Archive for the ‘organization’ Category

Back on Track

I guess I’ve been M.I.A. for long enough.  The busyness of summer has worn off somewhat, leaving more time for old hobbies.  So here goes another blog entry.

My latest project these days is wedding programs for a woman who works with my brother (he recommending my services – gotta love family).  She has a fall theme centered around “dusty roses” and “raisin”  and “pink heather.”  (I thought “heather” belonged to the gray category?)  It’s a very subtle color palette and not to mention sophisticated.  I wouldn’t've chosen it myself, but it definitely works.  I’ll post some pictures when they’re finished later this week.

Part of my absence was also due to job hunting.  Went to a whole bunch of interviews and finally got offered an intern position at Northern Virginia Magazine.  It’s not paid, but I need it to finish my degree.  So far it’s been a lot of fun.  Great atmosphere, great people, I fit in pretty well…for an intern.  Plus, I’m actually doing graphic design, which I not only love to do but I’m also good at it.  That’s a big thing for me considering how I’ve been stuck at summers jobs doing work for accountants and attorneys or worse — cashier (shudder) — where I had no idea what I was doing or I could have really cared less about what I was doing.  Those jobs reminded me how much I missed sunlight and fresh air.  Working for the magazine, on the other hand, is as enjoyable to me as writing this blog.  I’m really glad I’m doing my internship here.

Oh, and I also interviewed at Gloster Furniture in South Boston, Virginia for marketing assistant.  If they had asked, I would’ve started working right then and there, haha.  I love everything about Gloster from their furniture to their catalogs to their website.  However, I may have been experienced enough for that job right out of college.  It’d be a big undertaking as my first job, but I’m so willing to hit the ground running and learning as I go.  And I’m not just saying all this because there’s a posibility that they’ll see this — my interview already checked out my blog once — I really am sincere.  I’d move to South Boston, VA in a heartbeat to work there.

Let’s see, what else… Since moving back home after graduation, I’ve been occupied with the ongoing process of consolidating all my old stuff with all the new stuff I accrued over for years at Tech.  The tricky part that I made as a rule for myself is that I’m not allowed to put anything in the dark abyss that is the basement.  That means I have a very motivating factor to organize my room and throw things out or sell them or whatever.  It’s like cleaning my room from the inside out.  It’s exhausting yet refreshing at the same time — I highly recommend it.

Okay, this is getting too much like a diary than a graphic design blog.  I’ll get back to the original point of this blog now.

Don’t Pay for Organization

If you’re like me, you go nuts about superbly organized studios/home offices/workplaces.  You never get tired of looking through Ikea, Pottery Barn and similar catalogs.  You constantly look around your workspace and wonder how you could rearrange it.  Your favorite isle at Target is the Tubberware bin and Sterilite drawers isle.  Yeah, you know what I’m talking about.

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Souce: home-designing.com

Alright, so some of my old standbys for inspiration are Pottery Barn, Ikea, The Container Store and Crate & Barrel.  But the thing with those places is that you need money… which I don’t have.  So I’m trying to think of ways to make an organized home office using materials I already have.  At school I made a desk out of an old flat panel door with file cabinets as legs (no tools required!).  I stored anything I could in cardboard boxes (i.e. shoe boxes, tissue boxes, cereal boxes, etc.  I mean, I’m already paying for the box, why not put it to work once the product is gone?)  I just found this on HGTV.com — using vegetable cans as containers.  I used one of those hanging shoe organizers for things like gloves, scarves, and hats when the weather was warm.  It just takes a little bit of thought, and it’s beats spending more money.  The only down side really is that it doesn’t look all that glamorous.  For example, you won’t feel too professional when you have a Cheerios box on your desk.  So I started covering that kind of thing with one of the following: old craft paint I wasn’t planning on using ever again; I keep my old jeans and use the fabric to give something else a face lift; newspaper for a vintage look (usually the free campus paper); and if I had time, I might cut images out of some old magazines and pasted them over the boxes for a more custom/personalized look.

So I guess what my point is, you don’t need a pretty box with Martha Stewart’s name on it to store all your art supplies.  You already have everything you need to organize yourself if you take the time.  Plus, it’s free!