Anna Blueberry Digital Media

Website, portals, & business development for busy business owners & Deaf entrepreneurs.

Anna’s Therapeutic Garden

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What have I been up to?

I’ll tell ya . . . I gave Anna’s Therapeutic Garden’s website a makeover!

Website Atg
A website for Anna’s Therapeutic Garden

Becoming more confident in my coding and developing skills, I’ve moved away from using the clunky and often problematic Divi builder on the websites I build.

This website looks and feels so much cleaner and lighter now, on the front end as well as on the back end, that I actually don’t mind showing it off a little.

Thinking about growing your own food here in Colorado? There’s a two-parts blog post about starting a food garden.

Curious about the cold stratification process? There’s a post about that as well.

Want to get your hands dirty? Check the calendar & inquire.

Yes, this is one of my own websites. And ha, yes, I branded my own garden . . .

That’s play. Now for reals; I work with you and your organization, helping you achieve your smart goals, & seeing you grow.

Website Atg Footer
Especially loving this seamless wildflower footer. I’m either a designer that can code, or a developer with an eye for design. 😀

Contact me, let’s talk about what’s going on with you.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals

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Do I take for granted everyone knows what SMART goals are? A catchy phrase that seems to have been around these lately few decades?

To be sure we’re all on the same page; SMART is an acronym used to describe the process of setting goals. The acronym stands for the words “specific,” “measurable,” “achievable,” “relevant” and “time-bound,” all essential traits of successful goal setting objectives.

Again, with me:

Smart 2
  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Achievable
  • Relevant
  • Time-bound

Being inclined to data and results, these are just the kind of goals I love to work with! It’s part who I am, and part due to the communication specialist bit of training I’ve had.

You may say you want “the best website ever,” but this can mean many vague things. To one person, maybe this means to be the “prettiest-looking,” or to “rank well in search results.” To another it might mean getting “x number of new contacts a month” or to “generate X revenue.”

SMART goals defines what exactly it means to be “best,”
how that’s gonna happen, and with a deadline.

Business-wise or in personal life, SMART goals looks different for everyone. Need help setting yours? (All of the above? Sure.) Want help in achieving the goals you’ve set? Consult to see how I can help your project grow.

Andalusian Geometric Design

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I’ve had a fascination with lines and pattern since forever. For the past some while however, I’ve been especially so with patterns that weave, seemingly forever; the more intricate, the better, whether it’s Celtic free styling or Islamic geometric design.

Here are some of projects where I play with geometric design–

starting from on paper with a pencil, a ruler, and a compass… to color, into books, the digital space, as well as living spaces.

Orange Blue Sm
A little color theory in color pencils and ink
Book Espana 2019
Barcelona Back Again P138 139s

Each of the albums in the photogenic Spain series features geometric designs on their back and inner cover as well as a section showcasing a series of Islamic geometric patterns found in these regions.

Barcelona & Back Again
Barcelona & Back Again features España in the Summer: Barcelona, Teruel, Canete, Cuenca, Toledo, Baeza, Granada, Cartagena, and Peniscola, and a collection of designs from the Alhambra.
Geometric Design On A Ford Hatchback
My most publicly viewable attempt is on a Ford’s hatchback door.
P&P Website
This website uses juxtaposed Andalusian geometric patterns for its backgrounds while serving up the cuisine of southern Spain.

Note to self: more related project photos need to be added here.

Barcelona & Back Again

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Barcelona Back Again P2 3s

Here are a few pages from an amazing photo album I loved working on. Honestly, it’s an absolute joy designing with high-quality photographs by a photographer who has a talented eye for the essential.

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The section on Barcelona includes a spread devoted to the food market.

Barcelona & Back Again lovingly and photogenically covers 9 cities between Barcelona & Granada in over 130+ pages of full color photographs.

It’s a lovely book, often coming out when visitors inquire of our travels. There’s a story on each and every page if one lingers as they go.

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Barcelona Back Again P60 61s
Above: two spreads, or 4 pages, of photographs taken in Baeza.

I design because treasured memories becomes even more so when given order, meaning, and context. And it’s okay if they need just a little bit of help to remain so, and last even longer.

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A series of photos captures the essence of Cañete.
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Barcelona Back Again P96 97s
Barcelona Back Again P100 101s
Above: a few pages of photographs taken in Alhambra, Granada.

In Barcelona & Back Again, you find photos pieced together with footnotes to bring back entire landscapes, quirky key symbols, even gratfi, personalizing each city.

There’s also an assortment of Barcelona balcony railings patterns and Alhambra’s geometric patterns, all given the “yearbook” treatment, making this album a collection of pattern studies as well.

Barcelona Back Again P34 35s
The breath-taking-ness of Cuenca.

Time and again paging thru these album, these faraway scenes my poet takes me to seems near again.

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Each city in the album has its own distinct color as background; these photos are also from Cuenca.
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“No photoshopping or merging photos together.” Ok, I won’t. This spread pieces together 7 photos of the visual experience at/of/from Toledo’s Catedral.

I’m now working on the next album in this series. Can’t wait to see how it turns out.

Egghead

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Once upon a time, I touched up Egghead for a neighbor whose young visitor some years earlier had contributed a face onto it.

They weren’t able to undo the damage, and to look at their Egghead had by then became a source of … discontentment, and so it’d been sitting high up in a dark, obscure corner.

Egghead, before

One day, they asked if I’d fix it up with a new face. Although painting faces is not the sort of thing I usually do, I was happy to give something different a try.

Egghead, with a new face

Oh! They love their Egghead now, and it sits in a much more prominent place than before — right on the fireplace mantel!

And… I love the Egghead too because it reminds me that deep down we are all just like this Egghead.

We’ve all got good qualities, content, and abilities, just the same as this Egghead had and still has. And yet even tho we may be especially good at what we do, busy doing what we do best, we might even still sit, and sit… all lackluster, not attracting attention, and feeling sad.

I gave Egghead a new face, and for it, it was a new life. It even gets involved in conversations now.

All this to say of course, is just a metaphor: what I am especially good at is bringing out your talent, highlighting your achievements, and showcasing your skills.

“… Once I thought I was done with the details of some project- Anna swoops in and makes it even better! …”

Making you look good, better, yea even the best. To see you hitting your goals, ever moving your target. That’s something I enjoy doing.

What is it that you do best?

If you need help with looking good while doin’ it, check out my website, send me a pm, inquire via email, and/or schedule a free discovery call to see how I can help with the ideas you’ve got.

“Our chief want …

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“…is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Long ago when I was young and impressionable, and believed quotes to be the ultimate truisms to guide one’s life by, I came across a long-winded thing — that I cannot now track down — that said about the same thing as the Emerson bit quoted above.

I felt this profoundly true. With a word processor in the 80s, I tracked and kerned the best I could, printed it out on pretty commercially-designed paper, and taped it up in my bedroom. For a long time it hung, where I could just see it from the bed, and I pondered it hard and often.

And then… yeah – after weeping many silly secret tears that I had no such someone in my life to bring forth the brilliancy that I knew was surely within me, I finally took the quote down with a shake of my head at my over-wrought sentimentality.

The purpose of quotes to live by couldn’t be to make us depressed. I decided I’d take this bull by the horns; instead of waiting for this someone to come along and inspire me, I’d be this person myself.

Looking back now, it’s been an amazing experience to see how a little of my dress-up magic has gone a long ways towards improving opportunities and changing lives of others.

Have a talent that you don’t know how to further develop? Schedule a free discovery call to consult with me.