9 posts tagged “design”

It’s long overdue, but I’m happy to announce the brand new Calobee Doodles Web site!

It’s a showcase of my doodles, as well as an archive of past custom orders. I needed a separate place to show off my illustrations, because let’s face it–my photographs and doodles are two very different beasts and at times it feels as if I’m catering to different audiences.

Besides, I’ve been looking for an excuse to geek around, and what better way than to build a new Web site? This one was particularly fun because I got to be a bit more playful with the layout. At some point in the near future I hope to redesign sixhours.net as well…  it’s been over a year (where does the time go?). As if I don’t do enough of this stuff at my day job… I’m practically dreaming in PHP and CSS these days.

Speaking of which, I’ll tell you a story. You know how I posted earlier about Elspeth and how she’s typically a great sleeper, right? Well, I totally jinxed myself with that post, because suddenly the little bean is waking up in the middle of the night to eat–after almost eight weeks of sleeping through without so much as a peep. Apparently someone’s going through a growth spurt.

Anyway, at 3 a.m. last Saturday, my sleep-deprived brain had the craziest thought:

I bet I could write a PHP function to illustrate Ellie’s sleep habits.*

Yes, I actually thought, “I could probably program my daughter in PHP.” That’s how bad it is, people. I’m now applying computer coding principles to completely organic situations… I think it’s time to step away from the computer and get some sun.

What is this “sun” you speak of? Never mind, I’ll just Google it.

* What would that function look like, anyway? I’m so glad you asked…

function sleep_baby_sleep($baby, $the_fussy)
{

if ($baby == $the_fussy)
{

if (apply_binky($baby))

$baby = “This isn’t food. Where’s my damn food? Scream!”;

else if (apply_bottle($baby))

$baby = “This is food. Yum. But now I’m gassy. Scream!”;

else if (apply_gas_drops($baby))

$baby = ” I feel better. But now I’m WIDE AWAKE. What’re you gonna do about it, punk?”;

else if (apply_snuggles($baby))
{

$baby = “So… sleepy… must… fight… urge… to… zzzzzzz”;

if (put_in_crib($baby))

$baby = “Hey, wait! I’m still awake! You can’t put me in my crib! Scream!”;

else (three_hours_later($baby))

$baby = “Ok, fine, I’ll sleep. But I’m totally waking you up in two hours.”;

}

else if (is_asleep($baby))

$mommy = “*twitch twitch*”;

}

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

Tim's birthday was on the 8th (happy 26th, hon!) and then I got a surge of custom orders, so I've been absent from blog-land for the last few days, and I don't think it's going to slow up any time soon! I was lucky enough to be featured in yet another edition of Etsy Finds (thanks, Anda!) and have since found my sales at Calobee Doodles a little overwhelming. But overwhelming in a good way!

Speaking of Etsy, I'm quite excited about the upcoming EtsyMaineTeam meet-up this weekend in Augusta! The last meeting was snowed out and rescheduled to a time when I couldn't make it, so I'm eager to catch up and meet everyone.

Now, we interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for a dose of girl-talk, of the "OMG SHOES SQUEE" variety. Please forgive me in advance:

On Tuesday evening we took a trip to Target, where I found not one but two pairs of cute shoes. This is amazing, because I haven't bought a pair of shoes in a retail store in years (save for the occasional $5 flip-flops, and my annual trip to the Saucony outlet for new sneaks on-the-cheap) because they never fit. My feet are very short and wide and tall--a shape that pretty much rules out anything that has a pointed toe, or even the slightest hint of a pointed toe... in other words, anything that isn't designed to be worn by a duck. In fact, every pair of dress shoes I've ever owned (that would be 2 pairs, mind you) in my adult life came out of a "special" mail-order catalog for people with ridonkulously weird feet.

That's right, folks, my feet are "special." And now you know why I spend 99.9% of my time in sneakers.

But my new shoes? They're cute. And when I say cute, I mean, adorably perfect in every. single. way. They're comfortable and stylish, dressy enough for the office but casual enough for weekend wear. I bought two pairs--one in the ribbon style, one in black--because I'll probably never find any shoes so perfect ever again. In fact, I recommended them on ThisNext long before I'd seen them in person, so it must be fate! The shoe gods are smiling upon me.

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

I've made it over halfway through March without saying "I'm running on empty," but then, I missed two or three or six blog entries at the beginning there. So is it bad that I'm still running on empty? Urgh.

I just finished the first draft of a custom doodle, which was enjoyable, as usual. I also worked on a new gift certificate graphic for Calobee Doodles--the idea I came up with at 4:30 this morning, when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep because of a certain obnoxious little kitty... *cough*PIPPEN*cough*

It's been a slow month, so I've been brainstorming ways to improve my shops. A few things I've considered:

• Re-evaluate my pricing (you can still take my poll... hint hint) and make adjustments as necessary;


• revise my shop information, item descriptions, and images (working on this now);


• advertise. Not necessarily the broad-scope Google Adwords type, but something smaller and more targeted... maybe on a few arts/craft sites and blogs. I'm going to continue to explore other, less direct methods of advertising, such as donating prints to giveaways or The Sampler;


• and finally, list more often. This involves, you know, creating things... and you'd think that would be the easy part, but no... I'm backwards like that.

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

It was a busy, productive weekend, which is exactly the kind of weekend I like best. I made these fabric thumbtacks, Tim and I spent some time in the kitchen making meals for the week (the fridge is packed full), I doodled a bit (see my pretty new desktop?), had dinner with Sarah and Ian, and hung out with Danielle.

One thing I didn't do that I wanted to was set up another photo shoot, but that's OK. Thankfully Danielle is in the area often, so it's not hard to find a few hours here and there. The days are getting longer, too, which helps tremendously, because I can schedule shoots after work instead of restricting myself to weekends.

I also spent a bit of money, which is something I've been trying to avoid doing lately, especially where sales have been slower than usual... but I couldn't resist a bit of retail therapy. In the spirit of NaBloPoMo, a list:

• I loved the fabric thumbtacks so much that I bought a bunch of supplies to make more, along with some super-strong magnets so I can try those as well.


• I won an eBay auction for 6 vintage cups and saucers with the same pattern I found on my favorite thrifted platters. Liz (Madeinlowell) pointed out that my platters are Temporama, which was a very popular dishware set in the 50's. I did a search out of curiosity, and wound up bidding on a few auctions. I'm going to try to incorporate the cups into a photo shoot or two (at least then I can say they were a business expense!)


• Also from the 'Bay, a wireless remote flash trigger, so I can use my studio strobes with my camera. The Pentax K10D is inconvenient in one giant glaring aspect, and that is the lack of a PC socket for additional flash units. At some point I'd like to get a real hot shoe flash, but this trigger will work in the interim.

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

Yesterday was quite a rush, so today we're taking it easy. Thanks to everyone for the congrats! We went out to eat last night to celebrate, and stopped by the local Borders to pick up a copy of The Somnambulist just so I could stare at it and giggle. :)

In other news, I finally finished up the layout I've been working on for the last week! Go see!  I normally don't like a three-column layout because it can look crowded, but this layout lends itself very well to blogging and shopping, which brings me to....

... the surprise: I've set up a shop at Sixhours.net! I'm experimenting with Prestashop, an open-source PHP-based Web interface. It was relatively easy to set up, and I think it is easy for potential customers to use. Etsy has been great to me, and I'll continue to maintain those shops as well, of course. But I've wanted to have something hosted on my own domain, too, in the event that Etsy goes down for an extended period of time. I believe it's sage advice to not have all your eggs in one basket.

There may be some kinks to work out, and for now I can only accept PayPal (support for Google Checkout is coming soon), but I look forward to seeing how it goes. I'm sure that, like everything else involved in running a business, it will be a learning experience.

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

I've had two requests for custom designs over the last week, so I decided to include a listing in my shop to that effect. For now, I'm only taking on one, maybe two orders at a time, so customers don't have to worry about a long delay.

T & I just got back from seeing Cloverfield, which was not worth even the cheaper matinee price. And thanks to the movie's wonky, hand-held film style, I have a headache and I'm nauseous. Blech!

For those of you who've asked (and, what the hell, for those of you who haven't), my birthday is on the 24th, which gives you all ample time to send cards, gifts, and money. Ahem!

(Kidding, kidding! In lieu of sending gifts, why don't you go enter my contest if you haven't already?)

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

I decided to re-design Sixhours.net on a whim... I get bored with designs easily, what can I say? I also did away with the News section, as it was somewhat redundant alongside the blog. Any relevant Web site news will be posted here.

An announcement! You can now find my cupcake girl doodle on lots of different goodies at Hey Pretty Cupcake (also at the HPC Etsy shop). There are keychains, magnets, buttons--all sorts of toys and trinkets and things bearing the likeness of cupcake girl. I hope to have a few more designs up there soon, so stay tuned!

In an effort to stock up for the holidaze, I've also put a bunch of new prints up at my Etsy shop! I'm taking your advice, dear Internets, and adding some of my stranger works. It can't hurt. I've also taken your suggestions for note cards into account, and I think I know which designs I'm going to start with, so thanks for that! I'll probably launch those in mid-December... a bit late for the holiday crowd, but I think they'll sell well enough in the off-season, anyhow.

I'm feeling a bit blah about not having arranged my usual monthly photo shoot for November, but I put all that creative energy into whining about the cold weather (and I've been working on my shops, promotion, and things of that nature... it's not all moaning and groaning... just 75%). However, I'm getting the photo itch again, so I think I'll start getting things together for a shoot or two. Even if I can't get anyone scheduled until January, at least I'll have something on the calendar to look forward to.

sixhours.net has a new look!
Originally uploaded by calobee

I finally broke down and decided to make good use of the one MySQL database my Web host provides and learn PHP. I decided that I can't call myself a Web geek without knowing one of the most popular Web programming languages. This little project captured my attention for a good part of the week.

The result is a Web site that is 500 times easier to update and maintain, and for you, dear Internets, there are new RSS feeds to subscribe to. As soon as I realized how useful RSS is for reading my favorite blogs, I realized it would be doubly useful for my own Web site!

A lot of credit goes to the S.O., the resident PHP guru, for patiently answering my questions and, at points, just coding the darned thing for me. I still can't quite get my head around nested "for" loops, but I'm working on it.

Now I just need to get working on some new stuff to fill it up!

(Originally posted at http://blog.sixhours.net/2007/10/sixhoursnet-has-new-look.html)

sixhours
Originally uploaded by calobee

I spent a few evenings this week working on a new design for sixhours.net. It used to be that I'd change Web site layouts "as often as I changed underwear" (according to a former college classmate), but now that I do Web development for a living, the magic is mostly gone. However, once in a while I still enjoy sitting down with Photoshop and Dreamweaver and giving the site a makeover. Or I get sick of looking at whatever I've had up there for the last few months and bang something out out of disgust... whichever comes first!

Thankfully, this was a case of the former. This is actually my first foray into building a layout that is almost entirely based in CSS, as opposed to straight HTML. I'd been stuck in the Web design dark ages and figured it was time for a change. Dreamweaver CS3 made the conversion easier. I will never be able to remember all the six-billion different style properties you can apply to a single block of text - just give me drop-down menus with all my options, please.

To give credit where credit is due, the title font I used is "Chelsea's Handwriting" from fontgarden.com, and the color palette is a tweaked version of "i like to read" by legs at my favoritest design site ever, colourlovers.com. I'm not color blind, but I'm a bit color stupid... colourlovers helps with that problem.

Oh! And you may notice some new work in this year's portfolio - that's not a fluke, I swear! There are three shots from some through-the-viewfinder experiments with the lovely Hannah, taken at the same time as the teapot stalker shot. I'm definitely going to use that technique more in the future.

Speaking of which, I had a lovely photo shoot with my friend Kathe and her hubby Dan last weekend. They asked me to take some portraits of them together, so they'd have something for family and friends. I'm not usually very good with these things, but they were so comfortable and natural in front of the camera that they made it really easy. I forgot to ask permission to post one or two of their photos in the blog, though.

And finally, we're closing on the new place next Tuesday. Wish us luck!

(Originally posted at http://calobee.blogspot.com/2007/07/geekylicious.html)