My initial thinking was that I would post an original photograph or design to get us through the Midweek Blues. However, I'm only going to call it Wordless. It will very rarely actually be wordless. Let's face it. I love me some typography. I love to play with fonts and words play such a prominent role in my designs that it's difficult to not have them.

Also, since I'm such a budding artist, I'm afraid unless I label things "tree" and "apple" you'll wonder what those white blobby things are.

Anyway, Wednesdays won't be super Wordless on account of I will feel it necessary to explain myself every now and again. For example, today's image is brought to you by The Welton Family. My mother often reminds me that I am uncannily like my father. And when she does, I'm not always convinced she's talking about our stunning good looks, brilliant minds, quick wits and tender hearts (all of which I come by honestly from both my parents). Mostly it's how we both forget to turn off the stove/oven, and how we both come up with the same excuse: "You took the food out of the oven, Mom/Susan. You should have turned it off."

Lately, certain members of my family have taken to calling me "The Apple." They say it's because the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I say it's because I'm the apple of my father's eye.

But either way, cool idea for Daddy/Daughter T-Shirts, no?

Damask! Fonts! Love!

Today's Treats for Tuesdays (My themed days are all alliterative. Go with it.) is brought to you by my dearest friend (the fact that she's also my cousin is just bonus-filled icing on the cake) Mallory. Read about her here and for a little while here. Anyway, Mallory knows of my love for all things damask. She knows about my special "damask gasp" and often convinces me to buy damask things from Target.

Mallory also loves fonts, I'd say even more than I do. She's my go-to gal who always has the answer to the question: "What font should I use for.....?"

Last week, she shared this with me.

For those of you who may have been too lazy/busy/scared of clicking on the link, it's a page on dafont.com. It's a DOWNLOADABLE DAMASK FONT! Don't worry, I won't resort to typing all damask-coded blog entries (though don't think I don't want to, because I DO) but this has opened all sorts of doors for designing delightful damask things.

Some examples of the font:


Image courtesy of dafont.com

My new hobby

In preparation for some exciting things happening in the near-ish future, I've decided the time has come to upgrade my camera. Unfortunately, in times like these, the disposable income for a significant upgrade is simply not in the stars. Regardless, I decided to research anyway. I checked out the amazon.com dSLR buying guide, the Consumer Reports buying guide, and my friend Jenna's blog about buying a camera.

As I was sorting through Jenna's photography posts, I remembered that she wrote about basic photography principles like ISO, shutter speed, aperture, etc. I looked at my camera and realized that I could manipulate a lot of the settings she described. As I further considered my camera, I noticed a little button on the front, but I had no idea what it did. Through internet research, I discovered that my little Canon Powershot A540 supported conversion lenses, like a wide-angle lens and a close-up lens for a tiny little fraction of the price of a real dSLR.

I made my way over pictureline, a fabulous camera store here in Salt Lake City, where they talked me though what lenses would work and which ones wouldn't, thus saving me a bundle of money. And, since they thought I was cool for recognizing a song playing over the speaker system, I scored a free t-shirt.

When I got home, I immediately fit my new purchase onto my camera, and hurried outside to try it out. (Note: this next part will not come as a suprise to my family and friends.) In my excitement, I closed the front door behind me. As soon as I heard it lock, I realized that I left my keys and cell phone in the house.

After spending the next ten minutes trying to break back in, I gave up, and spent the next hour and a half wandering around the Avenues trying out my new lens.

Here's what I came up with. Please note that none of these photos have been enhanced or edited in any way. Mostly because I'm writing this post lying down and all I have is my eraser head mouse. Photoshop is less fun that way.

Without wide-angle lens:


With wide-angle lens (please notice the magical appearance of my car, and the almond tree):


My view:


Then, I realized that I didn't have to keep my camera on the wide setting.

Sky:


During my wanderings, I walked down streets for the first time. Imagine my delight when I discovered these really cool stairs!


Anyway, just wait until I learn how to use my close up shot. I'm really excited about life.

One more thing...

I was remiss in giving photo credit where credit is was due. Friend and sometimes commenter Jenna is also a budding photographer! Go to her photog blog: http://jennacole.com/blog/. She's pretty much amazing, and I covet her new dSLR. She also gives wonderful tips to those of us who have photography aspirations.

Happy Birthday, Jenna! I'm happy to share my Birthday Fortnight with you!

Other Shameless Self Promotions of Birthdays

Friend and sometimes commenter on this blog, Jenna, (aka That Wife) is also a shameless self-promoter of her birthday. For weeks she's been bragging about lovely gifts That Husband has given. But as a totally self-less gesture, she's sharing the wealth in celebration of her birthday. (It's today! Go say hello!) And yet, I am staggered by her ability to be selfless whilst being shameless.

Here's the catch. She's getting her readers to blog about her. And since I'm all about winning these dainties...



I'm all over it. Well done, Jenna. Well done.

Be still my heart

My long lost coworker (she moved upstairs and I am bereft without her) invited me to a lunch meeting sponsored by AIGA SLC (American Institute of Graphic Arts, Salt Lake Chapter) at Caffe Niche in downtown Salt Lake. There are many reasons why I loved this. First of all, I love hearing people talk about graphic design. The event was called Shift.Option.Talk, which, if you have ever designed on a Mac, is just a cool name for a seminar. Last, and totally not least, I fell in love with Caffe Niche after visiting their website to peruse their menu options.

Look what greeted me:


The rest of these pictures I snapped with my camera phone, so they leave a lot to be desired, but I hope you catch my drift.



Finally, imagine this as a really big wall to serve backdrop to the speaker (image belongs to Caffe Niche):

So, this was extra cool because the speaker was there to talk about environmental graphic design, or the infusing of a space with the client's brand. Caffe Niche was a built-in case in point.

Tomorrow I'm off to an event called Slide Jam! at the Salt Lake Art Center. A handful of presenters have 5 minutes each to share their thoughts through slide images that have to do with a traveling exhibit called "Branded and On Display." I'm not much of a branding expert, but can appreciate good branding when I see it.

Isn't Salt Lake City great?

For those who care (Dad, I'm looking at you) I chose the Roasted Dame Sandwich for lunch: herbed goat cheese spread, roasted butternut squash, balsamic figs, arugula and lemon-chive oil on sourdough. Divine.

Dining Rooms (and Duvets and Desks)

This is mostly for the benefit of my mother, but I thought I'd share with everyone the decorating that is taking over my life. I'm addicted, and nowhere near where I want to be. But I do love my dining room, and my duvet, and my desk.

I had to hurry to set the table in order to catch what was left of natural light for the day:


Pretty dishes. Aren't they fabulous? A Christmas present from Mrs. Claus. She got them from Target.


Another angle of my babies:


Striving for five is a cinch with a fruit bowl:


Here's a view from the inside corner of the dining room:


I found this table at at Home Goods, an home decor off-shoot of TJ Maxx. The vase and its contents come from Ikea.


I saw these frames and I knew I had to have them. They come from Home Goods, and they are made out of news print.

So the table was supposed to be for my cook books, but that didn't work out. So they're tucked away in a corner. They're happy, I'm happy.


While at Ikea, I got this new duvet and sham for a killer deal. The damask lamp was one of those temptation purchases, courtesy of Mallory. Seriously Mal, you + Target = Me spending too much.
This basic desk is yet another Ikea purchase. It's lasted me through college and beyond. However, it was only a desk top with some table legs, so I went back to Ikea after Christmas (with a gift card in hand: thanks Mrs Claus!) and found this topper. As you will notice it has a magazine rack, shelves, and a white board to the right. Members of my family will notice a message specifically for those who have been harping on me to post these pictures.

Here's a pic with the flash, and with an extra view of the top shelf. In the middle you will see the Damask clock which was a housewarming from Mallory. Bottom middle you'll see some more Damask items, such as a pictureless frame (I'm working on filling it) and a damask pencil case, both from Target. Both were purchased when Mallory was with me.
I can't complain though, because she makes me beautiful things like this for Christmas:

So there you have it! I hope this makes those who were waiting so desperately for this post happy.

Finally, and at long last....

THE CHRISTMAS TREE!!

I really, really love my tree this year. It is pretty much the love of my life right now.

I love it in the day time, sans lights:

And, I love it at night, with lights:

I love it from outside:

I love it laying down underneath it and looking up like how they do on Grey's Anatomy:

I mean, that's one tree, with 125+ ornaments that all bring joy and happiness to my soul.

So there you have it. Merry Christmas.

Happy Halloween!

I know this doesn't seem like a timely post, but I finally downloaded pictures from my camera. Just feel grateful that I didn't take you back to graduation in April. And I think you'll forgive me once you get taste of this:

And this:

But, let's back up. I took my first day of paid time off and flew to Coeur d'Alene to visit my sister. She picked me up in Spokane and we went to visit some apple farms to see if she could find her favorite apple of ever. While we were there, I took the opportunity to walk with Clara through the leftovers of the pumpkin patch. She liked it. Truth be told, however, that her favorite part was probably tromping about in the dusty dirt.

Next it was time to get ready for pumpkins, or "cuppins" as Clara calls them, and as they are now referred to in the Bryson household. Getting Clara ready for cuppin carving (it does do something pleasing for the alliteration, I'll give her that) involves stripping her down to her onesie and putting on a full body smock-like bib.

Don't let that stellar grin fool you. Sure, she had her cute little kiddie cuppin scoop in hand. But let's take a little gander at what happens when it's crunch time.


Cuppins and Bear Caves from Megan Welton on Vimeo

Don't worry, because being the Best Aunt Ever that I am, I was there to come to her rescue. It's just practice for when I need to have her back for the truly scary things in the world: like boys, or visits to the lady doctor, all though the latter, I'll probably leave up to her mom.

The rest of the weekend was pretty much taken up by basking in the beauty of surrounding environs, and the cuteness of small children. I even got to watch Wallace & Grommitt with Clara while Jonathan napped, leaving Rachel and Jeremy an entire free hour by themselves at Costco. I'm pretty sure there's room for my Best Sister Ever badge to go next to the Best Aunt Ever ribbon.

Now, while I finish waiting for my video to load, here are two more pictures of Clara. The first, she's thoroughly enjoying my fakesie Uggs:

And here, she's sporting my Farmer Hat. She really loved it. I often found her sneaking in to my suitcase to find it. I tried to get a pic of her sporting both the boots and the hat at the same time, but that was too much to ask for.

Sneak a peek

Here's a small little piece of what I was up to last night...it's only a bit of a picture I snapped at lunch on my phone. A full description will come later when I take pictures with a real camera.

I have not the words...

The world was simply not prepared to handle this much cuteness...


Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

I heart Adobe Acrobat

Here it is, almost 11 o'clock, and I'm on campus, compiling things for my editing portfolio. It's coming along quite nicely, I'm looking through the electronic files and in one I'm particularly fond of, I found a horrific error, especially if I'm trying to pass myself of as an editor: I used "they're" instead of "their!" Holding in a gasp of horror, I try not to cry as I realize that the file is a pdf! I can't even fix it!

Just then, I remember my brother lauding Adobe Acrobat 8, saying it was worth the money he spent on CS3 just for Acrobat 8 alone. At the time, I thought that was a bit of an exaggeration resulting from the fact that he just didn't know the wonders of Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. But now, in my desperation, I cling to the hope that maybe he was right! Maybe Acrobat 8 can make my dreams come true!

Lo and behold, I discover in the help menu that yes! it is possible to edit a pdf if the fonts used are installed on the computer! Hallelujah for my total lack of typographic creativity! Of course the fonts are on the computer! Hardly daring to breath, I select the offending text and tentatively start typing. Yes! It works!

I'll never doubt Acrobat 8 again.