chevron

This evening I was inspired to draw a little chevron pattern design with chalk on my cabinet. I think it turned out pretty nice.

restore

I just finished watching Restore. You can read more about it here and watch the trailer:

I really hope you can take some time to watch each part of the Restore series. This will change your outlook on outreach. I promise.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

I'm not going to write a big long post to explain Restore to you, but I would like to share a little about how the series spoke to me.

Part 1 made me uncomfortable. Sam and I are new in our marriage and in our quest to advance the Kingdom of God through myfaithmark, but I believe maybe we have fallen short. I can look back on some of our local good efforts that remind me of "Joe" and it makes me sad.

I can also look back on some of our efforts in India that look a lot more like what Restore is all about, but at the same time I'm so extremely challenged to do better. We need to do better and do more.

I want to bless people, build them up, and connect with them. I don't want to hurt their sense of self worth through my ideas of what helping looks like. I want to learn. I want to ask what and how we can help. I'm not perfect and I don't have all of the solutions. I believe that as I open my eyes to the hurts of this world God will make a way for me to make a difference for Him. In the meantime here are my prayers:

God help me to see people as you see them.

God help me to recognize that we are all broken and need You.

God help me to be better at relationships.

God help me to have a new perspective on ways of helping others.

God I want to live a missions lifestyle.

-Amy-

relax

I'm so thankful for the evening I have had. My husband took care of dinner, I watered the garden, played with my dog, and sat down to relax. Doodled up this little sketch. Man...pen and paper is the magic relaxation tool! I feel creatively recharged.

my design stool

This May, I will have 6 years of Oklahoma City graphic design behind me! Woo! If you have worked with me you would know that I have a few quirks and routines.

I like to:

• come into work early
• have my coffee blonde and sweet like me
• blast some tunes until everyone else gets there
• wear headphones when I'm not the only one in the office
• keep my desk neat, clean, and even my desk items aligned
• track my hours like a crazy woman
• keep notes filed away nicely
• sketch/doodle my heart out
• keep my computer desktop clean
• keep my computer files organized and filed away on the server
• note my schedule on the calendar or WebKit

Nothing too weird right? Well of course not. Ah...there is one last routine or habit really...that's my stool. For all the years I have been a designer I have had the same stool under my feet. You may be thinking, "Why in the world is she writing an entire blog about her stool?", but this little stool is my design helper. It's important.

I didn't realize how big of a habit I had for putting my feet on this stool, under my desk, until we moved the office around and I didn't have very much room for the stool since my desk was not as deep. I tried for a day, ok maybe a half day, to not use my stool. I couldn't stand it! I needed my helper. I somehow made room by adjusting my chair or the way I sit in my chair. I'm not really sure, but I am sure that my stool found its way back under my feet.

I have developed a routine and need for my stool. This was once again made clear to me when a few weeks ago bad weather was predicted. I decided to take my work home with me in case I got snowed in. Guess who came home with me too? My stool. This is a lovely heart warming story and all, but the problem was when we did not get snowed in to the house. I headed in to work forgetting my stool! That day I didn't think I would be able to create anything worth using without it. Every time I reached for my stool with my feet I cringed. I called Sam asking him to bring the stool to my work, but he couldn't. So I got desperate. I found a box and used it in place of my stool. Success, well kind of. I used the box for a day or two and my coworkers even started to tease me about the box saying it was my "hobo box", but I didn't care. The box crushed slowly under my feet until I could get my act together and remember my stool from home. When I brought my stool to the office I was back to rocking creatively at my desk and the world was good again.

I know this blog may seem a bit silly to some of you even though I keep telling you it's importation, and maybe it is a little silly to love a stool so much. I'm sorry this little chunk of wood makes me comfortable. It's like my design blanket. Hey...whatever it takes right?

2 years old

 amyellacreative is 2 years old.

I'm kind of excited to be writing a blog on my 2 year old website. So much has changed in the past 2 years. Here are some of the highlights:

• ran my second 1/2 marathon
• fell more in love with Jesus
• met the love of my life Sam
• remodeled the inside of my house
• married Sam and I'm now a mom to Kaitlynn
• got promoted to Back40 Design's Senior Graphic Designer
• started myfaithmark with Sam and visited India

amyellacreative

I remember when I wanted to create my very own website I was a bit intimidated with the idea, but every graphic designer needs a website! So here I am 2 years later and I really am enjoying hosting my small space on the world wide web. Here are some of my favorite blogs I've posted over the years:

• amyellacreative logo design process
• more than talent
• coed threads
• design hours logged
• india pics

I hope you are enjoying my website as much as I am. Please visit me anytime and be sure to leave your feedback, thoughts, and comments whenever you like.