Hi everyone,

I am sure you have noticed that I have been posting sporadically at best over the past few months. Life with a little one is so hectic!

Purple Lemon Baby - 7 weeks

I wanted to let you all know that blogging has and will continue to be on the back burner for me as I enjoy watching my little girl grow. Right now it is the best thing for her and for me if I focus my free time on her.

I am not permanently going away, but I will be taking a long hiatus from blogging. I hope to be back in a couple of years, once little Purple Lemon Baby gets a bit bigger.

I have been feeling uninspired when it comes to content for my blog. We all go through these times and I am sure I will come into my renaissance one day. When I do, I will be back, I promise!

Now, just in case you aren’t a Crosby, Stills and Nash fan, you are probably wondering where the title of the post came from…So, I will share THE “Just a Song Before I Go” and I hope you enjoyed another picture of sweet Purple Lemon Baby :)

I do post pretty regularly on Facebook now…It has really turned into my new blog. You can follow me at http://www.facebook.com/purplelemondesigns. See you there!

Well, (insert drumroll here) Purple Lemon Baby is here! She is so sweet and, as a proud momma, I just had to share a picture of her :)

I think she is the cutest and prettiest baby ever, but I might be a little biased. She is very petite, but doing great.

I love her!

Hi everyone! I know that I have been pretty scarce lately (I am still waiting on the birth of Baby Girl Rinehart!), but I have been doing a little guest blogging today.

Before I fill you in on my guest post, I thought I might update you on Baby Watch 2011. Baby Girl Rinehart is due this Saturday, January 22. I have been working hard with the help of family and friends to get her room ready. I will be sharing pics of it soon. I have been having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions, but nothing regular. I am progressing according to my doctor, but she has decided not to grace us with her presence. We are hoping to meet her any day now!

Now back to the guest blogging…Check out my post over at Outblush. I have been purchasing little pretties for the baby’s room, and I am highlighting one of them today on this fabulous shopping blog. Join me, won’t you?

Hi everyone! I wanted to take a second to give a past customer, Gina from The Shabby Chic Cottage on Etsy, a shout out. She is today’s “Quit Your Day Job” Series featured business. Congrats Gina!

Read the article on the Etsy blog.

It was nice to even see a little piece of Purple Lemon Designs in the article…If you look at one of the very last pictures, you will see a stamp imprint that I designed for The Shabby Chic Cottage. For great Shabby Chic items, jump on over to Gina’s shop…She has beautiful pieces!

Hi all you lovely lemonheads :) I have been missing you all so very much. I hope you are all doing well. I am good, just super busy with holiday orders and putting on the local Christmas parade (It is Saturday if anyone locally in Corinth, MS is reading this – come on down for the fun! :)

I did want to give you one pretty important reminder. If you are wanting to include some Purple Lemon goodness for anyone on your Christmas list this year, please make sure to place your order for custom stamps or stationery by this Saturday, December 4th (applicable to US orders only).

Spiral Address Stamp by Purple Lemon Designs

If you are reading this and you have missed the deadline, never fear! I do have a gift option if you would like to order a stamp that might not arrive in time for Christmas. I create a pretty sheet you can print out and wrap up for giving on Christmas. It includes what the stamp imprint will look like, what my stamps look like (in general) and includes a note about their stamp being on the way. Then, I can either ship the stamp to you or to the recipient.

Hand Stamped Journal by Purple Lemon Designs

I also have Bible/prayer journals and pre-packaged stationery that are ready to ship, so never fear, you can get some type of Purple Lemon goodies for the peeps on your list. Gift Certificates are also fabulous options that I can email to you within a few hours. If you have questions about any of these options, please don’t hesitate to email me at kelly {at} purplelemondesigns.com.

Happy Christmas to you!

Hi everyone! I promise I haven’t fallen off of the face of the earth :) I have been super busy getting my new Christmas line together…Yay! I have also been doing “baby stuff” like planning my nursery, ordering furniture for it and such and so forth. More on that later. Now I would like to share a little about my new Christmas Collection…Are you up for it?

Here are a few of my favorite stamp designs:

I love the imperfect nature of this stamp.

Hand Drawn Christmas Ornament Address Stamp

This stamp comes in a round version as well as rectangle…

Flourishes Christmas Tree Address Stamp

How about Christmas cards…Have your ordered yours yet?

Check out these:

Starry Snowflake Christmas Card

Bows are so popular this season…I think this one is super fun.

Ribbons and Bows Christmas Card

Squee! I think this is my favorite!

Scrolls and Ribbons Christmas Card

I have tons more stamps and cards available in my Christmas collection…You can check them out in my Etsy shop.

You can check out my Christmas Stamp Collection here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/purplelemondesigns?section_id=7478716

My Christmas Cards are located here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/purplelemondesigns?section_id=7375529

Thanks for looking!

I just love Pantone…Don’t you? Well, it is here; the new Pantone color report for Spring 2011. I know it is not even Christmas 2010 yet, but I love to know what is going on in the world of color.

To view it and download it, visit the Pantone website. It has gorgeous sketches and colors for spring. They are beautiful bright colors mixed with subtle hues…Check it out; it is Beautiful!

I hope you are all having a great week. I know I am!

I wanted to share a little something with you via Jordan at Handmade Success. She has been so gracious to share a “Holiday Marketing Planner” on her blog. It gives you lots of things to think about and places to jot notes about your advertising plan, PR plan, and everything else you need to make a great successful holiday campaign. So, just pop on over to her blog and download this very helpful planner. It will be a big help to get organized for the holiday rush!

Hey y’all! I wanted to let you know that I will be MIA this week and next week, because I am blasting through Christmas designs…Holla!

So, meet me back here on Tuesday, September 14th, K? See you then!

Hello lovelies! I am having a great day. How about you?

Today I am focusing on what I need to start doing to get Purple Lemon Designs ready for the holiday rush…I know, I know it is only August, why I am I starting to think of it so early? This is the time to fit in getting all of your materials ready, so you can get those items shipped to your lovely customers during the craziness we know as the holiday season.

So, what are those things that are essential to packaging and shipping your items to your customers? Extra bags, ribbon, business cards, item cards, thank you cards, tags, etc, etc…The list goes on and on. So, make that list now!

One item that is on my list that takes loads of time is stamping my shipping envelopes. I stamp each envelope with my address stamp as well as a thank you for your order stamp, so doing that over 500 times can be quite time consuming.

I just placed an order for extra bags for my stamps, extra info cards I slip into each stamp package, extra ribbons to pretty the packages up, extra business cards, extra thank you cards…really think through each step and each piece that goes into making your products special.

A big time consumer for me is to stamp the tags I use to brand my packages. I stick two stickers on each metal tag, one on the front and one on the back. Lots of work, but definitely worth it.

This is also a great time to work on your photographs and listings in your shop.

So what are you doing to get your shop ready for the holiday rush?