Mariah DeMarco

"When it rains it pours"

I've always loved her...and now, her sweet little SHOP is having a 50% off sale!!! :D I dont use her salt (Have you tried this?!) but oh, how she draws me in! 

 

I bought some sweet + useful little Morton salt girl items!  No, they are not paying me to advertise, I've just long adored the logo illustration & the colors, simplicity + minimalist style of the packaging design!   Wouldn't that be the cutest Halloween costume???  Hmmmm, I'll have to store that idea away.... xoxoxoxox  

Saving money & new stuff!!! ^_^

Well, I have been *INSPIRED* lately!  First off, I am have been asked to design a small line of photo-based Save the Date cards for the always amazing photographer, Mark Janzen. While working on his cards, several of my friends have had babies (swoon!) and have sent or posted photo's of their little miracles, which made me want to design some photo based birth announcements as well! 

{you can see this larger over on my flickr page}

Here are the 1st one's I designed.  I love little elephants!  What do you think?  I am thinking a yellow and gray might be good too, I *love* those colors together!  I figured these cards would be a great way for new parents to save some $$$, they are flat, double sided cards that can be printed up and shipped with ease.  They can also be instantly emailed out, posted to your facebook page, or even to your blog!!  How easy is THAT! :) These cards are my way of being an 'adder' in my life & with my work... hopefully easing some the financial weight many are feeling on their shoulders *without loosing out on quality, style or cute!  

 

Desktops for you! ^_^

Hello blog friends, if there are any of you left out there after my long break {aside from my ... very... regular  Mrs. O from Stevenson Ranch...} Whew, been working hard and missing blogging here!  I just wanted to check in and let you know that I've uploaded some FREE desktops for you over on my FLICKR PAGE! I love them and hope you enjoy them too!  Please come over and download one for your computer!  

Well, I'd better get back to work!   I look forward to catching up with all of you, more coming soon! ^_^ xoxoxoxox, Mariah

I love numbers! ^_^

Man, I've been busy!  We are nearing the end of the school year, my new website is in the works and set to be unveiled really soon and oh! I have so much more to share, but right now, I just wanted to check in with you really quick before too much time has passed... it slips away so quickly and suddenly before I know it 2 months have gone by without a post and then well, then it's just really hard to get started again for whatever reason!  So, I give you.... dun dun dUuuuuuun... Magnets!  Magnets that are not only super adorable but also super useful! ^_^ They will be in the SHOP soon!  I hope you like them!  I'll post more about what's been going on behind the scenes here very soon!  Until then, have a wonder filled day and dont forget to look up! ;) xoxoxox, Mariah

PS - I've got 2 sets of ALPHABET MAGNETS coming soon too!  More on THAT soon! :D

I am *so* excited....

... about, THIS:

Even my Flickr friends have not seen these pics yet! ^_^  This product has been 2 years in the making and we are finally at the stage where I have in my hot little hands the actual cut pieces to make the whimsical table top theaters that I dreamt up so long ago.  I put the bowling pin up to give you a reference to the size {because everyone measure's things based on the size of bowling pins...right?}  You can see the silly initial drawing of it below!  ^_^ 

They are so perfect & BIG!  I love it!  I am going to be painting these up and adding a curtain & some hanging glittery stars and of course hinges, so it can fold up nice and flat!  I can't wait!  I love them and hope you do too! ♥♥♥ 

I love Alphabet Cards...

Dont you love alphabet cards?   I do.... love them.   I have designed a few sets myself ...well, I have *started* designing them anyway... one with my "Pirate Cake characters, one that is just simple & modern.. kind of something for the minimalist in me... and today, I made this one, and thought,"Huh, I should make a whole set of them like this too!"   I adore foxes so it seemed like a great place to start!   

To help you get your Alphabet card fix, I've compiled 3 of my favorite sets for you!

The vintage looking ones are Martha's (you can buy them at your local Michaels.)  Then, there's the adorable set from eeboo which is illustrated by Melissa Sweet, and my favorite set from the very dear & talented Ida Pearle,who as you may know, is one of my very favorite artists! 

My sweet husband commissioned a custom piece for me by Ida years ago and it remains my favorite piece of artwork in our home to this day.  I'll have to post about that soon, I'm sure you'd love it as much as I do!  She's amazing...

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these and I wish a happy Friday to you! xoxo, M

SWEET SPRING GIVEAWAY!!!

.::Comment on your favorite necklace for your chance to win it!::.

.::details below!::.

I was *so* excited to open my mail today!  I designed some necklaces a while back and they arrived today!!!  I've always admired jewelry photographers, it looks like such a difficult thing to do and today I learned that I was right!   I tried so hard, and took a million photo's, but in the end just could not get just one or two good shots and had to upload quite a few "ok" ones in hopes that you get a glimmer of how beautiful these necklaces are in person! ^_^ 

Here are a few of the many ^_^ (there are more on my flickr page)

Aren't they pretty!??  I am so pleased with how they came out that I thought I'd do a little blog giveaway! ^_^  Just leave a comment here letting me know which one you like best and This Friday I will randomly choose a winner and send you the one you chose, just for commenting!!!  

I must admit, I'm a little bit nervous about not getting ANY comments as this blog is relatively new as well as (and mostly) the fact that over the last week I've completely changed the url without knowing, so it looked like I'd deleted my blog!  Yup, I did that.  I didn't even know it for a few days!  I was looking at my statistics and was so sad b/c I had ZERO views!  ...then I realized that when I changed the name of my blog, I had also changed the url.  Doh! Anyway, it's all back to normal.. but still.. hits have not recovered yet.. maybe this will get things going again (fingers crossed!)  In the end, it works out really well for you should you want to win!!! :D 

Also, I have been trying to figure out how to make the cute patterned flash cards I recently made for you to download and print yourself and have yet to find a solution thus far, but it's coming!  

I'm going to talk with sweet Arianne who has had this set up for me when DeMarco Designs was open and see if she's got some the time to help me with this. ^_^

They look so cute all printed out, it makes learning them just a tad more fun!  I printed mine on a nice linen cardstock and they look great!  

Well, I'd better get to bed!  We've got a birthday party to go to tomorrow and I've still got to get a gift before we arrive!  Happy dreams!  I'll be dreaming of swimming.. . I'm so glad spring is blooming everywhere & can't wait for summer! 

xoxoxo, Mariah

Facebook? Twitter?

Hello everyone!  I just wanted to let you know that I have started a Facebook page for Mariah DeMarco stationery + design! Now that I'm working again, I have begun booking custom stationery & design jobs and am happy to be back into the swing of things. My Facebook page will serve as a way to communicate with and get to know you better! :D Come by and check it out right HERE!
If you've been looking for some special invitations, announcements or even some custom illustration I would love to work with you! I also have a little *special* for my sweet blog readers, I will be charging a flat rate of $130 for all logo's booked before March 15th! Just let me know that you heard about it here on my blog when you contact me!

I started an account with Twitter some time ago, and I can't say I'm too too good at updating, but thought I'd put a link up in the sidebar just incase you like to follow that way...  is it all too much??  I dunno.. I may end up not using it at all, but it's fun  for me to design stuff like that. :)  Anyway, I'm supposed to be updating my shop tomorrow, but I am not quite ready!  I appreciate your patience as I prepare!  

I've also started designing my website & I thought you might like a lil' sneak peek!  I'm doing away with DeMarco Designs and in turn adopting http://www.mariahdemarco.com - right now it will just send you to Dd, but eventually it will look something like this: 

and this:

Anyway, I've gotta get to bed, lots to do tomorrow and I'm not sure how I'm going to manage getting it all done!  I hope you'll take a minute to comment on my previous post if you've got time!  Thank you so much! xoxoxox, Mariah

trying to update more often...

I have been hoping to make more regular updates, so really quick before I go to bed I thought I'd share some work I've been doing on some church programs/bulletins.  I was wondering if you like them.  It's my first time doing something like this.  I had fun, but feel unsure... they dont seem very "church-like"  - that could be a good change though, sometimes church bulletins are kind of.. . bland.. I dunno...what do you think???  xoxox, Mariah

PS - You should be able to click on the pic to zoom ;)

sweets & sickness

Wow, it's been a long time since I blogged!  Well, lets see, what has happened since Oct.5th???

Well, my aunt underwent a double bypass (it went well, but she has a long road to recovery)

T's office voted on 12 hour shifts and they passed!!!  Yay for that!  Now he'll alternate between having 3 consecutive days off one week and 4 the next!  It wont start until April 1st, but we are so grateful it passed that waiting will be easy!

I went to the doctor and found out that there is a glimmer of hope that we in fact *might* have a chance at having another baby, something I would just love to do!

and we've decided to casually start looking for land to buy, or house + land... we want a BIG garden so badly, and of course a separate cottage studio for me and big shop for T would be nice too!  So, we're going to start looking... slowly.. 

I've been doing a lot more work for people even though I was supposed to be on hiatus for a bit... fortunately, I adore all the ladies that have asked for help!  It's really nice to be able to be picky!  Here are a few things I have been working on:

These are for a lady who I made wedding invitations for quite a while ago.  She wanted hot pink & hearts for the logo of her budding photography business, so here are here first proofs! I'm very pleased with them so far! Of course these are not the finished product, but just the first steps in the process!

Next, is a proof for an invitation for my sister-in-law.  I thought this sounded like so much fun & was so happy to make them for her!  The things on the left there are the front & back of an ornament that was (in the final version) adorned with teeny Swarovski crystals to signify the lights of Christmas Tree Lane, and tied with a pretty ribbon to hang on the tree! She only needed 40, so I tried to make something extra special!  I'll try to get a photo of the finished invite soon!

This last one is a little promo thing for my own little Lollishop called Bidnod (I'll save the story behind the name for another post!) Anyway, there's only one item in my shop right now, but I've got lots of things on the way and wont "officially" open until January.  It's nice, because I wanted to keep my priorities in the right order... all of 2007 all I did was work and neglected all the things and people who I love... so.. a little shop like this ..well, it will be the perfect thing for me right now!

Anyway, that should catch everyone up on what's been going on here!  :D  Living "a grateful life" has not been very challenging lately, I feel enormously blessed every day!  Love, Mariah

PS - Oh and as for the title, well, the sweets are in the above illustration, and the sickness is because I've come down with some stomach flew or something and am not feeling well at all.. prayers are needed please!