freebies // The 2013 Designer Calendar

Happy New Year everyone!!!

As promised yesterday, I've got a nice gift for you that will last all year long {giggles}. Continue reading to unwrap it :)

Back on early December, Jacqueline Auvigne, a fellow designer and ABSPD friend, showcased calendars created by some of our other classmates. It was then that it all came to me: ask 11 designers to create with me a downloadable 2013 calendar to share with you all and to make every month happier, prettier and funner. Our 2013 Designer Calendar project was born.

Choosing which of my many fellow designers to invite to the project was hard… they are ALL great designers and I admire their work, so my only choice was to start making a list and ask the first 11 that came to my mind. All 11 of them were very eager and happy to participate in spite of the short notice.

Each of us got a month, the same colour palette (Pantone's 2013 Spring colours), and layout (horizontal). We were all then, free to design. As a result, we ended up with an eclectic calendar that reveals our own personal styles and backgrounds as designers. 

1 - 2

3 - 4 

5 - 6

7 - 8

9 - 10

11 - 12

1- MaJoBV 2- Tiffany Designs 3- Simi Gauba 4- Onneke 5- Little Tree Designs 6- JWL Illustration 

7- Dawn Clarkson 8- Kathryn Pledger Designs 9- Groovity Designs 10- Jookiku 11- Dreaming on a Star 12- Esther Cox Kiosk

The calendars are meant for you to download and print, and use to organise your family, work or personal routines. All calendars can be printed as big as an A3 format (42x29.7cm / 16.5x11.7in).

January was designed by me, and can now be downloaded by clicking here or clicking on the download link below the image. I hope you like it and add it to your lives ;)

download

Enjoy the day and start planning the great year we all have ahead!!!

life // and another year passed by...

PS. Please come back tomorrow morning for a nice (and first) 2013's gift ;)

mani sunday // half moon mani video-tutorial #6

2012's last Mani Sunday is a simple, easy and perfect mani for many occasions. You may choose it to end the year and begin the next one, or for next Valentine's, or a simple Friday party. Change the colours and you'll get a variety of new and exciting looks. 

Don't forget to visit and subscribe to the UrNails channel and leave a comment on the video page. Thanks!

!!! Remember: the UrNails gallery is for both you and me… start sharing your beautiful nails now! You can email them to me, or tweet them to @muymajobv or post them on Instagram using the hashtag #MJBVurnails and I'll be happy to upload them :)

life // from the bottom of my heart… I wish you all a

mani sunday // the surreal emerald mani video-tutorial #5

2013 is almost here and what better way to welcome it than decorating your nails with Pantone's color of the year? 

To create the layered effect I've used a DIY nail stickers technique that can be used to create many other designs. You just have to let your imagination go! I hope you like it and feel inspired by it :)

Don't forget to visit and subscribe to the UrNails channel and leave a comment on the video page. Thanks!

!!! Remember: the UrNails gallery is for both you and me… start sharing your beautiful nails now! You can email them to me, or tweet them to @muymajobv or post them on Instagram using the hashtag #MJBVurnails and I'll be happy to upload them :)

life // till tomorrow :)

I'm on my way home for the holidays. I'll be checking in here again tomorrow from the other side of the Atlantic. In the meanwhile here's a pic of where I'm waiting for my flight.

Can you guess?

mani sunday // christmas fun mani video-tutorial #4

I hope you are as excited as I am about Christmas. I think I've already told you like a thousand time, but I'll just say it again: IT IS MY FAVORITE HOLIDAAAAAAY!!! I know there are still 9 days for it to come, but I really wanted to give you all the time to get whatever you need to get this mani done. It's modern, fun (of course) and christmassy but not clichéd, so it will work perfectly for many other occasions, and it can also be done (and still be great) with many different color palettes (it's up to your imagination!). I really hope you like my Christmas Fun Mani and that it makes you want to sport it for the big day :)

Don't forget to visit and subscribe to the UrNails channel and leave a comment on the video page. Thanks!

!!! Remember: the UrNails gallery is for both you and me… start sharing your beautiful nails now! You can email them to me, or tweet them to @muymajobv or post them on Instagram using the hashtag #MJBVurnails and I'll be happy to upload them :)

 

around + about // christmassy

so christmassy :)

events // efuto drive

efuto: e = picture / futo = envelope (in japanese)

Gill Eggleston an ABSPD classmate and fellow designer proposed an efuto drive. So what is it exactly? (you might be thinking). Well… about 50 of other surface pattern designers from all around the world (including myself) signed up and commit to creating 2 hand-drawn envelopes; one to send to another participant and the other one to send back to Gill for another great project she's working on (a surface pattern designer directory which is still under construction). The idea is for all of us to share a piece of our work, and receive a beautiful piece of art from another colleague. 

Here is the efuto I created for my entry in the future directory:

I posted it to myself to get some real old-school postmarks on it, but it came back with a sort of neon barcode on the left bottom corner… I guess this is the modern version of post stamps?

The efuto below is the one I made and sent to Leska (here you can read what she thought about it):

some lettering to accompany her efuto:

and this is the gorgeous efuto I received from Melinda:

efuto by Melinda Martin Sebastian of Kissing Frogs Studio

Inside my efuto I found a lovely letter written by Melinda, a piece of cotton printed with her cute bird and two inspirational article fragments (I've highlighted my favourite parts): 

(top right) print from a carved linoleum block by Melinda Martin Sebastian of Kissing Frogs Studio

I really enjoyed this project, and discovered a hidden love for the classic snail mail. It's just thrilling to open the mailbox and find new and pretty envelopes!

around + about // geometry

news // surprise!

Yesterday I submitted the design above to the Tigerprint's Homepage Christmas Carousel, and woke up this morning to some great news! Graham, one of the Tigerprinters, invited me to join their newest project YouBlog: a place where designers like me get to (and I quote t'Tigerprinters now) "share ideas and thoughts with other like minded folk out there, show off what you're up to, share what you've seen, have discussions and generally feel part of the Tigerprint team".

I couldn't be any more happy and honored! I'm thrilled to be part of it and to be able to create interesting and inspiring content for all of you guys. I invite you to check my very first post, and then let me know what you think! :)

around + about // autumn nostalgia

Sorry I've missed a couple of blogging days… 

First I was in Madrid for the weekend with my mom, which by the way was fab!

I came back on Monday and had to work… so no time left. 

Yesterday I worked all day too, and for this month I won't have internet on my mobile phone, meaning I can't blog while on the bus :S

Anyway… I'm back and have one big surprise to share with you. Come back later to know all about it! 

mani sunday // candled night mani video-tutorial #3

Every December 7th, Colombians celebrate "El día de las velitas" (The Day of the Little Candles) as the unofficial start of the Christmas season. Everywhere in the ccountry, families light candles and paper lanterns and place them on their windows, streets, balconies and terraces. It is one of the most traditional holidays in the country, and both kids and adults enjoy it!

For today's mani, I wanted to share with you a little piece of my traditions. Christmas is my favorite holiday and I can't wait to celebrate it! I'm already counting the days (giggles).

Candled Night Mani is very easy to do, though the final result looks elaborate (but still modern and fun). I hope you like it and decide to give it a try. If you do, don't forget to share the pics with me!

Don't forget to visit and subscribe to the UrNails channel and leave a comment on the video page. Thanks!

!!! Remember: the UrNails gallery is for both you and me… start sharing your beautiful nails now! You can email them to me, or tweet them to @muymajobv or post them on Instagram using the hashtag #MJBVurnails and I'll be happy to upload them :)

PS. Don't forget to come back next week to check out my fab Christmas Mani :)