In the fall of 2010, on a tip from a friend, I wandered in to Aquarius and fell in love. My wardrobe and I have continued to improve vastly ever since.

5 years later, it’s time to celebrate another anniversary. I have tremendous admiration and respect for owner, buyer, and all around heart and soul of the store, Sara Ash Jessop. She’s done wonders for San Antonio (and for me) and continues to carefully curate one of the most beautiful spaces in South Texas.

I started as a shop girl a few weeks after the store opened. This was the first of several chances Sara has taken on me through the years. These days, it’s always an exciting creative challenge when Sara asks for my help. Typically, it’s a trunk show graphic, maybe an email, or a mailer but the annual anniversary party invitations are always special.

The art deco-inspired fifth year anniversary invitation was no different.

As the store celebrates it’s fifth birthday, I look back and I feel lucky to have been chosen to change and grow along with it – to see and learn so closely from someone who’s passion and vision became so beautifully tangible (to the benefit of many).

Cheers to Sara – to her hard work, her foresight, and her ever-impeccable sense of all things stylish.

It’s time again for Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum’s second annual fall fundraiser – Black Tie Disco Bingo.

As if you needed another excuse to dust off your bell bottoms… As if I needed another excuse to continue my obsession with vintage graphic design…

The beginnings of my most recent project (above) with Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum were nothing short of superfly. Take a peek at the Save the Date and stay tuned for images from the out-of-sight event and dyn-o-mite invitation.

 

Fashionably late is still kind of in, right? Because I completed this project back in April of 2015 (whoops) and I’m just now sitting down to gush about it.

When my friends at Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum again called on me to help design their event collateral and identity I jumped at the chance to help honor a long-standing community influencer and local San Antonio artist, Cruz Ortiz.

If you’re not familiar with Cruz or his work, do yourself a favor and at least briefly handle that oversight. He has an immediately recognizable style packed with personality and an aesthetic that typically weaves in a seamless wink or two.

Enjoy a few pictures from the fabulous event below (and a few more here) and take a quick look at the event invitation materials I so enjoyed putting together.

Adios amigos – ’til next time!

It’s not the years in your life, it’s the life in your years (and all that jazz).

Not too long ago, I was way too eager to add a year or two when someone said “How old are you?”. I’ve always been a little big for my britches, so I wanted some extra street cred. Unfortunately for me, I very recently realized that I’m a bit too close to hitting the age where you may in fact want to start subtracting…

While age IS just a number, it’s nice to know that while I continue to accumulate wrinkles and white hairs, I’m gaining hard-earned wisdom.

Many of these birthday-related revelations were inspired by a quick project for my favorite San Antonio boutique, Aquarius.

Visit, sign up for their email list, list your birthday (year not required), and know that when you gain that next year of wisdom, one of these bad boys will arrive in your mailbox to prove (yet again) that the best gifts might just be the ones you buy for yourself…

Branding and identity challenges are always fun, but couple that with a clean slate, a retro game, and a vintage feel and I’m more than intrigued. When I was asked to create the event identity and collateral for Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum‘s Inaugural Black Tie Bingo fundraiser, I jumped.

Through many logo concepts, and countless font choices what you see here is where we landed. I think the outcome was very well-suited for the event – a mixture of vintage simplicity and clean modernity. Upon arrival, I was elated to find that the artwork had been recreated large scale on the walls (and of course, obnoxiously had to pose with it later in the evening – see final image).

The event itself was nothing short of incredible (which is both indicative of how much fun we had and how much more I should get out) with a silent auction, artists calling each round of Bingo, and delicious food by recently named Bon Appetit “Best New Restaurant” and local gem, Hot Joy. I can’t say if I will be asked to design the invitations again next year, but I can say we’ll be back with bells on for the next one!

(If you’d like to see more pictures of the event try here, here, or here)