Font Love: Agent Orange

Below is a promo piece that I created for our church's Easter Carnival. This is our first year doing something like this for the community and we are super excited. The goal was to attract the young families (the carnival itself is geared to children). So it needed to communicate how cool we are as a church (ha.) and at the same time reach our target audience of little ones. I found this super cute font and after trying a few other options decided that this one was perfect for the job. It is not overly childish or cartoonish, but still has a playful, lighthearted feel. I combined it with the classic Myriad font in bold that contrasts nicely with it's simple and clean lines. I am pleased with how the piece turned out and am happy to have found another font love!

What do you think?

{Agent Orange - free download here}

DIY Projects on the List

A few DIY Projects that I can't wait to try (*ahem* finish)!

+ Still working on this wreath and had almost given up on finishing until I saw she had links to a tutorial for making the actual felt flowers... Maybe next week it will be done and photographed for you to enjoy as well. Did you try making one yet?

+ Absolutely LOVE this... so much so that I took two little ones to Lowe's today to pick up about 1,000 paint chips. I am hoping to make a focal art piece with the paint chips for my husbands office. He's out of town... a nice surprise for his return? Maybe. Hopefully. We shall see.

+ From The Whimsicle a beautiful and wonderfully creative idea. Am I becoming obsessed with yarn?! Strange. In college I took a textile design class where I may or may have woven a 6 ft x 6ft blanket. Crazy, I know. Even crazier is that my now husband would sit with me and keep me company for hours at the loom. I digress... that textile design class left me with a TON of yarn that I paid a lot of money for and spent a lot of time dying so I never had the heart to throw it out. So here we are 6 years later and 800 miles away and I have finally find a use for all that yarn... (I should mention that I am still unsure as to how to actually make these letters at his point...)

+ Drawer Hangers I have some really beautiful drawer pulls and hardware that I have hung on to for awhile now (do we see a trend? I have this habit of seeing potential in just about anything....) When I saw this post I knew exactly where I would hang such a project and that meant I had to make it. I have the scrap wood and the white paint so now I just need to actually put it all together. I can't wait to see this finally hanging on my wall.

. . .
What projects are you working on? I would love to hear!
I am always up for another...

Love/Need Rain Boots

Today looks like this:

+photo from here

So Monday's Favorites?
A warm, fuzzy blanket
A good movie (or cartoons with the little ones)
Cup of coffee
and
should you find it necessary to venture outdoors....

You should have these with to help you out:

+all boots from Target.com

Font Love: Handwriting

I love finding a great handwriting font. When I was in college my art professors were always anti-handwriting fonts for the simple reason that they look fake, which goes against the purpose of a handwritten font in the first place. I get that. But what if it was created from an actual person's handwriting... and used in a minimalistic, natural, organic way? These sort of things should never be over used, like a title is pretty much it (insert: NEVER for body text.) :)

I follow Elise Joy's blog and love it. The other day she posted that her handwriting had been created into a font. So of course I had to click on her link and check it out for myself. Fonts For Peas has lots of really great handwritten fonts for free, and of course I got sucked in.... I probably downloaded 15 fonts. ha. I found a few that I really liked (including Elise's!) and two are below. What do you think? Could you or would you use this for a project you are currently working on?





This one was passed on to me by a sweet friend, Mary, who happens to be a great artist! I wanted to show a great example of a handwritten font (I love this font... it is easy to read but still has the natural feel of a real handwritten note). So, below the font sample is an image of a retreat promotional piece that Mary created the artwork for. It is clean, modern, and beautiful. The font is perfect for this piece as it ties in the organic quality of the illustration with the title. She then used a clean sans-serif for the tag line and extra information. Using a different font for the additional text creates a hierarchy that is easy to understand visually. You see the title first and the remaining text as secondary. What do you think? Do you love it to?

{Sunshine In My Soul - free download here}

Great work Mary!

Spring Wreaths

Today is the first day of spring!

My windows would be open (LOVE living in Florida!) but there is a house being built right next door = lots of noise that can be somewhat muffled by the doors/windows being closed.

In honor of this spring day, here is a super cute idea for dressing up your front door.

All of these beautiful wreaths are from Itz Fitz's shop.
{Handmade yarn wreaths, napkin rings, brooches & more! Handmade goodness made of felt, yarn and happiness for you to enjoy!}

Now I am a do-it-yourself kind of lady and crafty type projects tend to be a stress releaser for me, so I really enjoy looking for sweet, doable projects that I can take on. I saw these beauties and thought I could definitely make one for myself... maybe for indoors? Imagine a tiny little white yarn wreath with cream felt flowers... so cute, right?

I am positive that mine will not be nearly as wonderful as those from Itz Fitz's shop but it has been fun so far. (I'll post pictures when it's done.)

. . .
DIY YARN WREATH

{Materials}
Styrofoam Wreath (in your desired size. You can find these at any craft store.)
Dressmaker Pins
Yarn (in your choice of color and type)
Felt (or another fabric of choice)
Buttons
Needle & Thread

{Directions}
Step 1. Attach the end of the yarn with one pin to the wreath form. Begin wrapping, tightly, around and around. Every four or five turns around use a pin to secure the yarn in place. (My yarn was very thin so it wouldn't wrap as closely (you could see the foam from underneath) as I wanted so just used my fingers to push the yarn closer together and then would secure it with a pin.)

Step 2. Keep wrapping. Forever. This is a good project to do while watching tv as it does take awhile and seemingly mindless.

Step 3. When you get to the end, secure with a pin.

Step 4. Accent your wreath. Here is a tutorial from Martha Stewart on making your own flower. (You could accent with buttons or even just felt shapes in different sizes layered one on top of another.)
a. Photocopy template, enlarging or reducing as desired. Using template, cut out 4 petals from fabric.

b. Knot end of thread; sew a running stitch through bottom of petals, making 2 stitches for each.

c. Gently pull thread to gather petals, and knot thread.

d. Make 1 more stitch to connect last and first petals to form flower, then knot and trim thread.

e. Repeat, making flowers in a variety of sizes. Pin flowers to wreath in the desired pattern.

. . .

I would love to hear if you try this and if so, how it turns out! I'll let you know how mine turns out when it's all done!

Something New.... finally.

Months ago I mentioned that I had some new ventures that I would be working on in the close future. Too bad the close future at that point included the crazy holiday season and then the New Year... in between all of that God brought lots of clients my way, so some of those new ideas went to the back burner. BUT they were always there... lurking in my head, my to-do list, in my sketchbook.... you get the idea.

This past week was my nephew's fourth birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICAH! He was the perfect, sweet little excuse I needed to finally tackle the first of many (I hope) inspirational artwork pieces. I created a collection of 3 sports themed pieces. A modern illustration of the classic and most wonderfully relevant inspirational piece, the Bible.

Inspiration: Micah's bedroom decor

{SOCCER}

{BASKETBALL}

{BASEBALL}

After designing these I almost considered redesigning Andrew & Asher's bedroom... :)

I hope you love them!

. . .

Interested in purchasing your own sports art collection?
Message me for more information. {info@ashleeproffitt.com}

The above samplers were printed as photographs on photo paper.
I plan on having them available as photo prints as well as canvas art.

Favorite Finds - Think Spring!

{think spring}1. Stockholm Yellow & White Messenger Bag by Ika Bags
2. Teal Rose Cabochon Earrings by MsRios Originals
3. You Are My Sunshine 8x10 print by Apple Blossom Print
4. Indoor/Outdoor Concrete Planter by Tortoise Loves Donkey
5. Lemonade Spring Bloom Necklace by Miri-love's Little Love
6. Leafy Silver Bracelet by Belleza Mia
7. Mimosa Gray by Ika Bags (Handmade in Paris!!!)

I am kind of obsessed with that Mimosa Gray bag and those concrete planters....
everything really. :)

Font Love: Learning Curve

I love this sweet little font. I used it today for a logo design for a great new shop that is about to make a grand opening on etsy. When the branding is complete and the shop open for business, I will be sure to do a feature! Her work is just fabulous. This script is the perfect cursive. Often, the free scripty or cursive fonts are too scripty and not legible or they look like a man scribbled them across the page. Not to mention that this font is beautifully thought out and designed as each letter connects wonderfully to the next, there are no strange gaps or overlapping letters. To me it communicates a pretty peace. :)

ahhhh... looking at it makes me want to go practice my cursive. Have fun playing with this one!

{You can download Learning Curve here for free}

Favorite Finds: Strawberries!

I just finished creating a party pack to coordinate with my vintage strawberry birthday invitation. I was inspired by all things strawberry! Here are a few favorites I found on etsy that would be just perfect for your sweet little one on her birthday.

1. Sweet Strawberry Lemonade Petti Tutu by Strawberry Rose
2. Love - Flutter Sleeve Dress by Little Boats
3. Pillowcase Dress by BlakeandBailey
4. Strawberry Cotton Wristlet by Noonew
5. Strawberry Fields Chenille Bib by Sew Simply Baby
6. Pink May Flower Spring Hat by Snugars

And just because I LOVE ice cream:

Keep Calm & Eat Ice Cream by Poster Pop

Have you ever seen anything cuter than these little shoes???
Baby Doll Shoes by Willow Dolls

Which little favorite is your favorite?

. . .
What do you think of the party pack?
My favorite item is the favor tags that say 'You Are Sweet.' So precious. =)