I’ve been upping the anty on my branding, making matching folios and business cards to give to clients. I realized I needed this as I felt silly giving my clients loose paper stacks Nothing fancy just some goodies, paperwork and a beautiful simple sleeve that matches my business cards and now my site!

Anyway – enjoy, and I’d love to hear any thoughts on the new site – although I’ll ward this one off right now — I know it loads slower. We’re working on it, but with the loading slower comes a lot of convenience and continuity with using wordpress and flickr. So – anything else, though, is welcome

-Rachel

More pictures here.

Sometimes I have prospective clients ask me – do you do the family posed pictures? Of COURSE!  I don’t always post them as they aren’t always the most exciting ones ever, but they are part of every wedding, if you want them. I liked this one, I utilized off camera lighting to get everyone evenly let and still get the beautiful blue sky!

AmyJo’s wedding band is truly one of the most unique and beautiful I’ve ever seen.

This picture was requested by the family

Thanks for letting me part of your day guys!!

Here’s what I can say. It’s WEIRD, NICE and OVERWHELMING.

Weird because the days and nights and weekdays and weekends sort of run together when you work out of your home and your office is across the hall from your bedroom. The signifying events that remind me what day it is are when I have a wedding on the weekend, when church is on Sunday, or when The Office & Grey’s are on – and now since those season finales already happened I’ll probably walk around in a groggy fog. (that was a joke)

Nice because every day feels a little like a Saturday in some ways, and because I don’t have to get dressed for work, leave the house, and I get to snuggle with my hubby when he wakes up every morning. My kitties sit behind the computer and in the office window keeping me company. I can listen to my music as loud as I want and be as fidgety as I want without bugging anyone. I am having quiet/devotional time again with the Lord and this is good. I can run downstairs and eat and I’m spending less money on food because there is less temptation to go out. Nice – because no one tells me waht to do, when to do it, and I can do everything MY WAY… that part I really love.

Overwhelming because everything is always top-of-mind all the time. I go to sleep thinking about the photos I need to edit and the albums I have to design and the clients I have to contact and the business expenses I need to track and the emails I need to sort through the papers building up on my desk and the organizations I’m a part of and how I’m going to pay for everything I need and whether we’ll be able to make it next year. I worry about how kids will fit into this schedule. I think about work more than I ever thought possible. When I’m home I feel like I should be working. When I’m working/editing/designing I feel like I should be cleaning or being a good housewife. And when I’m cleaning and being a good housewife, I feel like I should be editing pictures or working on my website.

So yes… it’s different. Life is completely different now… but this is good. I hope this doesn’t sound like complaining, because I’m not. I am so amazed I have this opportunity in my life, and I am so thankful to God for giving me talents, support and a network of encouragement to make it happen.  This is where I’m supposed to be. Having that confidence means everything in the world!

photo by Amanda Kifer of Expy Images

Meeting Heather through a comment on her blog and then the rest of the GTG girls in my breakout into the photography field has been so awesome. They have helped and encouraged me so much, and I was thrilled to work with Heather on something for her business that could help polish her image. She had her colors chosen already, so we worked with them and had a few meetings to really establish what she was looking for. Sometimes you don’t know until you see it whether you like it or don’t. She pushed me hard on this – and I’m glad she did. I think we came out with a beautiful mark for her, inspired from a bunch of different places, and spent a ton of time choosing the mark and the typeface itself. We went for a purchased rather than a free one for the script because having a professional font that actually costs something (even if it’s not a ton) really makes you have the edge over others who are just ripping off the latest and funkiest free font off the internet (not that there is anything wrong with them – they are just more prevalent)

Heather – I hope you are so happy with your logo, and I’m excited to see you’ve already applied it to your website and pictures as a new watermark.

Soo….today was my “last” day as a full-time Art Director at Engel O’Neill. I will still be working with the agency in a more contracting role when they need me, and it’s exciting to leave a place with such a great and positive relationship. Technically I’m doing one more short project next week and then they’re having a little lunch for me.

It’s hard to process all this – I actually feel relatively emotionless due to the amount of things going on right now – its like… so much, sadness/joy for the holiday – sadness about my grandmother’s diagnosis, hope that God will do his will and praying for healing/comfort, and excitement/mixed emotions about going 100% out on my own!

There will be a lot of changes in life now and I have a lot of new routines to start and projects to tackle. I am so excited about it all and I hope to blog next week about some past projects I hadn’t gotten to share yet.

Happy Easter everyone!

At the last minute, a group of exciting wedding vendors got together to talk about our first Erie Wedding Professionals meeting. I am honored to be a part of the group, especially being new to this particular industry. Luckily, what I’m not new to is creating graphics for websites With the help of Heather Mencer and Heather Neckers-Kinal we had a crash session and came up with this concept which I worked on Sunday night for MyErieWedding.com, run by John Gallagher. I hope to help translate it’s modern feel to the rest of the site in the future.

What else is new? I’m winding down to 13 days left at my 5 year art director job. There are such a mix of emotions at this stage in life. I’m sad, but so excited to stop juggling so many things and be able to focus on one thing (well many things, but with one focus) It’s weird how *aware* you are of the time running down.

Can’t wait to post about the important people’s birthdays coming up at the end of the week.

This weekend is looking CRAZY BUSY. If you are my client and you are waiting on me – I promise, you will be getting something from me this weekend. I haven’t forgotten you!

Everyone else… have an awesome weekend!

Anyway not much longer to keep up this pace, and I’m ready for it to be over….

Other randomness:

• I finished the Host, and it was sooooo good. I mean, it’s no Twilight saga, but it is a really really entertaining and page turning piece of fiction, and I really loved it.
• It is so cold here right now, but not a lick of snow
• I am totally behind on LOST this year, I’m trying to catch up
• I’m trying to figure out how to transition out of the job I’ve been in for five years… it’s going to be interesting
• I tried taking a multi-vitamin a few weeks ago and I felt terrible from it. This does not bode well for me lol
• March is the “MONTH OF BIRTHDAYS!” Kristin Hesch, Kristin Lynch, Lexi, Danielle (30th!), Amy (25th!), Biz, my cousin Michael, my cousin Kaitlyn …. and my 27th isn’t far behind coming up April 2!
• Our worship band led by my wonderful husband has an actual out-of-town gig coming up! It’s going to be exciting. Although I just realized that I’ll have to miss the Twilight DVD Borders release party on the 21st.
• My sis is growing spiritually like leaps and bounds lately, and I am so honored to be part of her life and watching it all happen. I don’t know where all this will lead, but I can see the hand of God in the situation and I trust He will lead her down the right paths.
• I know a few people who’s jobs have either downgraded or laid them off and its a very scary time. All we can do is pray and wait, its going to be a while before the country gets back on its feet. And I think we all need to stop being so scared . . . I pray that I can do the same.

And lastly, if you are a reader, please leave a comment and say hi, I’d love to know who’s out there. Thanks

The ladies over at My Father’s House desperately needed a new logo for Bella Designs, their bridal and formal gown and accessory boutique. This idea came in my head and I was so excited to get to do it, because I rarely get to do feminine logos We haven’t gotten to apply it to anything but a tentative business card layout yet, but hopefully in the spring a new website will arise as well. This shop carries beautiful and unique gowns – some are pre-owned, but they have a brand new line of wedding gowns that are unique to their store and they are STUNNING! See image of one gown below. Stay tuned for more on this up-and-coming little store!

Also, i dont know why i’m blogging – I DONT HAVE TIME FOR THIS! LOL!

My awesome friend Danielle, Communications Director,  has done a three part series on what twitter is. Check them out if you’re one of those people going “well…what is twitter anyway – and is it valuable to me?”

Check it:

What IS Twitter, Anyway?, Part 1

Twitter: An Insider’s Guide, Part 2

Twitter: An Outsider’s Guide, Part 3

In other news – YAAAAY FRIDAY!!! It’s been an intense week I think for many. Let’s pray for God’s grace for the weekend and the week following!

Oh – and you can follow me on twitter at my username – puremotif.