Graphic Design

Art and Music Book Design

When this set of books came up on our 2014 copyright list of books to design, I was a little intimidated to take on the design of these. Once I got going on them, I really let loose and had fun with the concepts for them. These are some of my favorite designs so far.


St. Augustine Adventures - Part 2

Here is part 2 of our St. Augustine Adventures. This was the last day we were there and the weather was finally beautiful. I took a lot of pictures this day!

First thing in the morning we went to Starbucks and got coffee, Yum! Then we headed over to the Castillo de San Marcos fort.






We got there early enough to watch the cannon firing demonstration.


The pull the cannon out of position.


Then they stuff it with what ever they are going to fire out of it. In this case them mentioned that they shoot out bread for the birds.


Then they use the big pieces of wood to walk it back into position.


Then the add the gunpowder and fire it!


After they fire it they have to pull it back out of position and clean it out. Then they let us know that it is all clear.

We walked around and checked out more of the fort.





I did take a bunch more photos but I condensed it and just shared my favorites.

We then headed to the little shopping area. There is the oldest school house and we decided to check it out.


While we were purchasing our tickets to go into the schoolhouse this little squirrel was chilling out eating a peanut.


Inside the classroom they had a mock up setting of a classroom with mannequins in it.

There was this kid sitting in this small cupboard area under the stairs. The sign said this was called the dungeon and they would put the kids that were bad in there, close the door and leave the child in the dark. We think people are rough with kids now a days.




This was a picture I took of the little shopping area while we were walking around.


Then we headed over to the Old Jail House. They said the sheriff had the building painted pink and did not want it to look like a typical jail.


This is what they call the gallows. This is where people were hung to death. They said that part of the sentence was that you had to build your own gallows.


Inside the jail was pretty dark so I didn't get very many pictures inside. The cells and rooms were all super small. The sheriff and his family actually lived on one side of the building and the cells were on the other.

After visiting the jail we were starving and decided to check out Mellow Mushroom. The pizzas were great.

We then decided to waste some time and go check out St. Anastasia Park.





We had purchased tickets to do a haunted tour of the lighthouse. They turn most of the lights out on the property before the tour.


We were able to walk up the stairs to the top of the lighthouse in pitch dark. The only light we had were glow sticks hanging from our necks. The lighthouse is 145 feet tall and there are 219 stairs to climb all the way to the top. I think I was the first person to stop because I was out of breath.


I just love the composition of this shot. You can see the city, the moon, and the light beam from the light house.


This is looking down from the top platform!


And this is looking back up from the bottom!


Unfortunately we did not see any ghosts or experience anything odd. After everybody left we stayed and took pictures from the front of the property with all the lights back on.





This is another picture where you can see the light beam from the lighthouse.


We had such a great time. With it being a holiday we ran out of time to see everything. We are going back in February so there should be more pictures coming from that trip!

St. Augustine Adventures - Part 1

This trip started out actually while I was in Nashville earlier last year with my sister. We ended up going to Bass Pro Shop and they had a travel center there. The guy pulled us aside and was giving us these crazy offers for a vacation. It took me a little bit to agree to it because it sounded to good to be true. Well we paid just over $200 for a 4 night vacation in St. Augustine. The only catch was you had to attend a timeshare presentation. No big deal that's not to much to ask for the discount they were giving us. Also after we signed up there we got a $50 Bass Pro Shop gift card with the promise of another $100 gift card after we attended the presentation. So fast forward to our Christmas getaway in St. Augustine.

When we arrived we had to go check in with the resort to get our hotel vouchers. We were hungry by the time we got there so they referred us to CaddyShack which is owned by Bill Murray and his brothers. So we decided to check it out.




There was this awesome chopper with a Caddyshack theme there that was built by Orange County Choppers. The food was ok just your typical bar restaurant type of food. The atmosphere was great looking around at all the memorabilia.

After that we went and checked in the Hotel. Then we headed to the downtown area to figure out what we were going to do. It was raining quite a bit so I didn't pull out the big camera to take any photos the first couple of days we were there.

The first place we went was Ripley's Believe it or Not! I couldn't resist taking a picture of the shrunken head. I didn't take any other pictures while we were there.


Later that night we went to this bbq place called Mojo BBQ for dinner. This place was great!

The next day was Christmas Eve and we had to go to our presentation of the timeshare. Well we ended up purchasing into the program. We were there from 8:30am–2:00pm, but not because anybody made us feel like we had to stay. We were taking our time deciding on whether we really wanted to do it. The salesman was very patient with us. For making the purchase they gave us a free 2-night stay with an owner review. So we will be going back to St. Augustine in February.

We were starving after that and ended up at a little Irish Bar and Restaurant. The food was really awesome here.

Then we headed back to the downtown area and ended up at the San Sebastin Winery. We missed out on the tour of the chocolate factory and the distillery because everything closed early for Christmas Eve. We walked around for a bit and enjoyed all the christmas lights (which I did not get any pictures of).

Heading back to the car we stopped in the old pharmacy and wax museum and they had a Dobby statue right up front. Dobby is one of my favorite characters, I just love him.


For Christmas we realized there wasn't much to do because there wasn't a lot of places open. We had purchased a haunted tour of the lighthouse for the next night, so we decided to drive over and see where it was located. You can see how dreary of a day it was.




The only thing that was open was the Alligator Farm, so we went to check it out. Here are some of my favorite photos.















After the Alligator Farm we decided to go relax at the hotel for a bit. I made the boyfriend watch the movie The Family Stone. He didn't care for it!

We had a hard time trying to find a good place to eat dinner. I ended up on Yelp and found a Sushi Restaurant not to far from the hotel that had excellent reviews. So we decided to give it a try. This was the best Sushi I have ever eaten. The texture of the fish was so buttery and wonderful. I also tried the Green Tea Mochi Ice Cream and that was delicious.


I took so many pictures on our last day there I thought it would be best to split this into two posts. Hopefully I will get those photos edited and posted tomorrow.

Happy New Years 2015


I hope everyone had a wonderful New Years and wishing you the best for 2015!

I had a hard time deciding what color to use on the graphic and decided to go with the Pantone Color of the year: Marsala.

I am going to follow the format from last year and do a 2014 Year in Review and then let everybody know my goals for 2015.


I had only completed one original painting this year...


I didn't get as far as I would have liked in my LifeBook lessons. I finished up to Week 7...


Also in the creative department I was able to complete a couple craft projects also.



Another thing I was able to do this year that I didn't have planned was I purchased a DSLR camera. So I have been playing with photography.

I had set my goal at 30 books to read for 2014 and did not meet my goal, but I read some fun books.


I was able to complete all my travel goals for the year. We went to the zoo for my birthday, I took the boyfriend to Medieval Times for his 40th birthday, I went to Nashville with my sister, and I went to St. Augustine with the boyfriend over the holidays. Also the boyfriend and I purchased into a timeshare program which will allow us to travel more.

We were able to complete a few things around the house that I had been wanting to get done. We re-screened the back porch, got rid of the jacuzzi, and built a deck. We also were able to paint the interior walls in the living room, dining room, and hallways.

Health wise, I kind of gave up on the whole running thing. We did join a gym back in June and have been doing good about going 3 times a week. I had gained 10 lbs at the beginning of the year and after joining the gym I was able to lose those 10 lbs.

I noticed towards the end of the year I was getting super frustrated and over thinking things with work and at home. After going on vacation I felt much better and I need to realize when I am getting frustrated that I just need to take some time off. I also need to work on not over-thinking and just letting things go. My mom is still in the nursing facility and I still try and go every other weekend to see her. This is another thing that seems to get me down and affects me.

Some of my favorite things from 2014...
Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy and Maleficent
Music: Lana Del Rey, Florence and the Machine, and Lindsey Stirling
TV Show: Sons of Anarchy and The Walking Dead
Book: The Undead Pool - Kim Harrison
Colors for the year: Purple, Light Blue, and Lime Green

All together 2014 wasn't to bad...


Looking forward into 2015...

I chose a word for the year and it is Surrender. I need to just let go and take things as they come. One of the boyfriends favorite sayings is "Clean Cup, Move Down!" I think I am going to take this saying and use it as my motto for the year. Basically meaning to let it go and move on!

My Creative goals are to finish up the lessons for LifeBook from 2014 and to complete unfinished projects. I also want to continue working on photography as a hobby. One of my goals with photography is to go explore the area we live at least once a month and take photos.

My Health goals are to try to make it a habit to go to the gym 4 times a week. I also would like to lose another 10 lbs. I need to lose more than that but I have been trying to take it 10 lbs at a time. This helps me learn to maintain the weight I lose.

My Travel goals are to make it to New Orleans for my 40th birthday. There are a couple smaller trips in the works for the year but I do not know the details of these just yet.

My Home goals for the year is to get the Master Bathroom remodeled. This is a big one so I am not sure if we are going to be able to accomplish more than that this year.

My Personal goals for myself is to just watch my thinking, stop over analyzing and just enjoy the process/moment.

My Blogging goals are to make sure I post something once a week. I keep trying for more than that and then I get overwhelmed and just take a break from it. I think once a week is a good amount. It will be a mixture of my paintings, photography, graphics, and the monthly adventures. I think Tuesday night is a good time to do the posts so look for them then.

If you would like to follow me on Instagram my account is CreativelyTara. I like to share my work in progress pictures there and on Facebook at CreativelyTara also.



I have a little giveaway for everybody. I created a Goal Planner for 2015. I have purchased planners in the past, and they either don't have enough for goal planning, or there is just to much that they are to busy. I decided to create my own. Since this is my first year designing something like this, I thought I would offer a pdf of it for free so you can print it out yourself. The only thing I am going to ask is if you could provide some feedback so that I can make it better. All you have to do to receive the pdf is email me at tara.creativedesigns@gmail.com an I will email you back the pdf.

Wishing everybody the best for 2015!