{le petit hiboux mobile}

Hi everyone, it has been a incredibly busy, but amazing week with the surprise arrival of our bundle of joy Kaisa, our little girl was born on Januray 8, 2011 6:08pm weighing 5lbs. 6oz. She has already stolen our hearts. I wanted to quickly share my labour of love. I made a baby mobile for Kaisa while she was still safely in my womb, all warm and cozy and kicking while I worked away on my trusty sewing machine.

I worked on this cute hiboux mobile in my spare time while relaxing at night with my wonderful husband Mark (who is a natural at being a dad). The design was inspired by various other mobiles that I saw, but not just one design. I wanted something modern, yet colourful owl themed and handmade. It was such a fun project, looking forward to working on some others that I have planned soon.

{Anna Emilia Laitinen}

These incredibly gorgeous illustrations are by a very talented Finnish illustrator

Anna Emilia Laitinen. I love the delicate strokes, and soft palettes that she uses to bring her paintings to life.

One of her lovely, lovely prints can be purchased from her online shop

{2011 Printable Calendars to Love}

Free Printable 2011 Calendar from Creature Comforts

Free Printable 2011 3D Yeti Calendar from Curiosity Calendar of the Month Club

Customizable 2011 Owl lovers Calendar

Being already six days into the New Year, I suddenly realized that my current Night Owl Paper Goods desk calendar would no longer suffice. I enjoy having something lovely beside me while I work away so I was tickled pink when I came across these gorgeous free printable calendars courtesy of some very talented people. Wouldn't you love to have one of these little lovelies sitting next to you while you work?

1. Creature Comforts: There are many things I love about this calandar, the soft colours, watercolour images, the hand written elements and of course that each month can be repurposed into a postcard to send via snail mail (I love snail mail) or as a notecard to include with a gift. Thanks, what a great idea!

2. Curiosity Calendar: of the Month Club: If working with your hands is more your style, I definitely suggest you take a look at this incredibly cute free 3D yeti calendar for the month of January. Each month a new 3D calendar will be released for you to download and put together. I just love the retro mid century illustration used for this calendar. Can't wait to see what they have in store for next month!

3. 2011 Owl lover Calendar: Here is another Calendar that I came across via Paper Crave, the 2011 Owl lover calendar, which I was quite excited about being an owl lover myself. What makes this specific calendar so great is that you can choose the image and the month to make a completely customizable calendar to love all year round. Also the illustrations were completed by 30 talented artists so each image has a different look or feel to it. Great for monthly inspiration.

There are so many great calendars out there, if you are like me (a little behind) and still in need of a calendar take a look at Paper Crave Calendar roundups 1-8 there is definitely something out there for everyone whether you like retro inspired illustrations or something nature inspired.

Even if you already have your calendar for the year, I would still take a peak the inspiration is endless!

Happy 2011!

Happy 2011 everyone!

I have been missing in action for quite some time, but I have been busy working on some exciting things lately, which I am almost ready to share with you (keeping my fingers crossed). 2010 was a great year, and I am sure that 2011 will be just as great if not better! I hope that you all had a wonderful Holiday and are ready to get back into the swing of things.

Image Credits: Dingbat Press

Today I am sharing the business cards I recently designed for myself. Being a lover of all things paper I couldn't resist having my business cards letter pressed with edge painting in a lovely blue hue. My cards were letter pressed by a great company based in the USA Dingbat Press. It was a pleasure working with them, and I loved how my business cards turned out!

Thanks again!