FINISHED! JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS.

Everything's finished! I'm really happy with the way everything turned out. It's going to be hard to part with Santa, but I know that my Dad will appreciate it.


I had a hard time with the finishing touches on my stocking. I wanted to to be unique and "me". Luckily a couple of friends at work were selling these hand-made flowers from vintage buttons and fabric (loves me not). It was perfect! They're working on getting a storenvy site up. I'll keep you updated.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE HALES!

THINGS I MISS ABOUT TEXAS

boots, leather tooling, pearl snaps, indian art and...
...tough cowboys

All photos I took in Fredricksburg

FREDRICKSBURG, TEXAS

My mom recently moved from Lubbock to Fredricksburg and I got to go spend some time there last weekend. Right now she is living in a barn/guest house. It is a beautiful space.

She made this ornament for me. Learned how to cut glass the other day... no big deal.

I also had to snap a shot of one her whimsicles. This one is prickly pear. Again... beautiful! My mother is so stinkin' talented!

THE CABIN

Aaron and I got to spend a few days over the holiday at this beautiful cabin in Arkansas. It was a great time relaxing and spending time with new family.

JOSH ROSENTHAL & AARON HALE

I had to adapt this poster last minute to fit 11 x 17 dimensions. I decided to do something a little different with the type. See you guys at the show!

NAKUPENDA TANZANIA

a photo I took in Tanzania
Aaron and I have been saving up vacation days to go to Jamaica. His parents booked the trip several months ago and due to the economy we just got word that the trip's off. We were disappointed, but it didn't take us long to think maybe we were saving those days for something else...

Wanna come?

REUBEN COLLINS BAND

Check this out! Album art I did for another band my husband is a part of, Reuben Collins Band. Have a listen.

GIFT TAGS

This weekend I got busy making gift tags and trying out my mini letterpress. I found out that it actually creates a beautiful blind deboss! I also tried stitching tags. I think I might use these for the stockings!

BAGGU

Some friends and I are trying to find ways to save money on gifts this year, but also add a personal touch. Janette has the hook up with a printer through her husband, Jon and so we're thinking about designing some grocery totes!

This design was inspired by a cool piece of vintage fabric i found.

AARON HALE

Aaron released a new album on itunes a few months ago, Lightning Strike/Phantom Forest. We thought it might be fun to do a photo shoot to promote it. Here's a shot that actually turned out kinda cool. Ironic that this ghost is reading "Life" magazine and if you look close you can see little wonder snuggled up on the couch.

JOSH ROSENTHAL & AARON HALE

A poster I did to promote Aaron's show. You guys should come!

I LOVE MY JOB PART 2

I think I might just have to add a sewing machine to my christmas list! We had so much fun making stockings. Aaron put in a tall order with his "where the wild things are" inspired stocking, but I had enough help to pull it off. I hate to say that his stocking far outshines the rest, but they make a nice little family. I'm still deciding on the finishing touches to the other three.

I LOVE MY JOB

Our team has been working so hard the past couple months and this week is our week of rest and renewal. Monday we were treated to Waldo Pizza and a day of research around town. Tuesday and Wednesday we did a ceramic workshop. I made some coasters I plan to give as gifts and I sculpted this little elf! Thursday and Friday is fabric and screenprinting. Stay tuned...

TGIF

Wonder and Peabody are all smiles and ready for the weekend!

FASHION LOVES PEOPLE

My dear friend, Janette Crawford started a blog a while back "to help shoppers find socially friendly clothing that not only has a low impact on the environment, but also a low impact on human rights." I think it's so cool what she's doing and I have definitely been challenged to think about shopping in a new way. Janette asked me to help give her blog a new look. We sat and talked about what she wanted and came up with a logo. From there we had the idea to reverse the logo out of different images for her header. A quick photo shoot and it was ready to go.

We thought the hearts could act as her "pink ribbons" to spread awareness about this issue. check it out! Fashion Loves People

I VOTED TODAY!

This pretty much sums up how I feel about this year's election. So glad it's almost over!

design credit: Chris Lee Jones

HI-FI MOTEL RECORDS

So my husband, Aaron, is a musician, producer, author, illustrator, social worker, the list goes on. Needless to say, I end up doing a lot of design work for his many projects. Here's one that we worked on together and had a lot of fun with. These are logo ideas for a record label Aaron wants to start. Let us know which one's your favorite!

Hi-Fi Motel Records

JACOB & AMANDA

Our good friend Amanda got married in August. She decided to have a smaller wedding at her most favorite place in the world... her aunt's place in Geneva, Texas. I asked her to describe the scenery there so I could get some inspiration for the invite. One of the things she talked about was the pine trees and I thought that would be perfect! I knew she wanted green and I knew she liked a vintage style. She needed to include a ton of information for her guests, so I came up with this fun format to get it all in there without compromising the design.

AARON & HEATHER FEBRUARY 16 2008

Last February I married Mr. Aaron Hale. He proposed in a beautiful field with a Hammerpress poster and a ring with wheat engraved on the band. So, of course, we had a wheat theme for our wedding. Here are the invitations.

MAMA

Anyone one who knows my Mama (Katherine) knows that she's amazing and I'd like to share with you her latest adventures.

A couple weeks ago she packed up her things and moved to the Texas hill country with dreams of selling delicious gourmet popsicles out of a vintage trailer. She loves the idea of a sophisticated popsicle because it lures the adult in and then reminds them of being a kid again.

She's well on her way to realizing this dream. See, the thing about my mom is that she doesn't settle for the ordinary day-to-day life. She has an idea and she goes after it. She makes things happen! She lives her life as if anything is possible and she has inspired me to live the same way.

Take a peek at her soon to be renovated trailer and some logo ideas I worked on for her.

AFRICA

Aaron and I went to Jacob's Well on Saturday to check out Ubuntu. It's pretty much a bunch of people who love Africa talking about Africa. This week they brought in a refugee family from Somalia. They shared heartbreaking stories of losing loved ones and losing their home. Aaron and I fell in love with this family and met some other really cool people.

This all reminded me of our trip to Tanzania last summer and I thought I would share this set of cards I designed to raise money.

CHESHIRE CAT

Aaron's office has decided on an Alice in Wonderland theme for Halloween this year. Aaron's part is the Cheshire Cat, so we bought a tiger mask...

a little paint and it's ready to go.

JUMP IN

I've been thinking about, dreaming about what Twine & Twig will one day become... custom letterpress, yummy treats, maybe some flowers? I've been wrestling with logo ideas. Type solutions, handwritten solutions. I've drawn out a plan of what the Twine & Twig store front will look like. I've visualized the overall look and feel of the place. Meanwhile my month old, unused letterpress sits lonely in our dark basement and www.twineandtwig.blogspot.com remains a claimed yet empty site.

Last night a comment from a friend of mine kept repeating over and over in my mind... "Why don't you quit talking about your stupid letterpress and print something already!"

So, I did. The header above is my official first print! I don't totally know what I'm doing and I don't have all the supplies i need, but sometimes you just have to jump in!