I’ve been sitting on this color palette for about a month, waiting for the weather to change to a moodier, witchier vibe. Well, it finally happened, and this morning I layered up before stepping foot into the nearly freezing early morning school dropoff. Did I wear my witchiest attire? No, but I did wear a Pumpkin-colored cardigan and all black, so that’s start!

Then the car started smoking and the check engine light came on — all on the day before Halloween. Pretty spooky, if you ask me. And also uncalled for. I may need to get my cauldron and conjure up some potions to remedy this situation.

Fall color palettes all tend to be the same every year: orange, burgundy, brown, navy blue, etc. Groundbreaking. But I did notice a slime green nod from Vogue that intrigued me, and a grass green made an appearance in Marie Claire. I took a cue from both of them to bring Glow Stick #D9EEAA and Poison Ivy #182315 into my otherwise traditional fall palette.

IN THE SHOP: If you like witchy vibes, check out these printables.

The juxtaposition between green and red in a season that is not Christmas but leads up to Christmas makes me happy. It might be nice to transition to a Christmas color palette in a month that rebrands these colors with some winter vibes.

Designers like to use color palettes to create our designs, and I’m a big fan of the limited color palette (five or fewer colors). Limited palettes bring cohesiveness to designs, help you stay focused and, most important of all, limit decision fatigue.

You can use this color palette to draw on Procreate, help curate an outfit or even use as swatches for seasonal decor. The sky’s the limit!

Let me know how you use color palettes in the comments.

THERE’S MORE WHERE THIS CAME FROM: Read previous Color Crush posts here.

My go-to Halloween costume has always been a witch. The pointy hat was the first thing out of our Halloween box this year, and the kids instantly recognized it as my witch hat.

What can I say? It’s a source of feminist pride at this point, especially after I read earlier this year about the medieval history of alewives and the religious patriarchy-led smear campaign to call the female beer brewers witches to drive them out of the beer industry.

Pointy hats? So people could see the alewives at the market. Cauldrons? To brew the beer. Cats? To keep the mice away from the grain. So much witch iconography explained by simple beer brewing practices, not by evil potion making.

Although, to be clear, I’m all for evil potion making. Especially against my enemies.

THERE’S MORE WHERE THIS CAME FROM: Halloween tips and freebies!

I’ve rounded up 20 of my favorite witchy fonts for you — feel free to use them in any design that needs an air of defiance — Halloween or not.

They run the gamut from the relevant time period of medieval blackletter to more modern mystical gothic type.

Which one is your favorite?

Witchy Fonts Roundup

Scroll down to find the link to the font you love the most!

1. Witch Babe

2. Not Today

3. Retro Witch (free for personal use)

4. Awake (free for personal use)

5. Midnight Flame (Free for personal use)

6. Magick Journal

7. Midnight

8. Halloween Witch

9. Tarot Titling

10. The Witch

11. Chadwick

12. Solento

13. Netherworld

14. Le Tarot

15. Dark Magic (free for personal use)

16. Starlight Rune (free for personal use)

17. Rosalina (free for personal use)

18. Matona

19. Organic Antique

20. Mica

Bookmark for Later: Witchy Halloween Fonts

THERE’S MORE WHERE THIS CAME FROM: More font roundups.

Welcome to Film & Frame, in which we dare to imagine what could happen if we insert ourselves into one of our favorite movies and decorate a character’s walls.

Up first is “Can’t Buy Me Love,” the 1987 film starring Ronald Miller (Patrick Dempsey) as a geek who solves a financial crisis for popular girl Cindy Mancini (Amanda Petersen). His stipulation? She has to pretend to date him for one month to elevate his social status at their high school.

Of course they both eventually fall for each other, but the process is fraught with teen drama, betrayals and lessons along the way.

We see Cindy’s room a handful of times in the film, but it always made an impression on me because I loved the “Outrageous” sign on the wall that looks like a patch you’d put on your letterman’s jacket. Too bad I couldn’t replace that piece for her 2024 bedroom walls, but I did find some other items that vibe with Cindy’s personality and match up with plot points from the movie.

MORE: Beach movies I could live in and the top 10 best dance movies.

Film & Frame: Can’t Buy Me Love (1987)

Let’s decorate Cindy Mancini’s walls in 2024!

I struggled with the idea of making the wall more cohesive color-wise, but in the end I let sentimentality win out because she’s a teenager. Remember how your walls were decorated when you were a teen? Most likely with a mish-mash of things you loved mixed with things other people gave to you, plus pics of friends everywhere. Of course it shouldn’t be perfectly curated!

About the Art: The movie takes place in Tucson, Ariz., and Cindy’s house has some bad-ass 1980s Southwest vibes, so I made a nod toward it with a more modern Arizona cartoon.

Her original room featured a butterfly, so we have to bring this back with some handpainted butterflies. The Cool pennant is a reference to the plot, plus Cindy’s sporting status as head cheerleader.

The cheeky Always Screamin’ art refers to those disappointing date nights at Scoops, where she dumps a not-thick-enough milkshake over the College Boy’s head to “check the consistency.”

Now for the “deep” art — the abstract mask-esque pieces hint at the toll that playing the part of the Cool Girl does to Cindy, who admits to Ronald that she has to work at being popular: “Popularity isn’t perfect. I mean, it almost feels like a job sometimes.”

The moon references Ronald and Cindy’s last date at the airplane graveyard, where he shares his love of astronomy by bringing a telescope along and showing Cindy the moon.

Cindy Mancini:
The moon looks different now, it’s not as mysterious or romantic as before.
Ronald Miller:
I’m sorry I ruined it for you.
Cindy Mancini:
You didn’t ruin it, you just changed it I guess.

And, last but not least, the My Love print of two lovers embracing in the sea is directly linked to Cindy’s secret poetry: “someday my wish is for him to hold me in his arms, in a sea of deep blue, together at last, together us two.”

Let’s just forget about the fact that Ronald totally betrays Cindy by reciting her poetry to someone else at the New Year’s Eve party — we will forgive him because he’s Patrick Dempsey, and he grovels till he wins Cindy over in the end.

Which movie should we Film & Frame next? Let me know in the comments!

MORE: All the freebies live here!

Bookmark for Later

Are we tired of these “unprecedented” times already? Pantone seems to think so in choosing Peach Fuzz to be the color of the year for 2024, saying the color is like a warm, soft hug for the turmoil overwhelming most of our lives.

According to Laurie Pressman, vice president of the Pantone Color Institute: “Peach Fuzz is a heartfelt peach hue bringing a feeling of kindness and tenderness, communicating a message of caring and sharing, community and collaboration. A warm and cozy shade highlighting our desire for togetherness with others or for enjoying a moment of stillness and the feeling of sanctuary this creates, PANTONE 13-1023 Peach Fuzz presents a fresh approach to a new softness.”

The last time I wrote about the color of the year was in 2019, when it was Living Coral. I love that color, and the peach hue is strongly adjacent (a softer variation). Very much in the same color family, at any rate. 2019 also happened to be the last “normal” year before Covid, and before the timeline warped.

But I actually think Peach Fuzz invokes a more nostalgic era: the 1980s.

A childhood favorite, the video game Super Mario Bros., had Princess Peach (who actually wore pink). If you watched the 2023 movie, you’ll be familiar with Jack Black’s unrequited crush. “Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, I looooooove youuuu.”

But Princess Peach couldn’t compare to Peaches and Cream Barbie. Gah, I loved this Barbie. The dress was so soft and pretty, and she was my favorite of all. So much so that I contemplated spending a ridiculous amount of money to procure one on eBay for my 5-year-old for Christmas.

Basically, anyone alive in the 1980s can attest to the ubiquitousness of the color peach.

It was everywhere, not just on Barbie. It was on our walls, most notably, and in our satin bedding and curtains and clothing. I’ve seen reactions online of people having a visceral reaction to Peach Fuzz being the color of the year — “oh god, not again!” — and “it makes me feel sick.”

34 Ideas for Peach Fuzz Decor

While I disagree that Peach Fuzz is dated or ugly, I understand not wanting to bring it into your life in huge doses. Peach wall paint doesn’t seem like the right move in 2024, but accent Peach Fuzz decor pieces? That I can get on board with!

Here are 34 quick ideas for ways to incorporate Peach Fuzz decor in your life without upending your entire home.

Hover and click to view more details!

P.S. See past Color Crush posts here.

Bookmark for later

Here are some Peach Fuzz decor guide graphics to add to Pinterest or your favorite bookmarking site:

Have you thought of your word of the year for 2024 yet?

I usually think about this in the week after Christmas, leading up to the new year, but somehow it didn’t occur to me this year. Because I’m so behind on this game (as well as this calendar!), I took a chance on a Morgan Harper Nichols’ “spinning wheel” of words on Instagram to see what would come up.

The word that I screenshot was “steadiness,” and the description felt very apt to me and the year 2024 is shaping up to be.

Looking at the months ahead, I anticipate a lot of changes for our family, and I need to stay steady and just trust the process — because believe me, I’m already overthinking the details and how everything might pan out.

I’m also hoping to stay steady in my goals for the year, taking measurable action to make sure these goals don’t just become wishes. That each action is something I can tangibly achieve.

For example, I set a reading goal each year. It has been years since I actually met that goal. Usually life gets in the way and I forget to the read or choose to scroll TikTok at the end of the day instead of the library loan on my Libby app. But so far this year, only 10 days in, I’ve read 5 books of the 20 I set as my goal.

How did I do this? I put an audiobook on while I’m working for about 4-5 hours each day. It’s proving to be a life-changer. Not sure how I forgot about this trick since I became self-employed, but in the days when I worked in the office I listened to audiobooks on my commute.

Anyway. tangible actions. Finding the rhythms that work for me in this phase of my life! Steadiness!

Tell me in the comments if you choose a word for the year, and if so what yours is for 2024.

IN THE SHOP
If you like this free calendar, you might like my Leila+Jewel minimal planner pages, including this perpetual calendar.

Free 2024 Minimalist Calendar Printable

This is the ninth year I’ve shared my free minimal calendar with you, changing it up ever so slightly with the treatment of the “months.”

In 2015, I used oversized typography. In 2016, the months were hand-drawn in heavy marker. For 2017 I drew the months in bounce lettering. In 2018 I used freeform penmanship. For 2019, I drew blocky, beatnik-inspired letters in Procreate using my Adonit pen. For 2020, I used a Procreate dry marker brush to create low-midline lettering with a retro vibe with my Apple Pencil, editing them in Photoshop. In 2021, I went back to oversized typography using Bugaki Elegant Serif. In 2023, I hand lettered months inspired by the retro serif Cocktail.

This year I was feeling nostalgic for the ’90s (as evidenced by this post about retro serifs). Did you know that 1994 is not 10 years ago? Criminal! So this year I used one of my favorite new/old fonts, TAN Harmoni.

PDF includes each month in 8.5×11 format. For personal use only. Share with friends. Tag @littlegoldpixel on social media so I can see how you’re using your calendar!

Tools used: Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Montserrat Bold, TAN Harmoni

Bookmark for later:

THERE’S MORE WHERE THIS CAME FROM:
All the freebies live here!

If you’re paying attention to typography trends, you might have noticed a recent uptick in retro serif fonts. And yes, by retro I mean 1980s and 1990s, as much as it pains me to admit that these decades are not just “10 years ago” anymore.

The other day my 5-year-old daughter told me with much authority that everything back in the “19s” was so long ago it was in black and white. I had to remind her that I, a person from the “19s,” am in color, although I do remember a time when newspapers were “black and white and read all over.”

In fact, reading the newspaper is a favorite childhood memory of mine. Every morning, I would wait for my mom to hand over the Arts & Culture section so I could check (in this order): my horoscope, the funnies and the review section for info about the movie I wanted to see that weekend. We would flip through the pages, savoring the smell of fresh ink and the rustle of paper. The headlines were bold, the text was clear, and everything was easy to read.

Those retro serif fonts were all over the newspaper and in my favorite magazines. (I’m looking at you, Seventeen logo and Gap ad.)

I first noticed this a few years ago, when I rounded up a bunch of what I then called “modern serifs,” aka elegant twists on tried-and-true vintage serifs.

Last year, AIGA wrote a piece about the return of text-heavy layouts and condensed retro serif fonts in advertising, with a heavy emphasis on 1980s styles and ITC Garamond — and I would argue that this typography trend is continuing and bleeding into the 1990s aesthetic as well, because 2023 has brought with it a wave of retro serif fonts that somehow feel even more fresh than when they were last popular.

I’m trying to figure out what is so appealing about the 1980s-1990s condensed serifs — maybe it’s the reminder of the original Apple identity. Maybe it’s the reminder of my youth thumbing through magazines, books and newspapers instead of scrolling on a device. I rarely get ink on my fingers anymore.

TIPS & TRICKS
Five simple typography rules

I’ve rounded up 20 of my favorite retro serif fonts for you — feel free to use them in any design that needs a vibe of nostalgic sophistication.

Which one is your favorite?

Retro Serif Fonts Roundup

Scroll down to find the link to the font you love the most!

1. Absolute

2. Adorable Memories

3. Awesome

4. Dark Paradise

5. Editorial New (Free for personal use)

6. Editorial Old (Free for personal use)

7. Eighties Comeback

8. Girl From Nowhere

9. Hickory Dickory

10. McKenzie Headline

11. Memories

12. Morning Memories

13. Mountriel

14. Nyght Serif (free for personal and commercial use)

15. Perfectly Nineties

16. Quentin

17. Retroscope

18. Sailing Club

19. Seriously Nostalgic

20. That That New Roman

Bookmark for Later: Nostalgic Retro Fonts

THERE’S MORE WHERE THIS CAME FROM: More font roundups.