Lovely Ink

We got engaged!

2012-02-12T18:07:00.000-08:00

On January 20th Andrew and I traveled to Stratford for a little afternoon and evening date.

After browsing in some of the Stratford shops, galleries and of course buying some local chocolate, we strolled down for a walk by the river. That's when Andrew knelt down on one knee and asked me to be his wife!!

We are so thrilled to see what God has planned for us! We will be getting married on July 28th, this summer!! Woot. Here is a little iPhone snapshot of me, all smiles at dinner... and of course, the typical ring shots.

Christmas Tags

2012-01-04T10:55:00.000-08:00

As always, Kelsi (my sister), swindled me into creating some tags for the Elshaw side of her family.

Kelsi used these to tie to her small gift boxes that contained each item listed inside. Its was a lovely gift idea!

The Hodgson Farm

2011-12-31T08:00:00.000-08:00

Andrew and I took a little tractor ride around the Hodgson farm on boxing day and said hello to the sheep! The Hodgson's have been farming sheep since the 1700's!

Its that time of year again...

2011-12-20T13:00:00.000-08:00

Where I have to buckle down and design a new 2012 Calendar. I have gotten so sick of my old calendar... this happens quickly for me, usually by March. So lets see how long this one survives.

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas

2011-12-14T08:21:00.000-08:00

I'm really not sure how I feel about this new template to be honest. But I think i will test it out for a bit.
Hope everyone is gearing up for Christmas!

Wikipedia (the official source of all credible information on the internet of course) notes:
Christmas or Christmas Day (Old English: Crīstesmæsse, literally "Christ's mass") is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ, celebrated generally on December 25 as a religious and cultural holiday by billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it closes the Advent season and initiates the twelve days of Christmastide. Christmas is a civil holiday in many of the world's nations, is celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians, and is an integral part of the Christmas and holiday season.

That first sentence makes me happy.
Here is a little preview of my Christmas cards this year :)

Have yourself a merry little Christmas!

Why do I love this video so much?

2011-12-02T13:31:00.001-08:00

Its catchy I guess - I just HAD to re-post it.

What is Beautiful?

2011-11-04T17:45:00.000-07:00

So much has happened in the life of Sharlet recently. I am excited to be going into my third week at Compassion Canada as their new Graphic Designer on Monday. Compassion Canada is a wonderful organization that continues to bring God glory and serve Him by helping people all over the globe. Make sure to check them out if you haven't before - or ask me any questions - I'd love to share!

My mother has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. As she started treatment today, I continue to seek out God's will in this season of my families life, and continue to pray that He will give her peace and wrap His arms around her.

Even more specifically I'm really excited about one of my new favourite sites - Resurgence. This site is an awesome resource for modern Christians who are ready to talk about real life issues and sin. The post I was reading tonight was called "What is Beautiful". The author Jen Smidt simply stated:

Just as we will often ask our friends or husband whether we look beautiful, we ought to ask Jesus the same question.

This quote reminded me of one of my favourite verses (Proverbs 31:30) When I am reminded of true beauty looks like, my pinterest account, hours of shopping and long mornings with my hair dryer start to look a bit silly.

Pinterest obssessed!

2011-07-16T20:50:00.000-07:00

I love pinterest... if you haven't heard about it yet - you need to check it out - http://pinterest.com/

Here is a screen shot of my lovely boards & my favourite find so far:

This caligraphy is created by Jane Farr - a freelance calligrapher working out of my home studio in Carmel, Indiana, United States!

Wedding work.. everywhere.

2011-06-12T16:44:00.000-07:00

Not only am I crazy busy at work with numerous (lovely) brides - I am also finding that I am picking up a few side jobs that have wedding written all over them (usually with friends and family). My co-worker - Holly - got married this past March - and I was excited when she asked me to make her up some Thank you postcards!

This was a lot of fun - and I got to work with great pictures provided by an up and coming photographer Holly Burgsma (make sure to check out her website).

I was also honoured to help design invites for my cherised friend Tiffany - who is getting married this coming August 19th. We were a bit rushed on her design as we tried to get these invites out before the postal strike! (ekk) I won't show the design here - as I don't want to ruin it for those who will be receiving them in the mail.

In other news! Vee Kay Construction has decided upon a logo!! I am excited to be ordering Truck Decal later this week and getting my dad some signs made up with his brand new logo printed on them! (the file name for this one was THELOGO.ai - haha)

For those of you wondering about my bible time line... I regret that I have not had time to work on this.. I will have to schedule some time in the near future to sit down and continue where I left off.

Busy busy busy.. but not too busy to design!

2011-04-12T16:04:00.000-07:00

I've been quite busy at work - but I am never to busy to do some fun design on the side for family and friends!! Lately I have been working on shower invites, baby announcements, some fun logos and cards - o and a fun address label for my sister and brother-in-law..

New Uses for Old Things!

2011-02-13T13:53:00.000-08:00

I recently bought a real simple magazine subscription for my sister (as a Christmas gift) and received a free subscription with it for myself. (we tend to chat about the issues each month together :)

My absolute FAVOURITE section of real simple is "New Uses for Old Things"
Here are a couple examples of ones I recently found on the magazines website. Make sure to check them out yourself.. they are GREAT idea's and money-savers!

Business Cards- Be Creative.

2011-02-10T09:38:00.000-08:00

Business cards are getting more and more creative, make sure yours stands out.. or makes someone laugh ... makes someone take a second look. Here are some GREAT examples of cards that do just that.

Check out more here.

Great Font Resources

2011-02-10T09:25:00.000-08:00

Logo for Pops

2011-01-25T10:32:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I think that designing for family can be the hardest type of design out there. Family is honest, straight forward and blunt. Which is nice, don't get me wrong I love honesty, but sometimes I feel like they tend to have this "picky persona" that drives me crazy while trying to design something free for them. Either way, they challenge me .. and lets face it, at this stage family is all I have.

So I have started working on a logo for my father... the worst critic of them all.. today i hashed out these logos below for his construction company (you wouldn't think it.. but its a hard project for a girl that likes to design wedding invites and pretty things).. haven't showed them to him as of yet.. but I guess we'll have to see how it goes later on today. (keep your fingers crossed)

Bible Timeline

2011-01-18T07:06:00.000-08:00

I've looked everywhere for a cool looking and informative (infographic) Bible Timeline. But I can't find one that won't take up 20 feet of my wall ANYWHERE. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and design one. The one I am designing is based on the older version that was previously taking up 20 feet on my wall. This one should be a nice poster that I can frame and perhaps hang someday in my home! .. I am only at Genesis 3:15.. lets just say, it will take me more then a couple weeks to finish this one. Here's a sneak preview of what I have so far.

I think I will be giving family a few copies as this will [hopefully] be a great piece for any follower of God to be able to take a look at while their reading His word and remind themselves of where they are.

Prepare for 2011

2010-12-21T15:28:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I've had quite the adventure trying to find decent calendars for the past few years. I always end up with irrelevant cathedral (current calendar) or "places" calendars. (except for that one time when Sarah Rutherford bought me a beautiful calendar [shout out- thanks Sarah!]) Anyways. This year I thought, lets end this calendar search madness.

With lots of inspiration from a GREAT blog younghouselove (font [matilde] and layout wise) I have "started" to create a calendar for 2011. I am making each month colour appropriate as well as adding a little lead in text and some favourite verses to brighten up and direct my months.

Its nice to be able to add each family members Birthday and special holidays too!

Just a little snow...

2010-12-09T06:32:00.000-08:00

After 3 snow days for most workplaces and all schools in the area of Goderich-Clinton-Exeter-London etc. we are all starting to think.. alright, that's enough snow. The London news commented that the surronding area has already seen its annual amount of snowfall.. all in the past two days.

Check out the pictures I took yesterday, as you can see for yourself there's just a "little" snow.

The poor Aveo lost its hub cap on the crazy drive to Waterloo.

Downtown Exeter, Ontario.

Merry Christmas from Elshaws

2010-12-04T17:49:00.000-08:00

Whilst I was busy slaving away at The Exeter Shi*.. I mean Shipping Store, my lovely sister and mom decided to start a new Christmas baking tradition. As Kelsi puts it "For 6 long hours the duo battled dirty bowls and sticky carmel sauce, only to come out victorious on the other side." Here are some samples of their yummy results:

Kelsi plans to put together a small tin for her friends at work etc. So we made up a cute little insert that she can put on the top of her goodies and spread a little Christmas cheer!

Love, Milk & Honey

2010-11-24T20:26:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love this site. It was created by Lauren Kelly and is a site for couples beginning the journey of marriage together. Check it out for yourself!

Free Fonts- YES PLEASE!

2010-11-23T20:05:00.000-08:00

This is a great new site that I found today :)

"Free fonts have met their match. We know how hard it is to find quality freeware that is licensed for commercial work. We've done the hard work, hand-selecting these typefaces and presenting them in an easy-to-use format." Font Squirrel

Font Squirrel has great fonts that I love to use in cards and invites! Check out some of the great fonts below!

Christmas Time

2010-11-22T15:22:00.000-08:00

I designed this for someone special... we'll have to wait till Christmas to see who! :)

Check out this transformation!

2010-11-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

Makes you feel like any location is possible (with the right budget that is..)

More pictures from this wedding at http://www.stylemepretty.com/2010/0 4/26/little-black-book-artistes-bright-and-colorful-weddings-i/

Lovely Ink is finally up and running..

2010-11-04T20:58:00.000-07:00

I still have some work to do, but I am pretty proud of "her" so far...
This makes me realize all of the fun work I have ahead of me. Its 11:54 again and I am still sitting on my mac (Leslie) designing :) I can't get enough of it.

Here's a preview, but make sure you check it out first hand (link in the right side bar)

O FALL...

2010-11-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

NEW Thank you card design...

2010-09-28T19:31:00.000-07:00