Inspiration: Minted.com

One of my favorite reasons to post on here (and largely why I started Almost There) was to help inspire. Whether you had your dream house/job/life or not I wanted to show people that you could still be happy with DIYs, inspiration boards, and spotlights on creative, awe-inspiring sites, products, and people. Going into our third year, I hope Almost There is still fitting that bill!

Today, I want to keep the streak alive and INSPIRE you with a wonderful site named Minted!

Minted is the world's premier marketplace for independent design. Our mission is to find exceptional artists and designers all over the world and bring their work to consumers who appreciate great design.

What does that mean?
It means you have a site filled with a plethora of eclectic and unique designs for all occasions (special or just because) that will delight the eyes and warm the hearts of designers and design lovers alike.

Now, let me show you three reasons I'm currently in love with Minted.

Birth Announcements

Maybe it's because Holli Anne is expecting that has me super excited about Minted's Birth Announcements but I think they are just adorable! With customization options galore, you can make your announcements as personal as if you had designed them from your laptop at home and, as Minted does best, the design selection is ample (and precious)!

Je T'aime bebe | Hatched Egg Shell | From the Nursery | Welcome with Love | Browse more...

Journals
I'm a writer so, of course, I'm going check out the journal section of Minted! Oh boy are they adorable! Each design has a customization option (again, a wonderful Minted feature) so making your journal uniquely you while keeping the design integrity intact opens up so many cute possibilities. No matter your tastes, the journal section has pages and pages of different styles whether you're more drawn to photography, illustration, or a combination of the two!

Hello Love | Chalkboard Dreams | To the Happy Family | Browse more in Journals for Women...

Art Prints

Dear goodness.
Be still my heart.
I can't help but love 85 percent of what's in the art prints section of Minted. Again, a lot of eclectic, bright fun pieces! AND you have the option of various sizes and framing! Always a bonus if you ask me!

Rainbow | Peony Bottle | St. Paul's Cathedral, London | Art wall board | Browse more...

There's plenty more to love about Minted so I'll make more posts about it, I'm sure. For now, these three sections of the site are my favorites, though, I spent a good amount of time browsing the others!

If you love design, pretty things, and affordable, customizable decor then I suggest you check out Minted.com now!

-Tyler Anne (aka Chick Tyler)
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Kiss My Assassin Blog Tour: The Wasted Series Design + Photography

One thing that has always made me love Author C. Elizabeth Vescio is that, apart from writing a series I genuinely love, she is wonderful at design. So when marketing needs to get done, she never fails with coming up with aesthetically pleasing, badass book-related art. From character photography to Uncontrollably Wasted teaser pictures with quotes from Book 2, she brings her characters and books alive in a way that excite and entertain her readers. #brilliant

So for today's stop on the Kiss My Assassin Blog Tour I wanted to show you some of my personal favorite graphics made for the series as well as link you to other places on the web where you can browse Wasted art!



Want to easily reppin some Wasted art? Check out the Pinterest Board "The Wasted Series: Art + Web!"

Want to let your eyes hump some great graphics made for Uncontrollably Wasted? Here's the promo album from the Facebook Page! As always, the newest info. and art can be found over at the Facebook Page here as well as the Wasted Tumblr here.

Want to see some of your favorite characters? Author C. Elizabeth Vescio has a page just for that! You can see character photography + their info. and fun facts here!

Don't forget to look through the Wasted Series website here! It's sexy and fun! #duh

The site's blog is also pretty ballin' so don't forget to visit it too!

As always, let me try to gently push you into becoming a part of Author C. Elizabeth Vescio's street team called THE VASSASSINS! Why? Well to support this author and her series AND to get cool insider info. and other fun things! Sign up here! It's free and easy and sexy.

Now for links to the newly released UNCONTROLLABLY WASTED!

Nook
Kindle
Paperback
Goodreads
The Wasted Site

Jack of all trades and stereotypical black sheep, C. Elizabeth has been writing somewhat dark and morbid since that teen angst hit in the early 90's- probably because her dad was a mortician. After pursuing a degree in English, she changed gears to photography and design in 2006... although she kept penning stories for fun while reading the works of Edgar Allen Poe, Oscar Wilde and Hemingway (whom she adores even though he was a huge douche canoe). In 2009, her life shifted considerably and she found herself writing Elegantly Wasted- helping her sort out a bunch of stupid feelings and other lame stuff.

Want more of C. Elizabeth Vescio?
GoodReads - FB - Twitter - Tumblr

Inspiration: 2 Creative Blogs You SHOULD Be Following

I know, I've been doing a lot of Writer Talk, Reader Talk, and Interviews lately as opposed to the creative design/DIY/inspiration posts I used to do all of the time. It's not that I've given up on that side of things, I've just found that the writer and reader side of posts to be more relevant in my life right now.

Holli and I are writing books that we hope to will finish in July. (Largely in part to Camp NaNoWriMo we plan to participate in.) This means my brain has been a little more inclined to think about things like writing resources, Dos & Donts, POVs, humorous writer musings, and, of course, book things.

So, to show you that I still very much love everything design + inspiration, I wanted to share with you two of my favorite creative blogs that you SHOULD already be following.

1. A Beautiful Mess

Honestly, ABM is one of the sites I visit during my daily online routine. I can't put my finger on the exact way I came to know about this lovely blog, but I've been glued to it for more than a year.

ABM is lifestyle blog run by sisters Elsie and Emma. Their topics include Crafts, Photography, Recipes, Decor, Fashion, and Beauty. While I appreciate all of those creatively fueled categories, their crafty DIYs and Decor (specifically the At Home With series) posts are my bread and butter.

I love this site because, despite their obvious popularity, both sisters and the people that work with them seem to be humble and absolutely love what they do. If you ever need an inspirational boost or some creative juice, I suggest you roll on over to their site and spend some time enjoying everything they have to offer!

Their Home page's mini About: A beautiful mess is all about creative a beautiful life. We share daily inspirations, DIY projects and recipes. We believe that the best things in life are homemade.

Amen, sisters!

2. Design Love Fest

Oh, how I love me some Design Love Fest. Different in vibe from ABM, Design Love Fest still has all the goodness of a creative and inspirational design blog. 

Bri Emery, founder and editor of DLF, has a knack for style, a flair for life, and is just adorable in general. In the past year the evolution of Blogshop has made DLF even more fun to follow as well as the my favorite reoccurring topics of Make It, Design, Interiors, and Advice.

The graphic designer part of me (as well as the freelancer side of me) is what loves Design Love Fest the most. If you work from home, are a designer, or just love pretty things in general I suggest you put Design Love Fest in your bookmarks!

DLF's tagline: Where type & images totally make out.

*Drool*

Do you have any blogs that you just love?

-Tyler Anne (aka Chick Tyler)

HM Design Works

A friend of mine posted a picture on Facebook (image below).

I instantly fell in love. Then I realized that she made it!

So of course I have to blog it and link you to her! She's so talented that you have to check her out here!

Enjoy!