Do Not Bend Printable Labels
A Pretty Alternative to The Post Office's Stamp!
I put a lot of love into all of my products, and a good chunk of them are heading out to brides for one of the biggest days of their entire life! They cannot arrive bent in half, so marking them with special "DO NOT BEND" instructions lets me sleep a little better at night (well, that and cheap wine).
One of the perks when ordering from a small creative business is the packaging. We want clients to be (almost) as excited when they see the packaging as they are when they see what's inside! A creative entrepreneur's mantra: It's not done until it's overdone... and tied with a bow. Can I get an amen? But, the dull red "DO NOT BEND" stamp from the post office made me throw up in my mouth a little. Hey Mr. Postman, could you at least upgrade to a great shade of Bethenny Frankel Red? All that hard work and we're supposed to top off our packages like that?! Nope.
To put an end to the misery (overdramatic??) I designed my own version with a pretty twist. When I posted this photo on my insta I got a lot of DM's from creatives, who also threw up in their mouths every time the postal clerk slapped those three smeared words all over their packaging.
If you are one of those people, gag no more: Click here and I'll send the printable version straight to your inbox, fo' free!
I send most of my labels off to a professional printer, but these are so easy, I just send some glossy label paper through my inkjet and then slice them apart with a paper trimmer. Peel, stick, repeat! Voilà!
Shop the supplies i use:
Questions? Drop me an e-mail!
More EHC products you might like:
Hand Calligraphed "Fragile" and "Special Delivery" Stamps
Pink Door Perfection
Adventures in Choosing Bold Colors
I just painted my front door hot pink! The neighborhood may or may not be working on a petition begging me to cease and desist, but for now, I'm in love.
"A front door is like a statement necklace."
I'm a big proponent monochromatic design, but a pop of color does a house good. My dear friend, Lindsey said it best, "A front door is like a statement necklace." So brilliant. Sure, the siding and shutters should be like the tailored pant and your go-to poplin top that never go out of style. But, there is room to have fun with the door! After all, life's short. Wear the statement necklace. Eat the chocolate. Paint the door. It only takes a few hours and (if you prime enough--I didn't) one $3.27 sample of paint!
I didn't always embrace all things pink. I could have been just as thrilled about transforming this once neglected door with the perfect shade of emerald. This thing with pink started after my oldest daughter was born. She's always had great taste and a strong sense of what she likes and what she doesn't.... And she LOVES pink. It makes her so happy that it started making me happy too. She's been nagging me to paint my door (and my chipped fingernails) bright pink since she could talk. So, I knew that even if everyone else hated it, our seven-year-old would be ecstatic.
After drooling over photos like this one via Gorgeoux for years, I was all for it too!
The hold back on our journey to pink doordom was that our old house was an orange-ish brick, so it wouldn't have worked. But when we moved into a white house, it was a no brainer (for me).
How to get your husband to think it was his idea:
Wondering how in the H-E-double hockey sticks I got my husband to agree? He rarely has any input with design choices around the house (probably because he knows I'd sooner work through finding out that he has a secret family in Abu Dahbi than being stuck in a relationship where I don't get to pick out the throw pillows). And while he can rock a pair of soft pink chinos with the best of them, I knew he would most likely draw the line with a hot pink front door.
...Until I made him drive past this beauty on vacation last year. It was love at first sight.
A friend reminded me about the pineapple doorbell cover I had spotted in one of her pins. I got really excited about ordering it, but then remembered that my doorbell is in a weird spot on the inside of the door frame so it wouldn't be visible. Bummer.
I've always felt like a Southern girl trapped in the midwest; I needed a pineapple on my door.
My dampened spirits were lifted when I stumbled upon this vintage pineapple door knocker! I found it on eBay, of all places. The second I opened the old, faded Avon box it arrived in, I knew that this beauty had been sitting in someone's attic for 30 years, waiting to get to my hot pink door. Just like Chandler and Monica, these two were always destined to be together.
Shop Swoon Worthy Gold Door Knockers:
Before and after:
What a difference about 7 bucks and a few hours can make. I don't know what happened to all of the doors here, but they were in rough shape when we moved in. We had to replace the back doors. My husband wanted to replace this one too, but a little can of paint gave it a second life. Painting the trim the same color as the door really camoflouged the half circle window that I once hated.
I'm thinking about spraying my doorknob gold. Has anyone ever tried it? Let me know how it turned out! ...Speaking of gold spray paint, I can't wait to get some fresh blooms in those pots. It's almost warm enough!
OTHER Benefits to having a hot pink door...
In conclusion, there are a lot of great things about having a hot pink door:
- Maybe now, we can be known as "The house with the pink door," instead of "The one where the little boy is always in pajamas." Seriously. Why won't my four-year-old wear real clothes!?
- It's SO happy! You have to know that nice people live here. A serial killer would never pick this color. They would probably go with a sensible beige?
- It'll make a great backdrop for my kids' fake YouTube videos.
- Not to get too deep, but I kind of feel like it was our little way of telling my daughter to be the hot pink one in a sea of hunter green doors. No offense to hunter green, if you're into that sort of thing. But seriously, navy could look so much better. Think it over... ;)
Plum Watercolor Rehearsal Invitation
In another life, I worked with one of the nicest women on Earth. Her name was Trish and she absolutely lived for her three sons. When she reached out to me nearly 10 years later to create rehearsal invitations for one of her dear sons, I was thrilled.
She wanted to keep them simple, but mentioned liking the watercolor wash that was on the cover of my calligraphy workbook. I created this soft, airy wash and paired it with a modern, yet flourished calligraphy style. I wanted the whole piece to be timeless and simple, as requested. .
As always, I love the way hand painted invitations print on this rich, subtly textured paper. It perfectly mimics the look of the same watercolor paper my designs are originally painted on.
Happy Wedding day, Christina and Drew! Wishing this sweet couple many, many years of happiness! ...And lots and lots of babies for Trish to snuggle.
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