USN Paper Dolls

I just made a whole slew of paper dolls based on the uniforms of the US Navy.  Don't ask me why, but I did and it was fun.  

I started out with this generic, cookie-cutter shape, and added in the uniform details using the line and shape drawing functions in PSE7.  This one is supposed to be the blue camo uniform, or the Navy Working Uniform, as it's technically called.  

I actually did all 5 uniforms, the first 2 being the Blues and Whites, respectively, followed by the Navy Service Uniform, the aforementioned NWUs, and a PT uniform:

And then I added a bit more detail and colored them in.

Super cute, right?  It's a little ridiculous how much fun I had with these.  And how many variations I made...I also have uniforms for officers and women.  :)

PS:  Does anyone else want gingerbread cookies now??

Printable Give-Away Winner!

The contest has closed for the first give-away in my 3-part series!  I had the random number generator at random.org select a number for me:

And commenter number 5 was...Kelly!

Congratulations, Kelly!  You have one year from today to redeem your free printable design.  Contact me via e-mail when you're ready to start, we'll get your design put together!  

Stay tuned to The Green World, I'll be announcing give-away number two on Monday!

Custom Printable Give-Away! (Closed)

I have spent much of the last few days working on the Shop.  I now have 5 birth announcement designs available in the shop, and they're all completely customize-able.

I started out doing just classic pastels and only a handful of fonts, but those got boring.  Fast.  So I started thinking about the colors that are hot right now in fashion and design.  This is my new color palette:

And I expanded my offering of fonts, double-checking the licencing on all of them:

And then of course I had to start plugging the new colors into my designs.  These are my favorites:

I don't know about you, but I am digging those bold colors.

And now that I have your attention, to the give-away!  Next Friday, one week from today, I'll be giving away a free custom announcement design!  Here are the rules:

1. To enter, you must leave a comment on this post.  Up to three more entries may be gained by following this blog, sharing a link to this contest on your own blog (snag the give-away banner!), and/or "liking" my page on Facebook.  Please leave a separate comment for each entry, andindicate what it's for (FB, following, etc.).
2. The contest will close at midnight eastern standard time on Friday, July 20, 2012.
3. This contest is for the design only.  The winner/recipient will receive a high-quality digital file, and will be responsible for printing his or her own invitations.
4. The prize "announcement" can be made from any of the templates available in The Green World Shop, and can be customized any way the winner wishes, including making it into something other than an announcement.
5. The prize does not have to be redeemed now, but can be redeemed at any time in the next 12 months.

That's all I can think of now, so hopefully that covers all the bases.  Good luck, and thanks for your help in promoting my 'new' shop!

The Green World Shop Is Open!

I'm officially back in business!  Along with my jewelry, I've also added something new: custom printable birth announcements!  I turned Rebekah's announcement into a template:  

 So far, I only have the one design up, but more are on the way, along with some other goodies that I have in various stages of completion.  Some are just waiting to be photographed and posted.

James David

A friend of mine just had her baby, and I took a few photos for her, just for fun.  These are a few of the best:

We picked one and I made her birth announcements:

 I made a name plaque to match the sailboat-themed nursery set that she chose.

Nautica's Zachary crib set

And I made a coordinating bath towel hoodie for the little guy.  He hates to be cold, and it's super cozy and plush. It also coordinates with the nursery.

I used cotton towels--one bath towel and one hand towel-- from Target for the hoodie itself, scraps of cotton fabric for the sail boat, and ribbon from JoAnn's to trim across the bottom of the hood, and all the way across the bottom of the cape.  Quilter's cotton worked so much better for doing the applique than scraps of towel, because the cotton doesn't warp as bad.  (Kaylie's "K" was not supposed to be nearly so big!)  I'll have to ask Rebekah for feedback on functionality.  :)

The Other Baby Book Website

I did something new and super exciting!!  

I helped to design a website!  For someone else!!  And I got paid to do it!!!

No, really, I did!  This is how it happened:

Rachel, a friend of mine from high school, was asked to put together a new website for a pair of authors promoting their new book.  And Rachel, being the web-savvy girl that she is, said sure!   She felt confident that she could handle putting it together, but felt less sure of her ability to make it look good and is used to working in a team anyway, so she asked the authors if she could bring in a partner: me!  (She said that I was the very first person she thought of to help with the aesthetic elements of the site; is that not an incredible compliment to me or what?)  She told them a little bit about me, showed them my blog and my digital scrapbook pages, and they gave their stamp of approval.  

Fast forward 10 days, about a gazillion e-mails, and a few curses (generally directed at Word Press), and voilá!  A website is born!  If you think of it in terms of building a house, Rachel did all of the construction, and I did all of the interior and exterior decor:  headers, fonts, colors, images, etc.  I just might break my arm before I'm done here, but I'm incredibly pleased with the way it all turned out.

I have to thank Kelly and Lizy, who started me down the path to digital scrap-booking in the first place.  That, combined with my blogging prowess (too much?  Probably, but hey, I'm on a roll here), is what helped me land this gig.  I have just been dying to tell you about this, because I knew you'd be proud.  :)

The book itself is called The Other Baby Book, and is intended to provide an introduction to natural parenting, an alternative to the more mainstream practices and philosophies about parenting through the first 12 months.  I would highly recommend this as good reading for all expecting parents, and parents of young babies, not because I think that everyone should espouse all of their ideas, but because it is good to be informed.  (After all, if you don't have all of the information, how can you make a sound decision?  So it is worth reading, even if you get to the end and say, "Nope, this 'natural parenting' thing just isn't for us".)  And if you want to know more when you get done with the book, then the website that we just put together has a whole stack of suggestions for further reading.

Toy Story Birthday Invitations

My oldest daughter loves Toy Story, so the girls' birthday party this year is going to be Toy-Story themed.  It's hard to say which character she likes best, but I picked Jessie as the central theme for her invitations.  I'm no Jessica, (you really should go look at hers, she designed those from nothing!) but I decided to design and print my own, rather than buying them pre-made. I found this image online, and downloaded it. Now I have to wait for the ink I ordered to get here so I can print them out.

I had a hard time choosing between doing a flat card or folded card, but in the end went with the flat one for the invitation,

 
and made the thank you cards folded.  Now, where is that ink??

My Second and Third Entries

I made time today to put together 2 more entries for the MADE blog header contest.  Kelly was adventurous with her designs, and started from scratch.  I chose to use photos from the Made blog, and I did my best to make headers that would blend with the overall style and feel of the blog for which they're intended..  

The third one, in particular, is quite a departure from my normal style.  I would love for her to select one of my designs (the photography book she's giving away is particularly appealing to me) but entered more for the fun and experience of designing for someone else.  I think it was good for me to work outside my comfortable little box.  :) 

MADE Blog Header Contest and New Pretties

 I'm entering the Made blog header contest!  Here's my first entry:

Each person can enter up to 3, and I plan to enter 2 more, but first I have to find an opportunity to design them.  Thanks Kelly, for the heads up on this!

A recent special order had me going through my beading supplies to take stock of what I have, and what I needed to order.  Seeing all of my beads left me with ideas rolling around in my head, so I just had to set aside the sewing machine for a bit and make some jewelry.  I'm pretty sure that this is the first time I've made any jewelry since we moved here, which is crazy!  My fingers remembered what to do, but I've lost my callouses.  Oh well.  Anyway, look for these pretties in my shop.  :)

Elora's Birth Announcement

I finally got Elora's birth announcements finished! Now, all I need to do is print them, and send them...