Recent Work: Cash's Birth Announcements

As you can imagine, it was SO hard for me to narrow down the design of my own sons birth announcements. I was getting too flustered with ideas, that I almost ordered announcements from one of those template design dot coms. I'm glad I didn't because I really wanted to give Cash his own custom design.

My concept for his announcements were mostly driven by typography, then driven by photography, & then followed by a pop of color. If I sound kind of scatter brained, then welcome to my world... hahaha! I get so many ideas flying through my brain that I create so many design layouts, then ask my husband for his opinion to help narrow down the options. Thank goodness for my better half to help me focus. Life of a designer I suppose...

When I saw that the Johnny Cash stamps were for sale via U.S. Postal Service, I immediately bought a billion of them while I was pregnant with Cash, knowing that I would use them for this particular project. Yes... yes... Cash's name was derived from the famous Johnny Cash, however we wanted to honor our dad's by naming our son John or Johnny, but since John & Johnny are such popular names, we fell in love with the name Cash to pay homage to his grandfather's as well as the great musician.

I designed the announcements on a bright white linen paper stock to give the look an organic touch & to compliment the hand written typeface. I've been obsessed with the color orange, so I went with that color to feature on the announcement. And my husband chose a deeper navy blue envelope to compliment. I was able to find a bronzed colored ink pad for our return address stamp & then I hand wrote the addressee's with a bronze Sharpie marker. I just absolutely LOVE how they turned out!

I've got to say that I had so much fun photographing this little guy. At the time of the shoot, Cash was about 5 weeks old & was so comfortable laying on his tummy. I captured some awesome pics that I will for sure cherish forever. Here were a few other pic options I was deciding on.

All Photos by: Tawny Doan

My New Job // Being a Mom

Mom (noun) - A person's mother.

In my case, I am Cash's mother. My newest role in life. I cannot even begin to explain how happy, excited, & in love I am to finally be a mother. Absolutely nothing could have prepared me for this new job. No books, no classes, no articles could have educated me enough to become a momma. I just sort of went along for the ride as it came & figured it out as I went. Something that is really really really out of my comfort zone. (See stress on the words really)

With Cash now at 3 months old, I am SO IN LOVE with my little guy. Everyday I fall in love more & more with him. He has such a wonderful personality! Silly & goofy, serious & intense, active & exploratory, & the obvious... truly loving. He brightens my days & keeps me on my toes, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. 

Becoming a mother has changed my perspective on life & what it all means. Such a "new mom" thing to say, I know, but so true. Like the Bryan Adams song, Every Thing I Do (I Do It For You). I now know how my mom felt when she became a mother. It really is an indescribable feeling. I feel like I have "grown up" so much since Cash was born. I've realized a ton about myself & becoming a parent. That it's okay to let things be. Cherish the now & not worry about what needs to get done. Being a neurotic busy body, having Cash has slowed down my obsessing personality. 

I find myself fully engulfed in baby mommy mode. From when we wake till when we sleep, Cash has become my universe. He has taught me how to write my own songs & lyrics, even though they don't make any sense. I've got this bouncing/dance routine down, to make him happy. I'm like the best pillow he's ever had, because he takes some great naps on me. I've also become an even better photographer, because I have the most adorable subject to photograph. Did you know I'm a tour guide too? When we go anywhere, take a walk down to the park, take a quick run to Target, or mosey over to the family room, I verbalize to him our whereabouts, point & describe things to him, & tell him our play by play actions. And I think I'm the funniest person to him, aside from my husband. I've become quite the comedian & make the funniest faces & sound effects to make him smile ear to ear. I melt every time Cash smiles & giggles. 

All in all, motherhood has been amazing! The job has its ups & downs, however I am grateful for a loving & supportive husband who is such an amazing father to Cash, as well as the support from our families. As a new mom, I will continue to learn & figure things out. I love this little man so much & can't wait for more adventures, milestones, & moments to share with him.

Here are some photos of Cash each month. He's seriously growing so fast, I can't even stand it sometimes. And as a side note, I do pinch & squish his adorable chubby cheeks & chunky thighs every second I can!

Photos by: iPhone

Pregnancy Thoughts & Our Maternity Shoot - 30 weeks

As we are fast approaching the due date of Baby Doan, I am counting down the days till D-day. At 38 weeks pregnant, it's hard to wait around & wait for the little guy. So many emotions run through my head & I can't seem to sit still & rest my body. I feel like I've been running this marathon that I can't seem to know where the finish line is. I'm ecstatic at the thought of becoming a mommy & anticipating that moment when I finally get to hold, hug, & kiss my son for the first time. I'm also over joyed that my husband will experience the same thing. I think as the daddy, it's hard for men to really feel that emotional connection to baby, however I know my hubby already has a strong emotional bond with our baby boy. Every morning he greets baby boy & thus baby boy sure does show it, with a few swift kicks & punches to say "hello!" back. I know he will be the BEST father figure to our son & I can't wait for that.

I wanted to share some photos from our Maternity Shoot at 30 weeks pregnant. Shot by the lovely Dana Grant with Dana Grant Photography, she has done a beautiful & amazing job capturing my growing belly.

My FAVE image above.

All images by Dana Grant Photography

25 Weeks!

Baby Doan: 25 Weeks

Project Nursery: Day 1. Demolition.

We've made it to 25 weeks and things are moving super fast with baby on the way. I have to constantly remind myself to keep taking weekly photos of my growing baby bump. You know... for keepsake reasons =) So far, things are going great. We can not wait to meet our little guy and show him his new nursery.

As summer ends and the holidays fast approaching, our goal is to get project nursery completed before Thanksgiving. We finally found the time to get started on the nursery. I'm taking lots of photos of the progression of the remodel, from guest bedroom to nursery.

We ordered baby's crib, rocker and dresser/changing table.... so we are excited to get those assembled and make things come more to life. It's so hard to narrow down the style of baby's room, but I think I have a good idea of the final design. Typical designer brain..... so many options, and love them all, but I have to edit like I do every other project I tackle. 

Follow me on Instagram to see project nursery come to life, day by day. We mostly get to work on the nursery during the weekends, so life is busy and hectic around the house these days. We love to do our own DIY projects, but this is seeming to turn into an entire home remodel. See that sea foam green carpet in the room in the photo above?..... We ripped that up and we are installing all hardwood floors in the entire house, all bedrooms, living room, dining room and kitchen. My husband is the greatest at this kind of stuff. And we also get a lot of help from family and friends. I can't wait to see the big reveal once the house is complete and back to normal.

Stay tuned for project nursery and house remodel before and after post's coming soon. I hope you all have a great week!

Photos By: Brent & Tawny Doan (iPhone) 

Oh Baby!

Hello! It's been a while since I last posted but I have good reasons.... promise! 2013 so far has been a year of BIG events. I recall telling my husband on New Year's Day that we are going to be extremely busy this coming year and oh man has it been. I feel like I can finally stop & take a breather from it all. Amongst the crazy schedules, meticulous planning, detailed designing & many celebrations we were involved with so far, I can say that we have been blessed with so much love and support from our dear family & friends.

Just a peek into some of our BIG celebrations of the year, I turned 30 in May...... geez.... tell me about it. We helped my sister-in-law & her fiancé celebrate their beautiful rustic & romantic wedding & lastly....... did I mention we are expecting?!?!?!

Some of you may already know, however I wanted to make it official by posting this announcement & video we whipped up together on the blog. Brent & I are SUPER EXCITED for our little bundle of joy & we can't wait to meet our little baby Doan face to face.

I am 16 weeks preggo, well into my second trimester & I'm feeling great! We don't know the gender yet, but hope to find out really soon so we can start to put the nursery together. I guess as a designer, I can't help but have an obnoxious amount of decor ideas for the baby's room. Hopefully in figuring out the gender, I can begin to edit my ideas down to one... or a few... hahaha!

Any advice for us expecting parents would be appreciated. Or any good baby tips or baby decor idea sites are a great help. It's a little overwhelming planning for something so new to us, like a baby. However, overall we are so ecstatic to finally begin our family.

A huge thanks to my brother for shooting & editing this video. And to our parents & siblings for your love during this precious time.

BABY Announcement 05/19/13 from Tawny Doan Art & Design on Vimeo.

Baby Doan: 13 Weeks - Ultrasound {Baby is face down, but I think it's doing push-ups. Our baby is staying fit already!}

Baby Doan: 16 Weeks

  

Weekend Wrap Up: Photo challenge project

One of my resolutions for 2013 is to create more fine art & get back to my roots of finding inspiration in the world around me. Last week I decided to challenge myself to do a photo study of the sunset on my way home from work. Southern California has been blasted with some pretty low temperatures lately with a few storms that rolled through making for some gorgeous late afternoon sunsets. If you follow me on Instagram, then you would have seen these wonderful sunsets on my feed. I tried really hard to take the photos in the same spot every time, but hey..... I was driving trying not to get caught by the po-po (it will never happen again, sorry honey).

So in conclusion to my photo study, I have taken the colors of the sky on various days & have applied them to some projects I am currently working on. Stay tuned for those project posts. I quite enjoyed giving myself this creative challenge. What should I challenge myself with this week? How do you challenge yourself creatively? I would love to hear your ideas!!!

Photos by: Tawny Doan via Instagram

Color // LOVE: 2013 Pantone Color of the Year

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah..... I'm green with envy. 

Introducing the 2013 Pantone Color of the Year, Emerald! I do love me some vivid emerald pops of color. Also, which happens to be my birthstone as well. I'm excited to see what creatives will come up with for this year's cool hue! 

Pantone's past superstar colors [2007-2012]

Photos via: www.pantone.com