Cardstore.com Giveaway Reminder!

Psst...a reminder to all of you that you still have time to enter in the Cardstore.com giveaway which ends tomorrow. Click here to enter!

And thought I'd have Designing Mom Erika give some behind-the-scenes on how she comes up with all of those wonderful designs...


What inspires your work?

I'm most inspired by color. I often find wacky color combos in nature (like lemon yellow butterfly sitting on a ripe plum) and apply them to my designs. I would never have come up with that color combo looking at a swatch book in my studio.

We have fruit trees in our backyard, and every chance I get I'm at the beach with my son, so I'm outside a bunch. I think that's why little critters (butterflies, insects, fishies) pop up in my designs.


What inspired the line you created for Cardstore.com?

Working with Cardstore.com has been fantastic for me. Because they print digitally I'm not restricted by the rules that go with letterpress printing. So I can put a big field of color next to a tiny stripe of the same color and it'll print great. When I letterpress that would mean two passes through the press for the same color. I'm having a lot of fun playing with colorful, flooded backgrounds. I just submitted half a dozen new designs that use bright colors as backgrounds, and some of the wedding invites I designed use them too.


Why send personalized notes?

Everyone loves mail, right? Send a personalized note to make someone happy. There is something about getting an envelope in the mailbox, addressed in a friend's handwriting, that just makes me smile. Even before I open the card I feel great. It takes a little extra time and a little more thought to snail mail a card, but the thought really counts! Extra bonus points if you doodle a little picture on the envelope, in my book. One of my friends makes homemade envelopes out of magazine pages. I LOVE those! Why use personalized notes? It's a great way to express the inner you. Pick a design that reflects YOU, not the corporate stationery you have at your office, or a generic note card from the store. I think personalized notes are great for any occasion ... I even use them to write birthday cards.

Does S have his own personalized stationery?

Oh yes. He has about a dozen different sets. Some letterpress, some from Cardstore.com. Some with lots of space to write, some with a little. When it's time to write a thank you note he gets to choose which card to send, and he gets excited about picking out the right pencil color and he even likes to pick out a matching stamp. On our "to do" list is to scan in one of his drawings and use it as a "photo" and upload it into a photo border card at Cardstore.com. I think that would be a great set of personalized stationery. Like this one:

S has these Cardstore.com cards (he draws a picture above his name, and writes a note inside):