Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Heidi Donovan's "Be Strong Be True Be You"


I met this fabulous business woman through Liz White. Heidi is the owner of a really incredible company called "BE STRONG BE TRUE BE YOU" Her shirts have wearable messages of inspiration and fun and promote "AUTHENTIC SELF" and she is one of the local artisans displaying at Mason and Madison. Heidi came to me with such passion and love for her product but was in need of some branding....I was thrilled when she like my designs enough to ask me to create a new logo for her. One meeting and a few samples later we had a winner.
I was completely honored when Heidi asked me to design an anchor for a new shirt design she was thinking of. From the beginning I have always believed that my best designs are created from the inspiration and vision of a clients request. It is an unbelievable feeling as a designer to see a piece of your artwork on a shirt and it's even better when the owner of the company picks that shirt to represent herself and her company at the recent Grand Opening of Mason and Madison. So to my new friend and INSPIRATIONAL GURU HEIDI I look forward to many future projects.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Mason and Madison


I have always felt that some of the best opportunities are discovered in the most unlikely places.....for example a school bus! I only recently met Liz White the owner of Mason and Madison because our sons are friends but it wasn't until we chaperoned a field trip together that we discovered...both of us operate "Custom" businesses, hers being Gifts with Style mine being Invitations and Stationery. One meeting and a few conversations later Liz welcomed me aboard as the Invitation and Stationery Consultant for Mason and Madison. Being able to keep control over my designs while expanding my client base means the world to me. So as the Grand Opening approaches I want to extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to Liz for allowing me the opportunity to design not only for her but for her customers! To think it all started on a school bus....who knew.

Just some thoughts....

Over the last two years that I have been growing my business, I have had the pleasure of working with some great women and have learned a lot. I have discovered that the reason I chose the name BeeCustom Designs was because I wanted it to "BE CUSTOM"....but by doing so it also means I do not have a product that will fit on every shelf of every Stationery Store across our fifty states. I will admit it took some time to be ok with that option. So I continue to operate word of mouth which sometimes can be slow but in turn it allows me to keep full control over my designs and the people I work with.... and at the end of the day that is exactly how I want it.

Friday, March 20, 2009

She's 50 and Fabulous!




This client was hosting a Birthday Party for her sister's 50th. She wanted glitter and liked the colors lime and blue, the rest was up to me. I am lucky enough to know the birthday girl therefore I knew she defined the term "Fifty and Fabulous" add a beautiful cake with polka-dots and you have a simple but so unique party invite.
I was thrilled when one of her friends who received the invite called and asked me to make a matching "Happy Birthday" card with the glittered cake on it and a heartfelt message from all her friends printed inside. Then after the party I received a call from the Birthday Girl herself, letting me know how much she loved her invitations and card. So much so that she ordered matching thank you notes with the now famous glittered cake. I have said this before...but I do consider it an honor to be a part of peoples life moments!

RACE CAR BIRTHDAY



A Birthday Party at a Race Track...isn't that what every little boy dreams of...yes but his mother dreams of a party invitation that perfectly matches the theme. So the request came in that a blue race car would be needed with a number 6 on it...oh and NO GLITTER please! I have two boys, therefore I can understand! I have know Nicholas since birth so it was easy to make him a race car, I was even able to find the perfect font that to me defined racing! I don't always get invited to the parties I design for but this one I did, it was a lot of fun! Kudos to you NICHOLAS!

OLIVIA'S MERMAID



Olivia defines the term girlgirl! There is no doubt in my mind that she was in fact Ariel from the Little Mermaid in her former life. I had tried in the past to make a mermaid....but it never was what I wanted or envisioned, not until my best friend Annette asked me to make a mermaid invitation for Olivia's third birthday. Now it was simple I had the vision and inspiration that was missing....all from a little girl barely three! LOTS OF LOVE to my girl OLIVIA....for giving me the inspiration to create!

IT'S FUN TO BE ONE


This specific client needed an invitation for her daughters first birthday....!
Luckily I saw this little girl often enough to know that glitter was a must, her invite needed to sparkle just like she did. I had no idea what to create for artwork, until I spotted one of my Lladro's.....I have a few of the clowns and one of my favorites sits on a ball, to me that clown represented everything about being ONE, so it is what I used as inspiration when creating "AVA'S CLOWN". The mom even had a cake custom made to match the clown. To this day that clown is one of my favorite pieces of artwork that I have made....THANK YOU AVA for inspiring me.

NOTE:clown is also available in a pastel color scheme of pink, green and purple.

Autumn in BOXFORD



This client was having a Cocktail Party for all her neighbors. It was in early autumn and she wanted to use colors that represented that. She had seen my shoes on another design and wanted to somehow use them. Keeping with the theme of autumn plus cocktails I decide to have three shoes one would have the orange glitter, the next burgundy glitter then the leopard print add a martini with an olive to complete the design. The invite was printed on a dove white card stock with a slight texture. The backing card was black coal dots that had a slight shimmer. The invite was mailed in a shimmery olive envelope with a coordinating address label that had a martini on it. This is a personal favorite of mine!

HAPPY 40th BIRTHDAY!



This client was planning a 40th Birthday Party for her husband. Obviously there would not be glitter involved in this design, which was nice for me because when designing for a guy, you usually take a different approach. I started with colors....navy and moss was the request. I used a long card with navy linen for the backing, white linen for the invite and a moss green envelope. Instead of using artwork, I decided a catchy phrase in a great font would create a stylish but masculine look.

Going to LONDON



It is not often that one gets a request to design an invitation for "Going Away to London Party" I was so excited to take on this project, and was given only one request, the colors had to be navy and red. Nothing says London like their signature red bus. I could not have been happier with the results, except after glittering 65 by hand I was thinking when I built the bus I should have put less windows! I love using glitter and red is one of my favorites. When I look back at this design it reminds me why I do custom....this is something you would never have found in a store!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Roller Skating Birthday Party



This invitation was made for a very special girl. She is one of my first clients and has inspired many pieces of artwork in my portfolio. How much fun is it to have a roller skating party when you are turning nine. The request was simple hot pink and green for the colors and of course a roller skate. After building the roller skate I thought how about a fabulous pair of matching tights add some hot pink glitter and we have a winner. Later we decided to also do hot pink and orange as well....that is what I love about custom why just send out one color scheme when you can have two. Custom address labels with matching roller skate completed the design.

To my FABULOUS girl Merri....thank you for inspiring another design
for me..........YOU ROCK!

HELLO

My name is Nicole Mitsakis and I am a local Middleton mom and graphic designer.BeeCustom was born about two years ago, out of my LOVE for being creative and my NEED to be available for my two boys. All my artwork is original and solely created by me. Almost every one of my designs has a real person with a story behind it, they came to me with their vision and what you see through the pages of my book and custom samples are the results. I have always felt I am the best at what I do when there is a purpose and a feeling for what it is that I am designing. My sense of passion for what I create is genuine and have always considered it an honor to be a part of my clients special life moments and events. There are a lot of designers, but what makes me different is my level of customer service,the uniqueness of my approach to design and the absolute love for what I do. When you hire BeeCustom I am the only one handling your event from concept, layout, glittering,printing and packaging. I will personally work with you to bring your vision or idea to life no matter how big or small.