CBP Designers, AT HOME!

In the studio or on the couch, the creative mojo of the CBP Design Team is never compromised! While many of our clients have had to pause the planning of their upcoming events, the CBP Designers have managed to accelerate the creativity in their WFH environments. Designers turned school teachers, home decorators, perpetual chefs–their clever spin on everyday in-home activities or projects is certainly something to share. Kiddos in the house? Get ready to distribute hall passes and screen time tickets. Need to check in with a neighbor? Make a mini-paper plant for your frond. Want to revamp your bookshelf for those important Zoom calls? See what our in-house hand letterer has been up to. We hope you enjoy these free activity downloads and step-by-step tutorials!

Kate Disabato

CBP’s Art Director and mom-extraordinaire, Kate Disabato, whipped together some sweet meal-time moments to help everyone stay focused and in their chairs a little longer.

During the homeschool season, Kate noticed how much her kids enjoy breaking away from their on-screen school time and putting pencil to paper so she designed interactive moments for breakfast, lunch and dinner. First up: Graphic breakfast placemats to focus their creativity at the top of the morning. Gone is the temptation to look for the TV remote control when these placemats are found under their Lucky Charms.

For lunch, she came up with a lunch ticket. No more, “hmmm, what’s for lunch”??? Two choices, one selection! Just like the school cafeteria, the kiddos get to have a choice but chef mom is in control. Even at home, she still sometimes slips these cute lunch box notes under their cups to show she cares.

And last but not least, dinner! For that fancy weekly supper that is an upgrade from frozen chicken strips to strip steak, go with these customizable printed menus! Remember what those looked like at restaurants?? There’s even a spot on the back to compliment the chef! The kids can also decide where everyone sits around the table using placecards. And the best part of Kate’s dinner time paper program? Keep everyone entertained at the table with jokes, facts and kid-approved conversation starters. Trim out the squares, drop into a bowl, and pass around the table.

Upgrade mealtime! And download all the pdfs!

 

Maggie Chuang

Meet CBP’s newest budding designer, Maggie Chuang! A recent graduate from Washington University in St. Louis, she started as an intern in June 2019 and quickly moved into the role of print production artist and junior designer. Even though she’s a recent transplant, Maggie fits in so well around the studio it feels like she has always been part of the team.

Maggie also just moved to a brand-new apartment where she came up with a perfect way to make new “fronds” and connect with her neighbors! She created a paper plant. Maggie’s project is not only timely, it’s tiny! Almost the same size she was when she first discovered art! As the child of two engineers, Maggie grew up with a pencil in her hand and a love for design. Maggie also designed a series of clever pun-filled notecards as a way to say “Aloe!”. Have a green thumb instead? These notecards make a great addition for gifting living plants.

Have fun using our template to create your own Potted Paper Plant! Branch out and leave some greenery around your neighborhood.

Megan Irwin

Putting the cool in homeschool tools! Megan Irwin, CBP’s Senior Associate Creative Director, made the perfect homeschooling kit for her two adorable girls, Tilly (7) and Mabel (4 ½). The inspiration? Tilly’s recent craft and organizational projects, namely the customizable schedule chart she created for her new kitchen classroom!

Tilly has been attending her first grade classes from home since the end of March and while she has been missing her friends and classroom structure she’s been jiving well with her new substitute teacher, HER DAD! Megan’s husband, a high school teacher, has settled in nicely as the head of “Irwin Elementary”. Megan has played the role of TA. Both girls love helping their mom and dad plan school days and they played a big hand in the homeschooling items Megan created – a journal cover, to-do lists and a series of tickets/passes. Purchase mini clipboards for the to-do list to further empower your littles!

Mabel is especially excited to earn the dance party ticket! Tilly has her eye on the screen time pass. While working and home schooling hasn’t been all fun and games, Megan has been using Tilly and Mabel’s play time, imaginations, and their ability to make a game out of the simplest idea as a source of inspiration.

Good luck to you moms/dads on the final leg of school! Click to download these fun homeschool tools!

Taylor Crossland

Home is Where the Art is! An heirloom locket and bright vintage teacup, Mexican Canel’s gum and corked jars filled with sand, beautiful covers of much-loved children’s books–these are a few of Taylor’s mom’s favorite things. So Taylor Crossland, CBP’s watercolorist extraordinaire, put brush to paper and painted all of these objects to gift her mom for Mother’s Day.

Taylor’s first watercolor teacher was actually her mother! That makes this artwork so much more meaningful. They used to sit around the kitchen table and make art together. And now Taylor is doing that same thing while designing from home!

Just in time for Mother’s Day, Taylor decided to extend her skills by offering six lucky Instagram winners a painted object that represents their mom. Some of the results? A goose with her babies, a bouquet of flowers, a bowl and whisk. What reminds you of your mom? If you can’t be with your mom this Mother’s Day, surround yourself with things that make her feel present. For me, I’ll be channeling Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door perfume and putting Nutetlla on my toast. That’s my mom!

Carmi Cioni

Our in-house lettering expert, Carmi Cioni, wraps up our CBP Designers AT HOME Series by combining her love of books and calligraphy into a perfect home project. A life-long patron of the St. Louis Public Library, she has always loved diving into books. Most of her design inspiration comes from words and the beautiful covers of her favorite books. Side note: She is a speed reader which allows her to devour more books than most.

At just 15, she combined her talent and love of words and started calligraphing! She designed and created chalkboard signs for a local mom and pop shop. After that, she attended Washington University where she graduated with a degree in graphic design which also earned her a boatload of books with graphically fantastic covers.

While working from home, Carmi has also been sprucing up her apartment. It’s been a bit tricky for someone with such an eye for design because she wants everything to be her style. She noticed that there were some books on her shelf that did not quite fit in with her collection (mostly her financial analyst fiancé’s old grad school textbooks that were staying in the keep pile). See before and after below!

The Start of the Project:

The End of the Project:

The Final Bookshelf:

Isn’t it amazing what some markers, paper, and a dash of creativity can do to spruce up a space? Now all the books fit in perfectly on Carmi’s (and Daryl’s) shelf.

We hope our Designers at Home Series helped get those creative juices flowing!

xoxo,

The CBP Design Team