Happy 4th of July!

Flags are being flown, familes and friends gathering, barbecues being prepared, and patriotic marches are booming along parade routes and in back yards (hmm, wonder where my CD of Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops playing patriotic tunes is?), and fireworks will fill the night. So many wonderful traditions!

It's a lovely day here in New England (ok, not the best, but after so many filled with clouds and rain, it's pretty darn good!) - the perfect day to celebrate our independence!

Happy 4th of July, friends!

From my sketchbook...

I love the whole process of creating the designs for my cards - forming the idea in my head, sketching, refining the sketch, carving the block, then finally printing. I love seeing what I have imagined come to life on paper. I thought I'd give you a little peek into my sketchbook (which is always with me!) where the designs begin.

These are initial sketches for some greetings that I am planning for my next product release. They are really rough, but they show the ideas as they first get from my head onto the page. I'll take these sketches and refine them before I transfer them to blocks, carve, and then finally print.

Before the National Stationery Show I created a few holiday greetings similar in style - simple greetings with charming images, in the same color palette as my Assorted Affections collection -a bit non-traditional for the holidays, but I love non-traditional.

I am looking forward to adding to this collection, completing the process with the new sketches - carving and and printing... but first, I have lots of printing to do to fill my current orders, so these will have to wait a bit!

Remembering...

Memorial Day, a day for remembering those who serve and have served our county. I think of my dad, uncles, friends and family, as well as those I've never known, who proudly protect our country.

My family always celebrated Memorial Day with a short walk up the street to view the town parade which featured our police, volunteer fire fighters, boy and girl scouts, some town officials, the high school marching band, and the drum corps (blink and you'll miss it!). There were always friends and family marching, and we were thrilled to get a wave out of them, as if they were celebrities.

After the parade, we had a little breakfast in the back yard for family and friends, and later in the day, a traditional barbecue, complete with lots of flags, red white and blue tablecloths, and hot dogs. It was the start of the summer season, the first of many summer back yard celebrations, and always a glorious day!

Hope you take some time today to remember, and enjoy your family traditions (or make new ones!) and celebrate the day.

Preparing for the National Stationery Show!

I'm very excited that the National Stationery Show is almost here (taking place May 17-20, in NYC), and that I'll be exhibiting in booth #2547 with five other talented stationers, and members of A Fresh Bunch. I'll be attending on Sunday and Monday, and I'm really looking forward to meeting many of the fabulous retailers that attend, as well as so many amazing designers, and of course, seeing old friends from past shows.

It's been a busy time preparing for the show, but now that my displays have shipped and catalog updates complete, I can enjoy the anticipation as I finish my preparations!

Speaking of catalogs, my updated catalog is available to view or download on issuu, and I've embedded it here so you can take a peek. I just love that you can flip the pages, just as if it was a paper catalog, but without printing all those paper catalogs!

Open publication - Free publishing - More wholesale

If you're attending the show, I hope you'll stop by! I won't be in the booth full time, but would love to meet you if I can... drop me an email (molly@artfulsentiments.com) and perhaps we can arrange a time!

Thank You Stationery Trends!

Thanks so much to Stationery Trends for featuring my strawbery vine card in their spring issue!

Stationery Trends is such a fabulous industry publication, very fresh and full of gorgeous stationery and wonderful articles. I'm honored to be included among their fresh picks.

Artful news...

Sorry for my blogging absence (not to mention my neglect of tweeting and facebooking)... things have been busy around the studio. I've been printing, assembling, packing and shipping loads of product for all my Boston Gift Show orders, and working on a sales presentation and samples for my new New England rep group... and then, last week I was presented with the most fabulous opportunity - to exhibit at the National Stationery Show in a booth with several of my colleagues from A Fresh Bunch, staffed by a wonderful sales rep. Although that wasn't in my plan for this year, I couldn't pass this up, so add to my neverending to-do list: completing new holiday designs, catalog updates and displays for the show! Whew!

Here's a peek at one of the new collections I'll be exhibiting. These cards combine hand printed patterned backgrounds and little messages that can be mixed and matched with the backgrounds. Perfect little thank you notes, hellos, and wishes for any occasion.

If you are a retailer attending the show, please stop by booth 2547. You'll find new goodies and old favorites from Artful Sentiments as well as lovely stationery from my colleagues at A Fresh Bunch.

Happy Easter!

Every year my family celebrates Easter at my Aunt Snooker's house in Connecticut - it's always a wonderful gathering of family and friends, filled with lovely Easter traditions and treats.

My contribution to the day is always dessert, and this year I made these luscious lemon cheesecake squares that I found in a Martha Stewart Everyday Food newsletter a few weeks ago. I'm a serious lemon dessert lover, and cheesecake - well it doesn't get any better for me! Of course, since it was a first time with this recipe, I had to have a little taste test last night, just to make sure they're good enough for the family...oh, and I think they are!

I hope you have a wonderful Easter, or just a very happy Sunday, for those of you who aren't celebrating Easter!