Season's Greetings!

Here is our Cardstore.com Christmas card (that I am sending WAY late this year - today, the day before Christmas Eve). It was just too much for me to make other people's cards AND think about sending our own personal greetings this year. Next year I plan to take full advantage of Cardstore's easy program where they address and mail the cards for you. Such a great idea for busy card senders. (Don't you just love our boy's little moose sweater? It's probably the only time in life that he can get away with it)



Here is the family photo that they printed on the interior of the card, along with a personal message.


I'm so excited to be taking a vacation between Christmas and New Years. I hope you have a wonderful holiday and I'll be back and posting in early January.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Erikah's Cards

I thought I would share a quick scan of Erikah's custom Christmas cards in this post. Erikah has worked here at THS for the last three years and now is off to bigger and better things like graduate school. Thankfully for us though, she has found it in her heart to come back from time to time just to get her greeting card manufacturing fix - and maybe a little extra dough for the holidays. Anyway, how cute are she and her boyfriend, Abe? It's always fun to illustrate people you know, especially when they are such a hip and handsome couple. Erikah is normally never without her red framed glasses although in the picture below she isn't wearing them. It was fun to be able to add in part of her trademark look for her cards. :)

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...Valentine's Day?

Well, around the studio it's been looking a lot like Valentine's Day anyway. We just shipped out a nice sized Valentine order to Kate's Paperie. Things have been so crazy lately with holiday stuff so it was nice to work on Valentine cards for a little change.

This has been the busiest Christmas season we've experienced in nearly five years of business - so weird (with the economy and everything we didn't expect it). Normally with wholesale orders (which is our primary source of business), things are a little slow during December. Because filling holiday orders for stores usually takes place in the late summer and early fall, we thought we'd have a breather. There's the occasional rush order for a customer, but usually that's it. We can actually ENJOY the holidays instead of working like little elves day and night (actually, I DO enjoy making the cards so I shouldn't say that - it's just been nonstop lately). But not only have I been super busy with custom orders and working directly with customers, but just after we shipped that Valentine's Kate's order, they placed another huge order for every day designs. Awe man - just when I thought I might be able to sneak in some Christmas crafting and/or shopping, I have to make a ton of cards...the week before Christmas! I'm thankful for it though - especially from such a great customer like Kate's Paperie. In fact, a little birdie just told me that they are planning to open a couple of stores in the LA area in 2009. I hope that's more than just talk because I would be so excited (as would many other West Coast paper lovers out there).

Never Too Soon For Christmas Cards

Every year, usually in the late summer, my mom starts thinking about her Christmas cards. She starts planning how the outside will be designed, what it will say on the inside, and what the family Christmas card photo will look like. I think that she was more excited than most would be when her daughter started a stationery company because now she has an automatic go to gal for all of her custom stationery needs. This year's project was fun - and she was patient and understanding with me and my hectic schedule/deadlines. If it were up to her, all of her cards would have been ready months ago - so it was nice that she settled on having them (a tad) later than planned.

I did a portrait of my parents complete with vintage fabric, poinsettia broach, and gray hair on my dad (at my mom's request - we both like the gray). The inside of the cards have a family photo, printed personal greeting to friends and family, and an insert of blank stationery for my mom's handwritten personal note to each recipient.

I thought I would share an image of the front of my parent's cards (above) as well as an early Christmas card picture (circa 1973) below. You can see that even back then, my mom always knew how to make a splash with her Christmas cards...and my dad always knew how to go along with whatever crafty or creative idea she had. He actually really appreciates all of her creative and thoughtful efforts which I think is cute.

Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad!

Mele Kalikimaka

I just heard that one of my cards was featured over at hapahale.com. Their tag line is "Everything Hawaii. With a modern twist." Since I am an honorary Hawaiian (by marriage), this was a fun little Island connection. Thanks for the post, Leigh. :)

2911 Productions

I've been doing a lot of really fun custom work lately. Every year my friend Bronwyn orders her business Christmas cards from me. She owns a food and wine PR company called 2911 Productions so her cards are always food related. She comes up with the most clever ideas and I just design and make them. This year the idea was something based around "Oven mitts hung by the chimney with care". So cute - what will she think of next? Bronwyn is a great friend to have not only because she is so supportive, fun, warm, etc - but because you can call her from vacation wherever you are and ask her where the best place to grab a bite to eat is ... AND if you happen to be a talented chef at a hip and trendy restaurant, she can get you on Martha Stewart. Now that's a handy trait to have in a friend.

Custom Thank You

In the midst of all of the last minute made to order holiday cards, I have been working on a really fun design project - a custom portrait thank you note for a Bat Mitzvah. I met the cutest mother and daughter couple at Felt Club recently who had an interest in the custom work I had displayed. Much to my delight, they followed up a few weeks later and I was able to create their custom portrait thank you notes for such a special event - right down to the pink party dress that was inspired by the dress she wore that night. Aaaahh, to be thirteen again...well, minus my awkward shyness and being a head taller than all the guys (not including my bangs)...

Another Girl At Play...Who ME?

Several years ago when I was working as an in house textile designer for a large corporation (designing carpet patterns), I just wasn't feeling content with where my career was taking me. Don't get me wrong - I am (and was) very grateful to be paying bills with a design job. It's just that I was never really a very gifted textile designer and it wasn't my passion. (My co-workers on the other hand are amazingly talented textile designers and I so admire their work). I learned a ton about how to be a designer as far as designing a collection, putting together color pallets, repeats, working with clients, etc. I LOVED doing all of those things - I just think that the actual final product wasn't my thing. I'm much more of a representational artist than an abstract one. Also, I've never been a natural at interior design and obviously designing carpet patterns fall in to that category as well. Combine all of my design insecurities with the stresses of having a corporate job (ie: lots of travel, sales, presentations, conference calls, multiple bosses, red tape, etc...) and you can imagine that I started seeing greener grass elsewhere.

And that's where Another Girl At Play comes in. This website was a safe haven for me. At that time (almost seven years ago now) there was practically nothing on the internet to help motivate and inspire artists. When I found that site, I really started getting the motivation I needed to take the next step in my creative journey. I felt like I had my own private coaches and consultants cheering me on to follow my dream of becoming an illustrator and artist. I remember following advice that was listed as well as finding inspiration in the biographies of the women. If they could do it, why couldn't I?

So all of that to say that I was THRILLED to say the least when Alex Beauchamp, founder of Another Girl at Play, asked me to be profiled. What a huge honor! You can check out the interview here. And be sure to check out Alex's website as well - she's the original Girl at Play and so talented and inspirational. If you are in need of a little inspiration these days, I highly suggest signing up for the newsletter. It comes to your inbox every so often and offers the perfect little creative pep talk.

Holiday Hostess Gift Guide

One thing I love about this time of year is all of the parties. I love coming up with the perfect hostess gift as well. I thought I would share a little Holiday Hostess Gift Guide (including a few gift wrap and tag ideas) that I put together with various products designed from a few of the stationery artists from my book last year.

clockwise: post card pack by Rosebud Design Studio (via the Rosebud Etsy Shop), Snow and Graham Candle (via Greer), Rock Scissor Paper Coaster set, Bonnie Style's Press magnetic list pad, Elum gift bag, Letterspace sticky tags, You Send Me gift tag, Driscoll Design matchbooks, Joy By Mel Lim journals, Letterspace hang tag, Egg Press Calendar, You Send Me gift wrap, and Dewey Howard soap (via the Soap and Paper Factory).

A fun way to follow up with your hostess is to send a thank you note. I think my "Hostess With the Mostess" or "Thanks for Dinner" card from Cardstore.com would be a perfect way to remember your host. You can even insert your own photo from the event in the card (for the same price as sending it w/o one - such a deal)

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the holiday season and not feeling too rushed. Have fun at your parties and events - and enjoy the art of gift giving with simple and thoughtful ways to remember your friends and family.

Mazie Kane

I just did another holiday boutique the other day which was really fun. This one was particularly a great way to spend a few hours and sell a few cards because it was a benefit for MOPS (a great organization for moms and preschoolers) AND I got to have a table near my friends International Sanctuary and Libby Dibby. Another highlight was meeting the designer (Amy) of Mazie Kane whose vintage inspired frames I just love. I picked up a Christmas themed frame (which reminds me of vintage greeting cards or wrapping paper) to be the perfect border for a favorite family photo of my father in law as a baby and all of his big sisters and mother around a large Christmas tree. It's so 40's and I stare at it at the Higa's house whenever I can. I know that my husband's mom will let me make a copy of it and I'll be sure to post the framed photo here as soon as it's ready to go. It's just a really great photo and the perfect frame. Be sure to visit Amy's etsy shop, Mazie Kane, to find the perfect frame for one of your family photos or as the perfect gift to give over the holidays. I really love her wide selection of baby themed frames as well - such a cute shower gift...