Custom Recap: Davis Family Branding

A few months ago I had the pleasure of working with a a member of my extended family, Gayle, who is my uncles mother, to create some really beautiful stationery for her and her husband, Ron. This past year, Ron and Gayle officially entered retirement, and decided to sell their home near Boston and split their year between a home in Florida and a home in Maine. Gayle was looking for a way to let family and friends know about their move, and how/where to contact them throughout the year.

The more Gayle and I chatted, the more I thought the project was along the lines of a family branding - so I went to work creating a style that we could use for calling cards, folded stationery and flat note cards. I came up with the idea of "Pine to Palm" since their year was spent half in the pines of Maine, and half in the palms of Florida.

I absolutely love the way everything turned out - the soft neutral colors, the gingham backer pattern and the blue envelope pull all of the different pieces together perfectly.

On their first drive down from Maine to Florida, Gayle spent a good portion of the multi-day drive writing notes to friends and family on her new folded cards - letting them know about the move.

She also keeps a stack of calling cards with her at all times, so that she can quickly give them to friends when they ask for her contact information. These cards might be my favorite part of the project, they are just so perfectly compact and pack a huge amount of information. These little cards clearly communicate what time of the year Ron and Gayle will be in Maine, and when they will be in Florida, plus their phone numbers and addresses for each location. What a great idea!

And the last element of the set is the flat stationery, which Gayle plans on using for special notes and correspondence. I love the idea of having an entire theme throughout all of the stationery you use, it's something that brands and businesses do - and I hope the trend catches on for families. It's such an organized, sophisticated way to represent yourself.

If you love the idea of family branding as much as I do, I would love to work with you and create your perfect set of stationery to represent all of the different aspect of your unique life. Contact me to start talking about making your ideas a reality.

Smoldering Business Cards - Now for Sale on Minted!

My "Smoldering" business cards are now for sale at Minted. Head on over and check them out!

"Smoldering" comes in three different color options and has a variety of options for the backer. they are the perfect new business cards for the upcoming hot summer!

Believe Notes Branding :: Business Cards

Since starting this business a few years ago, I've probably gone through 4 different business card designs. And don't even ask me to count how many times I've changed my blog design! I think I speak for all designers in saying that the most difficult thing is self branding & designing for your self. I've posted about it before - when I made Believe Notes grammatically correct, when I asked for help picking a new logo, when I finally shared my love for orange, and when I just needed to vent about the difficulty of branding.

After finally picking a logo, I moved on to use the design elements of it in my Etsy shop, on my Facebook page, and on the Believe Notes Website - but one thing I never did was create business cards for myself. It's totally embarrassing to be meeting new people and have them ask for a card and not be able to give them one. It wasn't that I didn't want one, trust me, I desperately wanted that little 3.5 x 2" paper that perfectly represented myself and my business - but I just had a difficult time designing that itty bitty piece of perfection.

I would sit down every day after work and try to create a business card. A few months ago I even reached out to my twitter followers to ask for advice on some sample designs. Then, after taking in all the generous feedback, I sat on the designs for a long time before finally picking and editing the one I loved the most.

And now I finally have business cards.

They are classic and simple on the front, with just enough contact information that people will know where to find me, but without so much information that the text is cluttered. It's total business on the front, and party on the back. I updated the colors on a pattern I created a long time ago, and I love the punches of orange and light blue. The cards are printed on 100% Cotton paper, which makes them soft and luxurious.

If I could describe these cards in one word it would be: Me. They are totally, completely representative of who I am and where I am at this very moment in life & business. Let me also add that I am damn proud to hand these suckers out now!

Can't wait to use the design elements from my new business cards to pull together all of the packaging ideas that I have! My goal is to have one cohesive look for all of my branding, and while it won't happen over night, it will indeed happy over time.

new items for sale in the shop!

I'm super excited to have my shop back up and running, with some fresh new designs as well as some of the old favorites. The shop might look just a tad different, hopefully a little cleaner and more consistent - that's because I've decided to change how I display my items. I wanted to make sure all of the details of the designs were viewable to my potential customers, and I just wasn't getting that crispness before - but now I am, and I hope it's appreciated! 

You might also notice some pricing and quantity changes. This isn't because I'm getting greedy and wanted to increase the prices, it's because I'm using better quality papers in more options (thick 100% recycled, lovely pearl shimmer, and linen textured - all for the same price!). I've also increased the number of items in each set - for example, folded note cards went from sets of 24 to sets of 30. 

Here are some of the new business/calling cards that are now available for purchase:

Chic Floral 

Mod Colors

Summer Set

Vineyard

Coming soon to Minted!

I'm giving it my darndest right now to keep up with all the design challenges going on over at Minted. I've had two designs picked from the last few challenges, which is pretty good considering I didn't enter many designs. You've already seen the "Sweet Hearts" birth announcement design, which should be for sale soon, and I just found out I also won an Editor's Pick for my "Smouldering" business card design!

"Smouldering" Business Card Editor's Pick                       

Minted also has just announced all of the Holiday Card winners, and my oh my, they are amazing! I had submitted two designs (there were a total of over 2,200 designs!) and neither were chosen, but I am actually happy about that because it means I can sell them in my Etsy shop this season. That's the beauty of Minted, even if you don't win, you still end up with lovely designs that are fit for sale. The design challenges are win-win!

The new wedding challenge is also open at Minted, and it's my mission to enter at least three designs. The talent is amazing, and while I have no plans on actually winning, I love submitting and getting feedback from such talented designers. Be on the lookout for my submissions!

The Typography Business Card Challenge - Vote for ME!!!

Taking a break here from the wedding reviews to ask you (beg you) to go vote for my designs in the latest Minted Challenge: The Typography Business Card Challenge.

Here are my three entries, please go vote!

Raspberry Lemonade

Strip(ed) Down

Smouldering

Go vote!! Thanks!!

Month in Review

So today is Sunday, July 3rd...it's a rainy, muggy, steamy day here in Queens, and when I look out over the water, Manhattan seems lost in the fog. Yuck. Weather it's raining or not, I seem to have found a pattern in that I almost always blog on Sundays, which is good, because I know my weekday blogging has been slower. It's for good reason though. Remember this post? Well, I am still tired, but I have gotten a lot accomplished. During my honeymoon I really did some thinking about where I want my life to go, and I decided that someday I would love to do full time stationery design. That sort of a thing doesn't happen overnight. So over the past month I have spend every moment working on my business. I get home after the 9-5 and I begin working on my Etsy shop, networking through my Facebook page, and taking photos of new designs to prep them for sale. I've also been able to submit a few birth announcement designs to Minted, which reminds me, you need to go vote for them!!! Here are the two designs I submitted, click and vote please:

"Falling in Love" Birth Announcement

"Sweet Hearts" Birth Announcement

I am very proud of myself that I was able to pull out two designs. It's the small milestones that make me proud these days :)

My Facebook page is doing very well, we're up to 129 "likes" which I'm feeling good about. I had a giveaway when I reached 100 "likes" but it seems the person that won has gone out of business and did not claim their prize. I'm thinking I might do a "pop up" giveaway in the near future to make up for it.

I've launched my new line of business cards on Etsy, and so far they have been a hit. I sold one around five minutes after it was posted and I have a few more custom orders that I am working on as well. Designing business cards is fun for me, but I am definitely struggling with the costs involved. Since they are so tiny I have a hard time cutting them properly at home. While I would love to print them on my trusted home printer, I've realized it would be better to have them done professionally. The problem with that, of course, is that it is slightly more expensive and takes much more time.  So far it seems the "Soft Lattice" design is the winner, I've already sold several of them. She sure is pretty though, isn't she?

"Soft Lattice" Business Card on Etsy

I seem to have finally found the secret to taking pictures of my cards, which happened accidentally, but who cares! I love the way they've been coming out. My research has taught me that no matter how much research you do, and no matter how many "how to" tutorials you watch, the "correct" way to do something is always a little trial, a little error, and totally unique. What works for everybody else may not work for me, and what works for me may not work for everybody else. Hmm, sounds like something my mom has been telling me for, well, ever. *sigh*

You may also remember this fiasco with my carbon monoxide situation, and I'm very, very happy to report that my dad did indeed fix the problem. We haven't had any carbon monoxide issues since the whole thing happened, but I still panic when I hear things beeping. My coworkers cell phone was dying a few days ago and it began to beep, my first instinct was to panic, but then I realized it was a cell phone. I wonder how long it'll take before I can hear a beep without thinking I need to evacuate?

Anyway, life is moving along pretty well. I wanted to give you a little catch-up post before some other posts about specific topics. Oh, and I haven't forgotten about all of my vendor reviews for the wedding. I am waiting until I get my professional pictures are back so that I can use them in the posts. Hopefully next week :)

I hope you are all enjoying you Sunday, whether it's rainy or sunny!!

Giveaway Announced and Business Cards Launched!

It's been announced!!! The launch of my Business Card and Calling Card lines could not have been any more perfectly times with my first ever Facebook Giveaway! I'll slowly be adding all my new business card designs to my Etsy shop (I'd do it all at once, but it takes so darn long to load the pictures!!) but if you are interested in winning 50 cards like asap, then run over and like my Facebook page!!!! One lucky winner will be receiving 50 custom calling cards from my new line!

Here's a little glimpse, for those of you that want to tease yourselves:

Hope you all enjoy!!