Two sisters working together?  It’s crazier than it sounds.

Sometime during the fall of 2004, one of us had the ridiculous idea that we should start our own graphic design business and, contrary to the norm, we actually agreed on something. Back then, I was still tending bar in our hometown of Brownwood, Texas (somewhat of a 2 year sabbatical from the ‘real world’ after college) and Sarah, having just finished university at Texas State, was waiting tables here, in Austin. It was time to do something…other than what we’d been doing. So, we started snatching up projects wherever we could find them – from boyfriends, neighbors, friends and the odd acquaintance – and crossed our fingers that someone, other than our parents, would see something worth taking a second look at. I’m not going to fib and tell you that everything we did during those first couple years was fabulous, because some of it certainly wasn’t. But, we believed in what we were doing, and luckily had a great support system around us to cheer us on (thanks guys).

We would be remised if we didn’t immediately thank Aaron Watson, Randy Rogers Band and of course Matt Deaton & Front Porch Texas for giving us our first legitimate shots at a paid gig for Record Packaging Design with those early albums.

Relentlessly, we worked at getting our name out there and to grow our business relationships here in Austin and throughout the southwest to earn working relationships with some wonderfully talents folks. Crafting a majority of our work from a love of all things battered, aged, torn and stained (seriously, you let these two gals loose in a flea market pile of ‘junk’ and we’re in heaven), we’ve built a portfolio that we can be proud of. A few of the fabulous artists that we’ve had the pleasure to work with include Willie Nelson, Asleep at The Wheel, Guy Clark, Slaid Cleeves, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Dierks Bentley, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Wade Bowen, Reckless Kelly, Randy Rogers Band, Aaron Watson, Cory Morrow, Jack Ingram, Kevin Fowler, Eli Young Band and many many more.

In 2009, we were honored to have the opportunity to collaborate with Dick Reeves and John Wilson on the packaging design for the “Willie & The Wheel” album featuring Asleep at The Wheel and Willie Nelson. It was our first opportunity to really dig in and create something that we’d always wanted to, in the style we’d always wanted to and with all the bells and whistles that we could imagine for that project. We had the chance to put everything we had into a project….and, boy did we ever.

Two digipak packages, one LP, 13 unique 2-sided postcards (each representing a track on the album) and a set of commemorative stamps with the likeness of each of the amazing musicians on the record – all designed, nit-picked, distinctively illustrated, aged, distressed & loved, and we managed to walk away with a Silver Addy at the 2010 Austin Addys for the design (a good day). We also won Best Cover Art on 9513.com’s annual awards, and were nominated for Best Album Art by the Lone Star Music Awards.

Working together as sisters, business partners and even roommates (for a very short run) is no light load. Yes, we fight, bicker and nag each other just like all you sisters out there – we certainly aren’t extraterrestrial sisters with some amazingly perfect relationship – we just know that at the end of the day, no matter what’s been said, we love each other . . . there’s a lot of ‘hugging it out’ in the studio . . . a LOT. Somehow we’ve found a way to make it work.

As such, through our collaborations, we’ve had the pleasure of working with some of our heroes and have reached goals that we never even imagined for ourselves. I mean, really: who’d have ever thought a couple country girls from the sticks (literally) would be staring down the barrel of a Grammy nod for something we had so much fun creating? We certainly didn’t. What an amazing turn of events it has been and what a blessing to be able to do what we absolutely love with some of our favorite people in the world….

See what we had to say about the Reckless Kelly “Good Luck & True Love” packaging design, by clicking here.

Hoping to never limit ourselves to one genre of design, we have also earned working relationships with several Austin-area businesses like Amy’s Ice Creams, Waterloo Ice House, Doc’s Motorworks & Backyard, Freeb!rds World Burrito, Key Bar and Iguana Grill.