coming of age challenge

These are my entries in the latest Minted challenge.  Voting is now open!  I would love your votes!!

mis quince años

16 celebration

sweet cross

pink and green

I just read an interesting article about fashion retailers and regional trends.  This line in particular - "Southerners bought more white, green, and pink than other regions' residents, for instance, according to data from private-sale site, Hautelook.com which caters to young, urban professional women." - got me thinking about one of my first Minted contest entries, Preppy Monogram.  The Around the World Holiday Card Challenge was created to bring in designs that represented different regions.  Though I've never been much of a pink and green fan myself (I tend to prefer brown, black, grey and blue) I definitely notice its presence in the south.  Having lived in NC, GA and FL over the past 10+ years I've seen my share of bright, preppy polka-dotted pinks and greens!  Maybe it's time for a change to the west coast?  Minted never actually offered this card for sale in these colors.  Instead they opted for brown and blue.  Go figure!

No. 18!!!

My Joy to the World design placed 18th (out of 1370) in Minted's holiday challenge!  I was so excited to see it posted on their Facebook page and Natasha's blog post was incredibly sweet!  I had fun creating an alternate colorway, a patterned "backer" (backside design) and envelope liner for this card.  Stay tuned for the link to order in the coming months.  Thank you so much to all who voted for me!

a few of my favorites

joyeux noel by Emily Potts • Doves of Peace by Mandy Gordon • banner + burst by Jody Wody

the greens by Stacey Day • vintage berry by Paper Dahlia •
 joyeux noël + reindeer by Emily Ranneby

first christmas by Sara Heilwagen • peace love & hope by The Social Type • 
scarf + garland by Moglea

Voting is now closed for the 2010 holiday card contest at Minted and we're all anxiously awaiting the results.  I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorites.  As you can tell, I'm hopelessly attracted to the color blue!

stationEry

My very first post on this blog in May 2005 had to do with the difference between "stationery" and "stationary".  I still encounter stationEry designers and retailers who spell it with an "a".  It doesn't bother me as much when customers spell it incorrectly - we all make spelling mistakes sometimes, right?  But, if you're in the business you really should know better.  LizzyB Loves and Oh So Beautiful Paper both posted about these bags recently.  I couldn't help but purchase one!  Check them out on Sapling Press' etsy shop. . .

laikonik wrapping paper

I came across this beautiful Polish folk-art inspired wrapping paper after reading Design Mom's post about the company's Once a Year Books.  At this time I'm just not prepared to accept that my boys are ever going to turn 18 - the idea of this sweet little book makes me too sad.  So, I decided to see what else they offered and noticed this lovely hand silk screen printed wrapping paper.  The shipping from Australia may keep it from being a practical purchase, but it may be worth looking into!

voting time!

I'm so excited that my designs survived the first round of voting.  The original 1300+ entries have now been whittled down to just over 400 so the task of voting is much easier!  I actually truly enjoyed going through all 411 of them this morning and giving them each a score from 1 - 5.  I would really appreciate your votes if you have time.  I promise it will be worth your while to browse through this wonderful assortment of holiday card designs!  *If the site is slow (as it is while I sit here typing this post) you may want to try again later.  The Minted team just sent out a big email about the contest so the site may be flooded with voters.  Here are the direct links to mine:

joy to the world
http://www.minted.com/design-rating?id=10958

floral joy
http://www.minted.com/design-rating?id=11937

cashmere
http://www.minted.com/design-rating?id=12100

cheery holidays
http://www.minted.com/design-rating?id=12499

holiday daisies
http://www.minted.com/design-rating?id=12501

very merry holidays
http://www.minted.com/design-rating?id=12503

memory board
http://www.minted.com/design-rating?id=11930

The Fine Print: Everyone who rates at least 50 entries will be entered into a drawing for a $500 credit on Minted*. Ten additional voters will be chosen at random to win a gorgeous Minted T-shirt. Take a quick break (we won't tell), and help reinvent the traditional holiday card. 

beach wedding

My brother recently got married near the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  The photos above, courtesy of lindsay brooke emeigh photography, are some of my favorites.  The weather was absolutely perfect as you can see!

Many months ago I helped them come up with a bright, fun, and eco + budget-friendly wedding suite.  The invitations served multiple purposes with the wedding info on the front and rehearsal dinner + farewell brunch info on the back.  The response postcards featured a photo of the beach house porch.  I was able to get Minted.com to print the skinny wrap labels in their wedding colors to go with the paper source "poppy" envelopes.  I think we accomplished our goal of setting the scene for a fun, lively and laid-back wedding.  It was a blast!

holiday photo cards

My apologies (to Facebook fans, especially) for all of this Minted talk!  Holiday cards are my favorite to design and their latest contest has some major rewards!  So, even though I was on vacation for 10 days and this was the last week of school for my kindergartner, I had no choice but to find time to create and enter designs for the 2010 holiday card challenge.  These are my 7 designs.  Right now, Minted is having a first round voting phase to eliminate 75% of the 1300+ designs that were entered.  Hopefully some of mine will survive this round!  I'll let you know when official voting begins.  Wish me luck!!

splurges

I do plan to post about the wonderful boutique wineries we visited in Napa last week, but I wanted to quickly share my two splurge purchases.  I was able to score this wonderful Yoana Baraschi love story trench coat at the resort shop for less than 50% off!  It was definitely put to good use on our cold, rainy wineries tour last Thursday!  I've also been eyeing these Frye riding boots all winter, but they don't make a whole lot of sense in Florida.  Oh well, you only live once!

cupcakes

Sorry I've been MIA for the past 10 days, but I was busy enjoying my brother's wedding just below the Outer Banks of NC and indulging in fabulous wine and food from San Francisco and Napa.  Pictures from some of my favorite boutique wineries will be added soon!

While I was out, Kara from Kara's Party Ideas and Kara's Cupcakes posted my son's little monster birthday party pics on her blog.  I wish I had found her blog while I was preparing.  There is so much wonderful inspiration there!  Be sure to check it out if you will be planning a party soon.  She is also very talented at making cupcakes as you can see from the images above - adorable!

time to vote!

Voting is now open for the Minted Make a Wish Challenge.  I submitted two designs this time and would love your votes!  Here are the links:

pink mermaid

garden sunshine

I'm sure all of the other talented designers would love your votes as well.  Thank you!!

textile design

I am so excited about my new opportunity with Globalweave Textiles.  I was contacted last month about the possibility of licensing one of my designs and now it looks like I'll get to see my patterns on pillows, duvets and possibly rugs in the near future! Globalweave is a design and development company specializing in personalized textiles and rugs. Their program has been designed to give retailers customized made-to-stock product to satisfy local trends and instant gratification.  My profile. . .

I hope to have photos of finished items to share with you soon!

the carrie diaries

Just purchased and I'm looking forward to reading this on some long upcoming plane trips!

garden sunshine

My latest entry in Minted's birthday party challenge.  I could have a lot of fun with this garden sunshine invitation in several colorways!

clock screen saver

Check out Real Simple's 10-anniversary free screen saver!

blumeboxes

These multi-functional "vases" are made from 80% post consumer materials and are 100% recyclable. I know that these fun blumeboxes are definitely going to have a place in my next baby shower or birthday event!  Be sure to check out their pages and pages of ideas in blume for all kinds of inspiration!

3rd Birthday Monster Party - Part II

photos courtesy of Erica Posluszny

More details about the monster birthday party. . .

Treats:
• home-made monster marshmallow pops from my custom birthday girl inspiration board and some help from grace violet.
• lemon clouds in little boxes I modified from Sweet Street Gals' free templates
• coordinating blue and yellow cookies I purchased at Easter and froze
• gift bags with crayons, home-printed coloring books from Jelene's etsy shop and inflatable monster beach balls from oriental trading co.
• jars and gumballs from Home Goods

Games + Activities
• monster bowling by Melissa & Doug
• monster toss from Amazon
• monster masks from oriental trading co.
• Ben apparently thought forks were optional!
• a reading (and lots of tickling) from The Tickle Monster
• sidewalk chalk monster drawing contest
• musical monster paws

3rd Birthday Monster Party - Part I

photos courtesy of Erica Posluszny

What a fun project for me and, more importantly, a great party for Ben!  Much of my inspiration came from parties showcased on blogs such as Birthday Girl (and the help of Becca's custom inspiration board), The TomKat Studio, Party Perfect and sweet designs byAmy Atlas, to name a few.  I made the six stuffed monsters from patterns I purchased from bit of whimsy dolls and my favorite local bakery, Sheila's Cakes came up with this fun fondant cake to match the party colors and theme.  More photos of the activities and games are on the way. . .

pantone concepts

Spotted this fun Pantone paint line by Samy Halim on the dieline.  Love the square containers!