As a stationery and surface designer, I am usually working 6-8 months ahead of a season. While your days (or day-dreams) are filled with images of summer, sunshine, bathing suits and BBQs; mine are filled with images of hearts, cupids and love notes. I am currently designing for Valentine's Day. My first project was to do a series of boxed laser cut valentine cards. I usually start the design process by brainstorming a list of words and then with those words in mind, I create an inspiration board.

Next I start fleshing out a few ideas by doing some simple hand drawn or digital sketches.

Once I have a few sketches that I'm happy with, I start bringing the designs to life by creating digital mocks.

WorldHeart Love ForeverMine

The next project was to design a valentine themed kraft paper party collection, including boxes, gift bags, and tableware.

Valentine's Day reminds me of being in grade school and creating adorable little mail slots out of kleenex boxes and stuffing them with the cutest hand crafted envelopes and cards. I knew I wanted the party collection to have a postal theme, with envelopes, stamps, postmarks and of course lots of hearts. But I needed to push the cuteness factor to another level. What better way to do this than to incorporate dogs?!

First to design were these adorable little gift boxes with kraft paper lids, baker's twine bows and coordinating tags.

The rest of the party collection included, gift bags, paper plates, paper napkins and party bags. Everything you need to throw the most adorable Valentine's Day party!

I can't wait to see the real samples when they come in. I'll share them with you when they do. One of the most gratifying parts of being a designer is seeing your ideas go from concept to reality.

Lastly, here is a picture of my dog, Midji, displeased with me for not including her in the puppy love notes party collection.