Featured In An Etsy Treasury

Carol, from Kohn Designs, put together this bright and well thought out treasury on Etsy yesterday. She was so kind to include my recently listed Autumn Pumpkin note cards. To view the treasury and the items, click the image below.

I checked out the Kohn Designs Etsy shop and I love this Urban Angle Bag. It'd be perfect for the beach, and it's super stylish as well. 

                                       

New Design, Autumn Pumpkins

When I see pumpkins, it reminds me of the coziness of Fall, of Halloween and Thanksgiving, the brilliant changing of leaves, and family. Send these notes to loved ones, or use them as an invite to your Fall get together. They also make a thoughtful gift. Each one is carefully printed with a hand carved stamp of my design.
♥ Purchase them here in my Etsy store ♥

Featured On Amee Couture

Amee Couture is a lovely blog, created by Amy, and is dedicated to "wedding themes, color, and inspiration." It's darn cute and I have enjoyed perusing over her treasuries. She put together a delightful citrus themed collection, and was so kind to include my Garden Party Notecards. Go check out her blog and see for yourself. Thanks Amy!!

Featured In An Etsy Treasury

Colleen from Forever Tuesday featured my Garden Party Notecards in this precious treasury. I looked at all of the items and found some new favorites. 

Inspired on Etsy - Frida Kahlo Treasury

Nickolas Muray
‘Frida on White Bench, New York’
1939

My Aunt Beth first introduced me to the artwork and life of Mexican painter, Frida Kahlo. I was totally intrigued by this woman who rocked the unfashionable facial hair, and became aware that quite a few others were into her as well. While on a road trip to visit my family early this summer, Jake and I spent a night in Nashville, TN. We checked out the highly recommended neighborhood of Hillsboro Village and the super funky shop, Pangaea, located right in the heart of it. They had quite a selection of Frida Kahlo inspired goods, and I picked up a neat tote with her picture on it to give as a hostess gift to my Aunt Beth. That is when I first became aware that she is a bit of a folk hero, and yes the crafty Etsians have caught the bug. Here is a little treasury of Frida Kahlo and Mexican folk art inspired goodies. Click the image below to check out the treasury on Etsy and for more info about the items.

Even Google has the bug! I was lucky enough to see this on Google front page that day, and of course I forwarded it to my Aunt ;)

Featured In An Etsy Treasury

My yellow Birds on a Wire note cards were included in this Etsy treasury. Yay!

Packaging the Cupcake Toppers

Whew! I finally executed my first packaging project, and at first was completely perplexed on how to present these so that they could be sold in a store. I'm happy with how it came out. What do you think?

Decoration Inspiration - Bedroom

My undecorated bedroom is driving me nuts!  I have been racking my brain in the past few weeks trying to decide what to do with the large yet plain master bedroom my partner and I share. Can't be too girly, and I don't want a man cave. What to do? I had to meet in the middle. I've decided to go with a cozy lake house feel.

I have been very inspired by listings from fellow Etsy sellers, and treasuries created, that remind me of relaxing days by the water and the old family lake house I grew up going to in the summers. Granted, the old lake house interior was decorated by my grandmother like a classy 1970's bachelor pad (?!?), so I am going for exterior inspiration on that one, and imagining what my dream lake house bedroom would look like.

Obviously I am dealing with big blank walls in my room, because most of these items are to hang. As I get older, I feel lonely in a room with no wall hangings. What a change from my 20's where clean simple modern was the decor, haha! So now I have the furniture and the bed, I just need the fixin's...

top (L to R) : PointDeAmour, Dolan Geiman, Ichbinsein,

middle:  Old New Again, Open Door Studio, Boutique Girl, 

bottom: The Wheatfield, Blackbird Letterpress, Chez Sucre Chez

I wish I could purchase all of these items right now! But for now, you all will have to serve as my inspiration. I am grateful for that though, and thank you :)

Musical inspiration today: it's time for a Ryan Adams marathon!!

Tailgate With These Cuties!

I've been working on this idea for a few weeks now. I love cupcake toppers and thought it would be fun to make some themed with collegiate teams, such as my beloved UF Gators! I think they are simple and fun, and can't wait to see how everyone uses them for decorating. More teams and styles coming soon, keep posted in my Etsy shop.

Don't forget to pick up some Orange and Blue cupcake liners from Fort & Field!

Anchors Away Treasury

Oh this is so exciting! It's my first (that I know of) feature in a treasury on Etsy. Thanks PeachyPopVintage!

I really like what she has put together, in fact I want one of each please. Click here to see it on Etsy and to check out the other items.

Featured on Kate and Oli

Katie, of Kate and Oli, made a cute anchor themed Heart + Worthy post on her blog featuring my Anchors Aweigh cards (#11). She also has an Etsy page of her own called Ichbinseins, where she sells her own handmade cards, here. Thanks Katie!

Little Red Hen Press Order Packaging

Wrapping gifts and packages are one of my favorite things to do, especially at Christmas. You should see what I do! I wish I had pictures to show of them, but I don't. Doh! You'll just have to trust me that they are pretty.

So when orders started rolling in for the cards and bags, I started experimenting with different ways to package and ship the items. I decided on boxes, even though they cost a little more to ship, because I knew the cards stood a better chance of arriving undamaged, and who doesn't like to open a box? ;) I originally wanted white boxes, but I couldn't find the perfect size for an affordable price. I didn't want to have to charge an extra dollar to my customers for a custom box. So, I decided to go with brown paper ones with mostly recycled content. The liner is 20-30% and the flute is 100% recycled (flute is the wavy part). I also found white tissue paper that is 100% recycled. Unfortunately the red isn't completely recycled, but it's just so nice, I had to include at least one sheet in each box. Red is in the business name after all! The two most recent orders have been shipped in a decorated box:

I have had a lot of fun coming up with this, and I hope I can continue to create a fun package for my customers to open! Of course each package will be slightly different, but always pretty.

This is the housewarming present I gave to me sister last Saturday and the gift contained within. She just graduated from the University of Florida, hence the orange and blue Gator theme, and loves cupcakes. She is very creative so I put together a cupcake decorating kit for her to use in her new kitchen, along with handmade Go Gator cupcake picks (I will be selling them on Etsy soon, so keep an eye out!). Also included in the package, but not shown, were 2 boxes of cake mix, and 2 containers of white icing. I made her promise to take pictures of the cupcakes she makes, and send them to me so I can post them on this blog. The cupcake liners came from Fort & Field, and you can purchase them here. The icing bags and tips, sprinkles, and pan were purchased at a local baking supply store. 

Her base color scheme in her new home is black and white, so coordinated the wrap for that. The bow is upcycled from an Anthropologie package, and the tag is made from my black Birds on a Wire print. She LOVED it all!

I hope I have inspired you!

What Exactly Is "Paper Weight"?!?

Boy, I have had a hard time figuring out exactly what paper weight means. The labels can be so confusing! I print my designs on card stock, and have recently switched over to 100% recycled vs. the 10% I was using before.  The web site I ordered the new 100% from said it was 80lb weight. I was looking around Etsy and realized most people were printing on 110lb, and thought well this can't be good. I can't have wimpy thin cards! No one will buy from me! Jeez those sellers must have a brick of a card! Imagine my surprise when the new 100% paper arrived and it was quite a bit more thick than the 10% I was using before, even though it claimed to weigh less. So I was totally confused, and I'm sure I have confused you too. What in the heck is this paper weight thing anyway? Well I found a website that explains it all:

PAPER WEIGHT DEMYSTIFIED

Thank you paper-paper.com!

So out of all of this, I realized card stock is called "index" paper when measured, and my new 100% recycled paper is somewhere around 119lb weight. Hooray for nice thick paper! I do notice a big difference between the two. I am also glad that it is fully recycled. It helps me sleep better at night... hehe!

Birds On A Wire Print

This is the newest print up for sale in my Etsy shop. I enjoy watching birds sitting on wires and fences, and these two make a cute pair!

Anchors Aweigh

This morning I began test printing the anchor stamp I've been carving. My recent trip up the Northeast coast had me totally inspired to do something related to the sea. Standing on the beach with my toes in the sand is my happy place, and it was great to get back to the coast. I picked up this cute Seaside Terry Hoodie at the L.L. Bean store in Freeport, Maine and will be my comfy beach coverup for years to come.