Glow by Lady E

  Some things from the atelier are useful. Some are beautiful. And some exist because I wanted tiny cats, ribbons, sequins, stars, hearts and miniature smiling emojis to bounce around inside a bookmark. 😆 Meet my Shaker Kitties . Each one started with patterned paper, then slowly acquired its own tiny world. There are cats having snacks, cats traveling, cats surrounded by stationery, cats doing absolutely nothing productive at home. Basically, they have lives. I layered the designs with stickers and little bits of ephemera, added shaker pieces, sealed everything inside clear pockets, and finished them with ribbons at the top. And because I make these one at a time, none of them really turns out exactly like another. Even when I begin with the same idea, the pieces fall differently. A star lands somewhere unexpected. A tiny heart decides it belongs beside a cat. The shaker mix gathers in its own peculiar way. I think that’s part of why I enjoy making them. There is a point in creat...

  There is a particular kind of happiness that happens when I look at a table covered in things I made. It is rarely tidy. There are stacks of paper everywhere. Plastic sleeves. Scissors. Packaging. Little piles waiting to be sorted. Something inevitably ends up where it isn’t supposed to be. But somewhere in that creative chaos are all these tiny things waiting to become someone else’s. Notepads are some of my favorite things to make. Maybe because they’re so simple. They’re not grand. They’re not something you carefully display behind glass. You scribble grocery lists on them. You write down the thing you absolutely must remember before your brain decides to throw it into the abyss. You leave little notes for people. You make lists, plans, reminders and occasionally write something very important like: BUY MORE PENS. Naturally. 😏 But I think that is exactly why I love them. Beautiful things don’t have to be reserved for special occasions. Sometimes beauty gets to sit beside your...

  For the past week, I’ve been tucked away in the atelier. Designing. Printing. Cutting. Packaging. One little notepad at a time. It’s the kind of work that doesn’t make much noise. Hours pass in quiet concentration, surrounded by paper trimmings, watercolor fruits and flowers, and little stacks that slowly grow until they’re finally ready to be wrapped. Yesterday, I finished every single one. And then something unexpected happened. The client who originally ordered one of each design came back and asked for two of each instead. I smiled. Not because the order became bigger (I am thankful), but because it felt like a quiet reminder that beautiful things, made with care, really do find their people. The atelier is a little quieter today because I will be painting for another custom order.  The worktable is finally clear. For now. Issue 03 will be a little special. I’ll be introducing each collection one by one because every design has its own little story to tell. Until then… T...