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December 14th, 2008

Stationery: J & P

I adore these!  I finished these a couple of weeks ago for an awesome couple who were married at the beginning of November.  They love Calvin and Hobbes and wanted something inspired by a drawing they showed me.  As true cat lovers (like me!) they definitely wanted to include their kitties.

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J & P will be using these as thank you cards for their wedding.  The great thing about them, though, is that they can be used for more than just thank you notes!  They’ll be using them as regular stationery after all the thank you’s are done.  :)

Here’s the back:

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It’s obviously far less exciting than the front, but I wanted to show you guys–I’ve been using this style for the past few projects I’ve done.  I decided to remove my logo from it because some people weren’t too wild about it.  What do you think?

I met J to give him the cards, and he was so sweet–he gave me this awesome custom-made cookie, which was a favor for their wedding!  How awesome is this!?  And it was delicious, too.  :)

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Thanks so much for hiring me, you guys!  I *love* these so much, I wish I could use them for my own stationery!

December 12th, 2008

Just Finished! Christmas Cards for J & B!

I have not been around in AGES.  I am so sorry.  I just got back from visiting my parents in Oregon, where I was working on a few projects…but mostly, I was reading.  I finished all the Twilight books and have much to say!  For now, though, check out what went out in this morning’s mail!  More next week after J&B get them!

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December 3rd, 2008

Just Finished! M & A!

I am totally thrilled with these Save the Dates!  They’ll be going out in a few days.  I can’t wait for M to receive them!

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December 2nd, 2008

Look What’s on the Way, S & H!

 I just finished some awesome holiday cards for my friends S & H!  Here’s a little preview:

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I’ll post the detail shots in a couple of days!

December 1st, 2008

Holiday Decorations

I have a confession: I actually really don’t like the holidays.

I’m not really sure when this started, because I have very happy memories of my childhood Chanukkahs.  My mom converted to Judaism, and the one thing she couldn’t let go of was a Christmas tree.  Growing up, my mom and I had a tradition: every year, we’d go shopping and each get one new ornament for our “Chanukkah bush.”  Those were very happy memories, along with the memories of lighting the menorah while our dog Allie howled along to the prayers.

At some point, though, I started to really hate the holidays.  I think it happened sometime during or right after college.  I started to get really irritated by the commercialism of the whole thing, and despite my constant efforts not to get sucked in, it’s impossible to avoid the crowds and the advertisements, and the guilt over not spending a ton of money.  I also can’t stand that people are literally trampling one another for something as trivial as a videogame system from Wal*Mart.

Last year during the holidays, I had a job working retail at Paper Source.  It was hell.  I had to listen to Christmas music for 35 days straight, deal with extremely rude customers on a daily basis, and participate in a ridiculous number of expensive work-related gift exchanges despite the fact that I hardly made any money.  It was the worst holiday season ever. I am very thankful not to have to deal with that again!

I would probably crawl into a hole the day after Thanksgiving and not emerge until December 26th if my husband would allow it.  Unfortunately, he LOVES the holidays.  LOVES them.  Every year, he and his 8+ cousins get together for “Cousins Christmas,” which involves a gift exchange and a while elephant.  Although I admittedly feel super pressured to find great gifts, it’s actually a really fun time.  When I came along (my first one was three or four years ago), my ever-accepting husband changed the name to “Cousin’s Chrismukkah.”  I feel like a bit of a traitor to my Jewish culture, but I’m trying to get over it and not be quite so serious about what it all means.

Another holiday tradition we have is a 24 Marathon, in which we watch the entire last season of 24 until we get nauseous.  We always complete all 24 episodes in three days.  It’s wonderful.

This year I actually started to get excited about the holidays at the beginning of November.  I planned a bunch of craft projects to make it even more spectacular.  Sadly, I started to get cranky the day after Thanksgiving when the crowds came out, and I haven’t been able to pull myself out of the I’m-just-a-cranky-Jew-on-Christmas funk quite yet.  Even the craft projects haven’t helped.  We haven’t finished decorating, but I thought I’d share what I’ve done so far.

My first project was a glittery “OY” sign.  After the holidays last year, Paper Source marked these giant kraft JOY letters down 50%.  I think they’re about a foot and a half tall–they’re super big.  My sentiments around the holidays are obviously a little less of the JOY and a little more of the OY anyway, so I thought it would be appropriate to ditch the J and sparkle the letters Chanukkah-style.  What do you think?

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I actually still have the J and haven’t done anything to it.  I was thinking it would be a great monogram for someone marrying into a J-last named family.  Anyone need a J?

The other thing I created was this felt “Happy Chrismukkah” sign:

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Close up:

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I actually really like how both projects turned out, and they got me excited enough to take out our fake tree (we’re hippy environmentalists, what can I say?), but not quite excited enough to decorate it yet.  ;)

I know I’m not the only cranky one on Christmas.  Anybody else?  Anybody got any tips for me on how to keep the crankypants level down? I would LOVE to be like my friend Marianne, who absolutely adores Christmas.  Please, someone teach me how.

November 24th, 2008

C & C’s Save the Dates

Remember last week, when I told you C & C’s Save the Dates were on the way?  Well, they received them, so now I can show you the whole thing!

Here’s the front:

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And the inside:

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C & C are getting married next year on the Fourth of July, and wanted to incorporate the holiday into their Save the Date.   They also have a VERY handsome pooch named Brewer, who (as you pet lovers will surely agree) had to be involved.

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I love how these turned out!  C & C were a lot of fun to work with–they have such fun personalities.  And of course, I love drawing people’s pets.  :)

Thanks for letting me be a part of your wedding, guys!

November 21st, 2008

Just Finished! C & C!

 Look what’s on the way!  It’s C & C’s Save the Dates!

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And a little sneak peek…

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More next week!

November 14th, 2008

Pete and Kimra: in FROSTING!

A few weeks ago, I got an email from one of my past clients, Kimra.  She and her husband, Pete, had a wedding “reception” with his family and hometown friends who couldn’t make it to California back in May for their wedding. Apparently Pete’s mom ordered a cake for the occassion and surprised them with this:

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She’d given the baker the design I did for their photo reminder cards as inspiration!  How cool is that?!

Here’s the card I did for them (Kimra saw my photo reminder cards and wanted something similar):

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Pete, holding the slice with his glasses on it!

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How cool is that?!

November 11th, 2008

K & S: Look what’s on the way!

::edit:: WOW, the mail works fast!  K & S received these before this post even went up!  hahaha.  Oh well, I’ll share them with everyone else.  :)

After looking at these photos, I’m realizing that my photo-taking skills are lacking, and I could probably use some Photoshop lessons!  But anyway, this isn’t about me, it’s about K & S!

K & S have a VERY romantic love story–but I’ll probably save that for the reveal of their wedding invitations.  They’ll be getting married next August in Denmark (S’s homeland), and needed a Save the Date with an RSVP-type function.  I set up their website with an RSVP form, and we included a link in the text.

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Their Save the Date is a  two-sided postcard with a magnet.  One side of the postcard is in English (for the American guests) and the other side is in Danish (for the Danish guests).  The magnet can be affixed to either side with a removable glue dot.

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One of the magnets on my work board!  I love them.  :)  Believe it or not, these are my first magnets!

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I am totally thrilled with these, and so are K & S!  I can’t wait to get started on their invites.  :)

October 20th, 2008

S & G: Reception Invitations

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I can’t believe I haven’t posted about these yet!  They were finished right before our wedding, so that’s probably why.  :)  I love how they came out.

S & G were married in Maine (this past weekend!), but they met in San Francisco and are having a reception in Los Angeles for their west coast family and friends in November.  When S & G came to me, they were looking for a fun invitation for their west coast reception; they wanted it to tell the tale of their coast-to-coast love story.

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The first drawing is set in San Francisco, where they met.  The second one is set in Maine, where they were married (check out the moose!), and the third one shows the Manhattan Pier in Los Angeles, where they’re having their reception.  We were able to sneak little bits of their personalities into the drawings, too.  For example, check out the “Think Blue” in the background of the third drawing–they’re Dodger fans!

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 Congratulations, S & G!!