SUPER SALE: Good on Paper Online Shop

I've made the decision to close up my online shop and focus on freelance projects. Everything in my shop is marked down like crazy--all cards are just $1--until it's all gone. Bulk and wholesale orders welcome as well! And just to be clear, I will still carry customizable holiday cards and some items, but all of the current stationery, totes and baby t-shirts are on super sale until they are gone. Please spread the word! Great gift items for the upcoming holidays for family, friends, teachers and stationery lovers.

Thanks for all of your support with my stationery line over the years!

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West Coast Craft - Summer 2015

A few weeks ago I attended West Coast Craft with my friend Nancy mainly to shoot some photos for the Anthology magazine blog, but also because the last time I went, I was really impressed and excited about many of the vendors (including Jen E, Natalie Davis of Canoe, Half Hitch Goods and Micaela Greg. This summer's show did not disappoint. Here were some of my favorites.

Half Hitch Goods and Welcome Stranger

Liz Robb - see more about Liz in her feature on the Anthology magazine blog

Aleksandra Zee

Brook Perdigon Textiles

That vintage stool!

Stuffed Hipster Emblems by Mimi O Chen - hilarious and oh-so-awesome!

Drawn Home - really loved those quilts!

Remedy Quarterly - the colors, the photos, the recipes!

Ilano - loved those rugs and the booth was so bright and inviting

People I've Loved - loved the quirky illustrations

Meghan Shimeck (discovered her at last year's show and I'm still wishing I owned one of her pieces) and Gallanter and Jones with the most innovative heated outdoor seating that warmed my always cold butt cheeks. Seriously. Such good design and totally functional, especially during these Bay Area "summers". Also turns out that Miranda Jones and her brother Aaron started this company. I know Miranda from her Sunset Magazine days when she worked on our house feature in the January 2011 issue! Seems like ages ago!

Pine and Boon - loved the painted dash and suede dot punch collections

Luca Jackson - Love Julia's textiles! Also love how her company name is just like Lucas' name! Julia is so sweet and has two little boys as well.

Mt. Washington Pottery - one of my favorite products at the show were these peace bells

Knotwork LA - Such neat products from this vendor, lots of stoneware with porcelain inlays

Ventana Surfboards and Supplies - With its amazing craftsmanship and attention to detail in all of its products, this company has figured it all out when it comes to environmental and social responsibility. So much respect for that!

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Birthday Thank You Postcards

Remember Lucas' 5th birthday party extravaganza a few weeks ago? It was super fun and wild and I'm so happy it's over! Lucas is a lucky kid -- he received so much love and so many gifts from friends and family. For Lucas' 3rd birthday, I made the mistake of letting him go to town with opening his presents. He ripped through each one and tossed them to the side only to make room to grab the next one. I was appalled -- but really, what did I expect?

Since then, I've learned my lesson and now Lucas gets to open two presents a day, starting with the card. After thoroughly enjoying and appreciating each gift, we write a thank you note. I write and Lucas signs it in his signature block lettering.

I designed these double sided double thick thank you postcards to show our appreciation -- similar to the ones from last year's Superhero 4th Birthday Party. The front of the postcard has a collage of photos from the party and the back has the animal print pattern from the invitations I designed. I personally love postcards rather than cards when writing thank you notes for parties because they're more casual, as well as save money on postage and envelopes.

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Lucas' 5th Birthday Party

For the last two years, I've been asking Lucas what kind of birthday party he would like to have. He didn't have much of a say for his 1st or 2nd birthdays, but starting with his Superhero 4th birthday last year, he's been very clear about what he wants. Of course, he gets the modernized version of it because that's how I roll.

This year Lucas turned five (can't believe I have a 5-year old!) and without hesitation, he said he wanted a "Wild Kratts" party. If you haven't seen this show, it's worth checking out. It's an educational animated series on PBS, created by and starring brothers Chris and Martin Kratt.  The show is full of fun facts about animals, ranging from polar bears to geckos, and each episode features a particular critter's unique "creature power". Lucas gets really excited learning about animal powers and defenses, and I love when he enlightens me with new animal facts! This year we decided to throw a joint animal-themed birthday party with Judah, Lucas' good friend from school, who turned five the day before.

This year I partnered up with Whole Foods Market, which provided the amazing appetizers, entrees, beverages and desserts for our party. The super-talented catering teams from the two Berkeley locations created a delicious picnic style meal that included fried chicken, mac 'n' cheese, deviled eggs, strawberry/spinach salad, a yummy cabbage crunch salad, "turtle sandwiches" and cupcakes in two flavors. In addition to the lunch menu, they created some amazing food sculptures to go along with our animal theme.  Mice out of lemons? Porcupines out of watermelons? Chickens out of eggs? Crazy cool and fun, right? And as a special added touch, the team at the Gilman store location were kind enough to make us custom paletas in three flavors -- blueberry cream, apple/pineapple and fresh strawberry.

To modernize Lucas' vision of a "Wild Kratts" party, I decided to go for a more generalized animal theme, with "Go Wild" as a primary graphic element. Starting with the invitation design, I painted abstract animal patterns using simple black watercolor paint, and hand wrote "Go Wild" which would later become a logo for the party. I took a cute photo of Lucas and Judah and used it as a custom envelope liner. The envelopes were finished with matching wraparound address labels. The invitations, liner and envelopes were made with recycled paper.

For dessert, I baked a yummy red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, decorated with rainbow sprinkles and five wild animals on top.

If you've seen our other birthday parties, you know that donut holes are a Jackson family  tradition. This year's donut cones were made with the animal printed recycled paper.

Judah's parents got each birthday boy a Wild Kratts "creature power" suit as a gift. Lucas started off as "Chris" (green), but by the end of the party had traded with Judah to be "Martin" (blue).

I love this photo of Lucas testing out the t-shirt favors.  He wasn't crazy about having his photo taken, hence the pouty face. I couldn't resist. 

For the party favors, I made a giant rubber stamp of the "Go Wild" logo, and hand stamped white t-shirts in various sizes that I ordered online. Each friend got a t-shirt to wear at the party and take home. (The shirts were also handy as a change of clothes for several kids who got grubby or cake-covered during the party). 

We originally scheduled the party for Saturday, and had all the invitations printed up. We later changed it to Sunday due to Little League conflicts. I didn't want to waste the old invitations, so I cut off the old RSVP information, and used the top half to make "creature power" trading cards that accompanied each t-shirt. Each trading card had fun facts about different animals. Cute AND educational! The bottom of the invitations were used to create name tags. Big thanks to Jocelyn, Judah's mom, for ironing and packaging each shirt with a custom hand written tag!

Jeremiah (Judah's little bro) and Theo!

We also set out a bunch of animal masks which the kids loved!

Partnering up with Whole Foods Market to provide all the food and desserts was a dream! The catering team was fabulous to work with.

How cute are these "turtle sandwiches" made of turkey, cheese, cucumbers and fresh bread baked especially for us by Whole Foods Market Gilman?

As the party's main event, we had Lick Your Eyeballs present a fun, informative and hands-on animal show. They were amazing! From geckos and frogs, to a kingsnake and caiman lizard, the kids were very brave and gentle with the animals.

Elsa holds a jar of gecko egg shells.

One of my favorite ideas for the party was to make "polar bear ice," aka popsicles. There's a Wild Kratts episode called "Polar Bears Don't Dance," and I wanted the "polar bear ice" to tie into that.

The team at Whole Foods Market Gilman made custom paletas in three fruity flavors (blueberry cream, apple/pineapple and fresh strawberry). All were a huge hit on the warm day.

I designed some packaging for the pops using wax food bags, snipped at the bottom and  sealed on top with a hand lettered label. The package kept the pops from sticking together in the cooler, and also doubled as a place for the melty drips to fall. But as you can see, the package was ripped right off. Devoured in seconds!

Birthday boys waiting patiently to blow candles.

I had no idea Whole Foods Market catered kids' parties, but now I'm spreading the word because the food was spectacular, and the catering team was open to my ideas, accommodating, easy to work with, and even delivered onsite (including compostable plates, utensils, napkins and adorable cups and straws from Susty Party). Special thanks to Lizzie at Whole Foods Market Berkeley for collaborating with me, to Jocelyn and Aaron (Judah's parents), and to my husband Nick, all of whom helped make Lucas' 5th birthday party a smash! For more information about Whole Foods Market catering you can contact the team here.

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My Work: Picnic Logo Design + Branding

I'm really excited to share some recent logo design/branding I did for my friend Lisa Fontaine's company and blog, Picnic. Lisa wanted a new identity for her small business and blog where she shares crafts, style, recipes and more. She has an Etsy shop, a print shop, and a boutique film production company. There is more to be done in the future but I wanted to share some of the progress. The business cards were letterpress printed in black on cotton paper by Spark Letterpress. The hang tags were letterpress printed onto kraft chipboard for a more crafty feel.

I also designed a custom rubber stamp with a coordinating logo for Camp Picnic, a super cute arts and crafts camp that Lisa will be teaching to children during the summer months. Campers explore weaving, natural dye, vegetable prints, bead making, cooking, painting, collage, and some basic sewing techniques. The camp is already sold out for this summer but If you know any kids (ages 6-11) in the Bay Area who love art and crafting, sign up to get on Camp Picnic's mailing list.

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This and That Lately

Oh man, it's been super crazy busy around here. Between work at both jobs, room parenting for the kids' preschool, the kids' schedules, and just trying to keep up with everything, I am so not ready for the holidays! I need another month to prepare myself mentally. Anyway, here are some recent photos of what's been going on lately.

Lots of cozy brother time / Theo totally chooses to wear those glasses and hat

We got a Christmas tree!

I've been so floored by the love and support for the 2015 Calendar I designed in collaboration with Jennifer Young. It's been such an awesome experience and we've nearly sold out of them. The calendar has made it into several gift guides curated by some rad mags like Rue (see here) and Mother. Thank you!

I was lucky enough to make it to the Lovemade (Hi Jeanne and Janette!) DIY Gift Wrapping event with Yellow Owl Workshop (Hi Christine!) at Rare Device with my friend Lisa and her daughter Bijou. How cute are Bijou and Theo together?

One of my faves -- Lucas said here, "Ahhhhh, this is the life." (stole that from The Pigeon Needs a Bath, and he's right!)

Went with my friend Nancy of Anthology magazine to the West Coast Craft show. Got to see some amazing designers/artists and ooh and ahh at all the things I wish I could make or have in my home. Nancy has been featuring a few stand out designers each day on the Anthology blog with the photos I shot. Can't wait to go back!

In the midst of all the craziness, I somehow find time bake Cranberry Orange Morning Buns and Apple Turnovers. I guess baking (and eating the end product) is kind of therapeutic for me in a way.

I made this countdown to Christmas scratch off treasure hunt calendar for Lucas inspired by one of the projects in my friend Erin's new book Make and and Give. He's been scratching one gold circle off since December 1st. Underneath each circle is a clue to where a small gift is wrapped and hidden around the house -- anything from a pair of new socks, a piece of chocolate, a new book, or a trip to the museum.

Happy weekend friends!

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NEW 2015 Calendar / Jennifer Young Studio x Good on Paper

I'm beyond excited to share with you a fun collaboration I've been working on for the past couple of months -- a 2015 calendar I designed with super talented photographer Jennifer Young. This special limited edition calendar was inspired by Jennifer’s travels around the world and our love of clean, minimal design, coupled with hand lettering and copper foil printing. It is now available in an edition of 100 copies in my Shop as well as Jennifer's shop (she's got some amazing prints for sale). Each calendar is hand numbered on the front cover.

+ Photos by Jennifer Young Studio
+ As seen on Anthology, Shop Sweet Things, Oh So Beautiful Paper, Mother, Rue, SFGirlbyBay, and Design*Sponge (thank you all! so honored and humbled!)

My Work: Card Set Collaboration with Sally J. Shim for Brika

I recently designed a card set in collaboration with blogger/designer/crafter/mama/author Sally J. Shim that is available exclusively for Brika in limited quantities. The cards are part of the Pretty Paper and Packages Gift Set which includes Sally's new book Pretty Packages (published by Chronicle Books), 1 'Thank You' stamp + 8 hand-lettered gift tags by Ampersanity, and my set of 3 cards with graphic patterns inspired by the book's cover.

It was so fun and easy collaborating with Sally (remember when Sally and her boys came to visit us in Berkeley this summer?). She is a crafter extraordinaire and magically turns any package into a beautiful gift. Way better than my wrap-gift-in-tissue-paper-throw-in-old-bag style! Lucas and I did the Hand Carved Stamp Wrapping Paper Project and we had so much fun! The book is chock-full of creative gift wrapping projects, many of which are kid-friendly which we loved. Check out the Gift Set at Brika for the holidays!

+ Photos courtesy of Brika
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NEW Holiday 2014 Photo Cards in the Shop

The holidays are just around the corner and I'm so excited to announce that I'll be selling a few Holiday 2014 photo cards right here in my shop. Customize yours with a personalized greeting and photo. Each card design comes in three colorways to choose from and includes kraft envelopes. Take a look here and let me know if you have any questions!

From now until 11/6/14, get 20% off your holiday card order. Use code HOHOHO at checkout.

+ Photos by Sarah Hebenstreit of Modern Kids Photo

Recipe: S'mores Pot de Creme

Remember these yummy S'mores Pot de Creme party favors from Theo's 2nd birthday party? Well, it was a huge hit and I've received many requests for the recipe so I thought I would share it here. It's a genius concoction created by Andie at Bakin Bit for an Oh Happy Day Craft Night. The only credit I take is designing the packaging and asking Andie to make them for our party. :) Enjoy!

+ Click here for a printable PDF
+ Photos by me
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