brand new serving trays + journal sets AND our 2011 holiday collection for tinyprints is live

I've been busy behind the curtain over here......sort of like the "Wizard of Oz". I've just added two more products (personalized serving trays and personalized journal sets) to my shop. 

In addition, my collection on tinyprints and wedding paper divas has grown tremendously over the past few months and  I'm so excited that my 2011  holiday collection has recently launched! A few of my favs are below:

                                                                                              

P.S. - We sent out a special coupon code today via our newsletter....if you haven't signed up yet...you should :). It's a super way to stay "in the know" regarding our product offerings and discounts! Sign up by entering your email on the left side of our homepage.

what i've been working on for wedding paper divas...

I don't really talk about my wedding collection very often on this blog...but I'm SO excited about these new designs, that I decided to share! As most of you know, tiny prints has a sister site, wedding paper divas, and I have a nice collection of wedding stationery available through them. I've been working on a few new invitation suites and one of them just recently went live on the site. 

I know it's not flattering to "brag" about things that you've done....but there's something about this first design, entitled, cotton flowers,  that I adore! I just can't stop staring at it....I'm quite certain that if I were to do my wedding over again, this is the design I'd pick. I love all three colorways....

here are a few of my new favorite "save the dates"

love it

pretty paisley



outlined tab

 Be on the look out for a TON of new stationery designs coming to tiny prints and wedding paper divas! It's going to be a HUGE year for our le papier boutique collection.

for the "teachers" in your life.....

I had a dream about these (literally) and woke up and designed them at about 2 am on Friday night (or Saturday morning...you know what I mean). I need gifts for my boys' teachers and a personalized notepad is the PERFECT gift...and I should know, since I used to BE a teacher :).

These will be available tomorrow (Tuesday). What do you think? I love that the design is like NOTHING I've ever seen before. Go ahead and snag up a few! Don't forget to take advantage of our deal of the month!

p.s These are sized at 3.4 x 5.75 with 100 sheets, for $24. PLUS, there will be a new design for MEN too.

some new designs up our sleeves..

I've been working on some new designs AND new products to add to the shop! I am giddy with excitement to reveal some of them. They aren't quite ready,  but I just wanted to post three little sneak peaks to (hopefully) get you excited too!  

                                           

p.s. If you arent' a fan of name your design  on facebook yet, you are missing out on some SUPER EASY ways to win our products! We are going to shoot for one exclusive fb giveaway a week....so get on over there!

fresh + modern ~ personalized placemats

I took a traditional placemat and put a fun + modern spin on it....for both kids AND adults! Let me backtrack a bit...

Almost EVERY NIGHT that I'm cooking dinner, right about the time when things start smelling really good but there's still 10 or 15 minutes of cooking time left....I hear, "Mom...I'm SO HUNGRY! Is dinner ready YET? I'm STARVING, etc. etc.". And then my two littlest ones start congregating in the kitchen looking through the pantry for snacks.... which then requires me to STOP what I'm doing and play snack patrol so they won't spoil their dinner. Does this sound familiar to you??? Ok, thought so.

So, I had a thought.....I need an interesting DISTRACTION, something that will keep them occupied for just a few more minutes until dinner is ready (bingo!)...what about a placemat that they can write and/or draw on to keep them busy?? Even better, have them write or draw about something they did that day so we can TALK ABOUT IT AS A FAMILY at the dinner table (double bingo!). On top of this awesomeness...the front side would be personalized and modern and polka dotty and also serves as guide to teach them how to properly set the table (triple bingo!).


While pondering placemats...I thought...you know? adults would probably like to have a set of modern + personalized placemats too, right? To test my theory, I made a set for one of my best friends, Alison, who just bought her first house (7 minutes away from me, yay!). She liked them, alot,.... and I'm pretty sure she loved the fact that they are completely in line with mine (& her) design aesthetic....simple, clean and modern. I think these would make a super housewarming or shower gift. They are different and fun! (Plus they are also double-sided with a different pattern on each side...so it's like getting two placemats for the price of one).



What do YOU think?

all new ~ modern + personalized notepads!

I may be a bit of a paper snob....when it comes to my holiday cards or even writing a quick note to one of my boys' teachers, I want my paper choice to reflect me and my design style. Do you think that it has something to do with the fact that I design paper as part of my career? Possibly so.

In any case, I know with the school year approaching, I need a few "go-to" notepads for all those last minute notes you need to write while your kids are running out the door! So, if you share my appreciation for clean, simple and modern design...you are going to LOVE these little notepads. They are now available in my shop!




Don't forget to take advantage of my free shipping offer good until the end of the month! (coupon : FREESHIP)

clara's "closet" growth chart

I've blogged about the super sweet couple ( John + Sherry of the famed blog, Young House Love ) before. Fast forward a year and now their perfect little family has grown with the birth of their beautiful baby Clara!

To celebrate their adorable new addition, I sent them one of my new modern growth charts as a fun way to record how quickly their little bean is sprouting!

In true YHL style...they didn't waste any time picking a perfect spot to hang it up and make it work in their adorable home.




So, thanks Sherry + John for posting the pics! The little long neck looks super on the closet door and I'm so glad I was able to get you something that you hadn't already figured out how to make yourself!

lust vs. must?

I was waiting to write about this press until my new site was launched!



You see, although I am extremely flattered that Pregnancy & Newborn Magazine included my alphabet soup print in their June 2010 issue as the LUST piece in their "lust vs. must" segment...customers really don't have to "lust" over the $95 price tag anymore!

Since relaunching the site, I've made each design available as either a poster print or canvas print and in 6 different sizes and pricepoints....starting at $20 for an 8" x 10" frameable print! (Yes..., only $20!)

We love to hear that people are lusting over our designs...but for $20 a pop, we think you should just go ahead and buy one!

Just a reminder : We are offering free ground shipping on ALL orders until the end of August. Just enter the coupon code : FREESHIP when you checkout.

april showers bring may flowers....

If this saying is true "April showers bring May flowers"...and if showers = work and flowers = payoff, then I'm going to have the best May ever!

I wish today was the day that I was posting about my NEWLY DESIGNED SITE going live...with all it's fancy new bells and whistles, awesome new product additions, beautiful layout, etc. However, I'm still NOT done adding products and finding/eliminating glitches. I swear...if you are planning on a complete site overhaul..be prepared to work and work and work on getting that bad boy up and functioning properly. If all continues to go well...May 1st is my scheduled date to hit "publish" and introduce the new and improved name your design to the world.

On top of the site overhaul, I've been B U S Y creating(love it)lots of fun paper and fabric designs for my "partners", both tinyprints and itzyritzy. I've had a bunch of new designs go live on tinyprints over the past few weeks as well as their sister site, weddingpaperdivas. I've pasted some of my favorite new designs below.


I've had a recent surge of appointments in my little paper studio for custom wedding invitations and have had a blast working with these sweet brides-to-be on all the paper goodies for their weddings. I've attached a photo of my studio work table (after an appointment this weekend) along with several recently completed projects. My crazy schedule only allows for 1-2 bridal customers a month...but it's a refreshing break from my otherwise "systematic" schedule of designing and filling orders.



I'll keep you all posted on the new site launch! If you haven't signed up already, you may want to subscribe to my mailing list as I'm going to have a lot of fun giveaways and special promotions to celebrate my new "grand opening". You can go here to sign up (for now).

8 x 10 art print : free download!

I'm a firm believer in the old saying.... "what goes around, comes around." So, in the spirit of giving, I want to share with you a simple 8 x 10 art print that I designed just for YOU and our Oh My Handmade Goodness readers! You can download, print it and pop it in a frame as many times as you'd like (as long as it's being used for your own personal enjoyment, no commercial use is allowed)...and just so we are clear, tweeking it a tiny bit to make it your "own" doesn't count either :). (sorry, had to mention it)

Ready? Set. Go! Come visit me here to get your free prints!

we feel like "giggle" ing

We are so excited...so, so, so, excited! We contacted the great people at giggle and pitched our personalized canvas art to them...and they liked it...really, really liked it! So, after a few months of collaborating with their merchandising team... we finally came up with the perfect design for their customers. These two prints are only available exclusively through the giggle store in Pasadena, California and online at giggle.com.

We are excited and flattered as we feel that giggle shares our same sense of appreciation for simple, clean and modern design...just spend a few minutes on their site and you'll see that they carry some of the best of the best products for the modern family.




We think these prints would look ESPECIALLY wonderful next to the sam crib available through giggle! Wouldn't you agree???

rock a bye baby......

photo courtesy of modernseed.com
I had a few extra hours today (did I actually just say that???). So, I got to actually create some new designs that I've been "dreaming" of lately. When I say dreaming...I LITERALLY mean dream. You see, when you are a designer, you are constantly hit with new ideas in the strangest places. Mine happen most often as I"m running or sleeping. So, I've learned to keep a notebook close by me at all times so I can jot down or quickly sketch my idea before it fades
a
w
a
y.

The eames rocker has been on my "want not need" list since my son was born last year. I've really been trying hard to fight off the temptation of purchasing this $450.00 beauty...really, I have. You could say I have a small obsession with owning this fine piece of furniture. With that said, this little gem usually shows up in my dreams in it's "actual" form....until last night....I had a "design dream" about this chair on one of my canvas prints...I mean, if I can't own the actual chair...I can at least help someone else own a really great illustration of it, right???

So, here it is....my version of the modern rocker. It is simple and sweet and it helps to satisfy my craving for the real thing...for now.

great on your WALLs....even better for your WALLet

We've had a few inquiries lately about printing some of our canvas designs on paper...for framing..and it took us about two seconds to say...What a GREAT idea!

The majority of our work will continue to be printed on canvas...We truly believe that our canvas prints make quite a statement in both design and quality and that NOTHING can ever take the place of a one of a kind...tried and true...personalized piece of art printed on canvas. However, for those of you looking for a more affordable option...we've come up with several designs printed on archival (acid free) paper with fade resistant inks.



You can view the entire collection on our website. Prices start at $18.00 (Yes...you read correctly...)for a single print and go up to $40.00 for a set of three.





Our 8 x 10 art print "inserts" are printed on 8.5 x 11 ultra matte, bright white archival paper....which leaves a small white margin perfect for framing. Please note that the frames are not included. However, the frames in the attached photos can be found at west elm, target, and ikea.

Happy Shopping!

where does the time go?

We've been working hard on a new collection of custom silhouettes!I know silhouettes are as old as time...I can actually remember making them in school for Mother's Day....sitting up tall in a chair with a projector light shining on my profile as my teacher traced my little face onto a piece of black construction paper taped to the wall...and then carefully cutting it out.

When you have children you want to cherish their sweet angel faces...preserve them forever. There are times when you sit back and look at your babies and it literally takes your breath away when you think of how BIG they've gotten and how much they've changed. I've recently done that with my five year old, Tyson Kwaku....
it seems like he was JUST a baby...following behind me, wanting to rub my ears all day....and now he is FIVE! Yikes! Although I love each stage my children are going through....I wanted to remember this stage...forever.

I found a perfect picture from our trip to Florida last year that would allow me to trace his profile and create a custom silhouette canvas to hang in his room. When we got it back from the printer he was SO excited to see himself hanging on the wall and I was so happy to have a keepsake that he and I can cherish for years to come.

Seeing as though my style is a bit more modern than most traditional silhouettes allow for...I decided to spice mine up a bit with a "mod dots" background in four different color palettes.






These are priced at $145 and that includes our time to create the silhouette from the photo you send in.

We hope you enjoy these as much as we enjoy making them!

how do you do that?

So, alot of people who see my work ask me...."how do you come up with ideas for your designs?" Ideas are EVERYWHERE...from the displays at Target to the patterns on my sons pajamas..I am constantly drawn to colors and patterns.

One of my MOST FAVORITE things to do is create custom designs for people. It forces me to put aside some time to just brainstorm and design. I just finished working with a lovely woman who wanted two prints for above her daughter's bed. She was amazing to work with because she left all ideas up to me(quite a compliment)! All I asked is that she send me some pieces of inspiration to go off of so I knew her color scheme and overall theme. So, for her project I knew that:
1.She chose the ultrachic dragonfly bedding from DwellStudio .
2. Her walls were "tan".


all photos were taken from dwellstudio.com


With that information I was able to generate two sets of proofs for her to look at. With a little bit of tweaking we were able to come up with the perfect compliment to her room! I am hoping she will send photos when they are finally hung in the room. I don't want to spoil it so I'm not posting the set that she chose....but the runner up (our zooanimals set)
is below and was just added to our site today! I LOVE how it came out. I am working on alternate color schemes now...please share if you have any colors you'd like to see these in!