Cut and paste!

You don't even want to know (and nor do I) how many hours I spent on this design, but I was really happy with the way it turned out.

Kristen and Brian wanted another custom Christmas card reflecting their lives and pets and passions, and I was a long way down the making-a-collage path before I realised I was in pretty deep.

I spent days scrapping various drafts and living in a blizzard of paper bits. Eventually I dug my way out of the photos and magazines and catalogues – Crate & Barrel, J.Crew, Paper Source, Land of Nod – and put the finishing touches on this scene.


(I should say: these cards were finished back at Thanksgiving, but I didn't want to spoil any surprises by posting them here too soon.)

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.

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!