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Some Weekly Randoms

By Dawn Sailors In Design Geek, Random, Shop Designing Dawn

Some random things I’ve been excited about this week:

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iPhone Apps

Everyday
This is an AWESOME app that I am so excited to share. Seriously, I’ve been telling everyone about it. I was introduced to it by my boss at work and even though I’m pretty cheap, this one is worth the $ to download. A while ago, my sister introduced me to this video, which portrays the growth of Natalie through a series of photos taken by her father every day from birth till age 10. It is amazing, and while I could probably create something quite similar with my camera and some After Effects magic, Everyday lets you create your own similar style video so much more easily! Basically it reminds you to take a photo everyday at the same time, helping you line it up with either the previous day’s photo or a grid (or both) and when you have enough photos, it will turn them into a movie for you. Lickety-split, no complex animation involved. I’m only about 10 photos in so far, but I can’t wait to share my movie in a few more weeks and see how this little pip-squeak is growing right before my eyes.

Pinterest
I have been waiting for this one for a while and not only is it finally here, but its FREE! My favorite. I think the developers have a few bugs to work out yet, namely it takes a while to load and is a little harder to navigate on the small screen than I expected, but still worth the wait. I’ll be pinning left and right as soon as I have a little more time to get familiar with the new app. PS- If you aren’t already on Pinterest, go request an account, and if you are, click here to follow me!

Clicky
If you are a blogger or a web designer or anyone else who has an interest in tracking website analytics, you have to check out getclicky.com. It not only gives you everything that Google Analytics offers, but it also shows you real-time tracking of the visitors to your website. It is free for one website and I highly recommend trying it. But even cooler than that is the fact that there is a great Clicky iPhone app that does the same thing! After months of frustration with my iPhone’s inability to render the Flash graphics on my Google Analytics page, this little baby is a world away and I’m hooked. Definitely worth the money to download.

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Around the Web

WeeNudge
If you are a designer you will roll your eyes, laugh and totally appreciate everything about this website. If you are not a designer, but feel you may be working with one at any point in your life, please visit and absorb as much as possible! Haha, ok, but seriously, I love this site. It tactfully touches on all of those little subjects that really get under a designers skin. From ‘make my logo bigger’ to ‘can we fill up that whitespace’ and everything in-between, there are links to articles on each topic and you can also submit your own if you feel that the folks at WeeNudge have missed something that your clients really need to hear. So great.

From Me to You
I stumbled onto this blog through a reference from a college after I showed him this quick (and now embarrassingly amateur looking) animated gif I made. I am always impressed by good photography and there is no shortage of that on From Me to You, but what really rocked my world were Jamie’s amazing animated photos. So fun and unique, I’m inspired to try my own when I have some time one of these weekends. Love it!!

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Some News

Blog Features
In case you missed it, I (or, more accurately, Vera’s nursery) was featured on both Spearmint Baby and Nest Design Studio in the past week. Wowza! Thanks ladies!!

Etsy Shop
This is something that might be in the works for a while before its ready to launch, but I’m excited about it, so thought I’d share. I’m currently in the process of setting up shop on Etsy! I’ve been a long time Etsy fan and shopper, and I’m finally taking the plunge and setting up my very own DesigningDawn shop. Working on getting my product line ready right now, but I’ll be posting more as it unfolds. Exciting times!

CF Goal
I briefly mentioned a week or so ago that I will be participating in this year’s Great Strides walk for Cystic Fibrosis on May 14th. That date is fast approaching (It’s this Saturday!) and I’m still shy of my $150 fundraising goal. If you would like to help me raise revenue for this great cause, please visit my donation page. Every dollar counts and is greatly appreciated!

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Have you made any amazing internet finds recently or discovered new iPhone apps you can’t live without? I’d love to hear about them! I hope everyone is having a great start to the week!