The Buzz

Charley Harper

2009-09-10T17:31:00.000-07:00

The folks over at Purl Soho have created these hand painted needlepoint canvases based on the art work of illustrator Charley Harper. Now my two favorite things come together design and needlepoint.
(photo from Purl Soho)

Desktop background

2009-06-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a new desktop background. After 2 years of waiting my peony finally bloomed. I think it was worth the wait. Now you can enjoy these beautiful blooms for your desktop. Download the image here.

The Vineyard

2009-05-26T17:08:00.000-07:00

Hello from Martha's Vineyard! This Bee is on vacation this week in Edgartown, on Martha's Vineyard, with Mr. Bee and Little Bee. Here they are going to the Edgartown Lighthouse. What a great way to kick off the start of Summer. The weather has been great so far, in the 70's and sunny. I love the Vineyard. With all the art galleries and the unbelievable beaches I don't know if I want to leave!

Here's the little one after a long day at the beach, out cold on the couch.

See you in a week!

-Lisa

Blog Design

2009-05-16T19:58:00.001-07:00

Check out Jenn's blog over at Hazel gets crunched. Just some good o'l bone crushing fun.

A Very Cool Image

2009-03-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

Today on the Google homepage, Google has paid tribute to Eric Carle's iconic children's book the Very Hungry Caterpillar by changing the logo on its home page. Today is the 40th Anniversary of when the book was first published. And this just so happens to be my daugthers favorite book right now! We're hoping to make a trip over to the The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art too.

Also, on March 2, 2009 Google paid tribute to Dr. Seuss's Birthday with a Google logo too. Again another family favorite in our house. I don't think you're ever to old to enjoy The Cat in the Hat.

Images from Google.com

Background

2009-03-20T06:23:00.001-07:00

Download a free background for your blog. You can follow these easy direction on how to change your Blogspot background image. First go to the Dashboard and click Layout. In the Layout click the “Edit HTML”. Make sure you save a backup copy of your template before you make any edits. You don’t want to loose any of your work! Now scroll in the HTML code to the body information.

Here is what the BODY code will look like:

body {
background:$bgcolor;
margin:0;
color:$textcolor;
font: Georgia Serif;
font-size: 11px;
text-align: center;
letter-spacing:.1em;
}

Now, copy this body code in red and replace the old code with it. Make sure you insert the URL of the image location.

body {
background-image: url(http://www.imagelocatinhere.com/imagenamehere.jpg);
background-attachment: fixed;
background-position: center;
margin:0;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
color:$textcolor;
font:x-small Georgia Serif;
font-size/* */:/**/small;
font-size: /**/small;
text-align: center;
}

Spring 2009 Color Trends

2009-03-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

Pantone has released the Spring '09 Color Trends. It seems that the Bee is right on track with the new spring predictions!

March Calendar

2009-03-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

With the anticipation of spring. We've created a new desktop background calendar to cheer you up during this very long winter. You can download it here.

marketing in dark economic times

2008-12-22T13:39:00.000-08:00

Our economy is suffering. It's had a huge impact on businesses all around the country, from the automotive giants to the mom and pop store on the corner. While it may seem hard to justify spending money when profit margins are so slim, you can't afford NOT to market your company, products and services. You just have to take a different approach and remember--small investments can have a big impact.

This holiday season, let's celebrate creativity, ingenuity, and resourcefulness. Sometimes less really is more.

WYSIWYG Editors

2008-12-11T07:27:00.000-08:00

Smashing Magazine has compiled a list of web site editors. On the list is Adobe Contribute. Contribute lets users edit their websites with out any knowledge of HTML.

Shopping

2008-12-02T07:21:00.000-08:00

Now that Christmas is getting closer I have decided to start my Christmas shopping. And of course for me it's not just about the gift, it's about how it's wrapped too. I came across this easy tutorial on how to make bows from the Container Store. It's easy to follow and has such great results.

Fun Games

2008-11-13T12:22:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't like octopuses? Here's a fun flash game designed by Robin Davey for 4mations.com. Not only is it illustrated nicely it's additive too. Can you help the Patch the Octopus protect his booty?

Here's an other fun and cleanly designed flash game by Patrick Smith that can give you hours of fun.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T12:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary!

2008-10-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

Bee Creatives is one year old. We’d like to thank everyone who’ve helped us get here by spreading the word and supporting us. We're hoping to be here for awhile so keep checking in to see what we've been up to!

New Wallpaper

2008-09-17T18:58:00.001-07:00

Download the latest free wallpaper from Bee Creatives.

Gate City Website

2008-09-07T02:06:00.000-07:00

Nashua, NH—Nashua’s Gate City Pub, now under new ownership, has launched a new web site: www.gatecitypub.net.

The pub’s new owner, Brian Porcelli, has plans to expand and offer more events and live entertainment. “We hope the new website will help spread the word about some of the changes taking place and remind people about our great food.”

Porcelli chose marketing and design firm Bee Creatives to develop the site. “They were great to work with,” he says. “They understood what we were trying to accomplish and created a site that was exactly what we were looking for.”
Bee Creatives is a joint venture of graphic designer Lisa Theall and copywriter Jennifer Waltner.

Launched in October 2007, Bee Creatives provides design, marketing, and branding services for small businesses. For more information, visit www.beecreatives.com.

Getting to the heart of the good idea

2008-08-20T07:46:00.000-07:00

People have a natural tendency to get attached to things. We know what we like and go back to it--you probably have a list of restaurants you frequent, a brand of jeans you love, or a haircut you know always looks good on you.

The same holds true in marketing. Somewhere along the line, you probably found an image, phrase, color or photo that you love and want to use in your marketing materials.

Having an idea of what you want is a good thing.

Unless it's a bad idea.

What qualifies as a bad idea? Anything that doesn't reinforce your message. Anything that confuses customers. Anything that doesn't fit the image you're trying to create.

For example, you may have a photo of a star employee helping a loyal customer. You'd like to use that photo because you're hoping customers will recognize the employee and remember the great service they got; it's also a way to thank your regular customer. Great idea! But maybe it's not such a great photo--the background shows your store in disarray from a recent move, your customer is wearing a frumpy winter coat and your employee appears to have spilled coffee on her shirt. People who don't already know you and your business may conclude that your store is messy or poorly organized, or that you appeal to a less polished shopper.

The solution? Take a new photo that shows your store, your employee and your customer at their best.

When you've got an idea you're in love with, examine it thoroughly. What about it appeals to you? Is the image or phrase you've chosen the best way to get your message across? How would someone who doesn't know you interpret what you're showing them? Try to see things from a different perspective and keep an open mind. You may find a way to make your point more effectively. You may find a way to make your good idea even better.

Who doesn't like plaid?

2008-06-27T06:53:00.000-07:00

Check out Tartan Maker. You can create your own color combination and download it for your webpage.

Cool Font

2008-06-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

This is my new favorite font! I am just trying to think of something to use this for. You can download the font for yourself at Smashing Magazine. It is just one of the many, surprisingly cool, fonts that they have to download for free. You'll have to check back to see what we've used this!

Save the Honey Bees

2008-06-06T07:30:00.000-07:00

This site is really cute and well designed. Being able to control the little bee flying around is a great way to get people to interact on the site.

Häagen-Dazs created the site to get donations to find a way to help the honey bees from disappearing. Buy some ice cream and save cute little honey bees. Why not!

At Bee Creatives, we're all about the environment (and ice cream!) and we couldn't have a bee for our logo and not pass this little bit of information on. Enjoy!

Check out the Help the Honey Bees site at http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/.

Beyond recycled paper

2008-04-22T06:24:00.000-07:00

The Queen Bees at Bee Creatives want to keep the planet healthy. In honor of Earth Day, here are some simple ways to reduce waste and have more environmentally-friendly publications.

1. Not concerned about exact color matches? Use pdf proofs--you don't have to print them out.

2. Try soy inks, rather than traditional petroleum-based inks.

3. Choose a printer who uses wind, water, or solar power and purchases paper from suppliers committed to responsible forestry.

4. Print smaller quantities of publications with information likely to change soon; you won't have as much waste.

Sometimes random = creative answer.

2008-04-18T12:38:00.000-07:00

The other night, I had a guest speaker visit my Writing for Public Relations class. She gave some great suggestions for overcoming writer's block in creating ad copy. Since her specialty is radio advertising, she likes to listen to sounds that seem to have no connection to her current project, then try to brainstorm a link. While she may not use the concept she comes up with, it can help her look at her project from a different perspective and help her find a phrase or gimmick that DOES work.

I've started trying her suggestion lately, only instead of listening to sounds, I've been looking at images around the office. While I haven't written any brilliant ads, it's helped me relax and come up with creative ideas for photo shoots and a few publications.

I've also learned that my partner knows all kinds of things about octopi. We haven't figured out how to use that knowledge yet, but give us time. Maybe the octopus concept will trigger some great idea that fits your business.

-Jennifer

Tradeshow Banners

2008-03-20T11:08:00.000-07:00

Bee Creatives designs the banners for Intertek's Las Vegas trade show in April. Check them out here.

Easter Card

2008-03-20T07:24:00.001-07:00

Now that Easter is just around the corner download a free Happy Easter card! Download the card and the envelope.

Tips to Help Search Engines Find Your Web Site

2008-02-27T06:30:00.000-08:00

Here are a few helpful tips to make it easier for search engines to find your site. You must have a balance of your keywords in all meta tags indexed by the search engines.

Tips on keywords:

Write the tags so that the most important words appear first.
Don't repeat your keywords over and over in your meta tags. This is a trick used by many who believe it will bring their site higher in the ranking. But instead, search engines often push those sites to the end of the list.
Use grammatical and spelling variations on your keywords, such as graphic design, graphics, graphic designers, graphic illustrators, graphic artists, graphic design solutions, graphic design information and graphic design resources.
You have written a 25 word or less description of your entire web site. That description should make use of the two or three key terms that you hope to be found for.

From How Design