So Ironic - Cleaning Instructions From Yours Truly

Hello Everyone,

Are you still here? I've been watching my readership decline a little lately, which makes me sad, but then it occurs to me that one way to avoid having that happen is to post something more than once every other week ;-) I mean, why would you read the same post fourteen times? You wouldn't, that would be weird, right? It's like going to the doctor's office and reading year-old magazines. Even if the articles are good it's still boooooriiiing.

So I'm back with a brandy new post. Hooray!!! At least I hope it's "hooray" and not "meh" You've read this far so I must be rating better than "meh" (I hope.)

I've been taking classes upon classes so I decided to create a project that was a culmination of the material I've learned in InDesign 101, Principles of Good Design, Making Patterns in Illustrator, Making Ornaments in Illustrator and the first couple of lessons of Illustrator 102 all of which I've taken with Nicole's Classes.

I was inspired by this info-graphic created by my lovely instructor Alma Loveland. I saw the "How To Do Your Own Laundry" poster that she made and had my very own "ah ha" moment. I am forever telling my children to go clean their rooms and they invariably stand in the middle of their rooms with no idea what to do or where to start. To remedy this situation I made a set of postcards with detailed "Clean Your Room" instructions. They are meant to be held together by a ring in the corner so they can hang them on a hook on their wall to keep them handy.

Here is the cover:

It's important to establish what the cards are for right from the get-go. I wouldn't want them to be confused.

Tools and tips for cleaning... It's almost like I know what I'm talking about.

There are some very wise families who don't let food in the bedrooms so they can skip this step. We are not very wise so there are always dishes.

I decided to be silly with the items that belong other places. We have never actually had a shovel or a blender in a kid's bedroom, in case you were curious.

For the record, that hamper full of clothes took me forever to draw.

There are nine steps in all. Here is the last page containing the final "finishing touches" I almost put "Now don't mess it up again!" at the bottom but I know that would be an exercise in futility. There will always be another mess.

Here's the back. Moo lets you have twenty separate images on the fronts of the cards and one image for the back for $19.99 for twenty postcards. That's a set for each kid so that works out well. I was thinking of selling these on Etsy. I may do that yet, I assume other parents have children who need instructions for cleaning their rooms. 

I'll post a pic of the finished product when I get it. My kids are SO EXCITED about this! No they're not.

Oh, the irony? I'm a really messy person, so those who know me will have a good laugh at this. They will probably suggest that I follow my own advice. They won't be wrong either.

See you tomorrow,

Heather