For me, I love to bake and pick out uber-personal gifts for the people I'm shopping for. Well, some people aren't into shopping or baking- shocking, huh?? One thing I always like to stock up on when I see it is stationery. It's such a personal thing to take a few minutes out of a busy day to jot a note to friend you haven't seen in a while, or to jot a note to someone you see all the time but may not realize how much you appreciate them! As adults, we are pretty great at hiding our emotions. Do you know if the vendor that you source your artwork through just lost a pet? Or if they don't have anyone to spend Christmas Eve with? Does your best friend know that you would just die if you didn't have her/him in your life to laugh and cry with? I'm sure we can't answer all of these questions- although we typically seem to think we have such a great read on people. Most of the time, we're wrong. Oops. Unless everyone you interact with is extraordinarily candid, we know little to nothing about what's going on upstairs for them.
First things first, be kind. And honest. If you appreciate how quickly a vendor gets back to you while others may leave you hanging for days or weeks, tell them! If you are thankful for business advice someone you had lunch with gave you, write it down. If your mom talked you off a migraine-cliff the other day after dealing with a difficult person, let her know. An email is cordial, a phone call is good, and a hand-written note is fab. We have such an insane level of "communication" via social media networks, that sometimes we forget that we haven't even written anything down in weeks or month short of a to-do jot list. No bueno!
I wanted to share with you a few of my favorites. Well, I always give more than what some people consider 'a few,' but I'm not very good at narrowing down when I see 20 things I like. These Etsy finds are some beauties, and they won't break the bank either! Score and score!
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| love the personalization with the monogrammed initials and the simplicity via lucky8letterpress |
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| super-chic "man-talk." men can say thank you too...it's a new thing! via ekgoodies |
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| the two-tone name effect is cool, and the chevron look is always appreciated. via marsdesignstudio |
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| again, simplicity usually wins me over. and these punchy colors don't hurt a bit. via naomilynn |
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| clean, fresh, and embossed. via paperlovelypress |
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| the beautiful script and the faint patterning with a stark grey envelope don't disappoint. these were made by the press that does my business cards for me, she's amazing! via pixelimpress |
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| perfect to leave a sweet little note for your hunny or in a child's lunchbox. via pixelimpress |
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| just to say hello... via pixelimpress |
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| masculine, with a personal touch. via silhouetteblue |
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| do you SEE the inside of this envelope? out with the boring and in with the color splash! all of their stationery comes with envelopes that open to a little surprise. via paperkrush |
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| bad day? not anymore...these are bound to cheer anyone up. via http://www.etsy.com/shop/sparrownestscript |
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| you can never go wrong with a black and white stripe in my book. thesweetunfolding |
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| neutral and fun for all occasions via ohlouisedesigns |
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| i just love this idea for newlyweds or even a design studio via silhouetteblue |
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| summer fun via whenitrainsshop (love this shop name!) |
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| it's all about the dizzy pattern via littlelotuschildren |
I can't go too much into this, because I could talk about it for days. Text/font is IT. It's what makes or breaks stationery or any graphic design for that matter. My sisters from design school know what I'm talking about! As a matter of fact, Kristen and I were just talking about this. (Remember her from the barn wedding? Yep!) We jokingly had a text war about designing our other best friend Becca's wedding invites in Jokerman, Kristen ITC, Comic Sans, etc. We were seeing who could come up with the ultimate ugly. I'm still thinking that's Times New Roman. Thank GOD I don't have to write in that God-awful font anymore for school. Refuuuseeeee. Sorry for the rant. Actually, sorry I'm not sorry.
Pictured below is my favorite, favorite, favorite calligrapher EV. She's amazing. Her style, handwriting, and ability of just knowing placement all make her top notch. Do you just die?
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| check her out: http://bdunlap.blogspot.com/ |
And we all need the proper tools to make the whole process fun, right?
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| Kelly Wearstler's letter opener |
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| a wax seal done with b. dunlap's calligraphy. classic. xoxoxoxox |
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| this one is a homemade wax seal via abitabeesknees.com here's the link for how to do your own: http://ragehaus.com/?p=1215 |
Write a note today, people!
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