Blog — "stationery"

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?

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.

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! ;)

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.... :)

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.