I finished all the sanding and painting of the hall and stairs. In my previous post, I describe how I painted over the 90’s gold oak. I really struggled with this. What kind of carpet do you put on the stairs?
I loved the idea of a natural jute or sisal, but my stairs needed something with pattern and I’m not sure how natural fiber would look in a few years. There aren’t hardwoods covering every step, so a 24″ runner was out of the question. I looked at dozens of carpet samples, but they were all so plain. I don’t think carpet patterns have been updated in twenty years!
Then, miracle of all miracles, I found a rug that was just the right width at Pottery Barn. The Dovie Persian-Style Rug came in the right width and actually cost less than carpet!
Since covid started and my work died for a few months, I had all the time I needed to work on my jewelry logo, website, and packaging.
I’ve been a graphic designer for over 20 years. It’s so much about finding balance : what does the client want and what do I like? What do I want to create and what is the budget? How much time could I spend on a project and when is the deadline?
With catbird creek being my very own project, I have freedom to design whatever I want. Due to covid, I have all the time in the world. My budget was somewhat limited, but I sort of love that part. How do I make something I like that is affordable. Also important to me… is it earth friendly?
Let’s start with the logo. True confessions… Tim and I enjoy creative thinking over a couple beers and pretzels. Like the scene from MadMen, all you need is a napkin and a pen to start writing down ideas. This is how we came up with Pebble Road, Lake Street Book Keep, and Catbird Creek.
This is the first year we discovered a catbird in the back yard. I always wanted to create a logo with a bird in it. And when I think of Peopple Road–the actual spelling of the road I grew up on–I think of the creek where I spent hours playing as a kid. There was a barbed wire fence at the entrance to the creek. Purple has always been my favorite color. And there it is. A logo is born. Forget the pressure of designing a logo for a client and making it meaningful and readable and clean and perfect. That’s not me. This is me.
I’ve created these pieces of jewelry. It’s just a hobby– just fun. I really like hammering the metal. And i’ve really found my niche. Like my hand drawn bird and “catbird”, my style in jewelry is rough, hammered, organic, natural. I realized after selling my first piece that I needed packaging to go with it.
This was really fun. I wanted earth friendly packaging so I started with a simple recycled box from Eco-Friendly Packaging. The bird is a perfect icon to cut out of the strip of paper. Purchasing a Cricut to cut that bird was not in the budget, but I’m convinced that I will use the Cricut for other things.
I then created a card to hold the jewelry. The cricut allowed me to die cut a piece of card stock exactly as I needed it, with two holes for the twine, scores for the folds and rounded corners to fit in the box. With this design, I can tuck the polishing cloth inside the card.
Being a graphic designer, I believe paper matters. When developing my brand for Pebble Road, I found Neenah Paper’s Canaletto. It has a great texture, 20% cotton for a soft feel, and comes in all the thicknesses I need.
I’ve always wanted to design a wine label. I’m so glad my friend had this creative idea for me to illustrate. In the end, she chose the white background to go on the clear/yellow bottles.
staring at the clouds – yes, that is so like me – i saw a figure. and it inspired me to do some doodling. initial drawings are in black and white. coloring them all is a source of endless entertainment waiting for me.
