2014 Christmas Cards are here!

I am so excited to share my new Christmas card designs with you today! Just like last year, it's officially 2 months until Christmas so now's the time to share.

I have to say, these are my favorite designs I have done and hope you enjoy them.

Let's start with the 2013 chalk-style cards.

This is my baby so I have to list it first: Have a holly jolly Christmas.



I designed the typography then printed it and hand drew it all out and added little doodles and flourishes. If you could have feelings for a card, I do for this one. A lot of love went into this guy.

But that's neither here nor there.

Next up, O come let us adore him,



And, then, The weary world rejoices.



Next, Glory to God in the highest.



And lastly, for the chalk-style, Have yourself a merry little Christmas.



Now, onto the colorful cards!

I don't know if you're supposed to have favorites but this might be mine if you can, For unto us a child is born.



This one is also available in red and blue so check the listing to see the other colors.

The next two were designed for instagrammers and the love of square photos. And no, you don't have to use instagram to use this card, I can crop your photos for you.

First up, peace love joy.



And then, Merry Christmas.



This next card has some of my hand drawn doodles in the background and is ideal for horizontal photos.

Merry Christmas.



This one also has my hand drawn doodles, Have yourself a merry little Christmas.




This design is also available with a three photo grid at the top and/or gray. See listing for options.

And lastly, do you save the best for last or do you do the best first? Either way, I'm not saying this is the best but, by golly, I do like this guy too.

Deck the halls.



So there you have it. My 2013 customizable Christmas card designs.



Since I had a lot of questions about the process last year, I'm going to try to explain this as simply as possible.

Who these cards are for:
People that have a family photo that want to send out a unique Christmas card.

Here's how it works:
If you see a card design you like, go to my shop and purchase the listing. There are some steps laid out in the listing but all you need to do is buy it, send me the photo you want me to use and your name to add to the card.

I will then set your design up and send you a PDF copy to review. If everything looks good, I'll send you a print-ready pdf and jpg for you to use as you wish. That means you can print them at home, get them printed at Walmart or you can upload them to an online printer, like Mpix. If you aren't familiar with online printing, don't worry, I offer a little step-by-step-guide to help you through the ordering process that comes with your final print-ready file.

Make sense?

So, you buy the design, I add your stuff and send you a PDF and you print. Got it?


If you saw a design you'd like to have for your Christmas cards this year, hop on over to my shop and get it. You'll also see a few of the favorite designs from 2012 too.

Also, I should let you know that I won't be doing custom cards this year so this is it. And I take the cards down at the first of December so just a heads up.

Oh, and if you're a photographer wanting the templates to these designs for your clients, I have the chalk collection ready and listed in the shop.



I'm still working on the color templates and hope to have those up next week. If there's something you need, let me know.

Thank you for all your support of my shop and I hope you have an awesome day!

p.s. it's important to me to keep Jesus at the center of Christmas and that's why all my cards are either verses, carols or say Christmas somewhere. That's all. Thank you.

Hope Spoken or bust!

So, I'm going to be at Hope Spoken in 2014. If you don't know what I'm talking about, find out more here.

Anyway, the hosts of the event are doing a link up thing for all the people attending and we're supposed do these 5 things so everyone can get to know each other a little before meeting in person.

What five things?

These 5 things:

- post your picture so that we can recognize you.

- introduce yourself!

- something that you are little timid or nervous about for the weekend

- something that you are hoping to take away from HopeSpoken

- share something fun/random about yourself

 

So here goes.

 

My name is Lesley. I live in Tulsa, OK with my husband and our two girls. I design things, cook things and instagram all sorts of nonsense AND I'm going to be one of the small group leaders at Hope Spoken. I'm SO excited to meet so many of the people of follow on The Internets in real life.

 

That's a picture so you can recognize me. Haha.

 

Let's try this one instead.

 

 

So that's me and my girls.  They're the bees knees.

I'm a little nervous at being a small group leader. I enjoy meeting new friends but not sure I'm entirely qualified leading some of you amazing ladies in a small group. Also, I don't know if small groups are assigned or what but if you can pick your own leader/group - what if no one picks me?! That would not be so awesome so let's make a pact that you pick me, okay? Thanks, I'll bring candy or something.

 

On to the next thing, I'm excited to take away new IRL (that's in real life for those that didn't know) friends. I have followed some of the ladies blogs or IG feeds for so long that I feel like I know them already so it will be awesome to hug your necks. And here's a random fact for you, I'm not a touchy-feely person and don't hug a lot. But I can give one heck of a high five! 

 

That said, I really will be hugging some necks and happily so. Oh, and I like to joke and kid. I'm not the most serious person you'll ever meet so just a heads up on that.

 

Okay, that's it. I look forward to meeting all you Hope Spokeners out there!

Christmas cards - 2013

I have received a few emails and comments asking if I'll be doing Christmas cards again this year. The answer is yes! I was going to wait until Friday, when they'll be up in the shop, to announce it but I decided to do a little sneak peek today.



And yes, like last year, I'll also have templates available for photographers on most designs - more details on Friday.

Some of last year's favorites will be back again, as will a few new fun Christmas related items, like these printable gift tags!



More will be added but for now I'm wrapping up the Christmas card designs so check back Friday to see all the new cards and have a happy Monday!

Do you know Lori Danelle?

Or have you seen her work? I mean, technically we haven't met, in person anyway, but I have seen her work and LOVE it. And we text and email so I know we'd hit it off in real life. Ha.

I have been a fan of Lori's work since the first time I saw it and if you recall, she also sponsored our Be Crafty OK event last month. Her "choose joy" print is one of my faves and I'm quite certain I'll end up getting the flapjacks print once we move to our dream home, which is taking a ridiculously long time to happen than I ever imagined. That's a whole post on it's own - one I believe I keep promising to write but not today :)

Anyway, back to Lori. She is not only an amazingly talented designer but she takes it to a whole new level with paper cutting. I don't know how she has the patience to do what she does but I'm so glad she does because her work is so beautiful.

Take a look.



That is the canvas Lori gifted me for my birthday. It's her most recent paper cut design that she also  turned into a print. The picture does not do it justice. At all.

Not only do I love the design of it, but the quote is so awesome. You can read how the whole design came to be in her blog post here. It's really neat to see other designer's processes so go ahead. I'll wait.

So neat huh. Yay for Lisa Leonard and her beautiful words and Lori for her beautiful design! Did you watch the time lapse video of her cutting that print out? If not, I stole it and embedded it here for you to watch.

Lori Danelle | Hand in Hand Cut Paper from Lori Danelle on Vimeo.

Crazy amazing, right?!

I feel so blessed to have one of her canvases up in my home but even more so to call her a friend. Thank you so much, Lori for the beautiful present. I love it.

And that Lori, she's a giver. She's letting me give you guys a discount code to use in her shop! Check out her shop here and use the code: R4CFRIEND for 15% off any purchase through the month of October!

Happy Tuesday!

Everyone Wins

Thank you for all the entries and birthday wishes on the calendar giveaway post! Last night I randomly selected a winner...

drumroll...

Comment number 45 - come on down.

If you are Amanda, and you said,

"Happy Birthday :) Love your prints!! I bought one for my brother earlier this year," 

shoot me an email with your info and I'll get those TWO calendars out asap!

And since tomorrow is my birthday - let's all celebrate with a major discount in my shop! How does 32% OFF sound? Not sure where I came up with that number, maybe it's lucky maybe that's how old I'll be tomorrow - who knows ;) So enjoy 32% off today through Sunday with the code MAKEAWISH at checkout.

Here's a little math to help for this early Friday morning.

Have an awesome Friday and thanks again for all the sweet birthday wishes!

Shop Talk - getting ready for the holidays

Happy Monday friends!

For the last several months I've been working on a few new things for the shop.

First up, my 2014 Bible verse calendar.



I have wanted a little monthly calendar with basic Bible verses for a little inspiration and when I couldn't find just what I was looking for, I made my own. I thought it would be nice to give out to friends and family at Christmas so I bought some little cotton bags and designed a stamp for them. The stamp says "do all things with love."




There are 12 unique designs of a Bible verse for each month and each is printed at 4x6 on card stock. The back is left blank so you can record important events throughout each month and then neatly store the year away in the bag. Each set is packaged in a sturdy box with a little kraft crinkle paper and ready to ship.



The next two items in the shop are digital graphics, aka clip art, and all are hand drawn by myself then digitized for you to use!

I started with a fall set, "it's fall y'all."

There are pumpkins, leaves, banners and some text, all making up 27 graphics and they are available in both transparent PNG and vector EPS. You can click on the images to link over to the shop listing for more details.



The second set it called, "merriest" and is a holiday/Christmas/winter collection.

There are ornaments, packages, more banners and more fun text, all making up 29 graphics, also available in both PNG and EPS formats.



If you have an image editing program, like photoshop or illustrator, you can use these graphics. Some creative uses could include:

• stationary or other printed pieces
• diy cards or party favors
• blog graphics
• invitaions

I have two more Christmas sets that I'll be adding to the shop soon so check back soon!



AND just to make the week a little sweeter, because this Saturday is my birthday and all, I'm giving away two calendars to a random person - one for them and one for them to gift.

To enter:
- leave a comment telling me happy birthday.

kidding. you can comment about whatever you would like

Details:
- one comment per person
- deadline to enter is Thursday at 10 pm
- winner chosen at random and announced Friday
- open to US residents only

That's it.

I hope you have a great week!

Be Crafty came to Oklahoma

If you would have told me 6 months ago that I would be helping organize and put on an instagram meet up AND a craft workshop in the same day - I would have laughed out loud.

I'm not know for my craftiness. No. I'm not sure what I'm know for. People say they think of me when they see donuts. So maybe that.

But, when the idea started forming with Amanda and Allison, for some reason, I hopped right in. And I am SO, SO glad I did. Not only did I get to meet Amanda in real life, I got to watch her in action, eat with her, laugh with her and may even have rubbed a little Okie on her, I heard her say y'all! The weekend could have been complete with the new friendship with those girls, but alas, there were so many great things that happened. Hence this post.




Let me start by saying thank you to all the sponsors. Without you, this event would not have even been possible.

I was blown away by the support of the small business community here in Tulsa. Christine at Made: the indie emporium offered some space to host the event for FREE! Randy over at Mod's supplied our meet up with plenty of coffee and all the fixin's. Laken, cutie owner of Lick Your Lips Mini Donuts, filled our bellies with her amazing cinnamon sugar mini donuts! The Round House had scones for all the meet up friends as well as cupcakes and cookies for the workshop ladies.

On top of all the food - we even had some amazing decorations delivered to us by Studio Mucci, Inspire Lovely and Nourishing Notes. It is an incredible thing to see so much support and I still feel like pinching myself that I got to be a part of it.




Don't think the donut print didn't find its way home with me.

Several ladies showed up to meet, chat, snack and mingle. It was nice meeting people you've only seen through a square on your phone. During the initial plannin stages, my husband asked if it was going to be creepy to go to something like this - where you meet people in person you follow online. Now isn't the time to talk about the fact that he has no cell phone, no personal email or online identity at all. But let me tell you, it wasn't creepy at all. It was so much fun and so many talented women connected in real life for the first time. It was pretty awesome.



There were some fantastic giveaways donated for the meet up including a seat in Ashley's phone Snap Shop course, a photo pack from Origrami, the cutest peg people sets from Once Upon a Peg, Passive Juice Motel printed my "howdy y'all" design on a pillow, Jenna Lou Designs offered a cute handmade clutch, jenntage gave away some super cute hoops and coasters and House of M gave a special lady a hat and necklace.

It doesn't take a genius to realize these ladies got some sweet goods.



1. Once Upon a Peg // shop
2. jenntage // shop




That's my pillow. In case you were wondering what it looked like :)

Thank you instagram meet up sponsors:

• Under the Sycamore - Snap Shop Workshops // Phone Photography Course // DSLR Photography Course // blog // instagram
• Origrami // site // instagram, #origrami // twitter // fb
• Passive Juice Motel // shop  // instagram
• Jenna Lou Designs // shop // blog // facebook // instagram
• Studio Mucci // shop
• House of M

After the meet up we all took a short break. Then Elote delivered their famous puffy tacos, chips/salsa and queso and churros. I was given a hard time about my fondness for the churro but I'm totally okay with it - they are so amazing.



After lunch the crafting began.

You'll have to forgive me for not having a lot of pictures and that all the ones I have were from my phone. If I ever do one of these things again I'll make note to bring my big girl camera, take tons of pictures and get some with the ladies. My head was not in the photo game that day and now I shall pay.

This is also a great time to introduce Jenna. She drove down with Amanda and was like the best helper of all time. She was a TROOPER. I can't imagine how the day would have gone without her and I'm so thankful for her. Anyway, she took tons of pictures for Amanda and I'm hoping she posts more from the day over on her blog or Amanda does on her blog or just someone somewhere posts some pictures on a blog out there.

Anyway, here's the few I did get.






Impressive. That's me being sarcastic at the amount of pictures I have. Massive fail. I even had to steal a couple pictures from some instapeeps for the finished craft project!



So cute, right! These ladies made the cutest chalkboard and serving spoons. I wanted to steal them all. Thanks for the photo, @cdbayer3!

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention my little chalk art segment. I did a quick little spiel (yes, I googled that to make sure I spelled it right, and good to know because I nearly typed schpeal). Anyway, I'll post more about the tips and chalk stuff sometime soon. But, there I am in all my awkward glory. Ha.



And then it was off to Vintage Market Days for some treasure hunting.

It was crazy just how much fun I had with this group of ladies. They were the perfect mix of quiet, loud, funny, serious, thoughtful and everything else. I cannot remember the last time I've laughed so hard for an entire day. I walked away from the event with a few new friends, a little more painting know-how and happy spot in my life that I didn't even know I had missed. So thank you to all the ladies that came to our event. It really wouldn't have been possible without you and I'm so thankful for the time you shared with us.

And I'll leave you with the little, read MAJOR, thank you we got to pass out to the ladies in the form of insanely awesome swag.

So many incredible men and women donated gifts for each of our ladies to take home. I wish each one could have been there in person to hear the squeals that came out of these ladies as they opened their goodie box. I can't tell you how many times I heard, "this is like Christmas!" or "this is better than Christmas." Ha. They were so thankful and so am I.

If you weren't there, take a look at this roundup of awesomeness. I mean, it should be in like the Hall of Fame for swag. Right?

And if sending the ladies all this swag wasn't enough, several sponsors are offering YOU a discount in their shops so look for a coupon code, if they have one - it will be bold.  

1. Inspire Lovely  //  shop
2. rayna jaye // shop
3. studio mela  // shop // current promo: buy 2 prints get a 3rd free
4. happy days by wifeysinger // blog // shop // twitter // instagram // code: BECRAFTY for 20% off

1. gleeful peacock // shop 
2. weather & noise // shop
3. katygirl designs // shop // blog // instagram // code: becrafty for 15% off
4. art jaden // shop

1. HOPEhandmade // shop // blog // instagram, #hopehomemadeonetsy
2. Jenna Lou Designs // shop // blog // facebook // instagram
3. the Splendor Shop // shop
4. Fancy That Design House & Co // shop // blog // instagram // fb // code: OKBeCrafty for 10% off through 9/21

1. Benzie // garland shop // felt shop // blog // fb // code: BECRAFTY13 10% off both shops
2. Oh hello friend // shop
3. Ella Reu Designs // fb  // instagram
4. cmHandmade// shop

1. give with JOY // shop // blog // fb // instagram, #givewithJOY // code: CRAFTY 15% off & if you like her on fb & make a purchase with the code, you'll get a special gift!!
2. the mason bar co. // shop // fb // twitter // instagram // code: BECRAFTY for 25% off through the end of September
3. Vintage Market Days // site
4. Lori Danelle // shop // fb // instagram // code: BECRAFTY15

1. Stephlovesben // shop // instagram // code: TENOFF for 10% off
2. pen and paint  // shop // blog // instagram // twitter // fb // code: CRAFTY20 good through 9/25
3. larissa loden // shop
4. raising up rubies // shop // blog // instagram // code: becrafty20 for 20% off

1. Kelsey Davis Design // shop
2. once upon a peg // shop
3. Nourishing Notes // shop // instagram // twitter
4. jenntage // shop

I tried to get a picture of all the swag but unfortunately there were a couple I missed, I apologize. Busted Trumpet provided thank you cards and 2Bcreative sent everyone home with a mini wood easel.

• Busted Trumpet // shop // fb // instagram
• 2Bcreative // shop

Whew.

So much fun. So much paint. So much food. So much swag. So much laughter. So much awesome. Thanks for everything!

Tuesday20

That's the discount code for my shop today. Use it all day for 20% off your order.


I have wanted to create a print from Matt Redman's, 10,000 Reasons, for a while now. It's one of my favorite worship songs and it's been scribbled in my notebook for I can't even tell you how long. I was finally urged to do it after receiving a several comments and etsy convos asking about it. In particularly after a sweet woman shared a heartbreaking story of loss and hope with me.

I don't know if I'll ever get used to people contacting me to create something so dear to their hearts to give to a loved one. It is something I take seriously and am so very thankful God has blessed me to use the talents he gave me to bless others.

Anyway, I had planned on using the first verse in my design but was asked to do the chorus so I decided to do both. They can be displayed alone or together! So this print set is how that song looks in my head. And since it's about to be fall, I opted for some fall colors. I hope you don't mind.

Part 1.




And part 2.



I also added a new printable:

That's all for today. Remember, TUESDAY20 at checkout for 20% off today!

Happy Tuesday and make sure you come back tomorrow to hear all about our Be Craft shindig!

mug swap 2013 - part 2

So yesterday you saw what I got from my amazingly talented mug swap partner, Heather.

Today I'm showing you what I got for mine. There may have been a little squeal when I got my email that I had been matched with a partner from Kim. I was to find a mug for Jules of JoysHope. I only know her through her blog and instagram feed so from what I can tell from that is she has a huge heart, she's amazingly talented, she is hilarious and I'm pretty sure we'd have some serious laughs together if we ever met in real life.

And if you've visited her blog or seen her instagram feed, you know she loves color and the beach. So the hunt was on to find her a perfect mug.

I went all over this crazy town searching for a mug. I came up empty after many outings. Instead of continuing my hunt, I played a little. You see, what you may not know, Julie is not too fond of some specific things. When you fill out the mug swap questionnaire there's a spot for what you like. Here's what she had to say:

I love everything. Except purple. And cats. And bananas. And clowns. And sharks. And poorly written books. And ketchup.

So what does one do with that knowledge? Sketch a little doodle of all those things together. Naturally. So that's what I did. I couldn't help myself.


A purple cat, a shark and a clown at a "poorly written book club" with a lovely snack of bananas and ketchup.

It's a little sad how many giggles there were as I made this. Quite sad.

But I finally gathered my wits and went back on the hunt. I ran to my go-to-mug-swapping-place, Anthropology. I found two mugs and texted pics to my friend Katy, who just happened to be my last year's mug swap partner. She and Julie are friends so I knew she'd steer me right. And just like that, mug found.



I gathered up a few little extra goodies to add to the box. Mainly so Julie wouldn't hate me after she saw the doodle :)



A little Burt's Bees, my favorite local coffee, Topeca, a teal bracelet and my "coffee and Jesus" print and called it a day.

And since Julie follows me on instagram, I had to mess with her a bit. I didn't want her cluing in that I had her for a partner so I finished wrapping her package with a nice little note and posted it to instagram.





I also have to share my little surprise mug with y'all. Katy, mentioned above, is pretty awesome. We have joked that once a mug swap partner, always a mug swap partner - case in point: This little mug she sent me.



It's pretty perfect. Thank you Katy. My mug is awesome. You rock. And I'm pretty happy we met through Kim's mug swap last year. Even if you and Kim text me ridiculous amounts of pictures of yourselves as cats.

So Kim. Katy. This one's for you two.



Don't say I never did anything for you :)


And that's a #mugswap2013 wrap.