Bridesmaid Box

I wanted to share with you my "Will You Be My Bridesmaid Boxes" that I put together for earlier this year. I was inspired by this post here, but put my own details and added a few things to make it my own. I made two versions of these, one for my bridesmaids and a mini flower girl version for my sweet nieces. I scored some cute white gift boxes with gold trim and silver glitter ones from target clearance after the christmas season. They were perfect for the look I wanted and coordinated well with the colors in my wedding. I added a few fun items that and some that reflect details of our wedding day.

 I forgot to take photos of the other ones but this one was for my Matron of Honor. I wanted this to be a fun and special way to "propose" to each of the my ladies. In each box I included a color swatch of our wedding colors, coordinating nail polish, a photo of the two of us, Champagne with a gold glitter flute,  candies and a Wedding booklet with the details of our day and style guide.

In the Wedding booklet I included details about:

- Colors + Style of our day

- Our Venues

- Dress Style

- All the Ladies

- Their role as Bridesmaids

You can also see more about my boxes on Ali Leigh's blog here.

Home Sweet Vintage Home

Hey! These cute T-shirt's I designed for the Central Iowa Junk Jaunt event - JUNKIN' IN JUNE are now available!! They are for sale at JB Knacker in Gilbert, IA - or online at Centraliowajunkjaunt.com. I had such a blast designing these and I LOVE how they turned out! Hurry and get yourself one before they run out! Limited amount available! 

Pet Portrait by Genevra Bell

You guys! Is this not the most adorable thing ever? This is a portrait of my sweet furry fluff ball - Ekko. My friend over at Genevra Bell illustrated this beautiful pet portrait for my home. I'm so happy with how it turned out and wanted to share it with you! I sent her a photo of Ekko (last photo) and asked for a flower crown and the result is perfect! You can even ask to have your pet illustrated in clothes or a costume if you choose. See more at her etsy shop here!

Embry & Ava FUND FOR INFERTILITY

I wanted to share about a special branding and website design that is close to my heart and I have been honored to work on. The Embry & Ava Fund for Infertility, is a project my friend, Heather, started to help raise money for In Vitro Fertilization treatments. This has been a journey for her and her significant other, Brian, that started two years ago when she was diagnosed with stage 4 endometriosis and infertility. Her only shot at conceiving a child of her own is through IVF, which is very expensive. Instead of taking her hardships lying down, she has chosen to use art to turn grief and heartache into love and hope. Rather than a simple GoFund me, she wants to not only earn money, but to channel her feelings into positive things. 

This makes my heart so happy and I am so proud of her. She has developed a unique enlarged cross stitch technique that she creates and designs custom pieces for.  Here are some of her beautiful pieces she has for sale.

When she asked if I would help her with the Embry & Ava logo to brand her art and etsy shop, I jumped right in. She wanted to use her heart cross stitch piece as inspiration for the logo as this project is very close to her heart. When I started to illustrate her logo, I wanted to keep it simple and clean using natural colors and textures. I added some more playful elements with a cross stitch needle and yarn to help break away from the straight linear lines and give a more organic feel. I chose to use a handwritten calligraphy for the font in the actual logo name to keep a more feminine look. 

  


" I've named my shop after my most precious dream - twin girls, Embry and Ava. Perhaps it won't be Embry or Ava, but only one, or maybe three, or even boys if that's what I'm blessed with. Through this project, I'll find comfort in knowing each and every piece will be hand made with so much love, working towards my goal of getting to meet the children I know I'm meant to have in my life." - Heather Kerens

In the photos below, you will see a jar in her workspace that she keeps a timeline of her financial goals for this project. Each piece of art brings her closer to her goal and gives her hope.

I have been so honored to be a part of Embry & Ava, and as her friend, I have seen her grow and heal. I know that through this she will become even stronger than she already is and perhaps a mother someday. Please take a look at her website, Embryava.com and read more about her story and maybe even make a purchase.  

Interior Design Project :: Student Housing

Over the last 9 months I have had the privilege of working on the design for a brand new student living complex in Ames Iowa - Stadium View Suites. This has been a fun project to work on as I have been able to incorporate and play off the sports theme as the complex is located just east of Jack Trice Stadium and Hilton Coliseum. It is always fun to see spaces come together from start to finish. 

With this project, starting with the logo, I decided to incorporate a retro sports feel paired with modern clean lines and elements. I also wanted to keep in mind that although this is a higher end project, I still needed to work within a budget and keep in mind turnover in the units. Since it is a student living complex, most residents will only be living here for 1-4 years at most. This means choosing products and finishes based on their durability, longevity and availability. As they are needed to be able to withstand wear and tear of students moving in and out over the years and possibly be replaced if damaged. (let's get real- WHEN damaged) :)

This project is also unique in that it is rent by the room. It has 2, 3 and 4 bedroom units that are rented out by individual leases. So if you don't have any roommates figured out they will match you with a roommate matching system. The common space is also fully furnished with a couch, love seat or chair, coffee table, flatscreen tv and 4 bar stools. Here is the furniture I picked that coordinates with the apartments.

The finishes for the interior apartments have a very modern and clean feel. We went with a gray wood grain finish for vinyl luxury tile in the kitchen and living space to keep the rooms uniform and for durability. The walls and ceilings are painted the same color - SW Mindful Gray. I wouldn't normally pick the same color for the wall and ceiling, but with this lighter gray tone, it helps make the rooms feel larger, simplifies the space and helps the eyes focus on the beautiful finishes. I also chose to do this because it will make it much easier when needing to do any touch up painting during turnover. 

The kitchen cabinets include a dark walnut finish with brushed chrome hardware and light granite countertops. For the appliances we chose a painted silver that coordinates with the space but also feels like high end stainless steel without the hassles of cleaning fingerprints. For the bedroom flooring, I picked a commercial carpet tile from Patcraft with similar gray tones and blended well with the wall color but still has some contrast to the room. Each bedroom includes a bathroom suite with a private bathroom and walk-in closet. To maximize the bedroom and bathroom space we used a slider barn door for the transition. Here are a few mood boards I created to help envision the design for the model unit.  

 For the last part of this project I am designing the clubhouse where the offices are located along with 24/7 access to residents. This space features a study lounge, self-serve coffee bar, theatre/game room, fitness center and tanning. I have been adding to my mood board and it's starting to all come together. Pretty cool right? I know when I was a student at Iowa State this would have been the coolest place on the block and perfect for tailgating! What do you think?

The Workshop Experience with Alex + Val

Hello! Yesterday was a fun day! I spent my Saturday at a photography workshop that Seth bought for me in February as a valentine's day gift. He is a keeper! :) My lovely friends Valerie and Alex, over at Val Marlene Photography and Everlasting Love Photography teamed up and put on the first Workshop Experience by Alex and Val. Let me tell you, these ladies are very talented and as soon as I heard about this, I knew it would be something I wanted to experience and support them on. As a creative, I enjoy taking photos and am always wanting to learn more and new ways to improve my skills. Not only was this workshop beautifully designed, it was inspiring, educational and just a great time! Although I am not a "professional" photographer nor do I photograph weddings like the two of them, I still took take away some valuable information and learned some tips that Im excited to apply to DillyLou when styling and photographing my work. These ladies worked very hard and it paid off. They had some amazing line up of sponsors and vendors (list and links below) for that day that helped make it all happen. I didn't hesitate to say yes when they asked if I would make a chalk art sign for the workshop. I'm honored they included DillyLou and I even went home with an adorable bag filled with goodies, including this Day Designer Planner! Im pretty stoked to dig in and plan out my days. They also had some giveaways and I won a year subscription for Dainty Obsessions Magazine! (Perfect timing as I am planning my wedding right now!)

My notebook it full of pages of notes that I took away from the morning sessions. We covered business Do's & Don'ts, Marketing, Client Interaction, Authentic Pose Direction and Post Processing. I would say I can't really decide what my favorite part was, but the afternoon styled shoot was GORGEOUS! They organized and partnered with a handful of vendors that helped make it happen and after we spent sometime processing our images with their help critiquing. 

I'm pretty excited how my photos turned out and stayed up late using Lightroom (for the first time ever btw) to edit. Looking forward to applying this program and new skills to my work. If you want to know more about the workshop experience- you can check out the website here. They also are having another workshop this fall, September 23. You can subscribe to their email and get updates on when registration opens for the Sept workshop by clicking the image below. 

May 7, 2016 Vendors:

Photography Workshop Hosts: Everlasting Love Photography  & Val Marlene Photography 

Pass: Professional Photo sharing
Shoot & Share, Kelly Moore, Stomp software, Photo Mechanic

Day of Styling: Basic Bash Events @basicbashevents
Venue: Water House Studio
Paper goods and Calligraphy: Emelyn Letters @madisonemelyn
Bridal Gown: Modern Dress @moderndress
Men's Wear: Mr. B's Clothing
Hair/Make Up: Serenity Couture Salon @serenitycouture
Vintage Rentals: Vintage Love Rentals& Anessi @weddingsiniowa
Floral Design: Shelly Sarver Designs @shellysarverdesigns
Desserts: From Jen's Kitchen
Vintage Ring: Trumpet & Horn @trumpetandhorn
Men's Ring: Ames SilversmithingRibbon: Bellame Ribbon @bellameribbon
Chalkart: DillyLou Creative Design (me!)

LOGO + REBRAND LAUNCH :: HILSABECK WINDOW CLEANING

Hey guys! I'm so happy to share this recent logo and rebrand for the lovely Hilsabeck family over at Hilsabeck Window Cleaning! For this project we wanted to make sure that the logo and rebrand was visually appealing, welcoming, clean and represented their clients. It started as a more neutral color palette with soft grays, blues and navy to portray the crisp look of a CLEAN window reflecting the sky! :) We updated the look with a modern font paired with bold line work. I am very happy with how it turned out! I also designed some promotional door hangs as they will be painting the town with them to get the word out! Next project will be rebranding their website and I am excited to get started! Let us know what you think!