Cake Bake Penny - Logo Design + Frosting Brushes!!

Hey everyone! Recently I’ve been challenging myself to break out of my artistic comfort zones to better round out my portfolio. Adobe Illustrator is still remains my go-to program to transform my ideas into works of art! With the latest version of "CC" booted up, I decided to work up a logo design just for fun. I'm still obsessed with everything baking so yes, it's a bakery logo!!

For the logo I created my own set of bakery brushes. Creating brushes has intimidated me in the past but I KNEW it would  speed up my design process by like a billiondy. So I buckled down and created my first set of original brushes!!

The new fangled Illustrator updates make stuff like brush creation, so much easier!! I left the logo as a circle design and I'm eager to throw it on some bakery product mock ups to show off the tasty little emblem in action!

And I'm STILL interested in sharing my most polished ideas, thoughts and projects for you guys!! I can't make many promises as to how often I will be posting in the future though, so hang in there and keep checking back!! I hope you enjoy your weekend!!

One Sweet Mistake!! Octo-cake Illustration!!

Hey everyone!! Just wanted to update the blog with a quick doodle I did. I haven't done an "Illustration Friday" topic in a while but still work on lots of sketches and plenty of doodles. I decided to share a simple piece I made for fun this week.

 Oops look like there was a mix up at the bakery!! Mr. Octopus just wanted to join in on the fun of cupcake baking. Everyone makes little mistakes at their job. Try not to sweat the small stuff today and have a SWEET time doing whatever you do!!

Illustration Friday - BakerBot Version 2.0

Good morning everyone!! Just wanted to squeeze in my "Illustration Friday," post before the deadline hit!! This week I was pretty excited to create a piece since the topic was "Robots." I love drawing robots. I have drawn so many different kinds during the span of this blog. A concept I frequently play with is a BakerBot:

This latest model of the BakerBot has no time to for fun at the moment. He has to delivery a freshly baked blueberry muffin to a VERY hungry customer!! Maybe in the future we will have bakeries run all by "BakerBots." I can dream!!

To improve on my skills I challenged myself to work on a more dynamic pose for this character. I hope everyone has a super weekend!! 

USA 4th of July 2013 - Wrap Up

Hey everyone!! Just wanted to create a post about one of the Holiday's I celebrated here in the states, Independence Day also known as the "4th of July!" It's all about celebrating America and it's freedoms. I saw a lot of really fun ads on my Facebook feed and wanted to share with you guys some of my favorites. Check them out below:

These two gems were pulled off the "Venture Bros Blog" fanpage on Facebook. The Venture Bros is one of the only things I watch on television and it's highly underated. I couldn't resist sharing these star spangled tributes to America.

The Kraft branding is fairly easy to recognize; unnatural yellowy-orangey color on a royal blue background. They incorporate their product, mac and cheese, cleverly in two patriotic ads. 

These ads featured on the "Kraft Macaroni and Cheese" fanpage, were silly and targeted towards those who already like Kraft Mac and cheese with bold captions such as "You know you love it. Evidently so does Uncle Sam." As an illustrator I also appreciate the fact that these two ads were completely illustrated and still very modern, eye-catching and tantalizing! 

Here's an ad I came across on the "Crayola" fan page!! Crayola crayons are another thing that are pretty easily recognized. What a smart idea to lay their actual product out to create an American flag!! It was accompanied by the caption,"Give a big thumbs up for our forefathers, who made it possible for us to have the freedom to create, imagine and inspire!" The white crayons look a little green to me but I still love  Crayola crayons and this sweet ad.

Here were see the same concept presented with a different product. Cheezit's released this ad on their fanpage to celebrate America!! While I find Crayola's take on the idea sweet I find Cheezit's ad visually more appealing. In fact, it makes me pretty hungry. But if we're going for accuracy points, the stars as well as stripes are misrepresented while Crayola made sure to duplicate the flag to a T!

And last but not least, Hello Kitty added this lady liberty to their fanpage. I love the simplistic art style that is Sanrio. I draw a lot of inspiration from their brand and am a self proclaimed, Hello-Kitty-a-holic! Having the brand's mascot drawn up as a little Statue of Liberty is too cute and very visually striking!! Bravo Sanrio!!

As for me?? I spent Independence relaxing with family and friends at a picnic. I made sure to bring a very patriotic cake along (pictured above) with that was a HUGE hit!! Hope everyone else had a great Holiday and a great weekend!!

Illustration Friday: "Equality" Wedding Cake

Hey everyone!! Hope everyone had a good week last week!! I had a fun idea for this week's "Illustration Friday." The chosen topic was "Equality." I thought long and hard about what to illustrate that showed my support for marriage equality and came up with a super cute idea below:

An adorable Groom & Groom teddy bear wedding cake! Although I like to have a lot of fun on my blog I always try to emphasize the point of being yourself!! And I'm a strong believer in treating those how you wish to be treated.

This illustration is still cute and I wanted it to symbolize my support for same-sex marriages. I'm thinking about making a Bride & Bride themed illustration as well. We'll see!! Have a great day everyone!

KaraKreative's Birthday 2013!

Hey everyone one of my best friends Kara just so happens to also be a blogger and I wanted to write a post of how we celebrated her birthday this year. This was back in March when it was still super cold outside, and rainy . . . and just dreary. We still wanted something fun to do to celebrate so we picked Bowling!!

 It was no surprise that Kara slaughtered us all look at that form!!

Much like any other sport, I really stink at bowling. It's pretty bad when the owner suggests using bumpers after looking at your scores. But we all still had a really fun time and believe it or not, I was the first person to get a strike! That victory was quickly overshadowed since it was Kara's birthday we let her win. That's not true at all, Kara won both games we played out of pure skill.

 

But if you haven't gone bowling in a while and need something to do on a day where you can't do outside activities I highly recommend it. After our thrilling games we headed back to the house for some cake and presents. I got Kara an extendable jewelry holder and a cute elephant antibacterial holder for her purse. The awesome thing about the jewelry holder was that it held all her OTHER presents she received!!<

The party's theme was "Owls" and I was lucky enough to find a "Cute Owl Cake" tutorial from Leave Room for Desserts at http://leaveroomfordessert.com/2011/01/cute-owl-cake/. The recipe I used was a super fudgy chocolate cake that I let cool and then followed the step by step photos from the post. With a little modification and a dash of imagination the owl cake came together:

Kara loved how it turned out and it was delicious! We had such a fun time celebrating Kara's birthday and are planning more creative parties and DIY projects for the summer time. Be sure to check out Kara's blog where she posts about Graphic Design, Movies, Books and more at http://karakreative.blogspot.com/ Hope everyone has a Happy Friday and a great weekend!!

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!

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!!

Inspiration Post: Crazy for CAROUSELS!

Greetings friends and welcome to the FIRST inspiration post of 2013!! Those of you who followed us last year know the inspiration post is my monthly chance to share with you themed things that help spark my imagination (and hopefully yours)! I've never outgrown my fascination with carousels. This month's theme, "Crazy for Carousels," showcases my love for the elegant and spinning amusement rides found all over the world!

Like most little girls I was OBSESSED and even own my own mini musical carousel that I received as a gift years ago from the San Fransciso Music Box Catalog! I still find myself fascinated when I come across one at a fair or amusement park and given the chance I would totally take a spin on one to this day. I could get lose all day showcasing the different types of crazy animal seats but I went with your classic pretty horse galloping on it's post for this set.

Carousel Cupcakes by We Want Cake on Flickr

I figured I would start things off with one of my not-so-guilty pleasures; CUPCAKES! Not just any cupcakes, Carousel Cupcakes . . . mmmmm! These elegant and joyful cupcakes were baked up by Flickr user We Want Cake. In her description she mentions they were for a little girl's birthday party but I wouldn't mind them at my own!! I love the muted color pallet and the details on each sugary horse is incredible!!

Carousel Illustration from Tumblr

I couldn't bring myself to NOT include it in my post because there is so much in it that inspires me! It's sparkly, full of bows, roses, jewels and stars without feeling too overwhelming. My favorite part is the use of varied types of patterns in a clever manner with a cheerful splash of purple and pink!! This illustration caught my eye when I saw it on Tumblr and unfortunately I have no clue who the original artist is. Being an artist myself, I try to be a stickler about that kinda stuff so if you know anything about this illustration please let me know in the comment section and I will include it in the post!!

Manish Aurora Carousel Dress on Katy Perry 

I had to add this outfit to my carousel post because it is so incredibly unique. This carnival inspired couture was created by Indian fashion designer, Manish Aurora for a collection he premiered for the Spring / Summer of 2009. Each piece has an imaginative circus flair and is a great demonstration of how inspiration can birth a unique and memorable work of art! I highly recommend you check out the full collection on his website at http://www.manisharora.ws/spring-summer-09.html

Carousel Dreams by MoogleGurl on DeviantArt

Another great example of an illustrated carousel horse titled, "Carousel Dreams," by DeviantArt user "MoogleGirl." The drawing features the traditional idea of a carousel horse with pretty pastels and subtle girly accessories. I love it's swirly, curly mane. This is exactly what I picture in my head when someone says "Carousel," so you better believe I find it inspirational!! If you like this style of illustration be sure to head over to her official website http://www.tastypeachstudios.com/ complete with it's own shop filled with goodies!!

Carousel Necklace by AnnMichTreasureBox on Etsy

And last but not least, a handcrafted necklace with a unique looking Carousel pendant. I like how this jewelry strays away from the norm. Although a more simple representation of a carousel horse, I find this black stallion with it's cotton candy colored hair really pops on the orange colored cameo background!! It's currently listed on Etsy in a shop called AnnMichTreasureBox!

Hope you enjoyed this month's "Crazy for CAROUSELS" post!! To check out some BONUS items I that didn't feature but still love I have a Pinterest board dedicated to JUST things of all shapes and sizes that inspire my artwork. Just head over to http://pinterest.com/nerdycupcakes/inspirations/ and you'll even find a few pieces from my previous posts in 2012. Hope everyone has a great week!!

"We are the PERFECT Pear" Illustration

Hey everyone!! Valentine's day is right around the corner; another one of my favorite Holidays!! As I'm busy working on my Valentine's cards for all my friends and fans I nearly forgot about an illustration I created as a gift recently! Some people like puppies, some people like rainbows and then there are just some people who like pears. Yep, pears. Don't think I'm being serious?

 
Exihibit A, the pear cake, made especially for my friend's birthday last year. She's not obsessed with pears but she DOES have a pear themed kitchen so I couldn't resist creating and framing a pear-themed illustration as a gift. One of my brain storms from last year was a valentine card that said, "You're the perfect pear!" I recycled the idea to create this illustration:

A cute little girl pear and a handsome boy pear falling in love. She loved it and it hangs in her kitchen to this day! I also announced on the Facebook page that our 200 post will be a "give away!" Something this blog hasn't seen in probably 2 years or so haha! So stay tuned for all the details, this is post #194; 200 will be here before we know it!!

Hyde's Sweet Treats - Illustration

Hey everyone! Just wanted to update the blog with a freelance illustration I created for another bakery!! This time it was "Hyde's Sweet Treats," a bakery based in Norwalk, CA right here in the states. Heidie the owner approached me with an idea for an illustration to use for her branding. I'm always inspired by cupcakes, cake pops, cookies, so of course I said to count me in!!

She incorporated the illustration into her banner, logo and even some graphics such as a "Custom Item" listing.

"Hyde's Sweet Treats" has it's own etsy shop where sweet and cute decorated baked goods are shipped all over the world thanks to the power of the internet!! Here are some examples of the products she sells:

Yummmyyy!! Be sure to check out her business at her official Etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/HydesSweetTreats or just "like" her Facebook fanpage at http://www.facebook.com/cakalicious.customcakesbyheather!! OR if you are just looking to drool over her sweet treats follow her Instagram at http://instagram.com/hydessweettreats/ And don't forget to contact me, Laura at VioletInkDesign@Gmail.com for all your Graphic Design and Illustration needs. I love working on projects for bakers!!

Inspiration Post: Retro Holiday Cards!

Hey everyone!! Well, it is time for my FIRST Holiday related post of 2012. If you celebrate Christmas or love gift giving, decorating, baking, etc I want to get you into the Holiday spirit!! And what better a time for artists to get some exposure then sending around their own custom cards for the Holidays!! So that's why this month's inspiration post is all about "Retro Holiday Cards!!"

 

Who doesn't love getting a card in the mail?? I have always love commercial art since I was a young child. Christmas cards like these are the kind that I grew up being mesmerized and inspired by. In fact when I was little I loved picking out what cards to give to people in our family but hated seeing them go in the post; I wanted to keep them all!! Keep scrolling for some of my favorite Holiday imagery on cards of yesterday!

"A Pair of Warm Wishes" Greeting Card sold by poshtottydesignz on Etsy

Cats love getting into decorations and these two kittens are just too cute!! Their giant heads and teeny tiny eyes and noses are just darling. If I tried to stick my own cat into a stocking and photograph him I'm sure the result wouldn't come out nearly as pleasant. But that's the beauty of this illustration, it is the perfect picture of curious kittens ready for the holidays!! Although I am unsure of the original artist's name it is dated 1950 according to it's Esty listing.

I stumbled across this card on Pinterest looking for inspiration for the Holiday Helper magazine cover. It immediately became one of my favorites with it's sweeping style of illustration. The bright pink sparkling figure skating dress is so glamorous!! And you got to love the scared little bunny sliding across the ice. The added glitter as an embellishment really makes it shimmer and shine!! I especially like the fact that it's more of a winter wonderland with no glaring reference to CHRISTMAS. If I received this card from my mother I would treasure it for ages!! No idea who the original artist is though :(

Strawberry Shortcake Holiday Card sold by PinkCarnivale on Etsy

This card is from 1983 and if you are an 80s kid then you should recognize that pint sized little ginger girl on the front; it's Strawberry Shortcake!! Not only am a fan of this card because I grew up with Strawberry Shortcake but because it involves baked goods!! Looks like Strawberry and Custard, her pet cat have stopped on their stroll to eye up some cakes, cookies and cupcakes through the shop's window!! The attention to detail on this illustration is impeccable!! Even the border is filled with Holiday sweets like candy canes and gingerbread!! 

 

Vintage Christmas Card photographed by Neato Coolville on Flickr

This cute little snowman is in touch with his feminine side sporting a striped pink scarf as he lets his little birdy friend perch on his top hat! What I like most about this card is it's simplicity; the simple stylized pupils, the little tree with simple ornament balls and the small sprinkling of snow surrounding the outside of his portrait.It shows you do not have to go all crazy with details to execute a card design.

Rainbow Brite Holiday Card by PinkCarnivale on Etsy

And the best for last!! Since I featured Strawberry Shortcake, I can't forget my absolute FAVORITE 80s girl, Rainbow Brite on her Holiday card!! These cards were printed as one single sheet and can be split apart by tearing along the perforated edge. I always wanted to be Rainbow Brite when I was little, riding around on Rainbow Horse spreading cheer and color to everyone with magical star sprinkles!! Here Rainbow Brite and her friends are getting ready for the Holidays, wrapping gifts, trimming the tree and just throwing and candy around for no reason.

That's all for this month everyone!! I hope these images inspired you to get a jump-start on the holidays. If you have never tried making your own cards before, why not give it a shot?? They don't have to be perfect remember this Holiday season, it is the THOUGHT that counts!! Hope everyone has a super weekend and stay tuned for next month's inspiration post!