A First Glimpse

This past Sunday we threw a super fun 2nd birthday party for Beckett. I've been working on editing all the photos from the party, but thought I would share some snippets of the party to give you a first glimpse. It was soooo much fun to plan and design all the elements of this party, and can't wait to share all the deets in the coming days!

PS: Beckett's amazing shirt is from Gnome Enterprises.

New Mom & Dad Cards

We have 2 new cards in the Etsy shop! A Mother's Day ("You're Sew Great") and a Father's Day ("You're grilly great) card. Both are equally awesome, so you should probably get one right away. Find them here.

Hoppin' on the crazy train

In less than one month, my son will be turning 2 years old. (Although, he's been perfecting the "terrible two's" behavior for months now...) So, naturally it is time once again to plan a spectacular birthday party for the little dude, and go "way overboard" as Adam likes to say. I came up with the most awesome party theme, which is SO freakin' hard to come up with because most themes have been done to death, but I think I may have nailed it! I went a little crazytown last year, (as seen here) so of course I have to top myself and hop on the crazy train again this year. I just mailed out the invitations today, but wanted to share a few sneak peaks of them. I love them so hard, and can't wait to share the full photos of the invites in the next month!

Show us your Journey

Our 'Journey Journal' continues to be one of our favorite products we sell. We love the open road, traveling to far away places, and exploring new and exciting destinations. Our love for a good ol' fashioned road trip first inspired us to create the 'Journey Journal'. We've traveled to so many radical places and love tracking & writing about our journey, as well as being able to look back on our travels.

Over the past 3 1/2 years, we've created numerous different 'Journey Journals' to accommodate your travels, from our 'Europe Edition' to our 'Australia Edition', and of course the whole 'World Edition', and everything in between. We recently just created a custom journal for a couple who were going to be traveling the entire world. Their itinerary looked amazing, which got us thinking.....

We'd love to see your Journey!

That's right, we want to see how you used our 'Journey Journal' to track your travels! Either scan in or photograph the front cover and a selection of the inside pages (as well as any of your 'travel treasures'!) and email your Journey to us.

What's in it for you? Well, the winner will get a $40.00 credit to be used in our Etsy shop, as well as a another 'Journey Journal' of your choice, so you can continue to track your amazing travels. We will also pick a runner up winner, which will receive a 'Journey Journal' of your choice.

What are the specifics? Email all entries to: tarasherm@gmail.com and label them with the subject line, "Show us your Journey Entry". You may also send us a message in Etsy if you prefer. In your email, please attach your scans or photos of your 'Journey Journal', along with a brief summary of your trip (including the date & place(s) of the trip) and any funny or interesting experiences on this particular trip that made it so memorable. The more creative & interesting you get with your story of your trip will be to your advantage! Also in your email, include your name, email address, and phone number. The better the photographs/scans of your Journal pages, the better we can see just how awesomely you used your journal! ANY of our 'Journey Journals' are eligible for entry (the original, Europe, Australia, Asia, Canada, Mini, World & ANY custom journal that was made for you)

You can start emailing your entries today and entries will be accepted until midnight (CST) on Sunday November 4th.  No late entries will be accepted, sorry. Winners will be notified by email the week of November 19th. Only one entry per person, so narrow down your most memorable trip!

What the heck will you be looking for in a winner?  Well there are a lot of things! Your destination doesn't have to be the most exotic, it could be a weekend road trip an hour from your house, or a luxurious getaway to Paris, it doesn't matter. Some of our best trips have been closest to home, so location is not a factor in deciding a winner. What does matter is how you sell it. We want to see how you used the inside pages of the Journal (especially the drawings!) and your creativity in how you used your Journal. (that doesn't mean your drawings have to be works of art, though!) We want to laugh, cry, laugh some more, and be intrigued when reading the story of your trip, so the more you give us, the better. We love a good story! It also doesn't matter when your trip took place, it could have been 3 years ago, or yesterday. Any destination is accepted, so don't think that your trip to North Dakota will be dismissed, we want to see and hear it all, so don't be shy!

The winner and runner-up will have their trips featured on the blog in December. So, make sure those pics/scans are fabulous! 

If we missed something, feel free to email us with any questions! We are so grateful for all of the folks who have purchased our 'Journey Journal's and have, in turn, made them such a huge success. We are so excited to see all of your amazing adventures, ready...set...GO!

PS: Don't have a 'Journey Journal' yet? Well, go get one here!

What I'm working on

I've been working on lots and lots of wedding invitation lately, but I have especially been having fun designing these custom samples for bride-to-be Lauren. The colors are oh so springy and the vibe is so fun and lighthearted. Can't wait to keep working on these bad boys.

On Vacation

We will be heading down to sunny Phoenix & Tucson for the next few days. Looking forward to some Brewers Spring Training Games & some amazing looking tacky roadside attractions. Have a happy weekend!

Dress Crush

With the summer-like weather in Milwaukee lately, I cannot wait for actual summer to get here. With that in mind, I am in desperate need of this amazing dress from Emerson Fry. It's so flowy & mod, and a perfect shade of orange. Dude, seriously, I am in love with this dress, but not in love with the price tag. Pair it with these shoes and I'm even more in love. Ah, be still my heart.

Fanny Pack of Dreams

Lately, Adam and I have been talking about all the things we want & hope to do, and places we want to go in our lives. Some may call this a "Bucket List", but I do not. Why, you ask? Well because that phrase makes me want to puke. It's seems like everyone and their mothers have been overusing the term "Bucket List" lately and I kind of seriously hate it. So, I have officially changed the term to my "Fanny Pack of Dreams". Why that? Well, why the hell not. The term "Bucket List" is stupid anyways, so I might as well refer to my hopes and dreams as being in something awesome like a fanny pack, preferably in some sort of rad 80's colors, like teal or hot pink. Ok, now go out and start using this phrase so it catches on, and then all your friends will be like, "Hot damn! You are so cool!"

PS: I don't actually wear a fanny pack.

Product of Art School

I've been doing Cracked Designs for almost 4 years full time (5 years total), and a lot of times I get caught up in my little world of bacon cutouts and beer bottle drawings, that I forget how this all started: Art School *shudder*

I was recently meeting with a client and she asked me where I went to school, and I kind of paused before I said MIAD & SAIC. I've been out of college for almost 7 years now (which feels surreal), but my time at art school seems like something out of a dream, something that never really happened. So, I dusted off my old portfolios and reminisced, and it got me thinking about my art school days and some new realizations...

I was a fresh faced 18 year old movin' on up to the big city (Chicago) to pursue my dreams of becoming a painter.  Going to art school was my dream come true, all I wanted was to paint and create and express myself through fine art. Ah, my naivety makes me laugh out loud now, to think, I thought I could make a real living off of painting! If only. Well, as you have probably gathered from this blog, and this post in particular, I am quite awkward and never felt as if I really fit in in the whole art school scene. I quickly gathered that I was too normal at SAIC, which much to my surprise was a bad thing. I attended SAIC for two years before transferring to MIAD for my last two years. Now, MIAD was a little more my speed, but alas, I had missed those first 2 crucial years at MIAD where everyone was making friends. Now, here I was, the weird transfer student trying to break in and start all over again. I still shudder thinking about those early days.

( Two photographs which were part of my Senior Thesis at MIAD, "Shedding Some Light" )

My early dreams of going to art school started slowly turning into nightmares, and I would often curse the whole idea of art school and could not wait for it to all be over. I hated being that odd girl out, and constantly trying to connect with someone, anyone! The desire to create that I had once longed for, started turning into work, and I hated being forced into making something spectacular, especially if I was feeling that lack of inspiration.  It wasn't all bad though, I loved painting and photographing and being able to (and being encouraged to) be creative. During my last semester at MIAD, I started to question everything and had that typical senior freak out moment of "Holy crap, what am I going to do now?! Damn you art school, my parents were right!" I suddenly realized that I didn't feel prepared for the real world, and my dreams of a being a starving artist were not satisfying anymore like they once were. My then boyfriend (and now husband) was about to graduate from UW Madison at the same time as me and he had a nice little job all lined up for him. I secretly hated his guts during this time, and envied his together-ness. But, somehow I survived, and worked odd jobs after graduation. Some art related, some not. I wasn't too happy with my situation, and I continued to curse my art school experience. I felt like my time at two expensive art schools were a disaster, and now all I was left with was a giant student loan. Then, all of a sudden one day, I created a silly little card. That card caught on, and well, the rest is Cracked Designs history.

  (Two photographs done during my last semester at MIAD)

Despite my loneliness & confusion during my art school days, I'm no longer bitter about art school, and in fact, I embrace it. Although, I don't have a career in photography (which was my major), I could not be happier with the career I do have, and if it weren't for struggling through art school, I may never have discovered Cracked Designs in myself. Being able to be creative everyday for 4 years at art school prepared me for a lifetime of creativity. I no longer dream about painting ( I sadly haven't picked up a paintbrush in 7 years) and being a starving artist, I have new dreams, dreams about continuing to be a successful business owner, and these dreams are far more exciting to me because I know that they're real. But those early dreams of being an artist make me smile, because in reality all I had ever wanted was to be able to make awesome works of art all day long, and now I realize that I actually do just that. And that my friends, made art school totally worth it.

(The top images are my school U-pass and a photo of me - terrified & young during my first semester at SAIC in Chicago)

Draft Surprise

So, last night we were hangin' out in the living room and Adam was reading his latest issue of DRAFT magazine. (that's right, Adam subscribes to a beer magazine, a true Milwaukeean!) As he was paging through he all of a sudden squealed with delight, which startled me, because I didn't know I was married to a woman with a girly scream. But then he showed me that my Europe edition Journey Journal was featured on a page spread! So, then I squealed with delight too, because I love being surprised with unexpected press - especially in a magazine devoted to beer. I'll drink to that!

Check out the latest edition of DRAFT magazine (the Travel Issue), and find our Europe Edition Journey Journal featured near the back of the magazine!