stinkerpants design

A few months ago, I was contacted by a very nice woman named Linda, who lives across the pond in London.  Linda’s son Marco is being Bar Mitvah’d this year, and she wanted an event theme based on the one I did for Nathan Fischer.  Linda was super fun to work with, and we included all sorts of details in the drawing, such as the title of Marco’s Torah portion, and his family in the audience behind him.

Check it out!

Their family’s synagogue is orthodox, so the men and women are separated.  Marco’s dad is the one in the front row all the way on the left in the men’s section, and his mom and sisters are in the front row in the women’s section.  I love this detail. :)

Linda wanted to include the drawing in the invitations for the party, but we decided it would be too complicated to have me print everything for her, then ship it overseas.  Because Linda had a printer she had worked with before, I sent the completed drawing directly to him–then he and Linda worked on the invitation.

About a week later, Linda emailed me with a genius invitation idea, which would incorporate the Bar Mitzvah reception as well as the ceremony–and it required another drawing!

This is what we came up with for the reception:

I absolutely love how this drawing turned out–it’s so fun!  And yes, that’s his dad in the bright blue tie.

When Linda told me about the invitation idea, I really, really wanted to see the finished product–so I asked Linda to send me a copy of it.  She was kind enough to oblige!  I received it yesterday, and I was SO IMPRESSED.  It is the fanciest, coolest Bar Mitzvah invitation I’ve ever seen.  Seriously cool.  Check it out:

You really have to see this in person to appreciate how cool it is.  The part with the drawings is super thick, and each drawing is protected by a thin layer of clear plastic.  The invitation itself is made of different colors of stardream paper (which is sparkly!) and each invitation is personally printed for each recipient.

I’m seriously impressed.  Thank you Linda, for sending this!  I wish I could come.  :)

I have been a bad blogger.  A bad, bad blogger.  I’m so sorry.  I’ll try to be better.  I blame Twitter for making it difficult to type anything more than 140 characters!

As a gesture of my good intentions, I wanted to share a couple of things with you guys!

First off, NYC Pride.  Yesterday I almost peed myself when I got an email from Kelly at soyoureengayged.com.  Awhile ago, she sent an email out to all of So You’re Engayged’s Featured Vendors, letting us know that they’d have a booth at Pride this year, and inviting us to send business cards and product samples.  I was (obviously) very excited about this.  In addition to sending her some of my samples, I also sent her a stack of my free marriage equality bumper stickers.

Yesterday, she sent me these photos from Pride:

How exciting!!  She said that people really loved the stickers, which makes me very happy.  I wish I could have been there!

On a related note, I’ve been doing a bit of research on the organization(s) we were voting on to receive the donations from the stickers.  I received a tip from someone I trust, which caused me to re-evaluate the way I was researching the organizations.  Long story short, I decided to personally contact all of the organizations via phone, rather than simply by email.

Equality California never called me back, which sucked (I mean, I know they’re busy, but still!).  I was SERIOUSLY impressed, though, with Freedom to Marry.  What an awesome organization!  They offer advice to all the organizations working toward equal rights, so they’re super well connected.  The guy I talked to, Richard, was also really nice and super helpful.  I’ll keep you guys updated on what I find out.

Moving on!

Yesterday I also got an email from Tess at the Six Feet Under blog, who asked to do an interview for her blog.  Of course, I was happy to oblige!  Thanks Tess!  The interview went up today, and there are a few very sweet comments.  It is so flattering to be asked to do interviews.  I’m still shocked that anyone is interested in what I have to say!  ;)

In other news, I’ve finished a few *very* cute projects recently.  Three of them feature dogs!  You know how I love drawing pets, right?  I am excited to share them with you.  :)

Happy Monday, people!  I am feeling *much* better since devising a new (well, sort of) direction for my business.  But more on that later.

For right now, I have a project to show you guys.  Actually, I have a backlog of projects!  My friend Marianne pointed out last week that I’m a slacker with sharing my finished projects on the blog, and she really enjoys seeing them.  So here’s a recent Save the Date!

When M first contacted me, she got me *very* excited about drawing a cheongsam (a Chinese red wedding dress).  As some of you may remember, I had the cheongsam for my wedding custom made, so I learned a lot about the beauty of these dresses.

M had a lot of other details to incorporate, too, including the date written in red diamonds (I’d never noticed that before, but it’s  a common way to write dates in Chinese culture!), paper lanterns with Chinese characters, and their pet turtles, climbing all over one another.

Here’s a detail shot of the turtles.  M sent me a photo of her turtles to work from!  I love including pets in drawings, and the turtles were a first!

I really love how these Save the Dates turned out! It was really fun to incorporate Chinese traditions into fun Save the Dates.

And as I said last week, I just finished a BUNCH of projects that were *really* fun to draw, so I look forward to sharing them with you, too!

{photo credit}
*&^I*!  BLEH.  My head is all over the place!

I’ve been in kind of a funk for the past week or so.  I think it’s because I’m just in the mood to draw (like, really big scenes for some reason), but I’m at the tail end of six projects–which means only minor edits. That means that there’s a lot of time to THINK, and my brain is a big fuzzy MESS.

One of the main  challenges to running your own business is staying FOCUSED.

It is really easy to get overwhelmed by little details.  I have a huge list of business related blogs that I (try to) read, a handful of social networking sites that I “should” be on top of, a blog to write and a lot of emails to return.  I’ve been realizing recently that I really need to simplify my life.

Yes, it’s great to have a ton of inspiration, so it’s good to subscribe to a bunch of awesome blogs.  But when you have a bunch of other stuff to do, this is what happens:

Yes, that’s right: big badness.  Big, overwhelming BADNESS.

So today, I am going to make some decisions to clear out my brain.

• I cleared out my blog subscriptions, and went from 1000+ items to 487.  So that’s good, right?
• I also made the decision recently to only focus on Twitter and Facebook–I’m done with everything else.
• I am considering getting rid of my Etsy shop (more on that soon) and focusing only on the shop on my website.
• I am going to work on the marketing portion of my business plan today.

But I’m still all over the place, still totally overwhelmed with the crap in my head.  I’m not sure why.  Is it the weather?

Recently I’ve been working a bit more on marketing–or at least thinking about it.  A lot of the blogs I follow are of fellow crafters and stationery designers.  Recently there’s been a lot of coverage of the National Stationery Show, and people are now talking about the Renegade Craft Fair, which was this past weekend in Brooklyn and will be hitting San Francisco next month.

I haven’t done any of these craft or stationery shows.  I’m not sure that I really fit in at a craft show, as my wares are pretty much limited to greeting cards and artwork–everything else is custom, which kind of defeats the purpose of a craft show, right?  People come to purchase.

I would love to do the National Stationery Show (or the Gift Fair), especially for my greeting cards. The cost of attending those shows is seriously prohibitive, though (think thousands of dollars, plus the cost of travel and booth decorations).

I’ve done one bridal show–Lovely Details for two years. It’s a smaller show and is much less expensive than the bigger bridal shows, which can be $1500 for a booth.

Last year, I didn’t get much business from the bridal show.  It is a small show, so that’s not to say that I wouldn’t get a better return at a bigger show.   This year I had the pleasure of meeting a few of my readers (hi guys!) and people seemed to react with more enthusiasm at my table (which, appearance-wise, hasn’t really changed that much since last year).  Maybe people are looking for more personalized/different wedding stuff than they were last year?  I have no idea.

One cool and slightly unexpected thing I found last year was that there are a bunch of really amazing wedding vendors in the bay area, and they are very fun people.  This year was no different.  I had the opportunity to meet Amanda of Blueberry Photography, Audrey at Glowing Bridal, Andrea at Sift Cupcakery, Jennifer at Jennifer Longaway Photography, and John at Enhanced Lighting.  These are super nice people, and they make me really excited to be part of the wedding vendor community.  Last year I wanted to be best friends with Lisa + James, Huckleberry Karen and Lisa at Bellissima Vita (more on these four in about a month), and I’m happy to say that I am now pretty good friends with all of them.

So there are benefits to doing things like this, other than just getting business.  I don’t think of it as networking–I think of it as meeting awesome new people whom I would love to see again.

But is it worth the high cost for some of the bigger shows?  I’m not sure.  As a bride, I only went to a few shows, and I didn’t book any of my vendors after seeing them at a show.  How about you guys?  Would you book a vendor because you saw them at a fair?

A few weeks ago, we were lucky enough to have our storage area redone with a whole lot of new cabinetry.  In order to give the workmen access to the area, though, we had to clean out all of our stuff. And man, did we ever have a lot of stuff!

After the wedding, I just kind of abandoned all of my wedding planning things–I stuffed them into a corner and tried to forget they were there, because I just didn’t feel like dealing with them.  Nine months have passed!  Can you believe it?  And now that I’ve gone through it all, I have some stuff I’d like to share with you guys!

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be running giveaways here on my blog for six different wedding planning books–so if you know anyone who’s planning a wedding or just got engaged, tell them about it!

Here are the books I’ll be giving away (in the order that they’ll be listed):

 I DO: A guide to Creating your Own Unique Wedding Ceremony
by Sydney Barbara Metrick.
Retails for $14.95 and is in great condition.

The Artful Bride’s Wedding Invitations: A Stylish Bride’s Guide to Simple, Handmade Wedding Correspondence
by Laura McFadden & April L Paffrath
Retails for $12.99 and is in great condition

The Creative Jewish Wedding Book: A Hands-on Guide to New & Old Traditions, Ceremonies and Celebrations
by Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer
Retails for $19.99 and is in great condition

The Everything Wedding Organizer (with checklists, charts, and worksheets for planning the perfect day)
by Shelly Hagen
Retails for $16.95 and is in great condition

the Wedding Ceremony Planner: the Essential Guide to the Most Important Part of your Wedding Day
by Reverend Judith Johnson, PhD
Retails for $16.95.  This one has some notes and highlighting in it, and was by far my favorite resource for writing our ceremony.  If you don’t win this, buy it!  It’s a great book.

Great Wedding Tips from the Experts: What Every Bride Can Learn from the Most Successful Wedding Planners
by Robbi GW Ernst III
Retails for $18.95 and is in great condition.  This book got awesome reviews on Amazon, but I bought it too late in our planning to use it!

As you can see, it’s a pretty great haul!  Just comment on the individual posts, and a few days later I’ll post the winner.  :)

Whoo, it’s been awhile since I did a “Favorite Things,” hasn’t it?!  Well, here is another one of my favorite things, courtesy (once again) of my friend Sarah.

When I first started cooking, Sarah told me about this magazine and let me borrow a few of her old copies.  HOLY MOLY.  The recipes in here are fantabulous.  Furthermore, every issue teaches you about a different type of food and a different type of kitchenware.  I feel my brains expanding everytime I read one, let me tell you.  Most of the recipes are healthy (with the exception of the dessert section), and I haven’t had one yet that was less than 90% tasty.

I got a free subscription for reviewing a few of my vendors on WeddingWire (which I happily would have done anyway!), but I will definitely renew my subscription when the free one ends.  Highly recommended!

I’m so excited!  Last week my friend Sarah asked me to create a blog header for her.  She purchased a template from Rainy Day Templates for her cooking blog and felt like it needed a little something extra to make it personal.  She also wanted a way to rate her recipes.  Here’s what I came up with:

As you may have noticed, I don’t typically do eyeballs.  I usually just do happy little smiley eyes.  But Sarah has very striking blue eyes, and I really felt like I needed to include them.  :)  Sarah requested a vintage apron and asked to be holding a kitchen tool of some sort.

And for her rating system?  Little spatulas, of course!!

If you’re looking to update your blog but don’t have a big budget, check out the templates over at Rainy Day Templates.  They’re really modern and cute!

It’s time to vote, people!  As you may recall, my bumper sticker campaign offers the option to donate money to an organization fighting for marriage equality.  Well, my friends, the time to vote is here.  Where should we send our money?

I’ve done some research, and here are four very deserving organizations.  Please vote for the one you’d like to receive the donations–and if you have any other suggestions, I’d love to hear them in the comments section!

• Equality California has created a campaign called “Win Marriage Back, Make it Real.”  I like that they tell us exactly what they’re planning to do with the money. They’re aiming to put another initiative on the ballot in 2010.  You can read all about their plan by clicking here.

• Freedom to Marry is a national organization looking to win marriage equality nation-wide. From Freedom to Marry: Freedom to Marry encourages dialogue with Americans thinking through the need to end discrimination in marriage, provides support to targeted state and local efforts, and promotes fairness for all families, including same-sex couples and the children raised by gay parents. By working to secure equal access to marriage, we help reinforce our country’s historic commitment to freedom, the pursuit of happiness, and equal justice for all. You can learn more about them by clicking here.

• Lambda Legal works toward equality by pursuing high-impact litigation and educating the public.  From Lambda Legal: We make the case for equality in court and through education, and we help individuals obtain and advance their rights by providing legal information about federal laws and the laws in their state. We also offer information and resources to people seeking legal help through our telephone Help Desks and a wide variety of educational publications.

• The Courage Campaign is the source of that awesome video I posted the other day.  They’re organizing events and rallies all over the place.  From the Courage Campaign: The Courage Campaign is an online organizing network that empowers more than 700,000 grassroots and netroots activists to push for progressive change and equality in California. As a leading multi-issue advocacy organization in the progressive movement, the Courage Campaign’s work is made possible by thousands of small-dollar donations from community members across California and the country.

Please let me know what you think by commenting below!!

 I just got back from my printer and just couldn’t wait to post these invitations!  Betty and Jeff were looking for a simple invitation sweet with cherry blossoms.  These were printed on linen paper, and I just love how they turned out!

The invitation:

The RSVP:

Close-up:

Love love love!!