welcoming fall

subtle and romantic patterns. images via here.

bold colors paired with clean pattern. image via here.

earthy and natural textures. images via here.

some of my favorite things for fall. things that inspired and appealed to me. i'm leaning towards subtle but bold, clean pattern, and quiet and understated items.

don't forget, starting today, my store is having end of summer sale. it's buy one get one 50% off for all fine stationery items, and this offer can be combined with free worldwide shipping cost of all orders over $50! we're ending summer with the bang!

have a great weekend!

creativity overload

images via here.

creativity overload last night and i was sooo sooo happy my favorite creative show is back on the air. above are the images from last night's all star challenge from project runway and can you tell which ones from found object which ones are actual fabric? i was rooting for daniel vosovic and he did win! and i have to say, just watching all these designers working their behind off and get creative, totally inspires me to create!

have a great weekend!

-sharon

linen paper and thread

this book can be purchased here.

first 3 (in what hopefully to be many) successful pouches that i did on thursday.

sewing has always intrigued me, but i have no skills on it. when i was young, i broke so many sewing machine that i thought i was jinxed. however, i love the process of sewing, from the idea, pattern, and to sewing. so a few months ago, on weekends, i would learn how to use my computerized sewing machine. so, i was very happy when i successfully sewn these 3 type of pouches! how do i define success? well it's very simple, i've sewn it straight! (ha!) in my studio, there were many many fabric wasted because i couldn't sew straight. and when i finally was able, i was joyous. i wonder if this is how toddler feel when they were able to walk 2 or 3 steps?

hopefully eventually i will be able to create something more elaborate with my sewing machine. in the meantime, my house will be filled with these pouches as i'm trying to better myself with the skill.

so here are some of the books that helps me motivated (and inspired) to dwell in the world of sewing and crafting:

lotta jansdotter's simple sewing

printing by hand (sewing AND printing!)

bend the rules sewing.

last minute patchwork and quilted gifts

have a great weekend!

-sharon

babies in mind

new baby announcement cards from us. can be purchased via our shoppe. this personalize-able cards are sold in the set of 10 cards. this is a circus mixed in with nature inspired designs for a more sophisticated moms.

-sharon

packaged with care

calendar packaging.

this is exciting! all of our products are now packaged with these packaging making them gift ready. all these packaging are standard when you shop our products.

-sharon

time flies

2010 monthly calendar can be purchased here.

i created the new wall or desk calendar to have the versatility so you can write on it, you can put stickers on it, you can doodle on it, do what ever your heart content. this calendar is printed digitally on 100% recycled 30% post consumer cover weight paper. this calendar can be used internationally since there's no holiday indication on it. ^^

i have updated all the photos on my etsy store. hope you can enjoy (and feel) the papers better.

enjoy!

-sharon

human relation

click on image or here for link. this image is for when i put in the word paper.

this is not paper related, but thought i should share cool technology. i found this while looking through TED talks and found Jonathan Harris' talk about his findings on human relation.

enjoy and have a great the rest of the weekend!

-sharon

one look two ways

image via flickr

image: painting by marie niu

found these and thought it's interesting how the 2 ladies have the same expressions but expressed in totally different way. marieniu site has her great portfolio with similarly haunting but beautiful paintings. i don't know enough about her, but i love her work.

and i'm lusting for this lamp, this usb flash drive, and thought that this custom cake topper is just too cute!

pretty pillow

image no.3 the street handmade pillow via bridgetdavies' etsy store.

this pretty pillow is hand (!) embroidered by bridgetdavies.

what's in your closet?

i'm working on getting my branding straighten up today. all of these due to the feedback i received for my etsy store's banner. then i re-evaluated my brand. it is very difficult for me to design for myself due to several reasons, but mostly because i change my mind all the time. (this is also the reason why it takes me a long time to design for my own products.) then i realized, i've learnt all of this in school! the first step to branding is how you present it. the first second of someone look at your brand, they (viewer, customer) judge you. just like when you meet someone. no matter how nice you are, everybody snap judges. whether you stick with it or not that's a different story. whether your company can give people deeper impression or not that's when packaging, customer service and all the other stuffs coming in. the combination of these what create a company's brand.

so i forced myself to look at my branding mirror, and now my facebook pages main picture, then go to to my twitter page and then my store have some continuity. this is a start, then there will be more continuity on my packaging, and on and on. now i'm getting hyped up!

oh yeah, the image above was taken from anthropologie. such cute dress and shoes. so when you see someone dresses like this, what's your snap judgement?

-sharon

design vs function

image via spoon-tamago via co-lab

the beauty of starting a business is this rather slow economy is that i have plenty of time to develop. the ugly part is that it's hard to develop when business is slow. so balancing the two has been interesting. i 'm working on new designs this week, and heavily thinking of design vs function. how much can i push stationery design without it being totally ridiculous while still maintaining the company's principles. so with this spirit, i'm looking at different designs, from paper to architecture, not only for inspiration, but also for encouragement.

this is when i say, thank god for bloggers! the image above is of a library. not a big surprise, but i love libraries. ^^ this image is my source of inspiration and encouragement this week.

-sharon