Beautiful handcrafted cutting boards, platters, and furniture from Gray Works Interpretive Furniture Design. I want one!...Or all...

Hi there! Hope you guys had a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday. I had many rounds of turkey, mashed potatoes, and ice cream, and also caught up on sleep.

But the thing that I was most focused on these past several days was finalizing the packaging aspect of my shop, an ongoing project that I started several months ago but never got the chance to wrap up until now. Ha, no pun intended.

As a consumer I always love products that are nicely packaged, regardless if they're from big, small, or indie brands. I feel that enjoying a product begins with the excitement of opening it to get to the actual content, and it's part of the whole product experience that only happens once. Which is why I think it's special.

For One Fine Dae's packaging, I decided to go with a few simple elements using a neutral color palette: black, shades of gray, and light pink.

I created shop tags with ONE FINE DAE hand-stamped on the front, and a tag line printed on the back. The edge is detailed with light pink thread and finished off with a silver eyelet.

After doing a few test wraps, I realized that twine alone wasn't going to hold the bag's flap down, so I made stickers with a scalloped edge to hold it in place. They're translucent and so fun to make!

Here are the elements right before they're assembled: a handmade kraft bag sewn together with light pink thread using a zig-zag stitch to match the opening edge, a sticker seal, two different note cards—one for the gift recipient, one for the purchaser (only one is used per package), and a shop tag, all tied together with gray twine.

I'm a big fan of unified branding, so individual product packages also carry the same style as the wrapping. For the postcards, I created a slit in the back of the packaging to hold stamps. (They're free for domestic customers.) For the pencils, I also used light pink thread to create pockets to slip the pencils in.

And here's what a few pieces look like next to each other: shop tags, golf pencil just for fun, days of summer pencil set, happy trails postcards, and a label for this album.

A few things I'm loving from Linea Carta by Diva Pyari. The shop name means "paper line" or "paper collection" in Italian.

Some things I'm loving over at bookhou at home, a shop by John Booth and Arounna Khounnoraj based in Toronto. They also have a great brick and mortar shop, and a sweet blog.

Beautiful, minimalistic and functional designs, by Your Nest Inspired.

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My friend Long sent me a link to yesterday's Today Show, and the story just touches my heart. It's about a janitor named Tyrone Curry who won the state lottery of $3.4 million in 2006, but still continues to do what he loves each day for the past 34 years—being a janitor and coaching the Evergreen High School track and field team.

That was my high school y'all, and he was my janitor! Goodness, what an amazing hero.

Cutest coaster designs I've seen in a while, from Kim of Paper Lovely. See more of Kim's work on her web site.

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Three things from this week...

1. My rubber bands on my braces are now bubblegum pink for the month of June. (They were previously bright green.)

2. The forecast finally yields 75+ degree weather for the weekend. (That means beach volleyball, all day.)

3. My volleyball team made it into the playoffs for next week! (Hooraaayy!!!)

Hope you lovelies have a fantastic weekend.

A year ago today, a nervous and excited me opened my online paper shop to the world. It took a little over a month for that first real sale to happen, and when it did, I remember it being one of the happiest and best surprises to wake up to. Anyone with a shop probably knows and understands this elated feeling. (For those who are curious, it's like when you're a kid waking up in the morning and realizing it's your birthday.)

Now, a year later, the feelings have not gotten old. I am so thankful and appreciative of all the positive feedback, press, and of course, my wonderful customers who have supported my budding indie shop this past year. It truly makes me so happy!

So, to show my appreciation, I am offering a 20% discount in my Etsy shop until Sunday, May 8th. Happy shopping my dears!

I've been coveting these handmade framed hearts by Sarah & Bendrix for a long time. So gorgeous.

I've been working on some new, love-themed cards lately. The first one to come out is this falling for you card. Simple, sweet, and subtle, it's perfect to give on Valentine's Day, or any day.

Exciting news! My friend Angie of noodle 'n thread recently finally opened her first online shop and I couldn't be more happy for the girl. Her shop includes adorable hair and paper accessories that all center around her philosophy of simplicity and light. Very fitting if you ask me. You can learn more about Angie and her work through her web site, also just launched.

So glad to have another friend close to home to share the exciting world of handmade goods with. Way to go, Angie!