Who’s Creating? Wednesday: Heather Carson

This week’s featured creative chick is one of my dear friends, Heather Carson.  Not only is she a talented graphic artist and designer, she’s a wonderful mother of SIX.  And, Heather has the most amazing, gorgeous red hair I’ve ever seen… it’s absolutely stunning!

Recently I asked Heather to design a logo for my food photography business, Limelight Food Photography, and she did an AMAZING job!!!  She designed my logo to be like a produce sticker and then created the back of my business card to look like the logo “sticker” was on some limes.  I love it!  I couldn’t be happier with this design!  Heather is brilliant and so creative!

Now you get the opportunity to get to know Heather better and be creatively inspired today:

A little about Heather:

I love to create. My memories of childhood are filled with making things. I was always working on some sort of project – and then sometimes trying to sell them to my poor neighbors. When I finally found the career of Design during college, I couldn’t get enough. Many of my peers specialized in a certain area but I couldn’t pick and went with the degree that let me do as many things as I could. I got a BA in Design and got to play around with industrial design, photography, illustration, interior design and graphic design. Since leaving school I have worked most of the time in graphic design- for other design companies and now on my own. I have done projects in the other disciplines as well. I am a serial entrepreneur and love to create logos, branding, and business identity materials. But I can’t stay away from anything creative for too long. Since having a family I added sewing, crocheting, and general mess making to my list of creative adventures. I could spend hours in the art store deciding which supply or technique to try out next.

1. Why is creativity important to you?

Creativity is like breathing. It’s essential to everyday life. It helps me look beyond routine and dig deeper into what I want to accomplish in all areas of my life.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan has a quote that says, “Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.” I love that!

2. What do you enjoy creating the most?

As a graphic designer, I am on the computer a lot. I love creating digital art for my clients. But if I didn’t balance that out with some hands on creativity, I think it would get stale. I love being creative in my home. Making things from scratch, fixing stuff up, creating things for my kids & not worrying about if anyone will like it. That’s when it’s freeing. Just creating to create. Love that!

3. Do you have any fears when creating? Are your family & friends supportive of the things you create?

Yes! When I am working with clients, there is always that moment when you turn over your work and kind of hold your breath till you hear back. Kind of like sending your kids off to school on the first day. You just want them to do well, be liked, and behave themselves

My family and friends are supportive of what I create. But a lot of times, I find that they don’t really understand what I do. “Designer” is kind of a broad term. It applies to work in a lot of different industries. I saw a funny graphic designer t-shirt that said “I draw pictures all day.” Hah! So. True. Kind of.

4. How do you find time to create?

When my kids are in school, I have studio hours to work on design projects for my clients. I fit my other stuff in where I can. I have a production schedule that I made for myself. The hard part is sticking to it. Having a separate creative blog kind of forces that I get out from behind my desk and do some other projects.

5. Words of inspiration to creative chicks:

Keep a sketch book or inspiration journal. Fill it with every crazy thought, sketch, or random idea that comes into your head. I heard a quote once that said “don’t invite editors to brainstorming sessions”. If you have a self editor in your head, un-invite them to your sketchbook brainstorming. They will get their chance to work later when you zero in on a project. For now- just get the ideas out of your head and onto the page. You never know when something you put down will spark an idea for a future project.

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Isn’t Heather awesome?!  I loved her advice and have been doing that to have a place to jot down all my wild, random thoughts of inspiration.  Thanks soooo much for inspiring us today, Heather!

See more of Heather and keep the creative inspiration flowing from her fab sites:

• MemoGraphicDesign.com
• TheModernHive.com
• GoodLookCookbook.com (remember how we mentioned them last week here?)