A New Kind of Custom

Hi People! I wanted to tell you a little story. I got a phone call the other day from a darling Mom who ordered a bag tag from me recently for her daughter. She had also sent me a note through my e-commerce site asking if I would be interested in creating a birthday invitation for her daughter. There were only going to be 8 invites. What did I care if there were only 8! Of course I was interested. A few days went by and I finally heard from her. (BTW, it had taken me a few days to get back to her since I had not looked on that email in quite a while.) We were gabbing away like old chums, but when she was delighting in telling me how her daughter loved to draw and how she had a nice little portfolio going already, I stopped her right there in mid conversation! "Wait!" I demanded. (quiet on the other side. She was probably thinking.. sheesh!) So I said to her, "How about if your daughter draws what she wants for her invite and you send me the art and I put it into invitation form?" She looooved the idea! I was pretty proud of myself. I don't think that this is an original idea, but it's generally not done, I don't think. I also had a big craft fair coming up and needed every free second I had. I felt it would benefit all of us if Nicole could use her own art for her Spa/Slumber Party and I could get my bearings here for this fair. I got the art.. actually 5 pieces. They are from a program called Fashion Design Pad. I think this is how it works; her daughter, Nicole, creates the face with hair color, eyes, lips, nose..the whole shebang on the computer. She then colors clothes onto the little computer models. She happened to send me a blond, a brunette and an Asian. I used all three and had them hold hands. Her wonderful Mom sent me a base for text and I changed it around a bit and then we finalized it over the phone when she got her proof. Here is the result. Isn't it cute?

AND, to save time, I made out the envelopes with green marker and added cute gift stickers next to her guests names. It turned out so adorably! This is truly why I love what I do. Personalizing things in a non- traditional manner is so much fun for me. And also, being an artist who doesn't enjoy repetition, this was right up my alley. Everyone was happy.. I can't wait for Nicole to get her envelope!