shop update, holiday coupon code, AND a giveaway!

Hello friends!  It's been another long break due to an overly packed schedule but I wanted to pop in today and share some new prints I have up in the shop.  The peach and mint floral pattern prints are 5x7 inches and are $10 and the woodland NC print is 8x10 and is $12. 

Order now for your holiday gifts and like Heart & Craft on facebook for an exclusive coupon code!  I'm also offering (for a short time) custom state prints in the same style as my woodland NC for just $50.  Leave me a comment here or send my a message in my etsy shop to set up an order!

And the most exciting news of the day?  I am offering a giveaway of one FREE custom state print to a reader!  Like the shop on etsy and facebook, then leave me a comment here telling me what State you'd love to get for yourself or to give as a gift!  A winner will be announced next Friday, November 23rd.  Yay!

shop update

It's been a while since a proper shop update and I have some new items listed!  There are some new screenprints, garlands, and some super fun new printables.  Some are not as new but have only been in the shop for a month or so, so maybe new to you.  I have some simple new garlands up, but I am planning on phasing out most of the garlands as it seems that Etsy has had an influx of garland makers- you know how it goes when something hits big.  I am going to focus on more artwork and a line of printable invitations for now, both of which I am really excited to work on.  I'm also working on a few other decor items that I can see are starting to trend right now.  So as long as I can stay focused, expect to see some cleaning out and some adding of work to the shop.  I'll continue selling my garlands and work here in town at Design Archives. 

Besides that (because you know I can't do just a handful of things at once) I am still furiously posting over here, pinning here, and becoming addicted to Instagram.  I'm also finishing work up this month on a super secret design project that hopefully I'll be able to share with you by the end of the year.

Also- anyone in need of a super amazingly talented graphic designer?  My husband and I love working on projects together but he's just finished school and is looking for a full time position.  He's funny, cool, will make your work place an awesome environment (and I'm not just saying that- ask anyone who knows him) and he's open for business.  Check out his site and more of his work here.  Feel free to contact me with leads or inquiries for him.  xo

new in the shop: for valentines day

Some love-inspired heart cake and cupcake toppers now up in the shop. Treat yourself to something sweet.

heart&craft holiday 2011

Introducing the first items in Heart & Craft's Holiday 2011 collection. Our new "this is for you" tags are my absolute favorite! The metallic garland is actually from last years holiday goods but I hope to have some over the top glitter garlands listed soon. Its funny how much I bash my students for using glitter on their projects when I secretly fall in love with it this time every year (I still hold my stance in high school art class that glitter+fine art painting usually does not mesh well). Either way, get yourself over to the shop and stock up for the holiday season!

shop update

A few weeks after my preview, I finally have new work listed in the shop! It has been oh so busy around here and this update is certainly overdue but I am just happy to be able to share them with you!
triangles print
chevron gradient cards
feathers

We are working like mad on lots of different projects, designs, parties, and future plans and it is an exciting time to be heart&craft. And of course we wouldn't have it any other way.

first image: modern aztec print

fall shop preview

We had a wonderful response to our work at the market we did this weekend and met some amazing, inspiring local artists as well. Such a refreshing weekend after a lot of prep work! We debuted some new prints and cards that I hope to get listed in the shop soon but until then here is a little preview of what fall has inspired us to create. I will let you know when the shop has been updated. We are excited about what is ahead.

ribbons and happy things

ribbons are yummy, from the new ribbon garlands in my shop.
the styling for these doily dream catchers is just as dreamy as the craft itself, from the etsy blog.
galaxy nails have just made it to my to-do list, from a cup of jo.

thankful for an inspired wednesday.

birds of fall

Some new work inspired by my favorite palette for this autumn. I am glad color is still being embraced for this upcoming season. Should be up in the shop soon.

this week

Well it is here, I officially went back to work yesterday. It is nice to be busy but bittersweet to be ending my summer. On a lighter note though, I had some work featured on GlitterGuide this week (love that site) AND we got some new original prints up in the shop! Trying to move into some more art and design so this is a fun first step.
Also this week, I shared my inspiration for decorating with vintage letters over on PS. AND the most exciting news of all--- our wedding was featured on Grey Likes Weddings! I am giddy!
Happy weekend everyone!!!

The NotWedding

Have you heard of The NotWedding? Basically it is a super cool, modern take on the traditional bridal show. It takes place in Atlanta, Orlando, and San Diego and guests get to witness an awesome {not}wedding with everything from a {not} ceremony to catering, decorations, music, and cakes. Vendors get to show off all of their awesome talents and brides and grooms to be get to experience a totally rad idea of what their wedding could be.
I am honored to be the featured vendor this week on their Snag The Swag feature where you can get vendor's talents for huge discounts. I am offering $80 worth of custom paper decorations for $40 all this week. If you (or someone you know) is planning a wedding I would love to work with them on custom garlands, cake toppers, or paper goods! I am also really excited that I may be going down to Atlanta next summer to be a part of the whole event! Aaah!

Check out the deal here.

playing dress up with your cake

Just listed my new cake flags in the heart&craft shop! This idea came about when creating toppers for our wedding cheesecakes and I finally got around to making some to sell. Unfortunately ours never actually made it to the cheesecakes on our wedding day- technical error of diy wedding I guess!

For the shop, I recreated some of my original styles and added some new ones as well. I love how tall these sit on top of a simple cake and they look especially fancy if your cake is on a pedestal stand. Ooh la la! Get some for yourself right here.
Oh- and I am excited to be the newest vendor over in the directory of CatchMyParty.com! Fun!

shop update

New in the shop: lots of summer inspired garlands!! Also some new products (surprises!) should be listed by the end of the week!

back home

Although I am still sad that beach week is over I am happy to be home and busy. I have lots of orders and projects to catch up on as well as friends to revisit and I thrive on a busy (somewhat slower) summer schedule. Getting back into gear today meant packaging orders, some housekeeping, restocking on groceries, and a much enjoyed trip to the gym after a week of little physical activity- save bike rides, bocce tournaments, and ocean frolicking.
Tomorrow I would love to share some of my favorite shots from our trip.

a subtle revelry

Wait, what is a subtle revelry you ask? Well it is just my favorite go to spot for diy inspiration, beautiful event styling ideas, and gorgeous photography! And now I am excited to be the newest sponsor over on Victoria's amazing site. Check out inspirational blog, her projects gallery, and do not miss the absolutely amazing work in her online magazine Styled! Then click on my ad, hop over to my shop, and get some decor for your next summer party.


I hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend. Tomorrow I am headed to the coast for a quick ladies only getaway with the of my best. I can't wait! In the meantime I will have some summer posts coming your way and you can also find me posting over here.

giveaways and getaways

Remember this little guy that I ordered? (Starting my summer online shopping spree which is still going strong.) Well he arrived late last week, found a happy home with us and was even a great model in my latest shop photo shoot. I think he did a great job.

This weekend we are going to enjoy a little time away with some friends at a lakehouse. We will celebrate birthdays, swim, rest, eat, and hopefully my hard-working husband will come back rejuvenated! I can't wait! I am going to take my last roll of instamax film and hopefully get some fun shots.

Oh and remember this giveaway I was doing over on Southern As Biscuits? Well tomorrow is the last day for you to enter to win one free item from my etsy shop! What are you waiting for? get over there and comment!

first day of summer!

The summer season has officially started and as the first day drifts towards dusk I thought it was a good time to share some of my summer plans with you. I am off of teaching for two months in the summer, you see, and this is when the "real" work begins for me. I choose not to take on another job during the summer, even though money can get tight as we are living off of savings for two months, because I really want to devote myself to my shop, blog, and other projects that bring me so much joy.

*studio time accompanied by raspberry lemonade with fresh herbs

It can be hard to balance my time when things like sporadic pool or beach trips pop up or crappy reality tv somehow finds itself playing in my living room (though I swear I would never turn on Bravo while trying to work....) In addition to adding new items to my shop, blogging, and finishing some around the house projects I do want to make sure that I find some time for all of that fun stuff too. And that is when the battle begins, I can literally guilt myself into doing nothing but work (which I of course enjoy) and doing nothing else all day. It is just that I so badly want make some changes in my life that mostly consist of working for myself and sharing the things I love with the rest of the creative world. So I take these months in the summer to dive into that and immerse myself into as many projects as possible. Luckily I have a creative husband, a supportive sister, and a bunch of artistic friends that are happy doing these same sorts of things- with some pool parties and cookouts thrown in for good measure.

custom projects for special orders

With that long-winded explanation, here are some of my plans/goals/routines for this summer:

• Blogging- on here and also now happily sharing some of my thoughts and ideas over on prettysouthern.com
• Creating- some projects for the site, lots of work for my shop, and some other personal fun projects as well
• Collaborating- with the mister on some fun design projects, with my sister during our "studio time" several times a week (quickly becoming my favorite activity), and with some dear friends on things like entertaining, hosting dinner parties, and creating a NC craft cohort
  
• Gardening- ok this is only with the help of my sister since I have come to the conclusion that I have absolutely no real talent here (remember the failed seed attempts from last year?)
• Vacationing- with the fam at the beach, tubing down the river, lakehouse trips, and maybe a big city adventure to NYC to visit some people who are truly missed
• Planning- putting some plans in place so that this "work" I love doing so much can hopefully become a more permanent part of my life
• Relaxing and having some good fun here in Greensboro- this is the one I will really have to work on- remembering how much good stuff goes on right here at home

new work up in the shop

I will most certainly be sharing all of these adventures with you here on the blog as the summer flies by, but right now I would love to know-- what are your big summer plans?

heart and craft over there!

Pleased as pie to see my work featured today over on Southern as Biscuits. I am offering a free giveaway (just check out my shop and then comment on the post over there for a chance to win) and also a special coupon code to Southern as Biscuits readers. Thanks for the shout-out Kristi!

Check back later today for my post on summer plans, to work or not to work- that is the question.

oh, hi there!

So you noticed some changes here on the blog? Or maybe you saw the new look of my shop? We've been doing some freshening up of the heart&craft logo and my sweetie created a shiny, new design for my logo, banner, and business cards. Isn't he the best? I have been anxious to update the look around here for a while and am so excited to finally be able to share the new heart&craft with you! Now to get thousands of those cards printed and sent out!
PS. Like the new look around here? Interested in getting us to put our handmade, modern design minds to work for you on some logo or branding designs? Email me at heartandcrafts@gmail.com for some info!

features

Really excited to share that today I am featured in the Meet An Artist column for goTriad, our local arts supplement to the newspaper. I was interviewed about my etsy shop and work a few weeks ago, photographed in my home studio, and today it went to print! This is really exciting for me and will hopefully get me in touch with some local event planners and stylists for future work. Since I am not a fan of the photo they chose for the online version, I will leave you with a peak at some new additions to the shop. Cheers!

wedding week part II: details

For anyone in the midst of wedding planning I think the amount of inspiration online, on blogs, and in print can be incredible and simultaneously overwhelming. I definitely had moments of not knowing how to mentally organize everything I was seeing and how to start actually deciding what little design details I wanted to include in our wedding. There were so many diy trends and ideas that I fell in love with and I think those are the things that really make an event special. As time went on I was able to sift through all of the inspiration and was slowly able to curate, even if some decorations were made and never used, so here are some of the little details that made the final cut.
These sweet grey and white striped straws were the first thing I bought for the wedding and I love this shot of my sister and her sweet tea here.
My mom and I collected and painted these heart wreaths to hang on the outdoor chairs, at the end of each row.
My little sister picked out the perfect guest book for us.
We designed our ceremony program to be simple, legible and to match our invitation suite.
And of course you've seen the flags I created for the 100 cupcakes our dear friend made. I ordered the japanese washi tape for these here.
Lastly, I used skewers, kraft paper, and leftover fabric from the outdoor garlands for these taller flags for the cheesecakes. Unfortunately they never actually made it onto the cakes, but I still love how they came out and may add some to my shop.

It's all in the details.