Hi, lovelies! I’m ducking away from my current occupations (read as: crazy organization/cleaning bender) temporarily to mention a few things here. Because if I don’t, I think it will all be swept from my memory in a haze of Goodwill boxes and shredded paper.

First of all, it was my birthday on August 18th, and I got to have not one, but two different types of cake, so I was pretty happy about that.

Secondly, I’ve updated the design gallery setup recently with a new design that will make things more attractive and much quicker to navigate. I’ve employed (with modifications, of course) the lovely Coda Slider Effect script found at jQuery for Designers, and I love it very much and want to click on it all day.

Blog readers can hit the “design” button up top and check out the sidebar to begin browsing. For the rest of you, the direct gallery link is here!

I’m also adding some new portfolio pieces to populate the new gallery, the first of which is an iOS (iPhone/iPod touch) game prototype that I developed in April. It’s a simple side-scrolling/adventure concept and was my first real foray into the world of Objective-C coding, but in spite of the late nights, I had a lot of fun working on it. I hope to renew my iOS Developer credentials someday and get back to playing! Video game development and I go way back, so it was cool to dust off my old coding chops and produce something for the modern era.

I also made some small general improvements about the site, and for the most part, they’re things that you probably won’t notice at all. My résumé has been brought up to date, so if you’re in the market for contract or other work, please take a look!

Soon to come: things I’m enjoying lately, plugging my talented friends, Chalkdust and TumblOS updates, and the long-anticipated new Tumblr theme! It’s real. Promise. I have a folder on my desktop and everything.

tags: design games gaming ios iphone ipod touch resume video games web design working
5:50 PM  •  September 5, 2011  •  1 comment

(Photo: “Sharing Is Caring – Fotosöndag” by Niklas Wikström)

It strikes me–particularly recently, though I’ve had the thought for some time–that we’ve somehow reared two very different breeds of internet user.

I don’t mean that in terms of generations, either. Obviously age demographics will show similarities among themselves and differences compared to other groupings. As a twenty-four-year-old P.Y.T. in the prime of shimmering youth (yes, yes), I don’t expect that my internet usage bears much in common with that of, say, my lovely great-aunt of… twenty-nine. Although, I suppose, we are both on Facebook in some capacity, but I honestly think she uses it more.

No, I mean in terms of sharing, particularly in the era of social media. There’s a stark divide between two stereotypes: the media-obsessed oversharers and the stranger-danger anonyms hiding behind HTTP proxies. Obviously these are a touch overblown (although I think I’ve seen at least a couple of each), but the separation does exist. At the same time that many have embraced the connectivity that New Internet offers, a great many others remain rooted in the old conventions and the relative security that they promise.

I admit to struggling a bit myself with finding a comfortable place in social media. Growing up online in the ’90s, the importance of anonymity was seriously stressed. Every chat contact a potential felon! My first offline meeting with an online friend was treated with all the seriousness of a hostage situation. Things are more laid-back these days, but the old conditioning runs deep. There’s still that hesitation… how much is too much? (I’m not sure that I’ll ever get around to using Foursquare or anything like it. Too creepy. Can you imagine trying to market that fifteen years ago?)

So I’m wondering where others might stand on this. Where do you draw the line? Did others coming to the internet in the early ’90s have similar experiences? Is Foursquare creepy or what? Talk to me. Even you, brave souls of the new media. Let’s reach across the aisle.

tags: facebook foursquare internet sharing social media twitter
1:03 AM  •  August 14, 2011  •  2 comments

Those of you viewing my posts on the blog itself may notice that I’ve added a handful of social media buttons to single post views. This is pretty much par for the course on most blogs, so I thought it was only appropriate that I append a few of my own. It’s not much–Facebook, for instance, is conspicuously absent, as their buttons are huge, unpleasant, and full of tracking code. But most people, myself included, probably have a personal system for sharing content to Facebook, anyway, so I just went with a Twitter, Google+, and StumbleUpon trifecta. These will probably become more useful once I start writing actual content, which is happening, I promise.

I spent some time and managed to assemble the buttons in a way that’s still valid XHTML, albeit a bit hack-y. It’s a regrettable compromise, as Google’s +1 button uses weird DOM implementation, and the only alternative is HTML5. (Twitter’s button is HTML5, as well.) Thanks to TVD at TechOctave for the base code for Twitter’s button!

I also had to go into the PHP for the Disqus plugin… again… to fix a validation error that surfaced after updating. Guys, you can make your plugin W3C-valid without my help. Promise! (That said, if you want to hire me to do it for you, I’m all ears.)

Alright, lunchtime. I’m out! Ciao, bella!

tags: disqus google social media stumbleupon twitter w3c xhtml
2:27 PM  •  August 8, 2011  •  2 comments

Oh my goodness. I’m honestly a little afraid to look and see how long it’s been since my last post. That’s a bad thing, right? I think that’s probably not good, at least.

So I guess I should apologize first for my unannounced leave of absence! Life has been a little hectic, what with post-graduation planning, job interviewing, general life de-cluttering, and just being a busy busy bee. Just because it’s satisfying work doesn’t mean it’s not tiring! I take a decent amounts of naps. I dreamed about camels today. That was pretty fun.

Anyway, let’s get right to it.

I can’t go any further here without doling out more thanks for the incredible response I’ve gotten to Chalkdust! Thank you so much to everyone who’s installed, of course, and another helping for those of you who’ve left such kind comments (here or elsewhere). Please keep sending feature requests and problem reports as you’ve been doing. I’ve taken some time to update the code and address a few requests I’ve gotten over time, so I hope this will be a good update for some of you! If you find this release still lacking a feature, do leave a comment or drop me a tweet, and I’ll get right in to add it.

Today’s additions:

• Previously, due to rendering concerns, post titles were capped at a full two lines of text. This remains the default behavior, but you can now turn it off if you’d like to see longer post titles in all their rambling glory.
• The infamous chalk hearts can now be disabled at will! This has been a really polarizing design element, so I hope this option will please some of you less cutesy-minded users. ;)
• Twitter integration is now supported with recent tweets displaying in a sidebar (where your likes, if enabled, also render).
• A few tweaks for general prettiness (mostly concerning typefaces).

Check it out! Install! Go forth! Be merry!

I trust everyone knows the drill by now, but just in case: if you’ve got no custom HTML, the changes should propagate automatically for you once the server gets around to it. If you have custom HTML, you’ll want to save your changes, revert the theme to remove all custom HTML, check to make sure the theme updates have applied (just peek at your Appearance menu), then reapply your custom HTML.

Now that that’s out of the way, it’s time to spread a little more love around! Oh boy!

The masters of social media at Mashable featured Chalkdust last month as part of their “Mashable Picks: Our 11 Favorite Tumblr Themes“. Sob! I’m overcome with joy. Internet, I don’t think I need to tell you that they are great, so this was a pretty awesome discovery, as well as a good reminder that I need to set up Google Alerts for the things I make.

Thank you, Mashable! Thank you, Ms. Stephanie Buck! If I’m ever in NYC, I’ll definitely buy you guys some Babycakes.

Right now priority number one is wrapping up a few freelance projects I have still under wraps. I’m very excited to show you guys what I’ve been working away at! Afterwards, perhaps my long-hinted-at next Tumblr theme? Or maybe I’ll just collapse and take another nice, long nap…

My birthday is this month. I can’t wait to take the biggest nap of my life.

tags: camels life mashable theme tumblr updates working
5:16 PM  •  August 3, 2011  •  4 comments

I’ve always had an affection for nice, simple, no-frills personal art blogs. Big elaborate days-long pieces are admirable and beautiful and all manner of good things, of course, but I really like just as much–sometimes more–the little things that happen in sketchbooks or tablets in just a few minutes’ time. Daily sketches, comics, that sort of thing. There’s something very genuine about that kind of short process.

I’ve entertained before the idea of having a sketch-of-the-day sort of thing going here, but the last time I attempted something like it, needless to say, it didn’t quite happen. The quarter isn’t over just yet (hence me being sporadic with replies and theme updates–so sorry!), so I’m not going to promise a daily sketch now, but since getting set up with new versions of some of my go-to apps, I’ve been trying to get back into the habit of making regular little pieces. If nothing else, it’s something fun and good for blowing off steam between design projects. My big course this quarter involves making iPhone apps–not easy! My last day is June 1st. I’m going to sleep for fifteen hours straight after I’m done.

Trying to get used to working in Painter again. I think the pencils are so pretty. I haven’t found a Photoshop tweak yet that quite captures the same look and feel. Of course, it’s still not the same as working on paper (and don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise).

tags: art blogs drawing painter sketch working
7:58 PM  •  May 17, 2011  •  0 comments

I’m just checking in somewhat briefly, internet–these few months have proven to be demanding in more ways than one, so please forgive me if I’m a bit scattered at times! Or absent at others. I’m trying to divide my time and resources to various projects as much as possible, but of course one thing or another must be prioritized at any given moment, and sometimes I just need to drop everything and go take a nap or eat pizza and watch more episodes of 30 Rock. You know how it is.

I hit up a local printer last month and got a new batch of lovely business cards pressed, just one of many career-related preparations I’ve undertaken recently. The first guy who helped me–I’m so sorry I didn’t catch your name–was incredibly complimentary towards the design (thank you!) and even went so far as to recommend a beautiful linen cardstock for the printing. I think it makes all the difference. Looks gorgeous with the watercolor graphics and feels so nice in your hand. I’m so happy with them! Thanks so much to all of the awesome staff at Creative Approach for taking care of me that week! It was a hectic time with SCAD’s career fair looming, but they still did a fantastic (fast!) job and I couldn’t be more pleased.

And specifically for aforementioned career fair, I prepared a couple of leave-behinds for my top company, though I didn’t get to present them for various reasons. Tiny USB drives featuring my digital portfolio, decorated with custom tags and jewelry. I’ve kept these set aside in case another opportunity to hand them out presents itself, but I like them so much that I might make more to keep…!

And here’s a chihuahua doggy. Yes. (Should I post more doodles like this just for the hell of it? I’d update a lot more often if I did… hm…)

I do need to get back to work, and this mango smoothie is demanding some attention, as well, but I hope everyone’s doing well or at least hanging in there, like myself. Keep on keepin’ on, guys. Stay cool and stuff.

tags: art business cards design drawing working
7:39 PM  •  May 6, 2011  •  0 comments

Check out my Blue Steel, you guys! Okay, okay, no. Let me back up.

I meant to make this post last night, though really I should have made it weeks ago (but I didn’t, so step off). My dear and lovely Miss Alexandra (of Ladyfawn Designs fame) called upon me last month to do a bit of modeling for her photography final, which I very eagerly accepted. And because she is AMAZING, I have these pictures to show for it! Vintage-styled portraiture, drawing inspiration from 1920s-1930s fashion and postmortem photography. And tiny animals. I die! Which is appropriate for aforementioned inspiration, oddly.

It was a blast, and not just because we had a silly girly slumber party after the fact. But that didn’t hurt, either. (Pizza was had. You shoulda been there.)

Photo styling and makeup by Alexandra; hair by yours truly. And the pets. Those are mine.

I hope to get a chance to do something like this again soon–thanks a million times to Alexandra for the opportunity! Danke danke, lady. Check out the original post on her blog to see the full shoot with all of her models!

tags: art friends modeling photo photography vintage
10:23 AM  •  April 13, 2011  •  1 comment

Okay, I am calling on you, my savvy readers, because this is something that’s confounded me since I first discovered it and seeing it constantly without understanding is driving me crazy.

This mustache thing. That one. On EVERYTHING. What is it? Can someone explain the joke to me?

I DON’T GET IT. I’m only twenty-four, guys. I shouldn’t feel this old…

tags: i don't get it mustaches random
10:12 AM  •  April 3, 2011  •  2 comments

I really wanted to sneak in sometime today and switch over my Tumblr themes to use Arial Black typeface and animated GIFs or something like that, but Tumblr theme updates need to be approved before they’ll propagate to everyone. So there went that idea. Well, it was fun in my head, at least!

People visiting the main site or main blog since yesterday will notice that I’ve redesigned the site again! I hope everyone is cozy with this one because it’s likely to stick for a while. If you aren’t, I’m very sorry, but I hope we can still be friends.

I suggest everyone on Google Chrome (yeah!) view the site with this extension for best results. Bellissimo!

I’m over my illness and will have some new things to share soon, including new art and a new Tumblr theme for you fine ladies and lads. (Ooh! Ahh!) For now, signing off, your eager servant, Caro.

tags: april fools' day coming soon theme tumblr web design
10:37 PM  •  April 1, 2011  •  2 comments

Save the occasional “cough cough hack” from this direction. Oh, internet, I could tell you tales of grand ambition… all the plans I’d made… and now I’m on day two of a cold and reduced to my current condition. Slurping hot drinks and porridge, wrapped up in quilts on my couch with Sasha (my chihuahua) and tissues and episodes of 30 Rock on Netflix.

(Is anyone buying the talk of grand ambition? No? Okay.)

Well, as long as I’m under self-imposed house arrest and mostly confined to places where I can freely fall asleep, here’s a post for you guys. And here’s a picture of Sasha.

She’s so cute. I’m a proud mama. Yes.

And here are some other things that I like recently but am too sicky to expand on just yet. Maybe later. But for now, please click and be entertained and maybe pretend that I said something neat.

• Adele – Rolling In The Deep (YouTube)
• Google Recipe View
• The iPad 2 (Engadget)

tags: chihuahua dogs food gadgets google life links music photo sasha sick
10:55 PM  •  March 3, 2011  •  1 comment