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Tea, brownies & stationery...

My hot tea is now closer to chilled and my two early morning samples of peanut butter brownies—which really equal one good sized portion—have been devoured...gracefully, of course. I very much love these early mornings when the rest of the house still sleeps and I can press play on my "playlist of the moment" and nab some quiet time, which is exactly what I'm doing right now.

By the way...Happy Valentine's Morning! Kamryn and I made very sweet matchbox valentines from Inchmark Journal for her friends. We filled them with chocolate M&Ms and she wrote the first letter of everyone's name on each box. We had fun working on them and had our fill of M&Ms, as well!

So, I'm in mid-stride working on new stationery for (a LaNE design). It's about time, right? That's what I'm saying. It's time to scan in sketches, select colors and fonts (if needed) and choose paper and envelopes. I thoroughly enjoy the process, but it is just that....a process. I have a manila folder with quick sketches, price ideas, notes and more notes. Hopefully this smooths out my process a bit. I'll keep you posted (pun intended). Believe me, I'm thrilled to see how this all unfolds and look forward to sharing it with you.

A quote my mom came across, not sure of the author...
"There are many things in your life that catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart—pursue those."

In the kitchen

Happy day to you!
It's chilly, windy, snowy and wet here. I'm not loving it. I do, however, LOVE the spice candles that have been burning at our house lately and—I have to add—I really like how our house feels in the cool, fall weather. It's decorated with mostly browns and creams and when I get to hang some fall decorations and lay out the fall leaves, its' so cozy and warm (minus the chilly draft that comes through some of the windows).


A couple weekends ago, we went to my parent's house so I could help Mom can her tomatoes and make our own salsa. It was great. I had never canned before and was wanting to do so. I'm glad I did and was anxious to do more...until the frost bit!

In our time creating our own delicious salsa recipe, I learned something that will stick with me forever. Mom had picked up some great peppers at a farmer's market on her way home from Pendleton, including some habanero peppers. I didn't think a thing about cutting and washing the peppers. Shortly later, my hands were burning a bit. I ignored it and went outside for a couple hours, only to come back in with hands on fire! Since I didn't run my hands under water right away, it only got worse. The awful burn lasted most of the day while I tried many different chemical burn remedies. It was 6 or 7 hours later that I soaked my hands in lemon juice, which did the trick. Finally, some relief. I also learned that I could have soaked in milk, but I hadn't made it to that option yet. So, word to the MUCH wiser, I'm sure...wear gloves when fiddling with habaneros! On a plus note, the salsa turned out delicious!

Now, where else could you see this?

One quick thing...we were at our beautiful friend, Leigh's, wedding the end of August in Custer State Park. When we woke up the next morning and opened our hotel room door...this is what we seen...


Isn't that fantastic?

I'll see you tomorrow!

Hello, hello! Yes...there is life! Check back in tomorrow for some movement, here at (a LaNE design)! I've been a little scattered and uncollected, but I'm pulling it together and coming back!

Oh, this feels good! See you tomorrow.

I'm torn...

Welcome to the weekend! It's going to be a nice one! For some strange reason, though, I feel like the hot summer days are dwindling down. Surprising to myself, I'm okay with that. I feel an urge to pull out the spicey candles and start wearing socks again!

So, I picked up my new business cards yesterday from UPS—since the substitute driver wasn't able to find our house. The one thing that I dreaded to have happen—happened. I should have went with my gut. The clothespin sketch on the front of the card is too light. At first glance, the card looks plain and unintentionally off center. Second glance, it looks okay. I'm torn whether I should reprint the cards OR if I should hurry and hand out the 250 cards in order to get new ones printed. I feel that every time I hand out this card, I'm going to be quick to say "I'm so bummed that I didn't darken the clothespin." —not my idea of confidence or my idea of good design! Other than that small issue, I love the look of the card.

A ladybug tattoo

I think some form of face paint is a must in every home that hear's the sound of children. They love picking out something to paint and love watching it come to life. It's also fun and quite relaxing to be the painter.

Last summer, I painted more ladybug and butterfly tattoos than I could count. This summer—I've forgotten. Miss Kamryn pulled out her face painting book the other night that I had gotten as a child and we both looked at each other as if saying, "What the heck. Did you know this was hiding there?" So tonight, we'll wet our palette and begin painting ladybugs. I look forward to it.

The book we have is called Face Painting by Inc. Klutz and Thomas Heinser. You can find it here.

First Letter Writing

There is nothing like receiving a friendly letter in the mailbox, don't you think? Letters have been dropped in the mail to different people in my family all my life and I think it's so valuable, especially when a quick email is much more simple. I wanted to put together some simple stationery for Kamryn to start her own letter writing. Since she's working on writing her name, I thought some follow-the-dot stationery would be perfect. Maybe, for right now, there will be more pictures that fill the page than anything, but over time that will change!

Presenting the (a LaNE design) business identity!

I hope your weekend was blissful!

We were camping with some of our family on Saturday night near the Needles Highway in the Black Hills, which was a fantastic location. Even though we really did have a good time, we should have brought mud boots rather than hiking boots because it was very wet and rainy!


So, now you see it—the new identity of (a LaNE design). I'm particularly excited about showing these few pieces of my own business for two reasons. (1) I'm elated with the overall design and how it came to this place. (2) It's good assistance in introducing myself, my business and my blog to you.

(a LaNE design) was born while I was in art school. I was extremely interested in paper (still am) and I chose a beautiful German paper by Gmund (Havanna, 100g Cohiba) to display my newly created business identity. I was crazy about it and quite confident when handing a business card to someone—sometimes a little let down when they didn't respond with an, "ooo, nice paper!" ha!

Then recently, I realized that my taste and style had changed...or grown. I wasn't crazy about the black ink printed on my favorite craft colored Gmund paper anymore. Knowing that (a LaNE design) would now be getting a makeover, I was eager to see how I would let it play out. I couldn't force anything. The colors and look had to come on their own, and—they did! I hadn't realized how crazy I am about the way red and light blue work together until buying fabric for a small tablecoth. They're so comfortable and light and they kind of have their own style!

When pondering the use of imagery in the identity, it came quite easily after a period of time. I landed on a small drawing of a clothesline in my sketchbook and it struck me just the right way. So, it came to life, along with a complimenting clothespin. They portray something simple and airy and hold a certain sense of nakedness, don't you think?

I chose not to print an 8.5 x 11 letterhead (only print as I need it) since I don't go through much of it. Instead, I'm printing 5x7 miniature letterhead to use as correspondence for my customers and potential customers. I like the look of an address label on any envelope and it's also, quick and easy to use. Finally, a double-sided business card, which I'm debating on rounded corners to soften it up a bit. There you have it! Still a work in progress, I'm sure, so I would love to hear your comments!

With my heart in my hand...

"With my heart in my hand, I give this to you, all that I am in all that I do. The bond that we share, forever will stand. I give you this gift—my heart in my hand."

These words, along with a simple sketch that I drew of a heart in a hand were the theme of our wedding just five years ago. I meant to post this yesterday, since our anniversary was then, but I needed to enjoy as my husband cooked supper from start to finish and had to shut off my computer. One could understand that, right?!?

Happy—now belated—anniversary to my husband! All my love.