Valentine’s Day Printables!

I must confess: the first time I found out a national stationery company sold printables on their website two years ago, I almost puked. I discovered this because a friend of mine had printed labels and cards on her home computer after purchasing the printables off this company’s site, and I’ll be honest: they looked like shit. Insanely grainy, off-centered, and the colors looked terrible. I couldn’t believe a reputable national stationery company would even think to put their designs in the hands of nonprofessionals to finish.

Fast forward to 2010. Guess what I am SO excited to sell now on our new Etsy site? Printables. Adorable Valentine’s Day printables with owls, robots, hearts.

New Valentine's Day Printables

Why my change of heart?

Because good design should be accessible to everyone. So much of the design world is shrouded in ego; my design friends will poo-poo amateur work, and yet I’ve received their professional design work on flimsy paper that supposedly had been printed professionally that quite honestly would have looked better had I printed it on higher quality cardstock on my powerhouse in-studio printer.  Product creation is not about the designer & what he or she can or cannot do, it is about the emotions evoked from the end result of that design. It is my responsibility therefore to provide some education to ensure the designs I set free into the hands of non-designers are taken good care of.

So here’s the caveat: I sell these printables as PDF files that come to you via email with my printing and cutting instructions and tips to help ensure that the cards you end up with will look as polished as possible. If you’re not sure which setting to print these at on your home computer? Convo me via Etsy and I can see if I can help. Not sure which cardstock to use? Ask me. I’ve got a ton of favorites that will help show off these designs in their best light.

I want you to have great cards, I love love love designing cards, but quite frankly, with my busy graphic design & communication strategy client load, I just don’t have the time always to create large runs of greeting cards & then promote, sell & ship them.

So think of these as my Valentine’s Day gift to you. For just $6, you get one high resolution PDF file that you can print as many times as you like…along with tips to make sure yours don’t look as grainy, off-centered, off-colored as my friends’ two years ago.

It’s all about sharin’ the love, my friends. Check out the new Urban Bliss Etsy store often for new selection of printables!

studio bliss

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Urban Bliss is Now on Etsy!

We’re doing it: we’re taking the plunge and letting go of our main online shop and moving all of the stationery and other paper goods we make & sell over to our new Etsy site.

WHY THE MOVE?
When Urban Bliss first launched in 2005, we started off as a custom stationery company, and we did some identity design work. For the past two years, the roles – and our passion – has switched: we spend the majority of time working on identity design for businesses, and then as a secondary part of the business, we’ve been doing some invitations, announcements and holiday/greeting cards. Our website no longer reflects who we are and so we’re giving ourselves a complete visual makeover. Our main site at www.UrbanBlissDesign.com will house a much more robust graphic design portfolio (because our current one is outdated and, quite frankly, sucky) as well as more content about our social media 101 and 201 workshops and our Building Buzz workshops.

WHY ETSY?
We’ve loved Etsy for years. The community of artisans and designers is incredible, and just in the single week that we’ve had some items on Etsy, we have been amazed by the support and collaborative nature of the community. These are our people! And we’re stoked to be involved. Also: this will allow us to focus on selling just a few fun products we make in-house instead of trying to create this insane warehouse of stationery & goods that we don’t have time to keep up with and promote. The Urban Bliss Etsy store will essentially be Marlynn’s playground of cards, calendars, and more handmade goods. She gets to indulge in more crafty goodness.

So please stop on by our new Urban Bliss Etsy store! We’ll be adding more and more items in the coming weeks as we slowly transition our products off of the main Urban Bliss site. Meanwhile, Marlynn has handed her final design of the new main graphic design & communication strategy site over to Alain, who is doing his developer magic with it. Soon, friends, very soon we shall unveil the new site…

studio bliss

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Sweet & Funky Deals

Our daughter is much girlier than we ever imagined she would be. From the time she was just a few months old, she loved shoes, purses, accessories. She’s going through an accessories phase right now, and at two-and-a-half years old, is quite particular about the design and style of her accessories.

These adorable goodies are both sweet & funky, and are SUCH a steal. The Triangle Bags currently are on sale for $12.80 and the hair clips are only $4! Both can be found on the Cat in an Apron store. The shop is owned by fellow Portlander Marne Maykowskyj Nordean, whom I have the pleasure of knowing and can attest that she is as much sunshine and sweet peace as is her shop and the products she sells.

fashion + accessories bliss

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i heart amy butler

i have a serious affection toward amy butler designs. the woman’s floral creations in perfect soft-pop color combos just make for the perfect eye candy for the girly girl in me. did you know she’s got some free printables on her website? check them out, try them out at home, and bring a little beautiful amy butler design inspiration into your own home.

free printables at amybutlerdesign.com

crafty bliss

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Orange You Sleepy?

We love the color orange. Tangerine makes me so happy. Do you think orange is too obnoxious for a bedroom? Because I am digging this bedding set, on sale right now at Crate and Barrel. Thoughts?

Crate and Barrel – Corva Orange Bed Linens shopping in Crate and Barrel Bed and Bath.

decor bliss

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