I made this fall inspired floral wreath for a friend of mine and really loved how it turned out! It’s an easy project you can finish in 30-45 minutes. I took some extra time to cut them all into smaller pieces before starting. I usually like to work with dried florals and keep things sustainable as possible, but we needed something that was a bit more weatherproof for our Georgia climate so I used faux flowers.

I absolutely LOVE shopping locally and at small businesses. Supporting the people who craft their own products and helping circulate money into my community makes the shopping experience feel organic. I’m an Etsy fan and since the environment of COVID-19 leaves many people with uncertainty, I felt like it would be worth sharing some small business products. I’ve been on the search for a new nose ring this week, so I thought this feature could be on jewelry shops.

I love taking advantage of long layovers whenever I can. One - these tickets typically end up being cheaper. Two - it’s a quick and easy way to see a new country without having to buy another flight. I’ve done a quick day trip with layovers in Rome, London and Bordeaux. They’ve ranged from 8-12 hours and I typically look for an arrival time before 1pm. That way I can leverage as much daylight as possible! I usually travel with a carry-on (yes even for international trips).

Whether I'm designing digital products or a client's new website, my first go to site for resources and inspiration is Creative Market. Typography plays a huge role in bringing out the aesthetics of a digital product or brand. I can spend hours pairing fonts for a new style guide. Calligraphy and script fonts have been pretty popular lately, so I wanted to share some of my favorite fonts that you can use on your next project.

Minimizing doesn't mean go through every single item you own and start throwing things away like a crazy person. It's a journey and it does take time. But the point is to clean away the areas in your life where you feel weighed down or unhappy. Minimizing has made me feel lighter in many ways. It can be in your relationships, your clothes, your food, or your time. 

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. 

I wouldn’t say a minimalist has to be a free spirit with a non-corporate job. The two guys who started The Minimalist blog were both in corporate America with 6-figure paying jobs. They started their journey after experiencing loss. It was about figuring out what makes them happy. And they realized it wasn’t something they could buy that would make them happy. So they did the opposite. 

So simple and chic, looking at her I see an artist, travel guru, business owner, MBA degree holder, fabulous and foreign (being born in Germany; with her first language–Turkish). This chick is maximizing her 20’s with a minimalism-mindset. I needed to write myself a referral for a consult—her remedy for killing her 20’s was a need to know. 

If you are an aspiring web designer with no design background or a recent graduate with no client experience, don't worry... There is still a way to build your portfolio and make it look "experienced". All it takes is practice (and this is coming from someone who comes from an accounting background). So yes there is hope in building an awesome portfolio with little to no work experience. Here are some tips and techniques to use to create more content for your portfolio.

After living "comfortably" in a box of societal norms, I realized how crazy I was becoming. Post college, I began falling into this deep dark hole of career-depression (a term I made up right now in this post). For many of us, we realize how unfulfilled we are 3-5 years into our professional years. Some sooner. Some later. But we figure it out. (If you are that person who's found passion in your work right out of college - lucky you. It's grim out here for the most of us).

Running your own show can be stressful, even more stressful when you first start out. As owners of creatives businesses, it’s extremely important that you use tools to help organize and streamline your business to reduce that stress. I've created a guide of tools for you that I find helpful to maintain the backend work of my business. Save this reference in your back pocket as you continue to build. Enjoy! 

I recently came across a case study done by King’s College in London on how “Overthinking Worriers are Probably Creative Geniuses“. As comical and true this might be, over thinking opportunities make it hard for us to just say “no”. We think any opportunity that allows us to create should have us screaming yes! But in many cases this isn’t true. What we don’t realize is that taking on too much will lack the quality of products we produce for the world.

 I made a fairly hefty monetary investment. Not in a new home or a new car. In a design course at a career school. Doesn't sound extraordinary, does it? We all went through school and paid our way for an education. But see - I'm 26 with two degrees (undergraduate and graduate), over three years of work experience... and I'm an accountant/financial consultant. Sooo here I am trying to start over in a field that has no correlation to a financial statement.