Kicking off the "making life about life initiative" . . .

Random fact #1: I started a short-lived business in 2nd grade, and I even designed my own logo for it!

I created and sold little paper products to classmates; I would cut paper, draw and color designs, and staple my creations into either note pads, address books, or little purses with paper handles (my favorite!!) And the only reason I stopped my business, is because my teacher made me. Go figure.

So for your viewing pleasure, I dug around in my storage bins to see what I could find to share, and though I couldn't find any of those 7 year-old pieces, I did find a take on a "slam book" I made when I was 10, but sweeter than what traditional slam books were. So here's an idea of what some of those products probably looked like.

random fact friday (intro)

I have a new found desire and am beginning an initiative to "make life more about life."

A few weeks ago, I found myself in a room meeting new people in a new small group. We were making introductions and were asked to share our name, occupation, how long we'd attended our church, and something interesting about ourselves. Well . . . surprisingly to me, it seemed that a LOT of the people there either struggled to come up with something interesting OR flat out said they didn't have anything interesting to share.

random fact fridayParapalla Design ShoppeMarch 7, 2014life about life.Comment

you're so fly.

So here's the thing . . . I love fun, and I love to laugh . . . a LOT. And these flat note cards and square images below were born out of those two very things!

My sweet friend, Mattye, (who is launching her new blog/site today, btw, the lovingkind — check it out!), randomly used the word "fly" to describe something one night. Well, we laughed about it at first, and the next thing you know, those creative brainstorming "what if" juices were flowing, and wah-lah!! Printable notecards with a new favorite phrase that makes me smile each time I see it, and images for you to save, pin, or share with anyone that you also think is "so fly." ;)

printablesParapalla Design ShoppeFebruary 14, 2014Comment

a slightly snowphobic southerner

In light of the recent southern shutdown due to snowpocalypse 2014, (and living in Birmingham), I've been in many conversations with co-workers about my recent self-awareness of now being somewhat afraid of snow . . . especially after we were stranded overnight at work two weeks ago.

Talking to my dear friend, Heather, this morning, I told her I was now "snowphobic", which she thought was kind of funny and wanted to know what the technical word for what the fear of snow was. So in our Google searching, we discovered "chionophobia" is the fear of snow.

And we just thought a graphic would be appropriate (and fun!). Here's to hoping for no more shutdowns!

generalParapalla Design ShoppeFebruary 10, 2014Comment

the irony of waiting

On Facebook last week, I shared this photo below that a friend had posted, along with my thoughts on it. After I posted it, I got to thinking that even though it wasn't directly design-related, I'd like to share it here too. I've been struggling to figure out what to blog about in general, and after writing this, I thought, maybe I'll just post whatever makes sense to me, and go from there :)

My friend shared this verse with it as well, "Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He will strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord." Psalm 27:14

my thoughts, faithParapalla Design ShoppeFebruary 9, 2014inspirationComment

paint can inspired trick-or-treatin'

Well in anticipation of the holiday this week, I thought I'd add a seasonal project I worked on for school back in the spring of 2012.

The official project was to "reinvent time" . . . and I tend to describe it as creating “abstract time.” We were asked to select an event with a clear start and end time and then illustrate what happens during that event without using actual measurements of time. Instead, we had to use objects as measurements of time ( . . . abstract, right?? I think our whole class had a hard time getting our heads around this one at first!) Oh, and this all had to be illustrated on an actual object that would naturally connect to the event.

designsParapalla Design ShoppeOctober 30, 2013Comment

happy October 23rd! happy launch day!

Yay!!!! There's definitely plenty more to be added, but I am SO happy to have at least a few samples of some of my work out here, by my launch accountability date/favorite day, October 23rd! :) It's a sure bet that on the 23rd of each October, I'll do something special for fans and friends, so it'll be fun all around.

generalParapalla Design ShoppeOctober 23, 2013october 23, launch, greetingsComment

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