New Cat Greeting Cards August 28 2014

I've added a few new cat greeting cards to the website. I decided it's time to embrace the cat ladies out there! Enjoy!

Pineapple Inspiration August 05 2014

A little bit of pineapple inspiration for your Tuesday! In April I traveled to Hawaii with my husband, we saw the real deal and went to the Dole Plantation on Oahu! It was so awesome to see so many pineapples grow in nature, not to mention so many different varieties! So before the pineapple craze took over the web, it was great to see them in person. If you ever get to go to Hawaii, you should try the Dole Whip, it's basically pineapple whipped ice-cream shake…delish! And yes, there really is such thing as a pink-red pineapple, it's called a Red Saigon.

Then last picture is a quick watercolor of colorful pineapples I did last week…if that's not summery I don't know what is!

We Love our Retailers: Poppins August 01 2014

We love our retailers! Especially one of our newest retailers: Poppins! I just love their storefront, so inviting and adorable! They are located in Mackinac Island, Michigan. 

 

Custom Illustration: Beagles July 24 2014

I just finished up a custom illustration of two adorable beagles named Mia and Mojo! My customer, Dana, wanted them to look the same, but each beagle had a very different look. Mojo is smaller with a heart shaped spots and Mia is a bit taller, long legs and small waist. Dana couldn't be more happier with the outcome! 

If you are interested in a custom illustration of your dog, contact me at: dawn@lydiaandpugs.com

We Love Our Retailers: Salutations July 23 2014

It's another post about our retailers we love! We are happy to say our paper goods are available at Salutations in Pasadena, California! If you happen to live around that area, you should check them out!

We are featured in Dog Milk! July 10 2014

Our new products including gift wrap and greeting cards was featured in Dog Milk last week! You can read the full article here!

Thanks Dog Milk and Capree!

We Love Our Retailers: Warwick's July 07 2014

Last Friday was the 4th of July…I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend! So being that it was a holiday, the We Love Our Retailers is Monday! Our paper goods and gift wrap is available at Warwick's in La Jolla, California! Warwick's is a bookstore as well as, office supplies and stationery! Check them out if you live in the area!

 

Sprinkles Turns One! July 01 2014 2 Comments

Sprinkles is officially one-year-old! Her birthday was last week and we celebrated by going to the beach! She loved it! We left early in the morning to get there before it was too hot. But Florida summers get pretty hot at 9am it was already 80 degrees! I also got her a special long 16ft leash so she can roam a bit more and it worked out great! 

 

We Love our Retailers: O'Suzannah June 27 2014

Each Friday I will be doing a new series about one of our new retailers, who will carry Lydia & Pugs goods! We are so excited our products will be at O'Suzannah located in Charlottesville, Virginia! Above is a picture of her darling shop!

If you live in that area, be sure to stop into their shop!

Our New Site is here! June 19 2014 3 Comments

 

Our new site is here! Yay! 

I couldn't be more excited about our new shop! To celebrate the new launch we have put everything on sale! Save 15% off through June 24 with the code: newl&p at checkout.  Also, let me know what you think about the new site with any feedback in the comments below! Happy shopping!

L&P Featured in Southern Weddings Blog June 18 2014

We are so thrilled to be featured in Southern Weddings blog, featuring our National Stationery Booth! We were grouped with many other awesome shops, for the full blog post, click here.

 

 

National Stationery Show Recap: Part 1 June 10 2014

Wow, what can I say, we went to the National Stationery Show! And by we, I mean myself, my husband and my mom! It was truly an adventure to say the least, being first time exhibitors. For those who don't know what the National Stationery Show, it's a 4-day tradeshow for paper loving peeps. A chance for shops and businesses (big and small) to display their goods so wholesale stores can purchase them. 

If you are a first time exhibitor, I would highly recommend the Tradeshow Bootcamp, it was an awesome resource to say the least! They have webinars and even a paper camp you can sign up for!

My husband and I planned out our booth months in advance with many planning and prepping time, the booth is made from hard walls. I will do another post later about the hard wall process. 

This is what it looks like when we arrive to our booth…pipe and drape with dirty floors and the madness of everyone around you tried to put their booth together, not to mention the sounds of forklifts moving giant crates everywhere. We waited almost 3 hours for our crate to arrive, hence the chairs.

Our crate arrives, it was pretty beat-up, with some of our metal siding missing, but everything inside in tact. Here's a pic of our walls set-up! This was a big accomplishment! I was so happy to get these up, next was touching up any missing paint from the walls and our booth number.

Here's me making sure the Lydia & Pugs logo is firmly attached! Our logo laser-cut from Tony at Laser-Cut Plus! He was awesome and I loved out our logo turned out!

After all the shelving and products were up, I attached our little golden pug silhouettes, so they could shout out our booth number. After setting up for 2 days, it was on to the actual show. Next blog post, I'll touch base on what I plan on doing differently, what I learned and the experience of the show itself. 

Father's Day Cards May 29 2014

    We are back from the National Stationery Show! It's been a really great show and I am so happy to be back in the sunshine state! I will be posting a re-cap about the show soon, but here's two of Father's Day cards up in the shop! The first one happens to be a favorite for buyer's at the show! P.S. I'm adding LOTS of new items to the website in the next few days, and I will officially be sending out a special promo code mid-June. P.P.S. Don't forget Father's Day is June 15! Enjoy!

Mother's Day Cards April 29 2014

    Mother's Day is coming up…May 11th to be exact. I've added a new Mother's Day card called 'momma knows best.' Seems pretty appropriate. Shop Mother's Day click here.

5th Annual Trendys! March 21 2014

Our greeting card Bon Voyage Pug Card is the top 10 finalists in the 5th Annual Trendys. The Trendys are awards given to the top trendy worthy stationery designs for the magazine Stationery Trends magazine. Over two weeks retails and allies voted for the top cards in a variety of categories. Our pug card is one of the top cards in the greeting cards category. The next round will be judges and they will select the top winners, which will be on display at the 2014 National Stationery Show. Here's a link to the press release, which also lists the other top designs. Thank you to all who voted! I am so excited!

New Small Notebooks February 26 2014 1 Comment

  Our new small notebooks are in the shop! These are one of my favorite things to design for the shop! The notebooks come in a set of two and feature watercolor illustrations of pugs and dogs, but dressed in colorful attire.

2014 Winter Olympics Greeting Card February 11 2014

For limited release is our 2014 Winter Olympics greeting card! Featuring three dogs in a bobsled. You can purchase here on my Etsy shop. Are you watching the Olympics?

DIY Wedding Paper Flower Name Tags February 05 2014 2 Comments

Supplies: -colored paper of your choice -quarter or 1 inch circle stencil -outdoor leaves (I used magnolia leaves) -fake green foliage -gold or pearl berries -gold spray paint -glitter blast spray paint (optional) -glue gun -ribbon -white paint and paint brush For my wedding name cards I really wanted to do something unique and also include flowers in the mix. I've been using a pale pink paper I really loved throughout my wedding invitation suite and decided to use that same paper to make these paper flowers.  First thing I did was gather my supplies and tools. I used three different types of leaves for this project: small-ish gold leaves, medium-ish green foliage leaves and large magnolia leaves from my magnolia tree. The small gold leaves were originally green and I spray painted them gold with a blast of glitter. The magnolia leaves were dry and I also spray painted them gold with no glitter. It amazes me how beautiful they look gold! I also used both pearl berries and gold berries. And to add a extra dazzle, I added the glitter blast to the gold berries. Here are some images of what the magnolia leaves looked like before I spray painted them, brown and crusty…but after a coat of gold paint, they look stunning. I put them in a piece of styrofoam to hold them in place while I painted them. The picture above is the progression of the paper flower. For the paper flower, you'll need 6 - 1inch circles for each flower. Each circle gets a cut down the center, and you basically glue each one to make a small funnel, then take each 'funnel' and glue them into each other…this is detailed part, but the turnout is really beautiful! Just have patience. After you get all your flowers glued, you can glue you gold/pearl berry in the middle, small gold leaf next, green leaf and finally your large gold magnolia leaf. The magnolia leaf will serve as the name card for your guests. I then painted in white acrylic paint each guest name the gold leaf, this was my favorite part. I love that these name tags are not your typical tag, your guest feel extra special because they know each was personalized with their name.After the names are painted, you can attach the entire name tag to a ribbon and then tie that onto you napkins. You can fold the napkins any way you'd like, but I choose to have the silverware showing. P.S. I had to include a picture of Sprinkles the pug…she was very interested in the project especially when I was taking the photos. I hope you all enjoy!

Here we go NSS! February 03 2014

It's been a bit of a whirlwind planning session for the past few months. But me (and my husband-to-be, Chris) are getting ready for the National Stationery Show! Something I could never have imagined, but with the encouragement of my family I will be debuting Lydia & Pugs stationery and paper goods in May!  One of the best things that has helped me to prepare was participating in Tradeshow Bootcamp with workshops and webinars put on by Katie Hunt of Kelp Designs. It's been an awesome community of "virtual" folks just like me who need some advice and guidance for trade shows. I am really looking forward to meeting some of them come May. The picture above is Chris building the booth for the show. I am so blessed to have a wonderful fiancé that is on board with all my crazy ideas and is so skilled in so many things! I will be making more posts about the show as it gets closer.

Dog Calendars Sale is still on! January 28 2014

Our 2014 Dogs Calendars are still on Sale! Save 25% off 2014 Dog Calendars now through January 31, by using code 'DOGCALENDAR25' at checkout. These calendars are currently sold out at Anthropologie stores, so get yours for the new year!

DIY Wedding Table Number Cards January 22 2014 4 Comments

Some of you who follow my blog and/or instagram feed know I am getting married in a few months and the countdown is just setting in! And with that being said I am trying to get all my ducks in a row for any DIY projects I think I can do myself, which every bride knows can save lots of money! First up are this DIY table number cards, which are really not that hard to make and can dress up each of your tables. My color scheme is pale pink, peach, gold (or glitter gold), and accents of dark green or mint green here and there. You will Need: -fancy paper for the numbers (I used gold glitter paper) - solid color paper -scissors -glue and/or tape 1. Print out your table numbers in large font. You can use Microsoft word or Adobe Illustrator etc, just make sure the font is large enough for your cards. 2. Once your numbers are cut, you need to trace them on your pretty glitter paper and then cut them out. These will be used for your cards. 3. Next, glue your glittery numbers on your cards. The card size I used was 4.25"x5.5" and I also added a little more decoration by clipping the edge and painting the edges gold. I absolutely love these! And I am so happy with the way they turned out. I can't wait to use these at my wedding!

Valentine's Collection and Dog Calendar on Sale! January 15 2014

Save 25% off 2014 Dog Calendars now through January 31, by using code 'DOGCALENDAR25' at checkout. These calendars are currently sold out at Anthropologie stores, so get yours for the new year! Be sure to check out our NEW Valentine's Day collection. Click here to view our Valentine's Day collection.

Happy New Year! January 02 2014

 

Happy New Year! I wish you all had a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I just had to share this pictures of Sprinkles on Christmas day…which was also her 6 month old birthday!

2013 was such an awesome year for Lydia & Pugs! I am so grateful for all the blessings and for all my customers! I am looking forward to this coming year and I cannot wait to see what comes next.

Dawn

Lydia & Pugs + Pink Olive Holiday Card Box November 25 2013

  I am so thrilled to be included in OliveBox first holiday Card Box! Our holiday dog greetings card is included in this holiday box! What is Olivebox? Olivebox is a delightful box of paper and lifestyle products delivered to your front door each month. From cards to artwork, each box includes new goodies that have been transformed by the beauty of paper. This month's holiday themed box is filled with eight different card designs! I am so happy to included amongst the other designers: Gingiber, Ink Meets Paper, Rocket Ink, Moxie House Paper Goods, Natalie Eden, Jolie Jolie Design and Kiss and Punch. It's not too late to sign-up for your holiday OliveBox! Click here to sign up!