happy holidays ~ thank you for a great year!

Thank you for making 2011 our best year yet! We will be taking some much needed time off to celebrate the holidays with our family and will be closed from December 22nd through January 2nd.  We look forward to an exciting 2012 with loads of new designs and products!

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

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.

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!

name your design + itzy ritzy = awesomeness

I just returned from the ABC Kids Show in Las Vegas. I went to support my friends/partners at Itzy Ritzy, as well as scope out the show for some possible future endeavors of mine. I had a great time...met lots of my "internet/business/twitter" friends, a few sweet celebrities and did some fun networking. (more info and some great pics about this in another post)

This post is solely to formally "introduce" all of you to my fabric designs that cover some of Itzy Ritzy's beautiful products. I'm sure MOST of you with young children are familiar with Itzy Ritzy and their "covers" for all things baby (car seats, highchairs, nursing, strollers, etc.). However, one of MY favorite products are their snack and wet bags. I honestly use at least 3-4 of the re-usable snack bags every day. So, what are they for? Close your eyes and think of anything you throw in a Ziploc baggie for your kids or yourself(snacks, crayons, baby wipes, binkies, money, makeup, etc.). The washable snack bags are the "green" alternative to the Ziploc bag. All you do is rinse them out and let them air dry and they are ready to roll again. Wet bags- same deal. Only these are bigger and can be used for anything wet you want to keep isolated (swimsuits, wet clothes, toiletries that could spill while packing, etc.).

As soon as I met Kelly and Brian (husband + wife owners), I liked them. I mean, really, really liked them. Once I started working with them....I liked them even more. They are great people, with a great product line...and as I've said before, I like doing good work, for good people.

p.s. I may be biased, but I think they had the BEST booth on the entire first floor of the show. Take a look at this beauty!

my tinyprints holiday collection - sneak peak

I'm super excited for the launch of my new holiday collection on tinyprints...it should be live any day now! For those of you who don't know, I have an exclusive line of stationery over at tinyprints under the brand of le papier boutique. I've been fortunate enough to have been working with the team over at tinyprints for almost 6 years this December. It has been an amazing ride with them thus far, and even more special to have been with them from "the beginning"...having a birds eye view into their incredible journey and growth.

After months of designing and revising, my collection is nearly complete. I've pasted a few "sneak peek" photos below of some of my favorites.

thank you, thank you, thank you + thank YOU!

It's been a busy + exciting few weeks over here. Some of the more "fun" things to note:
1. Placemats seem to be a hit (yay!)

2. Wrapped up a BUNCH of new holiday designs for tinyprints. I am so excited for my holiday collection this year....I think it is my best to date :).

3. I was asked to design a custom birthday invitation for the three year old daughter of a super sweet celebrity, Samantha Harris (woo hoo!). She loved the invite and wanted custom pretty paper things for the party AND we gifted each celebrity guest with a personalized mod dots placemat. So fun! (lots of pictures to come from this, so stay tuned)

4. It's been a while, but I finally wrote a new post over at OMHG about a little system I devised to save time while designing.

5. Just booked my flight and hotel to attend the abc kids show in Vegas next week. I'm going to support my friends/partners at Itzy Ritzy. I designed a handful of fabrics for their 2010-11 product line and I'm excited to see them in action!

6. Lastly, Lots of sweet bloggers took the time to write about my little business these past few weeks. I am always so thankful and humbled when people take the time to write about my products. I hope they all know how much I appreciate the boost....boost in sales + my confidence :).

mom finds

duet letterpress

project nursery

little birdie art

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?

three of a kind

It's late (late as in...it's already the next morning). All my babies are tucked into their beds while I am working away and trying to get "caught up" on work (joke).

So, as I was looking through my photo library to update my homepage, these photos stopped me dead in my tracks. I found myself staring at these beauties (taken by wendy + tyler of blue lily fame) for at least 20 minutes.





I mean...I live with these three little heartbreakers and see them ALL the time, but there's just something magical about these pictures and seeing all three of them together (smiling + happy) that gets me all filled up with tears. My Nana used to have a "word" for the feeling you get when your heart literally skips a beat and it feels like you are going to explode with pride....and it is, nockus. I have no idea how to spell it, but I am definitely feeling it at this moment.

Sending love to all the mommies out there and wishing you a smooth start to the new school year.

xoxo

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)

a photo collage

Things have been busy around here....busy in a "let's get a new deck", "redesign a website", "have a fun summer with my boys" but "remain completely productive while working" kind of way.



See what I mean?

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).

what a difference a year makes

It's been a year of growth for me, my family, my home, and my business(es). I closed out the year with a great sense of satisfaction and success. I have so many things to be reflect on and, in turn, learn from.

Most importantly....my family is happy and my boys are thriving after one year of being "home" in Chicago. Can you believe how different they look after one year?

My home...although it is still a work in progress, is really coming together. After a year of working on it, we still have a ways to go. I could show hundreds of before and after pictures but this one makes me the happiest to look at...especially since we were "without" a dining room for so long and are now able to enjoy it along with my beautiful Louis Poulsen pendant light ( a gift my husband bought for me right before we moved in last year).


My business, after a full year, is doing very well. I am still nowhere near where I envision it to be, but am happy with where the year ended. We received tons of great press and started partnerships with some really wonderful companies. I have some SUPER ideas brewing for our product line and have already gotten a jump start on a site re-design to accoomdate some of these changes. I CAN'T WAIT to see where 2010 takes us...especially with all of the awesome things lined up for us already!
With all of this said. I can't forget to thank all of my amazing customers, friends and family for their support and referrals over the past year. Please stay tuned for more exciting things to come!

Happy New Year!
xoxo

tweet tweet twitter : you got me.

My sister and I went to this great networking event last night hosted by the bump. It was really nice to meet other business owners in the Chicago area who are all marketing to mommies. It was held downtown at The Catalyst Ranch.(This meeting space/loft is amazing and another story in itself).

Anyhow...I met this bubbly little lady named Lisa who designs and sells these great day planners for mom/baby. We got to talking about the whole social media "thing" and she single handedly conviced me to start twittering. I have been avoiding this like the plague...but I guess it's time I give in! I mean if your favorite mom/pop pizza joint can twitter...there's really no excuse for us not to!

So, head on over to my twitter page and won't you please follow me? (I currently look extremely lame with my ONE following friend... the girl got me into this mess) I decided to make my twitter name "designfiles". Why you ask? Well....although name your design is my newest business venture baby...I actually have 3 separate businesses that I own and I wanted to chronicle all of my design adventures in one spot. If you've been reading my blog you know that I also run a custom design studio as well as designing an exclusive brand of stationery for the tinyprints family of sites.

So...now, I have to go and figure out how the heck to use this thing....tweet, tweet!