All Paths Lead to Wonderland: 2016

Paths to Wonderland Design x Casetify: Phone Cases for All the Wonder-Lovers!

Image source: Casetify

Hey guys! Just a quick post today to update you on one of the most exciting projects to come to Wonderland yet!

Earlier this summer I was contacted by Casetify about designing phone cases for their artist’s collection and I am happy to report that my collection is up and ready to go on their website! Seeing my silly little designs come to life into a real line of products is unbelievably exciting, and gets me so psyched about all the design dreams dancing around my head.

Casetify as a brand has some super hip technology with their transparent/printed cases and interchangeable backs, and allows you to customize away if my designs alone don’t cut it for you. Plus, there is work from a ton of other artists up on their site, and Casetify does an amazing job of promoting these small designers, which is such a blessing for those like me trying to get their work out there!

As for the designs themselves, the first handful of cases were directly inspired by the digital fruit salad party I held earlier this summer. (Did I mention all the free downloads that went up with that?) I took those designs, infused some watercolor, ombre, and transparency, and optimized those designs for the phone case dimensions.

Peach Pattern // Peach Pun
Strawberry Pattern // Strawberry Pun
Raspberry Pattern // Raspberry Pun
Kiwi Pattern // Kiwi Pun
Cherry Pattern // Cherry Pun
Blueberry Pattern // Blueberry Pun

Following that, I have 5 designs that I made exclusively for the phone case collection, and I really love these too! They are definitely in the sassy, sweet, slightly dorky, and totally pastel spirit of Wonderland. And I got to throw in a little bit of outdated slang on that “hella rad” case, so we are all winning here. (It’s my personal favorite!)

Hot Damn in Magenta + Peach // Hot Damn in Indigo + Lavender
Geometric in Pretty in Pink // Geometric in Oceanic Palette
Hella Rad Multicolor (see first post image)

Image source: Casetify

Last but not least, I put one of my old favorite designs as a MacBook sleeve, or iPad Cover! I'm potentially looking at revamping a few other Monday in Wonderlands or printables into cases, so let me know what you would like to see!

I will definitely keep adding more designs to this collection as time goes on, but for now I am so so happy with the designs I put together. If you are interested in purchasing a phone case, or think a friend would love one of these designs, you can check out the whole online collection here! And while you are at it, peek around their site and take a gander at all the other gorgeous designs up there. Thanks y’all for all the support always, and I can’t wait to see what fun design projects are in store for Wonderland next!

Which of these designs is your favorite? Are there any of my old designs that you’d like to have on a phone case of your very own?

Stay lovely,

**For full disclosure, I am paid a small artist’s fee for every one of my designs that is sold. I am insanely appreciative of this perk, but am sponsored by Casetify in no other way. As usual, I would never promote a product or service to you that I do not fully appreciate and intend to use.

Still a skeptic? Stay tuned for my review of the physical Casetify product in the near future! That is, once I decide what phone to replace my current, somewhat crippled one with…**

Wonderland Design Update!

Well hello there! It’s been a little bit, hasn’t it?

I’ve been a little AWOL from the blog lately, and part of that is just the craziness of life, but the other part is a lot of fun design side projects I’ve been working on! I’ve been having so much fun using my summer free time to play with words, images, and Photoshop in general, so I thought it would be fun to share some of the things I’ve been working hard on with you!

First of all, I have some super-duper fun and exciting news—one of my designs is going to be made into a patch for the Crybaby Club online store! The “UGH, so many feelings” design you see above scored second place in their patch design contest, and I can’t begin to express how happy this made me! Even seeing it as a finalist felt like such amazing validation for my ever-growing love of design, and I can barely wait until I get those patches in person. I’ll be sure to let you know when they are for sale, so you can express your overwhelming feelings too! And by the way, The Crybaby Club blog and Instagram is one to follow if you have a lot of feelings but are still a badass (aka you are human).

Next up, you may have noticed that I added a little flair to this blog’s layout with a new header, bio picture border, social media icons, and quick content links. All the elements have either a doodle or watercolor theme, which takes my original blog design plan and, in my humble opinion, elevates it a little bit. I also love how much using content tags and those new labels in the sidebar cleans up my blog’s appearance. These little additions were so much simpler than my huge html layout edit earlier this year, but arguably make a much bigger difference in your first impression of my blog! From here, site design wise, I plan to update all my bio photos with some that are better branded to Wonderland, so stay tuned for a silly photoshoot behind-the-scenes!

Another project that is still in the works but already looking great is a set of phone cases designed by me through Casetify! I was contacted by a partnerships rep about joining their “Artist’s Collection” and have been having a blast getting creative with designs I sure hope people will love to proudly display on their phones. As soon as I stop agonizing over the details, I will upload even more of these custom designs to their website to my own phone case “store,” from which I earn a small incentive for every case purchased. The program is open for other designers too, so if you are interested, check out their website and shoot them an email! You can hop on over to my Casetify collection right now, but I have a few more designs to add before it gets its own post!

Brandon's YouTube Channel // Rey's YouTube Channel

In addition to all this, I’ve designed a couple of logos for friends lately, which is an entirely new and exciting design challenge for me. I obviously have a lot of creative area to explore regarding logo designs, but it’s an interesting exercise to combine another person’s style and brand aesthetic with their brand name! In addition, since both these logos were designed for YouTube channels, this gave me a chance to play around with Premiere Elements a little bit to animate the logos! (Of course, now I’m dying to get an Adobe Cloud subscription so that I may uncover the world of Adobe After Effects, but time will tell what silly things I choose to spend my money on!) Speaking of, I’ve been considering creating a YouTube channel for myself and my blog—any thoughts or recommendations on videos you might like to see?

Last, but definitely not least, as a part of Aggie Fish Camp, I’ve turned into my camp’s token Photoshop gal! This “design” role involves generating designs that are projected onto bed sheets then painted as banners to decorate our camp room. The banner designs I created and included here are definitely a composite of various artists’ work, mostly thanks to the magic wand tool, but I consider this to be an exercise in composition and color more than anything. (These are totally non-commercial creations, or otherwise I would never dare use the work of another artist in my designs!) Working on these banner designs has also been a great tool for me to learn the ropes of Photoshop, as I work with layers, distortions, and fonts to imitate iconic logos and images with our own camp name.

Phew! When I write it all out, I have been having quite a time with creating this summer! Design is primarily a hobby at this point, but if you happen to love the type of things I am making, leave me a comment or send me an email and maybe I can look at making something for your website, YouTube channel, or brand! ! I am quickly falling more and more in love with creating of this type, and can’t wait to see the possibilities this hobby of mine presents.

Do you have a creative hobby that you are currently passionate about? I’d love to see what you are making!

Stay lovely,

Curly Girl Part One: 8 Tips for Loving Your Natural Curls

There is a definite amount of truth to the saying “the grass is always greener on the other side.” And when it comes to physical appearance, it’s so easy to want what you can’t have. Personally, my curly hair used to be one of those “brown grass” areas in my life, while straight, shiny, perfect hair was practically a technicolor green. I always wanted that shiny perfection that you just can’t achieve with a frizzy head of curls, because natural curls won’t ever quite look like the shiny, perfect do’s of celebrities. (Although they all wear wigs anyway, don’t they?) My natural curls have weird kinks, constant fly-aways, and at the sight of sweat, form a lovely little halo around my face no matter how much I try and slick back my ponytail. For years I straightened my locks for formal events, only to realize that after 20 minutes in a stifling gym my hair looked exactly like it always had, curls, curls, curls and a matted hairbrush to match.

Like with most things in life though, I grew up to realize that I am so blessed with the hair I have! (Guys. Hair is a metaphor for life.) And now I love my curls and wouldn’t really ever want to be without them. It’s like they are messy and fun and free just like I can be at times. (Guys, GUYS! Hair is a metaphor for myself too apparently.) So, I’ve been in the lovely practice of embracing my curls 100% for the past few years, even to the point where I go mostly natural for even the fanciest of events. And therefore, I wanted to write a little series of posts about making crazy, curly hair work for me.

To kick it off, I have a few tips and tricks that I put to work to make my curls super lovable, even though they are wild! I’m not anywhere near an expert, but trial and error with my own head of curls has resulted in the guide I am making for you now!

1) Don’t you dare brush

As I’m sure many curly girls know, do NOT brush your hair. Not only does it increase your risk of knotting and breakage, but it also takes those curled strands that are all wound up together and pulls then apart—talk about volume! (Think Hermione from movie 1. That was me all the way through elementary school…)

Instead, I run a very wide tooth comb through my hair after I shower, and if I do dry comb, I dampen my hair first and finger-comb only. I find that this helps keep those gathered curls together to make everything a whole lot less poofy! That said, when those pretty locks do get separated, such as while French-braiding or re-parting my hair, a few spritzes of water tends to recurl that chunk of hair nicely!

2) Spritz spritz

And on that note, if I look in the mirror and see a kinky, unclassy mess, adding more water is usually my first go-to. For example, sometimes I’ll have a piece or two oh hair that got pulled is straighter than the others. When this happens, I just spritz and scrunch that section to achieve a uniform (still crazy) mess. Hair oil mist and sea salt spray are also helpful for me to tame the curly beast, but I'll discuss that further in the next installment of this series!

3) Be gentle

Curly hair can be pretty brittle, which isn’t exactly compatible with the fact that it likes to wrap itself around and anything and everything in its way! (I’ve gotten so many pencils stuck in my hair….) Wearing your hair tied back, especially with traditional hair ties, can also cause extra breakage at about chin-level. To fight this, apart from not brushing and combing my hair while dry, I often wear my hair down during the day. When it needs to be tied up or pulled back, I use soft elastic hair ties or clear elastics that can be cut when you want to remove them.

I also sleep with my hair either in a loose high pony with a wide elastic or short ribbon (like, about to fall out loose) or with my curls confined to two braids without hair ties at the ends. (Yes, my curls will still hold the braids.) I find these are good compromises between keeping my slept-on hair nice and avoiding the pulling and breakage that a normal hair tie would cause in my sleep.

4) Shampoo Less

Another tip you have probably heard many a time if you are a curly-girl is to shampoo less, and honestly this makes a huge difference for me. I wash my hair with shampoo every 5-6 days at the absolute most. Personally, my hair is pretty dry, so my roots do not experience much oiliness. Depending on your hair though, you might feel the need to wash more often at first! Just keep in mind that your scalp will start producing less oil as you wash it less.

Another tip here is to pull your hair away from your face if oil i a concern. I typically side-part my hair, meaning that the fuller side from the part can pick up oils from my forehead more easily and look kind of gross. I take care of that with some bobby pins, a half-pony, or by embracing the center part for a change!

5) Hydrate

And on that note, hydration is key to curls! Some helpful tips I have there are washing the hair less, drinking your fluids like you should, and using a serum, hair mask, or leave in conditioner on the ends! I’ll detail my favorite products soon, but there are a lot of good products out there that you can take a gander at! (And a lot of good reviews to compare them!)

An alternative (or addition) to leave-in conditioner would also be to rinse the conditioner from your hair with cool water. I think this has something to do with the cuticle sealing or something to produce shine, but I also feel like it washes out a little less of the conditioner so that it can keep working to increase the softness of my hair.

6) Avoid Chemicals and Heat

Just generally be nice to your hair. It is no surprise that reducing chemical dyes and heat exposure on your hair makes it healthier, and healthier curls are prettier! (Unless you are going for the 80’s/Hermoine look. I mean, you do you.) For example, I will be dyeing my ends blue later this month (for a summer camp thing... for now at least), so I am looking into conditioners that slowly build up the color over time. I’m hoping that a product like Overtone, which is actually made to preserve bright hair color, will dye my hair enough while also conditioning it! Henna hair colors by Lush are also very interesting to me, and would be great for dying curls in a natural shade. (Super cool, but super permanent, so you decide.)

7) Trim the Mess

I love having long hair, but keeping it short can keep your curls much healthier day-to-day. If you still want long locks though, (like me) then pay attention to when your ends start getting extra split and tangley. (I can usually tell if they knot up constantly, no matter how much conditioner I use!) Then, when my hair goes knotty, I go for a trim! For me, waiting to cut split-ends gives no extra length benefit because the ends don’t curl as prettily, and will break off regardless! Oh, and no one can tell anyway, so it's not like it makes a big difference. Curly hair is an illusion like that as it springs up a couple inches regardless of its length.

8) Embrace Them Gorgeous Locks

Over the next couple installments of this series I plan on talking about products I like and life-saving hairstyles, but until then I can say that the best way to love your curls is to just embrace them! Accept that your grass is pretty damn green all on its own, and when your hair seems to be getting big, spray on some saltwater and embrace the wild, hippie-child feels.

Curls are fun and gorgeous in a messy and natural way that many straight-haired girls will work hard to achieve. I joke that my hair is a mess that I pretend is intentional, but that is completely accurate. My hair isn’t gonna look like it was curled by an iron because it wasn’t. (It was curled my genetics and science and stuff…eww no, school.) And besides, natural hair is totally in style and confidence is the best accessory.

Are there any fellow curly girls out there? Any vital tips I missed?

Stay lovely,

Monday in Wonderland: Make the World a Prettier Place

Left click to download

Happy Monday in Wonderland! It has been forever and a day since I wrote one of these babies, but I have honestly missed it. Plus, I’ll take any chance to play around with lettering and Photoshop more!

If you’ve forgotten the drill, a “Monday in Wonderland” is just an excuse for me to doodle something pretty and ramble on and on about who knows what. The original intention when I started this blog was to brighten each and every week with a Monday in Wonderland, but I set that aside for a crazy semester, better designs, and the fact of life that bad Mondays happen, no matter how much glitter you try to remedy them with. (In fact, one of my favorite Monday in Wonderlands was one that explicitly told you to be sad.) So this is the new-and-improved, do-them-when-I want-to-and-how-I-want-to version of the little feature that started this whole blog in the first place. And, in Monday in Wonderland fashion, I’ll start by explaining the seemingly meaningless, somewhat ripped off from an ancient saying quote you see above. (PS, it’s free to download, and makes a stellar computer wallpaper!)

When it comes to my opinions on things, there’s a lot I haven’t made up my mind about. I don’t like to get confrontational, but, as I mentioned in my 19 Things at 19 post, I am resolving to research and reflect and discover the facts underlying the controversies in this year of my life (and hopefully the rest of it)! I have been journaling a lot too, and although it leaves me more perplexed at times, sometimes I come away with little gems about the way I want to live my life. It may not seem like much, but I've recently realized all the joy I get from the simple, pretty things in life. The concept of making the world a prettier place also seems to connect my current passions for the planet, design, writing, and loving people.

I may shy away from political debates, and may have a lot to consider about the kind of person I want to be, but I know with some certainty that real pockets in my shorts, pink and purple sunsets, and hours spent creating art will probably always make the world seem “better” to me. Technically, making the world a “better” place could be turned and tilted and distorted, and I don’t always know what better is. But making the world “prettier?” Even with beauty eternally in the eye of the beholder, I know what I find beauty in.

Big words, and sweet, lovely, kind, people, and watercolors, and nature, and teacups are all things of maximum “prettiness” to me, and if I can do nothing else in life, at least I can create a little more of that prettiness in my everyday existence, both through the things I create and the relationships I cultivate. That’s what this Monday in Wonderland is about. Basically, without wondering what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s better and worse, I can working at bringing more things to this lovely planet that personify brightness, loveliness, and beauty.

Stay lovely,

P.S. We adopted a new puppy yesterday, and if you haven’t seen her on my Instagram yet, you have some looking and "aww"-ing to do! Her name is Cookie *heart eyes emoji*

**Please respect my copyright policy. If you modify or use my work, link back here for attribution. Also, don’t post this content as your own download, but rather link back to me, because everyone is free to join the fun and download through this website! For more on gross copyright things, click the link in this blog's footer.**

Throwback Thursday: DIY Natural Fiber Chokers

Hey there “home-skillets!” So according to my excess following of red carpet events (via Grace Helbig of course), it appears that chokers are back in style and I think that is “slammin.” I can honestly say that I recently purchased jelly shoes and one particular top that is very much the Rachel Green aesthetic, and am officially feeling pretty damn “fly.” Ooh ooh, and all the 90’s inspired patches and pins I’m seeing lately? “Off the heezy” if I do say so myself.

Okay, enough at my lame attempts at slang (I can’t handle it from my generation or the last one). I really am here to talk about chokers. I feel like right now fashion is trying to take it back to the 90’s but only pull out the good stuff this time, and I couldn't be happier. Since learning they were a legit accessory once again, I have been dying to add a few chokers to my jewelry collection (which, ironically, consists of mostly really long necklaces). And in typical DIY-er fashion, I decided the best route for me was to make a few! I thought it would be super fun to share the techniques I used, so you can be as trendy as I pretend to be.

For each of the chokers, you will need:

Macramé rope, ribbon, or string-like material

Ribbon clamps

Industrial strength glue (I’m partial to E6000)

Some spare chain (to make an extender)

A lobster clasp

A couple of jump rings

Pliers

The process is also pretty similar for each necklace! Cut your material to a length slightly shorter than the circumference of your neck (about 12 1/2" for me). Drop a bit of glue onto the inside of the ribbon clamp, add the end of your material, & clamp down hard with the pliers, then repeat with the other end and let dry. With the help of your jump rings, attach a 1-3” extender chain to one ribbon clamp, and a lobster clasp to other. Then rock your necklace like the 90's babe you are!

For the first choker, I used some macramé trim purchased in the fabric section of my local craft store. I had to use a good amount glue and a large clamp because of the thickness of this material, but I love the subtle, earthy vibe this one give off. Also them front teeth, am I right?

Next, I thought it would be fun to channel the obsession with friendship bracelets that was my childhood and make a friendship bracelet-inspired choker--it's like 90's on 90's! Patience is definitely required for this style (and maybe a You-Tube tutorial), but I love how nostalgic it is.

And lastly, I purchased some very fuchsia suede cording to make the last choker have an excellent color pop! Since I combined 3 individual pieces of cord, I glued it down side by side on the clamp and allowed it to dry before closing the clamp. I also took care to make sure the individual pieces of cord didn't end up twisted, so that the choker could lay flat when I was wearing it. You could also string some little gold beads onto the cord to make this style of choker even more fun!

Overall, I’d say the expansion of my choker collection was a huge success, and for very little effort. And fun fact, my wrist is about half the circumference of my neck, so these chokers double as wrapped bracelets for me! Now I just need some overalls and a scrunchie and we are good to go!

Are you as in love with chokers as I am? Actually, are you as in love with this revival of 90’s fashion as I am?

Stay lovely,

Thoughts on Living More Sustainably

I’ve always been kind of a geek for planet Earth. I blame the little trailer trips and hikes we took throughout my childhood, and all the veggies my mom made me eat. Okay, and I blame the mountains, the feeling of sunshine on my back, and all the flowers everywhere all the time.

Anyway, I do love my planet, and was even the little kid in middle school who bought WWF t-shirts and begged her parents to build her a compost pile. (TBH, I would not have taken care of it, so no hard feelings.) And recently, in a semester-long environmental health class, some of that love was reawakened, and I even joined an organization that has a literal farm right on my college campus. So as I embrace my tree-hugger nature once again, (no pun intended) I wanted to write a little about some of the things I learned from that class and that organization, and some of the ways I’ve been thinking about changing things up to help this floating green and blue orb I am living on!

1) Environmental health is a reciprocating interaction

If I had to pick a single big idea from my environmental health class, it would be that caring for the environment is not a one-way street. I honestly expected 4 months of lessons on reducing, reusing, and recycling, but environmental health is a lot more than that because our environment affects our health too. I suppose that I always saw helping that planet as just not littering or polluting because it preserves biodiversity. But living cleaner, greener lives is good for our individual health as well. By reducing resource consumption, waste, and pollution, we also work at reducing risks of respiratory and heart problems, as well as cancer. By preserving our forests we leave a slice of serenity in our lives. And actions such as greener transportation and vegetarianism can even increase our fitness and overall well-being. When you think about it, living green is better for us, and the lazy way we treat our earth backfires on more than just endangered animals.

2) Loving your planet is good for your psyche

In one of the most interesting topics we covered last semester was environmental psychology, which basically explains the great effects the natural environment has on your mental and therefore physical health. For example, natural light increases productivity, and having greenery in or viewed from a hospital room shows a decrease in the recovery time of patients. I may be a geek here, but I just think that is the coolest thing.

Personally, I can also speak to the stress reducing effects of working in and walking through nature, especially though my brief experience with Howdy Farm (that “literal farm on campus” organization). Whether it was taking some extra time to meander to my car after class, or weeding, or harvesting, I always walked away from an outdoor session feeling just plain better. I seem to remember that from my childhood too, that some of my brightest, happiest memories involved being out in nature, and I can’t think of a single time I went hiking or biking without smiling at the end of it all, even if I was dead tired.

3) Locally grown food is actually really awesome

In addition to chilling out and gardening, being a part of Howdy Farm was a super cool way to learn about (and eat a lot of) local food! A lot of the time, local food is grown more sustainably and not necessarily for the organic mark-up you would find in the grocery store. Although pesticides are extremely targeted, do a lot of good, and have an ever-decreasing environmental impact, at a location like Howdy Farm we used no pesticides whatsoever.

Pesticides and organic products aside though, the simple truth is that local, fresh food actually tastes pretty freaking amazing. You can debate all you want about nutritional benefit of GMO’s and pesticides and so on, but at the end of the day, if you are paying the same amount for food that tastes better, AND you are contributing to decreased fuel costs, AND you are learning to make a schedule like a “grown-up”, (ya know, to go buy the food) then you are kind of winning with farmer’s markets.

3) I make a TON of unnecessary purchases and trash

Although I learned about a lot more than the 3 R’s last semester, they definitely did come up in both my EH class and on Howdy Farm. And when it comes to reducing my purchases and wastes, I am not doing the environment any favors! I have recycled habitually for years, but the driving mechanisms of the reduce-reuse-recycle cycle are buying less overall, and buying sustainable or recycled products where possible. It’s great to throw things in the recycling bin, but if no one’s buying recycled products they will end up going into landfills anyway. By the same token, the more stuff you buy, the more waste you make, and the more natural resources you use.

Personally, I’ve always used paper plates and bowls for my meals as a means of convenience, and I realized just how wasteful it was as soon as I opened my eyes to living more sustainably! The same goes for paper towels in that they aren’t always necessary to clean up little messes. I also use plastic water bottles far too often (even if I do recycle), buy new clothes when I really don’t need them, and, regrettably, make a ton of trash with crafting! And so…

4) My crafting habits aren’t exactly sustainable

This was huge for me, and I think it’s part of what offset my DIY blogging for a little while, but I buy so many craft supplies that just sit waiting to be used—how awful for my beautiful earth and my cluttered headspace! Now, although in many cases home-made or restyled projects can use less materials than new purchases, crafting is still an area in my life that creates a ton of clutter and ends with a lot of unneeded leftovers. I really want to work on actually using those supplies that I already have, and reducing purchases AND wastes.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that crafting is evil and it going to kill me. I just think that in the future it is worth taking into consideration if there are ways I could reuse materials for a project, or if I have the financial resources to invest in more sustainable craft supplies with less packaging. Furthermore, when it comes to never-used party piñatas or yet another cute clutch, I need to keep in mind whether or not I will really be using the things I love to make.

5) It’s the little things.

This point is probably the most paramount one of the post, especially if you are reading this and panicking—when it comes to the environment, just do what you can. Yes, strive to buy less, recycle more, reduce your waste, and celebrate the earth, but at the end of the day you don’t have to do any more than what is within your financial and physical means. If you don’t have a farmers market, can’t afford the greener products, or just don’t have the time to wash dishes then that is completely and totally a-okay. It really is the small things that make a big difference, and half the time just considering the environment when you are going through daily life is helpful to reducing your carbon footprint. Furthermore, while being aware of your purchases is a very good thing, panicking over whether or not it is consciously responsible to buy that top you just love may not be helping anything.

There are people that devote their lives to making no trash, to creating new energy-saving inventions, and to saving the planet all on their own, but that by no means has to be all of us! Honestly, if everyone actually did what they could, the environmental health issues would be significantly lessened. The bottom line to all this is that as I continue to live my life and take part in making more of my own decisions, I want to consider the little blue planet in more of those choices. Not every food has to be organic, not every office supply has to be recycled, and not every thought has to be green. The idea is just to think about it and do a little, do your research and then do a little more where you can! And then go hiking or walking outdoors all the time because nature is just plain gorgeous and you need some time to breathe, my friend.

Do you commit to any “green” habits?

Stay lovely,

PS: I'm testing out some new visual branding and potentially some redesign for my blog (yes, again). My site might be a little bit of a mess during the transition, but I hope we will all love it at the end!

A Digital Fruit Salad Party DAY 7: Cherries and Watermelons on Some Cool Free Downloads

Happy Sunday!

You might not have noticed due the sporadic nature that is me posting on this blog, but I failed to post yesterday's set of fruity downloads--WHOOPS! The truth of the matter is that I was having too much of a jolly good time having a really lazy Saturday yesterday, so when I took up an offer for surprise plans in the evening, that post went unpublished. #lazybloggerprobs

So anyway, instead of dragging out this wonderfully nonsensical fruit salad party for yet another day, I figured that a double-whammy finale to the week was in order! And therefore, today I present today's fruits of the day-Watermelon and Cherries! I decided to save the best (well, MY personal favorites) for last!

So without further ado, I bring you the final installment of this crazy week of free things! You now have a full set of envelopes and cards to mix and match, as well as a couple ways to mix up your art prints and other downloads. I also bestow on you the power to repurpose the tech wallpapers in the most creative ways you can think of (since they are jpegs).

If you use any of this nonsense for something special or new or fun, give me a shout out on Instagram so I can see what you've created!

The watercolor printables throughout the week have used commercially free watercolor backgrounds from Lost + Taken, which should totally check out. The only exception is the peaches printable, which I found the background for in this post. Share the love guys!

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD:

Watermelon computer wallpaper

Watermelon cell phone wallpaper

Watermelon printable envelope

“One in a Melon” punny card printable in portrait (top fold) // in landscape (side fold)

“One in a Melon” punny wall art print

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD:

Cherry computer wallpaper

Cherry cell phone wallpaper

Cherry printable envelope

“Cherry on top” punny card printable in portrait (top fold) // in landscape (side fold)

“Cherry on top” punny wall art print

The week's other fruits include Strawberries, Peaches, Kiwis, Blueberries, and Raspberries! Which fruit pun is your favorite? (Yes, I think that means you should look through all of them.)

Stay lovely,

A Digital Fruit Salad Party Day 5: "Snazzy, Jazzy, Razz-berry" Printables and Wallpapers

It's Fridayyyyy! I can't believe I am already on day 5 of these little downloads! They have been really fun to share and try to get creative with, and I really love pretending that I do graphic design :P

Today I also tried to be creative with these little cards to prove that these nifty downloads go way beyond their original purpose! It may not be easy to see, but I used actual cutting and pasting to layer the background and card images to add a little 3-dimensionality to these cards.

I inserted the "cell phone background" image into a word document, cropped it to the same dimensions as the other cards, used the "washout" tool, printed in color, and cut and folded that background as it's own mini card. Then, I printed the half-color raspberry card, cut the shape out, and taped it to the front of the patterned card! I just thought it would be fun to show a way that you can alter the content I am giving you (provided that if you post about it, you link back to me), and show another alternative to the full-color stationery if you are trying to save yourself some ink!

Anyway, I hope you are enjoying this project of mine! Make sure to let me know which of these is your favorite and how you might be using them!

Strawberry, peach, kiwi, and blueberry printables and wallpapers are also available!

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD:

Raspberry computer wallpaper

Raspberry cell phone wallpaper

Raspberry printable envelope

“Snazzy, jazzy” punny card printable in portrait (top fold) // in landscape (side fold)

“Snazzy, jazzy” punny wall art print

Stay lovely,

A Digital Fruit Salad Party Day 4: Blueberry Sweet Freebies

Hey guys! Thought I forgot about today's free fruity fun? Never! I just had a busy morning... okay, and a nap.

Today, in addition to your free downloads of tech wallpapers, art prints, cards, and envelopes, I wanted to show you how you can print in black and white and STILL bring on the color. I used watercolor paints to create a gradient wash and splatter paint effect on the art prints, which is super exciting if you don't happen to have a color printer. As long as you print with toner, you can paint the cards and art prints to your hearts desire and make them your own!

Now if this is your first trip to wonderland this week, try checking back to my first post of the week to get an idea of what this party is all about! Also, don't forget I have a similar set of downloads for strawberries, peaches, and kiwis already all ready for you. (Thanks, SAT grammar!) Enjoy!

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD:

Blueberry computer wallpaper

Blueberry cell phone wallpaper

Blueberry printable envelope

“Don't be blue” punny card printable in portrait (top fold) // in landscape (side fold)

“Don't be blue” punny wall art print

Stay lovely,

A Digital Fruit Salad Party Day 3: Kiwi-themed Downloadable Goodies

Happy Wednesday! (We are halfway through the week--yay!) For day 3 of my digital fruit salad party I chose to make you all some downloads featuring kiwis. I've never actually been a fan of the fruit myself, but they are still such a fun color and have such a darling name.

If you are wondering what I'm doing with these freebies, check out my first post of this week-long download party! (Yes, free things for you every single day of this week!) And don't forget to have fun mixing and matching the cards and envelopes that I made just for you. I hope you have a great rest of your week and don't forget to head back here tomorrow as the free stuff continues.

Watercolor background on printables found here.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD:

Kiwi computer wallpaper

Kiwi cell phone wallpaper

Kiwi printable envelope

“Be my kiwi” punny card printable in portrait (topfold) // in landscape (side fold)

"Be my kiwi" punny wall art print

Is there a particular fruit you're hoping will be a part of the party?

Stay lovely,

**Please respect my copyright policy. If you modify or use my work, link back here for attribution. Also, don’t post this as your own download, but rather link back to me, because everyone is free to join the fun and download through this website! For more on gross copyright things, click the link in this blog's footer.**

A Digital Fruit Salad Party Day 2: Peachy-keen Wallpapers & Printables

Here is Day 2 of the fruit salad inspired printables and digital wallpapers, featuring peaches! And, fun fact, for many southern US states we are right in the first month of peach season! Yum!

For more information about this so-called "fruit salad" project, take a look at yesterday's post, which includes similar prints and wallpapers with strawberries as the stars! And don't forget to head back to my wonderland again tomorrow for yet another set of fruity downloads!

Watercolor background on printables found here.