New favorite tool

I know.  I am probaby the worst blogger that exists within the Typepad community.  I promise it is for a good cause.  I’ve been a busy little bee.  I am proud to say I have self-taught myself Adobe Illustrator, which in turn enables me to design my very own STATIONERY line!  So excited.  I am finishing up the Christmas line which will debut this November.  I have never been so excited for anything in my life (well okay, maybe it was little more exciting when I gave birth to my children)!  There are three different cards using a super-unique Christmas color scheme, complete with lined envelopes.  Everything is being printed on high-quality linen stock, which I personally LOVE to write on.  There will be wrapping paper and coordinating ribbon.  I’ve dsigned things that I love, and hopefully the public will feel the same way!  It is so hard not to share the designs with everybody!  You know the feeling.  When you create something you are so proud of, you want to show the world!  I just have to sit tight for another two months and the big day will be here! 

I thought I would share with you my new FAVORITE tool.  Not only is it a great reference for graphic design, it is wonderful to utilize in trying out color schemes before you drag your cardstock stash out.  This may be old news to some of you, but I just discovered it.  A Pantone Formula Guide.   It is like the paint swatch book interior designers use, only this one is created with graphic designers in mind.  It has swatches for 1,114 colors, each complete with a "recipe" so you can re-create the color easily on your computer.  I have been using it like crazy to develop the color schemes for my new line.  I highly recommend it!  It takes a lot of guess work out of designing!