web design

I just finished designing and programming a new site for one of my clients. It's a spa in the Cleveland area. I'm really excited with how it turned out! You can view it here.

It's a great place. If you live in the Akron or Cleveland area you should definitely check it out!

I'm still here!

Yes, I'm still alive! Sorry it's been so long... again! The last few months have been insanely busy. Between teaching two new classes at Kent State, two online for the Art Institute, a boat load of freelance and my two year old, I haven't had a lot of time for posting. I've been struggling to find time to sleep!

I have lots of exciting things to share, but no time to photograph them. For now I'll leave you with this infographic I did a little while back. One of the many projects that have kept me busy :) I'm hoping to get a shop update happening soon to sell some new goodies! Fingers crossed.

where has the summer gone?

Oh that's right, it was spent waaaaaay overdoing it on my son's second birthday party, having the party, recuperating from the party, going to Washington for a dear friends wedding, recuperating from the jet lag, then catching up from being gone for a week. Which brings us to the middle of August!!! I can't believe how quickly it all went by. I fully intend to share all of the goodies from the party, but haven't had a chance to photograph some of it yet. Hopefully in the next week or so.

In the mean time, I leave you with a couple of quick photos I snapped during a short trek to Mount Rainier. Our friends got married near there on July 26th, which also happened to be me and my hubbies 6 year anniversary. We were so fortunate to be able to share in their beautiful wedding in such a magical place. I've never seen a bluer sky or so many stars at night... simply breathtaking!

new love... pom poms!

Sorry I've been absent the last couple of weeks. My main sitter has been on vacation and what seems like every spare minute not spent entertaining my little man has been spent on either design work, house work or preparing for my space party!

While scouting some more party ideas on pinterest last night, I came across these great ideas for pom poms! I don't have any spare time now, but I can't wait to try these!

pom pom push pins found on Sarah Hearts

pom pom pens found on the casual craftlete

pom pom flowers found on happiness is creating

 Happy last day of June!

houston... we have a party!

I've recently started planning my son's second birthday party. Well, how about I've started actually creating things for my son's birthday party, technically I've been thinking about it for about 6 months! I found some fun space themed ideas and got excited. This week I've been squeezing in a little time here and there to work on the invite. Here's a preview:

 I've got plans for a cardboard rocket for the kids to play in, some jet packs, ray guns and much more. I also found this great tent on land of nod, but I can make one for a lot less than these cost. I think it will be a great birthday present for my little guy!

I'll be sure to share pics of everything as I move along!

info graphics

I know I've keep saying I've been really busy, and I haven't shared much of the end products with you. Most of that is because I have to wait until my client publishes/prints it, but the wait is over for a recent info graphic project I completed! Both graphics have a lot to do with how trees help save the environment, energy and money! They were a lot of fun to create. I'm not sure if I would call them true info graphics, but they certainly fall into that realm. Enjoy!

Graphic can be viewed live here.

Graphic can be viewed live here.

design eye candy

I've been busy for the last few days working on a new freelance project. It's a brochure to discuss the post undergraduate programs at a near by highly rated school of business. I can't share the actual design yet, but I found these two really nice pieces that have provided some much needed inspiration! Both were stumbled upon by doing a quick search on Pinterest. I have to admit I'm slightly addicted, but if it helps me do paying work that makes it ok right :) Anyway, enjoy the pretty graphic eye candy!

still buzzing over here!

Well... my hopes of things being a little slower this week have been crushed by some new projects that came in yesterday and today. I can't complain, being busy means more income, but holy cow things have been crazy! I have a lot of fun craft/design projects that I'd like to tackle, but they will have to wait for a bit more free time.

I was able to finish my soft doll house! Here are just a few photos. I was really excited how it turned out. I know that it will be played with for many years to come! The photos aren't the best, but I had to hurry up and take them with my phone before wrapping it up to take it to the birthday party!  I got the idea here, but as you can see, have made something all my own! I don't even think I ended up following the construction quite the same, but it certainly helped to have a tutorial to refer to. Such a fun project, though it did take quite a while to complete!

front door

side view

other side

little dolly and her fox inside the house

interior

busy little bee!

Hi everyone,
Sorry things have been a little slow here this week. I've been really busy with some freelance work and with getting ready for my next session of classes to start at the Art Institute. I teach a new set of classes every 5.5 weeks, so it can get a little hectic finishing up one class and starting another! On the freelance front I've been working on some info graphics, some web design and some web graphics. Oh, and a few meetings as well. My week has been swamped! I've also been trying to finish up the happy home print that I was working on.

So... with all of this, I haven't had much time to blog. Next week should be a little better :)
I'll leave you with this pattern that I recently found on Pinterest. I'm slightly addicted to Pinterest, it's full of soooo much inspiration on just about everything!

Designer: Wendy Kendall

Click here to check out my pattern board on pinterest! I just started it recently, so there are only a few, but I've been following this one that is full of great patterns!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend everyone!

love this idea!

I've often made my own rubber stamps by carving them myself, but I love the idea of being able to design them with real type and have them created. I ran across this post and am now inspired to actually try it out! Perhaps I should add it to the mile long to do list of "ideas to try"!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

rain, rain, go away!

So, in my neck of the woods, it has been raining off and on (mostly on) all week! Aren't we supposed to be in the May flowers part of Spring by now? In any event, all of this moisture has caused the dirt in the ravine behind my house to get so saturated that yesterday, three trees decided to lean on each other. The result... they all fell into my backyard!
Here is a quick pic of the craziness!

This photo is taken from the second story of my house looking down onto the ground. We have a walkout basement, so this is essentially three stories up. The red and green thing in the middle is my son's swing set. I think it's ok, but we have to get the tree off first!

On a happy note, I found this wonderful illustration that makes me smile about rain.

Illustration by Lizzie Mackay

happy home sketch

Here is my initial sketch for the house idea I was talking about yesterday! I think I'm pretty happy with it. What do you think?

It will probably end up being a print. Maybe I'll rearrange the elements to create a pattern too. Fun!

©Danielle Capotosto

delightful dwellings!

I've been working on a new house illustration to turn into a pattern, print, card...? I'm not sure yet, but I've found some happy little houses that have inspired the whole thing!

1. Carolyn Gavin

2. Amy Blackwell

3. Frances Marin

4. Jillian Philips

5. Rosie Harbottle

6. The Ink House

for all of you moms out there

Happy Mother's Day! I hope you all have the day that you wish for whether it be quiet, busy, fun or laid back! I myself am hosting a brunch for my mom, grandma, mother-in-law and aunt. It should be nice and my little guy always loves to see all of his grandmas!

A rose and a peony from last years garden. I can't wait for the flowers to bloom!

Sneak Peek: Woodland Fabric Dollhouse

I've recently been working on a fun little project for my Goddaughter. She is turning three this month and is head over heels for dollies! I got the main idea for it here, but have certainly been putting my own spin on it.

I've had a lot of fun coming up with little woodland creatures to inhabit this fairy house and used two of Aimee Ray's books for inspiration! The first is called Doodle Stitching and the second, Doodle Stitching, The Motif Collection. Her designs have been a lot of fun to use and alter for this special gift I am working on. Here is a peek at two of the sides of the house. There is so much more to show, I'll be sure to post pics of the final once it's complete. I have a deadline of May 25th (her birthday party) so you won't have to wait too long :)

Thanks to Aimee Ray for such cute ideas! In addition to the books listed above, she also has an etsy shop and a blog! Perhaps she will inspire you to whip up some cute creatures of your own.

Woodland Save The Dates!

I wanted to share a Save the Date card that I designed for my sister's wedding last summer. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding and she and her now husband wanted it to be an "outdoor/woodsy" theme. She didn't have too much more as far as a direction, so I went with it! Here is the result.

I liked the way the forest was subdued by the blue, but I think this would be pretty in green or even salmon. I had a lot of fun with the other floral graphic elements and was soooo excited that I got to use a bird! My favorite part is the textured envelope that we found! Don't you just love paper!

These are going to be available in my shop when I get around to figuring out the details... like colors and a price :) Have to have them now? Just email me!

front

back

wood grain envelope
we also did some custom return address labels that wrapped around to the back (not pictured)

Third time's a charm...

Well, I'm back... again. This is the third time I've started to give blogging a go. I'm really going to do my best to keep at it this time! I promised myself, so we'll see what happens! It's not that I don't have things to share and say, I just get busy and it always seems like the first thing to neglect. I'm hoping I can work it into the schedule this time on a more permanent basis.

An awful lot has happened since I was here last, most notably, I'm a mommy to a beautiful 22 month old little boy. "E" will be turning two in July and I have some really fun birthday goodies that I will be sharing! I'm still a part time professor and am trying hard to get a stationery shop up and running. I'm hoping to get that done this summer, but we'll see.

I leave you with the birthday invite that I designed for my little man's first birthday party! It was a pirate theme, but I described it as a moustache/whale sort of pirate, not the traditional eye patch kind! It was a fun day filled with streamers, moustaches and cupcakes. I made a flag with a big X to hang on the lamp post on the front of the house and treat baskets filled with flags, swords and lots of other pirate themed goodies for our friends. I did a bad job at taking pictures of the decorations! Another thing I'm hoping to improve on this year!

Enjoy! I hope to see you around here often!