WELCOME ISLA

Well, she's almost 2 months old now, but I thought it time to introduce our new little one! Isla Quinn. She's wonderful and I just can't get enough of her. She's spoiled rotten already, just as all babies should be:) Our "first baby", Dane, has been tremendous! What a great kid. Yes, please "ooh" and "ahh" over how unbelievably sweet Dane is with "his baby Isla"!

Business has been great too! March-May is apparently a very popular time for babies! (I can attest to that, I delivered in a triage room due to overcrowding.) We got to welcome babies Lucy, Sydney, Nolan, Leo, Sutton, Morgen and McKenna. Thanks moms and dads for letting us help you spread the word of your little one's arrival! God bless you all, babies:)

Long overdue!

It's been quite the holiday season for Little Bird! Now that we are in a new year, my goal is to be more consistent.... in life! I don't believe in resolutions as they have never really worked for me, but I do believe in attempting to start the year off (only a month late) with good intentions.

We were fortunate enough to have lots of family over for Christmas, which considering we live in Okinawa, Japan, is a big deal! Since we all rang in 2011 we've been busily trying to get ready for baby girl to arrive in March! We are still hopelessly behind, but I'm sure she'll make her appearance whether or not I've put up the wall decal in the nursery:)

I've also had the pleasure of working a bit more on my non-stationery related design. This piece may be what I'm most proud of in my design career to date, other than the fact that I have a design career! This is a jewelry catalog for KiraKira by Suzanne Somersall. Suzanne is a driven, intelligent, talented jewelry designer with a stunning collection. She's also just an all around great person. She was kind enough to let me explore my artistic vision for her catalog and here are the results! Please take a look!
http://issuu.com/southworth/docs/catalog-issuu

Incidentally, her collection inspired my baby shower invitation:) The date/location/name is all filler, but this is design. Once printed, with the appropriate info, I plan to frame this and hang it in her room. It'll be a nice reminder down the road of the wonderful friends I've made in Okinawa:) And yes, I know it's pink! Those of you who know me well know my severe aversion to pink in my house, wardrobe, accessories, ect. I do approve of the use of pink for design purposes:)

Until next time, which hopefully will be before 2012, thanks for stopping by!

Happy Holidays:)

I'm a little late getting this post out, but it's been crazy around here! The holidays are officially upon us! I love Christmas!! I love the weather changing and wearing warm clothes. I love the snow, (that we don't get here in Okinawa), and the excitement in the air. Most of all I love being around loved ones and eating truly gluttenous amounts of yummy holiday food! Egg nog and turkey... mmmmm. I think I could subsist on nothing else! This will be the second time I get to experience the joy of holiday eating in maternity pants... bonus! And no one will judge me for shoveling food into my face:) I can just blame it on the baby!

Honestly though, I will miss my friends and family back in the states and think of you all every moment. The holidays will be a little quieter this year, but with Dane, my spirited almost 3 year old, things will never be boring:)

And now the unveiling! I just wanted to share some holiday cards I've designed recently. All cards can be found on Little Bird's Etsy shop:) I hope you enjoy them:)

Happy Halloween Birthday

I just had the pleasure to work with the very successful and talented lady behind Jaq Jaq Bird. Jaq Jaq Bird is a line of eco-friendly, PVC free kid accessories, such as bibs, splat mat, aprons and more. Her line is sold on Amazon, samandbellie.com and has even been found in Nordstrom's.

I had the good fortune to meet her and design invitations for her son's Halloween Birthday party! The idea was clean, simple, Halloween, but not too Halloween, birthday invite for a 6 year old! This is the final product!

In the process of creating this design I also designed various other icons that could serve in place of the bat. I've included those just to give you an idea of my process! It was a fun project that let me do something out of the ordinary for a stationery designer! The "characters" I was able to create I hope to use in the future:) I fell in love with every one of them! (And yes, that is a mummified pinata!) I hope you enjoy!

And Micah, I hope you had a great birthday!

How it all started...

Living in sunny San Diego and working for a great ad firm after college, something happened that changed my life. I found out I was prego! All around me ladies were sporting baby bumps and I was one of them. Each day all I could think of was the little life growing inside of me and how amazing the whole experience was. I also started looking at birth announcements for my upcoming bundle of joy. The more I searched the more disheartened I became. The range (at the time) was very busy/affordable to the very clean/very expensive. And as I surveyed and critiqued the designs I realized, I can do this! I mean, I am a graphic designer! My lofty plans for my career centered around huge ad campaigns and nationally known brands, not birth announcements and baby shower invitations. Much to my surprise, that's exactly where my "career" has taken me, and I LOVE IT. I always knew I'd want to work from home once I became a mother, but I hadn't planned exactly how I was going to achieve this! So, at the end of my second trimester I left the firm and started to "work" from home, which at the time consisted of starting my business from essentially nothing. It was a very long and painful learning period.  I made many, many mistakes (and I still make some here and there!) but I finally got my business started. I was working from home, I was designing something that made people happy and I felt a great sense of accomplishment for striking out on my own. Then, my little angel (monster) arrived. My baby Dane:) He was the inspiration behind what is now Little Bird Paperie. Thanks kiddo for pointing mommy in the right direction:)

Welcome to Little Bird Paperie!

Hello and welcome to Little Bird Paperie's blog! I am Malena, the owner, operator, art director, lead designer, print specialist, fulfillment specialist and distributor for Little Bird Paperie designs and products. I also make the tea, take out the trash and answer the phones:) My vision for this blog is to follow Little Bird's work, progress, inspirations and insanity on a much more personal level than a website could. When I'm not elbow deep in design work, I'm busy being wife to my mischievous but wonderfully supportive husband, Mike and mother to my amazing and spirited son Dane (2). We're expecting our next little one in late March, so it's going to be crasy around here! At the moment, Little Bird Paperie is based out of my home office here in Okinawa, Japan. But please keep in mind, I do US and International orders all the time.

Little Bird Paperie offers designs for all your stationery needs as well as print and web design. I like to say we specialize in birth announcements, calling cards and wedding stationery design, but honestly, I love all areas of design and happily take on projects that are out of the stationery scope.

You can follow also on facebook and shop on etsy.
No Twitter, I've never even looked into it. Ironic, huh, Little Bird can't Twitter!

Little Bird Paperie is busier than ever right now! I've been fortunate enough to work with some incredible clients!

AmyCakes is an Okinawa based cake designer that makes the most delicious cakes I have ever tasted! She's also an amazing friend, wife and mother. www.amycake.com

Suzanne Somersall is an Okinawa based jewelry designer, but her pieces are sold around the world and ironically, she's from my hometown! She has amazing designs and a stunning collection. Some of her jewelry will be auctioned off in an upcoming fundraiser event at Sotheby's. Suzanne is sure to be a huge success and I'm so thrilled to be working with her. www.kirakirajewelry.com

There are so many great clients that I'll have to save some for another time. I could spend all day talking about the wonderful people I've met through my travels and adventures with this business, but that will have to wait:)

Thank you so much for taking the time to see what Little Bird is up to! Welcome and please stop by anytime for fresh, clean designs and a little insight into my world, crazy as it may be sometimes! Thanks ever so!

Malena