I was asked to do a guest blog post at The Mummy Diaries and well, lets face it, who doesn’t like talking about themselves Check it out on their site and read what other Mum’s have to say!
Here’s my blog post below though (complete with pictures – as they didn’t make it as fas as their website some how. )
WAHM versus the WORLD
So, I just got asked to write a guest post for ‘The Mummy Diaries’ and I jumped at the chance to hop up on my soap box. Lucky for me it’s big enough to also house my three kids, five year old Captain Chaos and 19 month old twin terrors the Trouble Monsters. I am a graphic designer with degree in Design and Multimedia, earned before my babies were even dreamed of and I work from home running my own little design house ‘Designem’.
If anyone ever said that working from home while your children were small is easy then I’d say they probably haven’t tried it. Every now and again I have considered day-care, or even a Nanny, but alas we have never quite been in a position to afford it. So instead we muddle along the best we can, and so far as long as I don’t really want to much time to myself it seems to be working.
The biggest most valuable bit of information I could dish out to anyone else is also the thing I struggle the most with ‘Time management’. So I have this
and if nothing else it IS rather colourful. Honestly though, I couldn’t live without it … because I find if I don’t write it down (in my diary rather than random bits of paper) then it’s lost …
which is hardly surprising when surrounded by so much mess. But that is another post for another day (Attention Deficit versus the World perhaps?)
A new thingy that I have implemented to stay on task (and also to make sure I don’t get overly focused on a project to find out hours later that I have accomplished NOT much and wasted a LONG time, is the Pomodoro Technique (also found on Facebook).
In short, this technique uses a kitchen timer (I actually went out and brought myself a tomato the same as their logo) set to 25 minutes, some paper – pen etc, a goal, and just like that you are all set. For some reason the 25 minute mark is the perfect time to get stuff done in. It guarantees you take adequate breaks (five minutes for every Pomodoro – with a longer break once every four Pomodoros (4x25mins), which in turn helps you stay focused. And if like me you often charge at an hourly rate it can also help you track how much time you spend on a project, and what has been accomplished in that time frame.
A think I have implemented in to my daily schedule is “Kid time” I had a little panic a few weeks back that when my babies are grown all they will remember is Mummy sat in the office attached to her laptop, and this is certainly not a legacy that I want to pass on to them. The distracted Mummy who doesn’t hear their cry’s (insert sad face) so instead I have blocked out time for them (fluorescent green in colour). That and actually leaving the house with them in the morning, and since I am already on the school run for Captain Chaos it’s not actually that hard. So we now have two playgroups and swimming during the week (which the LOVE), a day for coffee groups and a ‘free day’ to hang out at home, or go shopping or whatever.
This way I can get them home, fed, changed and bed all before 12pm. Which also means I get my own lunch in peace (half an hour of blessed peace where I can eat my lunch and read my book) before I have to sit my butt back at my computer and start work. Here between 12.30pm and 2.20pm I can do my best to as constructive with my time as possible and get some work done! Before getting the girls up, changed and rush back to the school for CC. Am I boring you yet? I hope not because my day is only just half done.
After schools are CHAOS, and my son the Captain of it. His school teacher suspects ADD (apple doesn’t fall far from the tree me thinks) so I do my best to get him out of his uniform, afternoon tea and home work as quick as possible before Sponge Bob starts at 3.30pm and the witching hour sets in. If I can manage to do all that then all three kids will play nicely, if it drags on then world war three/four/five usually ensues.
Now I have to say, bed time in house keeps getting earlier and earlier. Tonight was 6pm, which is saying something since before school started it was 7.30pm. OH my finely tuned 9.30am wakers are well in truly broken, but I can’t say I don’t mind the rewards of it being 7.17pm, having worked successfully for the last 60 odd minutes and having had them in all in bed by 6.
One thing I always do with CC is read to him at night. Currently we are reading “Matilda” by Roald Dahl, he doesn’t always have the patience for it, but I think the exercise of sitting still and listening is really starting to pay off. We are over half way through, and at the weekend I caught him flicking to the end to ensure a happy ending (which he deducted WAS indeed happy since Matilda and Ms Honey hugging). He is really enjoying this time we spend together, without his sister and without the stress of homework and the witching hour. Next I think I will read him The Twits, or maybe the BFG. I loving that he wants more than “The cat sat on the mat”.
But no, just in case you think my day ends there you are very much mistaken! There is washing and dishes to be done, a man to talk to and spend time with, and then after that a couple more hours of multitasking between WORK and catching up on my favourite television shows and my 35 minute stint on the Cross Trainer! No wonder I fall in to bed at 11pm and am generally unconscious until the following day.
But would I swap my life? Do less work? Hire a Nanny? Yeah, probably not! (The only thing I could really do with would be a house keeper LOL)
You now have 24 hours to get your entires in if you haven’t yet done so!
Mr Chaos (my 5 year old son) is going to do the honor of drawing a winner tomorrow after 4pm, after that I will send the winner an email and then announce on here and facebook. OOOH so exciting!
You can still get your entries in until 4pm 16th April 2011 NZ time (yes this comp is open for likers in other countries) Just send me a message though my contact from with the subject ’Facebook Competition′ and of course your details.
Terms and Conditions:
1) This competition is open to fans/likers of Designem on Facebook, who are over 18 (Parents can claim prize on behalf of any child under this age)
2) Entry into the competition is only by emailing me using my contact from.
3) By entering the competition, you are acknowleding that this promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. You are providing your information to Designem and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used for picking a winner and notifying them.
4) Once Designem on Facebook has reached 300 ‘likers’, there will be an extra 2 day opportunity to get emails sent to allow time for the newest likers to enter. The time of the impending draw will be published before the 2 days begins.
5) The winner will be chosen at random using my son … he can point out one he likes the… look of I will video this and post it here
6) Winner will be notified by email as soon as possible following the draw, once contact has been made I will announce the winner in Facebook.
I’ve been itching to show you all this! Introducing the new website for Blue Waves Swim School (and logo and stationary). I’m just so in love with the logo and well, pretty much all of it. Take a looks *squeal*
That’s Jo’s Daughter on the left, my very own Mr Chaos in the middle and One of the trouble monsters with teacher (and my sister) Jess on the right.
Honestly, if you are looking at getting your children swimming lessons and in driving distance of Manakau then you CAN’T go wrong with enrolling your child here. Captain Chaos has been having swimming lessons with Jo since he was 6 months old, and first started swimming solo when he was just three years old. He might be taking a break while he adjusts to school, but he is joining Judy again for the first week of the holiday intensives.
Here is the logo (which I said before but will say again I LOVE) I just hope Jo loves it as much as me
The following is an overview of the development, believe me when I tell you I went down a few false paths before inspriatoin stuck. The first logo in this series is original logo (As this was a revamp).
And of course no design would be complete without a little stationary (in my books anyhow)
But wait, there’s more! Certificates!
No facebook at this time, but don’t worry I’m working on it. I’ll let you know when Jo sets one up.
This is just a quick post to introduce you to the new logo for Lil’ Wee Lamb run by WAHM Kelly. Kelly said she liked the look of vintage lambs and sent me this image as an idea.
And after doing a bit of scouring of the internet I found this image of a porcelain lamb that I really liked.
To be honest, this logo wasn’t overly hard to produce, after finding such a cute lamb and having a fairly good idea of what Kelly was looking for I came up with the following concepts (after a few false starts admittedly)
And after a bit of ‘tweaking’ came up with a design that both of us were more than happy with.
And you might even see this version pop up from time to time.
You can find Lil’ Wee Lamb on Facebook and at their website.
Seriously, that is all I could think to call it. I really struggle to design for myself! I guess it’s been a while since I have had too acutally do this. I forgot what a bad bad client I am!
After my initial certainty any creative flair seems to have left the building. Well maybe not entirely because I have come up with the following things.
I assembled a few images that I either felt inspired by or felt conveyed what I wanted my personal brand to reflect.
The things I would like to see included
Kiwiana
My Son the aptly named Cptain Chaos
My twin daughters otherwise known as the Trouble Monsters
My design ability
Water colour
Bright
Clean
Easy to navigate
Images for Ideas
The following images are a collection I have assembled to help inspire my new design direction.
And here is what I have so far … FAR from complete, and to be honest causing more frustration than completion! But in the interest of keeping this diary as accurate as possible this is what you get! All my brain mush
One thing I am certain I want to include is the fact that I am a Mother, who knows how to balance her work/home life. Which when you’re a freelancer who works from home is something you must have a VERY good handle on. Even more so when you have three littlies!
Stay tuned for the next installment, lets hope I will have something a bit more ‘exciting’ . Why don’t you hit the subscribe button to get my posts in your inbox =oD
Also, if you follow me on Facebook, you will see that I am still running a ‘competition‘ to win a free logo design when we reach ’300′ likers! A goal that seemed near on impossible when I set it (when we were around 120) But with only 40 people to go I can see that number within my sites.
I have been doing a bit of thinking lately. About what I do (graphic designer) and how to communicate to my lovely fan base how much work and time goes in to creating each and every logo (and the rest), I know that we all have different processes when creating a design so I thought it it might be nice to story board some design work that I am doing for myself. I am going to break this i up in to a bit of series, as I still have other work to complete, but I’d love for you to follow me on this journey as I envision my new website and personal brand.
What sets me apart
Firstly, I don’t use clip art, or any other down-loadable package like you might use with digital scrap booking. This means my work is one of a kind, and you won’t find another like it anywhere else. what I do download in the massive quantities though, is FONTS I love fonts! I already have hundreds and still can’t resist the urge to ‘waste’ hours trawling other font based websites for more.
Secondly, I liaise closely with the client and spend quality time familiarising myself with what they have envisioned in their head. And at this point I should point out that it makes my job a LOT easier if the client does have some idea of what they want. I usually ask them to do some Google images searches and save pictures that inspire them, as this gives me a better idea of what direction to take.
Client brief
So, if I am the client … what I am envisioning. Well as I pointed out in my previous post about going in a different direction I have seen a website that excited and inspired me, so I have set about recreating it in a way that is ‘me’ It took me many months to develop the current DesignEm look and feel, and part of me is rather daunted at the though of going back and starting again. However I first launched Designem2 in 2008 so it really is time for a change. At this stage with a client I would send them my client brief, which IS quite daunting, I’m currently working on how I can make this step less scary but it really is THE most important step in my opinion as it really does help me to know what you want. I can write the brief based on this so we are all on the same page and with luck put on screen what you have in your head.
Hang on to your hats lady’s and gentlemen, here is step one.
Research
When I conduct research in to a new design I could compare myself to a method actor, meaning I like total immersion with the design style. Here is a cross section of some of the ‘research’ I have been looking at for my new direction. I LOVE water colour effect at the moment, which some might think is odd since when I am painting on canvas I love to lather the oils on as thick as possible.
One place I LOVE to find inspiration is www.cruzine.com they send out a daily inspirational post which I love and never miss! Another place I like to find inspiration is Logo of the day and other places like Logo Pond are great places to check out if you are looking for inspiration for your logo. I also love I love typography and The Design Observer
Please stay tuned for the next step where I will explore the idea and concept’s.
Not that all clients should reward me in such YUM ways but these cup cakes smell divine!
Thank you once again Crystal from the Cupcake Princess! This is one product that I have NO trouble endorsing You can check out her website here, where she is proudly displaying her new logo.
I’m just editing this to add, I just had one of the caramel ones and OMGosh it was like I died and went to heaven xxx
I have been holding off from posting this so Crystal would have a chance to show her loyal followers first, so let me now introduce you too the new Ms Cupcake. You can check out the fantastic cupcakes and other yummy things that she makes on her facebook page.
She went though a few transformations!
And she is also on a sticker advertising Crystal’s blog!
And of course no new business logo would be complete without a little stationary.
I am rather pleased with how she turned out, but as usual feel free to comment as I always welcome constructive criticism (looks pointedly at Himself “Heavy emphasis on ‘constructive!’” hehe
I don’t often do this (or like at all) But I have come across this blog by the Web Designers at Viget in the US and I absolutely LOVE the design. LOVE LOVE LOVE … Watch this space … because I have been thinking of doing a complete redesign and I am really in to the water colour look
Check it out on their site and read what other Mum’s have to say!
Here’s my blog post below though (complete with pictures – as they didn’t make it as fas as their website some how. )
WAHM versus the WORLD
So, I just got asked to write a guest post for ‘The Mummy Diaries’ and I jumped at the chance to hop up on my soap box. Lucky for me it’s big enough to also house my three kids, five year old Captain Chaos and 19 month old twin terrors the Trouble Monsters. I am a graphic designer with degree in Design and Multimedia, earned before my babies were even dreamed of and I work from home running my own little design house ‘Designem’.
If anyone ever said that working from home while your children were small is easy then I’d say they probably haven’t tried it. Every now and again I have considered day-care, or even a Nanny, but alas we have never quite been in a position to afford it. So instead we muddle along the best we can, and so far as long as I don’t really want to much time to myself it seems to be working.
The biggest most valuable bit of information I could dish out to anyone else is also the thing I struggle the most with ‘Time management’. So I have this
and if nothing else it IS rather colourful. Honestly though, I couldn’t live without it … because I find if I don’t write it down (in my diary rather than random bits of paper) then it’s lost …
which is hardly surprising when surrounded by so much mess. But that is another post for another day (Attention Deficit versus the World perhaps?)
A new thingy that I have implemented to stay on task (and also to make sure I don’t get overly focused on a project to find out hours later that I have accomplished NOT much and wasted a LONG time, is the Pomodoro Technique (also found on Facebook).
In short, this technique uses a kitchen timer (I actually went out and brought myself a tomato the same as their logo) set to 25 minutes, some paper – pen etc, a goal, and just like that you are all set. For some reason the 25 minute mark is the perfect time to get stuff done in. It guarantees you take adequate breaks (five minutes for every Pomodoro – with a longer break once every four Pomodoros (4x25mins), which in turn helps you stay focused. And if like me you often charge at an hourly rate it can also help you track how much time you spend on a project, and what has been accomplished in that time frame.
A think I have implemented in to my daily schedule is “Kid time” I had a little panic a few weeks back that when my babies are grown all they will remember is Mummy sat in the office attached to her laptop, and this is certainly not a legacy that I want to pass on to them. The distracted Mummy who doesn’t hear their cry’s (insert sad face) so instead I have blocked out time for them (fluorescent green in colour). That and actually leaving the house with them in the morning, and since I am already on the school run for Captain Chaos it’s not actually that hard. So we now have two playgroups and swimming during the week (which the LOVE), a day for coffee groups and a ‘free day’ to hang out at home, or go shopping or whatever.
This way I can get them home, fed, changed and bed all before 12pm. Which also means I get my own lunch in peace (half an hour of blessed peace where I can eat my lunch and read my book) before I have to sit my butt back at my computer and start work. Here between 12.30pm and 2.20pm I can do my best to as constructive with my time as possible and get some work done! Before getting the girls up, changed and rush back to the school for CC. Am I boring you yet? I hope not because my day is only just half done.
After schools are CHAOS, and my son the Captain of it. His school teacher suspects ADD (apple doesn’t fall far from the tree me thinks) so I do my best to get him out of his uniform, afternoon tea and home work as quick as possible before Sponge Bob starts at 3.30pm and the witching hour sets in. If I can manage to do all that then all three kids will play nicely, if it drags on then world war three/four/five usually ensues.
Now I have to say, bed time in house keeps getting earlier and earlier. Tonight was 6pm, which is saying something since before school started it was 7.30pm. OH my finely tuned 9.30am wakers are well in truly broken, but I can’t say I don’t mind the rewards of it being 7.17pm, having worked successfully for the last 60 odd minutes and having had them in all in bed by 6.
One thing I always do with CC is read to him at night. Currently we are reading “Matilda” by Roald Dahl, he doesn’t always have the patience for it, but I think the exercise of sitting still and listening is really starting to pay off. We are over half way through, and at the weekend I caught him flicking to the end to ensure a happy ending (which he deducted WAS indeed happy since Matilda and Ms Honey hugging). He is really enjoying this time we spend together, without his sister and without the stress of homework and the witching hour. Next I think I will read him The Twits, or maybe the BFG. I loving that he wants more than “The cat sat on the mat”.
But no, just in case you think my day ends there you are very much mistaken! There is washing and dishes to be done, a man to talk to and spend time with, and then after that a couple more hours of multitasking between WORK and catching up on my favourite television shows and my 35 minute stint on the Cross Trainer! No wonder I fall in to bed at 11pm and am generally unconscious until the following day.
But would I swap my life? Do less work? Hire a Nanny? Yeah, probably not! (The only thing I could really do with would be a house keeper LOL)
I will video this and post it here 
6) Winner will be notified by email as soon as possible following the draw, once contact has been made I will announce the winner in Facebook.
The following is an overview of the development, believe me when I tell you I went down a few false paths before inspriatoin stuck. The first logo in this series is original logo (As this was a revamp).
And of course no design would be complete without a little stationary (in my books anyhow)
But wait, there’s more! Certificates!
No facebook at this time, but don’t worry I’m working on it. I’ll let you know when Jo sets one up.
And after doing a bit of scouring of the internet I found this image of a porcelain lamb that I really liked.
To be honest, this logo wasn’t overly hard to produce, after finding such a cute lamb and having a fairly good idea of what Kelly was looking for I came up with the following concepts (after a few false starts admittedly)
And after a bit of ‘tweaking’ came up with a design that both of us were more than happy with.
And you might even see this version pop up from time to time.
You can find Lil’ Wee Lamb on 
And here is what I have so far … FAR from complete, and to be honest causing more frustration than completion! But in the interest of keeping this diary as accurate as possible this is what you get! All my brain mush 
One thing I am certain I want to include is the fact that I am a Mother, who knows how to balance her work/home life. Which when you’re a freelancer who works from home is something you must have a VERY good handle on. Even more so when you have three littlies!
Stay tuned for the next installment, lets hope I will have something a bit more ‘exciting’ . Why don’t you hit the subscribe button to get my posts in your inbox =oD
Also, if you follow me on Facebook, you will see that I am still running a ‘
Not that all clients should reward me in such YUM ways but these cup cakes smell divine!
Thank you once again Crystal from the 
I’m just editing this to add, I just had one of the caramel ones and OMGosh it was like I died and went to heaven xxx
And she is also on a sticker advertising Crystal’s
And of course no new business logo would be complete without a little stationary. 
I am rather pleased with how she turned out, but as usual feel free to comment as I always welcome constructive criticism (looks pointedly at Himself “Heavy emphasis on ‘constructive!’” hehe
Recent Comments