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!

better late than never...

Hello all,

Sorry I've been away for a while. Things have been really busy and then I got really sick! Like almost pneumonia sick! I'm doing much better though and trying to catch up after having to take almost a week and a half off.

In my absence I actually had to photograph some of my work, which is good because I've been wanting to post it anyway!

Here are just a couple of photos of my wedding invitations which I design and letterpressed almost 3 years ago (hence the better late...) I was really happy with them and they are basically how I decided that designing/creating stationery was really what I was interested in. I've done other suites since then, which I will post soon. Enjoy!

beautiful illustration

I ran across a portfolio site for a new to me illustrator: Darren Booth. I am especially attracted to the hand lettering. I love all of the texture that goes into it. Gorgeous!!! Check out more on his portfolio or his blog! Definitely worth a few minutes!

I'm always a sucker for a beautiful ampersand!

Free Typography Lesson!

Something that always urks me a little as a designer is when I get a bunch of text from someone and after every period there are TWO spaces. Let me inform anyone reading this... that is an incorrect practice.

It all began with the typewriter, when each letter took up the same amount of space whether it was skinny like an "i" or fat like a "m" (called monotype). Using 2 spaces was necessary because the letters were already a little spaced out and it was difficult to distinguish where the end of a sentence was. These days we don't have that problem any more! The letters have individual spacing that takes care of the problem, with maybe the exception of Courier.

That's the basics of it, if you are interested or disagree, check out this article!

Free Font: Matilde

If you like the little frames that I used around these little guys, you can download them! They are part of a really pretty free font called Matilde. Get both the fonts and the frames here.

Valentine's Day Card

Hello there!

I've just posted a printable Valentine's Day card in my etsy shop featuring this little cutie! Perfect for kids or just about anyone!

Hello New Year!

Hello everyone! Well another year has come and gone and the short list of things I set out to do last year... well let's just say that everything still needs done! Not a fun thought at the beginning of the year to realize that you didn't accomplish any of the things that you wanted to try to get done. Of course I did so many other things, just not the few extras that I had hoped to acheive! I was terribly busy with freelance work, which I am grateful for because it pays the bills : ) I don't think that is likely to change, also a good thing! I am working on rearranging my time a little so I can squeeze in some time to blog, for example. I hope to make it a more regular occurrence.

I did have some exciting things happen to me in the last year and hopefully I'll get around to sharing some of that here! I will share this with you, some fun illustrations that I did as part of a freelance project in December. I know monsters and alligators are typically threatening or scary, but I think these are just plain cute!!!

oh my neglected blog...

Well, it would seem that every time I start feeling as though things are settling down and I am able to blog with some regularity, things get absolutely crazy again! I have been so swamped with work lately (not that I'm complaining) that I just haven't had any spare time. I mean, last week I worked over 40 hours in 4 days! I have so much still in progress that I am getting mentally bogged to the point of shutting down. I feel like my laptop when I have left in on too long without restarting, but somehow I'm still chugging along : )

Anyway, lately I have been introducing some of my students to illustrators and one of my recent favorites is David Weidman. This piece in particular seems to fit in with my life/schedule lately!

Hope everyone is having a nice Spring so far!

flury of activity

Hello everyone and happy Friday!

I have been buried in grading this week. I just returned almost 500 collages to my 80 illustration students! It's been a bit busy and on top of that I've been trying to get an order of save the date cards out the door! Below is a sneak peak of the magnet that is being printed for the inside of the card. I love the color palette for this wedding!!! I'll photograph the whole thing once they are done. Have a great weekend everyone!

beautiful print

Doing some lazy internet surfing yesterday I came across this beautiful print. It's called Fancy Dress, by Yasmine Surovec a designer and illustrator from the Bay area. I love the detail on the dress. So feminine and pretty! It can be purchased here for $35 and 15% of the profit goes to the kids in need foundation, which works to provide school supplies to children in need.

A beautiful piece of art and donating to a good cause... as if I would need another reason ; )

Olympic Graphics

Ok, so everyone has already seen them I'm sure. But I really do love the graphics for these olympic games! Every time I start watching the figure skating, I just want them to stop and span around the rink so I can see all of the art! Ah, I'm a sucker for all good design!

Here are some of the icons:

and I love the little characters that are used on the website:
Have a great weekend everyone!

What type are you?

I'm sure many people have seen this, but I still think it is pretty fun. To see what type you are click here. (The password is character)

I am Archer Hairline, a font that I find quite beautiful! Happy Monday everyone.

Sorry I've been away...

So, the new year has come and already January is almost over! I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted! It isn't that I haven't had anything to post about, or that I've forgotten, just not enough time in a day it seems. I think that is the same story of most people who are self-employed. Or most people for that matter.

It's been a busy several months, and I don't feel like that will change any time soon. I do have lots of fun things that I need to photograph and share with the world, but with as gray as it has been here lately, not sure when that will happen. That's the trouble when you live in NE Ohio. I feel so behind... I'm still trying to figure out what my New Year's goals are! I do know that one goal is to commit to posting here AT LEAST once a week. I would love to do it everyday, but I don't want to over promise, especially to myself. I just end up feeling bad. So after being away for several months, I think once a week is an excellent goal.

Well, I hope everyone has had a wonderful January and beginning of their new year! Here's hoping to see you all once a week!

fabric bowls

I have been so busy that I haven't had a chance to make on of these fabric bowls!













You can make one though. Find complete instructions here.

Perhaps when I am done programming 3 websites, finishing up tons of wedding collateral for a friend/client, preparing for the semester to start and all of my other freelance projects I can make one too!

Yikes, it sounds like even more when I write it down. Oh well, one day at a time ; )

(Images from Imagine Fabric.)