It's Christmas!

Things are feeling festive around here today!  All of my presents are wrapped, projects are done, it is now time to sit back and relax and soak up the joy of this Christmas season.  I am very grateful for the productive year that I have had.  I have been very busy, learned a lot, and am growing creatively and professionally as the days go by.

I'd like to share two projects with you that I completed last month.  Earlier I hosted a contest on my facebook fan site and the winner won 75 free Christmas cards!  The winner chose the design "Christmas with the K's":

I also had the opportunity this fall to work with a bride that is nothing short of fabulous.  Her wedding sounds like it is going to be just as fabulous so, of course, she needed some rockin' invitations.  

Here is the finished set:

The invitation is black with white and teal text and of course, the grand peacock image is on the right.  The invitations were coordinated with a teal metallic envelope which was the perfect extra detail.  The RSVP card featured the same image in teal with teal and black text with coordinating white envelopes.  And of course, I had ordered a coordinating magnet from Remaking Memories as a gift for the bride and groom.  It was the perfect accessory to the entire set.

 Cheers to the bride and groom and to all of my 2010 customers.  I have had such a great year and I am looking forward to the excitement that 2011 will bring!

The Most ONEderful Time of the Year!

It's holiday time, which for some people means complete craziness.  Parties to attend, presents to buy (and wrap), food to bake, the list goes on and on.  It has been crazy over here too, however in my eyes, crazy busy is a good thing.

I have been working on so many projects this past month and I have so much to share!  Let me start first with these birthday invitations.  A long time friend contacted me in regards to creating some invitations for her Grandmother's 90th birthday party.  The party was to be held in December and they wanted something festive, but not Christmasy.  They decided on a navy blue and gold color scheme and opted to use metallic lapis paper.  We went with the holiday sparkle design and modified it for this event. The client was very pleased with the finished product: 

I have been making TONS of note cards lately and I am loving it!  The letter art note cards have been a hit, I have created over 20 sets!!  Recently, Elizabeth K Photography held a contest via her blog/facebook page.  Two of her fans won a set of these:

On top of the note cards, I have also been working on several party invitations.  I need to show off what I think are some of the cutest birthday invites that I have made.  This little cutie pie turns 1  in January and her mom came up with THE BEST birthday party idea!  The theme for her party is "Winter ONEderland" and it is going to be a pink, white, and silver celebration.  We came up with a dazzling birthday invitation that is just perfect for this event.  The invite was printed on Stardream Metallic opal shimmery paper and was matted on Stardream Metallic silver paper, with a coordinating metallic silver envelope.  The invitation featured a pink background with cute white snowflakes.  The design was finished off with a photo of little miss adorable herself!  I had so much fun creating this invite.  This client was a breeze to work with and I am just so in love with this idea - kudos to you, Kendra!

The photo of this invitation is so disappointing, it does not capture how pretty this invitation is.  It is shimmery, glitzy and all around fabulous!  So please, try to imagine its awesomeness as you check it out:

Amidst the errands, schedules, and craziness, this is a wonderful time of year.  I hope everyone is able to step back and relax a bit and soak up the festive mood of this season.  Cheers!



Have a Little Faith

Well, the new notecards are a major hit - hooray!  I love them so much and I am so glad others do, too!

I recently sent out 5 custom orders, all using the same word - FAITH.  These cards are unique since each customer incorporated their own favorite scripture on the notecard.

Here is a ( grainy) photo of one set of cards:

And here they all are packaged up and ready to go!

Have you placed your order, yet?  Don't forget, they are on sale until Thanksgiving!



New (and TOTALLY AWESOME) Product!

Awhile back I blogged about my letter art.  I have an entire alphabet of these "letters" and they are super duper cool.  You can create personalized art, etc.  They serve as a great gift!

Here is a photo to refresh your memory:

Now, if you were just thinking to yourself, "Wow, those are really cool," prepare yourself to be even more excited!
Last night while printing away I came across piles of notecards that I had purchased eons ago to print on.  They were sitting in the pile of neglected projects (you know what I mean, all of our homes have that same pile!).  Anyway, while I was printing, it dawned on me what I could do with them.  Behold, the sweetest notecards, EVER!

Imagine sending thank you cards or with your last name on them - or giving these as a gift to a bride and groom.  These notecards would be perfect for personal correspondance or as gifts to that person that is hard to buy for.  Just imagine the possibilities!!  I have an entire alphabet, so I can create any word, add any text, etc!

And, as an added bonus, since I am just launching these cards, I am going to put them on SALE until Thanksgiving!!!  Normally I am pricing this personalized set for $8 for a set of 8 cards with envelopes - from now until Thanksgiving, they will be $7.00/set!!  Get 'em while they're hot folks!!!!

Email - sarahtoyzan@yahoo.com for ordering information.

Please allow 7 days for production and shipping. Also, add $2 shipping to any order.  Pick-up orders available in the Tri-City area.

The Holidays are Approaching!

Tomorrow starts the onsalught of Holiday marketing - goodbye Fall and Halloween, hello, Christmas!  Well, not actually, but it always seems to me that as soon as Halloween is done, the major Christmas marketing begins.  One of my local radio stations plays Christmas music now until New Years and people begin their 2 month shopping bonanza.  In the spirit of Holiday over kill, I decided to post a holiday invitation set that I recently created.

The bride was a referral to me from a friend that is a great customer.  This friend was one of my first ever weddings and she has since ordered a handful of other invitations.  I was so grateful that she referred me, because to me this is the greatest compliment I can get!!  I really got excited for this set especially after I began working with the bride - she had an awesome wedding design in mind.  Her wedding is going to be held on New Year's Eve and will be using the regal color scheme of black, ivory and gold.  I can only imagine how glam and glitzy this event will be!

The bride chose the "Holiday Sparkle" design, with some minor changes.  We changed the color scheme, dropped the snowflakes, and added some small swirls.  What we ended up with was an invitation perfect for a NYE wedding!

The set included invitation with printed return address, RSVP card and envelope, and an accommodations card:

 And as a gift to the bride and groom, I had a Christmas ornament made from their invitation from Remaking Memories:

Cheers to you, Hali and Curtis!

Autumn Bliss

So far it has been a gorgeous fall in Michigan - great colors, lots of sunshine, and perfect temperatures.

Fall is a very popular time to have a wedding, with good reason!

I would like to share some wedding invitations that I recently made for a fall wedding that I know will be simply stunning.  The bride was looking for something fall-ish, but wasn't crazy for any of the designs that I already had.  So, I went to the drawing board (literally) and came up with this invitation.  I drew and hand painted the branch for this invitation, which really makes her invitations one of  a kind!

I also created these coordinating thank you cards:

 And I also had a special gift made for the bride from Remaking Memories.  This two-sided ornament was made from their invitation:

We ended up changing the envelope from the ivory envelope pictured to a gorgeous pumpkin colored envelope - the final set was gorgeous!!  However, I forgot to take a photo of the invites with the colored envelope, which is so disappointing because it really was a stunning set all put together.

Anyway, I thought this invitation set was one of my favorites.  It also got me thinking, I could hand paint more artwork for invitations and make really unique invitations.  Are there any ideas out there? What would you like to see??

A Contest (Sort of)

I decided that I want to increase my fan following on facebook.  What genius plan did I come up with??  A giveaway, of course! 

Check my facebook page for the details!

Fancy Schmancy

Awhile back I posted about the invitation suite for Adam & Elia.  Their wedding suite was gorgeous, they are great people, the whole experience was memorable. 

After the wedding, I was able to get a glimpse of their gorgeous wedding photos.  To my surprise and excitement I spotted some photos taken of the stationery that I created.  It looked stunning, simply stunning!  So, I contacted the photographer, RJ Neal, and asked if I could share his photos.  He quickly obliged, which was so generous of him. 

So, check out these photos of the stationery from Elia & Adam's wedding and prepare to be impressed!

Many thanks to RJ Near Photography for these high quality, outstanding photos.  Check out his work here - http://rjnphoto.com.

Also, as a follow up to the previous post in regards to naming this new design, I have to share what I decided.  There were many great ideas, but nothing that really "nailed it". After talking with 2 creative friends, I decided that since this design was created just for this wedding, it was only fitting to name the design after them.  So, there you have it, my new design, titled "Elia".

Look until you really "see"

The title of this blog is a familiar saying that is credited to my dear friend, Lois.  She has taught me in many ways to feed my creative soul and look at things until I really "see" them.  She has taught me to see beauty in lines and shapes and to explore the simple things that we oftentimes overlook.  What I am going to share with you today is my way of doing exactly that.

Years ago, I was bitten by the travel bug.  My desire to travel is very evident and I have been grateful to have had so many opportunities to travel and explore new places.  I have enjoyed long, exotic trips to places like Hawaii and Australia, and also love investigating the beauty of my own state, Michigan.  When I go somewhere new, I love to get involved with the local experience.  I like to enjoy local cuisines, explore interesting neighborhoods and attempt to experience the location in an authentic way.  Years ago I used to love purchasing oodles and oodles of souvenirs and trinkets to remind me of my experiences.  A few years and life lessons later I have now changed the type of souvenir that I like to collect from trinkets to treasured photos.  I love taking snapshots of beautiful places and spaces.  By looking and really "seeing" some of these places I have discovered something new that is quite fun and interesting!

Behold, my letter art.  Since I started this little project over a year ago, I have come to realize that letters are everywhere!  Architecture, nature, food, etc.  Look and you shall see!

I have collected an entire alphabet throughout my travels and have really enjoyed this process.  From the letter A hidden in a police barricade in Chicago, to the letter L piled into a mosaic sculpture in Australia, I have collected letters everywhere.  I have made many letter art pieces for people and am now beginning to explore more possibilities.  From framed photos to return address labels and note cards, the possibilities are endless!  With the holidays creeping up on us, I thought it was a fitting time to share this unique idea in hopes that many of you will find that this is the perfect personalized gift.

Enjoy what you see, and please, start dreaming.  I would love to create something for you or a loved one!

These photos are available in 4"x10", 5.5"x14", 8"x10" and 5"x7"

Or, you can have some return address labels made like these!

I can create note cards, photos, address labels, you name it!  So, start dreaming!  And remember, start looking until you can really "see"

DeerFest

Tomorrow is the opening day of bow hunting season and sadly I know this.  I know this because my husband is an avid bow hunter.  He looks forward to hunting season so much, almost as much I look forward to sleeping in on the weekends.  Anyway, on the eve of opening day, I thought it was appropriate to post a little something about a little thing he likes to call DEERFEST.

Deerfest was developed 4 years ago, as a celebration of the upcoming hunting season.  For those of you that don't live in the rural midwest, hunting is big around here.  I mean BIG.  I am talking so big that when we have a camofalge spirit day at school EVERYONE dresses up.  So big that kids take off school to hunt.  So big that my local outlet mall hosts a huge sale the weekend of opening day in order to entice the deer "widows".  I think you get the picture.

Deerfest has evolved over the years from a redneck gathering into an actual fun party.  Yes, there is still camoflage involved, but now there is also really good food, 50/50 raffles, auction items, and of course, lots of friends and family members to spend time with.  This year for Deerfest we had t-shirts specially desgined by Michael's cousin, Joe.  Joe is a mural artist in Chicago ( you need to check him out, he is beyond awesome - http://www.joemillerwork.com/) and is pretty awesome at anything art related.  He designed some funny shirts for us and the Deerfest 2010 planning was under way.

Typically, I am removed from any Deerfest participating as it is NOT my thing.  But this year, I thought I would make a little something I had been wanting to try for awhile.  Behold - the Deerfest custom water bottle labels!!!

I am soooo excited that I can now make custom labels for water!  How fun would these be for a bridal shower, birthday party, or rehearsal dinner???  They were so easy to make and looked so cute. 

In addition to having the snazzy water labels, Katie at Remaking Memories also donated some cool stuff.  She made a custom magnet and 2 sets of custom coasters for the event:

So kudos to us for embracing Deerfest and all that it entails! 

Now I want to make more water bottle labels - what is your next event?  Let's make some and make your event special!

Adam & Elia

Recently I finished up an invitation suite that was one of my favorites to date.  Awhile ago, I began corresponding with the bride.  She and her fiance were having a fall wedding in upstate New York and were looking for something modern yet beautiful.  They liked a lot of my designs, but nothing quite fit.  So, we went to the drawing board and came up with a beautiful modified paisley design that we eventually used throughout the entire suite.

It all began with the 4x6 glossy save the date cards. 

and then the coordinating bridal shower invitations:



and then came the wedding invitation set.  The set was printed on ivory 100lb. stock with coordinating ivory envelopes.  Included were invitations, RSVP cards aand accomodation cards.

And of course, the gift I gave them for their wedding - a Christmas ornament keepsake made from their wedding invitation, by Remaking Memories:

After the invitations were sent, it was time to work on the rest of the coordinating wedding stationery.  I created coordinating thank you cards:

Favor Tags:



Table numbers:

Menu cards:

Programs:

Open House invitations for the wedding celebration in the groom's hometown:

And, finally, my favorite part.  When discussing seating charts, we both liked the idea of doing a large poster sized chart.  Elia had found an idea in a wedding magazine featuring a tree, used to show how everyone was related.  I thought that idea was so cool, so we jumped on it and the result was THIS!:

This seating chart was so beautiful, my pictures do it no justice whatsoever.  It was 18''x24" and would be displayed on an easel greeting the guests as they entered the reception.  I am so in love with this seating chart, it is my absolute favorite thing that I have ever created.

I was so grateful for this opportunity to work with Adam & Elia.  Elia was one of the sweetest people, ever.  So easy going and laid back, she was a breeze to work with!  I have known Adam for years, so it was nice to be able to make such a grand stationery set for their wedding.  I loved how everything coordinated and I was very happy with the result of everything.  Cheers to you Adam and Elia, I wish you many years of happiness!

Since this design was created just for them, I have yet to post it on my site.  This is for 2 reasons.  #1, I wanted to wait until their wedding was over before releasing their design.  #2, I have to idea what to call this invitation design!!  Do you have any ideas?  Please, leave a comment to help me name this design - all ideas are welcome.