Remember how my friend Nicole let me redesign her logo and banner over at her blog? Well, another brave soul asked me to redesign the WHOLE of her blog. I so enjoyed working with Dawn and her fun family blog, Dawn's Cottage Corner. She was very patient with me and had a good idea of what she wanted, creating a Pinterest inspiration board with design elements she admired.

As you know, I have next to no professional design skills, but I'm somewhat skilled at faking it. :)

I used the "Simple" template on Blogger and just customized fonts, accents, colours and images.

Anyway, pop over to Dawn's blog and give her a nice hello. Thanks for letting me work with you, Dawn!

Click on my Writing & Design page to view more of my freelance work.

Christmas cards for the indecisive with Minted

I am notoriously indecisive. My husband can attest to the amount of time it takes me to choose between different options of mild cheddar cheese in the grocery-store dairy aisle. I weigh everything, and then I second guess my first, second and third instinct until an hour later I'm paralyzed by price per kilo and I grab three packages of string cheese and head for home.

So yeah, it's kind of an issue. Especially when it comes to design and even more so when it comes to Christmas cards. I want to be whimsical, yet organic; fun, yet elegant; timely, yet timeless. But most of all I want our family Christmas cards to be unique: a snapshot-peek into the values of our family and the importance of the season.

One might think perusing holiday card options over at Minted would put my indecision into hyperactive overdrive. I mean, really:




I wish I had designed this card. I also wish my children would sit this sweetly together for any length of time. This picture of my own children may not look so amazing with a Minted design, though it would at least improve it:

Remember our peace experiment? Calm-ish seems about right.

And not only are the designs beautiful, but I was surprised to discover Minted also gives you the option to personalize cards with different paper, borders or colours. They also have plenty of non-photo cards to choose from as well. This is so much better than perusing the Christmas card aisle in Target during this crazy shopping season. Oh, and they offer free envelope addressing.

My usual default to indecision is overpowered by the knowledge that the perfect design for sharing Christmas cheer from the Emerald Isle is in this batch of offerings. For our family, we're not looking for flash or loads of fonts. We want something that says, We miss you. Wish you were here.

And I love the ethos behind Minted:

Our mission is to find exceptional artists and designers all over the world and bring their work to consumers who appreciate great design.

So check out the selections at Minted if you're interested in trying something a little different for your holiday cards. Sadly, compliant children not included.

What say you? Do you send out Christmas cards? Photo cards? E-cards? 

Disclosure: this post is sponsored by Minted. I'm happy to partner with them because I value good design and supporting artists. The views expressed here are entirely my own. Visit my advertising page for more information.

Blogkeeping (or Housekeeping for the Blog)

Hey friends! Quick Saturday post to share a few things with you.

1) The sun has been out for like 3 days straight, in keeping with the time change here in Ireland known as Irish Summer Time. I just hung out laundry for the second time this week! True story.

2) I'm still slowly stumbling through the blog design e-course and while I am loving the process, I'm so impatient to implement changes to the blog in style and format. Thank you for being patient with me as I write randomly, change up the layout frequently, and post sporadically.

3) The most beautiful thing I read all week: You are as Valuable as the Orphan by Amber C Haines. Read. It.

4) I can't remember number 4. If you're so inclined, you can meet me over on Facebook. I've got a wee page with some loyal friends (and if you have already "liked" it but aren't seeing my posts, make sure you click "Show in News Feed" under the like button).

5) I'm contemplating writing a post and/or series on parenting a child with low confidence, anxiety or fear issues. Me and a number of my friends have one (mostly boys, surprisingly) and I'd love to hear your story if you find yourself coping (or not coping) with this. You can comment here or email me at karenohuber (a) gmail (dot) com

6) This weekend marks 3 months back in Ireland. While I miss my friends, my sisters, this awesome musical festival happening in Kansas City this weekend, and our church families, I'm so thankful to be here. Thank you for coming with me.

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What's on your mind this weekend? Big plans?

Sometimes I design

In my previous incarnation I was a lowly amateur graphic designer, meaning I whipped together church bulletins, logos, business cards, the occasional HIPAA manual and a really colourful U2 fansite (don't judge). I freelanced, emphasis on free, and today still enjoy doing a few small projects here and there for my friends (and my mom).

I am a total photoshop novice (even though we've had it on our computer for ages, I find it overwhelming and never seem to find the time to take a proper class or tutorial on it), so the majority of my design work is done in MS Word for Mac. Yep. Lame. But that's how I roll. And my friends don't seem to mind as you know, it's free. :)



My best lady friend, Nicole, whom you've all gotten the chance to know and love, has a fantastic user-friendly blog on living naturally. Nicole's on her own journey towards finding the diet, lifestyle, and home that suits her and her brood of boys best, and I love seeing what she comes up with. I often pick her brain on what she's cleaning with this week or how her garden thrives under harsh boy conditions. And when she gave up wheat, I knew I needed to empower her decision with a new look.



The overall look - and idea - of Nicole's blog is clean, simple and natural, like her. I hope you'll pop over and say hello and even try a recipe or two. Yesterday I tried her apple (or pear) sauce and it was a hit. And if I - being so culinarily challenged - can do it, anyone can. Also check out her reviews! This girl inhales books like no other. I should know... she makes me read almost all of them.

Helping Nicole has inspired me, too. I'm currently enjoying the Blog (Design) Love e-course offered through A Beautiful Mess, and while it's taking me more time than I realized, it's so much fun and totally worth it. I can't wait to show you the end result... whatever that ends up being.

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Do you have an hidden talent on the side? What is your creative outlet?

Happy Friday Autumn Eve!

So, as you can see, I maybe redesigned the blog a little bit. Still not entirely sure I'm happy with it, but when I get stressed, I procrastinate. And when I procrastinate, I mess with design stuff. Turns out, graphic design has changed a lot in the, oh, 11 YEARS(!!!) since I graduated college. Thankfully the paste and cut shortcut buttons remain the same.

Let me know what you think. Anything else you want to the see on the blog? Not a fan of the colours? Does the background make you dizzy? (I picked it specifically because it reminded me of our bathroom floor tiles in our first Chicago apartment. Strange, much?)

Oh, and tomorrow AUTUMN arrives! And then it's October! And then I may or may not be participating in the 31 Days of... challenge again. I'm fine-tuning some things, but I'll give you a hint as to what it might look like:

Happy Friday Autumn Eve, everybody! How are you celebrating?