Orange, pink

This email from my sister-in-law Shelley, in London, made my day:

"I accidentally bought orange flowers, when I knew I only had pink wrapping paper at home. For a few moments, I thought my present would clash... but then I went to my card drawer. I am chuffed, chuffed, chuffed."

(I should tell you the Vespa on the card is bright pink; for some reason it's looking decidedly un-pink on my screen...)

Whiskers on kittens

I had to gaze at the walls and pace around nervously for a long time before I came up with this design.

It's a custom Christmas card project I completed earlier this month, and it needed to show: Kristen and Brian; their cats Dusty and Maisy; a lot of holiday spirit and some moving boxes (they're in the process of relocating from Manhattan to a riverside home of their own, north of the city).

Kristen loved my retro cards, so I pulled all the details into a 1950s-ish design full of off-register colours, melamine shades and boxes and kittens. We actually ended up with more kittens than originally planned — Kristen had sent me photos of herself and Brian and their two cats, and when the card was nearly done, one more photo came in. It was Oliver, a tiny little bit of a kitten they'd rescued.

Who can say no to a brand-new kitten at Christmas? So Oliver made his Christmas-card debut just in time, playing with an ornament near Kristen's feet (you can see him in the picture below).

Custom projects make me nervous at the start — every time. Staring at a blank page (well, screen) with every idea and option untouched is daunting. And sending the completed design to a client for the first time feels, to me, like walking out on a stage. But the process is inspiring, and the rewards are great. I love knowing that little drawings can help capture the spirit of a moment — big or small — in people's lives. I love the feeling of having done a great job, and breathing that sigh of relief.

It's always a little stress at the start and a lot of happiness at the end. A bit like Christmas.

Brightness

Splash of colour for the rainy day we're having here: an Etsy treasury called Mod Madness by modsandminis, with my Bella Figura Birthday Thrills card at top left.

The Vespa girl kind of got her head out of frame, but you get the picture...

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Sleighbells in summer...

In the world of cards, it's never too early for Christmas.

Rephrase: for highly-organised card-givers, it's never too early to buy Christmas cards. I've heard of people who are already addressing their envelopes (yes, in August).
So... drumroll please... for all the highly organised types, I present the first-ever Christmas/holiday cards in the Bella Figura collection. Festive and fun, guaranteed to brighten even the chilliest December – and available on Etsy now (yes, in August).

Oddly, despite my card-and-stationery-obsession, I'm not a highly organised Christmas card giver myself. I'm more "ruh-roh, is it November already?" My excuse is that I'm too busy making cards for other people to be early with my own. You don't have that excuse.

More holiday designs and Christmas card sets coming soon!

Cakes and kids

A treasury made of cakes – first, it has one of my Bella Figura cards in it, and second, it's just pretty.

I've been really busy getting stock ready to send to retailers – two online stores and one boutique – as well as working on some fun custom projects. A lot of work!

I finally (finally) got to talk to my mum and my sister today. Somehow my mum always makes me feel better, and like I might actually be a good mama after all.

And now, in the interests of really being a good mama (and since it's no longer 110 degrees outside) I'm going to take Berry for a twilight walk. She likes to find small rocks and puddles and kittens, and our neighbourhood is good for a little bit of all three.

Better!

Since we finally live in a sunny place again, I've taken advantage of some nice bright mornings to re-shoot my product photos.

It's much, much easier to get a good image when you're not relying on the non-existent winter light in Seattle (summer light might've been okay, but we're not there for that).

See? Sunshiney....

Mmmm, pretty...

Ok: I seriously don't post about every Etsy treasury that someone puts me in (I'm always very happy about it, but you'd definitely get bored) – it's just that I'm completely taken with this one. It's so pretty. Those prints look like lollies all together like that, and I want to buy them all.

Trunkt!

Pepperina Press is on Trunkt! Here's my profile...

Trunkt is an art and design collective whose mission is "to champion independent designers and small retailers to mainstream shoppers and to keep mass-market merchandise and big-box retailers from overwhelming the globe".

Can't beat that!

Registry: yay!

I've always wished someone would invent an Etsy gift registry, so when I saw someone mention that the official Etsy blog was publicising a new registry idea I clicked right over to see what it was about. My Happily Ever After card came up on the screen and I thought, Oh no this link's taken me to my own shop – but no! Etsy staff had chosen my card to go with the story! I was thrilled.

Also thrilling is the fact that you can now set up a gift registry for Etsy items at MyRegistry.com. Genius!

And do I have gifts? Sure I do. Here, have some Card Candy...

Everyone needs a Vespa

Jeweler Jennifer Cora chose my Ciao Bella Vintage Vespa card for her "Should I Buy A Vespa?" treasury – which is both a fantastic collection and an important question.

The answer is yes, of course. A resounding yes. We bought ours ... let's see ... three years ago, but it's pulling a little Rip Van Winkle in Princeton, Texas. Having a bit of a snooze while it gets restored. But it is going to be fab-u-lous.

Nathan's been obsessed with Vespas since our first trip to Italy (well, the trip when we first met...). There's definitely something about them that magically makes you a bit more hip and a lot more carefree than your everyday self. And turns you, necessarily, into a risk-taker, a devil-may-care type: "Nervous about cobblestones? Afraid of potholes, moi? Never! Ride on!"

Maybe I'm a bit obsessed with them too.

Brides everywhere...

I love weddings and I love being chosen for Etsy treasuries – so this was good: jewellery designer onesmallstar put my Bella Figura "Happily Ever After" card in her bright-and-shiny wedding-themed treasury!

You Deserve Cake

Finally I listed this new You Deserve Cake graduation/congratulations card on Etsy. Inside it says: "You're one smart cookie".

I'm also going to sell a version that just says "Congratulations" inside – you know, for people who have done awesome things apart from graduating!

But it's graduation season; cleverness is everywhere...

Googling...

Someone posted in their blog about Googling their own business name for kicks, and I thought yeah I'll do that. And this (above) is one of the more surprising things that came up, on a site called Kantenklaer.

I don't know, is this Dutch? Afrikaans? Am I showing my ignorance about those languages?

I can guess what the last line says, but who can tell me about the rest?

Another one was from DesignMind (below). A productive little bit of Googling, really. Thanks to these people for writing about my cards!