Valerie's Workshop

Valerie's Workshop has begun many new projects, recently all to stretch her creative limits. One of those projects was a series of photo shoots capturing the beauty that surrounds me on the east side of Madison and in Monona.  I added a "few" of my favorites from these photo shoots to my photography portfolio . This is just the tip of my photographic iceberg, but it covers my favorite styles of photography; landscape and documentary. Check back often as I'm planning on adding many more images as time allows. -Enjoy!

When it comes to design work, I've been quite busy lately. Whether for Valerie's Workshop or my day job at Rutabaga Paddlesports, I've been creating daily. The creative work has included images for rutabaga.com ,  graphics for social media pages, logo design, and more. I've even been lucky enough to photograph a few events for Rutabaga, so many of the images in the graphics are captured by myself. The highlight of all of these projects, however, has been the opportunities that have arisen since designing the WVMO logo . As a volunteer for the Local LP-FM radio station, WVMO , I attend our monthly planning meetings. At one of the first meetings, I was connected with a few women hoping to record jingles for the station. There formed the Jinglegals; a sextet of Madison women writing and recording station id's out of their home studio. As the radio station preps for it's kickoff broadcast August 21, we've polished our jingles to include a twang, blues, pol

This morning, I quickly designed a mandala coloring page, similar to what I'd put in my coloring book I hope to publish. Please feel free to print and color this page, or share it with a friend! And let me know what you think. This is the first design of many refined designs to come. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated!

A few weeks back, when life had me so busy my head was spinning, a friend posted a picture of the most delicious looking breakfast treat; pancake sticks with bacon hidden on the inside. As a midwestern girl, my jaw dropped and drool started puddling at my feet at the sight of the bacon-filled treat. I cataloged the image into my mental recipe book and trudged on through Canoecopia and the rest of March, fueled by the thought of bacon decadence in the near future. Finally, this past weekend, I was blessed with two days off in a row that I filled with that Spring cleaning I talked about last week. By the end of the day yesterday, I was starving and in need of a protein and carb filled meal to replenish me. So, I picked up a pound of thick-cut bacon, cut each strip in half, and baked it in a 400 degree F oven for about 45 minutes, and the bacon was nice and crispy. While the fat rendered from the bacon, I thawed about 4 frozen bananas which were added to my pancake batter. Once the ba

... And it exists at the bottom of a coconut latte from Java Cat in Monona. Photo and design by yours truly, Valerie's Workshop! #typeincoffee

Having a sweet doodle break whilst "working" at Java Cat this afternoon. I quickly roughed this one out as my gelato reached it's peak temperature for consumption. Pina colada gelato and a coconut latte were exactly what my frozen midwestern psyche needed on this cool spring day. As I nibbled on my snack, my tastebuds transported me to a blanket on a lovely white sand beach. I could practically feel the sun warming my sandy skin, basking in the tropical heat. Can you tell how much I want a vacation? A girl can dream, I guess.  So, in the meantime, I'll continue sipping on my latte (I devoured the gelato instantly after capturing this photograph) and whistling while I work. Possibly some Bob Marley refrains. They should keep the tropical mindset intact, don't you think?  And, as if on cue, the sun has broken through the clouds as I've been typing. It's seems things are working in my favor! Sun is shining ... 

As I mentioned in my last post, part of my spring cleaning involved logo revisions and website updates. One of the main reasons for these adjustments was to fine tune my internet presence and provide a more consistent image/brand across all apps and platforms. I am ready to take Valerie's Workshop to the next level! There's that old saying that you should make a career out of what you do procrastinating.  Well, I wish I would have done that when I was in college twelve years ago. Back then I was working in a student run graphic design office. Facebook had just launched and I was sucked in like a moth to light. Each time my mouse wandered, I'd end up on Facebook. Flash forward to 2014, after years of frustration in freelance graphic design, I am offered a social media management position at a local outdoor retailer. Within days, I sign up for HootSuite, begin linking accounts and create several highly successful social media campaigns. Well, we're now several months

As April rapidly approaches, so does my 30th birthday. This milestone is causing all sorts of energy to stir within me and I'm trying to ride the wave to success. There are a many projects on my docket at the moment and this energy is helping me focus, prioritize and act. The first project is a little bit of digital spring cleaning. As you may, or may not, have noticed, I did a bit of redesigning on Valerie's Workshop. I attempted to update all of my social media accounts to match, which include Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. I refreshed the content in my portfolio to include my social media campaigns for Rutabaga and Canoecopia from the last year. I even updated my resume, and revised my references, too. You never know who's looking or when you might need to share that valuable information. If you are wishing to view these updates, click on the links at the top of the right column. With my digital house in order, I plan to move on to my regular house. I recently b