Hello Again!

Well, it's been awhile hasn't it? The last 8 months or so have just flown right by. So many exciting things have taken place I'm not even sure where to begin! I guess I'll start with the most exciting and the reason I'm writing this post; I'm officially a small business owner/entrepreneur! Crazy right? 

Back in May/June of 2012 I took part of the Self Employment Assistance program at St. Lawrence College. There I learned the ins and outs of preparing a bank ready business plan, as well as instructions for the day-to-day operations of running a small business like record keeping, registrations, licensing etc. Completing the program took some of the scary out of thinking about starting a business and gave me the the boost to go out and actually do it! I can't recommend the program enough! Give me a shout if you have any questions about the program or you can find more information online by clicking here.

My Business!

Get NOTICED Visual Communications specializes in graphic design and advertising solutions for small business, non-profit and government agencies. We provide additional services such as event planning, copy-writing, mobile music and lighting, media buying, vendor liaising and more. Got a question, give us a holler, we're more than happy to help out!

We're still working on a website (when it's your own, it seems to take an indefinite backseat to client projects, eek). But we're on Facebook, Twitter and recently on Google + though we're not entirely sure it works really, we're still learning that one. But whatever means you choose, we look forward to connecting with you!

Invitations - Children's Parties

Well, as I mentioned in a previous post, The Dude is turning 2 in the next month. I'm still in a dull shock at how quickly 24 months have just flown by. I could go on and on about my little boy growing up and all that jazz, but that's material suited for another time. In this post I wanted to discuss party invitations or, more specifically, Children's party invites.

Growing up, my birthday parties were usually pretty simple, my mom would blow some balloons up, hang a banner, invite my friends and order a cake. We would open presents, play with my new toys a bit, have cake and then it would be over. Themed parties weren't my mothers thing. She was busy enough just raising us, maintaining our home and working her part-time job. Invitations to birthday parties were usually a generic card of whatever she could buy at the local Zellers and carefully filled out by hand with the details. 
These days, birthday parties can get quite extravagant and expensive! However, an affordable way to give your child's party a little something extra is with personalized professional printed invitations. They set off the theme and tone of your child's party and they don't need to be elaborate to do so. For example, The Dude is still quite young, but he is definitley all boy. He loves his trucks and cars. We decided to go with a simple Monster Truck theme for his little birthday party.
We found Monster truck themed party supplies at our local dollar store, and I did up a very simple invite. It's one sided, printed on 100 lb glossy card stock and reads like an admittance ticket to a Monster Truck event. I ended up designing 2 different styles, and had them printed 4 up on a single piece of stock and then trimmed to the correct size of 2.75"x8.5". For 32 of these tickets, including the design fee and printing cost, I would charge between $25-30 excluding postage if you were unable to pick-up. 

The Woodchuck

So, I was going through some hard copies of design work I've held onto when I came across this; An information panel that I did for a First Nations group in Yukon. This particular image is a scan of a test print we did. A test print is something we did before running production on large images. We would print at 25% or smaller of the final size on vinyl to check colour, gradients, etc. This particular panel finished at about 36"x48". While looking at the image you might think there seems to be a lot of wasted space around the edges or that there is a HUGE border. Not the case in the final piece. That 'border" is used on these panels for wrapping the edges. These panels are typically printed on high quality vinyl, then over-laminated and stuck to a frame that is anywhere from 1" to 2" thick. The frame is then attached to the stand or other hanging mechanism. The "border" allows for the image to wrap around the frame creating a clean polished finish.

Kid Stuff

So, The Dude will be celebrating his second birthday in about 3 months time. I am flabbergasted. Seriously, where has the time gone. I know parents say that all the time, but man is it ever true. I am in awe everyday at the new things he is picking up and how quickly he has mastered them. It seems as though it was only yesterday we were just bringing him home for the first time. 


It's also hard to imagine that in less than 2 years time we've had a baby, moved from Whitehorse YT to Drumheller AB. Travelled to Belleville ON, Vancouver BC, Grande Prairie AB and to Las Vegas NV before moving again, this time to Cornwall ON. We've made some incredible friends in that time that we were sad to leave, which brings me to the point of this post. The Dude's second birthday. 


Last year for the first one, were in Alberta, away from our families and the majority of our close friends, we had a small party for him with a couple of friends we had made in town, but it was pretty low key. Some toys, some decorations and some cake. Now at that age I realize the party is more for mom & dad than it is for the birthday boy. This year, we're closer to all his extended family and all our friends, some of whom we haven't seen in years but have kept in contact with phone calls and Facebook. I want to plan something special. Not only a birthday party for The Dude, but a "We're Back" shindig. I guess I better pick a theme and start designing the invites!


This is last years  party invite. At the time I was experimenting around with Apple's Pages program. I used elements from one of their flyer templates and made it into a one sided flat invite sized to fit into a letter size envelope. Trying to figure out how to print it up properly was frustrating using the program, but in the end they turned out kinda cute!

And Some More...

Please forgive the terrible photos. Again, this was work from my time at Inkspirationz Graphix in Whitehorse YT. 
The pub sits on the top of the Valley and overlooks the downtown core. Off in the distance from it's perch you can see Grey Mountain which is where the inspiration for their logo/signage came from. After many different concepts, and working together with the client we settled into this. The colour choices were all theirs, as I would have chosen colours that when lit at night would have been more visible. It looks superb in black & white though and we used it in cut vinyl on the glass doors to create an etched glass look.

More Design Examples

So, I started putting up examples of some of my design work awhile back. Then life got in the way and I haven't resumed where I left off. Sorry. Here below are some examples of the work I did while in Whitehorse. Unfortunately during my time there I failed to collect a lot PDF's for my portfolio, we moved shortly after I had The Dude and my mat leave had started, so going in to put stuff together wasn't really an option at the time.  I do have some hard copies of additional work that I will eventually get scanned so I can post it as well. (Don't hold your breath, lol, at the rate this is going, it could take a few months)

E-vite I did for the Yukon Hospital Foundation's fundraising event 

"Epicurious" The design I built from scratch.

Event Ticket

Photos taken at the event including 1 of me almost 8 months pregnant with celebrity guest Chef Massimo Capra

My Time at the DHT • 2007-2009

I spent 2 years working for the Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune in their composing department. By the end of my time there was I was primary designer for 2 weekly newspapers as well as part of a team of designers for 5 additional daily and weekly papers. Below are some examples of the print work that was produced during that time.

Classified ad

Banner ad

Full page double truck tabloid ad

Full page IGA ad

The above was designed for the newspaper's sales manager's daughter's 30th birthday. It was double sided "fun money" for her surprise Las Vegas themed party.

Early Design Work Examples • 2006

Business card/hang tag • front

Business card/hang tag • back, faded so that the appropriate information can be hand written in.

CD Cover Front

Romeo & Juliet • Spec Print Ad