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.

More pencils? Yes, more pencils...but pint-sized.

Not only will these little guys be included in a few new products that I'll have available in the shop soon, they're also a clue of what the new products will be. So stay tuned...

I just added these bright and colorful days of summer pencils in my shop. Each set comes with six different colors and past times. They're so cheery and fun, and remind me of my childhood summer days.

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 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.

Did I ever mention that my paper shop idea came about through a conversation I had with my friend (while sitting in our tiny living room apartment) regarding the lack of nicely designed planners that were sold in stores? Yep. And I remember her suggesting to me that I should design my own planner instead.

That was early 2009.

Since then, I've created other paper goods, but no planners. (It's one of those things where you know you can do it any time so you end up not doing it at all.)

So when my friend Kevin came to me and asked if I could design a personalized planner to give to his girlfriend Lucy for Christmas, I couldn't pass up the opportunity. It was like I was reminded of why I started my shop in the first place. Working with Kevin was easy—he told me what he wanted (a monthly-view planner) and suggested a few styles and colors based on what his girlfriend likes, and left the rest up to me. This allowed me to combine Lucy's style with my own design aesthetics to come up with something she will like, but that I will also personally admire. Designers should always be a fan of their own work. You stay in the profession longer that way, I think.

The finished product includes my vision of what simple planners should look like, what Kevin thought Lucy would love, and a few extra special details to make the planner truly personalized. It has thin rules, boxes big enough to actually write in, lots of room for notes, extra writing pages, and little touches of personality.

This planner is probably my favorite custom project of 2010, just because it reminds me of how I got started, and why I love to design and create things that are meaningful to people.

Hello there. Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday weekend. Mine was quite relaxing (I napped a lot!) and somewhat productive, too.

I was able to squeeze in a little shop update over the break. New to my shop are joe & ann matchbook notepads (characters from the wonderful classic, Roman Holiday), and these pretty pencils, which are available for pre-order.

Now that one of the biggest holidays of the year is out of the way, am excited to get through this last week of December and start 2011. Looking forward to new travels (I have my eye on the east coast...during summer...sans blizzards), and new ideas and goals for my budding paper shop.

Just received these pencils in the mail last week, and they are so much fun. I love that they also add pops of color to my desk, and remind me of summer.

Now I just need a pencil sharpener...

(P.S. I'm also including one in every order from the shop, while supplies last. Which color do you fancy?)

It's Black Friday!

Enjoy 30% off anything in my etsy shop. Use promo code BLACKFRIDAY10 at check out. (Ends tonight at 11:59 pm PST.)

Aint life grand?

Hi! I hope everyone's on a sugar high and enjoying their Halloween weekend.

I just wanted to drop in to announce a little shop update. (It's about time, yeah?!)

Trois and breakfast club are now available for purchase. Yay!