Cards of the Week - A Quick Study

{Hi Sewn Card (3) by A Quick Study}

Happy Friday! This week COTW will focus on ONE person - meet Zoe of A Quick Study.

Zoe is a fellow exhibitor on PaperNStitch & as I was going through the shops last month, looking for material for the COTW post, I found her. I wanted to post every card she makes. Hello?! Did you see that first picture? It's a hand embroidered hi! It's adorable. Check a few others out and then we'll hear from Zoe!

{Zig Zag Running Stitch Sewn Card (single)}

{Thanks Sewn Card (3)}

I could post her card collection here. No lie. Like this card...and this card...and how about her notebooks??

But, let's get to our guest. Zoe!

I’m Zoe, mom of two very little boys and multi-faceted designer. By day, I design curricula and professional training for new teachers, and by (late at) night, I design branding, graphics, web sites, and of course embroidered and block printed/ stamped paper goods.

How & when did you start making hand made crafts?

I’ve been crafting forever, and actually first learned hand embroidery from my elementary school librarian, but I started doing hand-embroidered paper only within the last 6 months or so. I sort of stumbled upon it by accident. I spend a lot of time on the phone for my day job, and I have a hard time focusing unless I can keep my hands busy. I started poking a pattern into an index card using a pin, which led to the idea of embroidering the pattern. I loved the resulting textures and patterns, plus the sort of mathematical process of figuring out the holes required for each design, and it just exploded from there!

That sounds like fun! I get why you love it. What will we find in your Etsy shop?

My Etsy store, I think like most, is a continual work in progress. I currently sell my card line and my embroidered notebooks, and am continually thinking about new designs to add to those products. I’m also in the prototyping phase for a bunch of related but different products tending more towards the home goods realm. I like to think my products make life a little more genteel and refined while staying modern and fun, so you’ll see products that are geared towards classic activities like letter writing using traditional stitches but executed in bright, modern colors and blown up to emphasis the geometry of the designs.

I love what I'm hearing! Can't wait to see what's next! What is something we won't learn from reading your Etsy profile?

My dad is a master carpenter and furniture maker - he makes really beautiful custom furniture and is also great at home carpentry like cabinet making. I grew up listening to the whine of powerful saws in his garage workshop and playing with scrap wood. I think I get a lot of my crafty tendencies from him, along with a love of power tools (especially my compound miter saw).

Last but no least, who do you {heart} on Etsy?

There are so many! One of my longest-standing favorites is YellowMonday - I have three of her prints in my house and I just love them. I also love AmandaGentry but haven’t been able to justify buying any of her ceramics yet, although I drool over them regularly.

I hope you guys will go check out Zoe on PNS & especially on Etsy. She also has a blog! All kinds of subjects covered - crafts, time management...something I bet she is great at with little ones running around, a full time job AND her hand made business, blog, twitter, etc, etc, etc... Zoe, my hat off to you girl.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Adventures in Baby Showers

Saturday, I had the great pleasure of spending the day at the Washington Duke Inn, in Durham, NC, with my good friend Tracey. Along with many more of her friends & family, we had an afternoon tea {slash} baby shower to celebrate her first born, coming the end of April.

I hosted along with 4 other lovely ladies. And! I got to design the invitations! Here were the contenders:

Can you see the jumping off points for my current Minted.com submissions? Voting is still open, btw.

The 5 of us unanimously decided the paisleys were the way to go {obvious from my first picture, right?}. They are very "Tracey." She's using them in the decor for the baby's room, along with a bright green that we brought into the invitation suite with Pop-Tone envelopes in Limeade. Ta-da!!

What invitation suite would be complete without Thank You cards? Not this one! I planned to suprise Tracey with a set of these in her shower gift, but like the fabulous friend that she is, she follows all my blogging & saw my Posterous post about making cards on Feb 21st. So, I blew my own surprise. But no matter! She was thrilled anyway!

{These are from my Posterous & available on Etsy}

Congrats to Tracey & her husband John. We are all very excited to meet Baby Bailey!

{all photos taken by me}

The Anatomy of a Thank You Note

(New Thank You notes up on my Etsy shop. Red for the holidays!)

'Tis the season, my friends, for parties, gifts & holiday cheer. Guess what follows? Well, yes, the occasional "cheer" hangover, but also, the time to send thank yous to your hosts & gift givers.

These days the best excuse you have to put pen to paper might be a thank you note. Keeping up with friends has become almost entirely electronic, but that just doesn't cut it when it's time to express your gratitude. So, pull out a pen, grab a card & write (yes, actually write!) your thank yous.

But wait...you are pausing...do you feel awkward writing a thank you note? Fear not! Lots of people do, strangely enough. The more you do it, the better you will get at it, the easier it will feel. Plus, there is a simple formula you can follow to guide you. I put this together based on posts from The Morning News & eHow.com

1. Greeting the recipient:

Dear Chris,

If "dear" is too familiar, no worries. Just say Hi!

2. Express your gratitude:

Thank you so much for _____!

Fill in the blank with the gift or reason you are writing - a vase, watching my kids, having us over, etc. Mention the gift specifically unless it's money. That is a no-no. In that case you could recognize some one's "generosity."

3. Mention something about the gift -
how you like it, where it will go, how it will be used.

The vase matches our living room perfectly.

The point is to let the person know how you like & appreciate the gift beyond just saying the words "thank you." It brings sincerity to your thanks.

4. Add a personal thought:
Really enjoyed getting together for dinner last week. Let's do it again when we get back from vacation.

Nothing major about things going on in your life in this section. Leslie Harpold of the Morning News.Org says it best in her article: Let the giver know how they fit into the fabric of your life.

5. Re-thank them:

Again, I love the vase! Thank you!

6. Sign off:

All the best, Kerry

Many options here: Love, Best, Cheers...whatever you like. Keep it simple.

And BOOM! You have written a quick & meaningful thank you note. It could only be easier if it was a Mad Lib. Write a few drafts on scrap if you like to get warmed up & organize your thoughts. Then move to your note or social stationery & bang it out.

A common question: Does your thank you note need to say thank you on the front? No! You are saying it on the inside in your note. But, it should be appropriate & reflect the meaning you are sending. (Maybe don't send Grandma a thank you note with skulls on it, even if they are super cute.) Don't know why writing notes is important in the first place? You can start with my earlier blog post here.

Sending you all Holiday cheer! Happy Note Writing!