2-D Design

Etsy Update

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Ah!

My Etsy shop has been open since 2013. I prided myself on being a 5-star seller, but was recently punished by a recent patron giving me 4 stars because the keychain she bought broke! She was using it as a zipper pull, and while I can argue, “that’s not how that works,” I gave her a coupon and told her I was sorry. It doesn’t fix my rating, which is now a 4-point-something.

For years I went by “Mes Petites Dessins,” which, when spelled correctly in French (it should be “Petits”) means “my little designs”. But as time goes on, I’m trying to really make my personal brand cohesive. While it’s not important my Etsy shop match my design persona, I wanted it to.

I bought myself a new portable lightbox for product photography and I went ham this weekend rephotographing a good amount of my finished goods.

This quick post is just to reintroduce my Etsy site in hopes of garnering more traffic (and sales!). Happy browsing (maybe shopping?)!

The new banner I have up on my Etsy. I chose to keep it extremely neutral to allow my product photos to take the spotlight.

Philadelphia is in the Championship!

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Ahhh… for football fans, pre-season is meh. The actual season is full of emotion and then post-season is where only the elite teams get to keep playing in a tapered bracket to determine who reigns supreme to earn the title of “World Champion,” which, as a football fan myself, is kind of a silly title seeing as right now the NFL only consists of 32 American football teams. There are currently no teams outside of the US.

Today is a BIG day for four cities, Philadelphia included. Today is the championship game, the one that determines which two teams get to play in the biggest game of the season—the Super Bowl!

Since I was a little girl, I’ve been an Eagles fan. Today we face the Washington Commanders (the Comedians as my husband calls them), and we are going balls-to-the wall with our excitement today.

I woke up early to work on a few things to bring to our friends’ house, where we’re going to eat good, drink, scream and cheer (and maybe cry) at the TV with them and their other friends with only one goal in mind: Make it BACK to the Super Bowl.

Since the Super Bowl started (1967), the Eagles (established in 1933) have only participated four times: 1981, losing to the Raiders; 2005, losing to the Patriots; 2017 winning against the Patriots (Sorry, not sorry, Tom Brady); and 2023, losing to the Chiefs (Okay, Mahomes is a good player, for real). While we’re not trying to jump the gun here, we’d really, REEEAALLLYY like another shot at this.

Anyway, I spent a lot of time educating myself on how to make stickers with my printer and Cricut working in partnership (Thank you, YouTube creators!). I need to make some custom adjustments to the pressure of the blade, but here’s what we’re working with today. I’m also working on a Saquon Barkley design for one of the host friends—I may post it later.

GO BIRDS!

Self-Designed graphic applied to a tee celebrating #33 Cooper DeJean. (Front)

Self-Designed graphic applied to a tee celebrating #33 Cooper DeJean. (Back)

Philadelphia mayor, Cherelle Parker, misspelled “EAGLES” during a public chant while addressing the city, causing fans—myself included—to run with the misspelling. I chose to make stickers.

I'm Still Fuctioning!

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It’s been a while since I posted here, which wasn’t the intent. I actually wanted to at least post once a month.

Things have been busy. I’m waist-deep in planning the wedding with my fiancé and working on stuff for that. Save the dates will be the first designed thing, but I’ve been working on plenty of other creative stuff for the wedding in between like the bouquets for my bridesmaids and me.

The bridesmaids will have light bouquets with some dark accents.

My bouquet is dark with light accents.

I’ve also taken up nail art. I’m not a licensed technician, but I’ve been doing own nails again and creating sets to sell on Etsy.

My 2023 birthday nail set.

Medium coffin, color changing pearl and caviar deisgn

Neon marble set, medium, square

Medium blue coffin nails, elegant wedding style

Warm neon jawbreaker style, stiletto, medium

Winter penguin set sold to a regular client.

Royal blue queen set, short almond

Orchid/aqua tribal-inspired nail set.

 

Java swirl, medium coffin

XL Black and white coffin nail set

 

I also started dabbling in other crafts, like creating phone grips.

Moon crescent bow phone grip

Moon sceptre phone grip

Cute face phone grip

Multicolor dot phone grip

So I’m still around, just…not around.

Work is exhausting—mentally, emotionally, and even physically. While it doesn’t seem like it would be, sitting in front of a computer for eight hours a day, talking on the phone for the better part of those eight hours, reviewing insurance claims, benefits, calling doctors’ offices and hospitals, explaining to billers why they need to correct the claim or write off the bill for patients is really taxing.

I’m very much in the market for a new role. My job isn’t a bad one, it’s just not what I want to do and it’s staring to wear me down. It’s time to move on and I’m ready for my next challenge.

EGD: Paradise Beauty Lounge Nail Salon

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Last year, Lash Paradise Beauty Lounge began transitioning to a more concise name, Paradise Beauty Lounge, in anticipation of the grand opening for the lash salon side that opened in 2020 and the nail salon which opened in 2022. While the name isn’t finalized due to some further research and needing to be done to make it happen, the name is appearing in different places online and in print.

Recently, Torianna Paradise, the owner/operator of Lash Paradise/Paradise Beauty Lounge, approached me and asked me to revise the signage we did for them to reflect the expansion of the lash salon to include the nail salon.

Below are the install photos from what we did. The nail salon windows had the same treatment as the lash salon side, right next door, and the listing of the main services were included in the building and pylon signs.

If you’re looking to make an appointment to get your lashes, nails, or brows done, visit their website to book an appointment!