new invitation design

Last week a customer requested invitations and thank you notes with a design similar to the Penelope bird from Pottery Barn Kids. She asked if I could print the invitation on green or purple paper, but since I only print on white paper, I came up with this:
I just love how they turned out, so today I created a new listing for invitations with a solid background:
Yet another cute product inspired by a custom request - I love selling on Etsy!

scripture-based artwork

A couple of months after I started selling on Etsy and meeting new people online who live all over the world, I received an email from a woman who lives just a couple of towns over. She'd been selling artwork at church fairs and was thinking about starting to sell online. She had a few questions for me, and after getting to know each other a little bit through emails we decided to get together for a play date with our kids who are almost the exact same ages.

We had a really fun afternoon together, and now that she has her Etsy shop up, Life Verse Design, I'm so excited to share it. This is just one example of her beautiful artwork:And she also sells framed prints:
She has a lot of prints in her shop already, so if you're looking for any sort of scripture-based artwork maybe for wedding gifts, graduations, or Mother’s Day, definitely check it out!

superhero note cards - update

My superhero note cards were featured on cuteable today, and they've been selling pretty well. Another customer requested her sons' names added to the bottom left corner, and those were really cute, too. I'm so glad these cards are doing well; I plan to order some red envelopes for them soon.

Happy (belated) Easter!

Happy Easter a day late! I'm using the above picture from Sheye's blog because I never seem to take any good pictures on Easter. But we had a really nice day yesterday - Jack and Emma are at such fun ages for early morning egg hunts and discovering their Easter baskets!

We also spent a lot of time this weekend playing Yahtzee and Scattergories - it was so fun to take a break from Chutes & Ladders, Candy Land, and Hi Ho Cherry-O! Jack's been really into board games lately and keeps insisting that we teach him how to play big kid games. This started a few weeks ago at my mom's house with checkers, chess, and Parcheesi, and then on Friday he discovered the stash of games in our basement that I had forgotten all about for the past 5 years. It was so much fun to get those games out and be able to play them with the kids.

Easter card

This morning Jack wanted to send an Easter card to a couple of people (he's been really interested in sending & receiving mail lately), so I made up this card and printed out a couple for him and Emma to color pictures in and send to relatives. I really like how it turned out! I think I need to give some more thought to using multiple colors like this.

zenhabits

I read about a blog called zenhabits on Sarah Jane's Blog recently and took a quick look at it but didn't spend much time there. Then a few mornings ago I had a little more time to look around, and I think it may be my new favorite blog!

The author, Leo Babauta, writes about so many of the things that have been on my mind lately, and does it so well! He writes about "achieving goals, productivity, being organized, motivation, eliminating debt, saving, getting a flat stomach, eating healthy, simplifying, living frugal, parenting, happiness, and successfully implementing good habits".

I started out reading about The Magical Power of Focus (he says focus is the most important determination of whether you’ll achieve a goal or stick to creating a new habit). Then I kept clicking on links to his other articles, and figured I'd share a few of my favorites in case any of these topics sound interesting to you:

5 Inspirations for Being in the Moment: one of the best ways to find happiness and prevent stress is living in the moment

A Guide to Escaping Materialism and Finding Happiness: while we are being pushed towards materialism, it’s for monetary gain by corporations, not for our own happiness

A Guide to Cultivating Compassion in Your Life, With 7 Practices: compassion is one of the few things that will bring immediate and long-term happiness to our lives

Slow Down … to Enjoy Life: slow down to enjoy life more, savor life’s simple pleasures, and reject on some level the materialistic culture we are all caught up in

So if you have a few minutes to check it out, I highly recommend it. Enjoy!

what do you think?

A customer had some really clever design ideas yesterday for invitations, thank you notes, return address labels, and party favor stickers for her son's upcoming birthday party. I just love how they turned out (especially with my lovely new "pool" envelopes)!
This is one of my favorite color combinations, too (like on the Mahar Drygoods website). When I was packaging everything up I wanted to add a little "thank you" item in the package, so I made this 8x10 print: I thought about listing it in my Etsy shop, but now I'm having second thoughts. Is it cute on it's own as a print, or better just as an invitation design? Or maybe it would be a cute personalized fold over note card?

superhero note cards

This morning a customer asked me if I had any Spiderman images for party favor tags. I thought about my son, Jack's superhero cape with a big "J" on the back, and replied that I don't have any, but how about a superhero shield with her son's first initial?

She loved the idea and wanted flat note cards as well. I loved how they turned out and created a new listing for Personalized Superhero Note Cards.

So far they haven't had many views, but I think that even if they don't appeal to a large audience, there will be at least few people who love them as much as I do.

ahhhh... an organized workspace!

I was a very organized person before I had children, and I had a really clean house. But those things have taken a backseat to raising children and have especially fallen by the wayside since I started my business.

For example, this table behind my desk was getting to be a complete disaster, covered with seven different kinds of paper and labels that I've been using in the past few weeks. It was driving me nuts, but it never even occured to me to do something about it until I was at an office supply store yesterday, and I saw these wall files... oh my gosh, what have I been thinking?!
My husband put them up last night, and I can't even tell you how delighted I am. Wall files may seem like the most simple, mundane thing, but I feel like the old me is fighting her way through this fog I've been in for the past 4 1/2 years and coming back a tiny little bit at a time!

on the road

Caroline of Little Cupcakes Company had an idea a couple of weeks ago to display Sarah & Abraham products alongside her children's clothing line at a home show she attended. Not only did she pass along a couple of orders, but she also shared this great picture with me:
It's so interesting to see a nice little display of my products like this set up by someone else!

greeting cards

Of course I have several other things that I should be working on, but a customer emailed me this morning asking about a gender-neutral silhouette for a baby shower invitation, and that got me thinking about the little doll carriage that one of my silhouette girls is pushing and wouldn't that be cute on a greeting card...
What do you think? I really like how these turned out, but isn't this one just screaming out for a pretty chartreuse envelope?

Silhouette Blue

I can’t remember when I first came across fellow Chicago-area Etsy seller Megan Nutley of Silhouette Blue, but I love her designs (surprise, surprise), and when I contacted her with a couple of questions this evening she couldn’t have been nicer or more helpful! Here are a few examples of her greeting cards:
I love the envelopes she uses – these pictures make me think I should use more colorful envelopes to coordinate with my note cards. She also creates gorgeous wedding invitations. But what I'm most inspired by is her beautiful website, which she created herself!