New Kraft Labels Inspire New Packaging

Gift Basket for School Auction:

 Gift Card Enclosures in vellum envelopes:

 Flat Notes in cellophane envelope with twine and kraft label:

 Folded Card set in kraft pillow box with twine and label:

I'm having fun and hope to update more frequently soon.

Office Makeover in the works!

A Few New Things to Look At

Stamped cherry blossoms
Water-color painted
with glitter detail

Inspired by my grandmother

New embossing tool

Dragonfly in a new way

The blossom stamp in green

Packaging!

I'm having so much fun packaging my stationary. It's one more opportunity to design something creative. I like the "designing" part of this the most. Too bad it makes the postage so much more expensive. I haven't offered the "gift wrapping" to my customers on Etsy as of yet because it bumps the shipping cost to more than double (from $2 to $5) and it does cut into my "profit" on each set... It just seems silly to me to ask $5 to ship an item that cost the buyer only $10!

In any event, when I have the supplies handy, I do enjoy having some fun with the packaging.

The Bee Silhouette here is embellished with a Swarovski crystal.

It corresponds with the Bee stationary inside.

I love the way this pillow box turned out with the ribbon and fleur-de-lis together!

Though difficult to see in this picture, the image of the tree is shadowed in chartreuse. The envelopes for this set are also chartreuse.

The red crest is enlarged for this box top and layered with the ivory linen card stock used for the stationary set inside. The set comes with red envelopes.

The Bella

One of my best "customers" is also a good friend. She is the kind of person that says, "Would you make an order for me? The little girl likes horses." I love that... the perfect amount of "direction" with the majority of the creative freedom left to me.

I wanted to do something special for her daughter who is having a birthday soon. Usually, Bella is giving the cards to her friends as gifts but this time it's Bella's turn for a set--from me.

Here's what I labored over:

It's a horizontal folded card on ivory cardstock. The scalloped circle is cut from an "apple green" linen-textured card. The top coin (with the daisy image) is the same ivory as the base. The gingham ribbon is black and cream which really works well with the bug. The envelopes are a great way to pull the set together.

Here is a close-up of the graphic:

I really fell in love with these cards. I am so happy they are going to such a sweet girl! The work involved in making a set like this is time-consuming. In order to make a decent profit on selling this design, I would have to charge what I consider "too much" money. So I modified the card to the style I use more often. It is a simple flat note that can be personalized and purchased for a much more reasonable cost:

I added this graphic of a simple daisy to the sides of the name at the foot of the card:

And here's a close-up of it:

I think the simplified flat note is a good representation of the original, more detailed version.

What do you think?

Look for "The Bella" card to hit the Etsy shop very soon!

LOOK, LOOK, LOOK! ------------>

The PiperSimone Paper store is finally on Etsy.com! It took some time to figure everything out... but it's a great first step. I hope to get the "shop" up to the high standards I hold for myself sometime soon. Between potty-training, preschool, parenting, blogging, crafting, etc... (!!!) it will happen. (Nothing like a little positive self-affirmation!)

Safari Shower

My cousin is having her first baby in a couple months. A new baby boy to kiss and cuddle and squeeze. I'm so excited. I made these little cards for her to celebrate her Monkeyboy.

The cards are a flat note on linen cardstock. The big image above is just the cover of the gift box I made.

For her baby shower, I made a version of "Helpful Hint" cards I had seen online. Here is where shower guests can give advice to the new mom and dad-to-be.

I also made a little pillow box to keep the advice cards organized.

And lastly, a few sweet bookplates for the little booger.

;)

Invitations Invitations!

A friend of mine asked me to come up with a few designs for a Bridal Luncheon and Bachelorette Party she is hosting for her cousin.

It was a great excuse to make some samples for my book.

(above) A simple and elegant luncheon invite with black scroll detail along the bottom.

(above) This is a fun summer theme for either a bridal luncheon, shower, or bachelorette outing. The lime and tangerine colors really pop on the white cardstock and the green envelope is a nice addition.

(above) Cherry blossoms are a favorite of mine. I found this great graphic of tiny white blossoms in a salmon background. Once I added the clip to the invite it looked a little "bottom-heavy" so I popped on a couple salmon stripes at the top to help balance the card.

(above) In the sample for my friend, this card is a bachelorette invite. Here I've made it a dinner and cocktail event for both bachelor and bachelorette. Duel parties are becoming more and more popular and this would be useful as a rehearsal dinner invite or dinner party as well.

(above) I think this card turned out so fun! I love the pink with the green--and who doesn't appreciate a nice cocktail with a lime wheel garnish? Great for the bachelorette party, a cocktail party, or a 21st birthday celebration.

And last but not least, the invitations I made for my sweet girl who turned 4 this last weekend! The red ladybug is a punch atop a scalloped circle nestability punch.

We gave her a "Bugs in the Garden" backyard birthday bash. If you want to see more details on how that turned out, visit our family blog here.