favorite fellow card makers

Way back on this blog, I used to do a weekly segment called "Friday Feature" where I would highlight one of my favorite makers, artists and even musicians. I loved being able to reach out to some of my favorite makers and spread the word about some amazing folks. 

The feature died off a while back, around the time I started having less time to devote to blogging. But with the rise of Instagram, I've been so easily connected to SO many artists and makers! It's no surprise that I tend to follow similarly minded artists that are into plants, illustrations and card making. 

And so I wanted to bring back a little "Mini Feature" (not on a Friday, oops) about some of my favorite card makers. There are SO MANY amazing ladies out there making cards. Seriously, just scroll through my list of Instagram accounts I'm following, they're kinda amazing. 

Here are four ladies that I particularly admire. All four are incredibly talented, amazingly generous and genuinely wonderful women. Two are gals that I actually included on Friday Features years ago and two are new favorites I've been connected to through Instagram! I hope you enjoy their work as much as I do, and hopefully feel inclined to support their work as well! 

Katharine Watson:

Katharine has some of my absolute favorite card designs out there! I've been in love with printmaking since college so I have a soft spot of anyone that uses block printing in their work. Her designs are stunning and I love seeing her line grow and change every year. Prints, cards, textiles, calendars...everything is gorgeous and has so much time and work invested in it. She even delved into combining her block carvings and ceramics this year!

Shop Katharine Watson / @katharine_watson


Erin McManness / Paper Raven Co.:

I could go on and on about Erin's work. She's just incredible. I think I stumbled onto her blog when I was in Italy years ago and I've just loved watching her work evolve and her business grow. Her illustrations and letter work continue to one of my favorites out there. Plus, how cute is this little notepad?! Everything she makes is incredible! And she's such a lovely person too! 

Shop Paper Raven Co. / @paperraven.co


Laura Uy / Art and Soul Creative Co.:

I've followed Laura on Instagram for a while now, and her account is always so cheerful and fun! On top of adorable pun cards, Laura now has a new line of designs made from paper collages. I bought the Fiddle Leaf Fig for myself and Laura was so sweet to include a print of her Fiddle Leaf Fig watercolor too! I love everything she posts, especially her coloring book designs too! 

Shop Art + Soul Creative Co. / @artandsoulcreativeco

Juliet Meeks Design:

Juliet is one of my newest favorite card makers and Instagramers. I absolutely LOVE her floral patterns with the black backgrounds! I think it's so unique to see that combination (especially since I'm such an addict to white backgrounds). Another thing I love is how she incorporates her watercolor patterns and designs into textiles and wrapping paper, they're stunning! She's also such a sweet heart with an inspiring Instagram as well. 

Shop Juliet Meeks Design / @julietmeeksdesign

coco-belle bijoux

Hello there! How have you been? Things have been constantly moving here with finishing summer workshops, swim lessons, getting my business up and running, getting ready for more markets (I have another one in Santa Barbara Saturday and one August 31 in Carpenteria!) AND keeping on top of Etsy and wholesale orders. Whew! 

Anyways, I wanted to share a little bit of what I've been up to. I was commissioned by some lovely and talented ladies to design a logo and some accompanying banners for their new Etsy shop! It was such a fun project! They wanted a simple logo, with a bit of a boho chic feel. I love the results and I'm so happy they loved it too! 

Check out Havaiki and Pearl's sweet Etsy shop, Coco-Belle Bijoux, and show them some love! They make the most stunning necklaces and bracelets using Tahitian Black Pearls. You can also check them out on Facebook and follow along with their creations and inspirations on Instagram! 

friends on Etsy

I was originally planning to post this on Friday for a Friday Feature! Unfortunately, the holiday was much to fun to resist and the art market took over my weekend! I'm very happy to report that this weekend went SO MUCH BETTER than the last market attempt. I'll post about it another time so on to the Friday Sunday night Feature! 

I've had the lovely joy of seeing a few friends open up Etsy shops recently! I met all of these lovely ladies while I was working in Italy and it's really exciting to see them launching their Etsy shops! I wanted to show them a bit of love and hopefully you will too! 

The first shop is two13vintage by the lovely Sydney! She has a fantastically curated shop filled with "delightfully retro, vintage and kitsch" items. My favorite item in her shop right now is an adorable pair of vintage Italian Espresso cups! 

Next up is the very talented Nicole! Her sweet little shop, HCDD (Hand Crafted Details by De Palma) has custom dream catchers and mason jar vases, but my favorite item of hers are her own personal journals! These would make such an incredible gift! 

Last but certainly not least is the very sweet Alice! At the moment she's traipsing and traveling around Europe so her Etsy shop A Curious Knack is a little bare, but she also has a Society 6 shop with some of her fantastic work! 

Please check out these very talented and sweet ladies' Etsy shops and show them some love! 

Friday Feature: Jennifer Judd-McGee

I first found Jennifer's work by clicking through Society 6...this then led me to her inspiring website...which ultimately helped me also find her Etsy shop SwallowField...after that, the verdict was clear. I love her work, no matter what form it comes in! 

Jennifer is a full time artist and mother based out of Maine. She describes herself as being,"a nature lover, obsessive doodler, path finder, and appreciator of paper, fine point pens and detailed patterns." Her work definitely reflects all of this. She's very versatile with her craft and carries the same love and attention to detail to her illustrations, collages and paper cuttings. Jennifer's paper cuts are so intricate and organic that it feels as though they could just continue on off the page on their own. I especially love when she incorporates text into her paper cuttings. 

Following Seas

All Sweet Things Beyond - print

Mighty World

Skipping Stones

Scandi Phone Cover

One of the things I love most about Society 6 are the phone covers. I love seeing artwork on a phone. Her covers are at the top of my list for when I need a new one! 

Make sure you take a peek at her work in either her Society 6, website or Etsy shop! 

Friday Feature: Janice MacLeod & the Paris Letters

I'm so excited about this Friday Feature because she is an artist after my own heart! How amazing would it be to receive a personalized, handwritten letter on top of a watercolored scene from Paris? Incredible beyond words? Meet Janice MacLeod and the Paris Letters! 

This is all started back when Janice decided to leave her job in Canada and travel across Europe with nothing more than a suitcase and watercolors. Her hobby of painting letters to friends back home quickly drew interest from others and grew into a small business. 

Janice now lives in Paris with her fiance and spends her days painting scenes from her travels for a monthly letter. She then personalizes each individual letter to each and every subscriber! I'm sure this is by no means a small feat, seeing how beautiful her watercolors are and how brilliant of an idea it is. I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't love to receive one of these letters. I wish I had thought of this years ago! You can buy subscriptions to the letters in her Etsy shop and follow along with her travels and adventures in Paris on her blog. I will be living vicariously through her blog and likely purchasing a subscription of my own very soon! 

Friday Feature: the Scribble Project

Been a while since I last did a FF but this one is a goodie! And has multiple artists...and is interactive! Meet the Scribble Project! I'm really not sure how I am just finding out about the existence of this project now, because it is pretty incredible, and very fun. 

The project is curated by Lisa Currie, who invites different artists around the world to scribble/doodle/draw on blank scribble templates, simple pages with little prompts and drawings to get your imagination going. She features interviews with the invited scribblers on her site but anyone can participate and share their scribbles in the flickr group. There are also Scribble Project Diaries, which are full of pages of drawing prompts, ripe for the scribbling! I'm itching to get my hands on one. Lisa also provides some very entertaining banter/scenarios on her site as well (read this description about the Hairless Cat In A Sweater...you'll see what I mean...)

I spent some time last night clicking back through the pages of interviews and scribbles on her site and I've found some pretty inspiring artists. These are a few of my favorites that I found. 

Rebecca Green

Heidi Deguzman

Halah El-Kholy

I've already printed out and started scribbling on this page. What will you scribble? 

Friday Feature: Gina Gomez

It's no surprise that I love Italy. Absolutely love Italy. So when I find an artist that documents Italy in a gorgeous way, naturally I'm going to love their work. This is the case with the photography by Gina Gomez.  She is not only a talented photographer, but she is also able to live the dream life and split her time between California and Italy and document stunning weddings and places along the way.

Her wedding and engagement photos are incredible, but it's her photos of Rome that make me swoon. One of the first things I fell in love with in Italy was the light. There's something about it that's so warm and so distinct to Italy. Whenever I try to make a photo there, it's so difficult to do a gorgeous country justice. But Gina's photos capture that light in the most amazing way. One look at any photo of hers and I'm immediately taken back to the country I love.

When researching her blog and website to pick photos for this post, it didn't take long before I had an entire folder filled with gorgeous pieces. Her wedding photos and ones from California are equally stunning! If you are a fellow Italophile or just love fantastic photography, I highly recommend giving Gina's work a look! (I'm also fairly addicted to her Instagram photos too!)

Friday Feature: Marisa Redondo & River Luna

Flower Plant Watercolor Print

For today's Friday Feature I'd like to feature the art of Marisa Redondo, the artist behind one of my favorite Etsy shops: River Luna. 

I love pretty much every piece of art she has in her shop, and wish I had enough wall space/money to buy one of each. All of them are meticulously made and are all obviously made with a lot of care and love. I highly recommend perusing her shop.

I also love how she photographs her pieces for her shop. They're playful and wonderful. One of my new goals going on my list for this next year is to document my Etsy items better so I'm looking for inspiration from all my favorite Etsy makers. 

Nature Collection Painting

Cobar Feathers

Sticks & Lichen

Spirit Tree Rings

I'm also pretty envious of her work space. It looks so bright and inspiring!

Friday Feature: Etsy shopping!

I'm back! Hello again Friday Feature, it sure has been a while. For the first Friday Feature after a very long hiatus, I wanted to have it suit the season. It's almost time for holidays and shopping is in full swing. 

This also means selling is at it's busiest time, especially on Etsy. I've been trying to boost items in my own shop and I know I'm not the only one. Etsy can be a bit overwhelming with how much amazing creators and products there are but it's also always inspiring to see what everyone is making. So I wanted to highlight a couple of my favorite Etsy shops/sellers/items I've seen lately. I've mentioned some of them on here before but a couple are new favorites. 

So here's my list of goodies I wish I could very greedily buy this very instant! (Anybody shopping for me, take note!) Check out these lovely shops and their incredible products. There are links below each photo for the actual item and the shop.

Wrench & Rare Earth Magnet by Amy Komar at artistintheartic

Blue Quartz Branch Necklace by Esther Kao at estieMade

Bohemian Wanderlust Embroidery by Bhrett at fringenfeather

Pink Flower Bridal Necklace by Erin McManness at Mirilovelove

Hardcover Journal by Shirley Lynne at TheOrangeWindmill

Nature Painting Print by Marisa Redondo at RiverLuna

Amphitrite Slouchy Sweater by Angie Roussin at pinastyles

Friday/Tuesday Feature: Our Open Road

Alrighty, so this may technically be a Friday Feature...on a Tuesday. But for a good reason! 

I stumbled onto Adam Harteau and his Kickstarter late last night and had to share it this morning. 

As of right now Adam's Kickstarter, Our Open Road, closes in just under a day. Albeit it's already been fully backed but it was just too good not to share. This fall, Adam, his wife Emily and their adorable little daughter Colette, plan to pack up their life and travel from Los Angeles to the southernmost tip of South America, all via their Volkswagen Westfalia. And all the while documenting their journey and creating a new body of artwork. (How can I not love this and share it?!) As they stated on their Kickstarter, 

"Our Open Road is an experiment in living simply while working to create great things."

Adam's work is also very inspiring. I can only hope that my giant Terzo sketchbook will be as intricate and gorgeous as his.

Hopefully I'll be able to have an adventure similar to theirs one day, but in the mean time I'll live vicariously through their journey. Pop over to their Kickstarter to hear the whole story, and maybe help them get a little further along.