Colorado Rockies

If you're like me (which I recognize some of you aren't), you crave the mountains like a child craves candy. Like a mom craves time to herself. Like Kobe Bryant craves women other than his wife -- too far? Okay. Okay. I'll stop.

When my friend (and future neighbor), Todd of Beautiful Day Images, asked me for a special pillow order, I was more than excited that it included my beloved Rocky Mountains. Todd's sister recently moved back to Denver, and her favorite thing is her mountain view. So, instead of the same ol' Oklahoma shape, he requested something a little different - mountains! As with every design challenge, I needed to know what his inspiration was and where his mind was headed. He sent me this pic he had taken this summer:

Photo by Todd Scott Ballje

Isn't it pretty? Serene? Yes, yes it is. So. How was I going to make this in to a nice little pillow? As my brain was churning, my friend Todd was sketching. About 5 minutes after the first pic, I received this:

Sketch by Todd Scott Ballje

Well that's easy enough! I could do that! One thing I really wanted to bring out was the different colors mountains take on from different distances. As you can tell from the photo he took, the mountains are a cool steel grey when they're close, but they turn in to this foggy, smoky grey the farther away they are. So, here's the final result! (Todd took the pictures of the pillows, can't you tell?)