It's Fall!!!

Fall is here. HERE. NOW!!!

Here's some images from around my Etsy page. Visit the link on the side of the blog to go to the Etsy site where you can wander around and find the perfect fall print that speaks to you.

Buy it. Print it. Frame it.

Or if you're me, use washi tape. There's a ton of cute autumn styles at Target right now!

Laundry Day

Fun project. Laundry rooms can be dull. Or refreshing. Our laundry room isn't very big, in fact, it's fairly small. But the light seems to fill it beautifully. And it needed a pop of fun. And something to make me smile while I mundanely throw in piles of princess tutus, burp cloths, and super hero tees.

I saw once how someone printed pics of their littles in their unders (as our house calls them) and framed under a sign saying "Laundry Day" and hung with wooden hangers in their laundry room. I loved the idea, but wanted to modify it a bit. Last summer I captured these images of my kiddos on laundry day. Recently I finally got a chance to simply print them on my home printer, use some black electrical tape {because my sweet children found mommy's nice pretty tape} and simply taped up the images to the laundry room. I still have more to print out, but this gives you an idea of what type of images to snap, and how it looks hanging up...

Tape: Already on hand. {Target $3}

Images: Printed on home computer.

Total Project Cost: FREE. Makes me smile :). 

February Calendar Freebie!

February's almost here! Better get that calendar up! Here's this month's Chloe Girl Designs calendar page.

Print it.

Fill it.

Use it.

And an added bonus, a notes page to go with it!!

To Print: 

~Click on image to view larger.

~Right click and select "Save Image As"

~Save to your desktop or file

~Place in a document (such as Word document) and print, or simply right click and select print. 

Trouble with image? Email jodiegerling @ gmail .com

Tape It Temporarily

My husband recently requested a design with a favorite quote on it. I assumed he meant for his office, so I made this MANLY design with deep, rich greens, browns, using a picture of the Kansas landscape. I thought I mastered what he desired. 

I was wrong.

I thought it was for his office.

I was wrong.

I thought he'd want a manly font and rustic feel.

I was wrong.

"Well, I like the font for the author, and I like that swirly thing, but I don't like the rest of it. I want something brighter, with more color. And I like word clouds. And it's not for my office at work, it's for home."

Facepalm.

I redesigned it, and this time he really liked it. Here's what we came up with...

He really liked it, but then decided the greyish box threw it off and made it harder to read. 

So here's the final version. 

I had one stipulation to designing this for my hubs: that we order it as a canvas. Let's be honest, canvases are expensive. No way around it. I've always wanted one, but sadly, even my own professional print company I used to work with, even at my cost, was expensive. But I love them because they are bright, have texture, and last. So those were my demands. And we were able to find a good online canvas printing company. 

But what size?

I knew where I wanted to hang it. My hubs requested it go in our front room/main room so that we can see it and be reminded often. I couldn't decide to order an 8x10 or an 11x14. So here's my tip:

Print the size you have in mind. In my case, I really thought an 8x10 would work. If you're thinking 11x14 or larger, print it in quadrants and tape them together, trim edge, then hang with tape. 

Print it. Save ink-use fast draft setting since it's only a template to hang on the wall temporarily till you choose a size. 

Trim it and hang it with clear tape. 

In this case, I could tell it was way too small for this spot. We ordered an 11x14 from the Canvas People online {60% off which was a great savings!!! $28 plus free shipping for an 11x14 canvas is a steal!}. Even though I don't like the size, I'm still keeping it up until my print comes. 

When doing this tape it temporarily trick, another nice part is you can put it in different locations and see where exactly you like it the best, without ruining your walls with unnecessary nail holes. Not that I've ever done that before. Ever. Not even. 

Etsy print available here.

You Are Stronger...

You are stronger than you know.

A phrase a friend is having me design for a friend of hers. This wasn't quite the design she had in mine, so I'm re-editing the design and tweaking it for her, but this still just felt like it needed shared.

So share it.

It's on sale for only $1.50 through the end of February!!! For less than a mocha, you can give your friend a heart warming early Valentines gift.

Buy it. Print it. Give it.

Share it. Share the strength. Remind that person, that friend in your life, of her strength. Because you never know when she needs to hear just how strong she is.

And if you'd like, comment below who you shared it with and why they are stronger than they know. 

The Pro vs. Con List When Printing Images

I did a photosession with my kiddos late this summer/early autumn. It was a gorgeously beautiful day and the kids were full of energy, joy, and laughter. As I edited the images, I fell in deeper love with each one and couldn't wait to display them. I didn't have the time to order prints, or for that matter decide just how I wanted to use these pics.

I know there are options...many options...and as a photographer and graphic designer, sometimes my mind is flooded with so many ideas that I simply cannot choose how I want to display these moments. I gather ideas...I search Pinterest for out of the box ideas, follow photography blogs, chat with my friends about what they do with their prints.

But it's January and I still haven't decided where or how I want to use them.


It's time.

So I brainstorm ideas of how I'd like to decorate with them, and it goes something like this:

Frames for a gallery wall at the top of the steps. Pros: Buy frames once, but put new pics in each year, so it's a one time investment. Con: Gallery walls consist of lots of frames, and there's not wiggle room in the budget for a home gallery wall. Tip: Get frames from thrift shops and paint. But that's a summery project to me, when we can dance and play and paint in the grass.

Option 2: Dream option. Canvas. Either a big canvas print for our entryway, or smaller collage of canvas prints. Pros: Beautiful. Lasting. Trendy. Fun. Bright. Cons: Pricey. Cannot decide on just one image I like. If I get a large print, it stays up for a LONG time...not easily updated. And I still haven't decided if I like the pictures to grow with us and be changed out each year, or to leave older images up. It's simply a personal preference, but I have yet to decide which side I fall on. Idea: I could save money by printing a large black and white image and mod podge it onto a plain canvas. Much more budget friendly.

Idea #3: Photobook. I LOVE hardcover 8x8 photobooks. We've started our own little library of them. I usually wait until I get a free or 50% off coupon in my email from a reputable photo company. Pros: Lasting. Lots of images. Fun to sit down and look at them all through the year(s). I have a first year 8x8 hardcover photobook for each child, one for us when we first moved before we had kiddos, and one of just my hubs and I of a fall photosession. Cons: I don't currently have a coupon, or the time to create the book. File idea away for a wintry, snowy, blustery day project. Tip: I try to upload images to my favorite photo book company frequently so that when the time comes to do a project {in other words, when that coupon graces my inbox}, then half of the project is already done as the images are already sorted}. If I had gobs of time set aside, I might even start a book and save the project, so that come coupon time, I simply review/edit, and print.

After thinking through the pro vs. con list, I've decide that a) I don't know which images are my favorite if I were to make a canvas; b) I don't have the time for a photobook design and no coupon; c) I love the gallery idea, but not the budget of frames. And I know I'm not the only one in the Midwest with this conundrum.

How to solve the dilemma? A free photo banner. By printing the images on cardstock, hanging them on a banner with itsy bitsy clips, I can view them often but without the price of frames and this helps me decide which images I like the best for when it's a good opportunity to work on the projects mentioned above. It's a temporary, but pretty fix so that I can finally grace my walls with these beautiful images, but not need to invest too much time or money right now.

Did I mention it's a free DIY project? Sometimes the best solutions are the easiest and cheapest.

Best part of making your own: You can make the images any size you wish. 

Ok, so may not free if you want to be technical. These were $1. But my mama spoiled me with them when she saw me looking at them in my favorite section of Target at 11pm on the day after Christmas. Did I mention my love affair with the Target $1 bins?

All clean and ready for February, the month of love. Confession: I had to finally erase the December calendar off. Yep. Fifteen days late on that chore. 

That pic is coming out at her wedding. 

How To {Almost} Watercolor

I love watercolor. Love it. I love how the lines are blurred, colors blended. I think the reason I like watercolor so much is because it's not perfect. There are not really any precise and disciplined lines, but faded and bleeding precious colors into the next fibers of the paper instead of staying within their proposed boundaries.

I want to learn how to watercolor. I've played at it from time to time while the kids paint. Here's my first "official" dive in and try some watercolor painting...

So it's been long enough. I wanted to try again, and the kids and I were already painting together, so here goes...

How to {Almost} Paint with Watercolors

Step 1: Gather supplies. We already had some watercolor paper in a paper pad I grabbed at Target a while back for about $5. You'll also need:

1. Pencil
2. Print of your design
3. Watercolor paints {I used the kids' $2 paints and their old brushes. Nothing fancy}
4. Children with cups full of cranberry juice
5. Paper towel

Step 2: Print out the design you wish to use. Line it up with your watercolor paper and begin to trace the image with the pencil so that it transfers an indented line into the watercolor paper. This is your new guide to paint. You can see my pencil lines on my template as I traced in the images below.

Step 3: Mix the color(s) you desire in your brain to be the right one, but be prepared as it will might come out nothing like what you originally had in mind, but you might like it anyway. 

Step 4: Once your template is traced to your paper, set aside the the template, grab your newly traced watercolor paper with your aching write (your wrist should hurt if you traced properly), and speedily yet gracefully set your design on a clean area somewhere near you and and jump like the dickens out of your chair because your little Elsa impersonator just spilled cranberry juice, and it's flooding the table, inching towards your new design...

Step 5: Pour yourself some coffee, or in my case, reheat your first cup of the day that's unfinished. 

Step 6: Begin to SLOWLY to paint your design. If I wanted the colors more muted or to dry quicker (if I got too much paint) I would gently dab with a corner of the paper towel. Oh, and the paper towels were also handy in cleaning up the juice! Double use! Score!!!

Step 7: Continue painting, but expect interruptions, such as taking Elsa potty, cooking lunch, refilling the spilled cranberry juice. Be patient and take time. I also learned that if using watercolor paper, then the paints are forgiving. I started to fill in the wreath with colorful flowers, but it just didn't look right, so I found {completely by error} that if I put more water on the page, and blotted it with a paper towel (not wipe) that it pulled the color up and I could try again. Kinda like an eraser. A really lucky eraser. 

This print will be on the Etsy site soon!!! I'd love to see some of your paintings! I'd also like to know, what are some crafty or artistic things that you're diving into for the first time? Sometimes I feel like I'm too old to try and learn something new, like I won't get it or it's not a good use of my time, but in this case, I'm thankful I tried it. I like the steps I came up with to help me (the tracing template), but it'll take time and practice to learn how to control and mix the colors. Leave your comments below!