City Skyline Wedding Suite

I just wanted to post a quick photo of the wedding suite I've been working on.  The bride wanted to incorporate the two cities from which she and her fiance are from (Chicago and London) and the city where they now live (New York City). We ultimately came up with this...

We did a city skyline combining all three of the cities and their major landmarks and buildings. We used a black, gray and aubergine color scheme. I hand cut (with the help of my husband) the envelope liners and bands using aubergine paper. The inner envelopes were printed with the recipient first names, while the outer envelopes were printed with the recipient and return address.

Here they are, ready to go...

This was definitely a challenging, but fun project! Next is seating cards and seating chart :)

{My newest Etsy shop} Parcel + Paper

Hello friends,

I know it's been a while. We've been super busy around here with moving to a new state, lots of DIY projects around the house (by my handy husband), lots of orders to fill and ship, not to mention the fact I'm doing this with a bun in the oven!

But I just wanted to take a minute to introduce you to my latest venture :: another Etsy shop! Since I started The Stationery Boutique I've accumulated not only a ton of inventory but also inspiration. I've been very inspired by other handmade sellers to take presentation and packaging to a different level. I have become obsessed with kraft paper and bakers twine for starters. I decided to open a little shop to provide others with the supplies needed to create lovely packages. My new shop, Parcel + Paper, will have goodies such as mini envelopes, kraft and colored envelopes, labels, colored bakers twine, cello bags, and other fun stuff.








I'm still in the beginning stages, but have already had three sales since opening on April 15th. So, when you get a chance head over to Parcel + Paper on Etsy and take a looksy!

... And Baby Makes ...

The ...and Baby Makes Three shower invitations have been quite popular these days. I've have many requests for different colors of the invite. I just recently did a set for a baby girl shower in pink. And a neutral set for another shower where the sex of the baby isn't known yet. She's having her shower at a French cafe, so we went with a bold, bright yellow with red and green accents.

Another set, that is quite special to me was designed for my cousin. In her case, baby actually makes four so we designed around that concept. We also added a little diaper raffle insert. Isn't it cute?

Seller to Seller {Sparkle + Metal}

I just wanted to show off these lovely calling cards I made for a fellow Etsy seller. I love the papaya color! The Big Bloom Calling Cards are printed on a sturdy, yet soft textured card stock.

Speaking of, have you checked out Sparkle + Metal on Etsy? Natasha's handmade jewelry is delicate with a touch of sparkle. This is one of my faves...

Holiday 2009

My holiday line will make a full debute in my shop next week, but until then I will leak a few items in here and there. Note cards, gift tags and calendars, oh my!

Scraps.

I hate to throw away paper, even the smallest scraps. So I keep it. Sometimes I'll save it for the boys to color on or cut shapes with, sometimes I use it to print business cards, and now I found a new use. Coming soon to my shop...

2010 Calendars are here!

Happy New Year! Almost. After a couple months of trying to think up twelve different designs for two calendars, I have finally listed them on Etsy and soon to be added to my main shop. I am contemplating one more, but we'll see. Here's a little looksie...

More photos of the calendars here.

Etsy Front Page

I'm so excited! To my surprise I found my Halloween Night party invitations on the front page of Etsy this morning. Totally made my day. :)

Thank you Etsy!!

Blossom Noir Wedding Suite

I have been blessed with three wedding orders. ALL AT ONCE! It's a lot of work, but I'm loving the challenge. All three brides have been wonderful to work with. Here is a glimpse at one set I'll be mailing out tomorrow...

You can see more on Flickr!

Winter in August.

One of my favorite Etsy customers is getting married! Her wedding will be in January. I just finished making her save the date cards (110 of them!) and I love how they turned out. She wanted to use birch trees (in Russia, they represent good luck) so we incorporated them into the design. So with shades of blue and gray we came up with these.

They are printed on a thick, textured cardstock with coordinating envelopes. I am really happy with how they came out. I can't wait to get started on the wedding invitations and the RSVP cards. They will have the same "Winter Birch" theme.

Shop Update

Man, I've really been neglecting my little blog here. I really have been busy, though. Honest. There was a bit of a dry spell in June {did anyone else feel that, or just me?} but July has almost made up for that already. By the way, where has the year gone?

Here's a little of what I've been up to...

1. Personalized Bicycle w/ Training Wheels Note Cards, Set of 16

2. Personalized Victorian Bloom Note Cards, Set of 16

3. Personalized Dandelion Note Cards, Set of 16

4. Dandelion Calling Cards, Set of 20. I turned these into place cards for a customer's wedding, in chocolate brown. Very pretty.

5. Little Birdie Calling Cards for Mom, Set of 20. I had one customer order these to represent her company, Three Birds Concierge. Cute idea.

6. Aqua Dandelion Note Cards, Set of 10

7. Peony Shower Invites, Set of 10

8. Vine Shower Invites, Set of 10. I made four sets of these for my cousin who is throwing a bridal shower for her friend.

9. Blossom Shower Invites, Set of 10. My aunt ordered three sets of these for my cousins upcoming baby shower. Congrats Vicki!

10. Bunches of Thanks Note Cards, Set of 16

11. Blossom Noir Wedding Suite. I really love these. I've a few orders for these in the past couple of weeks.

12. Blosson Noir Note Cards, Set of 16

I'm really going to try to start blogging more often. I've been trying to come up with some really interesting things to post as a weekly thing. Stay tuned...

A Great Week.

So my days of R + R are almost done. I got to spend a whole lot of time doing a whole lot of nothing. Which is a good thing. And for some reason, the boys decided to sleep in almost every day. I don't know why, but I'm not complaining. I slept until 9 a couple of times and stayed in my jammies till lunch.

But at the same time I am getting a little antsy to start getting back to work. I can't wait to relist everything in my shop. And as soon as I get some photos taken of the new stuff I'll be adding those, too. Whenever I see a "just sold and relisted" post on Twitter I get even more anxious to get back to work. That's the beauty of loving what you do!

As you can see, I've been working on changing the look of The Stationery Boutique. So far, I've made the changes to Twitter, my blog, and Etsy. I eventually want to do my main website, too, but have no idea where to start as far as html goes. I can attempt to do it myself, but who knows how that will end up. I want the design to be my creation, so I don't think I will be hiring a web designer this time. Maybe just someone to do all the html work for me? Is there a such thing?

You know what else has been awesome? In the week that I have been away from home I have been featured on Etsy Item of the Day, Pretty by Pistachio, Lemon Drop Studio is hosting a giveaway featuring my Dandelion Note Cards, AND my Peony Wedding Suite is being featured in an Etsy Treasury. I feel so honored and blessed to be noticed by all of these wonderful ladies! Thank you!

So, Wednesday I will be headed back home, back to reality. Being away has really made me realize how much I love my business and how blessed I am to be able to do it from home.

A Kid in a {Paper} Shop.

OK, so I've just recently started shopping at the Paper Source online store. I love their colors, I love the envelopes (which will start to show up in my shop this summer), I love how all of their products coordinate. Oh how I would love to peruse an actual store. Well, today I finally got to. I am at my moms visiting and she happens to live near the South Coast Plaza Mall in Costa Mesa, which happens to have a brick and mortar Paper Source. I know, to some this might sound totally ridiculous, getting all excited to go see paper. But if you love paper like me, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

So this morning I got the kids up, fed and dressed kinda early cause once 12:00 comes around they are like ticking time bombs. I wanted to spend as much time as I could in there before lunch and nap time rolled around. I had my mom with me too, because the chances of me being totally distracted by the mass amounts of Papaya and Pool were pre-tty high.

I could see it from across the mall and when I walked through the doors I swear I heard a triumphant angelic chorus. The walls were covered in Rhubarb, Curry, Moss and more. It was a sight. I could have easily stayed for a couple of hours but as lunch time approached the kids started to get restless. They even had a little section with a whole bunch of kid stuff. My mom bought the boys some monster looking finger puppets. It kept them busy while I made my final round of the store.

I highly recommend going to a Paper Source store if you are ever near one. You could definitely say I left inspired.

Etsy Item of the Day!

Have you guys come across the Etsy Item of the Day! blog? It's a fantastic little site that totally gives props to many of the thousands of Etsy sellers one item at a time. Jackie, the lovely lady behind this wonderful blog has a passion, much like the rest of us, to "buy, sell and live Handmade". Each day you will find a new favorite of Jackie's posted front and center at Etsy Item of the Day. Keep your eyes peeled because one of my items from my Etsy shop will be featured in a couple of days. Don't worry, I'll remind you!


Oh, and you can also follow Jackie on Twitter... @etsytoday.

Happenings.

I feel like I've been neglecting my little blog. I've actually been super busy with filling orders. That's a good thing! It seems like just when I get the last order packaged and shipped, I come home and I have another email from Etsy! I am so grateful and thank God every day for giving me this opportunity. Who ever would have thought that I would be able to do what I love. From home. AND be with my kids all day. I am truly blessed.

Speaking of being blessed... I had THE MOST amazing Mother's Day yesterday. I did not lift a finger all day. My boys were angels. My husband cooked the most delicious dinner EVER. Well, look...

I have been keeping pretty busy trying to create some new designs, too. Here are some of my favorites...

And finally, in other news... My friend Jaimee is having a giveaway at a blog called Stuff Under Twenty. I have always been a big fan of her photography and I have my fingers crossed. I would LOVE to win her Zinnia print. I have been eyeing it!

So, that's it for now. Back to work!

Peony Note Card Winner

Wow! I am soooo happy with the participation of this months giveaway!! Thank you to all of you who participated. And thank you to those who Tweeted and Blogged, too.

I wish I could give the note cards to all of you, really I do. But the winner of this months giveaway is...

LulaBoutique, please email me (jennifer [at] thestationeryboutique [dot] com) with your mailing info. Also, let me know what you'd like the front of your cards to read!

You know what? I'm going to offer a little something to everyone who participated. I'm just so appreciative! Until the end of the week (05.08.09) I am going to offer 10% off your purchase at both my Etsy and Main shop if you participated in this months giveaway. Just enter the code PEONY10 at checkout (or message to seller on Etsy).

Thank you everyone!!

When life hands you lemons...

I came across a new blog/Etsy shop/Twitter-er that I will definitely be adding to my faves. Lemon Drop Studio offers all kinds of "fresh-squeezed" goodies. And, right now Shauna is offering a sweet little giveaway. Check it!

I'll be doing my April giveaway in a few days. Stay tuned...

Go Team!

The other day I was crusin around on Etsy when I had some spare time on my hands, checking out more ways to become involved and what not. I was browsing the Community section of the site and decided to learn more about the Teams of Etsy. I'm sorry to say I didn't know about the teams until now. The teams form with shared interest in craft, a shared location, or other interests. It is organized by Etsy members for Etsy members to network, support and promote their crafty talents. What a great way to support the Handmade way to buy...in a team. To quote a song from one of my boys' favorite Nick Jr. shows...

"What's gonna work? Team work. What's gonna work? Team work!"

So I decided to check this out and try to become involve in one of these teams. There were tons to choose from. I came across EtsyPaper: The Street Team for Paper Lovers. Team member shops include everything from handmade paper, stationery, scrapbooking and even calligraphy. As of now, I am an "aspiring" member. Full on membership is based on participation and contribution to the team over a three month period.

This team is set up much like many of the other social networking sites. It's kinda like Facebook for paper lovers. You can upload pictures of your work, participate in forums, write a blog.

Do any of you belong to an Etsy Team? If so, how would you rate your experience?

Sale!

This is redeemable at my Etsy shop or The Stationery Boutique. Instructions for using the code on Etsy are located in the ANNOUNCEMENTS section.

Spring is in the air.

On Monday, my big boy Nathan turned 4! I still cannot believe it. But, sometimes when I talk to this boy, I feel like I'm talking to a 10 year old. We had the most hilarious conversation on Easter Morning. The four of us were sitting around the table eating breakfast, when he notices that I am staring at him...

Nathan: "Why are you staring at me?"

Me: "Because I can't believe my baby is turning 4."

Nathan (to Mike): "Why are you staring at me?"

Mike: "Because I can't believe my baby is turning 4."

A few seconds pass...

Mike (to Nathan): "Why are you staring at me?"

Nathan: "Because I can't believe Lola's (grandma) baby is turning 33!"

What? How in the? I don't know, sometimes I think that kid is a genius. I may be biased, but come on! How does a 4 year old remember how old his parents are? AND know what age comes after that? Pure genius! ;) Mike and I were laughing about it all day.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Pea!

If it wasn't for all of this almost-a-hurricane wind (seriously, it got up to 65 mph), we'd be able to go outside and enjoy the spring weather. Instead, we stayed in and I worked on this...