Farewell 2009

It's that time of the year I guess because all month I keep catching myself reflecting on everything that's happened in 2009, the good, bad and everything I've experienced and learned. Although I've definitely had some ups and downs, I really feel I've got a good list of things to be thankful for. And since I'm a list-making type of girl, you must know what I've been thinking about and working on a lot lately. Goals, resolutions, you get the idea.

With that said, the latest post on my new, favorite blog, White Hot Truth by Danielle LaPorte kind of stopped me in my tracks - "What's on your Stop Doing List?" I've been so obsessed with setting new goals, making new internal promises of what I'm going to try harder with, do more of and become better at, I hadn't even though of sorting through the things that really didn't and don't work for me and probably even get in my way. So now, I have more lists to make, and Danielle LaPorte is on my "Favorites of 2009" for sure.

To get to the main reason for this post though, thinking about all I'm so thankful for = the awesome clients I got to make web sites for. Please accept my huge and heart felt THANK YOU to everyone I had the pleasure to work with in 2009. I really feel lucky to have had the opportunity to work for such great people. I was constantly inspired by your drive, your ideas, your kindness and your creativity. You made work not feel like work and made me want to be better and do more!


Now for the business part - A few Announcements for the New Year.
No big changes but a few items I wanted to post:

Payment Plans
I love being able to help people with their business or projects, especially new ones starting out and am happy to work with you to reach your goals so I decided to be formal about it. Payment Plans will be available in 2010 for larger projects, redesigns or for anyone who requests them. I'll even send a formal payment plan form where you can tell me how much on which day of the month. Don't need a plan, that's ok too, payment is due in full within 30 days of receiving your invoice for updates and maintenance, etc.

Get free work just for telling a friend about me!
Need updates or work done on your site? I'll do it for free when you send a new client my way!
Get 4 hours of free work for anyone you refer who becomes a new customer. Just have them give me your name when they call or email, if I ended up building them a site, doing a redesign or any paying work on their site, you're all set.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season; enjoy the people around you, eat too many cookies, make your lists for the New Year. Wishing you peace and happiness!




















Pinup By Gil Elvgren - A Christmas Eve (waiting for Santa)

Disclosure Statement

Ok, here's my official blog disclosure statements (generated at www.disclosurepolicy.org

Basically, I'm not getting paid or any free gifts for what I write about. Everything is just my opinion and anything I've recommended or said "Hey - it's that awesome?" about was again, just from my point of view. I like to write and wanted to share views and information so I started this blog, just for you to enjoy! But since I do love to link and recommend and say "It's the best!", I thought I better get this posted already.

Anyway, here's the official real deal:

This policy is valid from 22 October 2009

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog does not accept any form of advertising, sponsorship, or paid insertions. We write for our own purposes. However, we may be influenced by our background, occupation, religion, political affiliation or experience.

The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.

The owner(s) of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. If we claim or appear to be experts on a certain topic or product or service area, we will only endorse products or services that we believe, based on our expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

So I guess maybe next year if someone does want to start paying/gifting/being really cool to me so I'll write good things about them or their products, I'll be changing this but for now, it's all just from the bottom of my heart, to you from me!

Choosing Colors for Design

I'm always excited when I start on a new design project about experimenting with colors. It's definitely an important element, the right colors and images can help you communicate more effectively and can make the site. For some projects, I'll be given an existing logo or images that will point me in a certain direction but I've also worked with pretty much a blank slate, nothing but ideas to run with. This can also be as challenging as it is fun though and I always find myself spending a surprising amount of time switching out colors and trying different shades or scraping an idea all together and going in a totally new direction.

So I was really happy to run across this article from good old Sitepoint!
21 Stimulating Color Palette Tools For Designers

A few of these I'd heard of and used before but some were completely new to me and since I love finding resources like this - had to share!

A few I really like:

ColorCombos.com
Just click on the color palette and it provides hex codes, lots of search options as well and tons to choose from. You can even enter a url to grab colors from a site.

ColorBlender.com
Enter a color and the system creates a palette for you

Jeff Minard’s Color Palette Generator
Upload a picture and system generates a color palette based on the .jpg. Here's one I tried - love it!



Again, just a few but some really cool ones!


From a Vintage Christmas card, inside - Forget the sweet nothings, where's the present?

Removing White Backgrounds in Photoshop

Removing backgrounds is probably one of my least favorite things to do. I always feel like it doesn't quite look the way I want the picture to look or I just don't have enough patience to get in to the pixel level and very carefully erase, view and erase some more. So honestly, I avoid it if possible but lately I've been forced to do quite a bit of this and thought I'd post a few ways that have been fairly pain-free.

There are several different ways to do this in Photoshop, it'll depend on the type of image you're working with to determine which technique will work the best for you.

The one I've been using the most lately is the Magic Wand tool.

1. Copy and paste my image on to a transparent background of the same size as my image

2. Click on the Magic Wand tool to select it and click once on a section of white background you want to get rid of. This should highlight the entire section around your picture.

3. Hit Delete and you should see the checkerboard - transparent background.

4. Sometimes it will look like there is still a weird shadow and/or line that makes the image look very "cut out" To help get rid of this, Click on Select at your top menu bar, select Modify and Expand. Leave the setting at 1px and hit delete on your background area again. This should expand the area the magic wand traced around your image and trim things up!

Another way that has worked well for me in the past is using the Extract feature

1. With your image open, select Filter from the top menu bar and select Extract.

2. On the next screen, you'll use a highlighter to outline your image. You can play around with the size of the highlighter here depending on what will be the easiest to use with your image.

3. Once my outline is done, I usually click on the eraser tool and go back on the inside of the outline to correct any areas where I marked too far over my image.

4. Once you're ready, click on the Fill tool (looks like a paint bucket) and click on your image. It'll now be colored in but that's ok. Click on "ok".

5. You should now be left with your image on a transparent background.

6. You may still need to use the eraser tool to clean up any white around the picture that may have been missed (I hate that!)

With both methods, save your image as a .GIF with transparency and try it out.

You may still need to do a little smoothing or experiment with blur or feathering to get rid of any jagged lines (the feathering has never worked for me but I keep reading about it so maybe it's just the images I've been working on.)

Neither of these are new but have come in handy and worked pretty easily for me so I thought they were worth a post. As I discover easier or more effective ways of smoothing things after removing the background, I'll post that too! Enjoy :)

December 9 - Update
Ok - here's a little more info and a few more steps that have worked great for me so far.

If the jagged outline still remains on images, after removing the background with the Magic Wand tool:

1. In Photoshop, Select "Image" from the top menu bar

2. Select "Trim" from the drop down.

A menu box will appear and should have the following settings already selected:
Based on - Transparent Pixels
Trim Away - Top, Left, Bottom, Right (all boxes should have a check mark. If not, select them.)

3. Click Ok

4. Save as .gif with the following settings:
adaptive
Diffusion
Transparency (should have a check mark)
Lassy (0)
Dither 100%
Matte - None

Nothing has worked for me as well as this has and believe me, I've tried everything I could possibly find. Hope this comes in handy for you as well!

How I spent my Thanksgiving Vacation

It's always seemed kind of weird to me how the Thanksgiving break is much longer than other holidays, even Christmas which seems like the larger occasion (unless you are one of those people that saves up all your vacation days and asks for time off in the middle of the year for 2 weeks at Christmas before anyone else is even thinking about it and then makes all your co-workers furious. That's not you, right?) Never the less, I love the extra long weekend. Here's how I spent mine.

Air Hockey Tournament
Best 2 out of 3. I always get served but this year I actually won a few games!

Total unreserved, all out, eat with no shame or regard for the future
I probably don't need to go in to this one. The sad part is, I got so lazy and enjoyed myself so much, I kept eating that way until last night. Yikes!

Movies, movies and more movies
Sometimes just the last half of movies but I got way too into the free movie cable channels we had this weekend. The lack of sleep was worth it! Here's a quick run down on a few I saw (part of anyway):

Death Race - not nearly as good as the original but fun action

Pan's Labyrinth - why did no one warn me about how sad and disturbing this movie is?!?!? Nightmares!

Hellboy II - had already seen it, still a fun watch

Role Models - loved it when I rented it, loved it again on cable

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus - The BEST, I am obsessed with this movie now and may have to run out and buy it. I could not get enough of the super stylized 50's wardrobe, crazy apartments and Robert Downey Jr is wonderful and amazing. I almost never like anything Nicole Kidman does but this was really an awesome movie.

Still working on the re-design project, I think this is going to take a while but I am slowly making progress and feel like I'm actually coming up with ideas and breaking through the creative block that always haunts me when trying to design for myself. I will admit I keep finding myself stalling, surfing online, giving in to little distractions. Ok, no more online shopping - back to work I go!

It's Not Me, It's You

Ever have one of those days when you're just going along, minding your own business, feeling pretty good about nothing in particular and then someone comes along and completely blows you out of the water?

Here's a quick summation of a call I had last week, feel free to play along mad lib style just for fun.

Me: "hello?"

Them: "Hi, this is (insert name here) calling from (insert agency name here), I saw our resume on (popular job/career finder web site here) and wanted to talk to you about an opportunity we have right now."

Me: (deep, apprehensive breath) "ok"

Them: "Let me just pull up your portfolio here..."

Me: Really? You didn't look at my portfolio to see any of my work before you called?

Them: "These are all the sites you've designed? Hhmm...On this site, I don't like those pictures, you need to get those out of there"

Me: "I was hired to build the web site but I don't own the site or it's content."

Them: "oh" (sounding disgusted) "Well, let me just look at your resume then."

Me: Oh no, you have GOT to be kidding! You didn't read through that either? "ok"

Them: Hmm...Well, I couldn't even present this resume our client, I mean it's just too weak."

Me: Am I being Punked right now? I didn't call you - you called me! "Oh, ok, well that's it then. Bye."

Again, just a quick summation, I don't want to relive every insult received but you get the main idea. Pretty shocked but mostly angry when I hung up the phone, it was impossible to jump right back to the project I was working on (and feeling really good about!) which just made me more upset. But after much reflection and some venting, I can look at it with a little more objective and less painful point of view. I admit I may still be venting but here's what upset me the most:

- Unprofessional and Unprepared
This person had not taken the time to really read my resume or even look at the work I do. I would never have made a call like that without at least trying to find out a little about the person - especially if I have access to a resume and portfolio for them! If I'm not the right person for a job, I can completely accept that but I if that's the case, I shouldn't have been called at all.

- No Tact
The thing that really hit me was the tone and the way I was being spoken to as much as what was being said. I actually welcome constructive criticism and earlier wrote about re-doing my resume after some great suggestions I'd received but I don't think it's right to just tear someone down and rip apart their work. There's a way to say things and being contradictory and rude isn't the way. No one needs that, especially when it comes to jobs, especially with the economy and what people are going through right now. And it's too close to Christmas, I'm sure Santa was listening on on that call. Someone's getting coal for sure! Its' ok to have a little consideration for other people.


I have to take some responsibility here too, I totally let this person throw me off my game and ruin my day which really wasn't necessary. So maybe the lesson is, don't take it so personally, think about what happened instead of getting upset and carrying it around the rest of the day (and night, and next day). Maybe I need to work on some snappy come backs or just say "no thank you" and let them down with an "it's not me, it's you."

A Warm Welcome

So sorry about that last post - a post without a pin-up? Shame on me!
Here's one for the cold winter evenings coming up.
Another beautiful Gil Elvgren called "A Warm Welcome"



So far so good with the re-design - I may have actually found some good images already!

Thank you for all the good karma!

Part II - The Re-Design Challenge Continues

Already feeling the pressure of this challenge, I've been working a few things this weekend. Posting my ideas have made me at least feel accountable, like I can't let any of my usual excuses and procrastination allow me to just push this to the back burner as I have in the past, but maybe that's just the fire I needed to get on the right path. Whatever the reason, I'm already in motion!

I started my approach as I would any other client and tried to really focus on what I wanted to say with the portfolio site, what I wanted to focus on and even what I liked about the site as it is. The look needs dressing up and I think doesn't really convey any kind of message about me as a designer yet but I also felt there were some good parts I wanted to keep.

Right now, as soon as you pull up the home page, you can easily identify
-business name
-samples of my work
-how to contact me


These are important elements I feel should be right up front or at least very easy to locate and I know I don't want to lose them in the new design.

I had also been doing some browsing on my own and included looking through links on smashing magazines portfolio sites for inspiration:
30-single-page-portfolio-design-for-design-inspiration and saw some good, some bad and some really cool designs.


There were a few very visually appealing sites but they just didn't fit my functional requirements (way too much clicking to see work or find out about the person or company). Still, for style ideas, it definitely helped and the wheels were turning!

Next, I knew the right images for the site would be extremely important, especially for the background. After brainstorming, some of my key ideas were beauty, fun, feminine, strong creativity and a little vintage or retro feel mixed in if possible. Finally, I tried to keep in mind that this design had to translate well for everything I would need - business cards, post card design, blog and other social medias.

I was full enough of ideas now to start sketching and was able to get out a basic outline for the structure of the page and element placement. I didn't have my images yet but had more of an idea of what to look for and felt confident the design would work across the board (maybe with a little tweaking here and there but overall, I was satisfied for now). A lot of times, the images I find will guide or even change my original idea or direction with a site and finding the right images in the past have not been an easy task. I wasn't sure if that would happen here or not but felt fairly confident in my sketch.

Next stop - the quest for images begins!

The Great Re-Design Challenge Part I

Lately I've been thinking a lot more about what I probably consider one of my weaker points - marketing. There are some great pros to being freelance but it also means you are in charge of every single part of your business, big and small and I admit, it can get overwhelming for me at least. I also admit I tend to concentrate my time and energy on the "fun" parts which for me is working on new designs and learning about new trends, reading articles and blogs, etc. This is all fine and good but a very important part that can't be ignored is getting your name out there, letting people know what you can offer - advertising and marketing.

So I'm determined to make this more of a priority and decided to start with a simple post card design I will send out to local small businesses. Sounds good, right? But here's where I get stuck. It's embarrassing to admit although maybe other designers have this problem as well but I have an incredibly hard time designing anything for myself. I mean, it's painful and often a long and frustrating process.

When I take on a new design project, one of the first things I do is gather not only the customers requirements for the site but I try to really understand their business, their goals and the overall feeling they want to convey.
That will usually lend itself to ideas for layout, images and sometimes even color scheme and banner design. I'll also research similar business or themes for ideas or direction and start sketching. Many clients will already have a logo or specific design elements they will want included and again, that will give me a great starting point to work off of. So why is this so difficult to accomplish for myself?

And now the plot thickens, after reading the latest Sitepoint Tribune article "A Consistent Boost for Your Business" about the importance of making sure all of your business design, logos, etc on and off line show a consistent and streamlined design, I'm wondering if I should start from scratch and really think about redesigning my own site, then using that design as the basis for everything else - the postcards, my blog, even my twitter background!

It's a frightening proposal when I think about what a struggle designing for myself can be so I've decided to change my perspective. What if the owner of Pinup Designs called and asked me to re-design their web site. Maybe I need to treat this as a new client or any other design job and try to apply the same methods and thought processes.

So this is the beginning of my re-design/marketing/hope-this-turns-out-ok journey.
I'll keep you posted on my progress if you'll keep your fingers crossed for me!

Hunting for big Game - Jobs in 2009

Wow - a month?!?!? Really? I can't believe it's been so long and really apologize. Halloween was great and I am SO happy to say, Turner Classic Movie Channel did not let me down, I'm still getting caught up on all the vintage 1940's horror and suspense movies I recorded - Cat People, Before I Hang, The Devil Commands, The Grave Robber....I could not be happier!

But I think like most people, lately I've also been a little more than frazzled at the current situation with jobs and the economy. CNN recently ran a piece where they looked at current statistics of the number of unemployed people to the number of available jobs and made the association of finding a job now like trying to get into a top college. Thanks, that's what everyone needed to lighten our spirits!
(Here's the link if you want to be depressed: http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/11/06/stimulus.jobs/index.html)
because even if you have a job today, people are feeling less and less secure about tomorrow. And if you do anything freelance (like me), get ready for things to get even trickier.

Now I know there's no magic bullet but I also know it's smarter to do anything and everything possible rather than sink in to depression, turn on the t.v and do nothing about it at all.

So after a recent meeting and some professional advice, I dove deeply in to a resume makeover that lasted several days. It was difficult and frustrating (I always have a hard time with resumes) but I think I'm finally satisfied and actually received a few inquiries since the changes were posted.

I also found this little gem written about how to get hired on Craigslist, a site I regularly check. Thank you to another awesome blog called Smileycat for this one: Tips on applying to a job from Craigslist

It's honest, to the point and very good advice but also funny and made me think of some of the mistakes I've made myself (too much blah, blah, blah). Along with a few other articles I've read recently, this too had some of the same advice. Probably nothing new but still worth noting:

• Hiring managers are busy - find a way to stand out


• Get to the point


• Address their needs, why are you perfect for this job?


• Do your research


• Use lists - Make your resume/information "skimable"


• Be honest and human ( speak and be natural, not all "key words")


• Follow Up

- My personal side note on Craigslist: Yes, it's a crap shoot, you rarely hear back as posters are flooded with emails and sometimes people are not as honest and trustworthy as they claim to be but I've also had some great success with it and connected with clients that were wonderful to work with so for me, worth the risk, just be smart about your connections there.

Whatever your situation, staying positive and hopeful is probably the most important thing you can do. Good luck to all! Hope you enjoy the martini pinup.

Crazy, exhausted, couldn't be happier

The past few weeks have been crazy but I got to work on some great projects (will be updating the portfolio soon!) and do lots and lots of front end design so the lack of sleep and hectic schedule and has all been worth it. I'm still really busy, really tired and extremely thankful.

If you are lucky enough to get to do something you really love, don't complain when you get to do it! But that's just my opinion....

So Halloween is coming up and I'm too excited! It's my favorite holiday, I start thinking about it near the end of August and get more and more excited as the weather starts to change and everything cools down, nights seem just a little darker and all the good, classic horrors start showing up on cable. Fall just puts me in a good mood, I'm just not a summer - beach kind of girl (for now anyway) probably thanks to that good old Pacific North West upbringing. last year I was glued to the TV for days watching old, scary movies on Turner Classic Movie Channel like Cat People and Freaks. Not sure what's showing this year yet but I'll be ready, even if I have to record now and watch later! This latest pinup seemed to fit the darker mood and spirit. Hope you enjoy - can't wait to see some good costumes in a few weeks!

bits and pieces

I am still always hoping and praying for more hours in the day, more time for everything I want and need to do and so....the constant motion of "beat the clock" continues. But for now, here's a few fun things I've been checking out lately. And of course a new little retro pin up beauty!



Have you seen this site yet? weloveyouso.com The book, soon to be released in movie form, Where The Wild Things Are, is what it's all about. I love this book so much and always thought the pictures were incredible. If you feel the same, this site is worth a look or three.

I am totally obsessed lately with this show called The Colony on Discovery Channel. So much cooler than Survivor or any of the horrible dating reality shows, this one take a group of MacGyver like geniuses, puts them in an abandoned warehouse in a post-apocalyptic L.A. and tells them to survive. Able to use anything they can find or salvage from the outside, they have to create not only a livable environment but are put in situations where they have to protect the compound and each other. A nurse, a computer engineer, a marine biologist martial arts instructor and Aerospace Engineer are just a few to make up the colony which is what makes the show so interesting.
Only one episode left, I'll be sad when it's over. Good TV is getting really hard to find.

And finally, the cutest little web coding woodland creature from the Pacific Northwest, css squirrel! Comics AND web design viewpoint and info, it's like one stop shopping with a fluffy little tail.

I really miss Washington State sometimes.....



Technically, not a pinup but I love this picture and the story it tells. Can't promise you won't see this one again!

PHP vs Scooby Doo

So I’m sure I’m behind in my observation of this but it was probably to protect my own wants and interests. I can’t deny any further though how requirements for web “designers” have changed and evolved. There seems to be less and less of the front-end designer and more of the designer/developer, supplying both UI and design as well as databases, content management systems, etc. I’ve probably been secretly bucking this fact in my mind for quite a while now as I really and truly enjoy the work I provide and just specializing in front end design. As someone from a past job in an office far away put it – you just make it pretty. Granted, web design is a more involved than that, but I was not offended by her view of my contribution.

Maybe it’s the continued struggling economy, market saturation or the fact that 15 year old kids are now getting in to the game, I feel like I have to accept the growing pains, fear of change and “how am I going to have time for all this?!?!” and just accept the obvious. I admit though, I was feeling very low and stubborn when I first came to the decision and imagined myself a kind of Old Man Smithers character, having my monster mask ripped off and screaming “I’d have gotten away with it too (sticking to front end design) if it weren’t for you meddling kids!” Not my proudest moment, I know.



So then began my point of research for what to learn and where to even start. The 2 things that kept coming up again and again were PHP and Joomla. From what I’ve read and people’s opinions on Joomla, it can be a bit bulky but is considered a great content management tool. You don’t have to necessarily know PHP to get started with it but I’m sure it won’t hurt either and knowing me, I will want to get deep and be able to tweak every detail to my hearts desire. A great argument was made for Coldfusion as well which swayed me a little. According to wikipedia and another developer I spoke with, “One of the distinguishing features of ColdFusion is its associated scripting language, ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), which compares to the scripting components of ASP, JSP, and PHP in purpose and features, but more closely resembles HTML in syntax.” Which was appealing since I do hand coding and am very familiar with HTML, maybe that would be the best and easiest place to start. On the other side of the coin though, I don’t see Coldfusion being as widely used as PHP and without knowing more of what they each can do, still feel PHP might be a better tool to learn.

So I probably have a little more research and thinking to do but whatever I decide, I guess it’s time to come out from behind my comfort zone and stretch those wings. I really don’t want to be the monster in Scooby Doo anyway; I do dig that groovy Mystery Machine though!

To go along with my current theme of great site lists, here’s another good resource: www.designbombs.com/blog-bombs

New pinups coming soon!

Inspiration - On and Off the Net

The past week or so has not been an easy one but definitely one of learning and inspiration.

First, to follow up from my last blog on dealing with cross browser optimization issues, I kept digging on this one and decided to ask around as well. On a forum I sometimes frequent (www.htmlforums.com), someone stated they never use browser specific style sheets and sent me a solution for a question with a page I was working on using padding and em instead of pixels for size. It worked! So of course, I wanted to learn more.
So here it is, one article I found and felt was very good reading:









elastic layouts with ems



This weeks Inspirations:

I'm turning in to a little bit of a collector of "favorite designs" but it's such great resource to have.
Here are a few more I really loved, these were top of the list at

Smashing Magazine Showcase of 09 Festivals and Conferences












Bumbershoot 2009 - This one made me homesick, I remember going to this when I lived in Washington! I love the design; the fun font on the banner with the people in the background. There's a lot of information and the arrangement is nice here as well.














Bonnaroo - A little crazier but I love the colors and layout here as well. No doubt this is for a festival!



Along with the great sites,
a Great article for freelancers Also at Smash Magazine.


Off The Net -
I'm a big Project Runway fan and recently watched the documentary "Eleven Minutes" about Jay McCarroll, former winner of the show, trying to establish himself as a serious designer vs TV personality and his months long journey to creating his first clothing line and fashion show for Bryant Park at Fashion Week. Jay is brave and honest enough to show all sides of himself and his work including his occasional insecurities and self doubt, impatience and moments of just being completely stressed out and wanting to give up. This for me just makes him more of an inspiration, more real and I like and respect him even more. From finding funding, producing the garments, asking friends to work for free and then trying to sell his line to retailers after the show, "Eleven Minutes" really shows the good, bad and down and dirty of the business itself and the struggle to be successful.


I have always loved Jay's designs and was picking out pieces I wanted while watching his runway show; that little blue patterned top, the long sleeve mini dress, the great messenger bag. I was a fan of his on Project Runway and now really love Jay as well as his designs.

After watching and thinking about some of my own struggles, I was really preoccupied with why doing what you love has to be so difficult, painful, stressful, exhausting, etc. but you want to do nothing else.
It has to be because your whole heart is in this, what ever it is you love to do. And in my opinion, there's no way for anything artistic to not be taken personally. It's all from YOU, your blood, sweat and tears and it hurts when someone says they hate it or criticizes your work. As thick skinned as you need to be and eventually become, that is a challenge; remembering it's business even when it's your personal creative expression. I guess that's why I liked the documentary and keep collecting these great site designs. Inspiration can keep you going, give you that needed lift, fuel your spirit and make you feel better just knowing, beauty is everywhere and even though we all struggle - all things are possible.

Pinup of the week,
Smoke Screen, a 1958 Gil Elvgren beauty!

Cinderella and her magical CSS

After a very long evening of research, testing and working through one of my least favorite issues - cross browser optimization, I came upon an article that made my night a little brighter. I loved this quote, all my frustration had been summed up so beautifully:

"In an ideal world, you only need one set of CSS style sheets for your website, and those styles will work with every browser currently being used. This, as every webmaster soon finds out when he/she uses CSS, is a pipe dream. The modern browsers all have uneven levels of implementation of the CSS standards. As though this isn't bad enough, their implementations are often buggy - and they don't share the same bugs! And when you have solved that tricky bit, you find that your site has certain visitors (often your best customers) who, for various reasons, are using older browsers that have only rudimentary support for CSS. "

UGH!!!! I know this is old news and everyone feels the same but after a very, very late night of coding and testing and re-testing...I had to vent :)

The good news is, this article provided not only good information but also some much needed validation; I am on the right track after all I realized as I read through the article's suggestions - most of this I already do or had done. And after being kicked around a little trying to accommodate all the different versions Internet Explorer, I appreciated the hug!

So I did finish my changes and it wasn't all as painful as I'd feared it would be. At times I did feel a little like Cinderella, trying to please my mean, ugly step sisters IE 6 and 7 and then my horrible step mother IE 8 would come in and kick up dirt on my nice clean floor! Luckily, my fairly web mother waved her magic wand....ok, enough with that already. I just created and linked an additional external style sheet as well as editing the ones I already had as needed for my sweet, well mannered friends Firefox and Safari, with all the warm fuzzies each browser needed to be happy.

For any and all interested, here the link to the entire article http://www.thesitewizard.com/css/excludecss.shtml

Good information, great tips and tricks plus the validation that you are not alone in the struggle to make all browsers happy - worth reading in my opinion.

Summer's coming to an end so I thought a bikini girl might be a nice farewell and welcome to fall. This one's a 1961 Gil Elvgren pinup called "just for you"

Design Inspiration - Getting Past the Wall

Sometimes when working on a project, ideas just seem to flow and let me tell you, those are beautiful days. I always research, sketch and play with different ideas of my own but those days, the feeling is very natural and smooth and I don’t even notice how long I’ve been working. But when the block hits, it hits hard and I struggle getting past it. Sort of a writers block but I guess I’d call it “creative block” where I’m just not happy with what I’ve sketched or built, nothing seems to look right and I can’t seem to get the image or idea I may have in my head on to the screen. For me, it’s like walking in to a wall, backing up and walking in to the same wall again. Over and over. Very frustrating. So, when that happens, I’ll have to force myself to step away from the current project and try to relax and open my mind with the help of google, searching great sites for design inspiration.

I have my own preferences of course; not a big fan of all flash sites though I’m trying to be more open to them. I definitely like “open” feeling sites – lots of white space, clean design and I’m always looking at color and arrangement.

Smashingmagazine.com and webdesignfromscratch.com both have great collections of favorite or best sites for 2009, these are some favorites of my own.

Really Wild Flowers - www.reallywildflowers.co.uk












Every time I’m frustrated or overwhelmed, this site instantly makes me feel better. The great use of white space and soft colors give a very clean, calm and organized overall feel along with being visually beautiful.


The Drunken Fish - www.drunkenfish.com/#home













So visually appealing, you defiantly get a feel for the atmosphere and appeal of the restaurant. I love how this site looks like an artists drawing, great use of flash as well.



The Curtis - www.thecurtis.com (Downtown Denver hotel)












I’m always looking at use of color on a web site and this is one of my favorites. For such a colorful site, it doesn’t look messy or Romper Room, everything flows smoothly and is very complementary.



Studio mikmik - http://www.studiomikmik.co.uk












Again, great use of white space and light colors to create a very neat, clean and appealing design. This one’s worth going directly to the site to view, petals are falling from the tree.


Wedding planning - www.1weddingsource.com












Great example of content management and placement. There’s a lot going on here –lots of color and a whole lot of content but everything looks light and balanced, not overwhelming at all and most importantly – navigation is clean and easy to find.


Sometimes overcoming the block just takes a little time away, maybe even calling it a day and coming back in fresh. There are lots of great ways to fuel your creativity; an afternoon with an art book, talking a walk outside, even shopping! Thankfully, the web has come through for me many times, browsing sites to help me break through that wall.

Good On Paper

Every month, I set goals for myself and write them all out trying to be as specific as possible with dates or at least a time frame attached. Maybe they are not always realistic but no one can say I’m slacking. Optimistic as they may be, I really feel they keep me on track and keep my thinking moving forward. The only downside is how I feel when I don’t meet them all. Like this month. I’ll admit I must have been really having a great day when I made my list for July; I was either feeling like wonder woman or mixed in some long term with my little monthly list. I don’t know if everything on paper would have been possible but it looked really good on paper. But I should know from all my years of making personal spending budgets and managing household bills, good on paper is a wonderful thing but you always have to leave some padding for “unexpected expenses” or at times, in my case, a really good sale. And although I only bought small items; that scarf and perfect pair of summer sandals, it all adds up.

Thinking about this blog actually is what triggered my train of though this way as I’m a little disappointed in myself for not keeping up with my weekly goal of writing and updating but I will say, within all my ambition and good intentions, I honestly did not leave room for “unexpected July expenses” or in this case, when life happens, things change or get really busy and you can either paddle like mad for land and end up exhausted and farther from the shore than when you started or accept it and drift as well as you can until you hit dry land. Believe me, I’ve done plenty of mad paddling – you should see these guns! But this month, I think I was more into floating. Maybe it was part of the July heat, that always seems to slow me down. Regardless, I can’t believe it’s almost goal setting time again, August is just around the corner. So I guess I better take care, try to be more patient and keep the list at a realistic amount. I never know when a good sale will catch me off guard.

Lessons from the Dorks

I love to read and believe I may have helped keep Borders in business at times but I think I'm more of a visual learner when it comes to some of the program techniques I'm looking for so I'm always on the hunt for good online tutorials. I've been using You Tube these days but it's becoming more and more like Craigs List - in other words, a crap shoot. Sometimes you find something really great but usually after sifting through piles of dishonest, out dated or just plain garbage info.

This was my frustrated situation while looking for a little help with Adobe Flash (yea, I'm still working on it but getting better every day!) when my eyes lit up, my heart skipped a beat and I had to hold myself back from actually singing at the screen:

"At Last! It's like the heavens opened up and I was touched by angels wings!"

Ok, maybe I'm going a bit overboard but my point is, I found some great online tutorials at (the best part!) dorklessons.com. You heard me! Even the name is awesome. Funny, easy to follow and understand and best of all - FREE! Lead by 2 certified dorks, these guys are funny and smart, even adding scenes from the Karate Kid in one video to explain why learning the boring basics is necessary (wax on - wax off). Photoshop, Flash and Dreamweaver are a few of the covered subjects. I can honestly say, I am as of now, a loyal student of the Dorks. Actually, I was already a dork but now I'm going to be MORE of a dork - Wheeee!

I always admire people who possess great knowledge and talent but always know they have a lot to learn, I try to live that way as well. So even for someone who's very experienced and just needing a refresher, you might get something out of these lessons. Plus, they're funny and fun to watch. Here's a link if you want a little info about the guys. For now, my Hello Kitty notebook is out and I'm taking notes! (Told you I was already a dork.)

So as they say, Stay Classy. And becoming a Dork is just a few lessons away!



















Me as a young but future dork!

Twitter what?

So for a long time now, I've been a big fan of all these social networking sites but Twitter? What is that anyway?

First was MySpace. Look at all my top "friends" and hey, I can decorate my page any way I want with as much as I want! Which of course lead to what I call C.O.A. (customization overuse abuse). You know, it's when you go to someone's page and it almost gives you a seizure from the flashing lights along with HUGE pictures of all their favorite actors and musicians along with a scrolling side show of their kid's 8th birthday mixed in with pictures of the last work happy hour after way too many cocktails. Yikes! Oh yea, while music blares in the background. C.O.A. people, don't let it happen to you.

Then I discovered Facebook but wasn't as quick to join. You mean I can't see it first without joining? Snobs! I can't be in your cool kid club unless I take the secret oath? But I finally gave in after so many friends turned and I have to say, it quickly became the favorite. No overuse abuse here, I loved the limited customization and the fact that no one can see my page unless I agree. Exclusive club? Maybe but not snobby like I thought and lots of fun, time wasting quizzes that I must know the answer to like "what kind of shoe are you?" and "which super hero would you be?" This is riveting stuff!

But this Twitter thing....I just wasn't sure. I was hearing the word everywhere - news anchors were "twittering" for God sake and celebs like Ashton Kutcher and John Mayer were apparently logged on 24/7. But how does it work? One or two line phrases? I didn't get it but I was curious and figured what do I have to lose. Now we are talking limited customization - very limited but maybe that's ok, I kept looking around. Just type in anyone, famous or not and start following them were the instructions I'd gotten on how to get started so that's what I did but still things felt a little weird. What am I suppose to do here? I tried looking at other people's pages for clues and happily, I had found some great people to follow. (Did you know Kevin Smith and Rob Zombie are on twitter? I know, I was shocked too! ) So I'm reading about what Dita Von Teese had for breakfast and thinking, is this what I'm suppose to post? Do people really care about my love of Strawberry Chex cereal? But Dita also happened to be in Paris at the time and was posting pictures taken off her hotel balcony. Suddenly breakfast got a lot more interesting. But since I'm not in Paris, I looked on and after a few awkward attempts, started to feel like I was getting the hang of things. Honestly, I still don't know for sure if I'm twittering correctly but I am getting hooked on following some of my favorite people and posting bits of pieces of my exciting life.

"Diamonds are forever on G4 tonight - love the old Bond flicks"

"So...hot outside....again today.....St Louis is brutal, I am over-using the air conditioning :)"

"finally got a chance to watch the Guys Choice Awards yesterday that I had Tivo'd - Loved it! All awards shows should be that fun!"
(Now actually that last one really was big news, that award show was awesome!)

So anyway, if you care to "follow" or just check out my amateur attempts, you can find me @AnnasPinup. Another site added to the list, I'm just trying to keep up. And no, I am not following Ashton Kutcher. Honestly, no one should.




















Another Gil Elvgren classic pinup from 1969 called Wish You Were Near

Singing the 2009 Blues

Well, I have to admit, I've been feeling a bit sorry for myself. Not that I need to tell anyone but with the economy and job market we have today, it seems like it's just not a great time to be doing anything freelance. Or artistic. Or to be in I.T. and consulting. Job requirements skyrocket while pay scales are sometimes half or less of what they were just a few years ago. More work for less pay makes Anna a sad girl. Even though, I will say I'm happy and lucky and blessed to have found something I really love to do and am passionate about and really, things can always be a lot worse. So I started thinking about other careers, professions, jobs, whatever that would be difficult or horrible right now. Here's what I have so far:

T.V. Actor - If the odds of making it as a successful t.v. actor were one in a million, they must feel like one in a kagillion billion now (yes, I'm allowed to make up words. It's my blog.) with the takeover of reality shows and "real people" on tv. And it seems like every time there is a good show on, it's canceled within a season or two. Lucky are the ones that can play cheerleaders and psychos with super powers. Kiefer Sutherland should be thanking his lucky stars too, 24 has had lasting power and doesn't look like it's going anywhere anytime soon.

Jon from Jon and Kate plus 8 - I know, everyone is taking shots at these people and I hate to jump on the bandwagon but have you ever seen the show? I know it is difficult to watch but I do feel sorry - no, distraught for poor Jon. Every episode seemed to be about Kate tearing him apart for not using coupons (even though they are quite wealthy now) or letting the kids eat ice cream or putting on his left shoe first instead of his right. I don't think Jon is cheating on Kate, I think he's getting drunk and crying to anyone who will listen as well as shopping around for a miracle working divorce lawyer. Eye of the Tiger Jon.

Kate is so mean, she haunts Freddy Krueger's dreams. Kate made Chuck Norris weep. Kate is such a b....well, I guess you get the idea. Glad I'm not that guy.

Personal assistant to Kathy Griffin - doesn't really have anything to do with the economy but can you imagine how horrible that would be? The devil wears Payless....

Exterminator - basically, I'm a wuss.

Nurse - God bless anyone that does this job. My sister in law does this and is awesome. Me? Still a wuss.

Truck Driver - breaker 1-9, breaker 1-9, I will not be driving for 18 hours to make my drop off, over and out.

Advertising Sales Account Executive - I admit, I don't even know what this is but doesn't it sounds smarmy? (Sorry if there are any ad sales execs reading this. I'm just a silly girl with a blog, what do I know?)

I apologize if I've offended anyone with any of the above, I'm really just trying to have some fun with a bad situation. Here, please except this classic pinup as a token of my appreciation for reading.


It's one of my favorites, from Gil Elvgren from 1947 called
He Thinks I'm Too Good To Be True.

Pinups for pups

So cute I had to post about it - check out www.pinupsforpups.com


Gorgeous pinup girls and a great cause!

The return of customer service?

I've been noticing a shift more and more as as I've been running errands, shopping, etc. I usually return home irritated or at least with little to no enthusiasms after a trip to the mall, the grocery store or even ordering food. Even though I felt I was pretty used to being on the receiving end of the blank stares, rude attitudes and rehearsed replies "thanks, come again" with absolutely no eye contact or smile by a zombie like, angry server/attendant/drive through worker/snotty sales girl. We've all had miserable jobs before, especially in the early years but do you have to take it out on me? But lately, I've been getting, you are not going to believe this - smiled at! At a recent trip to the mall, a sales girl actually looked at me - SMILED and said hello! I almost staggered backward. Is this a new sting? Are they afraid I'm going to shoplift? But then, looking for shoes, the same thing happened! Shocked, I smiled back and when the woman asked if she could help, I let her and walked out with 2 pair. And the last two times I've ordered take out, the person on the phone and the driver have actually been pleasant!

Then I thought about it, is this another side effect of the economy? They actually need me to buy things now. Me, the consumer (although not as much these days like everyone else.) Could this mark at least the beginning of the return of customer service? If so, I'm all for it. Maybe it's the way I was raised and how old fashioned my parents were but I've always hated the drone-like, "I don't care" attitude so common now from anyone in any kind of customer facing job. It's the little things that can make such a difference. A smile or kind greeting, saying Thank You and actually meaning it. I try to remember those things every day now and even though the economy and all the problems we face in the world right now are crippling, maybe this is a small yet appreciated silver lining.

For your viewing pleasure, a sexy tattoo pinup!

Seattle Summer

Things to do this summer:

1. Find the perfect swim suit



2. Popsicle breaks by the pool (ok, the blow up baby pool in the back yard)



3. The Web design world conference in Seattle July 20 - 22

This 3 day conference sounds awesome, covering mobile design, Flash, CSS and Dreamweaver. It doesn't hurt that Seattle is one of my favorite places in the world and that I'm from Washington state and very homesick for foggy, overcast, rainy skies and walking down first avenue to the market.
Sadly I won't be able to attend this year but thought it was worth posting. Honestly, I can't stop thinking about it. Maybe if I start buying lottery tickets right now....


Here's a picture from one of my trips a few years back to my beloved Pike Place Market

Facebook and more

Well, I finally did it. Pinup Designs has it's very own Facebook page. Now rush right out and become a fan :)



Oh yea, I'm on MySpace too - www.myspace.com/pinupdesigns

Inspiration: The Pin Ups

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A Great Find

I have to admit, I can be a total book nerd. Yes, I am one of those people that can spend hours in Borders "just looking" so I love it when I come across an unexpected gem like I did a few weeks ago.

The Find: Web Design 4
Included is a CD with project files for use with the tutorials as well as extra downloads, resources and guides.

The Cost: about $30 (the magazine is printed in England) but well worth every penny

My Favorite things so far: Top 50 CSS techniques, Worldly Views - articles on different countries stylistic approach to web design with examples of great sites they've produced and tons of tutorials on Flash, Dreamweaver and more

Of course there's a web site: www.webdesignermag.co.uk

This should keep me busy for now and has already inspired a few ideas for future sites.
Happy reading!

Old School

Not too long ago, I was talking to a friend I hadn't seen in a while about web design. He asked if I was using Dreamweaver and I said yes but that I still did a lot of hand coding.

"What - who hand codes?" he asked, sounding almost offended and very sure I was doing something stupid and wrong
But I had to reply emphatically, "I do!"

I couldn't believe his attitude and amazement and I'm sure he was equally put off by the fact that I'd rather write my own code then have something write it for me. At the time, I blew it off but for some reason, kept thinking about it later. Is this really a strange concept for some - coding by hand? And should I feel weird or bad about it? Because honestly, I don't.

Probably because I learned to build my first web page using nothing but notepad years before ever laying a finger on Dreamweaver or any other application, hand coding feels comfortable and natural to me. I don't' find it boring or monotonous or more difficult at all, I actually really enjoy it. And although I can appreciate applications that allow designers to use drag-and-drop techniques in pre-made templates, I also find great comfort in knowing if there's something that's not working or just doesn't look exactly the way I want it to, I have the knowledge to open up the code and make those changes or just create my own custom design. Why would it be wrong to use the knowledge I have?

I don't think there has to be an absolute right and wrong; only hand code or only use a program and I'm not putting down Dreamweaver or the use of anything similar but it did make me wonder about others perceptions on the subject. This may not even be a debate but I thought it an interesting question to raise - do you hand code or is this considered old school?

Some of the basics, but good stuff to have

I'm always looking for good information, resources, etc to keep close by. With so much information out there, sometimes it's the little things that I keep closest to me. Here's just a few of my favorites:

W3C CSS Colors: www.w3schools.com/CSS/css_colorsfull
- a great list with tons of colors, I'm always experimenting with for different layouts

For Special Characters: www.webmonkey.com/reference/Special_Characters
- a small detail that can keep a site looking clean

www.webdesignforum.com
- I joined this forum years ago when I was just learning web coding, mostly for website review opportunity. Sometimes it was pretty harsh but I learned a lot and having this community to ask questions, read other posts, etc was a huge help as part of the learning process. And maybe helped develop a thicker skin!

www.webdesignfromscratch.com
- this was one of my favorite sites when I was just starting out, great beginner info and articles on coding, the design process and more

www.sitepoint.com
- another great resource, always good tips and articles

www.netmag.co.uk
- One of my favorite web magazines I will occasionally pick up at Boarders as well. A little more expensive but always well worth the extra cash.

These are probably the big ones for me but I'll share more as I think of them or find them. I'm sure there's a ton more out there, I'd love to hear about other favorites - feel free to share!