Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Pinterest Success (Office Accessories)


I do more than spend hours drooling over all the cool projects on Pinterest... I recreate some of them. I saw this cute idea to take the states where husband and wife were from and place them into a frame. As you can see I put my own twist onto it and Walaaa, you get this baby. These office accessories are the first to be completed and the shelf is not arranged quite yet how I envisioned but I couldn't wait to show you.

My office accessories and color theme are going to be a combination of the following:

Grey
Pale Yellow
Lt. Blue
Red
Salmonish/Peachy Combo

I have several other Pinterest projects left to complete the whole look of my office but it's off to a great start.

Don't you just love Pinterest? Have you recreated any projects, if so leave a link, I'd love to come check out your works of art!

Tomorrow's topic is going to be using green in kitchens!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Baptism Invitation Templates (Pink and Yellow)

Did you like yesterday's baptism invitation template? Well today's template is the sister, created with more feminine colors and design elements.

To be honest though, these baptism invitation templates could easily be changed into some other religious invitation such as a christening or baby blessing invite.

For those that have Photoshop this sweet little number is $5.00 for the psd. download and can be found at my shop along with other religious psd. downloads.

If you don't have Photoshop I will gladly add your photo to the template for $10.00 and send you the finished .jpeg. Just go to my shop to the "Religious" folder and proceed to the "JPG" section.

Next on the agenda is a discussion for two different colors used throughout kitchens and some techniques when using them.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Baptism Invitation Template (Grey n Teal)


Do you have Photoshop? Did you know that this baptism invitation template is compatible with most versions of Photoshop and is ONLY $5.00 to download. You can find this baptism invitation on my website under the PSD Religious Folder.

Don't have Photoshop? No problem I can add the photo of your choice into this template and send you the finished jpeg for a mere $10.00. Then you can print the jpg at the location of your choice. Interested? You can find this option for this baptism invitation template on my website under the JPG Religious Folder.

Think of all the options that are available by purchasing either the psd template file or the finished jpg. Do you have a credit with Shutterfly to receive 50 free 4 x 6 prints? If so you could have beautiful baptism invitations for the small cost of my design services. With the price of snail mailing you could send some of your invitations by email if desired.

Any other questions. Feel free to contact me at info@sarahdawndesigns.com

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Choosing An Interior Paint (Orange Bedrooms)



I happen to love orange, in fact it was one of my favorite colors in high school. I had an orange cell phone, pajama pants, and anything else I could get my hands on. Perhaps this is because fall is my favorite season and I love all things pumpkin. Overall, it is a great color. However as I watched the first episode of this season's Design Star I was reminded that there are proper uses of this color throughout different spaces. One designer from this episode had painted the walls a fun shade of orange in a bedroom. While there was nothing specifically wrong with the color it didn't work in the space. Why? Well that's today's discussion. How to use orange in bedroom.



The first thing when choosing a paint color for the walls is to make a list of tasks and feeling you want to create throughout a space. You can then create a similar list for the color in question. What does that color make you think of? What feelings does is stir? Let's examine one list for a general bedroom and the color orange.

Bedroom

-play area
-storage
-personal space
-sleep
-relaxation
-healing
-rejuvenation
-romance

Orange
-exciting and extroverted
-exotic
-warning, construction, cones
-spices
-warm, fire
-makes a statement
-fall


Even from this short list we can already see that while orange may meet the needs for a play space or one of romance it may not be the best color for wall paint in a bedroom. The main and most important activity for a bedoom is sleep and relaxation. Orange is not a color that I think of when either of those words pop into my head. In fact it is almost the opposite. As one of the judges pointed out on Design Star, orange is one of those colors you can see through your eye lids.

So does this mean to never use orange in a bedroom? Absolutely not, it just means we have to be more thoughtful on how we use it. While four walls painted in a pumpkin orange may be counter-productive to a space defined by it sleeping needs it could still be used in the accessories, rug, or blanket. When pulling in this particular color you just need to ask yourself, is this accessory going to create too much excitement? Do I still feel like I could relax in this room?

Of course there are other tricks and techniques to using orange in a bedroom to consider such as the specific hue, saturation, and lighting in the room but those are all topics for a different post.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Baby Photo Announcements (Simple. Damask.)


A few weeks ago I laying in bed when I had this great idea for some simple baby photo announcements (that's when all my great ideas come). I was so excited that I had a hard time falling asleep because I wanted to go start my computer up right then and get my design on paper so to say.

Needless to say the next morning I whipped out these baby photo announcements and fell in love. Perhaps I'm tooting my own horn but thus far these are my favorite of any of my semi- custom announcements and it makes me want to have a baby myself so that I can share the news in a clean, sophisticated fashion.

To purchase the PSD file of the baby girl version of this announcement go to my website here. For the baby boy version click here to find it on my website.

Don't have Photoshop? No problem you can order a jpg file for both the girl design and the boy design on my website. Then, after I recieve your photos and information I will place them into the template of your choice and send you the final jpg, ready for you to print at the location of your choice.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Blog Hopping!

Come join me on a blog hop over at 3fourandunder!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Using Grey In Interiors


Photo Courtesy of Keeping It Real

It's no secret the grey is one of the hottest colors trending right now. It's everywhere! From wedding colors to everyday fashion, baby nursery to party themes. And, it comes in almost every color combination imaginable; pink and grey, teal and grey, blue and grey, green and grey, and probably the most popular, yellow and grey. Heck, I even selected grey for my blog and website design.

All around it is a great color.

Today though I want to talk about using grey in interiors, specifically as a paint color. It's a great choice in general terms because it still has that touch of neutralism allowing you to add pops of color through your accessories and doesn't overtake your room. However, using grey in interiors can be a little tricky if you don't know what you're looking for.

When selecting any paint I always recommend that you put a sample up in your house and watch it through out the day under all the different lighting it will go through, because the color will change in appearance. Grey is no exception.

Typically when you are at Home Depot or any other store you are looking at the paint samples under a fluorescent lamp which in basic terms means that blue is rendered onto the object the light falls onto where as your everyday incandescent lamp tends to project a more yellow tone. Thus it isn't unheard of to find a paint sample in the store that looks like a nice cool grey but in your home turns an interesting shade of green, especially at night.

SOMETIMES, the quick answer to avoid your grey turning green is to look for a more blue based grey as opposed to one with a yellow base.
(If you don't know how to tell, look at the colors that are around it. You can also ask to look at a paint fan deck which will have the colors divided by base color. )

Regardless patience becomes the key. When selecting paints I usually follow three simple steps.

1.) Find the paint chips (the paper samples a the store) that I think I want to try. I will get at least two or three samples. I then take these chips home and look at them in the spaces where they would be painted. I watch them throughout the day seeing how the color changes under the various lighting that is found throughout the space.

2.) When I think I have found the right color/s I will purchase a sample kit. If you don't want to paint directly onto the wall/s you can buy a couple pieces of cheap wood to test your sample on. After is has completely dried I again watch it throughout the course of a day to see how it changes. (paint tends to dry just slightly darker than what is on the paint chip)

3.) Finally, if my color selection has passed the two tests above I get to work. If it doesn't pass I start the process all over until I am completely satisfied.

Have you used grey in an interior space? What was your experience?