http://www.upupcreative.com/blogs/blog.atom up up creative - Blog 2011-09-10T20:07:52-04:00 up up creative articles-4032702 2011-09-10T20:07:52-04:00 2011-09-10T20:09:29-04:00 2012 calendar price update Julie Green

Good news, friends! It's still 2011 and I've just reduced the price of my 2012 illustrated desk calendars pretty significantly. Find out how and why, if you'd like, here on my personal blog. Or, just go ahead and buy them for all your best friends and favorite relatives here in the shop. 

]]> articles-3943292 2011-09-01T09:06:50-04:00 2011-09-01T09:06:50-04:00 wedding works in progress Julie Green

Yesterday, as all the emails and calls and questions came in in response to the name-your-price experiment, I rotated my attention among three things: being giddy with excitement, answering questions, and working on some new wedding designs. Here are six designs in progress. 

Yeah, I know. I'm a tease.

]]> articles-3879012 2011-08-24T20:32:48-04:00 2011-08-24T20:32:48-04:00 kids' stationery for minted Julie Green The Minted contest du jour is for kids' stationery, which isn't really my thing. Or rather, I'm still figuring out how to make it my thing: my aesthetic tends toward the type-driven, the surprisingly-colored, the minimalist, three things that don't usually come to mind when you think of kid design. But it's a challenge I'm warming to. Here are the first designs at bat:




I've got more in the works, too.

]]> articles-3846922 2011-08-19T21:31:40-04:00 2011-08-19T21:31:40-04:00 new notecard sets at snapfish Julie Green

I've been hard at work on a super-secret soon-to-be-revealed project, but in the meantime I've also put a few new notecard designs up at Snapfish. I think I ended up doing this design (pictured above) in five different colors, plus I've got a few additional notecard designs available now or soon.

]]> articles-3829662 2011-08-17T14:12:42-04:00 2011-08-19T21:35:02-04:00 the reluctant wedding industrialist Julie Green I don’t remember exactly when I first read this post by Meg over at A Practical Wedding about the so-called Wedding Industrial Complex, but I think it was via one of my invitation clients who had linked to it on her blog.

And at the time it was like, “yeah! right on!” Like Meg, I enjoyed the layered-ness of the phrase. The complicated-ness. The way that it encourages us to be critical of an industry that we knowingly support and even advance.

But something about the phrase also stuck in my craw, so to speak. It gnawed at me the way a caterpillar might gnaw a leaf — slowly and almost without notice.

I’m a communication-major-turned-IT-consultant-turned-wanna-be-teacher-turned-phd-student-turned-graphic-designer-turned-reluctant-wedding-industrial-turned-proud-wedding-industrial, you see.

I started doing wedding design because people asked me to, and I kept doing it because it was my favorite thing to do. I seriously love being the person who helps brides and grooms remember that weddings are special, sure, but that when it comes down to it, they’re inviting the people they’re the very closest to on this earth and it’s okay to treat those people like friends and loved ones instead of like strangers being beckoned to a Foreign Royal Tea. I love the feedback I get from my customers. I love getting to know them. I love being a little part of their special day.

But I’ve also come to love the wedding industry.

When someone complains to me about how much weddings cost and what a waste and whatnot, I am surprisingly quick to disagree.

Six years ago when I was wed in my own anti-WIC wedding, I am sure I was heard railing against Big Wedding and The Man and all of that. If I wasn’t heard, it wasn’t because I wasn’t saying it.

But now, as a member of the industry and — more than that — as a member of the handmade movement, of the eco movement, of the indie movement, of the buy-local movement, I just see everything so differently. Weddings are amazing community events. They bring together family and friends but they also bring people together with the professionals who work in their own communities. They bring people together with artists and artisans. They bring people together with indie businesses. In fact I can’t think of another event or industry that encourages just these kinds of comings-together. When else will most people hire a photographer for anything? And do you think a florist pays the rent and feeds the family on foot traffic through his flower shop?

The truth is, while you can certainly buy elements of your wedding at Walmart (not to pick on Walmart; seriously, I’m not into making that argument now), you really can’t just go buy a wedding there. You can’t have a wedding without supporting your community and the people who live there. Or maybe you can, but it’s hard. You’d have to work hard to avoid supporting local artists, sellers, makers, and doers.

What entrepreneurs, indie businesses, artists, and makers will your wedding support?

]]> articles-3724782 2011-07-31T16:08:55-04:00 2011-07-31T16:10:18-04:00 minted business card challenge Julie Green Tomorrow ends the most recent business card design challenge over at Minted and I have been having a total freaking ball creating submissions. I have uploaded ten submissions so far and have a few more up my sleeve if I have time before the submission deadline.

Time will tell whether any of these is selected as a contest winner or editor's pick - I have one or two I'm particularly hopeful for - but as always, if you want to have one of these printed for yourself, Minted will make it happen (and that's good for me).


]]> articles-3679032 2011-07-24T09:34:07-04:00 2011-07-24T09:34:08-04:00 free downloads Julie Green I'm really thrilled with my decision to move to a new ecommerce platform, but I'm not so thrilled that doing so broke the links to my whole library of free downloads. So I'm recompiling the list here and will do my best to redirect the links appropriately.

Should you find other broken download links, please do let me know.

]]> articles-3603852 2011-07-12T21:11:35-04:00 2011-08-19T21:35:23-04:00 coming soon to minted Julie Green

Psyched that this design ("pom modern") was selected as an editor's pick in the recent Chronicle Books / Minted Design Challenge. 

I remember when I first started submitting to the design contests at Minted, winning them and/or becoming an editor's pick seemed like a riddle with no answer. But as I've developed as a designer and learned about ways to make the most out of the smallest details, I've had a lot more success.


]]> articles-3602202 2011-07-12T14:31:12-04:00 2011-07-12T14:31:12-04:00 letterpress elopement announcements Julie Green Back in October, I posted something on my personal blog about elopement announcements I'd just done, adapting my "Type I" wedding invitations for this super cool couple who had just eloped and wanted to spread the word. You can find that here. 

It's nine months later and I'm still getting "I googled elopement announcements and your blog came up and I'm in LOVE" emails and turning this Type I invitation into all manner of wonderful announcements. These letterpressed beauties, made for the lovely Heidi of White Loft Studio (need a photographer? she'll travel!), are my current favorites.
]]> articles-3552912 2011-07-12T14:06:30-04:00 2011-07-12T14:06:30-04:00 hi & welcome Julie Green I've had a personal blog ever since 2006. It was a blog long before Up Up Creative was a business. In fact, it's a significant factor in the establishment and continued growth of my business. I still blog over there and although I call that blog "Up Up, the Blog," it's really more like "Julie Green, the Blog."


So I'm reserving this space for stuff that's more directly related to the shop: product launches, shop announcements, looks at custom work I've done, etc. I hope that kind of stuff will find a good home here on the shop blog. And I hope you enjoy it.

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