Townhome for Two: Graphic Design

January 2, 2014

What I Want to Work On in the New Year

I don't love the term New Year's Resolution but there are definitely things I want to accomplish and get better at this year.

01. Send Thank You Cards - Kind of a given that I will be sending a lot of thank you cards this year because of our wedding but I really want to get in the habit of showing my appreciation in a tangible way starting with the gifts Mike and I received for Christmas.

02. Remember Birthdays - I've gotten lazy on this one. FB and texting are great but for close friends and family I'd like to make an effort of sending an actual card or at least picking up the phone and calling. I know it means a lot to me when someone does this for my birthday and I'd like to do the same. The mother of my best friend growing up still calls me on or near my birthday every year which I think is amazing.... looks like I'll need to stock up on some stationary.

03. Improve my Graphic Design / Photo Editing Skills - I had no clue how much I would love creating graphics until I stumbled on PicMonkey a few months ago and now I can't stop! Graphic design and Interior decorating kind of go hand-in-hand in my brain just in different mediums. I'd love to get to know another design program at some point this year. The obvious contender is Photoshop but I know there are other (maybe better?) ones out there. Anyone have a suggestion?

04. Pass All my CPA Exams - I could write an entire essay about my experience with those tests but let's just leave it at it's probably the biggest thing I've struggled with in my adult existence. Even thinking about it makes me kind of sick to my stomach but I've got to do them. Realistically I might move on from tax and maybe even accounting at some point in my life but as long as I pass my CPA and pay off my student loan, I will be okay with that. I need to think of a strategy to get them done but seeing everyone else at work struggle through them I think the best way is just to be obsessive about it which is incredibly annoying for everyone who isn't in the process of taking them so I apologize in advance.

I've been loving reading everyone else's resolutions on their blogs - definitely post a link in the comments if you've written about yours!

Graphic by Lindsay Wilkinson for Townhome for Two

November 27, 2013

Customizable Party Invites

With Thanksgiving just a day away, it is officially the holiday season which = parties galore. I love this time of year when everyone puts down their normal routine for awhile and makes a special effort to spend time with their loved ones.

I made an invitation for our Friendsgiving feast last weekend and had so much fun doing it I decided to create a few more. I recently stumbled on a site called PicMonkey which is not only (mostly) free, but very user-friendly. I sprang for their 'premium' service which gives me access to some of their more advanced graphics and fonts because for the price of $5/mo - or $3/mo if you buy a whole year at a time - I figured it would be worth it.

I've had a lingering cold all week so on ~~the doctor's~~ Mike's orders, I took it easy yesterday and whipped up these fun invitations by drawing from inspiration around the web. I love receiving an invite via snail mail, but sometimes we aren't on top of it or don't want to spend the money in printing and postage and for that I've found an emailed invite does the trick.

Below are the four invites I created ready for your customization by following these steps:

1) Right-click on the invite you want below and select 'Save Image As' on your computer.

2) Go to picmonkey.com and select 'Edit a Photo' from the banner at the top of the screen and choose the saved invite from your computer.

3) To add text, select the text icon from left-hand menu, pick the font you want, and then press 'add text'.

4) From here you can change the size, color, and position of your text to fit the invitation. Under the invitation below I've listed the font type and html code for the color I used in my examples if you want to copy those. Using the html code is the easiest way to get a specific color and can easily be changed here (this box will pop up when you select 'add text')