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The spooky season is about to turn over to my favorite, the holiday season! Even when I worked in retail, I loved the holiday season. I love the bows, wrapping gifts, everything being shiny and peppermint ice cream and the ultimate-chocolate oranges. (Seriously, this is bribe-worthy.) Because I stay overly busy, I never get to send snail mail, but I get to drool holiday envelope art on pinterest, so here are some of my favorites.

Colorful and Funky

Source: https://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2014/05/envelope-address-hand-lettering-tutorial/

This envelope is seriously so much fun. I love the colors and how big all of the lettering is. Imagine this in gold and red for the perfect holiday look!

Simple and Cute

Source: pinterest.com

Unfortunately, the link to the actual DIY takes you to a 404 page, but from this image, it looks like a stamp and doodling combo. And it’s absolutely adorable. An easy stamp can be made from rubber you get at a craft store, but you can certainly draw the tag in, as well.

Classic Holiday

Source: https://thepostmansknock.com/catalog/holiday-mail-art-envelope-templates/

The queen of envelopes, in my opinion, is The Postman’s Knock. She comes up with some gorgeous designs and sometimes you just have to go literal. I love the line of lights, the gorgeous painterly tree, and the beautiful calligraphy.

Want some beginner lettering tips? Read this blog post for my top tips.

Don’t Forget the Liners

Source: papermint.me

Liners take your letter or card to a whole new level. And they are super easy, find some scrapbook paper you love and you can cut it out to fit in your envelope. I’ve picked up some templates from Paper Source which helps a lot when you’re in a hurry.

I hope you all found some of this inspiration fun and maybe this year, I’ll check off the “send Christmas card” task on my to-do list!

How did January fly by so fast? If this is any indication of the year, well by next month – it will be Halloween already. Anyways, time travels aside – as promised here are my client projects overview in 2017.

I had so much fun working on all of Amber and Scott’s wedding paper. This invitation suite was A DREAM – custom lettering, custom illustrations and hand-lettered envelopes. I even got to work on coordinating programs, the cutest wedding sign and gorgeous name tags! Also, I got to work on their wedding rehearsal invites – can’t wait to get them photographed!

And I can’t even express how exciting it was to work on these beauties for Danielle and Drew. Gorgeous watercolor-y leaves GALORE with bright and lovely yellow envelopes.

And this one, how much fun is this? A wedding postcard with some rustic touch and custom lettering on the front. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

I can’t thank these couples enough for trusting me with their weddings’ first impressions.

And to my business babes – I love that you trust me to be a part of your business. For me, my side biz is pretty much another child, and it humbles me that you all trust me to work on your logos, brand books, and t-shirt designs.

Speaking of business babes, one of my favorite people to work with is Tianna from Yours Truly Portraiture. Not only is Tianna an amazing person to hang out with, her energy is addicting. I absolutely love her and the way she makes women feel beautiful just for being themselves. Here are three of my favorite contributions to her styled shoots, including one that we worked on planning together where we incorporated a lot of lovely paper.

Vendors: The Historic Post Office, Yours Truly Portraiture, Misty Saves the Day, Fluttering Flowers, Mad Hatter Vintage Rentals, Behind the Veil

Vendors: Norfolk Botanical Gardens, Yours Truly Portraiture, Kathy Forrest Design, Mad Hatter Vintage Rentals, Rachael Green

 Venue: The Studio at Chelsea Commons, Yours Truly Portraiture, Mad Hatter Vintage Rentals, Brittney Noel, Sarah Slade Beauty

Here’s to the rest of 2018 to be even more incredible and full of custom, beautiful letters!

It’s that time of the year again – time for reflection and making goals for a better year. This past year has been a lot of “WTF am I doing?” and “Damn, I’m good!”

Some amazing things happened.

• I have made some wonderful new friends that are also on this entrepreneur journey.
• Thanks to The Rising Tide Society, I entered the world of Styled Shoots.
• Old friends supported me by asking me to make some great stuff for their wedding or home.
• I’ve met new people who wanted me to make them cool stuff for their wedding or home.
• I did my first chalkboard mural at Hummingbird Macaron and Desserts.
• I got my dream full-time job with the best co-workers.
• My hubby and I bought a house, and we got our first real family pet.
• We also successfully survived another year being parents, which is the hardest job in the world.

However, it wasn’t all sunshine-

• I was unsuccessful at my 12 ABCs, but learned that I really need to a better balance of this full time job, motherhood, and side-hustle thing.
• I did not get a lot of Etsy products happening, but thankfully it was because I was busy with client work.
• I’ve never had so little in my savings account, like ever. But, this has taught me that I need to budget better.
• Arik has been overwhelmingly difficult. It’s been tears over going to school, eating any meal, taking a bath, leaving the house in general, and going to sleep. I mean, whine is the kid’s second language.
• I got a bad review. This really bummed me out. I was so embarrassed, but I learned how to fix my mistakes and now I have the best method ever and will be making better product for next year. The client was extremely happy with my redo and have said she loves me again.
• I got extremely unmotivated to hustle. Life was so. damn. hard. All of my close friends are traveling, having fun, binging Netflix and I’m here with no money, a whiny kid who doesn’t want to go ANYWHERE, and no time to watch movies or read a book. So I did the best thing – I took a break. Sure, I had to turn down paid opportunities, but I wasn’t going to be making good stuff because I was in such a terrible mood. The break helped me to figure out where I want to go with this thing and reminded me why I’m doing all of this anyways. Which brings me to-

Next year is all about FOCUS.

It’s about focusing on one thing at a time. It’s about creating boundaries and setting up “Office Hours” and special hubby time. It’s about playing with Arik without worrying about missed work opportunities. It’s also about not feeling guilty when I can’t play with Arik all the time. It’s about focusing on where our money is going- do we really need to buy this and why. And, it’s about focusing on me – what I need and taking the time to take care of myself.

Sure, I know I’m still going to multitask at times. I know that I will answer that one question at work, when I really shouldn’t even be looking at my phone. But, I need to practice being intentional with my time more than I’m used to. So I can become a better mom, wife, and designer.

What are your goals for the new year?