Candy Girl

I’m one of those people who romanticizes autumn, counting down the days until Pumpkin Spice lattes appear on Starbucks counters and all manner of squash pile up outside the produce market. I spend most of summer eyeing my cardigans and scarfs, longing for a bit of cool crispness in the air. I love fall.  And I love Halloween. So I’ve been trying to squeak out some seasonally appropriate cards in between freelance projects this past couple weeks. I’m hoping to have a least a couple more available in the shop over the next week, but for now there are a couple you can check out, including this one, just listed this afternoon:

Halloween Candy Girl greeting cards are available for purchase at She Can Lift a Horse on Etsy. Click here to go directly to that design or here to view the stationery section for that and other cards.

Here’s the original sketch:

The final art didn’t change much from the draft, except to get more cheerful. The final color combo – blue, orange, black, and white – makes me think of my wedding (almost two years ago!). That was our color scheme. There weren’t any bats on our invitations, but there were ghosts and pumpkins and a sheet white girl in a black dress.

Anyway. Fall! It’s the best!

The Tenth of May: Michelle + Kevin’s Vintage Movie Poster Inspired Wedding Invitation

Wedding season is nigh, so I’ve had a few wedding, save-the-date, and bridal shower designs on my plate in the last fews months. My sister Michelle and her fiancé Kevin are only about two months away from their Brooklyn nuptials and as all invites have been signed, sealed and delivered by yours truly already, I figure I can safely share them here now.

Kevin is a film-maker (his most recent short film, Every Word Handwritten made in collaboration with the Gaslight Anthem, recently premiered in NYC and on RollingStone.com) and Michelle and he share a love of all things old-timey, so we went with a vintage movie poster inspired design, with a reference to the food trucks that will be serving dinner at their reception (which does include a waffle truck. Mmmmm.)

I made a Pinterest board for movie poster inspiration. Casablanca was the strongest influence on the final layout and the image of Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine on a poster for The Apartment very clearly served as a point of reference for a small portrait of Michelle and Kevin at the center of the invitation and on the RSVP card. The NYC photograph with the Chrysler Building at the center was used with kind permission from Tom Fletcher. The couples portraits of Michelle and Kevin were all culled straight from Facebook and my own iPhoto gallery. Initially, I was just looking for photo references to draw from, but when I realized just how many shots they’ve taken with their heads pressed together since the beginning of their courtship four years ago, I thought it might be sweet to make a collage.

Below are sketches I sent them. Option D will see some action when it’s reformatted as a menu for their reception.

The silhouette, hearts, and text on the back and front of the invitation were printed with spot gloss over a matte finish to give them a bit of sheen, which isn’t super common for wedding invitations, but fits nicely with the movie poster theme.

In just ten days the wedding festivities kick off here in Michigan, with a bachelorette party and shower for Michelle and I will get to give my sister a hug for the first time since I last saw her at my own wedding, almost a year and a half ago. Eeeeee!

“I Love You, You Idiot” and Other Sweet Nothings

Fellow Gilmore Girls nerds (I know you are many), my illustrated Luke, Lorelai, and Rory postcards are now available in the print shop, with plenty of time for filling the backsides with drippy sweet nothings and mailing them to the loves/coffee-suppliers of your lives.

Non-fans, you can either skip to the bottom of this post or jump on board and educate yourself by watching the Rory-Dean make-up scene on YouTube. The choice is yours.

The front side of both designs has spot gloss, which means the figures and text are shiny, and stand out from the solid background. Which makes it look FAN-cy.

And in other Amy Sherman-Palladino-related news: I loved the winter premiere of Bunheads. I laughed, I got a bit misty-eyed, I puzzled at the strangely obvious plot holes that the writing team fails to notice in every single episode (who didn’t notice that TJ was packing up his magic act five seconds after announcing they had another show in an hour?)… This Salon.com piece by Willa Paskin knows how I feel about this completely entertaining but perpetually flawed show better than I do.

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AND OH YEAH, free shipping is available in my Society6 shop through midnight Sunday (01/13/13), by using this link. I’m actually digging the new throw pillow printing option, though I thought it would be lame initially. I guess home ownership does that to a gal. Gets her excited about throw pillows…

90’s Revival Girl and It Girls throw pillow designs

Card Stock

As it only just launched, everything in the shop is new, but these Birthday Blowout cards are newer, still.

Just added: 3.5″x5″ blank folded card with a white envelope, packaged in a snappy cello sleeve
Available as single cards or in discounted-rate 4 packs (though really, any packs of 3 or greater, just let me know what you need!)