Office Dance Break

One of the downsides to working as a designer is the number of hours I sit in front of my computer. You know the saying: "Time flies when you're having fun!" Well time does fly as I sit designing pretty invitations, a new printable file for a small business or a logo, but when it's time to step away and begin "mommy time" after school, my legs can sometimes be a little achy. That's why I set an alarm on my computer to remind me to get up and move a little during the work day. I created a Spotify playlist called "Office Dance Break" that helps me get a few minutes of moving in. Aggie, my goldendoodle, is always happy to dance with me. If you're looking for some fun music to move to, have a listen. If you're on Spotify, give me a follow and I'll follow you back!

Wishing you a happy Saturday!
-Patti

Post-Party Thank You Note Writing

Tis the season for party hosting and attending! Holiday party season is officially here. I know I've written about the importance of taking a hostess/host gift to the party, so today's post is a reminder to thank your host afterward with a thoughtful handwritten note. Please don't do this with an email. It's really not enough. After all, the party-giver went to great lengths to prepare for their guests. Even if the festivities were ultra casual, there was much effort taken to prepare for the fun and keep the party going.

Thank you notes can be thoughtful and to the point in as few as 4 sentences.

1. Thank the host for inviting you to the party.
2. Note at least one specific detail, of the event, that was extra special to you.
3. Expand on that detail in a personal way.
4. Wish the host a lovely holiday season or if you know of an upcoming event for the host, wish them much success with the occasion.

It's really that simple! Here's an example:

stacked initial stationery, stacked initial rubber stamp, ink box, staedtler triplus fineliner pen

Dear Daphne & Chris,

Thank you for inviting Matthew and me to your holiday party. The two of us couldn't stop talking about how delicious your signature drink was! 

I'd love the recipe sometime.  Have a lovely trip to Utah and Happy New Year!

Love,

Patti

For the cost of a piece of stationery and a stamp, you'll be brightening someone's day, reminding them how lovely they are, and you might just make next year's guest list! 

Cheers to a festive holiday party season and being thankful. Write your thank you notes and feel good about making someone's day special.

xoxo

-Patti

2011 Holiday Event Continues!

Hello, friends. How has your weekend been? Mine has been packed full of holiday parties and cheer! Three nights in a row I've had the honor of attending amazing parties and today I'm trying to recuperate and get ready for the third week in my 2011 Holiday Event.

Cute #JingleTweet Logo

Before I remind you of of this week's giveaway, I want to say a special thank you to the lovely ladies of Quintessence Blog and Ridgely's Radar. Stacey and Ridgely hosted an amazing holiday (JingleTweet) party on Thursday night at The Audiocom Group. The evening was perfect with great gifts, delicious food and drink, an amazing venue, lovely guests and of course the very gracious hostesses. When you have a moment, please be sure to stop by Quintessence and Ridgely's Radar. You can follow Stacey, Ridgely and The Audiocom Group on twitter as well!

Starting Monday, December 12, with every purchase of stationery from my online shop OR my etsy shop, you'll receive a complimentary Staedtler Triplus Fineliner pen! I've been using these marker pens for a while and I love them! Head over to my shop or my etsy and pick up a few sets of stationery for yourself (remember to write those thank you notes after the holidays!) or others on your gift giving list. Each set will come with a lovely marker.

If you're reading this on Sunday, December 11, you still have time to receive a complimentary greeting card of your choice with each set of stationery purchased from my shop! 

HGTV Feature

As promised in my June Newsletter, I am now able to share all the details surrounding my first Online Publication with none other than HGTV! Even though I wrote about it in the July newsletter, I thought I'd share the details here as well as all the photos I submitted.

In May I was contacted by HGTV by way of my Etsy shop. HGTV was looking for 2-3 fill-in invitations, as well as PDFs and beauty shot, to be part of a party planning segment. Here are the results...

To see all 16 designs submitted by myself and other talented designers, and to download your own copies of these invitations, just click here to go to the article on hgtv.com. 

Another Month, Another Party!

We have finally settled down from our recent grand event; my first born's Bar Mitzvah! But that doesn't mean we can let our party-planning guard down. My younger son's birthday is today so we are, once again, preparing for another party! When I was pregnant with my second son, I knew the delivery was going to be via cesarian-section. My Ob/Gyn wanted to schedule the delivery for the last week of May since the baby was of healthy weight and all signs were as good as could be. But I wanted each child to have "their own birthday month". I look back at that silly request and just laugh. Oh, well...

Here we are, 11 years later, and we're ready to tackle the next adventure! So hard to believe my little guys are 13 and 11 now. How time most certainly flies! Happy birthday "Thing 2"! In a few weeks we'll be hosting another motley crew of boys. Look out neighbors! The boys are back in town!!!

Thing 2, age 1

Ready for Nature's Classroom

A Weekend of Celebration

Our family had a wonderful weekend full of celebrating! Not only was it mother's day, but my oldest son became a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday. I've shared some of the process along the way with photos of the invitation suite and a few of the party favors. Today I'm showing you a little bit more. As you may recall, the party had a "woodland" theme. I used two existing illustrations from my collection, the snail and mushroom, and I added a third illustration: the fern.

Each guest (or couple) received nine pieces of Woodland Themed personalized stationery...

Each place setting included a dark chocolate covered pretzel rod from Munson's Chocolates and a menu card with one of the woodland illustrations on top. The place cards were also topped with one of the themed illustrations...

Here is a photo I snapped of my son's table. I will share more photos once I receive them from the photographer.

The whole day was absolutely lovely. All were invited to the luncheon directly following the service while only kids were invited to the evening festivities which lasted until 11:00 p.m. A restful Mother's Day was greatly appreciated and I'm not ashamed to tell you I never changed out of my pajamas on Sunday. And to top it off... I took a mid-day nap! Perfection.

Almost Party Time!!

Today I received a lovely package from the talented prop makers at Maro Designs! I have a feeling these props are going to make an already festive day Over-The-Top-Fun!!! Have a look at all the fun photo props I got today... then go check out Maro Designs etsy shop. The order was made with terrific detail and packaged with care. Thank you, Suzi. Ten more days until we party!!!

I love them all, but I think this last photo is my favorite!

The Bar Mitzvah Invitations Are Mailed!

As many of you know, I've been designing my son's Bar Mitzvah invitations for a while. I've asked several of my fellow stationery friends and the census seems to hold true for all of them: Designing for your own event is significantly more difficult than designing for someone else's event! It seemed to take me a really, really long time to pull all this together, but I'm thrilled with the outcome.

When starting the process of designing the invitation suite, I consulted the Bar Mitzvah boy himself. After discussing possible color combinations we decided on colors found on a walk in the forest. Jacob loves to hike and mountain bike. He's also very environmentally conscious, so a "theme" centering around nature is fitting. So without further adieu  I give you Jacob's forest inspired Bar Mitzvah invitation suite.

The suite features shades of mossy greens and charcoal. I hand drew Jacob's Hebrew name. Jacob told me that it is his favorite part of the entire set. Included in the square envelope is the invitation which is backed with a 120 lb. onyx pearly cardstock, the reply card with stamped envelope, directions to the synagogue and "after party" invitations individually addressed to each of Jacob's friends.

The thank-you card for after the event.

Stay tuned for photos of the party! And keep your fingers crossed for lovely weather, please.

Halloween 2010

Our halloween party was a huge success! We hosted 70+ people and it appeared fun was had by all. Our dear friend, Shannon Calvert of Hire Imagination was among the guests and he was gracious enough to take photos of the night! Please take a moment to visit his site.

Autumn Has Arrived (sort of)

Technically speaking, it is officially Autumn. Weather-wise, um, not-so-much. Today in New England it was a lovely 82 degrees and the weatherman says warmer and more humidity for tomorrow. That stated, the trees, squirrels and geese know the seasons have changed. Everywhere I look I note shades of Autumn color on the treetops. The squirrels have been busy digging in the garden, finding that perfect hiding spot for Winter's culinary treasures. The Canada Geese can been seen (and heard) flying in their perfect "V" formation as they make their way to a warmer climate.

This imagery brings me to some of my latest card designs.  I recently had the honor of creating a custom design for a business that specializes in the humane removal of Canada Geese by using canines.  The owner of the company had received a business holiday card last year from a client of mine. She contacted me this Summer asking if I could create a holiday cards unique to her business. Here is the finished product. I especially love the look of it with the rhubarb colored envelopes! The order was complete with coordinating, round return address labels.

More and more companies are sending appreciation cards during the Thanksgiving season which is smart and thoughtful business! Here are some of the other Autumn designs you can find in my shop. If you send out business "holiday cards" perhaps you'll consider sending Thanksgiving cards instead. My clients who do so report a lot of positive feedback!

(almost) Annual Halloween Party

We moved into our current home about 10 years ago.  It was January 31 and the day was a typical cold and snowy New England Winter's day.  I had a two-year-old as well as a newborn and I knew no one in our tree lined neighborhood.  It took a good six months to really start to mingle with the neighbors, but during those six months I discovered we'd moved onto a street that had several small children and babies!  When October rolled around I decided to host a neighborhood Halloween party!  We've thrown a bash of some sort or another nearly every year since.  Occasionally we've skipped a year here and there, but basically we do our best to host something for the neighborhood kids and grown-ups.  We missed last year, so this year we're trying to make up for loss time.  Here is the invitation I designed for the big night!

Here are some photos of Halloween past...

one year hubs and I went as "Super Hero" sandwiches
(made with "Wunder Bread")

homemade skeleton costume
(white vinyl table cloth material was my friend!)

over the kitchen table

mad scientist... and the candy cabinet (if you dare!)

specimen and candles... and a few spiders

our "haunted" house

What sort of fun things will you be doing this year for Halloween?  Let me know in the comments!