Masculine Cards?

My adorable husband is "Metro" enough to appreciate a set of personalized note cards for business correspondence...

... and masculine enough to want them to be plain and straightforward.

Flat cards: white linen-finish with name print in "boy" colors attached to brown-bag kraft stock with matching envelopes.

Simple.

Gettin' Fancy!

A friend turned me on to Paper Source here in Portland. I loved it. It's located in the shopping district on NW23rd--which probably added to the inflated cost of the merchandise--but my goodness did they have GREAT stuff. I was very inspired.

Here's a set of cards I made for a birthday present this week.

Obviously, the recipient was a little girl.

I "watermarked" the envelopes to match the stamp on the card.

Then I packaged them in this sweet pink box (I bought a set of pink and one of white at Paper Source) that I decorated to coordinate with the cards.

Very sweet--don't you think?

Long Time No Post

So I've definitely been keeping myself busy with stationary projects. However, I've clearly been hopeless in keeping the blog up-to-date on what I've been working on.

Sorry.

Here's a sweet flat card I made for both Avery (my 2-year-old) and her sweet friend Abby (also 2). 

The lower boarder is a row of smiling flowers.

Centered at the top is her first and middle names in a curly font.

While the photo is definitely blurry, you get the gist. 

Note to self: invest in some red envelopes.

Holiday Gift Part I

Horizontally folded cards with coordinating paper stacks and matching brads for Lia:

And another set for Amanda:

A birthday set I made for my mother-in-law to give to her sister with matching stamped stationary:

These are holiday cards I bought discounted at Michael's and embellished a bit with personal text, ribbon and punches:

Another embellished set with my new favorite "tuxedo" bow:

More paper punching, stamping, personalization, and glitter in this set:

Simple, holiday cuteness--yes?

And a close-up shot of the "texture" in this card that is featured below.

I do love coordinating envelopes!

Amazing Giveaway

There is this crazy-crafty cool Momma who makes amazing clothes for little girls... here's another amazing thing: she then gives them away! Check out the link below for the latest:

Downtown Holiday Jacket and Pant GIVEAWAY!!!!

Variations

(above)

The last bits of a favorite spool of ribbon become a colorful variation on my revised monogram design.

Below is the card you've recently seen (chocolate font with chocolate polka-dotted organza ribbon). Above is the same design done in black with a black and white gingham check ribbon.

Stamps, Watercolors, Glitter, and Ribbon

Here's another catch-up post... and another soon to follow.

Below is a card I recently made for my friend Amy's birthday. I've made this card in the past and I really like it so much. I'm sorry it doesn't represent well here...

The close-up is a little better in illustrating how pretty the stamp is. These cards can be tricky... and not all of them turn "perfect" because each one is hand stamped after the text printing is done on the computer and the card has been cut and folded (in other words, if the stamp doesn't come out perfectly--I don't remake the entire card).

Here you can see how I've used the watercolor paints to enhance each large blossom and the tiny dot of silvery-pink glitter that graces the smaller blooms.

Below is another sample from a set I made for Amy. I saw this ribbon in a discount bin and thought it was so striking. Unfortunately, it was the only spool they had and the spool contained only one yard of ribbon... so once it's gone (soon) it's GONE.

I didn't want to do too much to distract from the ribbon. I used my large square punch on some heavy black textured cardstock, printed Amy's monogram in a font I liked, and then punched those out with a simple round punch (to compliment the circles in the ribbon pattern). I printed her full name in the same font on the card face at the bottom edge.

While I love to make cards as gifts and for barter, I rarely take the time to make cards for me. I was needed to send a few things off this week and realized that I should represent my work in the cards I used for this purpose!

Below is a simple design I've used before with monograms. It really represents well in different colors with complimenting ribbon bows or knots. This time, I tried it with one of my favorite basic fonts and all lowercase-condensed printing. It came out so well, I made a small set like this for Amy too!

Can you believe the holidays are literally around the corner?

I better get started on my gifts!