Sundance Film Festival 2011

Last weekend I attended the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT.  It was so much fun and I can't wait for next year!  For those of you who don't know, Sundance Film Festival was started in 1981 by Robert Redford.

 sundance.org

  He wanted to create a place for filmakers to get away from the pressures of filmmaking and realize what they are really doing it for.  By being in the mountains of Utah, they were able to explore their creativity and discover ways to express their art and films.  The little busy town of Park City hosts the event every year.  There was always something going on and just walking up and down the streets you are bound to find something that will excite you. 

 The Eating Establishment

One of my favorite places to eat each time I'm in Park City would be "The Eating Establishment".  The food is amazing and the management is awesome!  We always sit in the cozy window booth and enjoy a fantastic meal!

There is also a lot of fun shopping and boutiques all around.  One of my favorite's is Mary Jane's.

 Mary Jane's

If you need new boots while in Park City, this is the place to go.  They are always having fun events to make the shopping experience unique.  From appetizers and drinks to free eye brow waxing, this boutique is so much fun! Check them out and add their blog!

Park City also offers all the typical winter events as the 2002 Winter Olympics were held here.  Make sure and check out Olympic Park, where you can enjoy watching the skiers train.  They also have rides available to the public on the zipline, the bobsled trail and my favorite the Alpine slide.   The gorgeous ski hills are all tucked around the city and offer so many options.  And if you don't want to stay at one of the resorts, Salt Lake City is only 20 minutes away.  

The weekend was awesome and the Film Festival was exciting.  I'm already planning my trip for next year!

Bridal Fair 2011

So it's been a busy holiday and getting everything all ready for the new year has taken a little bit of work. But we are so excited for a bunch of changes for the new year! We are excited to start a few new segments on our blog, one of which will be "The Weekend Update". So... this weekend I went to the Bridal Fair. It was a lot of fun and I met a lot of really fun people!

"A Day to Adore" This was one of my favorite photographers at the fair.  Her site is awesome too so go check her out.  Her portfolio is full of engagement and wedding photos, portraits for family, baby and senior shots and lots lots more!  They also do prints for all of the announcements and invitations.  Her and her husband are extremely talented and I'm so jealous of their studio!!

A Day to Adore Photography

Elegance in Chocolate
I met a really nice guy named Dusty at Elegance in Chocolate, who sells and rents chocolate fountains.  These are such a fun and delicious idea for a wedding or any event.  This was definitely a hit at the fair!

Harts Tux & Gown
We can't forget about Hart's and their gorgeous dresses and tux selection.  Everytime we've gone in to their store they are so friendly and easy to work with.  They have always gone above and beyond to help us out over there! Check out their new website too! Thanks guys!!!

Mainstream Music
These DJ's really know how to party, they are always at the bridal fairs and always do a great job with their displays.  The employees are very professional and nice to talk to.  They have plenty of experience and great prices!

There were a ton of booths and so many to talk to! I'm really excited for the next Bridal Fair coming up in February to talk to everyone I missed!

We are also excited to announce our Brides Best Friend cards that will soon be available!  We have a great selection of advertisers so far and can't wait to announce how is involved.  If you are an advertiser and want to be a part of this opportunity to make some money and have a chance to have the brides come to your business first, please let us know.  You can contact us at info@nico-graphics.com.

Letters to Santa

This week I am offering a FREE printable to all of those who would like to write a letter to Santa.  I will be posting a new design everyday this week.  If you use my printable please add me as a follower, grab a button and leave a comment!  Hope you enjoy the fun different designs.

MONDAY

 

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

Today is the last day of our "Santa Letter" collection, I hope you all were able to use these and maybe it helped to give you some of your own ideas for some creative Santa letters.  Send me a picture of your letters and I'll post them so we all can see how creative you all are.  I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and Santa brings you what you want. 

A big thanks also, to our favorite blog Sassy Sanctuary!

"Wall of Frame" Photo Booth

One night while playing on our blogs, my friend Krystal and I came across this adorable idea from Mostazaseed. We loved this idea and immediatly started drawing up ideas we could do this with.  We decided to test it out and make Krystals family Christmas cards this year.  Here's how it turned out!

(Go to her link to see the actual card)

So after many hours of hard work, we finally are ready to make it available to our customers!  We are renting this for work and family Christmas parties, a school dance and a few weddings.  If you would like to rent this please contact me! (info@nico-graphics.com). 

These are also available for any theme and other sizes as the frames and pictures can be easily changed.  If you like these, add us as a follower to stay posted on new designs and ideas.  Thanks for reading!!!

Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies

To get in the Christmas spirit, I made these amazing  Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies from

 the Better Homes and Gardens Cookie Exchange.

To make them a little more festive I used Pistachio's instead to bring in some green color.  They were very yummy and everyone at the office loved them! Thanks Better Homes and Gardens!!!

Photo & Recipe From Better Homes and Gardens

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1-1/4  cups  all-purpose flour
• 1/3  cup  sugar
• 2  tablespoons  unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  cup  butter, cut up
• 1  tablespoon  red food coloring
• 3  ounces  white chocolate (with cocoa butter), coarsely chopped
• 1-1/2  teaspoons  shortening
•     Finely chopped pistachios or rainbow nonpareils (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Cover and process with on/off turns until combined. Add butter and red food coloring. Process with on/off turns until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Process until mixture just forms a ball.*

2. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough lightly until nearly smooth. Roll or pat dough to a 1/2-inch thickness. Using a floured 1-1/2-inch round cutter, cut out dough. Place cutouts 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press scraps together and reroll.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until centers are set. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool.

4. In a heavy small saucepan, melt white chocolate and shortening over low heat, stirring constantly. Dip half of each cookie into melted chocolate. If desired, sprinkle with pistachios or nonpareils. Let stand on waxed paper until set. Makes about 24 cookies.

*Hand-mixing method: In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter and food coloring until mixture resembles fine crumbs and starts to cling together (it will take a while for the dough to come together). Form mixture into a ball, kneading until smooth.

To Store: Place cookies in a single layer in an airtight container; cover. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

How to get awesome photographs for your projects!

Have you ever seen an amazingly designed blog or website and thought, "I can't do that, I'm not a photographer." ? You might be surprised to know that they probably didn't take that photo either. Here are a few tips to make your website more creative with just a few stock photos.

Free Range Stock

This site is super easy to use and has so many photos to choose from.  My images in my header are from the site. Thanks Free Range Stock! 

Unprofound

This site is set up a little different making it very interesting to use.  The photos are all sorted by color.  If you are creating something with reds, just click the red box and pages of red type photos are there for you to use! I found myself stuck in the site as my curiosity had to see what photos were under the green page and the yellow page and the orange page... yes I had to click them all.

morgueFile

This site also has a lot of fun photographs ready to use in your blog.  This site allows you to crop the image and provides you with the html to add to your blog for convenient blog posting.

Photo credit: cohdra from morguefile.com

Texture King

Texture King is awesome! This site provides many images of all kinds of textures for free! I've used texture images of concrete, wood, rocks and even fabric patterns.  This is a great place to find those cool images for backgrounds and brush textures in photoshop.

These sites are all very helpful, as there are many sites out there to help those of us who might not be talented in the camera department.  I use these sites all the time, they help me save time and help give me inspiration!  Thanks to those sites who help us come together as creatives and designers!

Don't forget to read the rules and how the sites each want the photos used.  Most of them are free for the designers to use, but are not there for us to abuse.  These are not for resell and if you have any questions most the sites can answer if you can use the photo for your project or not.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to add some color to your life!

About Nico Graphics

I am so excited to finally have my blog up and ready for the world to see!  I started Nico Graphics in 2008 and it has been a blast! My passion for designing and creating grows more and more each day.  As a graphic designer there are endless possibilities to what you can do and I only wish there was more time in the day to accomplish everything.  Nico Graphics (short for Nicolette) is a business dedicated to helping small businesses with all their marketing needs.  I understand what it means to be a small business with the need of branding and marketing on a budget.  I have helped many small businesses come up with promotional plans and graphic ideas without large costs.  After talking with the business owners and assistants I help strategically plan to help bring attention to their business, event and promotions.  Different businesses need different things, and I am here to help your business or event look professional and creative.  Stay posted to see what businesses I've helped and what businesses are creating on a small budget!