I’ve been working on some designs to build up my portfolio, some of which I have been submitting to Brandstack to sell. One of the brands I invented was Citrus, a business advisor company, whose calling card is a nice sharp vector lime!

The logo is now for sale on Brandstack, so hopefully someone will take it. If you’re interested, click on any of the below images to go to the sale page.

Keep checking the blog, because I will start adding case-studies for each logo I design, including a study for Citrus very soon!

I have recently become acquainted with 99designs, a website on which companies can post their requirements for various design projects. The idea is, they post the idea. They open a project, write a brief, add some specifications, such as colours, layouts and such, and then the contest is open to designers. Yes, I did just say ‘contest’.

The concept is that many designers submit their own ideas, and the contest holder rates them on preference, out of 5 stars. I’ve found it’s a good way of finding business, and also just practicing and learning new skills. The best way to learn is by doing, of course.

99designs features a lot of different types of projects:

• Logo Design
• Web Design
• Business Card Design
• Icon Design
• WordPress themes
• Stationary Design
• Brochure Design
• Printing & Packaging
• T-Shirt Design
• Banner Adverts

So, if you’re a budding designer and aren’t sure how to go about getting some business, or a veteran going through a ‘dry spell’, check out 99designs for some contests to spruce up your skills list a little and earn some money!

As Christmas is rapidly approaching, I was asked by Accountancy firm, TaxAssist, to design a Christmas card to send to their clients via e-mail. They wanted a design that would appeal to their clients as well as the charity they support, the Round Table Children’s Wish.

I love this idea, as it saves paper and helps the environment and supports a well deserved charity by donating the money they would spend on paper cards, while sending e-cards.

I designed a happy snowmen design, which they liked very much.

If you are interested in this for Christmas this year or next, or any other occasion, please use the contact form to let me know and I will get back to you as soon as possible!

Here’s another post for you budding designers out there. My friends over at Envato have a nice feature that I’ve taken advantage of a few times, and  thought I should make sure that you do aswell!

Their Monthly Free Files have helped me out in a few cases, offering just small snippets of code or ideas for graphics.

The files are usually really useful, including templates and other ideas, and they’re free! How awesome is that!

So head over and have a look for WordPress Themes, HTML Templates, Graphics, Code and much more at Envato!

I’ve just ordered some lovely new business cards from the best business card company I can think of: Moo.com

Their products are fantastic! From business cards to stickers, they have brilliant ideas and services.

I really like their moo minicards; they’re so cute and quirky, but I thought full size ones would go with my big bold logo.

They have such a good way of doing things at Moo. You can upload up to 50 different images, even straight from Flickr! (You can even visit my photostream and check out my gorgeous new cards!) You can have an image for both sides of the card also, to have your logo on the back or use your company font.

I love the ideas they have too, suggesting the use of their minicards and a holepunch to create tags for presents, holiday decorations, or just decoration in one of their photo frames! They’re such good value also, giving you 50 cards for under £15, and it gets better the more you get.

And also, you can now get a nice 10% off your order if you quote EKHETB at the checkout!*

*Expires 30^th June

So, next time you’re looking for some business cards, clever ideas for the holidays, or a unique little photo collage, why not visit Moo and get a great deal on some sexy cards for yourself!

The wonders of CSS3 are new and ready to be discovered! I’ve already started by learning how to make tables as gorgeous as the one above, by using CSS3 alone (except the check image).

Mastering CSS3 gradient coding for all browsers was a bit tricky, but I’m pretty sure this table will appear as in the image in all these browsers: Chrome, Firefox, IE and Safari. Click on the table image to see the table working!

I will be releasing some of these table templates on GraphicRiver soon, including the HTML code and the CSS files to match.

So spread the word about my CSS3 tables: Recommend a Friend and get a free graphics template!

As my website is now finished, I thought I’d share with everything the thing that made it so much easier for me. This help sheet from WP Candy is brilliant. It lists popular PHP commands all in one place, so I had a reference every time I couldn’t think of how to code this. Also, tips from other places, especially the WordPress Codex were very helpful too, but I think the number one lifesaver this time was WP Candy’s WordPress Help Sheet!

After weeks of work editing code and HTML, the website is finally finished! Please let me know what you think!

I’ll get started writing a few posts soon and putting up a few freebies, and to commemorate the opening of the site I’m going to release a nice shiny HTML template for free!

News on all that soon, but for now, subscribe to the rss feed and follow me on Twitter and everything, and keep up to date with all my gadgets and graphics and goodies from about the web!

Thanks!

I’ve been working so hard to get MieowThemes, my full design, work and portfolio site up and running. Mainly, the site is where I show off all my WordPress themes and have links to download all of them.

The site features gorgeous jQuery sliders and portfolio previews as well as a bold layout and other unique features.

MieowThemes if the place to go for free WordPress themes, premium WordPress themes, and custom WordPress design.

I designed this template for Evohosting Ltd as a marketing project. They wanted a theme to offer as a free download to attract more customers. Their specification was simple: a stylish design with somethign special and an easy to edit layout. That is exactly what I gave them, and the result was fantastic.

Here’s what’s included: