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Sam Allen Creates

Aspiring Graphic Designer, Disney Enthusiast, Lover of the Photographic Arts

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Tag: personalized

Sam Allen Creates : July and August 2015

October 26, 2015October 26, 20151 Comment

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… I could skip a couple months but so much fun work has been made, I just have to share!


July

I started a daily lettering challenge that Jenny Highsmith created in July. I didn’t participate every day, especially as we were on the road the latter half of the month but I really loved it when I could work on. Creating small lettering creations just for me, just for the sake of creating, was so freeing. And just so FUN!

Hello Adventure LetterItJuly samallencreates
Not All Who Wander Are Lost LetterItJuly
I Am His, LetterItJuly by Sam Allen Creates
Rejoice Always, LetterItJuly by Sam Allen Creates
You Are the Light of the World, LetterItJuly by Sam Allen Creates

Another fun event going on the month of July was my Christmas in July promotion for my shop where my Christmas stamps were on sale. Many many months ago, our bible study hostess asked me to create her a Christmas themed address stamp and I just adore how it came out and was excited to finally list it (available for purchase here).

Your New Friend Sam Etsy Christmas Address Stamp

The biggest thing for the month of July for me was working on a collection of designs that were submitted for national retail stores to purchase for their wall art collections. Seriously. I can’t really say much more about it, but to say that I was excited to work on these is an understatement. To say that I wasn’t stressed out beyond belief during the entire month of July, especially during our “vacation” to Montana, would be an understatement. But it was well worth the time spent… I just recently was given images of the showroom where my art was mocked up on various materials; glass, wood, canvas, and more! It was so very cool to see and now I must patiently wait to see if any stores pick up my designs and who knows, maybe next year you’ll see them at your favorite local retail store. Can I be any more vague?! Sorry about that, but I had to ask permission to just post here at all, but I was too excited to not mention it at all. Eeek!

Coffee Wall Art by Sam Allen Creates
New York City Wall Art by Sam Allen Creates

And as always, there were lots of fun projects for friends going on…

A couple baby shower invites, one of which I posted in depth a couple weeks ago here.

Twinkle Twinkle Baby Shower Watercolor Invitation 3

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made Baby Shower Invitation by Sam Allen Creates

I had one big Etsy order to complete while in Montana, among all the other usual orders, and that was for wedding tent cards, one of my favorite kinds of orders to work on. She recently shared some photos from her wedding and the images of the cards are just so lovely!

Photographer: Allyson Magda Photography — Florist: Bear Flag Farms

Photographer: Allyson Magda Photography — Florist: Bear Flag Farms

July was also crunch time to get all of my friend Lindsey’s wedding paper goods done since I would be out of town the 2 weeks leading up to the wedding day. I just received photos from her photographer and can’t wait to do a full post on the day! But here’s a sneak peek.

Melissa McClure Photography Lindseys Dahlia Centerpieces Watercolor Table Numbers


 

AUGUST

A good chunk of the month of August was spent on the road as I joined my husband to compete at 3 BBQ competitions in Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota. Working on a road trip sure was challenging but things still need to get done!

Of course, I tried to keep up with the daily lettering challenge…

Sam Allen Creates - LetterItAugust - Take the Road Less Traveled
Great Oaks from Mighty Acorns - LetterItAugust - SamAllenCreates
Be Silly Be Honest Be Kind - LetterItAugust - SamAllenCreates
The Oceans Cannot Fathom - LetterItAugust - SamAllenCreates
I Am - LetterItAugust - SamAllenCreates

One of my favorite projects of the month, and of the year, was working with my friend Trisha on her daughter’s birthday party invite. I created a fully handwritten design that Trisha then stitched on a string of paper banners. I’m planning on a full blog post for this one so here’s just a sneak peek that I shared with Trisha from the road…

Molly's Handwritten Birthday Invitation Sketch Process by Sam Allen Creates

And here’s a glimpse into some of my favorite Etsy orders from the month…

Handwritten Wedding Vows by Your New Friend Sam - Christy and Joshua
Rehearsal Dinner Menu with Matching Calligraphy Tent Cards
Reserved Hang Signs for Wedding Ceremony by YourNewFriendSam Etsy

For the same wedding as the above Reserved signs, I created these unique table signs, each table being named after a song. I’m pretty excited to see how these looked at the wedding!

Song TItle Table Signs by YourNewFriend Sam


Hope you enjoyed my sneak peek into my work life these past couple months! So blessed to be able to create and design as much as I do!

Sam Allen Creates : May and June 2015

September 9, 2015September 10, 2015Leave a comment

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…


May

First up, I wanted to share some custom invitations I created through my shop… a very festive Taco Twosday birthday invitation and a vintage western-like wedding invitation. The western invite was for a friend from high school!

Taco Twosday Mexican Fiest Birthday Invitation from Your New Friend Sam Western Victorian Wedding Invitation from Your New Friend Sam

I had a request for a watercolor painted wedding invitation. At the time, I was quite frank with the bride, telling her that I wasn’t quite experienced in watercoloring outside of lettering and I wasn’t sure if I could create a design worthy of her invites BUT if she gave me a few days to practice and see what I could come up with—and if she approved—then I would be more than happy to make her wedding invites.

I don’t normally work on Etsy projects before getting the job and getting paid, but for this project in particular, I so badly wanted the opportunity and to take on the challenge that it was totally worth the up front risk of possibly not getting the job.

Thankfully, I came up with a wreath design that she loved so we were able to go forward with the order and I LOVE how it came out so much!! It was a worthy challenge and I am so very thankful I had the opportunity as it came in very handy in June when I had to paint my wonderful friend Lindsey’s wedding invitations. God sure knows what He’s doing, that’s for sure.

Watercolor Wreath Wedding Invitation from Your New Friend Sam

Speaking of Lindsey’s wedding…. I got a ton more practice in brush calligraphy as I addressed her wedding envelopes while in Colorado.

Sam Allen Creates Watercolor Brush Lettering Envelopes

I also got to design her shower invitation which we designed as an oversized tea bag with hang tag (for registry info). So adorable!

sam allen creates tea bag bridal shower invitation sam allen creates tea bag bridal shower invitation detail

If you follow me on Instagram, you would definitely know that painting my lettering is pretty much my new favorite thing ever! I think there’s something about working digitally for so many years that has made me crave the tactile feel of painting. I had planned to paint my mom a canvas for Christmas but after putting it off, I thought gifting canvasses for all my moms (mother in law and grandmother included) would be perfect for Mother’s Day!

Star Spangled Banner Handpainted Canvas
How Great Thou Art Handpainted Canvas
Unforgettable Handpainted Canvas

After my friend Jess saw all my Mother’s day canvasses, she passed me a wide horizontal blank canvas to paint up for her gallery wall. It fit perfectly and I loved the colors!

Walk by Faith Handpainted Canvas

Another little project from Etsy was this Kraft paper print I lettered in white. I just love these types of projects! Create your own custom lettered print here.

For This Child We Have Prayed Print from Your New Friend Sam

How does this date this post…. this gorgeous girl is having her BABY girl NEXT month!! I have so many more fun things to share of projects with Trisha. I am so thankful she has girls that I can craft like crazy for. If only boys loved bubbly feminine cursive too because I have a plethora of the world’s cutest nephews too!

Trishas Its a Girl Chalkboard

And of course new stamp designs were released! Perfect for sparkler wedding favors.

Let Love Sparkle Rubber Stamp from Your New Friend Sam

It got pretty hectic as our big road trip to Oregon and Colorado came up… between doing the calligraphy on tent cards for a first birthday party and a wedding, I also got to write out tags for a destination wedding’s welcome gifts!

Your New Friend Sam Black with White Calligraphy Tent Cards

This adorable first birthday was featured here. Photo sourced from Dowoolee Photography.

Your New Friend Sam Navy Calligraphy Tent Cards

Your New Friend Sam Kraft Name Tags

Photo by Details Nashville

P.S. for May… I also co-hosted my friend Brittany’s baby shower! See more photos of that gorgeous day here.


June

The month of June started with catching up from our trip and then we went deep into wedding invitation mode. My floor was covered in paintings as I experimented in different styles of painting the water lilies. It was definitely a challenge I was up for and I love the result…

I shared the envelopes above with you, but here’s an overview of Lindsey’s wedding invitation suite. We pulled it together within a week from design to stuffing the envelopes for mailing. I can’t wait to share more of this project because it’s seriously one of my favorites. Ever.

Watercolor Water Lily and Handletttered Wedding Invitation Suite from Sam Allen Creates

Besides the wedding invite, I also got to recreate my most popular invitation, the rehearsal dinner invitation from my friend Amie’s wedding a couple years ago. But this time, it was hand painted to go with Lindsey’s watercolor theme.

Sam Allen Creates Watercolor Rehearsal Dinner Invitation

Back in the Etsy shop world, another fun wedding project was creating these gold calligraphy, ivory scallop tags that were to be attached to skeleton keys! The official professional images have yet to be released… but I seriously can’t wait to see them!

Your New Friend Sam Wedding Calligraphy for Skeleton Key Tags

And of course, after the wedding is over… the vows are what last. This may be my new favorite out of all the vows I’ve handlettered! Purchase your own set here.

Your New Friend Sam Hand Lettered Wedding Vows Anniversary Present

And I think Nikki may have ordered nearly every wedding related card I’ve ever created!

Your New Friend Sam Bridal Party Invitations Variety

But these may be THE cutest cards I’ve ever made… the bride’s new last name will be Biessenberger so there are going to be bees everywhere, even the hashtag: #beecomingbiessenberger!

Bee Bridal Shower Invitations from Your New Friend Sam

While most of my work is in the wedding realm, it’s always fun to break out into birthday parties! They’re just so fun and festive!

My first project for Cheryl was addressing the birthday invitation envelopes, but then I also got to personalize a bunch of horse decals for the party itself. From the favors to the drink labels… there were horses everywhere! So adorable!

Your New Friend Sam Event Lettering for Favor Bags

Photo provided by customer.

And finally a few stamps…

DSC_3381 e mockup

This set of stamps were created as a birthday gift for a teacher. So cute!!

Teacher Rubber Stamp Set from Your New Friend Sam


Whew! So now that’s May and June… and it’s almost mid-September! Reviews of July/August will be coming up next!

Sam Allen Creates : January and February 2015

March 11, 2015March 10, 20151 Comment

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 used to make up the time that my shop was in desperate need of as January was also my record breaking month in amount of orders. God is funny like that. Just when I expected it to slow down after Christmas, it sped up to an ultrasonic speed. Thank you Lord, I get the point, my shop is here to stay.

Some of these images are just going to be the sneakiest of peeks because I hope to follow them up with full blog posts…

While I pushed a lot of January projects to the next month, one little man needed to be formally announced right away. Here’s my handsome little nephew Hudson Ryan. Will be posting more of his photos very very soon…

hudson ryan pankratz announcement sneak peek

In addition to Hudson’s announcement, I worked on a bachelorette party invitation… which will be coming to the shop soon.

taylor bachelorette sneak peek

The more and more I create projects that feature my handwriting, the more and more I felt the need to create a lookbook that I could easily send to new clients for them to pick a writing style. I have an early draft I’ve been using that gets the job done but I’m working on a second version that will feature the writing style names in watercolor.

your new friend sam look book watercolor writing sneak peek

Speaking of watercolor… this is my new love. So much so, I’ve already been able to work on some fun new logo projects featuring the technique.

Kelly Dalton, Copperline Studios - Watercolor logo by Your New Friend Sam

pomery logo white pink

And one more photographer’s logo… such a sweet photo of her little one.

sweet honeybee watermarked photo

Another logo project from January was for Sparkle and Twine, a fellow Etsy shop! Love how she stamped her muslin bags to package up her orders. These tags can be found in her shop here.

Sparkle and Twine Muslin Bag and Tags

While logos were a big part of January, it truly was the transition month from Christmas gifts to wedding cards and favors. While I’ve just posted about my bridesmaid invitations, let’s look at some other wedding related items…

These menus and table cards will be for the guests at an Australian wedding this May. The menu was printed on Kraft paper and the white headlines were embossed, using the same technique as the bridesmaid invites.

Your New Friend Sam Wedding Handwritten Menu and Tent Cards

A new wedding favor stamp was created too, for those camping and outdoorsy brides!

Your New Friend Sam Smore Love Wedding Favor Stamp

And of course some name tags, white tags with gold writing. One of my favorite combinations.

Your New Friend Sam, Handwritten Calligraphy Name Tags, White with Gold

After working with these brides on their weddings, I hope we can work together again creating a handwritten keepsake of their vows! These were created as a Valentine’s Day gift from the bride to her groom.

Your New Friend Sam, Wedding Vows Keepsake for Sarah

And finally, I spent some time developing and adding more to my product line for godparents! After creating “godparent invitations” at the very end of December, I created a matching all handwritten printable of a poem we used last year. I’ll definitely be posting more about these soon.

Your New Friend Sam, Godparent Invitation and Poem Printable


 

February

Once I survived January, February was catch up month. It was time to catch up on all the little projects that I had added to my to-do list over the course of the crazy Nov-Dec-January time period. February was very very fun to work through.

I finally got to sit down and work on this print for my wonderful friend Trisha’s baby girl’s nursery… Painted with GOLD watercolor. Pretty much one of my favorite things to do now is paint with gold. It’s just such a beautiful effect.

Sam Allen Creates Watercolor Handwritten You Are So Loved Print Sam Allen Creates Watercolor Handwritten You Are So Loved Print detail

But I think one of my favorite February projects was wrapping up the invitations for my family friend, Taylor’s wedding. I can’t wait to do a full post on the suite so for now this is just a tiny little peek.

taylors wedding invitation sneak peek

And while working on her wedding invitations, we also got one of her shower invitations designed as well! Each of those little blossoms were hand drawn, I just adore how it came out!

tays bridal shower sneak peek

Back on Etsy… another January project that wrapped up in February was the personalization of these GIANT screen printed heart posters for a mother in New York for her daughters’ bedrooms.

nicole's heart posters personalized

I also got to work with Kellie Parry on the logo for her photography studio.

Kellie Parry - Hand lettered logo by Your New Friend Sam

And create some fun artwork with song lyrics and wedding vows.

Your New Friend Sam First Dance Lyrics Handwritten Keepsake Your New Friend Sam Wedding Vows Keepsake Detail 2

As weddings are my main market on Etsy, I got to work on a custom stamp for a wedding invitation insert and I just launched a line of printed tags that feature some of my more popular stamp sayings.

Your New Friend Sam RSVP and Directions Stamp Your New Friend Sam Love is Sweet Printed Tag

And finally, I got to customize my glitter cards for a special birthday greeting and letter tent cards for a beachside birthday celebration (which of course took place in California so they wouldn’t freeze!).

Your New Friend Sam Custom Hand Lettered Glitter Birthday Card Your New Friend Sam Kraft Table Tent Cards with White Ink


 

Whew… okay now on to March! I had actually planned this post for last week but before I knew it I had my 2,000th sale so I switched it up and held a giveaway last week to celebrate. I still can’t believe that in just 4 months my total sales doubled. But then while working on this post and looking back on the work from the past couple months, it’s not that hard to believe either. But if you would have told me any of this just 2 years ago, no way would I have believed it. I can’t be more thankful for all these opportunities to do what I love and share it with my friends and people all over the world.

Sam Allen

Sam Allen

I believe in magic. I believe in the power of true love. I believe in fairy tales and happy endings. And I live to create stationery and art for the young at heart to allow my fellow dreamers to treasure all of life’s most wondrous moments!

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