Thursday, March 29, 2012

beauty in design challenge// week 16


IMPORTANT NOTICE!  You have until March 31st at 12 am to get your entries in for the blog design contest!


*Congrats to Annika for winning last week's challenge!*

Marcia in for this week! this week's challenge is to create an invitation to an afternoon tea, or to a tea party.
Use pastel colors, make it vintage or old-fashioned and, girlish.... 


The tea party is to be held on:
--------------
Saturday, March 31, 2012 at 3:00 pm 
--------------

and the only requirement is to have the invitation size 4x6 or 268 x 318 pixels, and to use the date/time above.



  1. Create your invitation, and write a blog post about the challenge and your entry.  Don't forget to add the picture of your design to your post!
  2. Add a link back here, or include the button.
  3. Submit the link to your post in the linkup below. Have fun and be creative!


Thursday, March 22, 2012

Beauty in Design Challenge // Week 15

*Congratulations to Marcia for winning last week's challenge!*

We've mostly been having music related themes lately (I think I may have started that trend... opps! ;P), and as much as I love music, I thought we'd all do better with a change this week. The challenge? You must create a book advertisement button. It can be for one of your favourite/recently read books, or for a book/story that you're writing. Something like this...

Mine's kinda not very creative, but I didn't really have much time to work on it.
There are no requirements size/shape wise. Just be as creative as possible! :)
You can also add in a few quotes from the book, if you like.

Rules:
1. Create your button & write a blog post on your blog about the challenge with your entry.
2. Add a link back here, or include the button.
3. Submit the link to your post in the linkup below.


Have fun!







p.s. I love the blog designs you guys came up with! <3 My inspiration/idea has yet to arrive, but it's commin'. ;)



Friday, March 16, 2012

March // Blog Design Contest!

It's time to start! As some of you already read, we'll be holding a blog design contest this month! Emily Grace and I decided to base the theme on a song - specifically, Dreams Don't Turn to Dust by Owl City. It seems like almost everyone here loves Adam Young, so it felt like a great choice! =D

First of all, here's the song and the lyrics for anyone who needs them...


*LYRICS*
Splash down in the silver screen
Into a deep dramatic scene
I swim through the theater
Or maybe I'm just a dreamer
Like a kite in the bright midday
Wonder stole my breath away
Shy sonata for Mercury
The stars always sing so pretty

This picnic will soon depart
Real life, I'm sad to see you go
I'll miss you with all my heart
But I'd rather be alone
'Cause I couldn't live without
Sunsets that dazzle in the dusk
So I'll drag the anchor up
And rest assured, 'cause dreams don't turn to dust

Dreams don't turn to dust

I made for the countryside
And my eyes never grew so wide
Apple raspberry river blue
I don't wanna leave without you
In the sound I gladly drowned
Into the emerald underground
I rub my eyes 'cause it's hard to see
Surrounded by all this beauty

This picnic will soon depart
Real life, I'm sad to see you go
I'll miss you with all my heart
But I'd rather be alone
'Cause I couldn't live without
Sunsets that dazzle in the dusk
So I'll drag the anchor up
And rest assured, 'cause dreams don't turn to dust

(I'm sad to see you go)
(But I'd rather be alone)

When tiger eyes begin making you blush
And when diamonds boast that they can't be crushed
Let 'em go, 'cause dreams don't turn to dust

This picnic will soon depart
Real life, I'm sad to see you go
I'll miss you with all my heart
But I'd rather be alone
'Cause I couldn't live without
Sunsets that dazzle in the dusk
So I'll drag the anchor up
And rest assured, 'cause dreams don't turn to dust

Dreams don't turn to dust
Dreams don't turn to dust
I'll rest assured 'cause dreams don't turn to dust

The Rules:
  1. The title of the blog must be either the song title, or a line from the song.
  2. The entire design must be based on the song. Try to take inspiration from a couple of lines, and focus on that. Owl City is always very whimsical, so anything bright and happy will look amazing!
  3. You must create your design either on your own blog, or on a test blog.
  4. WordPress, Blogger, and all other blogging interfaces are welcomed!
  5. Entries will be accepted from now until midnight on March 31st, and voting will be held for one week, starting April 1st.
  6. Use your creativity, and have fun!
 You can enter in the sidebar - just add the link to your blog, your name, and your email address and you'll be good to go!

If any of you have any questions or are unsure about anything, don't hesitate to comment! I will do my best to answer your questions. ;) So what are you waiting for? Go get started, and have fun!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Beauty in Design Challenge // Week 14

*Congratulations to Carli Nicole for winning last week's challenge!*

I've kinda been obsessed with listening to music all week. Like, 24/7. Almost.

So, this week's challenge is to create a mock CD cover for Britt Nicole's album The Lost Get Found.

Rules:
1. It must be square
2. If you include a picture of Britt Nicole (or a picture of anything else, for that matter), please give credit to whatever site you got it from.



Thursday, March 8, 2012

Beauty In Design Challenge // Week 13

*Congratulations to Hannah for winning last week's challenge!*

Welcome back everyone! This week's challenge is to make a header and button for "Something Sweet"(not really a blog :). In case you're wondering, "Something Sweet" is a dessert recipe blog.

The sizes of the header and button don't matter. The only requirement is that the colors need to something similar to the colors in this picture:

{via}
Here is my example/entry:
header

button


Have fun!


Monday, March 5, 2012

New Author!

Hello, This is Maya! I am a new author of this blog and a designer. I blog over at Efflorescence.


How old are you, and how many siblings do you have?
I am 17 years old and I have 5 siblings. 2 older and 3 younger.
What are your interests?

Playing music--guitar, piano, violen, voice--and writing. I love graphic design too.

Favorite hobbies?

Swimming, music, and soccar :) Writing to pen-pals, devouring the bible.
Favorite subject in school?

writing and geomentry (not algabra)
When did you become interested in graphic design?

well always. I have always made graphics and such but recently in the blog sense. I started blogging a while back but decided to start spending a lot of time desgining it by myself about a month ago. My good friend Hazel asked me to start designing with her and therefore began the world of me blog designing for others
Biggest goal for this year?

Reach a 100 followers? Well, haha...maybe. Just to follow Christ as a true daughter and tell hid good news to the lost again and again. I graduating high school soon to so that is a big goal also. I would also like to go on a mission trip this year. I was born on the mission field and want to back someday.
What are you looking forward to the most in being a part of this community?

I guess the challenges. I have always enjoyed seeing the winners for them :)
What's your favorite program to use when designing?

I use different stuff a lot. I guess I use GIMP a lot. I would love to have photoshop one day....
The big question - Mac or PC?
(hint - if you answer "mac" you might be out of favor with me. ;) Naw, just kidding.)

PC. Right now. maybe one day I'll have a mac. I like Mac's better but they are beyond my price range.
Do you have a personal blog we can connect with you on?

yes! You can go to Efflorescence and please follow! to order a blog design personally from me go to Cherry Blossom Blog Design

Maya

Saturday, March 3, 2012

The Beauty in Design Challenge//Week 12

*Congratulations to Emma Margaret and GodsGirlz1 for TYING in our last contest! You both are winners, girls.*

And we're back to week twelve! Before I get into our theme for this week, I wanted to let you all know that we will be holding a blog design contest for the month of March. We'll give you all a particular theme for your design with certain requirements, and the rest will be up to you to make something unique and beautiful. You'll be able to enter all month, and then the winner will be announced. More details to come shortly!

This week the challenge is to create a typography wallpaper. I'm sure you all understand what that would be, but I'll lay it out quickly for clarity - typography is really word art. So it is arranging words and letters to either create an image, or to present the words/letters in an intricate and pleasing manner. There are some pretty amazing pieces online - do a search and you'll be blown away by the talent that's out there!

So that's what we'll be doing: creating some word art that will grace our desktops. ;) {Here's an example for you...}

example

  1. Your image must be wallpaper size - either 1600 X 900 pixels, or the size of your computer screen.
  2. Your art must be completely original - word art generators are fun, but we'll be doing this ourselves!
That's it! A few tips - I've learned and read that it's best to keep it simple, and study the letters you'll be working with before actually arranging them. Picking your word(s) is important, too - you'll need to think about how the letters will fit together to determine if your word(s) will work the way you want or not.

To enter:
  1. Create your wallpaper, and write a blog post about the challenge and your entry.  Don't forget to add the picture of your design to your post!
  2. Add a link back here, or include the button.
  3. Submit the link to your post in the linkup below. Have fun and be creative!






Friday, March 2, 2012

Forgive Me...

I was supposed to post the challenge on Thursday, and I still haven't - I'm very sorry, girls! I only have a moment here, but I just wanted to let you all know that I'll post it in the morning, and submissions will be accepted through Sunday night, giving everyone an extra day to design/enter.

I've been through a lot of personal struggles in the past days, and some hard things have happened outside my family that have made it a rough time, which is why I wasn't able to post when I was supposed to.

So forgive me for that - and I'll have it up bright and early in the morning! =D