* that'll be fine *

Heart Pins in the shop!

2012-01-29T01:13:00.001-05:00

Heart pins are available in my etsy shop now!Both Red and White hearts are available, pink hearts will be up there shortly!$5 from each sale will be donated to Team USO. As I had mentioned in my previous post, Amy, my sister, is running the NYC half marathon in support of Team USO.

Have a Heart

2012-01-22T23:10:00.001-05:00

My fabulous sister Amy Balbierz is currently training for the NYC Half Marathon that is on March 18th. She is running to raise money for the USO, an organization that is close to our family's heart.

My step-dad was deployed to Iraq during my junior year of college. I still remember crying on the subway when I heard the final word that he got back to the United States safely. It was quite an overwhelming and joyous feeling to know that he was really back after the length of his deployment.
With that little background, you can understand how proud that my sister is taking on this challenge.

If you would like to check out her USO page, you can visit her page here.

In an effort to help fundraise, I will be selling these heart pins on my etsy shop soon. I started production this weekend and am working out some final production kinks.

I will let you know when they are on the shop!

Reverie Magazine

2012-01-16T14:55:00.000-05:00

My past client, Sarah, emailed me Friday night saying that she and her husband's wedding is currently featured in UK-based wedding magazine, Reverie. See my previous posts about this fun project here and here.I was so excited to see that their wedding was in the publication, and the table placard illustrations were also featured in there too.

all photography from wedding is © Max Wanger

Check it out here! Sarah + Joe's wedding is featured on pages 58-79. You can see the work I did for them on page 70-71.

And thanks again to Sarah and Joe for having such a cool idea when they approached this project.

If you would like to see some of my past wedding projects, you can check them out here and here.

Fischer Clothing Branding

2012-01-12T23:24:00.006-05:00

Before the holidays, I worked on a great project for Fischer Clothing.
Kristina Angelozzi is the lady behind this really great clothing line.

Together we worked on an additional branding element that would work with the company's existing typographic logo. Kristina wanted to incorporate the fischer animal in their branding, as it is the company's namesake.

I proposed a few sketches and we went forward with one pose, but worked out the tail positioning to be more animated.

And here is what the final looked like.

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And here is the final logo all together.

It was really great to work on this project, especially because it was outside of the normal illustration scope.

Check out Fischer on Facebook and their site. Thanks Kristina!

Cheese Please

2012-01-08T14:39:00.005-05:00

This year, I would really like to branch out and try more fancy cheese. Buying cheese is a little intimidating, but I think if I pair a few blocks of cheese with any of these cute boards, the cheese tasting will be more much more fun.

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-1- Snug Studio Bear Board $27
-2- Mako Cuting Board Pig Board $40
-3- Fishs Eddy Heart Board $20
-4- MAC striped board $30
-5- Snug Studio Cloud Board $27
-6- A Heirloom Ohio board $40

Seasons Greetings

2011-12-31T19:09:00.009-05:00

Tom and I sent out a holiday card this year. We picked our paper from Paper Presentation on 18th street in the city. They have so many paper options to pick from. We settled on a off-white/cream paper with a brown craft paper envelope.

I illustrated the card. Tom designed the return address and helped print them out.

We still have some left over, so if you would like a card, please email me your address at lindseybalbierz (at) gmail (dot) com.

Have a safe and happy New Year's tonight! xo

Craft Fair

2011-12-05T00:22:00.005-05:00

AE held their first annual employee craft fair. I haven't really talked about my full time job on my blog here, but, for those who don't know me, I do graphics for 77kids.

I took some shots of my half of the table I shared with my co-worker. I have a before and after shot that shows my little shop. I am really quite pleased that I nearly sold out!

A HUGE thank you to those at AE who bought something! I really hope it makes you smile!

PS. I just posted the star ornaments and star garlands on etsy tonight.

Black Friday

2011-11-25T09:50:00.005-05:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving blog readers! I hope you had a great day yesterday with family and friends.

As a thank you for your readership, I am offering 10% off my shop this weekend.

TAKE 10% off my etsy shop, That'll Be Fine, until MONDAY NOV. 28 11:59 EST.

Use coupon code TURKEYCOMA for the discount. Happy Holidays!

PS. I will be working on some new products this weekend and hope to add them to the shop in time so that you can use the holiday discount on them as well. xo

'That'll Be Fine' shop now open

2011-11-23T17:23:00.006-05:00

Hooray! The holiday season is upon us!
I have hand-sewn some ornaments that can be found on my new etsy shop, That'll Be Fine.

And on a personal side note, That'll Be Fine is named after one of my late grandpa's frequent sayings. Loron, was my late grandpa's name. So it was only fitting that the first product listed was named after him.

Check it out and happy Black Friday shopping!

And some outtakes from our product shoot that were too funny to not post.

xo

Charitable Holiday Shopping

2011-11-18T10:31:00.020-05:00

This holiday season, I am making it a point to search high and low to pick holiday presents that will not only delight the receiver, but also do double duty and help benefit someone in need.

With the internet and social networking, there are so many businesses out there that you can find to make your cash go a little farther this holiday season. Whether I buy a gift from a charitable business or from a small business, I am trying to make my money spent go a little further to help someone.

These are a few of my favorites this season:

IOU Project

1-2-3-4

IOU Project works with Indian weavers and Spanish tailors to make one of a kind unique items. And I recently bought this, this, and this. The quality, color, and sizing is superb. A note of advice though, it's better to buy more at one time due to the higher cost of shipping from Europe.

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Ten Thousand Villages

1-2-3

Works with world-wide artisans that is completely fair trade retailer.

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Indego Africa
1-2-3-4

Indego Africa was introduced to me by my co-worker Chrissie. They work with African women educating them. All the items sold are made by the women and profits from merchandise goes back into the company to educate and empower the women.

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Hand in Hand soap
1
With every bar of soap sold, one bar of soap is given to children to prevent water-related deaths.

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31 bits
1-2-3

Necklaces made by Ugandan women that are also involved in the 31 bits 4 year program to educate women on english, finance, and health.

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ever after clothing
1-2

25% of your purchase will go towards a charity of your choice.

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This Shirt Helps
1-2
Clothing purchase goes to a charity of your choice.

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and some more places to shop:
http://www.lemlem.com
http://www.noondaycollection.com

I hope this can help you with some of your holiday shopping this year! Do you know of any companies who have the same charitable spirit? Please post in the comments below, I would love to hear about them.

***all product shots are taken from their respective websites***
**This is all my personal opinion, and Iwas not compensated by any of the above companies. I just like for what they stand for.**

Smalltown Traffic

2011-11-02T21:37:00.006-05:00

I finally pushed myself to finish this piece. I have had it living in limbo between my sketchbook, a rough illustrator file and in my head for a few months now. I love taking childhood memories, especially my brief schooling at safety town. I loved safety town! Meeting the firemen, riding in little cars, looking both ways before crossing the street, pulling over to the right for ambulances. (funny because all those things, looking both ways and pulling over for ambulances don't really happen in the city).

The little cars, the little houses, traffic lights and safety equipment are really things that I am drawn to when I get down to sketching late at night. I really wanted to challenge myself by making a true environment that receded into space. I think that is why it took me a bit to tackle this piece. And so here it is:

Pill Prints

2011-10-13T23:11:00.003-05:00

Here you go! I have some new work to post up here! I have become obsessed with drawing pills over the last few weeks and took all drawings to make some prints out of them.

Kate + Bret wedding invites

2011-09-27T20:15:00.007-05:00

As I noted before, I designed my sister and her fiance's wedding invitation suite.

We wanted to keep the colors simple so that she could print them out herself to cut down on costs. Her fiance is a major fisherman, so Kate approached me to take the idea of 'kissing fish' and run with it.

Her full suite included the actual invite, reception info, lodging (accomodations), navigation (directions) as well as the response card. My mom also requested an invite for the brunch the following day. Both the invitation suite + brunch had an accompanying map with corresponding info-graphics.

This project was so fun to work on with my sister!

Congratulations Kate + Bret!

2011-09-27T20:12:00.002-05:00

Oh hey!
I started my own Pinterest page.

Follow me here!

Wedding Favors

2011-09-18T21:16:00.007-05:00

I had the great pleasure of designing the wedding invitation suite for my sister and her fiance. Their wedding was last weekend, so I am finally back to New York and assembling pictures of all the little details we worked on together.

One of those details, was the wedding favor. My sister and my mom made 160+ homemade apple pies as the wedding favors (Yes, really, they made 160 pies over 2 days of baking. And yes, they were delicous!). So, I designed a sticker for their jars that had their wedding logo incorporated.

Here are some snap shots of the cute little favors!

[All product shots by Tom Takigayama]

And here is a picture of my beautiful sister on our drive to the ceremony.

[Photo by Lindsey Balbierz]

Stay tuned for pictures of their invitation suite later this week!

See my other wedding work here, here and here.

Hot Pots & Pies

2011-09-04T20:47:00.004-05:00

I did this piece as a submission for The Wrap Paper issue No.3 competition.
The Wrap Paper is a really great publication that showcases illustratrators + designers.

I hope that my submission will be picked for this 3rd issue. Fingers crossed.
Read more about The Wrap Paper here.

New Site!

2011-08-23T22:37:00.005-05:00

I have switched over to word press for my portfolio site!
Check it out here:

lindsey balbierz illustration

I will eventually be migrating my blog over to wordpress, but that will come at a later date.

Thanks for all my blog followers. I hope you can check out the new site!

Postcard Design

2011-08-17T21:41:00.003-05:00

I'm sending out another round of postcards this month.
If anyone would like me to mail one to them, please email me at lindseybalbierz [at] gmail [dot] com.

I'll post a picture of the actual postcards when I receive them in the mail.

And soon, I have some exciting updates to share! Stay tuned!

Sketches

2011-07-26T21:03:00.003-05:00

Some tugboat sketches from what I have been working on lately.

Wedding Table Placards

2011-07-18T21:37:00.005-05:00

The lovely Sarah sent me a picture of how the table placards (previously posted here) were used in their wedding. You can see the New York City one right in front and the Atlanta one in the top left.

So lovely! I really like the flower arrangements too, so fresh and clean.

Thanks Sarah for sharing!

2011-07-13T21:47:00.002-05:00

More written type...

Type Practice

2011-07-12T20:12:00.005-05:00

I've been enjoying drawing type lately.
I bought a bunch of metallic pens at Kinokuniya last week and draw all over a huge black sheet and some colored envelopes. Check it out.

And hooray! Here is a sneak peek of the invites I designed for my sister & her fiance. More to show after the wedding!

Year of the Tired Rabbit

2011-07-10T22:01:00.004-05:00

Is it just me or is everyone having babies lately? This illustration is for all the new parents out there that are in need of a nap.

Sarah + Joe's Wedding Poster

2011-07-04T14:30:00.002-05:00

I made a poster of all the wedding table placards from Sarah + Joe's wedding. Click on the image to look at it bigger.

Sarah + Joe's Wedding Table Placards

2011-07-03T23:24:00.018-05:00

January through March of this year, I was working on a project for a lovely couple Sarah and Joe. I found the couple through the site where I am also a vendor, 100 Layer Cake.

Sarah + Joe were looking for an illustrator to make table placards illustrating the numerous locations that they have visited when they were dating. Sarah + Joe were dream clients, so fun and so open to what I had to suggest. The couple gave me a list of places, foods & items that meant something to them for each city. To personalize it a bit more, I asked for a short 1-liner to add into the banner for each city. In the end, I illustrated 19 cities that would be used on their 19 tables at their wedding. Each city will be for one table and be posted for their guests to find.

Thanks again Sarah + Joe. I hope you had a wonderful wedding yesterday!

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Please email me if I can help bring your wedding dreams to life.
I would love to chat!

Rainbow City

2011-07-03T23:04:00.005-05:00

Sorry for the lack of postings lately. I moved to Williamsburg with my boyfriend and have been pretty tied up with couch buying, Ikea trips, Bed Bath & Beyond trips. We have some painting to get done, but the dust is starting to settle around here.

We got out to see Rainbow City created by Friends With You + AOL at 30th street and 10th avenue. It comes down this Tuesday, so make a trip before it's gone forever. Here are some of the pictures I took.

This guy on their store's site is awfully cute too.

Mr. TTT Burger $22

Art for Japan Update

2011-07-03T22:34:00.004-05:00

Thank you to all those who checked out the items up for bidding on eBay for Art for Japan.
My 2 pillows brought in $71!!
Thanks for all those who bid and congratulations to the winner (whoever it may be!!).

Art for Japan LIVE AUCTION NOW

2011-06-17T19:28:00.007-05:00

The pillow cases that I sent to illustrator, Meg Hunt, for the ART FOR JAPAN fundraiser are now posted on eBay.

Woohoo! There is some strong bidding going on already, which makes me really happy! Only 5 more days of bidding!

Please check it out here and here as well as all the other great things other artists/illustrators/designers have donated here.

Let's raise some MONEY! :)

Art for Japan logo illustrated by Meg Hunt.
All pillow product shots by Lindsey Balbierz.

Summer Art Sale

2011-06-05T22:02:00.011-05:00

I am selling some of my old paintings....

Roosters

I Love Cake

Just for You

Cows

Portrait #1

Portrait #2

Thesis #6

Smog & Smokestacks #1

Smog & Smokestacks #2

Please contact me at lindseybalbierz (at) gmail (dot) com for any inquiries to buy.
Payment through PayPal. Shipping to areas outside of NYC is available.
Thank you!

Happy Memorial Day!

2011-05-29T23:19:00.007-05:00

Thank you for those who have served in years past, currently and for future military personnel.

And thank you to all military families.

Here's an illustration I did a few years ago of my grandfather in his uniform.

And my past post honoring the vets in my life. :)

Buy My Stuff

2011-05-15T21:39:00.004-05:00

..or at least take a look.

Window shopping never hurt anyone.

I am selling some of my clothes from American Apparel, a set of PrismaColor markers, and an antique suitcase, just to name a few. Find all of it here on eBay.

Bidding is open for only a few more days, so please take a peek today.

Thanks and please let me know if you have any questions. If anything isn't sold on ebay and you are still interested (and in NYC), I can sell at the opening asking price.

Conservatory Gardens

2011-05-09T23:13:00.005-05:00

Last Friday, I had the chance to leave work early and do something 'inspirational.'
I went to the Conservatory Gardens up on E 105th Street in Central Park. It's really gorgeous there right now.

Unfortunately, my trip was shortened when of my drawings got pooped on. Lucky me, or rather, lucky drawing.

Go magazine

2011-05-06T13:27:00.006-05:00

A few weeks ago I was asked by AD Shane at Go Magazine, AirTran's inflight magazine, to do their feature article's type treatment + 4 spot illos....and here they are in the May issue. Luckily, I flew back to New York on May 2nd on AirTran (I went home to Cleveland for the weekend), so I helped myself to an issue or two. :)

See the illustrated title here on their main page and the article.

Thanks Shane!

85th and Lex

2011-05-03T21:02:00.005-05:00

Last weekend I sat at the Little Brown on 85th and Lex and drew.

This is what I saw.

PS. did you know that Little Brown Co. is by Oded Brenner, the same man behind Max Brenner?! I just found that out.

Art for Japan

2011-05-02T23:30:00.003-05:00

Meg Hunt and her sister have posted the first 2 rounds of 5 total rounds of artwork on eBay.
All artwork is being auctioned off and will benefit the earthquake + tsunami relief effort in Japan.

Please go check out the artwork here, there is some really cool artwork up there now.

Including a print by illustrator Kim Rosen here.

I will let you know when my pillow cases go up for auction.

Thanks again and please repost to spread the word about this!

Crackers

2011-04-20T22:44:00.007-05:00

I'm loving this post on Little White Whale earlier this week. Gloria has a recipe by Deb from the Smitten Kitchen for make-at-home cheese crackers, a la pepperidge farm goldfish.

Man, I could put away a whole bag of those goldfish crackers when I was little. I bet my sodium count was through the roof the weeks after!

buy here

I went into the Party supply store on 86th and Lexington after work today, and boy is that a place money trap. I wanted to buy all the sprinkles and cupcake liners and they have tons of cookie cutters that would be good for this recipe!

Anyways, I want to try out this recipe this weekend or in the coming weeks. I'll let you know how they turn out!

Day in the Park

2011-04-17T16:46:00.005-05:00

This weekend was looking really dreadful with a relentless rainstorm all day Saturday.
But today, it turned around and was really beautiful.

I drew a little bit at Carl Schurz park and snapped some pictures of awesome things.

100 LAYER CAKE vendor

2011-04-16T13:30:00.008-05:00

I am very excited to say that I am a vendor on 100 Layer Cake, a wedding site!
They showcase different vendors, supplies, venues, you name it.
It's a go to place for brides and planners.
You can see my page here.

I am now taking on wedding commissions for:

invitation suites
pamphlets
illustrations of newly engaged couples
envelop liners
banners

Please be in touch if you need any help with the above or any other ideas that you may dream up.

Pretty Scarf

2011-04-15T10:53:00.005-05:00

This scarf by Leah Duncan is just oh-so-perfect for spring.

Leah Duncan $32 via etsy

pictures taken from her etsy site.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that New York City will have a spring season and not jump right into oh-so-hot-and-sticky summer.

PS. I've been working on my sister's wedding invitation suite, so not much to actually show right now. Hopefully something to post soon :)

Aerial Traffic pillows

2011-03-27T22:23:00.003-05:00

I received my aerial traffic pillows in the mail this weekend all the way from Belgium.
The great people from Envelop have my design in their shop, which can be bought right here. See my introductory post about my pillows here.

I'm forwarding the pillow covers on to the Art for Japan art fundraiser. I will be sure to post a link to it here when it goes live.

What a Guy

2011-03-24T12:02:00.007-05:00

I'm going to pause for a mushy post.

It's a few days post due...but I am so proud of the design work + efforts put forth by Tom for the UNITE FOR JAPAN fundraiser put on by the Unite for Japan team.

Tom designed the logo + took pictures of the event this past Saturday. [You'll see me & Amy in there.] They raised $10000 that night and are still accepting donations on their site here. They have currently earned $17K but are looking to make it to $25K. They really have done a phenomenal job with this.

On the same note, it makes me sad that it's been about 2 weeks since the disaster and it seems like the media is making it 'old news.' I hope that people can continue to donate in the coming months and keep saying prayers for all the heartache that will be felt in the coming months and years plus.

Help Japan

2011-03-13T12:46:00.007-05:00

Some really great ways the art & design community are pitching in to help Japan in this great time of need:

One of my favorite illustrators, Aaron Meshon, selling this awesome print here for $50. All proceeds go to disaster relief.

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Japanese textile designer and screen printer, PataPri donating $5 for every towel of hers bought.

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Joshua Smith from Hydro74 has designed this shirt. All proceeds go to The Salvation Army's efforts in Japan.

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And I will be donating my 2 illustrated Aerial Traffic Pillow covers to Art for Japan established by illustrator Meg Hunt and her sister. Read more about Art for Japan here. And I will post on my blog when the pillow cases are up online for anyone interested in purchasing.

On a personal side note, a few friends & family have asked me how Tom's family was doing. All of his family that are living in Japan are okay. Thank you very much for your loving interest to make sure all okay.

T.T.M.T.

2011-03-09T00:08:00.006-05:00

A new series here on my blog...

So, here it goes.

Things That Mean Things #1
My Grandma's 'Left-Over' Earrings

It was a year this past Jan 12th since my grandma's passing and it was also the same day as the horrible Haitian earthquake that took so many lives. So when the news covered the year mark of Haiti, I had these memories come back....

After my grandma's funeral, my extended family gathered and we were able to pick the items from my grandparents that we each would really enjoy inheriting. We were able to pick 1 at a time. Round and round we went, each picking. My cousin picked a ring of my grandma's that he hoped to give to one of his future girlfriends. My sister picked a pearl bracelet that she will be wearing on her wedding day this September. And after everyone had picked what they really wanted, there were a few things that were left over. And these earrings were the things that were left over. I really didn't think I would wear them, but my sister told me that I could totally pull them off, and nobody else could.

So, I took the earrings + necklace set in their velvet case and added them to my small set of the items I picked from my late grandparents. Fast forward to coming back to New York, and as time went on, I grew to wear the earrings more and more. And now, when I am looking for a really nice piece to wear, I throw on these 'left over' pair of earrings andfeel like I am channeling my glam grandmother.

Night on the town w/ Katie wearing my grandma's earrings.

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Photographer Jessica Peterson's photos of sentimental items inspired me to take on this project by illustrating my own.

Cute Hats

2011-03-08T23:33:00.004-05:00

This is my awesome hat for winter 2010-11.

from All Knitwear $40.
Photo is taken from All Knitwear site.

I already found another awesome hat to debut in winter 2011-12. Get ready.

from Lazy Oaf 15 pounds.
Photo is taken from Lazy Oaf site.

Moi as Illustrator

2011-03-04T21:29:00.006-05:00

Tom took pictures of me a few weeks ago with one of my little illustrated characters.
I have been looking at this awkward, clawed guy hanging on my wall since I painted him my senior year of college. And now he is not a wallflower anymore.

And really, he's quite the conversationalist.

Photo Credit: all taken by Tom Takigayama
(and no, we didn't purposely plan matching outfits! ha)

Cupcakes

2011-02-22T23:36:00.003-05:00

I was going through old work of mine and felt like posting some designs that I still like. These are prints I helped design with the print stylist when I was at GapKids.

Something about these cupcakes makes me want the spring to come a bit sooner so I can pick up a pretty floral frosted cupcake from Cupcake Cafe on 18th street.

I should be posting more regularly after this week...I am in the final week of a big freelance project that I will be able to share come this July. Le sigh...you will have to wait a bit to see it.