Modern and Geometric Note Cards

If you're following me on Instagram or Facebook, then you'll already know just how obsessed I am with a new line of cards that I've been working on and slowly releasing in the shop. Inspired by a few conversations about geometric patterns with my friend Kristen, I decided to play with triangles in bold colors. This isn't the first time I've used this concept and you can see my first take on triangles and stationery here. But I wanted to try something that had even more of a pop. The result is a line of thank you and hello note cards in three different color schemes that will all soon be available in both single greeting cards and sets of four with accented solid colored cards. Each card has been paired with 100% recycled Speckletone Kraft envelopes from French Paper Co.-- my favorite! The quality of these cards as a whole does not get any better.

These cards are currently already in the shop with the rest to soon follow. I love how each color schemed turned out, and I continue to indecisively move from one to the other as my favorite. It is an amazing feeling to have something turn out just as you had envisioned in your head, and this is truly one of those types of projects.

What do you think of the new line? Are you obsessed with the current fad of bold colored and modern triangles like me?

Gwen Frostic

I love wood block prints. I was first introduced to block prints by my grandmother, a woman that loves paper goods and knows best how to write a wonderful letter. She always has a stash of note cards stowed away for the many personal notes that she always writes. One such type of note cards were those by Gwen Frostic, a wood block artist from Michigan.

As a child, on our way home from our camping trips in Canada, we would stop in Benzonia, Michigan to see Gwen's shop and pick up some stationery, calendars, and books. Gwen, who is no longer living, would sometimes be hiding amongst the printing presses as they clicked and clacked to produce her lovely prints.

Her shop, still open for business, is amazing. It is nestled in a wildlife sanctuary and uses native materials in attempt to bring the outdoors inside. Gwen's prints are nature inspired and were often created by the plants and animals that surrounded her studio. She is truly a creative inspiration.

A glimpse at some of the items available on her website.

And a glimpse from my personal stash.

One thing that I love about the stationery that gives it an even more natural feel is the deckled edge. Many of Gwen's designs are so simple, but just perfect. And some are more complex and leave me in awe of her ability to have carved that with an end result in mind. One thing remains certain. Most likely throughout my lifetime, I will always have a stash of Gwen Frostic paper, just like my grandmother.

A Little Update

Just wanted to pop in to give a little update on some of the things I worked on for my shop over my winter break. While you may remember that I worked on this project using hand drawn images, I also did some digital design as well.

If you follow me on Twitter, you may remember this little sneak peek. And here we have the final product.

I loved the geometric squares, so I just had to make it into a Valentine's Day card as well!

A fun little idea for a moving announcement card popped into my head.

And my most favorite of all? This Valentine's card that so clearly speaks the truth!

Because let's face it-- we all know you love your special someone not just on Valentine's Day! ;)

Just What the Doctor Ordered

I spent yesterday stuck at home with no voice. I woke up and my voice was just a whisper and I knew I wouldn't make it even a half day through school. While I could have caught up on grading tests and other such things, I decided to take the less practical route and spent the day designing. I've been trying to reach my goal of getting 200 designs in my shop, but it has been slow going. Today, it seemed, was just what the doctor ordered to get the job done-- no voice and stuck at home with plenty of design inspiration.

In the end, I came up with six new designs. Two of which I wanted to share the inspiration behind. Yes, I turned again to Pinterest and found some lovely colors and ideas!

Are you just as productive when you're home sick for the day? Days like this make me want to forget about teaching all together. Maybe some day.... :)

Notre Dame Football Led Me to a Productive Weekend

It's been a rough month for me to be quite honest. As I wrote about earlier this month, October 7th would have been my grandfather's birthday. He passed away a year ago on the 20th. Every year, my mom, who owns an artisan bakery, has a huge feast in which she invites her regular customers, family, and friends to enjoy many of the foods that she serves throughout the year. It is her big thank you to all that are somehow involved in her business. I've been meaning to go home for her feast for some time and felt that this year would be the year, especially since this year's was in honor of my grandfather and many of my extended family members would be there.

However, I was not so lucky. Months in advance, I began searching for a plane ticket to South Bend, the closest airport. A ticket normally costing $250-$350 was now $783. I checked airfare prices the following week in hopes they would be different. $849. The next. $972. And finally several weeks before. $1443. I could have flown to Paris for half that price. Or to Sydney for only $500 more! Why were these tickets so expensive, you might ask? Well, it's called an old college football tradition-- one single game that is quite a huge deal: Notre Dame vs. USC.

Growing up near South Bend, I was always exposed to the ridiculous nature of Notre Dame football-- 2 hour waits to eat dinner at a restaurant on home game weekends, bad traffic in South Bend, trying to do fall clothes shopping in a mad house mall, friends not being able to book hotels for their visits to town, annoying tourists in a quaint little town. And now this football game was ruining my plans to be with my family.

Needless to say, I've been in a funk this weekend and needed to find a way out. So I did the one thing that I knew would at least sort of help and I made myself busy. So busy, in fact, that I did all of this in one afternoon:

Yes, I realize that I may be crazy when it comes to the Valentine's Day themed cards, but I had to get the ideas on paper before I forgot them. After a long, productive day we took a long walk across Patterson Park to Yellow Dog Tavern for dinner. It was a nice ending the day in cool, crisp air and enjoying dinner in a cozy pub. It wasn't my mom's feast, but it was certainly a fantastic way to end the day.

Bright and Colorful, Natural and Manly

I've been working very hard to get out of the graphic design based cards recently and restock my shop with some more one of a kind paper cut designs. Honestly, the paper cut cards are my biggest challenge as I find it difficult to come up with fresh ideas other than layering coordinating colors of paper. I am trying to work my way through my built up stash of paper-- it is somewhat overwhelming to be honest. So I stuck with a stack of solids and two patterned stacks yesterday. After much hemming and hawing, I finally made these cards.

The first set seems to bright and colorful which I really enjoy, especially with the matching orange envelopes. I had high expectations for the second set, but after making it I realized that these were some seriously manly cards. Andrew's dad has ordered stationery from me in the past and suggested I make some cards that catered more to the male customer. I struggled with coming up with more masculine designs upon request, but now by accident I don't think these cards could be any manlier! So those green ones are for all you manly men out there!

New Stationery Designs

All I need is a relaxing weekend and the creative juices start flowing. Not one, but two new stationery designs and that's quite the record for me! And I am completely obsessed with them. New faves! Check them out.

What do you think? The aqua and orange ones are my favorite of the two, but why is that surprising considering my obsession with aqua.

Kraft and Chevron

With autumn slowly making its way closer, I've designed a few things that remind me a bit of fall. For whatever reason, kraft seems to be appropriate. I think it's because of its raw and natural appearance. I'm still not quite over chevrons so I included both in a few recent designs.

I think it's safe to say I have a few new favorites.

Just in Time for Fall: Eco Friendly Stationery

As fall soon approaches, I wanted to come up with some designs that felt a bit fall-like. I decided to make a few sets of stationery using this wonderful 110lb light brown kraft card stock I recently ordered. The brown seemed to make sense for fall and the quality and weight of the paper is perfect for flat notes. Because the kraft stock is 100% recycled, I decided to pair it with these wonderfully smooth white envelopes I also carry that are also 100% recycled. The kraft and the envelopes are truly environmentally friendly because they are also produced using wind power. Some how autumn and eco friendly seemed to make sense-- I think it's the natural aspect of both. Here is what I came up with.

Hope these help you gear up for fall! In addition, don't forget to enter the giveaway for some of my awesome chevron note cards over on The Blue Eyed Owl blog. Have a fabulous Tuesday!

New Stationery Sets

So the time has come for me to officially write a little blog post about my new stationery! I wanted to stray from the standard note cards that I'd been designing and I wanted to come up with something that was eco-friendly as well. You may have remembered when I unveiled my design inspiration for my new stationery. I used my own photography to come up with color schemes to inspire my designs.

Next, I was able to pair up with Write With Moxie and add some super neat recycled paper pencils to my sets. I was super excited to find these pencils and they are really just as cool as they look.

I paired these pencils with 100% recycled paper and some super awesome 30% post-consumer waste recycled envelopes, 100% recycled kraft postcards, a recycled stationery box, my photo design schemes-- and this is what we have! Super fun stationery that is also perfect for you environmentally conscious people out there!

Hope you like them just as much as I do!

High Fashion Houndstooth Inspiration

It's not the first time I've been inspired by fashion. Remember these cards? This time I was inspired by shoes. Not just any shoes either, but Salvatore Ferragamo houndstooth pumps that I am drooling over.

You all know by now that I have a love for shoes, and I seriously would be a happy woman if I could add these to my collection. I love something a bit crazy and these definitely would do the trick! The sticker price on these? $951.00!

So I decided to get a little bit of houndstooth into my life without the sticker shock.

I think these do the trick for now, but I'll be spending the rest of the morning surfing the web for a pair of houndstooth pumps that are about a tenth of the cost of the Ferragamo pumps. I'll let you know if I find them. :)