Aahhh....Relaxing Weekend At The Beach!

There is nothing like spending a relaxing Memorial Day weekend at the beach to renew your soul, belly size and {in my case} creative juices.

My son is quite lucky to have both sets of grandparents living in Florida. This past holiday weekend was spent on the white sandy beaches of the Florida Panhandle with Nana and Grandpa and the weather could not have been better.

Like most families where toddlers are members, everything is more interesting, tastier and messier at Nana's house.

My mother makes the most amazing chocolate dipped coconut macaroons you have ever tasted, just ask this little quality control manager. We affectionately call these little pieces-o-gold "Nanceroons" since her name is Nancy. I have been trying to talk her into opening her own Etsy shop where she could sell them, even created the storefront.

Sadly, for the general public who is now left with tasteless macaroons, she has decided she "likes" her retired life just the way it is. Can you imagine?

If you would like to experience the Nanceroon taste sensation, send her a "convo" through Etsy and tell her to stop the MADNESS! Enough with her long walks on the beach with her beloved and doing whatever she wants - whenever she wants. Get in the kitchen and bake up some Nanceroons, her public awaits her!

EAR BANDITS are a must have for any child who has had tubes put into their ears. After countless ear infections this past winter, we had the simple procedure done in December. Once the tubes are in place, it's important that water does not get into the ears. What? how in the heck is that supposed to happen when you have an active child who loves the water? Then I found Ear Bandits. They allowed this cutie to enjoy the beach instead of sitting on the sidelines. It's a simple 2 piece system consisting of little silicone pieces you squish into the ears, like molding clay. Then this rather stylish headband keeps them in place. They come in several sizes and are sold in many places.

What's a vacation without a little creative inspiration? Since my active mind never seems to stop, I get inspired for new card designs by just about anything colorfully appealing. In this case my mom's rug in her Florida room, I just love the sherbet colors stripes and dots all together.

Compulsively, I pulled out my laptop and started banging away and suddenly I have what is now known as my Pixie Stix collection.

First up is the "All Occasion" or you could say All Purpose card collection and you can get this cute set at my store, Inkspot Workshop. You get 12 cards, 3 of each greeting; Congratulations, Happy Birthday, Happy Anniversary and Thank You. Now you won't be caught off guard when you need a card in a jiffy!

Next are these juicy little cuties! They make stylish personalized notecards or thank you's.

In fact they came out so darn cute {if I don't say so myself} they would make truly memorable Save The Date cards.

Thought I'd leave you with this special picture of Nathan sharing a tender moment with his Nana.

Hope you all had a chance to enjoy your families over the holiday weekend and took a moment to give remembrance to those who have made it possible for us to live our lives FREELY!

! NEW ! In The Stationery Biz

I just learned about a new trade publication called {what else?} Stationery Trends. It was launched at the recent 62nd annual National Stationery Show in NYC and many people are giving it rave reviews. It's topics will include paper gift items as well as stationery items. So if you find it difficult to visit a new place and stay away from gift shops or if the mere sight of stationery products sends you into a tizzy and brings back memories of childhood Christmas mornings, then hurry and SUBSCRIBE! If you are in the biz, it's completely FREE!!. 7-ELEVEN GETTING IN ON THE ACT?

Well, not here in the states at least for now... It appears the funky, Japanese trend setting, culture shop named Beams {est 1976} has collaborated with 7-Eleven stores. Their joint venture has produced a retro inspired line of stationery and desktop supplies called "BEAMSTATIONARY" {yes the spelling is correct}

This interesting line was launched on April 9th, 2008 and is currently selling at all 7-Eleven stores in Japan, plus select Beam stores. They have 20 "everyday" items in the line - from notebooks, glue sticks (that look like lip balm) to cool writing tools. Beams wants ordinary items to be "fun to use" and is tagging this campaign with the slogan "make everyday life happy." What a cute idea? I've never thought about going to 7-Eleven to get stationery items, but then again.. I don't live in Japan. With my luck I'd end up getting the glue stick mixed up with my Burt's and accidentally glue my lips shut, something my husband has been itching to have happen:))

Need A Little Lift?

How can I make needles look cute? Was the question I asked myself when trying to come up with a concept for cards to be carried at my friend's chain of med spas. Spa Junkie, is what I'm calling the line from my shop, Inkspot Workshop, but needed to infuse a "nicer" mental visual when using the word "junkie" - didn't want to conjure up any images from A&E's show Intervention

There are many women (and men) choosing not to grow old gracefully, therefore thanks to Kai The Medical Spa, here in greater Atlanta, they don't have to. Worth mentioning, neither of the celebrities linked above have ever set foot inside Kai, which perhaps is where they went entirely wrong in the first place:0 Non-invasive medical treatments are real treats for some folks, like ice-cream and often times equally addicting! That's when it hit me!! Ice cream cones and needles, yes my brain works in strange ways. I have had success with my Pinwheel Ice Cream Cone card, so I just figured out a way to turn the needles into scoops. Voila, Spa Junkie was created. Even kept the whole Spumoni (my favorite) color scheme. These cards are made from smooth, white, heavy card stock, top folded and blank on the inside.

The next step was coming up with a few simple catchy phrases that would appeal to real Spa Junkies. "Need A Little Lift?", "Better Than Dieting" and "Spa Junkie" were first runner's up.

My friend Grace, clearly a natural beauty, now has these cards in all 3 of her Kai The Medical Spa locations throughout greater Atlanta.

They are for sale in her gift area where she also carries fantastic soy candles and amazing bath products, not to mention highly coveted brands such as Cosmedix and Obagi.

We would like to come up with some more note cards and are reaching out to everyone to help come up with some new, catchy, buzzy phrases. If you have an idea for a saying that I can make into a design, post your comments here on my blog. If we chose your saying, you will win a $25.00 coupon to be used at my shop.

While visiting the Sandy Springs Kai location, this lovely staff took great care of me as I indulged a bit myself. Carrie gave me the most thorough Brazilian bikini wax on the planet, as well as microdermabraised a much needed layer off my face.

Airport Landing Strip (for those of you new to Brazilian terminology)

The next time you are in Georgia, do take the time to book yourself a treatment at Kai! With it's peaceful surroundings and treatment rooms and professional staff, let it be your little indulgence. They are now even offering the hottest in laser technology Fraxel!

WEEKLY SPECIAL!

WEEKLY SPECIAL! WEEKLY SPECIAL!

From May 19th - 25th

Mention Inkspot Workshop Blog

in the "Notes To Seller" section of your Etsy Order

for Inkspot Workshop

and receive a *FREE set of

Pinwheel Variety Pack

Folded Note Cards

*order must total more than $5.00 before shipping

Sunday Morning with Coffee, Jazz and My Bone Folder

Aaaah, so nice to have some quiet time on a beautiful, Sunday morning in Atlanta. There is nothing better than listening to some smooth jazz and enjoying a cup of coffee. My son is sleeping in, which means he will have even more energy today than usual! Since starting Inkspot Workshop, just under 2 months ago, my weekends are no longer for sleeping in - they are for printing, cutting, gluing and folding. This morning is special however, because the project I am working on is a special 40th birthday gift for a friend I have had since the 7th grade. Happy Birthday Lynn!

The view from my desk is especially nice this time of morning. We are having the most amazing Spring and I find myself gazing out of my nice big window in my office, most of the time. Not a bad view from one's desk, eh? I had to add a work table in order to hold all my stationery supplies. It's quite an ironic scene in here, I have shelves of medical supplies for my day job (needles, syringes, scalpels, iv catheters) nestled among pretty papers and envelopes. Who'd a thunk it?

I had to incorporate a little help from my husband on some other projects so I could get them listed in my shop today. Whenever I make these pretty personalized note card sets, I have leftover paper that I just can't seem to throw away. I'm turning these into little hang tags and selling them in my shop, plus using them as free give aways for my customers. Thanks honey! He's not thrilled about being in my blog.

That's it for now. I have a 2 year old wanting pancakes and a yard that desperately needs some new flowers. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Sunday yourself!

I'm taking the blog leap.... here I GO .......

Well here I go, off into blog land and first I must warn you.... I am terrible with punctuation and I love commas,,,, and !!! so if you get dizzy, I apologize in advance.

I hope to use this space as a place to write about my weekly musings. Inspirations for my posts will more than likely come from my 2 year old son Nathan, what's happening in my non-stop creative head with regards to stationery design for Inkspot Workshop and my #1 all time favorite topic FOOD!

Since this is my first ever post, I'll keep it short and sweet or salty I should say. I'd like to take this time to introduce you to my new best friend, Snapea Crisps. In case you have never heard of this tasty, crunchy and healthy snack, run to Whole Foods and snatch yourself up not 1 but 2 or 3 bags. They come in 2 flavors, Original and Caesar, which is not as good a the Original.

These tasty morsels are like presents sent directly from heaven! I'm calling them the new Cheetos, but healthier. They are baked, not fried and each serving (approx 22 pea crisps) are just 150 calories and 70 of them come from fat, not trans. This is one sure way to make sure you and your family eat your veggies! Now I must admit, the bag says there are 3.3 servings and I'm not sure who they are kidding, there is only 1 serving in my bag.

The company who makes these is called Calbee and they are in desperate need of a wake up call when it comes to marketing these little guys. They are trying to suggest you use these like croutons on your salad, which is probably why the bags are only 3.3 oz. In fact, Whole Foods just moved them from the snack isle, down to a little lonely shelf...way on the bottom.. in the salad dressing isle. You really missed out seeing me trying to find these the day they moved them. I had to get management involved, and Quickly. Don't worry, I'm checking myself into the Betty Crocker Clinic just as soon as I finish this post.

So, Mr. Calbee, if you are reading my blog (right?) please understand this simple concept..... Snapea Crisps are too delicious for any salad and they most definitely need to be consumed and marketed as a SNACK item, perhaps even the best snack item ever. They also need to come in huge, I mean giant, size bags because I'm tired of getting funny looks from everyone when they see me place my weekly 4+ bags on the checkout belt. Thank you and feel free to contact me directly with any other marketing suggestions:)

Thanks for reading