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Above by Inkorporated

With a now cramping hand from addressing invitations and thank you notes—and with birth announcements and Christmas cards around the corner (and more thank yous!)—I can't help but think of more efficient ways to correspond.

I have, in all honesty, been contemplating the return address rubber stamp. But having put little time into researching what was out there, I just assumed my only option was the self inking circular stamp that you see everywhere. Shuddering at the thought of placing something so generic on our family cards, I put it off. No offense to those who use them—they do serve a great purpose.

So all I had to do was spend about 10 minutes looking on Etsy to find these great stamps! Cramping hand no more!




Above images by Note Trunk

Farm Party

It was amazing. Everything came together exactly as I had hoped and my sweet little boy (pictured on top) couldn't have been more excited—evident by his meltdown and failure to nap later that afternoon. Obviously it was a success! Until next year...
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I started working on B's birthday invites a long time ago. They looked completely different when I started. All I really had to go on at that point was that it would be on the farm. Thank goodness for a picky little boy that wanted red and white balloons at his birthday. It certainly helped push me in a better direction. There were more fun pieces designed for his celebration...photos coming soon!

Happy Birthday to You!

The end of summer for our family, marks not only the end to the vicious heat and humidity of the south and the beginning of the beautiful fall season with all it's colors, football games and holidays-but the beginning of another season, birthday season. We are inundated with birthdays in September (little B's being one of them!), and they continue on strong through the beginning of January.

Birthdays were not a huge deal for our family growing up. My birthday is near Christmas, so naturally it took a backseat to Jesus' birthday. Often my birthday cake was some sort of holiday themed confection or leftover baklava we had given as teacher gifts that year. So it's not a huge surprise that I have fallen in love with baking and have the most fun planning birthday parties. Rest assured, there will be no baklava served at our house when your day rolls around. We are celebrating life and it's going to be a bash!

So you must check out Scissors. Paper. Cake. An Aussie company (no I don't play favorites), that works together on the Paper side and the Sweet side. I'm plugging in photos from their party theme "Little Red Car." They are marvelous!



Photos from Scissors.Paper.Cake

Nesting

Above images from Martha Stewart

When my only question for my doctor this month was "is it safe to polish silver?" I knew nesting was truly in full swing. I actually have a hard time not nesting when I visit Martha's website for inspiration. Still with B's big boy room on the brain I felt utterly speechless at the images of Dwell Studio partner Jennifer Chused's playroom for her son.

How spectacular are those airplanes?! I would love to find the book that they came from. However, with a little (OK alot!) of research I was able to track down some similar vintage prints for B's room from Blasts from the Past on Etsy. I think with some nice white mattes and frames they will be perfect against his Chambray Blue Walls.

All Grown Up

It's been over a month since my last attempt at a blog post. I have been completely incapable of multitasking, sketching ideas, and even designing. I am totally consumed with the fact that we have a little one coming in November. It's not even the impending new person that has me so distracted—it's the idea of moving (convincing) my little boy out of his sweet nursery into a big boy room.

I must say, that creating a space for someone whose little personality you are so familiar with, is a total blast. Designing the nursery was fun, but it always felt a bit surreal. B seemed like just an idea then—now he's someone with a quirky sense of humor who loves people ... and firetrucks.

So every ounce of creative energy has been poured into creating this space. And like most designers—I'm a perfectionist. I also (to quote my sister) "research everything to the point of ridiculousness." So spare time is spent scouring local stores, antique markets, blogs and online shops to find the perfect bed (which I did, though I'm wincing at the price and now researching the perfect bed at the perfect price), the perfect wall color, art, toy containers, and bedding. And I feel like I am actually close. Now we just need to implement it. But like all design, that's kind of the easy part. Concepting and research is what takes all the time.

So you'll have to excuse my absence from blogging and creating new work. And Minted—I miss you! I promise to keep you updated on all my findings. The perfect big boy room is out there—I'm on a mission to find it.

A Little Birdie...

It's been well over 5 months since I promised a nursery painting to my sweet friend for her (then) new little one. A painting that should have taken a few hours stretched over several seasons. I just couldn't get it right. And now, the image on the paper is quite different than the image I started with in my head.

This piece in particular, was supposed to be pink (and a lamb). But pink—I have since learned—is quite difficult. So I had to scratch it, and start over. But sometimes letting go of the perfect image in your head is the best thing to do. You end up with something quite unexpected, and often quite better than what you had imagined.

Sweet B

In honor or my sweet little boy!

Credit: Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische

Out to Lunch

Check out these whimsical brown bags from Bee Things on Etsy. A fantastic idea. These screen printed beauties come in packs of 10. Lunch may have been a bit more interesting if my mom had packed my Little Debbie's in these!




Images from Bee Things

Won't You Be Mine?

I must admit that when one of my clients rejected my awesome heart concept for some packaging they needed, I felt a bit defeated. Lucky for me, I was able to reconfigure the pieces to fit a more appropriate piece—A Valentine's card for Minted's latest challenge. A Valentine that won first place, I might add. I guess it's true: one man's trash is another man's treasure.

Thanks to all who voted! I am pretty thrilled to have won such a high honor. You can purchase this card now at Minted.