{FREE movies in downtown holly...whaaaaa?}

That's right, FREE movies in downtown Holly!

The Holly DDA along with the Holly Area Community Coalition are co-sponsoring SEVERAL movie nights this summer. We'll kick off the movie nights on Saturday July 24th with E.T. Movies will start around dusk so pack your lawn chairs & blankets and get downtown early to save your seats! Concessions will also be sold.

Mark you calendars for these future showings.......

august 7th - Bee Movie

august 21st - Breakfast at Tiffany's

september 4th - Love Bug

october 9th - Wizard of Oz

Hope to see everyone there!

{happy fourth!}

I love vintage posters. The risque poses, the double entendres, the color, the text - they're just brilliant. So what's a better way to celebrate the 4th of July than with a little sass & humor?

{FREE eco-friendly holly bag}

Join us in Downtown Holly this Friday from 5-9pm and the first 300 guests to visit the DDA table {in front of the Village Offices, if it's raining it will be in the studio} will receive a FREE eco-friendly Holly bag full of special offers from over 30 local participating businesses!

{here's the bag}

{I also designed the bags...simple & cute!}

{our community is growing}

I am so happy for my friends Nicole & Kris Kilpatrick, they are opening an upscale children's consignment shop in downtown Holly at 109 Battle Alley. I first met Nicole & Kris when they came into the studio and I had the opportunity to photograph their beautiful family. And as it seems to happen more & more often we became friends, so when Nicole mentioned her desire to open the shop I couldn't help myself I had to recommend Holly, (and by recommend I mean I dragged her around the corner to show her that very minute the building I had in mind). Her vision of an upscale childrens consignment shop was too perfect to not be in our gorgeous downtown. It's a beautiful old building full of charm. Originally it was a bank & still has the old vault, original hard wood floors & gorgeous wood trim. I've been trying to help in any way I can so I offered to design her logo. I'm really happy with it, it's young, modern, sophisticated & classy. I can't wait to see the changes Nicole has planned, it will be stunning!

Nicole will be in the shop accepting spring and summer clothing on Thursday January 21st and Friday January 22nd from 11-7. She will be offering the co-signers a 60/40 split. If you have any questions please feel free to call at 810-210-7668 & until their site gets up & going you can check them out on facebook by searching 'morgans boutique'

Morgan's Boutique is going to be such a hit & a fantastic addition to the Downtown Holly community. Their grand opening will by Friday February 12th.

So welcome, welcome, welcome!

Here are a few pics of the building before.......

{christmas cards} -michigan graphic designer-

It's finally beginning to feel like Christmas, there's snow on the ground & I have most, well maybe not most but some of my shopping done (trying to be optimistic). So I'd thought I'd share a couple of cards I designed for this year. Leo's photo is from his first birthday party, I got some great shots that day. And it's become tradition to photograph my sister & brother-in-law every Christmas, (& their dog Weezy of course) we try to mix it up & do something new each year. If you can't enlarge their card, Weezy's shirt has an image of a gingerbread cookie with a bite taken out of it's leg & written above & below is 'bite me', nice holiday message huh?

Hope everyone is taking the time to slow down & enjoy the holidays, I think I'm about there.

{dickens festival} -michigan graphic designer-

The Friday after Thanksgiving begins Holly's annual Dickens Festival. This year looks to be a lot of {free} fun! Visit the official site here for all the details, dates & times.

We have several on-going fundraisers during the festival one I helped out with is this commemorative Christmas ornament, I designed the image & I think they turned out great! It's similar to this years logo I also designed (we're all still working on that continuity thing)....They are available for purchase at most fine Holly retailers for only $5.00! All of the proceeds from the sale will go to the Dickens festival.

***don't forget to watch good morning america friday nov. 27th at 7:58 am for our shout out!***

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

{billboard} -michigan graphic designer-

The DDA & the downtown merchants have been working together to brand Holly & maintain some consistency with the logos, images & etc we all use to promote Holly. Our latest venture is a billboard on I-75.... I am so happy & of proud of this design I came up with....I have one of my photos & designs on I-75, isn't that cool?

Getting this shot wasn't easy.....I received some very strange looks while was walking down 75 with my camera.....

{here's the sign in better detail}

So be sure to look for it when you're driving I-75 south between N.Holly Rd & Dixie Hwy (it's on the north bound side facing south bound traffic)

{gma shoot}

Abc 12 was here today to film our 'shout out' for Good Morning America that will air Friday November 27th....There was a great turn out & beautiful weather (finally, we've had no fall).

I designed these banners last week with a photo I took of Battle Alley in the winter with the trees decorated with christmas lights.....hope they show up well on GMA......

My friend Monica is a teacher at Holly Elementary & her students participated, they were so well behaved....

The girls from Ethos & Elements were out....

they recorded our greeting from the 2nd floor of the Village offices. All in all I think it went pretty well, can't wait to see it air (november 27th, the day after thanksgiving), set your dvr's.

{holly merchants logo} -michigan graphic designer-

Several downtown Holly merchants have joined together for some group advertising. Our first will be a commercial that will run at the the Trillium Theater in Grand Blanc before the start of the movies. The studio is participating and to help further I also designed the logo & offered the use of one of my photos. Check out our ad, produced by Dan Joblanski here. Dan along with his wife Holly own the Holly Candle Shoppe (right next to the studio), they have wonderful hand poured soy candles. holly candle shoppe

{happy birthday leo} -michigan graphic designer-

A friends baby, Leo is turning 1 on may 31st. and this is the invite I designed for his "SUPER SILLY FIESTA". Leo's mom purchased some very cute little rubber duckies carrying maracas to decorate with & I thought this invite would go nicely......

{ yummy in my tummy..........& yours too! } -michigan graphic designer-

Designed this logo for my friend Jamie's catering business. She is a fabulous cook & she's rocking her skills for Ladies Night Out Friday May 8th from 5-9pm by supplying some great treats for you & me in the studio. Stop by for lots of fun & to enter to win FREE goodies!!!

{ DDA & Village events } -michigan graphic designer-

Friday May 8th from 5pm-9pm downtown Holly will host our bi-annual Ladies Night Out - the stores downtown stay open later & offer great specials & giveaways.

Double Chin catering will be in the studio for the evening providing some very yummy treats and............. we'll be offering *25% off any one commission for our guests {weddings included!}.

See you Friday May 8th!!!

*some restrictions apply contact studio for details

this is a little something I designed for LNO.......

{ poster }

{ postcard front }

{ postcard back }

And this is the new logo I designed for the Dickens Festival 2009...............

UGGGHHHHH!

outside

Finally finished the Architectural Walking Map for the DDA today,

I'm pretty happy with it. It will be printed as a tri-fold brochure &

available for FREE at the Village Offices for anyone interested.

What a day though, it would have been finished a couple of hours ago

if the power hadn't gone off for some ungodly reason this afternoon

at the studio. It came right back on - but not before my pc turned off

without saving any of my work!!!

.........lesson learned save your work as you go!inside