Uncategorized Archives - Sibyl Smith Enterprises, LLC

Ingrid Bayne Branding Project

Ingrid Bayne is a Hampton Roads-based realtor and when she contacted me about working together on her new brand I was very excited. I’ve known Ingrid for quite a while now and knew that her current branding was not a reflection of who she is as a person or realtor! Ingrid is a classy, professional go-getter with LOTS of style.

We started with a collaboration on Pinterest to set the direction and “look and feel” of her new brand. She loves the Remax colors and wanted to be able to include them in her color palette – so there are vibrant reds and blues, as well as black, white and cream. We also added some leather textures and a metallic for lots of flashy fun in her social media and printed collateral.

Ingrid’s final logo design uses a clean and elegant hand-drawn font with ligatures to give fluidity and flow. I especially love how her tagline, “The Art of Real Estate”, looks with this. We are so excited to see her branded pieces on all of her collateral in the upcoming months!

Social Media and stationery:

Leigh Barefoot, Realtor – visual brand project

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Leigh Barefoot is an award-winning powerhouse realtor in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. We live in the same town, and although I did not know her very well at time of our first meeting, I was very familiar with her reputation as a sought-after realtor with numerous accolades.

When Leigh hired me to rebrand her business, we spend quite a bit of time talking about what is most important to her when working with clients. What do they love most about her? What does she love most about helping them? What inspires her visually as we establish a new “look and feel” of her brand?

Within a short amount of time, I began to really understand the core values that drive Leigh each day when helping her clients.

She truly cares about her clients and supports them through the closing and beyond.

Leigh sees her business as a realtor as life-long friendship, not just a transaction, and continues to build relationships with her clients long after their deals are closed. She even hosts several client appreciation events as gratitude for those who send her referrals.

As we started the visual branding process, it was important to establish the “look and feel” as a first step. In her inspiration board, you can see sleek and bad ass with lots of black and white, but it still includes soft earth tones and even some pops of metallics. (The metallics have been key in collateral that you’ll see later in the project.) To date, I think that this is one of my favorite inspiration boards.

The new hand drawn logo aligned with her previous “L” that she really loved, but is updated with a few options that work well in different sizes and spaces. We also collaborated on her tagline: “Selling Houses . Making Homes”
The new color palette has the darks and lights that she loves, as well as some neutral earth tones and a metallic.

Once the logo designs were finalized, we were able to start applying them to all of the fun pieces – social media, printed collateral, signage, etc….

Social media banners, profile, letterhead + envelope and business cards:

Signage:

Kind words from Leigh:

Sibyl,

I could not be more excited about the new brand logos you designed. Somehow you managed to draw out a vision I never knew existed and the finished designs far exceeded my expectations. Professional, personal, and just all around BAD ASS are the only ways to describe you, and your talent. I cannot wait to start showing them off.

Such an amazing project start to finish. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Leigh

Moodboard Monday – a Health and Wellness Brand coming soon!

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Happy Monday! Today I’m sharing another mood board for a health and wellness brand that is going to launch later this year. I am loving the earthy, organic feel of it and I’m looking forward to seeing this all come together!

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DIY Coconut – Lime Body Butter Recipe

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Happy Spring, everyone! I hope this post finds you all warming up…I know that the winter of 2018 was rather brutal.

I am starting the spring off with lots of new DIY ideas and I am excited to share some new recipes on the blog. There will be quite a few changes coming up to my site, as I am launching a new membership club called the DIY Labels Club. This will be a great club for those of you who create DIY products and need some labels or packaging for them! You can check out more info about it here – we hope to see you in the club!

Now – back to the recipe for this spring-inspired body butter! I made a huge batch of this last week and most of the containers are out the door. I love the scent of the fresh lime + warm coconut.

This is very similar to my other body butter recipes, because why mess with a good thing?

Instructions and Ingredients for Body Butter:
4 cups Coconut Oil
1 TBSP Vitamin E Oil
12-15 drops Lime Essential Oil
12-15 drops Coconut Essential Oil

***yields 15 Ball 4 oz. jars of body butter

Place all ingredients into mixer, blend for 5 minutes, and spoon into air tight containers. I used the kitchen aid mixer with the whisk attachment, but you can also use a hand mixer.

Spoon into air-tight containers of your choice and label!

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Customizable Bath Salts Labels

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Easy recipe for soothing bath salts!

I truly love when I have the time to take a bath – and for aches and pains, I always add Epsom salts for the added benefits of healing.

According to WebMD, people use Epsom salt baths as a home treatment for:

Arthritis pain and swelling
Bruises and sprains
Fibromyalgia, a condition that makes your muscles, ligaments, and tendons hurt, and causes tender points throughout your body
Ingrown toenails
Insomnia
Psoriasis, a disease that causes red, itchy, scaly skin
Sore muscles after working out
Soreness from diarrhea during chemotherapy
Sunburn pain and redness
Tired, swollen feet

Pretty convincing list, right?

I started mixing my own recipe a few years ago – and then came up with a cute label design because I wanted to be able to gift the mixture during the holiday season. They have ended up being wonderful and easy gifts at other times of the year, too – especially at my kid’s schools!

A recipe for Lavender-Mint bath salts is below, but you can use other essential oils that are also safe for skin. Just remember to do your due diligence when researching the safety and purity of essential oils.

Lavender-Mint scented bath salts

ingredients and instructions:

4 cups of Epsom Salts
1/2 cup of sea salt (optional)
25 – 30 drops of lavender oil
3/4 cup baking soda

* Apple Cider Vinegar to use later when running your bath

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and then transfer to air-tight containers.

I use 1/2 cup of salts per bath, plus 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar.

If you, or someone you’re gifting, doesn’t take baths – this also makes an amazing foot soak.

The free versions of these labels can be emailed right to your inbox by completing the form below. To learn more about my customizable labels, read on!

Bath Salts Labels

Your Bath Salts Labels will be sent to your inbox.

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Snowboard Design for 2018 Paralympian, Michelle Salt

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As a graphic artist, it always amazes me that there are design opportunities everywhere that I turn. Last summer, my sweet friend Heather connected me – through the power of “word of mouth referral” – with Michelle Salt, a Canadian Paralympic Snowboarder. Michelle needed a designer for her 2018 Paralympic race board – and after discussing a concept that I presented to her, she offered me the job. What an honor – I never in my life imagined I would have a snowboard design that would be seen on the slopes at the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games!

Her Story:

“She was in a life-threatening motorcycle accident June 27, 2011 that left her on life support for 7 days, broke numerous bones, having to endure many surgeries and in the end, lost her right leg above the knee.^[2] She is now a National team athlete for the Canada Snowboard para-team and also working towards making the National para-cycling team. She was selected in February 2014 to compete in the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Russia and upon competing, became the first Female Canadian Paralympic Snowboarder.^[3]^[4] She is currently reigned National Champion in Canada and in January 2015, made her first World Cup Podium on home turf at Big White finishing 3rd.” (source)

The Design:

Such an inspiration, right?

I really wanted there to be immense meaning behind the snowboard design, so that when she looks down at the snowboard while training and competing, she will see personal inspiration to keep her motivated.

Metaphorically speaking, the word “salt” has many meanings – and since it’s Michelle’s last name, I decided to pull meaning from it and create the design around salt crystals. She also said that she likes “Bears, Maple Leafs, mountains.. anything Canadian really”, so I made sure to take this into consideration.

Here is a look at the concept board that I created – it includes references to salt, bright red coloring, and a maple leaf embedded into a salt crystal.

Salt seasons.

Salt heals.

Salt preserves.

Salt thrives in many forms.

After reviewing, Michelle decided that #2 was her fav! This was a super tight deadline, so after applying all of the sponsor logos to the center, I had to make sure that the bindings were not going to cover any of the important parts of the design – something I had not accounted for in the beginning…

This is the final design, with her name/logo in white at the tip of the board and the sponsors in the center.

I love how it turned out, and of course, it was such an honor to have this opportunity.

A few months after the snowboard was completed, I am able to see it in action through her posts on social media.

Here is the finished snowboard design, applied to her custom board:

So now, of course, I now am a follower of Michelle. (And yes, so excited to see my design at such an amazing event…) But even more, I am inspired by Michelle and all that she represents.

The PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games will begin on March 8, and from what it says here, NBC will be broadcasting “94 hours on television, which nearly doubles the coverage of Sochi 2014” – (source) – that is so exciting!

We wil be rooting for you, Michelle!

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Northington Fitness & Nutrition Logo Refresh

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This past summer, Karey Northington, of Northington Fitness & Nutrition contacted me about helping her to “refresh” her current logo. Her logo was not scalable, so she and her husband we having trouble using it in different formats and sizes. So – we worked together to not only redraw it, but to also create some variations of it that could be used in different spaces and in different platforms.

The result was a group of colorful and scalable logos and variations, as well as some new 2-sided business cards! You can see the updated brand style guide here.

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Cathy Savage Visual Brand Project

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The eclectic, beautiful powerhouse named Cathy Savage has been an honor and a total blast to work with. Cathy is the founder and owner of Cathy Savage Fitness, and her business helps thousands of women each year to achieve health and wellness goals – through in-person and online coaching. From world champion fitness competitors to women who just want a healthier body and lifestyle, Cathy has a program, a plan, and a support network for each and every one. I have known Cathy for a few years now and was absolutely delighted when she reached out for design and branding work. As a fellow health and wellness professional, I know the importance of her work and was so inspired to help with the visual delivery of her messages and brand.

We worked together to come up with branding elements that totally represent her classy, bold and edgy style – and since these characteristics might seem contrasting, it was a fun challenge for me to bring them all together in one “look”.

The end result (or is this really the beginning?) is a hand-drawn script-ie logo paired with timeless, classic serif font. We used soft pinks and earth tones in the color palette, as well as bold charcoals and bright and sophisticated metallics.

You can view some of Cathy’s branding process below:

Other elements were created to use pieces like blog posts and events that Cathy offers.

Beautiful square business cards showcase the logo, business information – and Cathy’s favorite – FLOWERS!

Social media covers for business, personal and group uses.

And, the fun stuff! My new di-cutting machine has a big hit as I am able to create so many new pieces for my branding clients – and I cannot thank Amy, at Coastal Etching, enough for the beautiful job she did on these wine glasses! How much fun is it to have branded wine glasses? Apparel and specialty products are also options – the sky is the limit. 🙂

This fall, stay tuned for more updates on my blog about branding and design services – I have lots of exciting new news to share!

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Customizable “Relax” Bath Salts Labels on Etsy

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Happy Summer! I hope this finds you ready for some relaxation, warm temps and lots of sandy toes!

There is a new set of Bath Salts Labels in my Etsy Shop and I wanted to make sure that there was an easy-to-follow tutorial on how to print and cut them out where customers can come if they have questions.

These labels (and bath salts) were a big hit this spring as I used them as gifts for teachers and friends to start the summer off with sweet scents and effervescent foot soaks.

The kit comes with 3 files, and all can be opened in the free version of Adobe Reader. There are fields where you can type in all of your scents for the labels, as well as an ingredient/message card where you can list ingredients and a gift message.

* 1 template for the 2″ Avery labels (12 per sheet) – Avery 22807 Labels

* 2″ x 3″ customizable label where you can list ingredients and/or a special message, also has a “To:” and “From” area.

* 1 template for 2″ circular labels that can be cut with a circle cutter (12 per sheet)

The Avery Labels will have instructions on their pack, but if shifting occurs, I would suggest printing test sheets on regular paper and making sure the images align with the Avery label pages. You can also fill out the fields on your own, save it to your computer, and then upload it to the Avery site to have them printed there.

To cut the rectangular labels out, you can enter your ingredients and/or message in the editable field and then print them out on your choice of card stock. I use a straight edge and a blade to cut them out around the light grey line, but you can use scissors if you’d like.

The last circular labels can be printed on card stock and then cut out with a circular cutter. I use the Fiskars 2 inch circle cutter. You will want to print this page out and then cut with scissors along the edge, close to the leaf on the right side. Then slide the page into the circle cutter and center the label to your liking….squeeze the label out and you are all set!

If you need a recipe for your bath salts, I have posted mine below. I used summer scents like citrus, coconut, and cucumber melon for this batch. I will be posting some matching body butter labels too too.

Lavender-Mint scented bath salts ingredients and instructions – for Summer scents, you can substitute others:
4 cups of Epsom Salts
1/2 cup of sea salt (optional)
25 – 30 drops of lavender oil
20 drops of peppermint oil
3/4 cup baking soda

Have a great start to your summer and remember to tag me (#thechoiceumbrella) if you try these labels, I would love to see them in use!

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Michelle Rycroft Rebrand – #MoodBoardMonday

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This #MoodboardMonday goes out to a client who is having her visual brand revamped and I am so excited about sharing it in a short bit! Michelle and I talked a few months ago about doing a visual rebrand for her health and wellness business because she was feeling like her true voice wasn’t being represented with her current visuals.

These are some of the images & colors that helped to establish the direction of her rebrand – she loves bright and vibrant colors, but still wants edge. We are so excited to be putting the finishing touches on her visuals over the next few weeks!

All of the image credits are posted below.