hand-lettering – Holly Whittlef

June 5, 2016 — Comments are off for this post.

Links I Love / 05

I know what you're perhaps thinking...another links post?!?

Stay with me here friends, because there's been lots of good reading and internet finds lately. Plus, it's summer ( outside > blogging ), and I'm in the midst of a website redesign, so posting here will likely be sporadic for awhile. All good things, of course! The arrival of June means I'll soon be adventuring here with my mama, and a new site means I'm finally updating my portfolio ( it's been two years...yeesh ). There will be lots of new design projects, hand-lettered goods and updates coming your way in the next few months.

Until then, enjoy a summery edition of my latest favorite links + reads. Some fun stuff mixed some heavy stuff, but all good stuff.

This gorgeous song.

My perfect summer drink.

And the most delicious cake (I made it a few weeks ago to rave reviews).

These lust-worthy sunglasses.

I've been coveting a pair of high-waisted Jesse Kamm pants. They'd be an investment, but I'm trying to buy less but higher-in-quality things. The question: iron oxide or tobacco?

Jimmy Chin's Instagram is mind-blowing ridiculous. HAVE YOU SEEN THIS???

If I ever have a daughter, please let it be this girl.

The Busy Person's Lies. So guilty.

Equality Takes Work.

How to Get Rid of Practically Anything.

This makes me happy.

Required reading. Powerful and so, so important.

"You don’t need to nail the door completely shut, as Facebook quitters do; you just need to stay mindful of who’s trying to get in." This short, to-the-point read.

"We mustn’t abandon him or her, only the founding Romantic idea upon which the Western understanding of marriage has been based the last 250 years: that a perfect being exists who can meet all our needs and satisfy our every yearning." YES YES YES.

Published by alphablossom in hand-lettering, Links I Love

January 3, 2016 — Comments are off for this post.

2016

It's been a challenging one, this 2015.

This past year, I jumped full-time into freelance and found working for myself stretched me in ways (and places—namely, my aching back) I could've never anticipated.

Because that's the thing.

Entrepreneurship is talked about and romanticized for its excitement + limitless possibilities, but I've found only a few who will share how hard it can be, especially for those flying solo. You enter into the world of self-employment knowing instability and uncertainty are going to be good friends alongside you on the journey, but when it comes to daily life, others seem reticent to share how they're doing or perhaps more useful, what they're doing to make entrepreneurship work for them. Finding clients, finding good work systems, organizing schedules, balancing deadlines, handling finances + taxes, and more—these are the unsexy realities.

Here's a sliver what it's honestly like. There are big wins and days I feel ridiculously kick ass for working on my own. There are days laden with anxiety attacks, skipped meals and the constant feeling of, "WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?!" There's failure. Lots of it. Although I'm beginning to see failure as a positive thing, which I'm hoping to write more about later.

I'm learning it's all in the becoming. I'm getting there—just like you are—and as long as I keep shuffling one foot in front of the other, everything ends up okay. Maybe not perfect, but good enough. Because life is about so many other more important things. Family, travel, art, food, friends, and trying things for the sake of trying, and I enjoyed a lot of that this year too.

Here's a few of my favorites from 2015, plus a snippet of one of my favorite books that strongly sums up my 2016 goals. May the new year bring you peace + contentment, my friends.

Travel: Tulum, Mexico
TV: House of Cards + Master of None
Book: Essentialism
Movie: Brooklyn ( based off this book )
Blog / Website: Cup of Jo
Article: THIS x 1,000,000
Meal: Girl + the Goat ( for my birthday! )
Most Eaten Recipe: Sesame Soba Noodles GIF: THIS or THIS

Album: Hamilton
Concert: DOOMTREE
Art: My painting from Mara Barringer
Podcast: Serial + The Lively Show
Memory: Camping at Nelson Dewey Park
Purchase: A POLKA DOT JUMPSUIT ( !!! )
Goal: Closet Minimalism
Hobby: Letterpress ( obvs )
Nephew: This punkin'

"My dream is to walk around the world. A smallish backpack, all essentials neatly in place. A camera. A notebook. A traveling paint set. A hat. Good shoes. A nice pleated (green?) skirt for the occasional seaside hotel afternoon dance." Maira Kalman

Published by Holly Whittlef in hand-lettering, life

December 16, 2015 — Comments are off for this post.

Oh, Ladycakes

It's been awhile since I've shown any design work, but I'm happy to have FINALLY squeezed in a blog post during the crazy holiday season to show off the new Oh, Ladycakes!

When Ashlae first emailed me about designing her new logo, I was excited not only because I've been following her blog for a long time and want to eat every single vegan thing she makes, but because the lady has serious style. As evidenced by her drop dead amazing wedding dress ( le swoon ), Ashlae has impeccable taste. She's also sassy, wicked smart and an avid traveler, so I had a sneaky feeling we'd get along just fine.

Over the past few months, we've been working on this hand-lettered logo to show off her new website ( developed by Alex, with some styling help from me ). The final result is clean + modern, yet quirky + stylish... and I LOVE IT. Then we spent hours texting back and forth about typeface choices for the website, and that's when I knew I had to make her my friend IRL. I swear to you, people who care about good typography are the best kind of people.

I've included a few of the logo drafts that didn't make the cut below. As you can see, we were going for hand-lettering that felt organic + quirky, but easily readable. I still love the first option below. The swoop from the d to the y, coupled with that loopy k... gah, I love letters.

top two photos by Oh, Ladycakes / bottom photo by Ali V.

Published by Holly Whittlef in Design, hand-lettering

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