some things are just meant to be...

people always ask, when did you realize you wanted to do graphic design?

normally, i answer, my first year at cal poly san luis obispo when i realized i did not want to be an architect. but when i think back on this some more, i realize that i was destined to be a graphic designer as early as the age of 7. each year in grade school, we had scholastic book fairs. now, out of all the books i could have picked, the very first book i totally had to have, desperately wanted and begged my mom for was a lettering book.

the lettering book, by noelene morris





now you tell me, what in the world was a 7 year old going to do with a lettering book???

my new succulent plant

my friends jess & glenn took me to a succulent nursery located right here in pasadena, california cactus center, and introduced me to a whole new world of plants. they bought me this cute little plant as a little souvenir. it's sitting in my office window sill enjoying the sun, as it shines through during the day.

i also realized that same day, what a great word "succulent" is. i have to say, it is now one of my favorite words. c'mon, you know you want to say it out lout with me!

simplewear available now on ETSY!!!

visit simplewear on Etsy @ simplewear.etsy.com
simplewear takes "the basic baby onesie" and individually styles and customizes each piece allowing for an original and memorable gift idea.

in a card now available on ETSY!!!

visit in a card on Etsy @ inacard.etsy.com introducing a new line of personalized and monogram notecards that make great gifts for others as well as yourselves! 'cause EVERYONE could use a personal little note of thanks or a simple thinking of you, EVERYDAY OF THE YEAR!

words to live by...

a quote by Marianne Williamson:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same."

mad hatter tea party

for my niece's 4th birthday she is going to have a mad hatter tea party.

i love the mad hatter tea party theme because it allows me to play with all sorts of fun colors. the hat is made of glitter felt fabric, with actual ribbon used as the trim and paper flowers with a rhinestone center as added embellishment. i got to pair it up with fushia envelopes, lined with the perfect orange with white polka dot wrapping paper.

an oldie, but goodie

for my dad's 60th birthday i thought it would be fun to take one of his old black and white pictures and turn it into a record album cover. and so my dad's album (danny boy) was called, "an oldie, but goodie". each invitation was mailed out as a miniature record album with details about the party printed on a record shape paper that you pulled out of the sleeve.







for the cake, my mom made it resemble an old record player. how cool is that???



as guests left, each was sent home with a collection of songs that my dad enjoys. i found cds that resembled records and used that to burn each copy and tucked each one inside the same album cover that was used for the invitation with the addition of the song title and artists on the backside.

air lucas

for my nephew's 1st birthday we did an airplane theme party.

all the guests we're mailed invitations that resembled airline tickets. each invitation was personalized with each guest's names printed on each ticket to give it a more personal and realistic touch. maybe too realistic because a few aunts and uncles really thought they had won a free airplane ticket! lol...



my mom created this amazing airplane shaped cake with little cupcakes with cloud toppers surrounding the entire cake.

two peas in a pod

with my niece turning 2 and my nephew being baptized, my sister needed an invitation that merged two celebrations together. this garden inspired party came from the 2 peas in a pod invitation idea i had. these hand cut and handcrafted invitations resembled a pea pod shape, with the two little pea heads (images of my niece and nephew) being taken out to reveal the event information on each backside. the final piece was actually embellished with curly ribbon to represent the curly vines that are usually depicted with pea pods.





most of the time i get great responses and feedback from women regarding my invitations, but this time i actually had a man, my uncle, say, "it's soooo cute!" now, that is the best reaction ever! when a man can ooh and ahh over an invitation and say how cute it is, that is when you know you did something right.





my sister and i asked my mom to create a little garden cake and she completely blew us away with this creation. i made little garden signs to label each little area and my mom added little garden tools to give it an even more realistic scene.

a pocket full of love

a lot of things can be tucked away inside a pocket. especially a fun little surprise!

i thought this was a fun theme to base my sister's baby shower on. i sent out these pocket inspired invitations which had the shower information slipped inside the die-cut shaped pocket, with an actual button embellishing each invite.





my mom used my invitation as inspiration for the baby shower cake. a cute decorated teddy bear tucked inside the big pocket was a really sweet surprise to me.

little cupcake

for my neice's 1st birthday we had a cupcake themed party.

this was the invitation and matching thank you note that was sent out to each guest.



each handcut and handcrafted invitation included the die-cut cupcake invitation along with a little sheet of directions tucked inside the back that fit nicely in a polka dot vellum pocket. and to top it off, an image of my niece was used as a little topper on the cupcake.



my mom decorated over 50 cupcakes and displayed them on a three tier stand and i topped it off with a die-cut image of my niece from her most recent 1 year old photo shoot.