Kyoot Kyoot

There are lots of ways to express creativity, and one that is often overlooked is the way print can be used creatively to promote your business. Brochures are one of the oldest forms of information delivery in the modern world. There are lots of creative ways these can be used to both deliver a message and educate your target audience. The rise of online print companies has made the production of print products more practical than ever, so if you've ever had reason to create a brochure of your own, now is the time to act and see what else is out there. Whether you need a 48 hour print or a custom job, pretty much anything can be had these days. Below are several of my favorite brochure designs I found around the 'net.

This one makes creative use of cutouts, very cool!

Who says your brochure has to be a rectangle? This one unfolds, and unfolds, and unfolds some more from its triangle shape to form a "7", which is on brand for this company.

Kind of a "brochure within a brochure" type feel to this one. Regardless, I think it looks very interesting.

This one sort of reminds me that childhood game where you unfold the paper in different ways to reveal different answers. Hey, people like to unfold things, it can't hurt!

I think this one is relevant because it calls out to the kind of style that many infographics use, and those things are quite popular these days. It also gives the opportunity for nice bite size bits of information.

That's it for today, if you are in the brochure market, I hope you are inspired to make something creative, good luck!

I took quite the long break from my little KyootKyoot blog and I'm going to be changing a few things around here. Since my last post I've become quite obsessed with DIY projects, I just love working with my hands and the break it gives me from my computer is nice also. Thanks to a little website called Pinterest I've got quite the project list built up, so I thought I would share a few of my favorite projects that maybe you could give to someone for Christmas; it is that time of year again after all. So we better get to it:

For the cook in your life, so cute DIY Wooden Bead Trivets

For the plant lover, Kokedama String Garden

For the literary lover, Book Page Wreath

For the sewing superstar in your life, a cute little Needle Book

For the fashionista, so simple White Collar Necklace

For the bird lover, I absolutely love these--star bird feeders.

For the accessory lover, Dream Catcher Necklace.

For the makeup artist, Makeup Magnet Board

For the tech geek, Vintage Book Travel-tech Organizer

For the crafty gal, Adding Elbow Patches to a Sweater

For the guy in your life, Carved Leather Bracelets

Don't these projects look like so much fun! I'm not sure which one I want to start with! Happy crafting!

Be sure to gift someone something special for the Holidays!

I have been inexplicably cooking and baking a lot these days; it was something I was always afraid of. And after my recent pork chop debacle that involved me screaming and my husband running into the kitchen while simultaneously putting on his coat and a tuque to prevent himself being burned as he removed the pan by the scolding, popping oil, I thought to myself that maybe this isn't the best idea. We live and we learn, right? We learn to NOT TURN UP THE HEAT SO OUR PORK CHOPS WILL COOK FASTER.

So when I saw this recipe from Just Bento I knew it would be a safe choice because it didn't involve pouring oil into a pan. It's just fruit and whatever mochi is! I've never had mochi before but this way I can work on my sushi skills and expand my palate.

We should give it a try this weekend, no?

This weekend, my husband and I will finally be buying ourselves a nice bed. Our current bed, if you can even call it that, is no more than a metal frame with wheels. It makes me feel like I am sleeping on an extra-large gurney. When it comes to bedding I like a nice mix of feminine and masculine. After that we'll be on to looking at some some stylish ceiling fans, and our bedroom will have undergone a nice transformation!

The bed frame I will be getting is this Malm bed from IKEA. Yes, it's IKEA and I know some of you out there don't put the words "nice" and "IKEA" in the same sentence, but I do. I like to think of myself as something of an IKEA superfan. DAAA LINGONBERRY! I'm loving the nightstands that are part of the Malm series. They connect with the back of the headboard to look like one piece. It gives it this whole "hey, I'm really cool bed" feel.

Onto a pretty duvet. At first I was in love with the Cirrus Bedding from Anthropologie, but it's a lot more than I am willing to spend. Then I found the Parachute Duvet at West Elm and it's very similar and half the price. It adds a touch of femininity to the masculine bed. Plus the ruching gives it that undone look, which is good for me, because for some reason my kitten Willow thinks that after I make the bed it's time to run across it at top speed.

After I get those two things I will work on the sheets. I'm thinking stripes and dots. Here are some sheet layering tips from Decor8 which has given me the courage to try layering.

Remember when I mentioned that I was currently decorating my bedroom? Well here in the coming weeks I will also be decorating my office and I am just over the moon about it. Not only are we decorating but my husband is building us a new super computer too. We can't even play World of Warcraft on our current one. The horror!

I have always thought that a world map was essential to making an office, office-y. They were my favorite part of classrooms during my school days. I remember staring at them, dreaming of all the cities I wanted to visit when I got older. I wondered what the people must be like that lived there, and I'm still the same today. Then in high school I met my future husband and looking at maps became a totally different, more emotional experience because we were in a long-distance relationship for 3 years. The song "Set Fire to the Third Bar" by Snow Patrol explains it best.

So to summarize, I really like maps.

Especially this map from These Are Things. I love its vintage look and the calming colors. This is going to look stellar and office-y in my new office.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to be more crafty, and today I wanted to share with you two projects I am about to start. I need something to tear me away from my precious laptop, which sometimes seems like an impossibility, but I'm starting getting the itch to use my hands to make pretty things. You see, I look at pretty things all the time on the Interwebs and my mom is a floral designer and it finally rubbed off. You can guarantee my mom is at her computer thanking Jesus right this second.

I have this obsession with vintage cameras, well, all cameras really. So obviously I NEED these embroidery patterns from Kitschy Digital Goods.

Kawaii Cute Vintage Cameras Embroidery Pattern

Now here's some cross stitch patterns that ain't for your granny! This sh*t is f*ckin' cute! Anything that provides a sense of humor is good in my book. Subversive Cross Stitch has many hilarious kits to choose from. I love the "Shut the f*ck up" kit, mainly because this phrase is uttered at least 20 times a day in this house. It's out of love.

F*ck Cancer Kit

But what I think will strike a chord with many people is the "F*ck Cancer" kit. I'm thinking of buying this kit for myself and my mom as she has lost her two best friends, Jo and Deb, to cancer over the past three years. Jo recently succumbed to cancer just 3 days after Christmas and Deb's two year anniversary will be coming up on Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day also marks the death of Homer, he was my grandfather's best friend who died of liver cancer. He made sure to be there for me since of my grandfather died 3 years before I was born. So that's another reason I don't care much for Valentine's Day that I didn't mention in my previous post. All of them meant so much to me and I'm honestly finding it hard to finish this post. So since I can't physically give cancer a piece of my mind I can get my message across and heal through this amazing cross stitch pattern. I don't think I can thank Julie Jackson enough for designing this.

Valentine's Day is coming up soon and this year I am actually excited about it. It will be my first Valentine's Day as a married woman! I'll be honest, I've never really cared much for V-Day. Well, that and New Year's Eve. It just always seems like society puts so much pressure on those holidays and if you don't live it up all night in some bar on New Year's or receive diamonds for Valentine's Day, you are lame. That's just the general attitude and feeling I got from those holidays, but at the same time they do have great positives like starting anew and being with the one you love or hope to love.

But since I am excited this year I want to share some cute finds! I hope my husband is paying attention.

I'm currently in the process of decorating my bedroom and looking for some new bedding, pillows, pillowcases, and some discount lighting.

His and Hers Cactus Pilllowcases

My husband and I just got married 3 months ago in Las Vegas, Nevada. So when I found these felted, state-shaped pillows I had what I guess you can call a joygasm. I don't see any Nevada-shaped pillows, but it looks like you can make requests.

Felted, State-shaped Pillows

I don't think I even need to describe why I love this one so much. We're finally a "Mr. and Mrs." Love it.

"Mr. and Mrs." Pillow

Wow. Just look at this shoe. I'm pretty sure I just had a heart attack. I saw this shoe on LOOKBOOK.nu's Facebook page and I knew I had to share it with you. It was part of a collaboration between Need Supply and LOOKBOOK.nu, and even though the final product isn't available until March, you can go ahead and pre-order these gorgeous babies. I don't know about you, but I think when I receive these, I'll be cuddling them tightly every night.

Geeky home decor -- there isn't enough of it. I love looking and reading decorate blogs more than anyone I know, with all of their infinite inspiration and ideas. While getting excited over just how amazing these rooms are I often feel like sometimes they lack a certain personality. It's possible to over-decorate and I want to get to know the person when I walk through their door (or look at their styled photographs of their home). You just can't get a good read on someone if everything is perfectly calculated and matched. Or maybe that just means they're anal or careful, who knows?

When I think about decorating my home I want my interests and loves almost jumping out at you. I'm a blogger and I love it very much, and I'm also something of a Photoshop nerd, so when I found these perfect pillows from Craftsquatch on Etsy I squealed as if I had just gotten to see Robert Pattinson nude. And y'all, they even have a fail whale pillow! It doesn't get much better than this if you're looking for some geeky home decor.

I happened to find these delicious looking candles while doing a random search on Google the other day and fell instantly in love. These ingenious candles don't just smell like your favorite dessert, they resemble your favorite dessert. At Mellow Candles, they have everything from pie candles, sugar cookie tart melts, fruit preserve jar candles, and cocktail candles. I think these would make a great gift to anyone who's turning 21, such as a college grad, a bachelorette, or the beer candle for a bachelor.

Now here's a fun candle sure to grab attention. Your eyes aren't playing tricks on you, that flame really is green! These innovative candles from More Than Light produce colored flames like green, blue, purple, and red from their special oil. I'm interested to see what these look like in person so I might have to get some when Spring rolls around. I would love to have these outside!