papier fabrik

black and white roses

2012-02-11T17:09:00.000-08:00

black and white rose print. 2012

happy birthday birdies

2012-01-20T13:29:00.000-08:00

Remember this bird print?

I printed it out on kraft paper and painted some of the birds to create a fun birthday card!

personalized art!

2012-01-20T12:23:00.000-08:00

A personalized artwork for some dear friends who are recently engaged!

gouache & photoshop, 2012

new artwork & minted submissions

2012-01-02T07:52:00.000-08:00

Two new minted submissions!

"home sweet home" for the art challenge, painted in gouache

"painterly floral" for the save the date challenge, painted in watercolor

please vote for me!

new bird pattern

2011-12-18T13:50:00.000-08:00

A cute bird pattern I drew, should be fun to color!

holiday party invitation

2011-12-18T13:44:00.000-08:00

A recent invitation I created for a holiday ornament party.

Hand painted with gouache & completed in photoshop.

it’s been a while...

2011-12-17T15:13:00.000-08:00

I have not been good at keeping this little blog updated. I’ll be posting some new artwork this week though. This is a save the date I created for a new minted challenge. Check back soon for new work :)

tiny floral print

2011-10-10T06:35:00.000-07:00

Tiny Floral, Gouache 2011

new birthday card

2011-10-10T06:31:00.000-07:00

I’m loving bright neons on kraft paper at the moment.

Gouache & Dr Martens, 2011

save the date ideas

2011-09-06T12:04:00.000-07:00

I’ve been working on save the date ideas for my wedding next year.

I plan on having them giclee printed at a local fine art printer.

These are just some brainstorming ideas, I feel like the pink is a little too pink.

I’m also practicing my calligraphy with some vintage nibs I picked up,

heres hoping I’ll be skilled enough to address the envelopes!

birds pattern

2011-09-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

for the birds pattern, 2011

new free people

2011-08-14T15:53:00.000-07:00

Original print, laser cut artwork and embroidery I created for Free People.

melli & graham collab

2011-08-14T15:39:00.000-07:00

Graham and I have been collaborating on creating some cool 3D patterns.

Here’s one we created on this rainy day in Brooklyn.

What do you think?

my new business card

2011-08-02T05:17:00.000-07:00

Can you believe until recently I didn’t have a business card? I decided to make my own and had them
printed at vistaprint. I think they came out really cute!

summer lovin

2011-07-29T16:40:00.000-07:00

Not only did my boyfriend, Graham and I recently get engaged, but 4 of our dearest couple friends also got engaged this Summer! It’s the summer of LOVE :) I wanted to send them all a little Congratulations card so I painted the appropriate word and sent them on their way. Let the wedding planning begin!

Watercolor, 2011

summer wild flowers

2011-07-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

watercolor 2011

Happy New Prints!

2011-07-08T16:57:00.000-07:00

Three brand new prints I created just for fun!

These are all hand painted by me, then I scan the artwork and

create a seamless pattern in photoshop. If you are wondering how

to make a seamless pattern, check out the Pattern People e-book.

Happy Friday everyone!

watercolor & ink 2011

New Free People Print

2011-06-27T18:34:00.000-07:00

A new Free People print I created is now up for sale on the website.

This is probably one of my favorite prints I have created so far.

PS - the bralette in the last photo is my print too. I’ll post it another time :)

Watercolor, 2011

2011-05-30T06:02:00.000-07:00

Two designs I submitted for Minted’s holiday challenge. I used goauche on the first and Dr. Martin’s watercolor ink in the second. Hoping I have time to submit a couple more!

New Free People Prints

2011-05-30T05:44:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, sorry for the radio silence. I recently got a new job in NYC and moved up there 3 weeks ago, living in temporary housing (aka my parents place). My fiance and I just found a sweet apartment in Williamsburg Brooklyn, and we are super excited to move in and get settled there! Once my desk and computer are all set up, I promise to share lots more art, prints and calligraphy.

Until then, I leave you with some of my latest prints I worked on at Free People. The first two are original prints, the last one was vintage that I re-colored. Hope you like!

wise words

2011-05-04T12:32:00.001-07:00

wild rose

2011-04-29T12:55:00.000-07:00

I painted this little greeting card for a friend

who recently got married. I mixed gouache

and watercolor inks to create some custom

colors. I loved the consistency of the paint,

so I plan to experiment more with this mix.

Happy accidents are the best :)

minted.com designs

2011-04-29T12:43:00.000-07:00

Two of my original designs are now available for

purchase on minted.com. Minted really has a great

selection of unique and customizable stationery.

I am always so impressed with all

of the talented designers on there!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-22T15:14:00.000-07:00

sunnies

2011-04-22T08:23:00.000-07:00

New happy birthday illustration I painted for a dear friend.

a big thank you!

2011-04-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

I awoke this morning to find one my favorite blogs August Empress, had done a little feature on me! Thank you so much, what a fantastic surprise!

april showers bring may flowers

2011-04-19T14:02:00.000-07:00

A couple new floral prints I created.

I love this time of year, mother nature

provides the most beautiful inspiration.

Hope you are all having a lovely day!

Rosie Floral - Watercolor & Ink, 2011

Black & White Floral - Ink, 2011

Daisy Chain Floral - Watercolor & Pencil, 2011

Watercolor Floral Print

2011-04-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

Just a little something I am working on today. I hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Watercolor & Ink 2011

Free People Color & Print Room

2011-04-16T08:10:00.000-07:00

Check out this lovely video to peek inside

the Free People Color & Print room and

learn how we take our inspiration and turn it

into wearable print artwork.

Candy Stripe Floral

2011-04-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

Working on a candy stripe floral pattern today.

I still need to work on a background, but thought I

would share some work in progress images.

Watercolor & Gouache 2011

Congratulations Typography

2011-04-12T13:42:00.000-07:00

Today I’m been working on an idea I had last night. I wanted to combine my tiny watercolor floral paintings and my calligraphy togethor, to create orginal typographic artwork for cards and greetings. The bottom image with the white background is the original artwork I painted. I then scanned in the painting (my scanner is not the best unfortunately) and adjusted the colors in Photoshop. I think this is one idea that executed better in my mind than on paper. I’ll keep working on it, but what do you guys think?

Free People Tote Bag

2011-04-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

This tote bag is one of my favorite designs I’ve created for Free People. When you shop at a Free People store they give you one of these cute reusable totes as a shopping bag to hold your purchase. I created this bird artwork by cutting paper and scanning into Photoshop. You can find it in stores now!

Paper cut & Photoshop, 2010

Save The Date & Sullivan Owen

2011-04-03T11:03:00.001-07:00

This is a little Save the Date I painted recently. I was inspired by this beautiful arrangement created by a new florist in Philadelphia, Sullivan & Owen. Their floral designs are so dreamy and romantic, I’m in love!

Gouache, 2011

what i’ve been working on

2011-03-13T15:23:00.001-07:00

A couple projects that have been keeping me busy lately!

Free People Booty Short Packaging

2011-03-01T16:41:00.000-08:00

In a previous post I shared some initial concepts I developed for Intimately Free People panty packaging. This is my first packaging design; it was a lot of fun to create and the development process was a great learning experience. That crochet ribbon proved to be a challenge! But it all worked out in the end, and now I can share the lovely final result. Oh and the panties are super cute too!

Pattern People E-Book is Here!

2011-02-28T18:41:00.001-08:00

The Pattern People E-Book is finally here! Pattern Design & Beyond: An Insider’s Guide to Creating and Managing Your Own Surface Design Career is an excellent resource for anyone interested in learning about surface design and the industry. I am looking forward to reading the book and checking out all of the talented artists featured. My winning submission can be found on page 16 (above) and page 27.

Free People Original Print

2011-02-28T15:45:00.000-08:00

An original print I designed for this Free People romper.

February Showers Minted Submissions

2011-02-20T15:00:00.000-08:00

I haven’t submitted anything to Minted lately, so I decided to work on a couple submissions for the February Showers challenge. Designers were asked to create bridal or baby shower invitations. These are the two that I submitted. I haven’t won any challenges yet, but perhaps this will be my lucky month!

Watercolor, Gouache & Ink, 2011

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-13T16:40:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone has a lovely day with their sweetie! Graham took me to Modo Mio, the most delicious Italian restaurant in Philadelphia. If you are local and haven’t been, I highly recommend it!

Kate Spade Valentine

2011-02-09T18:20:00.001-08:00

I’m super excited to share this with all of you in blog land! Kate Spade asked me to create a valentine for their BMine digital valentine gallery! You can send a free digital valentine to all of your friends and lovers. This is the one I made, but there are so many adorable valentines to choose from!

click to check it out

Happy Valentines Day!!

scratch that

2011-02-08T15:59:00.000-08:00

My scratch sheet is the piece of paper I use to test out colors and pens before I commit to making a mark on the “real” paper. I thought this section looked particularly cool with all the paint blending and my random phrases :)

Free People Prints

2011-02-03T17:45:00.001-08:00

Thought I would share some current Free People prints (& embroideries) I worked on!

winter blooms

2011-01-28T12:57:00.000-08:00

watercolor & ink, 2011

happy birthday card

2011-01-28T12:51:00.000-08:00

watercolor & ink, 2011

elephant note cards

2011-01-23T12:37:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine asked me to create a custom personal note as a bridal shower gift. I thought it was a great idea for a bride or even bridesmaids. The recipient loves elephants, purple and blue. This was a really fun project and I like how it turned out. Maybe I’ll set up an Etsy shop offering custom stationery… all I need is a couple more hours in the day!

watercolor, acrylic ink 2010

FP Behind the Scenes

2011-01-17T19:13:00.000-08:00

I created these little prototypes as a packaging option for a 3 pack of panties. We ended up going with a different idea so I thought I would share some pretty things from the reject pile.

The new panty packaging should be in stores February, I’ll post a pic once I see the final product!

Watercolor & Photoshop, 2010

Courtesy of Free People

PS - If anyone has any tips on how to make my images larger, please do tell! I cannot seem to figure this out

pleased to meet you

2011-01-15T13:44:00.001-08:00

I made these letters for my facebook profile. You know how the new profile has the 5 photos right above your wall? It’s a perfect spot for a little greeting. I can’t take credit for this idea, the adorable and super talented Katie of Color Me Katie thought this up and I had to do my own spin on it. Her blog is filled with lovely, colorful photos and fun paper art, it’s a great read so check it out!

Gouache, 2011

Free People January Catalog

2011-01-07T14:51:00.000-08:00

Check out this beautiful video for the Free People January catalog. It makes me want to hop on a plane and visit Paris immediately! Hope you enjoy :)

The Mayweed

2011-01-04T18:53:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

I’m not really big on making resolutions, but I do like the idea of starting fresh in a new year. No big plans for 2011, but I would love to take a painting or calligraphy class, and maybe learn some new techniques.

This is a Mayweed plant… why did I paint this? Well I flipped to a random page in my botanical book and it looked like a lovely little weed. I did a little research and found she is a sister to the Chamomile plant. Anyway, the Mayweed actually has white flowers but my dinky scanner refused to cooperate so I painted them over :)

The Mayweed

Gouche, 2011

I haven’t figured out how to make the images larger, but if you click it you can see a lot more detail. Hopefully I can figure this out in 2011!

more doodles

2010-12-31T06:27:00.001-08:00

watercolor, ink 2010

happy!

2010-12-28T18:06:00.000-08:00

Today I am grateful to have a couple days off from work. My “stay-cation" plans include getting to some overdue cleaning, organizing, shopping and of course painting. Back to the day job in 2011!

watercolor, 2010

Celebrate the Season!

2010-12-23T13:34:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa

& Happy New Year!

I hope your holiday is filled with love and happiness!

watercolor & ink 2010

the weather outside is frosty

2010-12-06T18:20:00.000-08:00

I have been drawing and painting so many florals and animals lately that I forgot how much I love to draw people (especially fashionable ladies). I painted this tonight just for fun. Winter is quickly approaching and it’s time to load on the layers!

Watercolor, pencil, ink 2010

Free People & Urban Outfitters Home Office

2010-12-03T12:08:00.000-08:00

The Urban Outfitters Corporate Campus was featured on archdaily.com today. The photos above are from Free People’s new office. We moved into this gorgeous building in July. The top photo is the Color & Print room (yup that is me back left). The second photo is where we have many of our meetings. The third photo is an expansive view of the whole building. The floating URBN letters in the dock can be seen by passing airplanes!

I am so grateful to work in such a beautiful and creative environment that constantly inspires. Check out the link to see the full article and photos from all of the Urban Outfitters buildings.

http://www.archdaily.com/92989/urban-outfitters-corporate-campus-meyer-scherer-rockcastle/

garden party

2010-12-02T16:33:00.000-08:00

Watercolor and Ink, 2010

save the date - minted

2010-11-21T17:59:00.001-08:00

new save the date design for minted.com

special collaboration with designer (and boyfriend) Graham Kelman www.gk3dlab.com

pattern people design contest

2010-11-12T18:35:00.001-08:00

I am so very happy and proud to announce that I have won the Pattern People Surface Design Competition for Best Floral Design. I will be published in their e-book! I am beyond excited and grateful to be part of this wonderful collection of designers. Thank you Pattern People!

Check out their blog and website! http://www.patternpeople.com/

http://www.patternpeople.com/submission-winners/

i love to paint

2010-11-11T17:30:00.001-08:00

Painting is my favorite thing to do and I wish I could do it all day, every day.

Watercolor, acrylic ink. 2010

lovely leopard final artwork

2010-11-09T16:43:00.001-08:00

Here is the final product! This was made as a coversheet to present the line to the buying and sales team. Courtesy of Free People, 2010

Watercolor, acrylic ink & photoshop

lovely leopard

2010-11-08T17:17:00.000-08:00

Something I painted for work today, thought I would share. Click to view larger

Watercolor & acrylic ink, 2010

doodles

2010-11-07T11:26:00.001-08:00

watercolor & acrylic ink, 2010

new designs up at minted!

2010-11-01T17:53:00.001-07:00

Two of my latest designs I created for the Minted Wedding challenge. These are both watercolors. I really like that Minted helps promote indie designers, but I wish they would allow hand calligraphy. Hand done text really makes a design pop!

zoe

2010-10-24T14:46:00.000-07:00

I painted this for my dear friend Shaina’s beautiful baby Zoe.

Watercolor, ink 2010

engagement card

2010-10-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

kraft paper, acrylic ink, watercolor collage 2010

peace within me

2010-10-24T14:25:00.000-07:00

watercolors, acrylic ink and photoshop, 2010

purple print

2010-10-16T06:24:00.000-07:00

Watercolor, acrylic ink, pen

October 2010

a page from my sketchbook

2010-10-16T06:19:00.000-07:00

Pencil, May 2010

botanical painting

2010-10-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been enjoying painting on scraps of kraft paper. I painted this one for a friends birthday. Acrylic ink on Kraft, October 2010

lacey butterfly

2010-09-29T17:31:00.001-07:00

dottie print

2010-09-29T17:07:00.000-07:00

I made this fun print last night. It might be cute for children’s wear or stationary? Click the image to see it at full scale.

dripping petals

2010-09-29T17:04:00.001-07:00

Gorgeous image from an art magazine circa 2009, sorry I can’t remember the name. Amazing colors!

monogram mania

2010-09-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been painting monograms for weddings and personal stationery. I like using watercolors to give them a handmade touch. Let me know if you would like your own hand painted monogram!

minted

2010-09-22T17:57:00.001-07:00

I recently joined minted.com, and submitted 4 entries for their personal stationery challenge. Minted is a great website, where designers participate in challenges creating a variety of paper goods. The public then votes on their favorites, and the winners become available for purchase. Winners also receive a prize amount and commission!

You can see all of my submissions here http://www.minted.com/designer/mae

Watercolor Paisley

2010-09-22T17:55:00.001-07:00

A recent print I created using watercolors. Please note all of my work is copyrighted.

3D Elephants

2010-09-22T17:43:00.001-07:00

Notice a common theme here? I love animals! Drawing them, painting them - even 3D rendering them! This one was a collaboration between my talented boyfriend, Graham, and myself. I created the pattern, and he did the 3D magic. Hopefully many more collaborations to come!

Graham’s website www.gk3dlab.com

Check it out to see amazing architecture, art and design!

Free People

2010-09-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

This is my first print I worked on at Free People. I started with a vintage print, created a layout and re-worked the colors. It is so exciting to see something I worked on online, and I can't wait to see more. And the reviews gave this tunic 5 stars!

http://www.freepeople.com/clothes-all-tops/short-sleeve-printed-bodycon-tunic/

Papier Fabrik

2010-09-20T17:10:00.000-07:00

So you might be wondering what is Papier Fabrik? It was the name of my great grandfather's paper business in Germany! I think it translates to paper factory. But being that I am a textile and paper goods designer - I thought it was quite fitting for me :)

Z is for Zebra

2010-09-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

I also painted this with my new inks. I love zebras, they are magical creatures.

Watercolor Butterflies

2010-09-20T17:03:00.000-07:00

I recently bought a set of Dr. Marten's inks and I am kind of obsessed with them. The colors are so vibrant. I painted this a couple weeks ago, scanned it in and had fun with photoshop.