I presented the final proofs of a new bespoke painted invitation today, printed on special handmade paper with a smooth surface and textured bark-like surface on the reverse! The papers are amazing to the touch! Can’t really reveal a whole lot right now, but here are several teasers from the project!

One hint, the venue is local here in Los Angeles with an amazing succulent plant wall! The delightful wedding couple whose invitation this belongs to, are extremely creative folks (being a photographer + stylist), a lot of fun to collaborate with and were full partners in the development of the design. More details to come at a later date, stay tuned!

Its been awhile since I’ve done a studio/tool tour and here is one I couldn’t help doing today. I woke up this morning to a pleasant surprise (after an earlier shipping error), DHL knocked on my door to bring me my new handmade pure Kolinsky sable brushes all the way from England.

I’ve been eye-ing these Rosemary & Co beauties for a long time, having always used cheap synthetics and being frustrated with them lately. They finally arrived today and I’ve already given them a quick test run.

Introducing my new right hand men-from left: Pure Kolinsky Sable 1″ One stroke, #10 Squirrel Mop, #12 Pure Kolinsky Sable, #8 Pure Kolinsky Sable, #4 Pure Kolinsky Sable, and three awesome rubber tools for masking/frisket. Maybe I should name them?

So, how did they hold up? They are absolutely amazing, seriously seriously an upgrade from my old tools. I’ve always wondered about the hype surrounding good kolinsky sable brushes, having own one that wouldn’t keep its point and floppy to boot. So imagine my delight when these hold SO much water in their giant bellies, have great spring and snap (surprising from a synthetics user) and glides on paper like a dream!

This is the beginnings of their first painting and I am so excited!

My last ‘dream BIG’ release was here. They are now available in cheerful Holiday Splendor!

dream BIG holidays!

Upon close inspection, these are upgrades from the original collection. Still cute, but a lot more detailed (they were painted at a larger scale) and thus even more befitting their holiday card status. They will definitely make lovely keepsake cards for your loved ones long after the season has passed.

dream BIG Thanksgiving! Inspired by fall Aspens in the Sierra Nevada.

Hand-painted, archival printed on gorgeous, locally-handmade artisan papers!

I try to be a discerning consumer, especially these days- trying not to spend excessively and being smart about where from and what I buy. If you are like me, then you would appreciate a few things about the ‘dream BIG’ collection:

They are available only in 100% handmade artisan papers, made right here in the USA by small businesses. You have a choice of creamy white with natural deckled edges or creamy seeded papers. Envelopes are 100% post-consumer-waste recycled. The print is archival quality so you can frame them up and the colors will stay vivid for a long time. Each card is $6. I will ship them by standard first class so shipping is give or take a few cents to a dollar depending on how many you order.

dream BIG Christmas! Inspired by evergreens in the Sequioa National Forest, Califonia.

all artwork inspired by our travels and adventures in California

Send me an email if you are interested in pre-orders, there is a 10% discount and free shipping up to $5 for earlybirds!

dream BIG holiday duo

Feeling a little playful and thoughtful today so here’s a little note in my own hand-writing font!

Just a Little Note

Bumper edition of Atelier Thursday, getting ready to distribute these, been working on a TreeSpace Studio seeding kit for awhile.  I wanted them to reflect my philosophy for the studio, the style and of course be sustainable or precious.

Handmade-seeded-paper biz/calling cards, click on image to zoom in.

The business cards are sort of tongue in cheek, seeded handmade-paper cards for seeds of a relationship. They really need to be held and touched, the papers are absolutely lovely. The best thing is, once you are done with it, moisten it and bury it and wildflowers would (hopefully) grow! Here the concept was to make them look like each card was individually hand-drawn/lettered. (which of course they weren’t!) but they were hand-crafted.

'Polaroid flyers'-click image to zoom in.

I have two versions of these, one for my wedding studio, and one for the everyday design studio. The wedding flyers were hand-lettered with a dip pen. All printed on 100% Post-Consumer-Waste-Recycled cardstock in beautiful off-white shades.  Will you pick these up if you see them?

{ keep } Flyers, click on image to zoom in.

A little sneak preview of my soon-to-be-introduced line of sustainable, custom-illustrated  handmade packaging for artisans. The mission is to make handmade packaging for handmade goods that are worth treasuring as much as the creations within it.  Multi-purpose is a big concept behind the line, and this is a flyer that doubles as a business card and doubles as an artwork that you can actually frame and hang up. The reverse side of the flyer features a hand-drawn illustration of various ideas for upcycled and hand-crafted packaging that you can even implement yourself!

Archival-quality printing on beautiful soft and thick cotton rag paper with natural and hand-deckled edges.

Email me if you would like me to create a seeding kit for your emerging little business!

What do you throw away the most?

Do you make cards, cakes, candies,  jewelry, accessories? Here is a design challenge: can durable, cool and awesome packaging be made from items from our trashcans at home at work?  It needs to be 1. durable, 2. upcycled/recycled 3. handmade, 4. quick to reproduce, 5.  affordable, 6. can be custom-illustrated. For the first part of this ongoing design challenge, I am presenting the most common raw materials in my studio, some early sketches and some inspirational ideas from around the web. In future posts, I will share what I have come up with!

Top row: what's in my trash; second: some early ideas; bottom: inspirations around the web

What is in my trash: I get lots of material from shipping, packaging from bought stuff,  plastic wraps, corrugated cardboard from boxes,  and lots and lots of junkmail.  What do I need? Packaging, cool customizable art packaging for the items that I offer for sale.

Would you like to send me your trash?