Sam Allen Creates : July and August 2015
So It's the end of October, I do know this, even though I am about to share July and August work with you guys. Be patient with me please
Sam Allen Creates : May and June 2015
I don't know about you but May seems just like yesterday so posting about projects created that month, and in June, seems totally valid. Right right? Even if that's just me feeling that way, you still may like seeing a peek at some of the projects that came across my desk that month. Considering we were gone in Oregon and Colorado for half of May, this compilation is that much crazier to me—and of course still working full time. I definitely felt quite crazy there for awhile, but here's why
Your New Friend Sam, Etsy Shop: Will You Be My Godparent Invitations, Greeting Cards, and Thank You Cards for Godmothers and Godfathers
Nearly 2 years ago, a friend of mine commissioned me to make her a handlettered print to give as a gift to her daughter's godparents. After listing it in my shop, I had a few requests to have "Will You Be My Godmother?" cards. Of course, at the time, greeting cards were not in my skill set—or so I thought—so I would decline those orders. After the launch of my bridal party invitation line last October, it occurred to me that I was now more than able to offer Godparent cards. Just after Christmas, I created and listed "Will You Be My Godmother/father/parents?" cards and they were more of a success than I could have dreamed. I love selling on Etsy as it is a shopping platform that invites its customers to truly create something so unique. There is no hesitation to reach out to customize existing listings and thanks to that, I've been able to design some very fun and personal cards and prints. With the immediate success of the cards, I thought to update my original Godparent poem listing with a fully handlettered poem to match the cards and list it as a Instant Download, Godparents Handwritten Poem, or a
Sam Allen Creates : January and February 2015
This blog has totally fallen to the wayside as I have been trying to maintain all these various projects. Monday Musings and Friday Footnotes have been non existent for some time but I hope to bring those back soon along with a monthly, or bi-monthly feature of the miscellaneous projects I've been working on. Between my friends and Etsy clients, there's a lot of random projects that cross my desk that don't really have a place in my Etsy listings quite yet as they are too unique or custom and then other smaller projects for friends that don't quite need a full blog post. Or of course, an Etsy project that when photographed, hide amongst the nearly 150 listings in my shop. Either way, I just wanted to share a few of the fun things I've had a chance to work on, through my shop and on the side. If I haven't said it a thousand times already, I love my work. Love love love it. January This was the most insane month of my life, work-wise. My full time job kept me quite busy with TONS of overtime working on a catalog so lots of early early mornings, late nights, and weekends were
Your New Friend Sam Giveaway, Celebrating My 2,000th Sale!
Feels like just yesterday I was freaking out over my 1,000th sale. And today, just 4 months later, the shop has had its 2,000th sale. I count each sale as a step in a new direction for my life, and daily, I am blown away that the whirlwind of the holidays never slowed down but only continues to gain momentum. So to celebrate and thank everyone for their support these past few months, I wanted to do a little give-away! After asking on Facebook about what I should give away from my shop, I decided to give a store credit of $30 to one lucky winner that shares my promo graphic. So whether you want an address stamp or a thank you stamp
Your New Friend Sam, Etsy Shop: Will You Be In My Bridal Party Cards, Bridesmaid Invitations
This past fall, after some experimenting with embossing, I added some "will you be in my bridal party?" cards. They were an unexpected success
Your New Friend Sam, Etsy Shop: It’s a Frozen Celebration
Now that it's December and really starting to feel like winter here in Southern California, I thought it was a perfect time to post about my new Frozen inspired invitations! Several months ago, I dreamed up a list of all the items I'd like to add to my shop, a Frozen themed invitation being one of them. Not long after that, an old friend inquired about having a Frozen themed invite custom designed for her daughter's third birthday party. Divine, right? I started dreaming up how I'd want the invite to look, but as I am not much of an illustrator, I called upon my wonderful friend Rachel, a student at University of California Irvine. And a very familiar face around this blog. After giving Rachel a sketch and some images to inspire the look and feel of the invite, she went to town painting up the background of the invite on several pages for me to digitally piece together. I just love the look of these in person, the depth and texture to each layer of paint
Your New Friend Sam, Etsy Shop: Rubber Stamps for Shops
What I love most about shopping on Etsy are the personal relationships you develop with your customers and other shop owners. Each shop has a face to the name and although the shops create a market that span continents, it feels like a small little community! Since Christmas is coming ever so quickly, I thought I'd share about a few of my clients that bought stamps from me for their own Etsy shops, and real life shops! If you have a moment, or two, settle in with a nice cup of coffee and check them out! Maybe get some early holiday shopping done! Lacey Osojo of Hum Right Along www.etsy.com/shop/humrightalong I loved working with Lacey on her stamp! Plus I was so honored and smitten to read her blog post on her stamp! Like over the moon, can not believe my eyes in shock, happy! Since then we have been blogging and Instagram friends! So fun! Anyway, take a looksie around her shop
Friday Footnotes
Ever have those weeks that are just slow enough that for half a heartbeat or so, you start to question whether you've headed down the wrong path? That was me last week. That was me just this past Sunday. My Etsy shopped slowed from the frenzy of commuter hour to a nicely paced drive in the middle of the country. i.e. it didn't even stop. But it slowed to the point where I had the mini-est of panic attacks, questioning whether or not this could really be for real. That the craziness of these past few months were over and that it was all a big joke that God was pulling. Well, all those doubts flew right out the window on Monday and we're back to the juggling always multi-tasking day-to-day frenzy that my life has become. I must admit, I kinda missed this frenzy. Soooo
Your New Friend Sam, Etsy Shop: Wedding Vows Typography Art Printables and Prints
Earlier this year, just over 6 months ago actually, I posted about a new product I had added to my shop. You see, I thought I invented these things