New Pre-made Website Templates

I have had a surge of creativity this past week, so I created three new premade website templates!

Updating

I have finally launched my new and improved website... please have a look!

I'm also working on my blog, so please ignore my mess....

~ Kelly

Sad News

Last week my Aunt Denise, who is Grandma Dolly's daughter, passed away abruptly. She went to the hospital with pneumonia and they found cancer in most of her vital organs. She passed within five days of going into the hospital. Apparently, she'd had the cancer for practically a year but didn't know because she never went to the doctor. Note to self and to everyone: don't miss your yearly physical and go to the doctor when you feel something's not right.

I only saw my Aunt Denise about once a year since I've been an adult, but I always remember her as a sweet, thoughtful and creative person. She always had some sort of craft-making things for us kids whenever she saw us.

Her death has shook me. Not only am I sad for her passing, I am reminded of the losses of two of my closest relatives, my Grandma Ginger and my cousin Heather. Gram was Sioux and had such an interesting life, to say the least. She had traveled the world, married three times, and thought the world of Heather and I. My parents always pushed me to do better, but Gram was always proud of me unconditionally, and wasn't afraid to tell me. Her sudden death still leaves a void in my soul.

Heather was only 27 when she died six years ago. She died the summer of my wedding. She was supposed to be my Maid of Honor. She was coming home from a night out and was hit by a drunk driver. He flew right through a red light and hit the passenger side of the car she was in. She was the passenger. She died right on the street less than 1/2 mile from her house. It was right in front of the park that we played at when we were little and had driven by practically every day. I can no longer drive by that park.

Although her death was six years ago this summer, I still feel like it was just yesterday. We grew up together, and she was more of a sister than a cousin. Our mom's are identical twins and we looked alot alike. Of course, she was the "pretty one" and I was the "smart one." It's never fun to be the smart one!

Grandma's birthday is my birthday, August 28th, and Heather's is August 29th. It's a sad month for me, even though I'm also celebrating my wedding anniversary. I happened to be home the night of the accident, visiting my parents. I was there to try on my wedding dress. We had already ordered Heather's dress.

After her death, I couldn't bear to have my original wedding. So, with the help of my parents we canceled my big wedding in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. I was married in the Bahamas with just immediate families and two college friends. I found out later that Heather's dream was to be married in the Bahamas.

Heather's picture is on my desk and I think of her daily.

Thank you to all of my clients who have been so understanding about my needing some time off. My parents actually came to visit this past week for the first time in a year! It was so good to see them and my nephew, Jayden. Anya had so much fun.

So, I'm back to work and will be returning emails and calls this week.

~ Kelly

New 'Do!

I should preface this post by telling you that I am constantly on the lookout for the perfect haircut. Once I think I've found it, the trouble has always been finding the perfect stylist to make my dream a reality.

I've lived in NC for three years now, and still I am a serial salon hopper. I miss Ann, my wonderful stylist in Belmont, Massachusetts who gave me my pixie cut ten years ago.

I have searched high and low in North Carolina for someone to replace her, but have always been disappointed. I have had the $18 haircut, the $150 haircut, color in a bottle, foil highlights, all-over color... and like my man Bono, I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

The last color I had left me with blond zebra stripes if my part got two inches out of place. I naturally have dark reddish brown hair, so this did not look good. It also cost me $200 to look like that. Ouch.

Last week, I bought several hair-do mags for inspiration. I dog-ear every cut or color that I like. As I read the salon credits in fine print, I hit the floor! The salon was only 10 miles away! I made the appointment with Luis, the genius stylist behind the glamorous cuts in the magazines.

My appointment was this morning and Luis did not disappoint! He talked with me, looked at my pictures, told me what he wanted to do... and two and a half hours later... voila! I am a new me! I think I can finally make a commitment to Luis. He is my new best friend.

If anyone lives within a day's drive away, please visit Luis Rios at the Douglas Caroll Salon in North Raleigh. And keep an eye out for his new website that yours truly might have the pleasure of designing! ;-)

XO, Kelly

Our Summer So Far

Besides getting several sites live and working on a few more, I have been having a great summer with the kids. We've been to Carolina Beach, had our Boston cousins visit us, road-tripped to Virginia to visit family and Pennsylvania! Since so many of my wonderful clients have been asking for pictures, here you go... :-)


Here is Anya and cousin Jayden in Pennsylvania. We were visiting my Papa who lives in the country in Pennsylvania, near Gettysburg. Down the road from his house is this fabulous old cemetary. This ancient tree fell sometime in the past year. Isn't it beautiful?



My poor Jack was so overwhelmed by our trip. He was very clingy to me the whole week, but he took to my Papa (who by the way is my favorite person in my entire family!) and actually didn't cry when he held him. It was sweet relief for me!
Look at this cutie pie! He's such a stinker, it's just a good think he's so cute!

My little Mr. GQ:

We were so happy to have cousins Elizabeth and Patricia visit us from Boston! Here are Anya and Patricia, the best of friends!
And Elizabeth and Jack had fun crawling around together too!

Here are Anya and Jayden again. Anya is so fortunate to have two cousins her same age! I wish we all lived closer!

Here is Anya wearing her birthday dress from Seems Dreams Boutique. You've got to check out her boutique! She sells the cutest girlie-girl dresses!

This is our favorite dress from Wendy at Seems Dreams Boutique! And my little girl is such a model, isn't she! Always posing for the camera! Her preschool teacher calls her a "diva"!
Anya absolutely loved the beach! Carolina Beach was beautiful. Let's just hope they don't start drilling for oil off the Carolina Coast!
While Anya played, Jack ate sand.
Look at that hair! Anya has beautiful curly hair that just got curlier in the sea air. I wish you could see more of her precious dress. It's a gorgeous custom-made wrap dress from Lily's Suitcase. As someone who has made clothing before, I can tell you that Patricia not only has beautiful and original designs, but her work is impeccable!

Thank you for looking at my pictures. Now it's back to work for me! I'll be updating my portfolio soon! I hope everyone is having a fabulous summer!

Back on the planet...

I have been working so hard this past month that I've had zero time for blogging! It seems everyone has wanted a website in May, and I have worked day and night to accommodate them.

Now that I have some breathing room I'd like to share some of these fabulous new sites. I'm very proud of them all and grateful to the new owners that brought out the very best of my design!

My first site in May was for the UK importers of the famed Boudreaux's Butt Paste. Inspired by the official logo, we created a very fun, bright and retro design and graphics!

Next we have the very talented Barbara of Fancy Pantz Designs. Barbara loved my Purple Flapper OOAK design, but wanted to change the colors and add a tiara to crown the new Ms. Fancy Pantz. I loved the collaboration with Barbara. Please check out her new site and if you need a spectacular housewarming gift, you must purchase her unique and fabulous products!

And finally, the very excited and bubbly Brittany of Initially Monogrammed! Brittany offers a variety of custom monogrammed items for baby, wedding parties and yourself! I had to get a few for myself! Brittany's design was completely custom and we topped it off with the custom character illustration on the homepage. So much fun to design and a real pleasure working with Brittany!

Family Pictures

Anyone have that experience of trying to get a decent picture of your children together, in cute outfits, in the right light, in the right location... and it never turns out quite right? I know I should hire a photographer, but I am a do-it-yourself'er kinda girl and very stubborn so I haven't done it yet. Anyway, you spend all this time trying to get the perfect picture for the grandparents, and it just doesn't happen! Then, as we were leaving for soccer practice yesterday, I thought I would snap a couple of pictures... within seconds I had the best picture of Anya I've had in about 6 months!

I was SO happy to get this precious picture of my almost-4-yr-old, Anya... I just had to share it! She actually let me do her hair!

And then there are the usual pictures I have of Jack and Anya together...

Thanks for looking!

~ Kelly