To all the great folks we work with, we say THANK YOU! This year, we wanted to share the love with a little help from our terriers—after all, nothing says “I Love You” like the wet nose of a loyal pup. Cheers to whatever and whomever YOU love best!

Have you ever contributed to or created a Kickstarter project? Are you addicted to looking through all the possibilities like I am? It is a mind-blowing site to sift through and it is a brilliant way to fundraise for creative projects. I root for Kickstarter projects the way some people root for sports teams. Although, I am on the sidelines for most, my husband and I have funded a few. The first one I backed was close to home. My three childhood friends –all artists–were awarded a residency in Nova Scotia. They put up their Kickstarter project and had funding for camera equipment and travel within a month. It was inspiring. Not only did friends and family get to see their project come to life, we got to participate and follow their progress. There are thousands of projects to look through and, even if you don’t want to fund, it is fun to look through and be inspired. Let us know some of your favorites!

Photos by Martha Almy and Alison Taylor.

Have you seen the awesome posters hanging around Shepherdstown announcing Pants Velour? We selfishly lured one of our favorite bands to Shepherdstown by promising to help promote their show. The posters are vibrant, fun, funky and they make you want to go out and dance –just like the band! And you should.

Pants Velour is a nine person hip hop party with rock out music and smarty pants lyrics. We have seen them in NYC and DC and they are coming to the Shepherdstown Opera House this Sunday, January 15 (Monday is a holiday, so no excuses) at 9. The band is led by the trifecta of talent — Niki Darling (Vocals) Josh Raff (MC) and Eli Northrup (Hype) — along with inspired musicians and back up. Eli, I should add, is my little brother. He’s a good one (for so many reasons), but you can come find that out for yourself on Sunday night. The ladies of Eden will be dancing front and center. The Lady Dies will open, starring the lovely voice and banjo of Chelsea McBee (along with Jesse Boyd & Shelley Tawley) at 7:30.

Photos by René Scotland

I was at a holiday party and found myself telling a group of people how much I loved living here. We were all transplants and I was the newest at almost five years. One woman who has been in Shepherdstown over 30 years said that she was told that you are not really considered “from here” unless you were conceived here, but she has never felt more at home anywhere else. We ticked off a long list of reasons to live and raise our children here and I left feeling really great.

It has been that kind of month — every week has offered some moment where I thought: I love this place! Jen and I went out to hear great music at the Meck and saw people from all over town –people who we see every week behind desks or counters or strollers — dancing with total abandon. This was quickly followed by the Christmas parade which always proves to be a magical small town event. My son insisted on dressing like a skeleton with full face paint and he was treated like a small celebrity. I went to Mr. Grantham’s stand by the Post Office on Saturday to buy eggs (a highlight of every week), ran into friends, and made plans to go fetch our kids and meet at The Opera House where they were playing Charlie Brown’s Christmas for free –the kids nested in bean bags and parents lined up on couches. I turned to look at our crowd glowing in the movie light and observed total delight on every face. Somehow, the teachers and parents at our school managed to pull off amazing feats of teaching, performing and baking these last weeks culminating in a performance of 35 three to twelve year olds singing holiday songs with gusto for their enthusiastic families. Here at work it has been holiday busy and work busy and because I work with two very creative, smart and good-humored women, it has been fun busy.

My friend, who moved here from Colorado a few years ago, is going to give birth to her third child any minute now, and he is going to be able to really say he is “from here”. Lucky guy. Welcome to the party, “Junior” and happy new year to all the friends and families of Eden Design.

Here at Eden, we spend a good amount of time looking at typefaces. It is a fun process—searching through type shops to find just the right font for a client’s logo, website, event invitation, etc. We tend to be fans of font-based logos. They can offer a clean, yet distinct logo that conveys well on print, screen and display. Why is choosing the right font important? It is another tool, along with photographs, color and illustration that adds to your brand’s personality and value. If you are like us geeks, we notice how typefaces are used everywhere and think about its value to the message. And we think we’re pretty awesome when we can recognize a font by name. Seriously, we’re geeks.

What spurred me to write this post is some very pretty type sites I stumbled upon recently on swissmiss. Check out Typeverything for inspiration and Playtype for inspiration, font purchase and a nice Topographer’s Glossary. We have also made some lovely font-based logos.

Photos from Playtype, Typeverything and Eden Design.

Client:

Fratello’s Pizzeria • Elmhurst, IL

Project:

Website Design

Team:

Eden Design

Platform:

WordPress

www.FratellosPizzeria.com

Client:

Dreamhouse Furniture & Design • Frederick, MD

Project:

Website Design

Team:

Eden Design

Platform:

WordPress

www.DreamHouseStyle.com

Client:

Olney Theatre Center • Olney, MD

Project:

Website Design

Team:

Eden Design

Platform:

Joomla

www.OlneyTheatre.org

Client:

Ellsworth Music and Supply

Project:

Website Design

Team:

Eden Design

Platform:

WordPress

www.BrianEllsworth.com

It is the season of beautiful food. So, I thought it would be fitting to do a round up of beautiful food blogs. I find myself looking through these sites craving to cook something remarkable, but not really willing to shop, mess up the kitchen, clean up and possibly incorporate two small children into the process –thus, furthering the effort. This is unusually pessimistic of me. The truth is, I really like to eat good food and I do not really like to cook but, I really want to want to cook. Let’s stop there and look at these gorgeous food sites and leave my craziness. These bloggers really do know how and love to cook and they create beautiful sites to present their creations. Enjoy!

smitten kitchen has amazing recipes, photographs and design as does Roost. Sunday Suppers has all of that and includes some table settings and restaurant reviews. Dinner: A Love Story is a fun, family cooking site. My friend Cate teaches cooking and sewing classes to children at Tribeca Yummy Mummy. I love her pictures –especially of little “yummies” at work. Breakfast is a fun tumblr site with stunning pictures of breakfast from all over the authors “internet travels”.

(Photos above and in slide show from Roost and Smitten Kitchen.)