Quite Strong

About a month or two ago, I was invited to join Quite Strong, a website that promotes creatives of the female variety. Although I did not get my information to the group of gals right away (tsk tsk), I did eventually and am proud to return the favor by promoting their site to you all.

Quite Strong is run and organized by a posse of five friendly chicas. When I was first invited to collaborate, I did not know any of them, but coincidentally after a few weeks of finding out about it, my office hired one of them as a freelancer, so when they threw their site's launch party, I had a direct connection to one of the hosts. Score!

If you have a minute or two check out my personal portfolio page. Who knows, you may learn something secret about me! Although I haven't received work inquiries just yet, I have enjoyed perusing my peers' work and advocate all fellow female creatives to join because Quite Strong is another way to get your name out there (ahem, ahem, I am talking to you!). Heck, you don't have to be in the Chicago area to be added to the lust list, just send in a request to be added.

So, to repay the favor, thanks Quite Strong and by association, the leading ladies behind the curtain of this awesomely fabulous site!

Brand New

Today's post is brought to you by the letters B and N, as in Brand New, a blog written by designer Armin Vit. Armin created and uses Brand New as an outlet for him to expresses his "opinions on corporate and brand identity work".

I believe most of my graphic designer friends are probably thinking "I've known about Brand New for a while, why is Jessi writing a post on it? It's not new to me." I think this blog is extremely interesting and I think non-designers will find value in the information posted on it, even though it is opinion based.

Armin writes about and posts logos that have been recently redesigned or are new to the industry. His experience in identity work equips him with a credible stance for critiquing a logo's success. The logos he posts are brands we will see and be bombarded with every day of our life, so it's useful to know what will be changing and when the change might occur. Some that I have personally benefitted from were keeping an eye out for the new sweetener, Truvia,

and the new packaging design of Bounce.

When Pepsi Co. released the new look of Tropicana there was a huge negative response to it and since, it has been pulled. Fortunately, Brand New was one of the first blogs to write about it so for those of us who knew of it early, we were ready to look out for it before it was long gone. (It's not every day a major corporation pays tons of money for a rebrand and it bombs.)

In fact, just yesterday, Armin posted the new logo for the Wembley Stadium located in London. Not exactly something you would run into everyday, but for me, currently visiting London, this was great to see. In fact, I may try to go on a tour of the stadium.

So, that is what Brand New is all about. I hope you can see why this blog is in my top 5 and I hope you might find something useful checking in on it too. Cheers!

One Project Closer: Floor Nailer Giveaway

Last month, the One Project Closer team finished an extensive post-a-thon describing everything you need to know and do to install hardwood floors.

Then a few days later they busted out this awesome giveaway for a DuoFast FloorMaster 250BN Nailer valued at $200+, which would be super-helpful for anyone wanting or planning to tackle a wood flooring project (ding ding! remember #2 on my action plan?).

So, get your fingers tapping because the deadline to enter is 11:59 EST today. Good luck!

Mila's Daydreams

What do you think a new mother would do on her maternity leave? Any ideas? How about start a blog imagining her baby's dreams and creating them around the beautiful babe as she naps. Sounds like a productive thing to do with all the spare time, no? Well, you're just going to have to check out Mila's Daydreams to see the wondrousness that is the baby's imagination. These are a few of my favorites.

My Bookworm

My Precious Pearl

Up!

Her SuperPinkiness

All photos from Mila's Daydreams.

One Project Closer: Deck Day Giveaway

If you haven't entered One Project Closer's Deck Day giveaway, do it now before the party (and day) is over!

OPC has teamed up with Fiberon Decking to generously dole out a $100 Visa gift card.

The deadline to enter is National Enjoy Your Deck Day on July 24 (today!) so what are you waiting for? Do you have special plans to take advantage of this great celebration, like maybe spend some much needed time outside on your deck?

PS: Remember the last OPC giveaway I posted about? Let me give you a hint, I won it. You might as well enter this drawing and give me a run for my money!

French Paper Sample Room

When I come across a website that is a cool resource, fountain of inspiration, or fun tool, I like to share it with you; the only problem is that I find sites that fall into these categories nearly every day, therefore I only post the ones I truly love. I believe the one I'm featuring today deserves to be raved about, it is French Paper's sample room.

I have a soft spot for French paper, because I used it for my wedding invitations, but I must say that their site is awesome. The blog is run by French Paper Company, but it is about so much more than paper, it celebrates design that is printed on French paper. The sample room is a place where anyone who has used French paper in a project can submit a photo or samples to not only be featured in a blog post, but also entered into a monthly design contest to win an all-expense paid trip to Niles, Michigan, French Paper's headquarters (see the June winner here).

Aside from being a monthly-running contest, it is a tremendous source of inspiration. I could spend hours looking through their past posts (and have). Here are a few that immediately sparked my creativity.

Designer: Katie Kirk, Paper: Muscletone Pure White

Designer: Allan Peters, Paper: Speckletone Madero Beach

Designer: Jennifer Davis, Paper: Pop-tone Spearmint

I urge you to check it out, if not just to see some great design, but to stimulate your creativity.

See a few other posts about cool sites here, here, here, here, and here.

Blog Love: Designing Daily

The Design Slice has been featured on another blog, Designing Daily! But this time it made the lovely-blogger, Heidi's list of top 10 mind-blowing websites.

Her commendation is so out-of-this-world that I am going to be full of glee all day. Check out her virtual love here.

Blog Love: Ikea Hacker

Little to my knowing, our fabric paneled wall was featured on ikea hacker yesterday!

Head over there and check out all the Ikea hacking going on all around the world.

We've moved!

The title of today's post may be slightly misleading, we have not moved to a different home per se, but we have moved in a digital sense. In celebration of writing over 100 posts (today's post marks 105), I purchased the domain name for thedesignslice.com. I've been meaning to do it since I start writing last fall, but wanted to be sure it was a worthy investment and a commitment I was ready to make. (I guess this means it's both.)

So, go update your bookmark with the new address, or make your life even easier and subscribe to receive the design slice in a reader.

Blog Love: The Snap Flower Girls

The lovely ladies at The Snap Flower Girls introduced me on their blog yesterday as a featured vendor!

The co-owners of the blog are Natalie from ZuZu's Petals (my wedding florist) and Gina from Gina Cristine Photography. I answered a few questions and supplied them some never-before-seen photos of my wedding invitations. Visit their blog to check it out!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Remember when I posted about the $100 Home Depot gift card giveaway from One Project Closer at the end of September? Well...I received an email about a week ago informing me that I won! After much incredulity, I received my gift card in the mail and have come to believe that I indeed win their giveaway! I am so happy and can't didn't wait to spend some of it (just to make sure it was real).

I spent $30 of the $100 yesterday on a few more tidbits for some small projects around our house. I'll post more about those projects soon! Cheers!

Join the Masses

Today I registered to partake in Blog Action Day (BAD09).

To participate in BAD09, I will be writing a post about a global issue on October 15. The aim is to use the power of the web to create an organized general forum about one concern to be discussed globally. It was started in 2007 and in its first year over 20,000 bloggers participated by writing a post about the environment.

BAD09's website says:
"Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will be the largest-ever social change event on the web. One day. One issue. Thousands of voices."



This year, the discussion is about climate change. So, if you haven't yet, you can register your blog by clicking the badge on the right side of my site or by visiting the Blog Action Day website. Stay tuned for my upcoming post on October 15 dedicated to raising awareness and generate discussion about climate change.

One Project Closer: September Giveaway

If you haven't entered in One Project Closer's September drawing, do it now before the time is up! They are generously giving away a $100 Home Depot gift card good for use online or in the store.

Have a fall project you need to tackle? I'm sure this gift card would sure come in handy right about now.