Matchbook magazine is one of my favorite online magazines. The October issue features One Kings Lane One Kings Lane co-founders Susan Feldman and Alison Pincus and their SoHo office space. I’ve got a crush on this online retailer and their office is just gorgeous, isn’t it? So chic and tasteful. I would love to work in such a lovely space one day. Wouldn’t you?
I have more good news this week! Please meet Calligraphy Love – my holiday gift wrap that will be available exclusively at Minted.com. It was an Editor’s pick in Minted’s Outside the Box Holiday Gift Wrap challenge. I feel lucky to have itpicked out of 464 submissions! Minted launched it’s inaugural collection of unique, personalizable gift wraps for the upcoming 2013 holiday shopping season and I’m excited to be included! I took some time off from working on my website redesign and submitted 2 designs for this challenge. I practiced my calligraphy, experimented with custom ink and obviously it paid off ;) Now, I can’t wait to buy my own wrapping paper! I’ll let you know as soon as it’s available for purchase.
UPDATE: You can purchase it here. 
This year our quiet little street is having trick or treating for the kids on Halloween night. Yes, it was lots of fun to walk in the junction this past weekend, but walking around on Halloween night is much more exciting. We had a “baby boom” in our neighborhood in the last few years and I’m really excited to see all of the kiddos from the neighborhood dressed up. However, it’s the kids wish to decorate the house in a spooky and scary theme. So, I’m taking a little bit of time aside from updating my website to get some serious inspiration for our front porch. I’ve been browsing Pinterest for ideas, I need something simple and easy to take down…
Images (from top left to right): 1. northstory.ca / 2. Better Homes & Gardens / 3. Martha Stewart Living / 4. Country Living
This past weekend we took a day trip to the Hood Canal to spent the last sunny weekend outdoors. Hood Canal
is only 20 miles west of Seattle, however getting there from the Seattle area takes a couple of hours as you have to take a ferry. Of course, our day got thrown off as we missed it (we just assumed it wouldn’t be busy on
a off-season weekend) and missed the low tide. Instead of enjoying fresh oysters on the beach our children and
us spent the morning gathering shells and looking for crabs. We visited one of Luke’s clients who lives in the area and had fun running around and enjoying the fruit in his garden. Don was very generous to send some with us and we came home with bags full of the sweetest plums, pears, raspberries and strawberries. It’s probably no secret now that I really enjoy home canning. I rolled up the sleeves and got to work on making the most delightful plum jam or powidła (in polish.) This jam, so deliciously European, is my my favorite – naturally sweet and so aromathic! I knew, before I even made the jam, that I wanted to dressed them up with custom labels.
I calligraphed these labels with black ink on a heavy cotton paper and glued to the jar with a double stick tape.
I couldn’t help but add cute little branches with plums illustrations and some swirly doodles. I love how easy they’re done with a good calligraphy pen and nib. I’m so pleased with the results, in both aesthetics and taste! Yeah, I could eat this plum jam by the spoonful…
I’m super excited about the new Skillshare class The Art of Modern Calligraphy. The incomparable
Molly Jacques just announced on her blog that she will be teaching this online course, which btw is a total steal for only $20 (plus you get lifelong access to the entire course)! She will cover the basic tools and knowledge of modern, pointed pen calligraphy and you’ll learn how to create a unique alphabet of your own. I can’t wait to start the course. The Art of Modern Calligraphy begins September 25.
This week was pretty crafty. I took on a challenging project, designing and calligraphy of the day of the wedding stationery. I had been wanting to try artsy, hand painting project in a while and I was finally able to do so with watercolors. I was also able to put my calligraphy skills to use on place cards, table numbers and signs. They turned out great considering I have ways to go before I master the art of the pointed pen. I’ve been practicing it for a while and the whole process takes a whole lot of time and patience. Here is a little peek at all the watercolor and calligraphy I’ve done so far.
These watercolor place cards were done on an uncoated heavy Mohawk stock (just had some laying around the office) with just basic watercolors in beautiful shades of pink. I used black and gold calligraphy inks to add a little sparkle….
How fun! Ban.do, the makers of très adorable headbands also make these super cute shoe clips. What a fun way to punch up a pair of shoes: flats, heels, sneakers, oxfords… even boots! They add just the perfect amount of sparkle I love that you can clip them on any pair of shoes. You can shop shoe clips here.
I have decided to enter another Minted.com challenge. I have designed four designs for The Happy New Year’s Cards Challenge. Pretty weird to be designing for winter holidays in the Summer but somehow I’ve put myself in the mood. Christmas music on and voila! There is 584 submission for this challenge, so keeping my fingers crossed. Please help me out and cast your vote! If you rate 50+ designs in the challenge, you will get 10% off your next Minted order. I appreciate all the help & support!
Wooohoo! My new letterpress business cards are finally here! And I absolutely love them! However, I have to
admit, designing them hasn’t been easy. As most designers can attest branding yourself is difficult. I love minimal
and clean design so I knew from the start that my logo and branding would have to reflect that. Keeping the design simple proofed to be difficult. I wanted to keep my branding in black & white but feared it’ll be dull and ordinary.
After a month trying to figure out what I want my brand to look like, and what I want my clients to feel about me and my work, I’ve got up the nerve to narrow down the design and sent my business cards off to be printed.
I knew my business cards would be letterpress and I wanted them to stand out and leave an impression. So I went with black letterpress text and added a bit of a wow factor by painting the edges in bright pink. I love how they turned out! They’re elegant yet cheerful and definitely eye-catching! I’m thrilled to have them in-hands, and I love seeing people stroke them….
Photography: Rachel Nickel
The summer is finally here. I am home, sitting on the front porch and soaking in the sun. The best thing about it is that I’m having this summer off! The whole summer! No long hours at work, no stress, no extra projects to work on. This summer I’ll be actually enjoying LIFE and will spend it with my family. The children are having a blast already and we are looking forward to spend every day outside. I’m planning to have our days filled with trips to the beach, parks, playdates and evening barbecques with friends. I am so looking forward to it! Happy first day
of Summer!
