Beach House. Le Mer. Packaging. Book Binding. :sigh:

Four things I have been doing non stop this past week.

And I wouldn't want to spend my time any other way.

I just love....

Fall. I love this weather. I love the changing of the trees. I love pumpkin spice lattes. I love all the love in the air. I love the sweet music thats seems to fit the changing of the season so perfectly.

BUT most of all I LOVE THE FASHION.

I'd die if I was in New York right now. I think the best assesories a girl can have are:

1. a pair of KILLER boots. (heels, flats, studs, knee high, short....they are ALL fabulous)
2. a cozy scarf (I wear these year round...my friends make fun of me.)
3. and a bomb diggity watch. ( I totally believe in spending a lil dough in this department)

When I'm not doing my usual design or music stuff, Im surfing the web, finding fabulous deals at boutiques all over.

I discovered the Le Mer Collections this summer and fell in watch HEAVEN.
Im hoping to get my hands on one soon.

If I had a boyfriend, Id MAKE him buy this for me. How gorgeous is it.

They give you the option of customizing your own watch if you'd like so I went ahead and did!

Its very similar to the other two chain watches except the brass knuckles are gold, not silver.

I think I like this better.

This week has also been filled with LOTS of design work.

School is the craziest its EVER been but Im enjoying myself.

I always thought I knew exaclty what I wanted to do in life but the more time I spend in my corporate identity class, the more I fall.

I sought out some local letter press artists (? is that what you call them??) and bought myself an Embossing Tool and plan on purchasing some screens for printmaking so I can start producing all my packaging work!

Im just so excited!

The paper source had a really great selection of Kits and Tools as well as DIY videos!

Check them out HERE.

I also ran across some DIY for plate engraving so I can do my own letterpressing!

I will post soon all my sources and videos soon!

Till we talk again.

Happy Fall AND

Happy treats, no tricks!

Le Vie Est Belle.

Monyka <3

Image of the week:

My new identity.

What do we think???

Mmmm packaging...

I am just IN love with you.

Its true, Im completely obsessed with brand identity/packaging right now.

A normal person would go out to eat and marvel over their tasty delights and drinks but ME... I study the menu, the napkins, the architecture of the place, the interior design, their business cards, the music playing... everything.

I just LOVE it all.

I find it funny because I've always been a visual person but just a few years ago I wasn't familiar with the term "packaging".
I knew I liked it but didn't really understand the depths of corporate identity or how thought out it really is.

The idea of branding something from ground up is so exciting and FUN but a TON of work.
When rebranding or creating an identity a serious amount of research is required.
Demographics are studied, as well as boring annual report stuff BUT its important to understand your consumer and the best ways to reach them.
Plus, whether designers like to hear it or not, design = business.

I hope that I can retire young, open a cute boutique type of place (with my hopefully awesome husband) and brand the HELL out of it.

I can't wait:)

Thanks to the dieline.com and lovelypackaging.com I've had some really good source images to refer back to when I'm in deep brainstorm mode and thought I would share some of my favorite discoveries.

Enjoy!

Till we talk again.

Le Vie Est Belle.

<3>

In 7 week, 2 days and a few hours

I will be setting up for my Senior Exit Review Show and THUS have neglected by blogging duties....

(BUT who am I kidding, I suck at blogging anyhow, Im trying to do better though I swear..)

Since we last talked...

1. I turned 23

2. Scored a new internship as a Creative and got my first idea/concept picked up (ayiayaiayi)

3. Went to ACL

BE jealous. I saw....

- Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

- Beach House

- The Morning Benders

- The Black Keys

- Spoon

- Phish

- Temper Trap

-Vampire Weekend

- Local Natives

- M.I.A

- Deadmau5

- LCD Soundsystem

- Muse

-Yeasayer

- The Flaming Lips

- Cage the Elephant { my friends choice but they were good }

AND - The Eagles

4. Fallen in love with identity even more thanks to this little sweet discovery <www.thedieline.com >

5. Took Bella to reunite with her papa (made me happy, happy)

6. Started the GRAD school hunt (VRC is numba one)

7. Ordered sweet sweet paperrr from Clamppit! (so excited, order here...www.clampitt.com)

8. Got in shape, got out of shape, got in shape, then out and finally decided to get on it and stay on it by registering for the LIVESTRONG challenge (what, what...:))

9. hmmmm....not sure what else

10. Oh and what I havent done...SLEPT.

Thats all for now.

A real blog post with actual interesting and inspiration stuff will come soon, I promise.

Till we talk again,

La Vie Est Belle.

Monica

(one of the reasons I love my field of work - Fashion freedom)

Hi, my name is Monica and I have an addiction...

Its true, I am a complete music junkie.

At all times of the day, no matter where I am, I'm probably stalking some music blog or jamming some new tunes via Carrie (my car), my ipod, or phone.

( I love live music so much that I've actually ventured to some shows SOLO just because I didn't want to miss them and ended up meeting some awesome people who I'm still friends with. Chester French and Kid Cudi in NYC are just two examples.)

Music and (more recently) film have become a serious inspiration for me while working....

I can spend hours stalking blogs and forums and downloading new stuff to watch and dance to, its almost become a problem.

But a good problem, of course =)

For your viewing and listening pleasure here are some FANTASTIC movies to check out (VERY inspirational) and some jams that I'm obsessing over.

THE GENIUS OF DESIGN

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTgwNDQ2MzYw.html

(sorry I couldnt find it on Youtube)

HELEVTICA

An oldie but such a GOODIE =)

OBJECTIFIED

http://www.objectifiedfilm.com/

Sweet product and industrial design

ART&COPY

http://www.artandcopyfilm.com/

We watched this movie in class the other day and I loved it a little more even though I'd already seen it 4 times. I just LOVE advertising and all the amazing people that live within it. Its a must watch!

URBANIZED

http://www.objectifiedfilm.com/blog/the-next-film-urbanized/

I can't WAIT till this comes out. Check out the URL for more info.

Muscia:Musica:Musica:Musica:Musica:Musica:Musica:Musica

NazcarNation - Beeswax

http://nazcarnation.com/

(they are fairly new, so no videos..poop)

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Home

Broken Social Scene - World Sick

Casio Kids - Finn Bikkjen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW_t_m-5w1Q&ob=av2n

(offical video)

The Octopus Project - Mmaj

Drake and Coldplay

Jonsi- Time to Pretend Cover

Pearl Jam - Yellow Ledbetter

(not new but I've been listening to it a lot lately)

Ray Lamontagne - Hold you in my arms

(I love what he says in the begining. "Its a crazy world, I dont understand it. Im just aware of it." )

Stornoway - Fuel Up

Sigur Ros - Heima Trailer

She and Him - Why do you let me stay here

(I just LOVE this dance sequence and overall video)

I could go on forever but thats all for now.

Hope this inspires!

Till we talk again.

La Vie Est Belle.

Tell me what you know about dreaming...

My goodness its been about a million hours and a hundred days since we last spoke.

I didn't want to start this post off with an apology (since I have a whopping 4 followers) but instead with a ,"Hey, mucho, mucho has happened and its time to catch up. Yes?"

So...lets catch up.

In the last few months my life has been a roller coaster of events.

Some good, some not so good, some fun, some not so fun, some bittersweet....you know.:)

Ive shot my first REAL commercial, wrapped up a photo thesis I'd been working on for four semesters, parted ways with my spring internship, and got through 3 VERY long summer courses.

In the midst of all of that I attended 8 graduations, said goodbye to a handful of PHENOMENAL friends, and finally got in some sweet summa summa lake time.

It seems as though I'm worlds apart from where I was in April and where I am now.

Ive been inspired (even a little envious at times) and inspired and inspired oh, and inspired. :)

I was fortunate enough to cross paths with a short film by Spike Jonze and fell completely in love.

Now, this is going to sound EXTREMELY cheesy and cliche but as the film came to an end and I wiped the tears that seemed never ending I couldn't help but be happy.

Happy because it was amazing?

Well, yes...but happy because it was so beautiful and I can NOT wait to do something as grand as it.

You must take a look for yourself.

Get ready to marvel over some greatness.

The story is sweet, the soundtrack is bomb and the shots are just beautiful.

http://www.imheremovie.com/

Hmmm...alrighty, on to the next thing.

Within the last several days I've had the chance to share my work with some great and very creative minds.

I got some "Wow's, this is great..", some, "Lets rethink this..." and some, "no, lets not rethink this, lets move on".

What can I say, you've got to take the good with the bad and I am very lucky to have that feedback.

However, I wouldn't have this feedback if it weren't for organizations like AD2ATX.

AD2ATX "is an affiliate of the Austin Ad Fed and the American Advertising Federation (AAF), and a community of advertising professionals, students, and enthusiasts ages 32 and under looking to progress their careers, share their knowledge."

They host events that gather creative heads for some advertising banter and to just "have a damn good time" as they like to say...

If in the area and interested in meeting new fun people, I would definitely recommend attending these events...take a looksie.

http://ad2atx.com/

On to some GREATER things...

In the last four months I've also been challenged within my work but in my personal life as well.

I've faced not so great news, then good news, then not so great and NOW...

Ahhhh now I'm as happy as I've EVER been.

I watched Eat.Pray.Love today and walked out as happy as a five year old in a candy store.

Life throws you curve balls but you just got to learn to take it.

Some days are good, some are bad but REALLY how bad can it get.

Fall in love with something.

Fall in love with life.

Thats what I've been doing these days.

Ah and I cant wait to share again....

In the mean time here are peektures of some recent work and some finds that I just love.

Dust Jacket for Katherine Dunn's "Geek Love"

Editorial Spread for Science News

Digi Pack Design For John Cage's, In a Landscape album

Inside Spread

Left Panel, Back Side and Front Cover

(pretend that left panel is typeset with zero hyphens:) my indesign file was giving me troubles while uploading)

Insert front and back

Inside of insert

Some inspiration I've run across =)

(so true)

Creative business cards.

I heart, heart, heart.

ahhhh. I love.

yummy wood.

How awesome is this....

And on to something COMPLETELY different...

I've been stalking a few wedding blogs lately (I'm a new MOH....and have wedding FEVA)

and have come across some really creative fun stuff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIPqowwgyxM&feature=player_embedded

(I shot a stop motion video last year and this reminded me of it! Its so fun!)

And of course all of this was done while listening to some great new tunes.

I recently discovered these covers from Lissie and I WANT to be her.

She's a girl bad ass, I'm convinced.

Thats all for now.

I heart you allll.

Keep creating.

Till we talk again.

La Vie Est Belle.