It amazes me when I come back to this blog and realize that it's been almost a year since I've posted anything. I am going to try to put stuff up more often.

We have been working on Halloween invitations lately and have just released them to the internet vendors. Here are a couple of samples.

My co-designer, Laura, painted the elegantly spooky one based on her view of the catacombs of Paris. It's one of my new favs!

I've also gone "girly" with our invitations. I have been working on all kinds of girls - graduation, holiday and Halloween. Each of our "girl" invites is available as a blonde, brunette, redhead or African-American. Some of them are also offered with an Asian option.

Each of our Halloween invitations also has a coordinating response card and 2.5 inch square label. Hope you enjoy!

Independence Day in my family means heading to the mountains of North Carolina for a family get together at my Aunt 'Nette and Uncle Davy's home. They have a home on a golf course and we all drag chairs out onto the tee box and watch the fireworks that night. This photo is one of my favorite family photos. My grandmother (in the center with the light blue shirt) and my father (on the right with a red shirt) both recently passed away so this photo is especially dear to me even if I no longer look anything like I do in this photo (I'm the one on the front row with the short brown hair).

Halloween Party Supplies

The catalogs with Halloween goodies have started arriving at my door and I'm ready for the season. There are just so many great ideas out there for Halloween decorating that I don't know where to start (well, actually I started making elixir and potion labels this weekend - email me if you'd like a jpg to create your own "potion cabinet")

This Halloween invite is perfect for a middle of the road Halloween party - not too cutesy and not too spooky. But you could go either way with it if you wanted to. So I pulled out a few of my favorite items from the catalogs to go with the invite.

Enjoy!


For those of you who are considering a Halloween party this year, I say "GO FOR IT!" Halloween is on a Friday night and what better time to have a ghostly time. Today, I have created an inspiration board with lots of links to make your home spooktacular.

Row 1: a. Send an invitation with silhouettes of scary pumpkins and a tree on the left side of the card. A faded orange damask design adorns the orange background.
b. Wrap your bottles with medical gauze and label them. This great idea is courtesy of www.marthastewart.com
c. Carve up a ghoulish table setting - also from www.marthastewart.com

Row 2: a. This entire tableau is available for purchase from Grandin Road.
b. These stylish owls will grace your table. Available at Ballard Designs.
c. Paint an old frame black and set up a photography spot in your home.

Row 3: a. Candy buffets are all the rage now and what better time to have one than the most popular candy day of the year - Halloween!
b. Love these! I'm thinking about picking up a few for my front yard. Or if I'm feeling really crafty, I may try to make some out of foam. These are available from Grandin Road.
c. Carve up some spooky and stylish pumpkins for the front door.
d. Use these goblets with a little dry ice for a spectacular display. Available at Grandin Road.

Row 4: a. One more great display from Grandin Road - don't you just love this guy. It makes me wish I had a window seat in my home!
b. This one is a great and inexpensive one - drip som red candle wax on a white taper and voila - creepy candles! Thanks again to www.marthastewart.com
c. One more quick and easy trick from Martha Stewart - luminaries with a haunting feel. This one says "I'd turn back if I were you." but you could always use another such as "I'll get you my little pretty."

Oh! I almost forgot! These invitations also come with a matching stamper and matching return address labels.

A Halloween Party for the Adults

Way back when (for me that was the late 80's), I shared a condo with two other single girls. We wanted to live in Fourth Ward (uptown Charlotte, NC - not downtown!) and when we saw the ad for a condo with views of the park we were sold sight unseen. Upon arriving at the condo, we loved it. It was large and open and great for entertaining (something we did alot of). The "park" however, turned out to be a cemetary with graves dating from the 1770's to the 1850's. When I think of an upscale adult Halloween party, I can envision our condo overlooking the graveyard as the perfect site!

For more information about this invitation or any of our other Halloween cards, click here.


This was our "view of the park." It wasn't a bad view even if it was a cemetary!

Holiday Part 3

Having a holiday party and want a fun invitation that's not fussy at all? We have continued our vintage sign series of invitations to include holiday. From a champagne celebration to a tropical holiday party, the vintage signs are a whimsical way announce a less formal party.

More to come . . .

Return Address Labels

Well, lately I've been working on the cutest thing . . . circular return address labels to match the designs that we released back in January. They look so nice on the back of the envelope. Around the office, we are thinking about using the invitations as note cards with just our name as the personalization just so we can use the return address labels. Sorry, these aren't for sale yet. They will probably be released in a month or so. You just get the sneak peek today!

. . . or maybe not . . . . I can't seem to get the images uploaded for some technical reason. I will try to get them uploaded as soon as I can. Gotta go design for now!

Personalized Stamps

Well, I haven't written in a while because I've been bogged down in stamps. I thought I was headed toward holiday cards but I veered off and created an entire line of stamps. We released them to vendors on Thursday and the response has been tremendous. There are 80 different designs and these are just a few of my favorites. These self inking stampers are great for making your own cards, creating wedding favors or rewarding a young child just learning how to spell their name. If you are interested in seeing the whole line of stamps and stampable note cards, click here.

Sugar & Spice or Snips & Snails

Here are two more of the baby digital photocards that were just released recently. I must confess that I do have favorites of the cards that I have designed. They don't come along often for me, but I just love the snips and snails one. I especially like the "waggly" tail of the dog. And here's the thing that pushed me from happiness at a job well done to all-time favorite - the pattern around the edge. . . it's houndstooth. Corny, I know, but it makes me smile when I think about my little goofy design joke on this card.

Why is that boys get to be a tail of a dog, while girls are everything nice? It just makes me glad to be female!

Typefaces

Looking over the items that I have chosen to include in this blog made me start thinking about font choices that I have made. I go through phases with typefaces with a few all-time favorites. All time faves include Helvetica, Mrs Eaves, Engravers Gothic and Bickham. I also really like Vectora, but it really isn't a "stationery" font. Current faves also include Fling, Bodoni (thanks to my cohort, Jen), Trajan and Ministry Script. I am currently really dying to purchase Feel Script, available at http://www.veer.com/ but I'm essentially too cheap to cough up the $99. If I still love it 6 months from now, I will probably break down and buy it. It has the best ligatures and alternate characters. It's one of the most girly fonts I have ever really liked.

Tuxedo Notepad Collection

Another item I've been working on is a set of notepads in acrylic holders - eight in each set. This first set is black and white and here are a few of them. One of the best ways I've seen someone customize these is to put "From the mom of" and then the kids names at the bottom with check boxes. Other options from the collection include a herringbone pattern, swirls, dots and lattice. These notepads are available for purchase from http://www.stationerystudio.com/.

January 08 Release (continued)

Here is another invite for the January release. I think it's perfect for a rehearsal dinner or bridesmaid luncheon.