This card is inspired by my mom.. who asks me on the phone when am I coming home? and then when I’m visiting, asks when I’m going to see her next. I wonder how often I would have to visit for it to be enough? Any moms know? Probably if I moved back in..
But I do very much love my mom and I do want to visit more often. So she will be getting this card for Mother’s Day this year. I can’t decide between the colorful lacey one on the left or the purple/peach on the right. I already decided to use both of the designs below and it will be a part of this set, so a decision will have to be made.. maybe I’ll let my mom decide? If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share!
This is a card I made for a friend’s dental practice. I never thought I’d be making dental cards, but it was a lot of fun to make!
Front: Wishing you a SWEET holiday season
(but don’t forget to floss for goodness sake)
I do have a huge sweet tooth, so this is a good message for me to probably keep on my desk all year round.. which makes me think about pretty dental quotes/prints that you might hang up in your bathroom – or regular reminder cards around your house or office.
Are there any quotes you wish you had in a nice little frame that gave you a friendly reminder? I would like to make the following:
– Relax
– Don’t worry
– Enjoy your day
– Wear your glasses (I just got glasses)
– It’ll take however long it takes
– Breathe
Want to see any other don’t stress sayings? If your idea gets picked, you’ll get a free print or card when the design comes out. You can share in the comments or email me. Thanks!
When I was on vacation (on the island of Culebra), there were these rolling clouds over the ocean at all times. They created huge shadows on the hills. It was so peaceful just looking at them until I decided to draw and take pictures of all of them (why can’t I ever relax? — Even though drawing relaxes me somewhat) – but I came up with these cards. They’re still in the works, I kind of like the way the simple drawing looks so I might go back and revise. Any advice? It’s cloudy today in New York, but a very different kind of cloudy. Have a good weekend!
Happy Pi Day! I’ve been finding geometric art really interesting and have been working some of it into my cards — probably from the influence of my math teacher husband. Rob started a blog for his math art. A lot of the art is inspired by the math problems he teaches. He uses watercolor and gouache which he’s tried to teach me but it’s really difficult and requires a lot of patience.
I think this one is my favorite. For more of his art, visit his website often. Rob LaColla art
Also, I can’t help but post the pumpkin Pi I made for his birthday last year. Happy Pi Day!
In a world of cards, I have to design at least half a year ahead. Stores expect to be looking at Christmas lines in August. I haven’t quite made it to this schedule yet, but I feel way ahead of Mother’s Day, May 13th – two whole months ahead. This card will be back from the printer in plenty of time.
Above is a complicated version of the silhouetted one below. Which one do you prefer? Or should I offer them both? I can never decide. My mom loves purple and green. What colors does your mom like? Maybe they’ll find their way into the next card.
THANK YOU spring is almost here. The nice weather today feels great after coming back from a vacation and missing the sun. Here’s a Happy Spring Thank You card I’ve been working on.
Also, if you haven’t seen these already, I only have a couple left and there’s still time to get these before St. Paddy’s day! Fabric envelopes by my talented mom — perfect to hold photos, cards, stickers.. we even had an order for a 9×12 fabric envelope to hold needlepoint and sewing projects. They’re a great option for pretty storage. Check out the fabric envelopes on our etsy site here.
Snorkeling is my new favorite hobby. It was amazing in Culebra, Puerto Rico — we saw every fish in the guidebook, tons of beautiful coral, a couple nurse sharks, sting rays, octopus, and we were very lucky to see tons of turtles. It must be nesting season because they were gathered around this one beach eating all the turtle grass. They are so graceful when they swim, I could’ve watched them for hours.
I have so many ideas for cards I’m overwhelmed — so for now, here are some pics to inspire you. My friend Brian (thanks for the pictures Brian!) has an amazing underwater camera case for his camera and took these beautiful pictures. I didn’t even have to retouch anything. Enjoy!
Giant sea fan. It sways in the waves.
Eating some turtle grass. I think these are green turtles. We also saw a hawksbill one.
Swimming like a turtle.
It amazes me how crazy nature is and how the same patterns are found everywhere. This is brain coral.
A school of blue tangs – the kind Dory is in Finding Nemo.
A tiny octopus hanging out in the sand.
My new favorite fish – this is a Smooth Trunkfish. He has the best patterns and has a weird shape – kind of like a fist. Hope you enjoyed a little piece of Culebra! If you know of any jobs where I can snorkel all day, let me know.
Some designs that I worked on at the end of last year. They are all official cards now. I love making these, it’s so relaxing. I draw them in ink, scan them in and then color them on the computer. The coloring is the hardest part for me. I can never make up my mind and wind up with 20 versions before I end up with something I’m happy with. For some of these, I couldn’t decide for the life of me – hence the red and blue lantern versions.
Something else I also have difficulty with is the inside sayings of the cards. I decided to make the main theme of my cards – Dream more, Stress less. Messages include things like “Wishing you a stress-free day,” & “Hope your birthday is worry-free!” and other calming, hopeful sayings. See the inside messages of my Flourished Card Line. Some of them are available for sale in my shop – Cynla on Etsy. Have any stress-less sayings you’d like to see in my cards?
This one is my favorite. It’s Odawara castle which is near my aunt’s house in Japan and looking at it takes me back there. The inside of this one reads “Hope you’re in a happy place.”
Oh vacation. I already miss you.. I spent the last week snorkeling 1-2 times a day, seeing all the beaches on the island, and chasing sunsets – literally. There was one day where we had to run to the beach to catch it. [The jeep behind us that didn’t run missed it]. What a tough life. Culebra is absolutely beautiful, especially if you love snorkeling. We swam with the turtles, saw all kinds of coral and sea creatures including colorful fish, nurse sharks, manta rays, octopus, and tons more. There will be a ton of sea creature cards coming soon!
I feel like all the stress has been drained out of me. I made 2 card designs I’m really happy with yesterday and it was so EASY all of a sudden to be creative. Imagine that. For now, enjoy this sunset and the image below. My husband took this one and if I wasn’t there, I would think it was photoshopped – It’s the reflection of the beach in the back window of our rented Jeep. Love it.
That’s all I have today as I’m catching up on work and life. More amazing snorkeling pics (and cards) soon.
This is me today! I’m off to sunny Puerto Rico soon. I can NOT wait. I have been steadily building up the to do lists and work for myself, taking a class, balancing a full-time job, while carrying around the guilt of not having time to go to the gym.. but a vacation is finally in order. I need to clear my head, swim with the fishes and relax. Sometimes you have to take a break to be more productive!
I’ll be back with more posts and pics and some much-needed website updates. Happy weekend!
I’m taking a licensing class and I have been working on some patterns. This one is Sakura branches I drew and colored. It includes 3 colorways: Pink, Purple and Beige [below]. The hardest part for me is knowing where to stop. I could probably come up with 20 different colors for this – the longer I work on something, the more I fall in love with the design and get caught up with it. There’s a point where I need to stop and move to the next one before my hard drive fills to the brim!
Anyways, I think the pink is the happiest. Which one is your favorite?
Fill in the blank Monday. My favorite way to procrastinate is __________.
I’ve been putting off getting my card catalog together – it means that I will have to start pitching to stores and sales reps and it will be a huge step into the “this is real.” So, my new way to procrastinate has been — if you’re not doing your catalog, at least keep making designs. While I have been really slow in the catalog department, at least my card designs have been increasing! I know it’s kind of the “passive aggressive” way of approaching this task but I’m still being productive while inching toward my end goal, right?
That being said – I’m creating a deadline for the end of February to get a catalog together. In the meantime, here are some of my Starry-Eyed Animals that I spent the weekend doing instead of catalog-ing. They have big dreams that they see in the stars. I can see my beautiful catalog in the stars.. it’s just not here yet. Happy Procrastinating! You have the whole week to get stuff done : )
I’d also like to add that my creative husband painted these watercolor backgrounds for me – even though it’s not a vector art background (my usual style), I think it still looks like my brand and adds some depth to these designs. What do you think?
Yesterday was a great day for my business. I always have these doubts and sometimes think that maybe I’m just pursuing an “expensive hobby” as Kate Harper (one of my idol card designers) has put it. Because I’m just starting my business, sometimes I feel like I’m just creating cards into this black hole and they’re never going to sell or see store shelves. But I think the world was giving me some signs yesterday.
1. I was chosen as an honorable mention for my tons card by Kate Harper! Out of 300 card submissions, 30 were recognized in a blog contest called “Most Unusual Valentine’s Day Cards.” See my above card in all it’s glory among the other mentions. http://kateharperblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/most-unusual-valentines-cards.html
2. My art teacher from highschool bought some of my cards! It’s a great feeling when your teacher approves of your art – especially when he’s an amazing artist himself.
3. I received a lot of positive feedback and ideas on my new Brooklyn design. I’m very excited to go a little further with this one and either make more Brooklyn designs or other cities.
After all that, I have this renewal of energy to create more! I think every graphic designer has a dream to start a freelance business and I’m really going to make it happen. Here I go!
A new Brooklyn design – for cards, prints, maybe a bedspread?
I’ve been working on this one for a while.. When I think of Brooklyn, the colors that come to mind are rusty reds and grays. This one looks great in a bigger size so I want to offer prints in 8.5×11 and 11×14 possibly. Maybe it’ll turn into a city series – Manhattan will be next. Of course then I’ll have to travel to each city to draw them, so maybe I’ll make Melbourne or Paris next after that!
This drawing is now my new blog banner – check it out.
It’s regents time here at schools and it’s also testing time for Japanese universities. The “National Center for University Admission” was held on January 14th and 15th in Japan and required for all school applicants. Around this time, a lot of lucky charms are being sold in Japan. The most popular are charms purchased from a shrine or temple.
However, Kit Kats are also popular because the Japanese pronounce it as “kitto katto.” It sounds like “kitto katsu” which means “You will surely win.” Parents often buy Kit Kats for their children on exam days. Isn’t that cute? I’m going to start buying kit kats for my exam-taking friends. Or maybe I should just produce a candy bar called Luck. Check out my lucky lantern design which coincidentally is the color of Kit Kats!
This information was taken from a blog post by Namiko Abe. You can find more about Japanese culture from her About.com guide here.
Fill in the blanks Monday
My answer: make a to do list. Sometimes my lists do overwhelm me, but I like making them and checking them off. It frames the rest of the day and the week and gets me productive after the weekend. What is your Monday to do?
Here’s a cute water drinking checklist from wild olive that you can download and print. One of the commenters suggested laminating it and checking with a dry erase marker so you can reuse it. I’d like one of these for bringing my lunch and working out as well!
Clouds : Dream card by Cynla
Fill in the blanks Monday. We all have the “exercise more,” “learn something new,” “save money” resolutions.. but what about feeding the creative part of your brain this year?
It can be anything from drawing your to do list, to decorating that blank wall in your home, to starting a creative blog (like this one!). Big or small, I’d like to hear about it. Please share in the comments. Seeing the creativity of others is so inspiring to me and makes me want to fit drawing and crafting into every day. Starting a business involves a lot of not-so creative activities, so hopefully I’ll find the time to focus on being creative this year.
My Answer: to keep a journal with no lines that I can draw in. I have been slacking on writing in a journal for the past couple years. The only writing I do is in email form. This year I want to draw and write my ideas and thoughts down as much as possible. I’d like to remember more than I do (with my awful memory) and capture everything in ink. It will also help me stay creative and get me off the computer a little.
What do you think of my cloudy dream design? It’s going to be on a card, but I’m thinking of also making prints. Happy Monday!
New Valentine’s Day cards are almost here!
This is the first holiday I’m really prepared for in my business and I’m proud to offer EIGHT new designs this year!
I have patterns and hand lettered designs. My “tons” card is already a hot-seller. I like colors that aren’t really associated with the holiday – so I tried not to be too pink with these designs. Feel free to leave comments on this post with any suggestions or cards you would like to see!
They will be available soon to purchase at my etsy store. To read the complete inside messages, you can view them on my main site.
This is also my first Valentine’s Day as a married woman.. I wonder which card I’ll give the lucky husband.
Fill in the blanks!
I decided to start a new kind of posts for Mondays. To get the brain started, to think about what’s important to you, and to get creative.
Inspired by my fill in the blank cards (at left), I’ll be posting a sentence every Monday to fill in whatever you would like. You’re welcome to post it in the comments or just think about it.
My Answer: everyone was less stressed.
I just watched National Geographic’s movie on stress. I’m a little bit of a nerd for these types of things, but it was so interesting! The moral of that story is the monkeys that were less stressed were a LOT healthier. Monkeys are an example of an animal that imposes societal stresses on each other, like humans. This study showed how those everyday stresses that weren’t life or death added up and affected clogging of the arteries (leads to heart attack), memory and even affects how fat gathered more at their waists because they processed food differently! Maybe just go watch the movie, they explain it better than I do. But here’s to making the world a better place!
I really love growing morning glories. I never understood the whole appreciation of “beauty is fleeting” thing.. but there’s something about waiting for them to bloom and trying to catch them early in the day to see them. If you sleep in, which I try to do as much as possible, you miss them for the day.
Top image is a morning glory postcard I did for my wedding. Bottom image is a morning glory from this summer’s garden – can you believe that’s the same flower?
I want to do a whole flower series with patterns. I have a long list that I want to do! It’s going to be a busy year. Here’s to 2012!
about me
Hi! Thanks for visiting. Drawing and creating has become a way for me to de-stress. I'd like to do it more often. This is a space for me to share my art and inspiration, my card designs, and to remind myself to stress less.
My card business and moving outside of NYC [gasp] is a new adventure in my life and I'm happy to be able to share it with you. Feel free to drop me an email cindy [ at ] cynla.com, leave a comment or two, or visit my website (www.cynla.com) and shop (cynla.etsy.com).
Happy de-stressing!
~ Cindy
