Happy Independence Day!

Celebrate and Enjoy!

Happy Father's Day....

... to all the wonderful dads out there!

(me and my dad, when I was about 6 months old)

Happy Happy!

Happy Valentines Day and Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy 2010!

I can't believe that the first decade of "the new millennium" has passed and 2010 is here already!

I'm not one for New Year's resolutions - I believe in changing when you are ready, and not waiting for New Year's day, or Monday, or next week to begin anew. That said, I've been feeling for some time that I had to revitalize my much-neglected blog, and so I'll begin today, since that is when I'm ready to!

Here's a belated peek at my holiday cards and this year's wrapping. Several years ago I switched to all white wrapping paper, partly as a way of simplifying my life (I always have appropriate paper on hand for any occasion) and partly because it's a great creative backdrop for me - with beautiful ribbon, my prints, and other embellishments I can always find a fun way to wrap a package.

I'm not really one for choosing the most traditional colors, so instead of having a red and green Christmas, mine was orange and blue! My cards were hand printed orange mittens, and I printed strips of white paper with the mitten pattern in orange and blue, to wrap around my white packages. Then I added tags with the same pattern, and various blue and orange ribbons (I especially like the blue/orange multi stripe ribbon) to complete the packages. I loved that they were fun, warm and unexpected (hmmm, and I'd like to think that description sounds quite a bit like me, too)!

Happy Halloween!

I've always loved Halloween - the fabulous costumes, kitschy decorations, wonderful festive celebrations, the chocolate - what's not to love!

I especially adore the extra-creative handmade costumes (and, all modesty aside) I must admit I've won a few costume contests with my own hand made creations!

When I was a kid, I loved trick-or-treating, and in my town, so many people went over the top to welcome the trick-or-treaters - with costumed hosts, cider and donuts, spooky tunes and wild mazes to work your way through and earn your treats!

I don't get many trick-or-treaters, but I have pulled out my witches hat and cape, and have a bag of sweets and some little pumpkin badges ready for the little ones! Can't wait!

Happy Halloween!

Hazy, Hot and Humid!

Despite being a beach lover, I am definitely not a lover of the hazy, hot and humid days that seem to fill the summer. The past few weeks have been sticky, so I've been hunkered down in the air conditioning, printing, and thinking cool thoughts. Here's a little peek at some of the "cool" designs I've been printing recently.

I'm loving the simplicity of these little snowy woodland creatures which are new to my collection this year.

Now, I don't want you to think I'm wishing summer away, but these do make me fondly remember the joys of a fresh (light!) snowfall.

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.

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!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

An Old Irish Blessing

May your day be touched by a bit of Irish luck,

brightened by a song in your heart,

and warmed by the smiles of the people you love.

xo

New Goodies...

...for Valentine day, or any time you want to send a little love! These three lovelies coordinate with my tins, so you could put a little gift in the tin and add a matching card! These new designs are currently available in my etsy shop... and there are loads more sweet valentines on my site as well.

The last days of 2008...

I'm well rested after a lovely (though slightly hectic) holiday with my family and friends, and I must admit, I spent most of the weekend lounging around, not really accomplishing much of anything... the perfect antidote to the Christmas rush, I think!

Througout the fall and early winter, I've been working on new designs, printing, and preparating for 2009, but still have lots to do in the remaining days of 2008, and for the start of the new year, so I'd better get busy.

First up for me is clean-up and organization of my studio / office (oh, not to mention the rest of my home). I did ask Santa to send me a couple elves to help if he could spare them after Christmas, but it seems they couldn't make it, so I guess I'm on my own. I am armed with some storage boxes from the Container Store and various other sources that I've purchased on sale in recent months, garbage bags for the big purge, and inspiration from the beautifully organized spaces I've seen on so many blogs and on flickr, especially in the Pretty Organized and Organization is for Squares groups. If you're looking for some motivatation and inspiration to get your space in order, check them out. I hope to be able to get my studio looking beautiful (and functioning well) over the next few days, so I can share it here and on flickr as well!

Just a few days left....

... to get everything done for Christmas!

Over the next few days I'll be doing a little shopping, a little wrapping, a little cooking, oh, and yes, a little Christmas carol humming..... and am looking forward to every minute of it.

My family has a big festive get-together on Christmas Eve, this year at my Uncle Pete and Aunt Linda's house. We all bring appetizers and desserts, my aunt Linda makes a big pot of soup and we gather to celebrate. We also exchange our family secret Santa gifts... a tradition that we've enjoyed for, oh, maybe 20 years now. We all really love to be together, and good food, a little wine, and a gag gift or two make it all the more joyful! And if we get through the entire night without setting off the smoke alarm, it's even better!

On Christmas day, I have dinner at my brother and sister-in-law's house. My brother never fails to treat us to an amazing feast, which we enjoy with my sister-in-law's family, and some of my family, and occasionally a friend or two. It's a bit quieter than our Christmas Eve, but just as special.

So, before the start of it all, I've still got a bit of work to do.... shopping, wrapping, and of course, preparing my contributions to the feasts. This year, I've decided on spinach pinwheels for my appetizer for Christmas Eve (a tasty spinach and cheese concoction rolled in puff pastry, sliced and baked... yum!) and of course some home made chocolates for dessert on Christmas day.

Last year, I was quite frazzled before Christmas, barely getting everything done, and my chocolates failed. I have no idea what I did wrong, but it was a disaster (okay, that may be a little strong, but I was disappointed with the results, and my family and friends were disappointed in the lack of chocolates!). This year, I'm planning on things going better. So today I start. I'll be making the filling for my chocolate raspberry truffles and coconut candies, so that tomorrow they'll be ready to dip in the chocolate coating. Also on the candy agenda... white chocolate peppermint bark and dark chocolate cherry almond bark... but these are easy so I can put them off until Monday or Tuesday.

Well, if I'm going to get all this done, I'd better get my shovel and move that foot of snow out of my way so I can go to the grocery store!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

I love decorating for Christmas, but I do admit I have simplified my decorating dramatically since launching Artful Sentiments, in order to remove some of the pressure from an already hectic holiday season. A few years ago, I switched to an artificial tree, and although I miss the whole process of going out to find the perfect real tree, and the lovely smell it fills my home with, the decision has worked well for me. I lovingly decorate my tree with a combination of ornaments that I've collected my whole life and little silver picture frames, full of holiday photos of me, my family and friends (pictured above, me on my first Christmas). I cherish the memories as I add the ornaments and photos to my tree, listening to Bing and Nat, remembering special people and times, and imagining all the magical memories to be made in the upcoming season.

I'm looking forward to this years festivities, and hope to capture some more sweet photographs to add to my tree for next year!

All wrapped up!

A few years ago, I decided to take a step toward simplifying my life, and eliminated the endless half rolls of wrapping paper and mismatched gift bags, and replaced them with white and Kraft paper and bags. Don't get me wrong, I love the gorgeous papers that are out there in the marketplace, but I found that I was always buying it, and never seemed to have the correct color, style or theme to go with my gift, and more importantly with my card. Yes, I'm one of those who must coordinate.

Plain paper - boring, you say? Well, fortunately, I am able to print my paper if I want, so that helps with the boring factor, and there are such beautiful embellishments and ribbons, that I never feel bored.

With everyone wrapping for the holidays, I thought I'd share a couple of my past holiday looks - the first was my favorite ever.


My Christmas card was my polar bear, set against a pale blue sky filled with snowflakes. My wrap - white, with blue organza ribbon. Tags were white, printed with little blue snowflakes. And to top off the packages (for all the girls, at least)... lovely rhinestone and crystal snowflake pins that I collected from vintage stores in the months before Christmas. In some cases, the gift inside was just a small token, a bar of handcrafted soap or some little sweets, and the pin was the real gift! In the years since, I often see my friends, cousins and aunts wearing the little pins that were atop their packages.


Then there was the year of the penguin. My card for that year was the chill card... which I chose because, well, I really needed to do that! For my wrap, I used white again, with hand printed penguin tags, and a variety of apple green ribbons, in polka dots and plaids. My plain white gift bags were all hand printed with the penguins as well. For some of the little gifts, I chose apple green and red polka dot organza bags which I just thought were too cute to pass up! And the little girls had their gifts packaged in pink paper suitcases with green bows and penguin tags.

As for this year... well I'm still working on it. My cards are done, and will be going in the mail in the next few days, and I'm working on my packaging now. Of course, I know I'll be starting with white wrap, then I'll add the ribbons, tags and embellishments!

Happy Wrapping!

Sweet little gifts....

Every year I make inexpensive, creative little gifts for friends, family, and also a few extras to have for hostess gifts, or to have on hand, just in case. I've been working on gifts for everyone on my list, but wasn't sure what to do for the extras. I thought I'd like to use my new tins but wanted to add a little something to them... and finally today, creativity struck!




Faux bois tin filled with homemade white chocolate peppermint bark (get it?).

Honeycomb tin filled with teas, and maybe one of the little honey dippers.














Blossoms tin filled with packets of seeds for spring flowers.










What creative little gifts are you giving this year?

Dear Santa

Wow, I can't believe it's December already. The months have flown by. Sorry I haven't written in a while. You'd think, being in the stationery biz, that I'd be diligent about sending cards and letters, but I will admit I've been a little lax in that area. In most other areas, I've been really good this year, so I think for sure I should be on your nice list.

I know you're getting lots of letters these days, filled with everybody's wish lists. Honestly, I have enough stuff, so you'll find none of that on my list - please make sure to send my share of the stuff to someone who might not otherwise have any packages to open Christmas morning. So, I guess that's my first wish... that there is a little bit of joy for everyone this holiday season.

As for the rest of my list... I wish for continued inspiration and creativity. It really makes me happy to create, and frustrated when I can't find the inspiration, so I'd really love if you could share some of your secrets. After all, if you can keep all those elves inspired, you must have some great secrets. I would really like for my brother to get the kitchen reno he's been dreaming of. I know this is a big one, but John is always so good to me, and he is a fabulous cook and so deserving of a nice kitchen. I'd like for my friend Michelle to get some time for taking care of herself....maybe enough so she and I can book manis and pedis together and spend some quality friend time. And it would be great if Grace could get a little time to come with us too. I wish for continued health and happiness for my family and friends. We went through a few rough years a while ago, and it's really nice to see everyone doing well....I'd love for it to continue. It makes me happy to see them happy.

Well, I think that's more than my share, so I'll stop now. Oh, there is one more (little) thing... if you can spare an elf or two after the Christmas rush, I could really use some help organizing my workshop!

Thanks Santa, for all you do in spreading the cheer!

Have a Merry Christmas and Peace and Joy in the New Year!

xo

Molly

(P.S. You can thank Melissa at Operation Nice for getting me motivated to write this year. She is very inspirational when it comes to keeping her readers on your nice list... so if you can, you should do a little something extra for her this year!)

Thankful!

I'm headed to Connecticut in the morning to spend Thanksgiving with my fabulous family. As you probably have guessed, I've been looking forward to this day for weeks (months?).

I'm so thankful that I have a wonderful brother and sister-in-law, cousins, aunts and uncles to share this day with. We'll be enjoying delicious feast, great company, laughter (and knowing us, probably a few tears as well, as we remember those who aren't with us) and lots and lots of joy!

I'm thankful for my wonderful friends, who make every day as special as the holidays.... enjoying a latte in Starbucks, a sandwich in the mall food court, or a long chat on the phone can be perfect when shared with a good friend.

I'm thankful for my creativity... it brings me joy to be able to spend time creating delightful cards, yummy desserts, pots of soup, and so much more. Tomorrow I'll be showing my creativity with the leaf-shaped sweet potato slices topping my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner.... sweet potatoes Anna.

I'm thankful for all who support me in my business - my family, friends and customers, my online support group of paper peeps, indie business owners and bloggers... all of whom keep me moving forward.

Happy Thanksgiving!