I opened up Blogger today... for the first time in roughly 2.5 years. OOPS.

It seems easier to update my Tumblr because of Instagram (but don't be fooled – I don't post often over there either), but regardless – I wanted this one to have a facelift because I had a physical reaction of dislike upon seeing it.

SO, I've done the best that I can to make this blog look like it belongs to the jessicaraebailey brand within the confines of blogger – however, it's still a bit off. What are you going to do?

ANYWAY – I'm off to watch New Girl & The Mindy Project and then to dream of all the crazy-fun things I can do at work tomorrow.

As a parting gift, please enjoy this art from the Circleville Pumpkin Show and try to avoid any subsequent nightmares.

Love, Jessica

INVITATIONS!!!

So, I told you I'd update once Kate's invitations were in the mail, and look what I received today (designed by yours truly):

The envelope: addressed to me and  Jon Hamm – he was a last minute addition.

liner: designed by me, lovingly printed, trimmed and adhered by Amy & Mrs. Clements

The invite

The RSVP front

The RSVP back

The map front

The map back

 I'm so excited!!! I'll tell you all which song I'm requesting... after my RSVP has been received by Kate.

PS - I opened up my fortune cookie this afternoon and found this:

Let's see who it is!!! Maybe it means the mother of this child:

These were the pictures that iPhoto decided to show me when I hooked up my phone to download the invitation pictures. Bailey is now 2, but these pictures had me laughing out loud – so cute – so I thought I'd share! She's only a couple days old in these photos. I LOVE THAT GIRL!

Okay, more designs soon – I swear!!!

Where have I been?

Hello, friends!

I have been working up a storm lately! My first magalog for Lane Bryant will arrive in mailboxes the first week in March, Melissa's baby shower invites arrived in mailboxes last week (more below), Kate's wedding invites (we'll wait till those are IN the mail) will be in the mail soon, and my NEWEST project is actually just being started today (you can see some inspiration below).

I'll let those of you (if any) that get the Lane Bryant magalog view that in real life on your own (it's 44 pages - too much for this space!!!). But for everyone else, here is a glimpse or two into what I've been doing:

Melissa's Baby Shower invite:

She loves them and I hope that the party-goers do too! I illustrated them and did the design work - it was a labor of love and it was AWESOME to do.

And now I'm (finally!!!) getting to work on a coworker's wedding invite (and additional collateral), which we decided we'd work on together about 6 months ago, and now it's finally happening!

Her fiancé is from Mexico and her dress looks like a flamenco dress - her colors are turquoise and red - and they love tattoos and  Día de los Muertos (but we're not including skulls because her very catholic father does not view them favorably). So, this is the swipe I've pulled so far:

So, I'll keep you posted on the results. I'd tell you from whence all of this inspiration came, but I didn't keep track - just google search "mexican floral tattoo" and you can probably find the source of most of them.


Okay, back to work!

Late? Maybe!

So, I said long ago that I'd update this blog with photos of GIFTS for yours truly... so here are a couple of things that I received for my late December birthday - they definitely made my day and they were all given to me by ladies whose names start with "K"!

From Kelle (and Bailey - not a K name), I got this beautiful butter dish (posing as a jewelry holder) and a beautiful brooch:

The note made me laugh, "When you open the butterdish, listen for the way it says, 'shrrrring!' - sounds fancy! [heart] you" because it's TRUE! I think of it every day when I open the dish (and I do, everyday, regardless of whether I'm wearing posts or hook earrings because all the backs are in the dish - my neck is too short and I love scarves too much not to wear them and risk hook earrings falling on to the floor or ice when I'm ice skating). I realize that I didn't get the brooch in the photos... but Kelle did, awhile ago:

I could go and take my own shot, but I'm choosing to be lazy tonight!

These girls also left me the BEST birthday message - Bailey yelling, "I LOVE YOU, JESS – I LOVE YOU JESS!!!" made my whole YEAR!

Kailen (my goddaughter) sent (via her mother, my cousin Kelly) this awesome card:

colored by Kailen herself - I love that Kelly didn't make her do it in a certain way, she just let her go and be herself (one and three quarters years old!) – I love it!

Next, from Kate I received this beautiful print of my beloved MICHIGAN(!):

and eyeshadow that has resulted in no less than 20 compliments:

by Sonia Kashuk - who knew!?!

Finally, from my friend Katie, I received exactly what I asked for. I donation to The Water Project:

It was a great birthday! My sister and brother also gave money to The Water Project and my mom bought me an electric toothbrush (which I TOTALLY wanted!), my other sister and the same brother got me Kanye West and Taylor Swift's new CDs (I made them fight over a Beyoncé CD), and my friends Joel and Melissa got me so much Alice and Wonderland dishware that I can't wait to eat all day! JUST KIDDING!!!

What a good year and I'm sure that 2011 will be even better!

I hope everyone is surviving under all of this ice and snow! Keep warm!

Kate + James + Yosemite = Save the Date!

Hello, hello!

I've been busy like a whirling dervish lately, but the results are GREAT! I'm working a lot and producing work that I love, including...

SAVE THE DATE POSTCARDS FOR KATE & JAMES!

The illustration was a combo effort – I pulled together the background and asked Kate to draw herself and James – she has always done such a great job at illustrating people in a fun, beautiful way, so I thought that she should DEFINITELY be the person to draw the two of them. I think it looks great, and it's the first combo effort from the two of us since high school (maybe even ever!). I love her – I'm so happy to be her maid of honor!

Next up for Kate & James from me: INVITATIONS!

Next up for me in the freelancing world: a meeting with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra to design for their upcoming gala!

Next up for this blog: a posting of beautiful gifts from my birthday & Christmas – I'm a lucky girl with talented and loving friends & family!