NSS is a'comin'!

NSS is only a couple of weeks away, but i'm feeling calmer than usual pre-show.

i'm excited to share my pre-show mailers with cool stores i've either personally visited or found online and think might be a good fit for my stuff. if you landed here because of that, hi!! i hope to see you at NSS! if you're not attending the show, i'm still excited to share my new products with you soon! :)

each envelope included with my mailers was hand-painted (just like all my desings) and features a floral pattern based on a repeat pattern i recently painted and made into fabric.

this year for NSS, in addition to making a bunch of new greeting cards, i've pared my card line down a bit, removing some designs i loved that just didn't sell well over the past few years, and reworking some designs that i felt could use improvement. i'm also introducing handmade chiffon neck scarves this year... below is a preview! there will be 6 different styles all from desings i've hand-painted. can't wait to share more soon!

sale!

i'm starting to think really hard about new products i want to make next year, and designs i thought were awesome but need to cut because they didn't resonate with the masses the way i hoped. i wonder if it's because i failed to get them in front of the right audience, or if they're just not as relatable to people who buy & send cards? probably a third thing, like i'm just so ahead of my time? my very sweet father told me that last week. i do believe it in some ways.

anyway! all this to say i put some stuff on SAAAAAAALE in my shop because, as much as i love it and am proud of it, i am either planning to rework it because i have a better visual for the message, or it's just going to disappear. think of it as...limited edition, collector's stationery. once it's gone it's gone. it's hard to say goodbye but i have some other great ideas i need to get out there and i just can't keep this shit in stock anymore.

paper. source. y'all.

my best friend hyunoo moved from birmingham, alabama to DC after graduating college in 2008. i've been heading up there to visit him at least annually ever since, and every time i'm up there i specifically request making a special trip to paper source. for years, YEARS before i even thought of starting my own stationery business, i've been wandering through the paper source store in alexandria, VA with the dreamiest of dreamy eyes... just basically getting lost in the cuteness and feeling so inspired to make things and share art with people.

it wasn't really until i started getting involved in the stationery world that i realized what a big store paper source is... and that they actually carry cards from other small businesses like mine! so since i launched my business, it had been a dream of mine to work with them... and this year my dream came true (slash hard work and persistence paid off? however you choose to look at it)! i'm so thrilled to share that one of my cards is now available at paper source! after packaging and labeling over 600 copies of this card all by myself... i had the teary eyed privilege of visiting it in its new home at paper source this past week! i've also already had friends in seattle, WA and (you guessed it!) alexandria, VA send me photos of themselves with my card in the store. i'm feeling so proud and accomplished and delighted! going to try to hang on to this feeling for a while.

i took the original painting to paper source to see how far she had made it in the world <3

i heart animal puns <3 ~ you can snag this card from my etsy store OR AT YOUR LOCAL PAPER SOURCE!!! OMGGG! <3

one of my secret projects is soon to be no longer a secret! ...and i'm kinda freaking out!

well! i mailed a really cool lenticular card i designed out to retailers this week and i am anxious to see if anyone is as amused by it as i am! it's been really hard for me not to post about my process and all the design iterations i've gone through with this project. i just feel like i'm on the cusp of something no one else in the greeting card circles i find myself in is doing. i think it's the most badass thing ever. i hope you agree!

since i decided to make stationery, i have been asking myself: what can i do that isn't letterpress? what can i do that isn't gold, holographic, or glitter foil? what can i do that isn't just painting pretty flowers on everything? i have been wondering how to set myself apart from other brands and have more of myself come through in my designs, and i really feel like i'm on the right track with all my new designs and products for NSS 2017!

the inspiration for the lenticular card came when we were driving from the montrose airport to telluride a couple of months ago on our ski trip. i was staring at one of silence's toys, a little phone that has a panda on it. i bought it for her because i handed it to her just to occupy her while i checked out, but then she wouldn't let me put it back without a huge fuss (how could i not see that coming???), so i figured whatever, it's cheap, happy to find something that makes her happy. the panda moves and says hi and bye depending on the viewing angle.

i'm an artist who happens to also be an engineer. i like making things. i like seeing how things work. i like when my brain hurts thinking about how things work. lenticular technology is so freakin' cool... once i finally did enough googling describing my daughter's toy phone image and learned the term "lenticular", i was completely set on making something with it for my card line. on our vacation i brainstormed tons of ideas for lenticular cards and researched places to print the cards for me. since then i've painted a handful of designs, i've received samples from several US manufacturers, and i've got more samples on the way! i'm really pumped to share something i hope you'll think is awesome, and although the technology is nothing new, i hope you will find it to be as new and refreshing of an idea for this indie stationery niche as it was for me!