B E L L I S

Yesterday I did something completely outside of my normal routine. And it made me realize, I need to do that more. My very talented friend, Cherylyn of c-lyn studio came over and we just played with my press. Read about it here. Thank you Cherylyn, I had fun!

This is a repeat of a post I did over on Wishpot. Every so often, I’ll be writing posts for their wedding blog. Stop over and say hello!

A love of mine is yoga so I thought I’d share with you a few of my favorite ‘zen’ inspired items. Come on in, welcome to my zen garden!

Start out with a quiet meditation, with this photo by Shartreuse ‘Filtered Sunlight’ is the perfect place to focus your mind’s eye while you escape your busy world, even if it is just for a few minutes.

What shall I wear? I love these yoga pants by Gaia Conceptions. Made from local organic cotton, you can wear the waistband rolled down as shown, or all the way up as a pantsuit.

You’ll need a place to sit! Your options are limitless with Yogamatic. Upload your own design for a completely unique mat. Or choose one from their ‘charity’ section. A percentage of the sales of this limited edition ‘Hope’ design go to ‘Global Green USA’.

This beautiful necklace by Clynstudio titled ‘Crimson Energy’ is a wonderful way carry a little bit of your yogi practice with you throughout the day.

And lastly, I can’t resist this little yoga lady by Leah Pellegrini. These glass hand torchworked figures stand less than an inch tall. Sit one by your computer at work for a smile and to remind yourself to breath!

For more ‘zen’ inspired indie items, visit my list ‘Zen Garden’.  Namasté.

I haven’t done a flickr friday in awhile!!

My sister Sharleen started a group ‘25 Days of Christmas‘. See some of her beautiful work then join the group and add some of your own. What a cool way to document the every day moments in the days leading up to Christmas!

Great for stocking stuffers or teacher gift, monogram note cards. They’re now on sale! Normally $10.50, now $6.50. Get them here: www.shop.bellisstudios.com.

I received two emails tonight with exciting news. The first from my niece, Jaime, to tell me that my Sunflower thank you cards had made it to the front page of Wishpot!

And the second was from my sister, Sharleen, to tell me that my ‘Chill’ holiday cards are a finalist in the favorite holiday card contest over on Etsy.

I’d call that a good day! Thanks Jaime and Shar for the making my night. And if you like the ‘Chill’ card too… give it a vote over on Etsy — voting is open for 3 more days.

Angel (pictured above, he’s the one with the ears) and I are excited to show off a new card design. Ok, maybe he was just excited to have the window blindes open.

I was excited because I tried something different. The orange color on these cards is digitally printed. Then I overprinted the red and black in letterpress. Why not just do all three in letterpress? I wanted that orange to be really saturated and I didn’t want an impression there. The red and black that were letterpress printed on top, really popped. I’m happy with the dimensional effect it had and I can’t wait to try it again!

They’re listed in the shop.

I’m excited to be accepted into a second storie} indie market. If you’re in the area, won’t you stop by and say hello! More info on their website, and blog.

I’m a sucker for mongrams! I swore I’d never print them again though, with 26 letters in the alphabet… they’re hard to keep in stock. Never say never, here’s my new vintage inspired monogram note cards. They make great stocking stuffers and right now, I have each and every letter in stock!!!

Check it out… a letterpress wood block inspired coffee table, at Crate&Barrel.

Katie asked me to come up with a design for her August, sunflower-themed wedding. I was thrilled. Not just because I love designing invitations, but because she’s my niece!

I married a man with three sisters and they all have daughters… seven of them (and one, very out numbered, son)!! I wasn’t in the picture when they were little. I came along when they were teenagers and I’ve watched them grow into beautiful young women. And now, I’m getting to know them better… through their weddings.

Katie was the third family wedding. She’s sweet, smart and easy going. She has a fun party side, and a sophisticated side. I tried to show all of that in the design, how did I do?

There were several components. The wedding invitation, reception card, and reply card that were pulled together in a black linen pocket folder. We did a program for the ceremony and place cards for the reception. Since the groom’s family lives in another state, there was a second invitation for the reception being held there.

Thank you Katie, for letting me share in your wedding. Best of luck to you and Ryan!

Liking the idea of using sunflowers for your wedding? Check out Jaime’s blog, It’s a Jaime Thing for pictures of Katie’s sunflower shower, some ‘Do not disturb’ door hangers she created for guests of the wedding and even the inspiration blog she created for Katie. And by the way, Jaime is one of my fabulous niece’s and she was the first wedding invitation design … see, I done good!