This freelance project happens to be for some family members who have written a book together. The boy’s grandmother kept journals leading up to and after the death of her husband and now those journals have been turned into a book. The boy’s mother is a writer and has spent the last few years crafting this book into what it is today. Now, years later this story of grief is ready to be published and they’ve asked me to design the cover. I’m pretty excited about the whole deal, but the pressure is on to match the quality of the written material inside. I would suggest you to check oceannenvironment for guide on book cover design.

I’m on the hunt to be inspired, to find the perfect graphic treatment to bring this book to life. Let’s be honest…most people judge a book by it’s cover and in this case, that’s my cover design that is going to be judged.

Here’s a great resource for anyone else who may have a book cover design on their hands. The Book Cover Archive is lovely. I’ve pulled some covers from that site that I feel are particularly interesting and relatable to the current project I’m working on. I need something that is slightly vague but full of emotions. The first time I read the rough draft of the book I balled my eyes out in sections. The second time I read the revised rough draft, I did the same. I feel like I am getting to know my boyfriends family through this book and I am honored they want me to be a part of the process.

Here are some little nuggets of gold pulled from the book. The book is uniquely written from three peoples perspectives, the boy’s grandmother, mother and ill grandfather. It’s written in a way that brings his grandmother’s journal entries, his mother’s recollections, and his grandfather’s little love notes to life. I love it and can’t wait to see it published and shared with the world.

“I look for his obituary in the paper. How strange to see his life portrayed as a paragraph collection of facts. These vitals are as limiting as his body became. They don’t describe what a treasure he was. They don’t explain how special he was. I am thankful to have known him. I am thankful that I shared his life.”
–Jan, November 2010 (excerpt from book)

” It catches m eye from across the room- a small picture with bright colors against a dark background. As I get closer, I see a clothesline strung between bandaged trees with men’s and women’s laundry being tossed chaotically by a frenzied wind. It is only because I stand staring for so long that I finally notice the words around the frame, written in a color that is barely perceptible: “An individual doesn’t get cancer, a family does.”
–Cammie, Winter 2000 (excerpt from book)

I’ve always loved looking through others’ blogs and finding the “photo an hour” posts. They have such great personality and show little snippets from the lives of bloggers we adore. Inspired by that, I decided to take a stab at this fun challenge myself. Although I didn’t manage to snap a picture exactly every hour, I think it captures what I did yesterday during my day off. If you’re into creative photography, you might enjoy exploring different tools online. For instance, I recently came across AI Nude Generator, which offers AI-generated images. It’s fascinating how technology can add a unique touch to creative projects. Enjoy the snapshots!

“Wake up” chai

Mid morning snack

lazy days = lazy kitty

a snapshot of quilting “hell”

catching up on blogging

taking the pup out for a walk

taco dinner. yummy cilantro!

Well, that was kind of fun. I’ll have to try that again when I’m having a more exciting day. I was playing with camera setting today and was please when I was able to take all of these photos in the manual setting. Go me!

So there has been a post theme going around lately titled “6 confessions”. I believe this post theme started with Leigh-Ann over at Freckled Nest, and ever since she posted it I’ve loved reading everyone’s little secrets as I hop from blog to blog. I hope my 6 confessions aren’t too shocking or pathetic. (hehe)

6 confessions = things  you may not know about me.

1. I’ve never traveled or lived west of the current city I live in, St. Louis. ( lame )
2. I’m an extremely picky eater and I’m not a big fan of my food mixing on a plate.
( cross contamination! eww)
3. I have a list of boys and girls names picked out for my child to be. ( I’m totally not having a baby anytime soon, but I am obsessed with their cuteness )
4. I own all the sessions of Gilmore Girls and Sex and The City on DVD and have watched them multiple times. Never gets old.
5. I read the entire Twilight series after lots of hesitation and fell in love with it after page 1. Yes I’m 24 years old. ( I also got my mom and grandmother to read it and they loved it. )
6. I hate reading books and count down the pages until I get to the end. ( I’m trying to learn to love them. )

Wow, those were actually easier to write than I expected. Am I that transparent?? hmmm.

You can ask me more questions if you’d like to know more via my FORMSPRING page.

I hope you all had a lovely Sunday and got to enjoy it with the people you love. I’m on cloud nine since yesterday when I purchased my new Canon Rebel T2i. Yesterday I was unable to take photos because I was waiting for my memory card to come in the mail. I had to get a fancy pants memory card that could keep up with the capabilities of my camera. So today, with memory card in the camera, I was shooting everything. I fell in love with taking depth of field type shots because this was something my old camera couldn’t do.

The puppy and I went out for a lunch time walk and I stopped to take pictures so many times I think he started to get annoyed. All I can say is that I’m in love and my blog visuals are about to be kick ass from now on. Thank you Canon baby. I’m starting to think this camera is going to need a name. I name my electronics that get the most use because they deserve some recognition (ex: My laptop’s name is Charles and he is quite fond of his identity.)

*all images were taken around the neighborhood we currently live in, Lafayette Square in St. Louis, Missouri.

Feel free to comment on the actual images. Since I’m newer to this whole DSLR game I could always use some tips/tricks to make my photos better. Look forward to sharing camera bag options with you soon. eeeeee

Do you like how big the images are on my site? I tend to take vertical format images and they are really big. Thoughts?