It’s been a while since I’ve posted some of the design projects I’ve been working on in the Pond, so I thought I would share one today along with something I learned about myself last week. I recently had the opportunity to do some graphics and printed items for Starkville, Mississippi’s 175th Birthday Party. It was a fun and festive project with an old fashioned flair. My client is a stellar event planner and really wanted to create a kid-friendly, nostalgic atmosphere. I created the theme graphics with a primary color palette and produced a postcard invitation that we also translated into an e-vite and other online media graphics. In addition, Jenn wanted to give a hand-made quality to the Party with some custom printables that would mimic our “look.” She asked me to create cupcake toppers, tabletop signs and pennant banners to be used in the decorations. The Party was last Friday and it was just as festive and nostalgic as Jenn envisioned. Plus, my kids gave a resounding thumbs-up to the cupcakes!

Oh yeah, and I also learned something about myself. Or at least remembered something about myself. For the party, I did some chalk lettering on a vintage chalkboard to be included in a wacky photo booth vignette. On Thursday, I rolled up my sleeves and started chalking — armed with a wet cloth, a dry cloth and some colored chalk my kids loaned me. The result wasn’t a spectacular feat — only about 600 inches of hand-drawn serifs and chalk dust. But, it reminded me of something. I spend so much of my creative life behind a screen or a lens, pushing and pulling anchor points in drawing software or highlighting and kerning text or zooming in or out of a digital camera lens. It was refreshing to actually get my hands dirty — to have my fingers not separated from my medium by a piece of glass or a rectangular focus box. It was a fun and much-needed change of pace to spend an hour creating lines and shapes without any digital help. I think I’ll try it again sometime.