the broach foundation stationery suite

The next couple of days are going to be busy over here as I work on the finishing touches for The Broach Foundation for Brain Cancer Research's "Stand-Up to Brain Cancer Gala". I told you a bit about Jamie and James Broach, the logo and the foundation on this blog post. In the midst of James' own battle with brain cancer, he and Jamie have poured countless hours into planning what is sure to be an incredible evening. The sold-out event is tomorrow, and I thought this would be a great time to show you the stationery goods I designed for the foundation a few months ago. 

 

 

 

I will be sure to share photos from the gala! If you have a minute, take a look at the foundation's new website and please keep James, Jamie and their family in your prayers! 

see you in the heights today!

Happy Saturday! The weather today in Houston is unbelievable (if you haven't made it outside yet, do yourself a favor and at least open a few windows) and great for getting out and about. I will be up in the Heights today visiting my friend, Courtney, of Mela & Roam during "Spring Fling on 19th Street". 

You may remember that Erika of Urban Grace posted about her friend in Houston selling beautiful baby blankets last year. In need of some gifts, I bought a few blankets from Courtney and am now lucky enough to call her a friend of mine as well. I have gifted the baby blankets to a few close friends and my sister; and they all LOVE the little 100% cotton works of art. A couple have even used the blankets in birth announcement photos. I fell in love with the block printing & hand-sewn details on each blanket but was a bit worried the new moms might think they were "too pretty" to use everyday. I was worried for no reason! While I am certainly not an expert in anything "baby", these seem to be the perfect everyday blanket. I am so tempted to buy the king-size version for our bedroom.

Anyway, I adore everything in Mela & Roam's collection. Courtney is debuting some new items today - a menagerie of animals made from vintage saris & two-toned, 100% cotton quilts that would be so, so cute in a kid's bedroom. Here are a couple iphone shots of what you'll see today:

This will be my first time to go to the "Spring Fling" event, which is essentially one big block party. Courtney will have a little "shop" set up inside Thread, a children's boutique (new & consigned items) on 19th from 2-8 pm today. Here is a bit more info about the event.

Try to stop by if you can . . . and it looks like there will be live music in the evening along 19th. Sounds like the perfect Saturday in April if you ask me!

4 years ago today . . .

if you're going to target this weekend . . .

In case you are out running errands this weekend, I wanted to show you what I snagged at Target yesterday:

I honestly haven't been to a Target in months. Amazon has made me very lazy and I order just about everything possible on there with free prime shipping. But, I needed to make a long overdue trip to Target (and pick up a bag of ice next door from Sonic for Greg - he loves it) and am so glad I did. I have been looking for the perfect sized, not-too-expensive wire basket to hold rolls of wrapping paper in my studio for a while. This beauty is part of the Smith and Hawken garden line. Anyway, I figured a few of you might be running errands and doing a little spring cleaning this weekend . . . this would be great for toys, beach towels, and probably a lot of other things my Friday-afternoon brain can't think of right now :)

Enjoy your weekend!

southern living: return address stamp hostess gift

Hello! Is anyone even reading anymore?!? It has been awhile since my last post, to say the least.

I wanted to share some really exciting news with you . . . my return address stamps are featured in this month's Southern Living magazine! Southern Living has always been a must-read among the women in my family, making this feature even more meaningful to me. The April "Made by Southern Hands" article is a great roundup of hostess gifts, all "Southern-made indulgences" under $50. What an honor to be included!

To mark the occasion, I added a few new stamp designs (No. 7 - No. 12) to my online shop. You can see all the designs here. And - as a few of you have asked - the stamp featured in Southern Living is Design No. 2.

You may remember this blog post from last year, where I shared some photos of my grandfather's stamp collection. His collection, passed down to me, inspired my return address stamp design and is the reason I use stamps in a lot of the Toast & Laurel packaging and for my personal cards, gift wrapping, etc.

As you will read on the previous post, my favorite ink pads are the Colorbox CHALK ink pads. You can find these online (Paper Source has a lot of colors) and sometimes at your local craft store. Charcoal is my favorite color.

A big thank you to Southern Living and to all of you who have already ordered your stamps . . . what an overwhelming response!!

at long last . . . the heirloom collection & new gift tag designs

I am so excited to finally share these two new collections with you. You may remember The Heirloom Collection from this post back in December. Well, I just got around to photographing the recipe cards, notepads & gift sets this week. I was bound a determined to get these in the online shop before March. Just under the wire :)

The gift tags are something I make for myself (and use all the time) and sold locally during the holidays. After lots of requests, I designed what I think are the perfect year-round gift tag designs. I will likely add new designs occassionally and am offering customized tags here. 

Pop on over to the shop to see all the new goodies!

spring sneak peak

Hi friends!

I am working away on quite a few custom projects at the moment but promise to get some long-awaited new items in the online shop over the course of the next week. I have found so much inspiration in bright colors over the last couple of weeks - maybe it's the fact that it feels like spring already down here in Houston. Here is a sneak peak of some new gift tags being printed right now:

I will hurry to get these photographed and listed in my online shop once I receive all the tags from my printer. As always, local clients are welcome to email me to place an order for pick-up.

Some gorgeous flowers I bought at the Rice University Farmer's Market on Tuesday . . . 

The flowers are from one of my favorite vendors, Billabong Fresh Flower Farm. The owner, Kim, is such a pleasure to chat with and is obviously passionate about what she does. I just saw that you can place an order with Kim for event flowers and can't wait to do this! Now I just need a reason to host an event :)

And, lastly, I pulled out my favorite warmer-weather candle the other day . . . 

I love the scent; it is very clean and fresh with hints of cucumber and grapefruit. Available here, but I usually pick mine up at one of the local boutiques that carry Tocca candles.

Happy Thursday!

amy meier design

Several months ago I had the pleasure of working with Amy Meier of Amy Meier Design to design new stationery for her business. If you haven't read Amy's blog or seen her portfolio, head over to her website right now! Amy has exquisite taste, which made my job so easy and so fun.

photo: Amy Meier

Amy already had a very distinct brand identity, with a gorgeous logo and business card. We reprinted her business cards (dark navy ink printed on top of a blind impression) on double-thick cotton stock, updating the blue shade ever-so-slightly. From there, I designed the rest of the branded stationery: letterhead, note cards & envelopes. The striped note cards are somehow classic, fresh, bold & simple at the same time. Perfection.

Here is a link to Amy's blog post about the project (with a couple more up-close photos).

Thanks, Amy, for trusting me with such a great project!

minted: new valentine's day cards

Hope you all enjoyed the weekend! We attended the beautiful wedding of one of my dear friends (congrats Lydia & Eric!), had a fun visit with great friends from college and met there sweet baby girl, went for a run in the neighborhood, cheered on the Houston Texans at our friends' game-watching party, and did a little work. Couldn't have asked for anything better!

Over the weekend, minted finished adding new Valentine's Day cards to its assortment, and several of mine were included. Thought you might like to take a peek . . . 

With Love

Gone Dotty (also available as a birth announcement)

Lovely

Confetti Hearts (available as a classroom card or regular photo card)

the cream of the crop

I thought January would be a pretty quiet month around here, giving me time to regroup from the holiday card rush, dabble in some creative projects I have been putting off "until the new year", and post a bunch of photos from 2011 on the blog. The reality is that January is on course to be even busier than the month before . . . and incredibly exciting! Not only am I working on some wonderful custom projects, but I have been asked to participate in The Cream (formerly known as Hitched) at the end of the month. This curated wedding event will be chock-full of inspiration from an incredibly talented group of florists, event planners, musicians, and other vendors and designers. I am headed to Austin on the 22nd of January to show off my paper goods and unveil some of my recent custom wedding designs.

 

You can still get tickets here. Would love to see you in Austin!