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Chocolate Cactus Designs  |  The Chocolate Blog bio picture

well, hello there!

Welcome to the Chocolate Cactus blogsite.  A little of this and a little of that, all rolled into one big ball of goodness.  Here you will be able to read the latest, see recent works and read random babbles all in one place.  You're one lucky duck.

With nine years of design experience and an accomplished marketing background, owner and creative director Jodi Bell prefers a straightforward, personalized approach to her design work. "Everything I design is done with marketing in mind," states this former designer for a Houston-based magazine. It is her philosophy that "Standout designs equal effective marketing". The result is that the marketing and branding process is made infinitely easier for her clients. Jodi's portfolio reveals her love of typography and clean, no-frills designs. It is this that makes her designs standout creations that market themselves. 


Chocolate Cactus offers a variety of design work. Jodi's talents include creating complete identities to collateral materials and logo designs. Aside from logos, one of her specialties is custom one-of-a-kind announcements and wedding invitations. Because her clean, fresh designs appeal to a wide variety of industries, her client list includes not only photographers worldwide but also boutiques, auto manufacturers and just about everything in between.

Jodi has a special affinity for her photographer clients, most likely because she's a photographer herself, having won accolades and recognition for her photographic work. A self-professed font queen, Jodi lives in the Houston, Texas area with her husband and four sons. She continues the hunt for clean, fabulous typography...over 3,500 fonts and counting.

Last sale before pricing increase!

Hello everyone!  Boy, it has been a busy couple of months for me as I have just finished wrapping up some pretty amazing projects.  I just completed brands (and more!) for everything from a Wedding and Event Planning company to (of course) some amazing photographers to a cosmetic dentist to a search engine company.  Whew!  All were super fun and what amazing people to work with.  Because of the multiple projects wrapping up in a row, this allowed a bit of space on my waiting list to become available.  :)

I also decided to do this because big changes are coming to the pricing structure.  (And good ones, nothing over the top!)  I will be adding new products and services, and even packages to make your life a bit easier.  *wink*   The prices on these two mentioned below will also be increasing, so this is really your last chance to get in on this price.

For a very limited time, I will be offering $100 off on your choice of either logo design or blog customization.  I only have 2 slots available for these projects, so this is available to the first 2 who reserve their spot by submitting payment.  Here are the payment links:

Logo Design

Blog Customization

As always, if you have any questions on wither of these, feel free to contact me!  This sale ends in 2 days, on Thursday, May 20th.

promo, promo, promo!

Hi everyone!  I have been super busy wrapping up a ton of projects in the last few weeks which has left me some space for a couple of new logo clients!  I decided to run a quick sale for those who’ve asked me recently.  Exciting stuff!

Hold on to your hats, ladies and gents.  This one is BIG!

For the next 48 hours only, get a FREE BLOG CUSTOMIZATION with the purchase of a logo!  Say what?  Yes, you heard right.  This is a $450 value!  To get in on this deal, make sure you mention the free blog customization when making the logo payment through the shop!  This is only available to the first TWO people who purchase. I will post when the slots are filled.

Want $10 off the ProPhoto WordPress theme (which is the one I use)?  Just use this code so they know I sent you!  JODBEL522

Also, for the next 48 hours, all other design services are 15% off!  This includes business card design, website customization, marketing material design, and so on…  To utilize this special, enter the code 15DESIGN when purchasing through the shop.

The shop link is:  http://chocolatecactus.bigcartel.com/

Happy Wednesday!

ali caudill - hi! i love your stuff and found out about you through jamie delaine's blog... i wanted to know if this promo was still available because if the slots haven't been filled... IM IN. please email me and let me know, thanks!

Out of office Wednesday

I will be out of the office Wednesday to attend a funeral.  All emails will be responded to when I return Thursday.

Thank you.

blog facelift

Hello world!  As you can see, the blog got a little rebrand and facelift over the last week – super fun!  Going for a much more streamlined, cleaner look and hope it represents that!  Let me know if anything is wonky on your end.  :)   There may be a few changes here and there, but nothing too significant.

Also, I have a NEW set of birth announcements that will be released in the next week or so.  Loving them!  Can’t wait to share with you all.

Lastly, I will be having a promo coming up tomorrow as well so keep your eyes peeled!

Shay Voorhees - In my browser the static logo on the left is cut off by the scrolling content. I can see "Chocolate Cac" and the rest of the logo is chopped off.

Sarah H - Looks great! The only thing I see is your logo (top left) is covered up unless my browser window is open to the width of my screen - which it rarely is. Hope that helps!

Jodi Bell - Thanks so much girls! I appreciate the feedback and will get things squared away. :)

Hackers suck!

As some of you may know, the server I’m on (as well as hundreds of others) was hacked on Friday.  Quite a lovely experience (although likely not as lovely as the ghastly skull and crossbones blinking graphic that replaced our home pages!).  Fortunately, all is back on track, but during the process I had no access to my site, the back end of my site, my blog (which is hosted on my site), or my email.  Emails are coming in that were “in limbo” during this period, so tomorrow (Monday) I will be catching up on those and sending out emails as well that I wasn’t able to during the downtime.

Thanks so much!

Just a reminder!

It states in the contract regarding your final logo:

“….Please do not alter the layout, scale or overall feel of the design without written permission.”

I am seeing more and more of my designs being, well, butchered for lack of a better term.  The contract does cover pre-approved alterations (color changes, etc.) but to modify your design so much that it’s unrecognizable from it’s original state is not allowed.  I work very hard to get these designs perfect for you and invest many, many hours into each of them.  If you have any questions relating to what can and can’t be done, feel free to email me!

Thanks so much for your understanding.

valentine card freebie!

Better late than never!  Wanted to share this Valentine’s Day card with all of you.  It’s sized as a 5×5 VERTICAL (the fold is at the top) and is formatted to WHCC’s standards.  Enjoy!

Click here to download

heart-card-outside

heart-card-inside2

Cristina - Love the contemporary and fresh look! thank you for sharing!

Rachael - Love the design, thanks for sharing! :)

Nicole K - Your awesome, Jodi! Thank you!