Inspiration Post: Ice Cream Cones!

Hey everyone! February is always one of those months that completely passes me by. Here it is already the last day of February!! Which means it's time for another "Inspiration Post," a once a month themed post filled with all sorts of stuff that keeps me inspired. February's theme is, "Ice Cream Cones!" showing off all sorts of creative interpretations of everyone's favorite frozen treat piled high in a crunchy sugar cones!

Ice cream cones are the easiest way to eat ice cream on the go; no spoon or bowl involved for this treat! I'm no stranger to embracing the cold confection in my artwork. Joy Cups are my favorite brand of cone and are made right here in my home state of Pennsylvania. Cones even have their own Holiday that celebrates the day it was patented back in 1903! I'm a big fan of desserts and just food in general so it was REALLY tough narrowing my choices down to a top 5 for this post. Scroll down to check them all out!!

Ice Cream Skateboard sold by Raskulls

I first caught a glimpse of this skateboard at Toys R Us and I'm pretty jealous that I didn't think of it! The concept is extremely clever. 3 scoops of adorable ice cream are about the same shape as the deck of a skateboard so why not just make them INTO a skateboard?? I have no idea how to skateboard but I would buy this in a heartbeat. I like Raskullz choices in eye catching sports equipment and I even doodled up an  illustration just for fun featuring their helmets once. You can purchase this board for yourself off their website: http://raskullz.com.

Ice Cream Social Logo by The Mahoney Design Team

This logo makes it's way around Pinterest quite often. It's a great example of typography as well as logo design AND is an actual ice cream cone so I had to include it. The design is so simple yet so brilliant!! The logo itself was designed by "The Mahoney," am online design portfolio for Patrick Mahoney. The other designs included on "The Mahoney" website are just as impressive as the logo so I urge all you design nerds to check it out at http://themahoney.com.

Unicone Print by Dea Vectorink on Etsy

Ice cream cones, unicorns and rainbow sprinkles all in one print?? An ode to the waffle cone and to one of my most favorite animals of all, this print has it all! I love the artistic style, the strawberry soft serve mane and the little details such as the teeny tiny little hairs on the unicorn's muzzle. Created by Dea, a tattoo artist from Germany, it is currently available on Etsy for purchase in the Dea Vectorink shop! If you like this print the shop also carries a few other pieces featuring cupcakes, cookies and other sweets!

"scary ice cream boy" by Annette Ellis on Flickr

I have no idea what the origins of this sculpture / statue is but you can photos of it all over Flickr by searching "Ice Cream Boy." And while many contributors and commenters describe the little guy as scary, terrifying and even disturbing I like him!! If you think about it the statue did it's job, it got people's attention!! It's just too bizarre to pass up for my "Ice Cream Cone" themed inspiration post.

Michael Miller LLC Ice Cream Fabric sold by JeanMariesFabric on Etsy

And finally we have a patterned piece textile from Michael Miller LLC and sold by the yard by JeanMariesFabrics on Etsy. The print is just an entire repeating pattern of ice cream cones. The vintage looking illustrative quality of the cones with a retro geometric pattern really appeals to me. Not only that it features different types of cones like strawberry and chocolate soft-serve, scoops of vanilla with sprinkles and even mint chocolate chip!

Are those gears in your brain turning now?? I hope this post inspired you to go out and create something wonderful. . . . or maybe it just made you want to eat ice cream!! Either way I hope you enjoyed this month's "Inspiration" post!! Hungry for more? I have a Pinterest board dedicated to "Inspiration" which always features pieces that I love but didn't make the cut. Just head over to http://pinterest.com/nerdycupcakes/inspirations/ to check it out!! Hope everyone has a great week!

Artistic Fitness: Easter Guinea Pig

Hey everyone!! First of all our NerdyCupcakes Giveaway officially closed this past Tuesday. The #3 was drawn and I already contacted our winner and started designing their CUSTOM print! In the meantime I managed to squeeze in another "Artistic Fitness" exercise. Exercise #10 was the Guinea Pig. With feedback from friends and family I decided our little guy would ready for another big Holiday, EASTER!

I am one of those people who can appreciate the commercial aspects of any holiday; especially if it involves lots of candy! Our little Guinea Pig plays Easter Bunny with a festive set of bunny ears and is surrounded by sugary jelly beans and some decorated eggs. This year Easter is March 31st so mark it on your calendar and try not to forget to celebrate!!

Artistic Fitness: Mr. Turtle!

Hey everyone!! Today is Friday in Pennsylvania and man I haven't done an "Artistic Fitness" post in what seems like ages!! "Artistic Fitness" is a little book I picked up ages ago filled with drawing exercises for the busy individual! I almost forgot I used Exercise #8 as my coverphoto on Facebook which left me at Exercise #9, the turtle.

Even though a little ice cream cone dropped from the sky and landed on his shell, Mr. Turtle here keeps his head held high and looks on the bright side!! A helpful reminder to stay positive and try not to sweat the little things in life. This exercise, with it's soft beachy pastels, is a BIG hint to what the next "Inspiration Post" will be. Can you guess this month's theme??

Also don't forget only 2 more days to enter our Giveaway for custom NerdyCupcakes print!! Check out this post for all the details: http://lauradoodleshere.blogspot.com/2013/02/200th-post-nerdycupcakes-print-giveaway.html

Snazzy Face Painting Las Vegas - Banner Sighting!

Hey everyone!! Since I posted about the new grand opening and cartoon brand identity created by yours truly for the awesome bakery, Cakalicious I thought I would post another one of my client's successful signs!!

Nearly a year ago Alyssa, owner of Snazzy Face Painting Las Vegas has an idea for a logo that stood for her as an artist but also the love she has for the city she calls home. We worked one-on-one together to create a cute and completely personalized work of art she could use for her business. I was happy to find out at one of her most recent events she brought along this banner:

The banner was used at a recent event she worked in February at the Sketchers Outlet for their 2nd year anniversary! Snazzy Face Painting is fun for almost any occasion whether it's indoors or out!! Visit their official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/SnazzyLV) to check out photos of some of Alyssa's happy and snazzy looking customers! 

Be sure to "like" them to keep up to date with all their events and help spread the word about a great new business!! If you have a logo of your own that's been swirling around your mind or sketched out on a napkin be sure to contact me at violet-ink.com/contact to make your big idea a reality!

200th Post!! NerdyCupcakes Print Giveaway!

Hey everyone!! I promised the 200th entry of my blog would be a giveaway. Since this is an illustration blog what better prize to give away than an illustration!! One lucky winner drawn at random will be the recipient of their own custom NerdyCupcakes illustration!

What do we mean by CUSTOM you ask? The winner will get the chance to be the designer!! You choose your favorite cake flavor, frosting flavor, one topping and your cupcake's wrapping color!! Peanut butter NerdyCupcake with strawberry frosting?? Why not! Chocolate NerdyCupcake with Vanilla Bean frosting and rainbow sprinkles?? Heck yes!

 
But just like any bakery we have a few limitations when it comes to "flavors." Frosting and cake choices are listed below. Toppings can be anything from candy, to sprinkles, to a slice of bacon; it's all up to our winner!

How do you enter?? Just leave a comment on this blogpost to be entered into the random drawing for your chance to win your very own 8x5" x 11" custom NerdyCupcakes print shipped to your home! Hang it in your home, office and even locker!! DEADLINE TO ENTER IS FEBRUARY 25TH 2013!!

RULES: Please only one comment per entry. Make sure to leave a VALID e-mail IN YOUR COMMENT so we can contact you by. The winner will be contact via e-mail by VioletInkDesign. Remember this is just a PRINT not something you can eat!! Any entries that do not follow the rules or past the deadline will not be accepted. Good luck everyone!!

A Pinterest Perfect Valentine's Day!

Hey everyone just wanted to update the blog with how my Valentine's went. I always tend to embrace Valentine's day regardless of my lack of a significant other. A day whose main theme is not only commercial but revolves around hearts, candy and cakes?? Heck yes I'm going to celebrate it!!

Me and my friends threw a little Valentine's day party before going out to watch the ever-so romantic "Die Hard" sequel in the theater. Let me admit this first, I am total Pinterest addict and I wanted to share with you some of the wonderful tips and tricks I found through Pinterest that I used in my party!

First off I made these cute little Valentine's gift baskets for my friends. It was filled with chocolates, sugar wafers, and cookies I baked in the shape of hearts. I even dipped some of the sugar wafers in some red melting chocolate and covered them in Valentine's themed sprinkles an idea I pinned from Craft-O-Maniac from http://www.craft-o-maniac.com/2013/01/valentine-cookies.html

After showering each other with gifts we did our planned craft which was creating memory jars. This is an idea that I have seen on Pinterest a lot. Find a jar. Decorate it. And fill it with little slips of paper with memories written on them. Fill it up and open it up at the end of the year! Basically an overly simplified, personalized and pretty journal jar!

The jars we bought at dollar tree. Paper and stickers from Joanns and HobbyLobby. The finished products all came out really cute and different from each other. 

This was the one my best friend and fellow blogger KaraKreative made!! So elegant!

We all get together for Christmas and exchange gifts so we'll have to open up our jars and share our favorite memories with each other then! Last came dinner. I picked two great recipes I found on Pinterest a baked rigatoni and heart shaped dinner rolls. The dinner rolls were a huge hit.

 

The recipe for the Valentine's Dinner rolls can be found here: http://www.rhodesbread.com/recipes/print_recipe/2051 and the recipe for the Rigatoni I got off SkinnyMom here: http://skinnymom.com/2012/02/05/skinny-rigatoni/?_szp=120432&_szi=3 The pasta was made with ground turkey yum yum!!

 

We had such a fabulous Valentine's day! I honestly have the best friends on the entire planet because no matter what we do we always have a blast doing it! For more of my favorite pins you can always follow me on Pinterest @nerdycupcakes. Hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day and have a safe weekend!

Cute Little Monster Valentine's!!

Hey everyone!! February seems to be flying by as Valentine's Day, this Thursday, quickly approaches!! Since I'm a Graphic Designer and Illustrator I feel it is practically my duty to create my very own custom Valentine's Cards FREE for you to print and put a smile on someone's face!!

Seeing that a lot of people find my blog by searching for illustrations of cute little monsters, this year, I decided to revisit the concept and bring you "Monster Valentine's Cards!!"

 
They're fluffy, slimy and even scaly and ready to express their love and admiration!!  Don't be scared!! These little guys won't bite. All you need is a printer and some scissors to and you're on your way to handing out some creepy fun to your friends, family, classmates and maybe even your secret crush on that special day, February the 14th!!

There are 8 total per sheet, download the PDF and start printing by clicking on this link: http://violet-ink.com/Printables/MonsterValentineCards.pdf

Don't forget to change your printer settings to "LANDSCAPE" so it prints correctly!! This is our third annual set of Valentine's cards. Itty bitty monsters not your thing?? Two years I also created Lady Gaga themed Valentine's card. Hungry for something else?? Last year's cards were all about Breakfast Time!!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!

Cakalicious in California is OPEN!!

Hey everyone!! I just wanted to take some time out to update you all on one of my client's exciting ventures that took my art to new territories!! As you may or may not know, I created the one-of-a-kind logo for "Cakalicious," a custom cake company back in 2011. Last year it went through some slight revisions and I got some exciting news!!

The owner informed me that business was booming so much she got the opportunity to open her FIRST bakery!! In fact, just last month they did a soft opening but on the 9th they are having their GRAND OPENING. In the meantime, Cakalicious is cranking out flavored baked goods of all kinds.

I am so excited for Heather and her business!! I cannot describe to you guys how great it makes me feel to transform a client's big idea to a reality. The coolest part?? My art work is now a permanent fixture of her business, it's on her sign!! Check it out:

My art has taken me to great places and given me the opportunity to meet bright and creative individuals whose passion for their craft is equal to mine!! I cannot imagine doing any other career!! So if you or someone you know has a business or a vision for an illustration or visual design, be sure to check out my website and hit up the contact section!!