Custom Invitations

Howdy, everybody and happy Wednesday!

Today we would like to share with you a recent custom order that we have been working on. Our client was looking for a sweet invitation to send for her daughter's christening. She wanted it to be light and airy and, of course, feminine and a little frilly. We worked through lots of samples trying to get it just right. Our client really loved this baby card and so we began tweaking the design to adapt it for the christening invitation. But something wasn't quite right. And then today when we saw the Your Next Stamp So Charming challenge, we knew exactly what was missing from our design - a sweet charm. And *voila* instant happy customer!

As you can see, we didn't change much on the original design b/c the customer was really in love with most of the card elements just as they were. We substituted a smaller sentiment and placed it so it was less prominent on the card front, at the client's request. And then we've added the twine, giving the appearance that the bouquet of flowers is tied together as a nosegay, and threaded this adorable little charm through to solidify the christening theme. The actual invitation is printed on the inside of the card (not shown).

When Whitney designed the original card, she kept saying that "it will be so versatile. I mean, we can use it for sweet birthday cards and all kinds of other things." And she was right (as usual).

Do you have an upcoming party or event? Do you have a special card in mind that you don't see offered? We are always happy to work on your custom orders! We've had nothing but happy customers thus far. Just pop over to our Facebook and see for yourself.

Thanks for stopping in today!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Good Morning fellow bloggers,

I hope everyone is doing well. Susan and I have been hard at work in the craft room cranking out card after card. We have had TONS of great response to our Mother's Day cards and are SO happy for that! Contrary to the weather here in North Texas, we have been quite cheery and springy between the two of us, and the card we have for you today is JUST THAT!


I LOVE LOVE LOVE Lawn Fawn as you all know, and I received this flower set as a prize from them. I have not had much luck in deciding how to use it until recently. After blog hopping and discovering pinterest.com, I came up with this fun springy card inspired by TCP Tuesday's Challenge 153 using Yellow, Orange, and Teal. I also loved that I was able to use the fun "gracias" stamp sent with our most recent order of Lawn Fawn products! I love having different ways to say "Thank You" on our cards...especially when we are turning out NEW "Thank You" variety packs!

 Anyways, it is nice to spice things up a bit here at High Notes Ink. We also are excited to enter this card into the VERVE Diva Dare where you are asked to make a card based on the title of this post - April Showers Bring May Flowers. I think that this card really channels the inner flower power and it just makes me think spring...even though it has been quite rainy here lately - but then again...the flowers are not supposed to come until MAY, and the saying does begin with April Showers...so I guess it is all going according to plan!

With that being said, keep your umbrellas handy and your stamps inky!

Thanks, Friend!

Good Saturday to everyone. I hope you're enjoying some lovely weather to plant some flowers in honor of Earth Day, which was yesterday.

And it's in that vein that I bring you a fun woodlands card today using a new Lawn Fawn set called Critters in the Forest that arrived on my doorstep last week. I love, love, love these critters, especially the fox. *wink* This set just gets my head spinning with all kinds of ideas. There are so many possibilities for building scenes, like this one. And how appropriate that this week's Lawnscaping Challenge is Calling All Critters!!

I sat down with these cuties and got to stamping. I wanted just the right look for this little woodland scene. And wouldn't you know that I came up with this card on the first try. That, my friends, is a FIRST! LOL! Rather than coloring all of these adorable images, I decided to take a little time and paper piece them. The designers over at Lawn Fawn make their stamps super user friendly in that respect. Selecting the right paper took more time than actually stamping them and cutting them out. I really loved the white space on this card and Whitney suggested the rounded corner to give that white space a little more purpose - perfect!

In honor of Earth Day and just a general desire to bring some happy to my patio, I'm off to plant boockoos of flowers! Thanks for popping in today.

In Honor of Earth Day

Back again!

We decided since it is also Earth Day today, that we would post something that represented this holiday, and we just happened to have this one from a few days ago!!  I LOVE Lawn Fawn as I have mentioned before, and this Critters in the Burbs set is ADORABLE! I got the sketch over at The Get Sketchy Blog and thought it would work great for this cute outdoor scene. I LOVE the squirrel and it is just precious with this tree. I don't usually paper piece but this was too easy and I knew it would bring so much more to the card. As we all know, CAS is my style and I think that this really is just that! This card will be one in our NEW Thank You pack that is now for sale. We sold so many of the first packs of Thank You Cards that people needed more and different styles, so since the customer called, of course we answered. You will be seeing some more of these little babies soon! Thanks for coming by again! We love it when you do!

Happy Earth Day to all! Be sure to step outside and enjoy it!

The Perfect Bouquet

Happy Good Friday to all,

Susan and I are enjoying the half-day of work by getting things rolling in the craft room. We are working like busy bees turning out Thank You cards and brainstorming for some contests. It always feels good to ink up some stamps that just came in or use a set that you really have yet to break in! But aside from those projects, we wanted to share with you the final Mother's Day selection for Mother's Day 2011! It is coming up, and this final option has proven to be the MOST popular in the sales so far and we hope that you all like it too! 

The sketch is simple and seen all over, but we thought that the color scheme and image really work for a loving and simple (do I make anything that is not?) card perfect for that Mother who has made all the difference in your life. I added a touch of purple Stickles in the center of the flowers, which was Susan's idea. I love how it turned out. This image by SU! is so versatile. We use it for so many things and it can really go any direction! 

Thanks for stopping by today! We hope that you all have a Hoppy Easter Weekend! 

Mommy, Dearest

Hello all,

Coming to you today from a gloomy and rainy North Texas. Today I wanted to share with you another fabulous Mother's Day card that we are offering this year. This one is sure to bring a little glimmer to this dreary afternoon. The card that I came up with is one that I though up for my own mother...a little sweet, a little sassy, and I thought it was just perfect for my Fashion Forward Interior Designer of a Mother! As I have mentioned before, I have a certain love for Black and White. These papers and cute stamp really make this card pop and a tad of color on her outfit adds some sparkle and glitz! Be sure to come back and visit tomorrow to see our final option for Mother's Day cards!! I am sure you will be able to find one that will work for the fabulous mom in your life!

See you all tomorrow for the reveal of the final Mother's Day Card option!!!

Classic Grid to the Rescue

Good evening, everyone! We've had another round of severe weather here, but now the sun is shining brightly on its western descent and putting on quite a show of color as it makes its way to the horizon.

We're bringing you another Mother's Day card design today. Today's card is based on a grid sketch that I found to be very effective for drawing attention to the card's focal point. I think you can agree that your eye goes right to the sentiment and image before taking in the other wonderful card elements. We had the perfect patterned paper on hand to complete our grid, and the touch of green solidifies the garden theme.

I just love how this card turned out. While I wouldn't classify this as a "traditional" card, it's clean and simple and pushes the envelope on my usual style and was perfectly executed by Whitney. I love to use sketches and color challenges to push me outside of my comfort zone b/c so often it results in a beautiful card like this one that goes into my file of favorites. This is certainly a design that we will be able to turn to again and again with much success.

I hope you've enjoyed your stop by today. We have two more designs to share with you this week all of which are currently available for order!

Momma Bird, Baby Birds

Good Sunday afternoon to you all on this beautiful Palm Sunday! It's a busy day in the life of church musician, but it's one in which we get to share stunning music to celebrate a very special time in the liturgical year.

Despite our busy singing schedules, Whitney and I have carved out some time the last several days to bring some new products to you. Not only is it a busy time of year for singers, but it's also a busy time of year for card companies! So many special moments are to be celebrated in the next several months. Yesterday, Whitney shared our graduation offerings. And today, I'll be sharing the first of four selections for Mother's Day.

We recently got some new stamps and have been so anxious to get them all inky! This adorable set from Papertrey Ink lent itself perfectly to a Mother's Day selection. The color scheme is straight from TCP Tuesday #147 (pink, chocolate, teal) and the sketch is based on a card layout I saw somewhere in my recent blog hopping.

We wanted to offer a wide array of styles for Mother's Day. Today's card is sweet and whimsical. To give some more dimension to this cute scene of momma bird with her charges, I popped up several of the birds, along with the entire image panel. It's a very simple design really, but it's oh so effective in conveying its sweet message of the love of mother and children. Don't you think? I really love the way it turned out.

Thanks for stopping in today. Hop back by this week to see our other Mother's Day selections. Now I'm off to get ready for a big performance!

For the Grad

Hello All!

We're back today with some fun things for an exciting time of year. This is about the time that some young folk (and old folk too) are scrambling to finish term papers and final projects, preparing to sing senior recitals (for those of us in the music world at least), giving our thesis presentations, and racing to the finish line, all hoping that the graduation caps will be thrown and the parties will commence. We all know the best graduation present is money and you will definitely need something to put it in!! Enter our customizable money envelopes in which you can stuff that check or cash that your A+ student will be receiving. These little babies are customizable when it comes to school colors and names. This is an example for someone graduating from MY (and my grandfather's!) alma mater Southern Methodist University in Dallas!! We have a panel on the back where you can write your personal message or words of wisdom for the graduate. This one would of course say "Pony Up!"

We also have some great graduation cards in case you are not going to be handing the cash over :). Like all our cards, they are 4"x5.5" and mail with a regular first class stamp! This fun card was made for a graduate from Lake Highlands High School whose colors are Black and Red. These of course are also customizable for any particular school be it high school or college. Just let us know the school and we will make the card accordingly.

So whether you will be seeing the graduate after the ceremony or celebrating from states or countries away, these fun cards and envelopes are perfect for the graduate or graduates in your life. You can order these from us by emailing us at highnotesink<at>gmail<dot>com or sending us a message through our facebook page which you can get to from the left column of this blog!

I hope you all have a great afternoon. And happy crafting! Also be sure to check out our facebook page for new products that we haven't blogged about yet!!

Introducing...

Hi-ya, peeps! I hope you're enjoying this sunny afternoon. It's a bit on the windy side here. Certainly not a day to be wearing a skirt, iykwim. *wink*

I'm in the phase in my life when everyone is having babies ... or second babies. And just recently, a friend contacted me about doing some invitations for her. And that got us at High Notes Ink thinking about a new line of custom order items - birth announcements.

Our first design is very simple. We liked the idea of having a soft image so that the information took center stage. After all, when sending a birth announcement, people are far more interested in the details ... unless, of course, you choose to do a photo collage. But that's a card design for another post.

We thought vellum was the perfect choice to accomplish a soft image while drawing attention to the all-important text. And obviously for a birth announcement, you want an image that's representative of a new little bundle of joy. And what better image than a pair of feet?! Aren't they precious?

This is a stunningly simple design. Simple and understated, and we love it. We hope you like it, too!

Thanks for stopping in today!

With heartfelt Sympathy,

Hi Ladies,

I come to you today after a long break. Susan and I have been completely swamped with our other jobs, and unfortunately our love of crafting and card making is sometimes put on the back burner. Although we were working on things, blogging was definitely not included in our ridiculous schedules. Now that the injured knees are better, and the children's church musical is over, Susan and I are able to it down and actually tell you about our wonderful products! So, now that the disclaimer is over, please enjoy this card we made on our first day back. Again, like my signature style this CAS card incorporates even more butterflies than previous ones, and allows us to use some of our new stamps. I just love getting new stamps inked up and this was a great way. With some larger butterflies, we were able to come up with this design. I like the idea of a popped up panel that matches the card base . I distressed the edges to give it a little more dimension and I love the subtleness it has especially with the color scheme being so similar.

Okay ladies, please forgive us for this minor hiatus, but we are back in action and will be back more this week with some GREAT NEW PRODUCTS!! YAYY!!!