design

Laurie Louis Designs — Southern Social Stationary and Gifts

August 21, 2017 by Lisa Leave a Comment

Laurie Louis, owner of Laurie Louis Designs a custom paper and goods company located in Indian Land, South Carolina, is a stationery designer who leans on Southern style to create universal designs for every taste. Laurie started her design business and after a long career at ESPN and has made it her full-time job. While her initial work was for the wedding industry, her business has grown to a lifestyle brand and includes nautical, beach and classic themes.

While her initial work was for the wedding industry, her business has grown to a lifestyle brand and includes nautical, beach and classic themes. Laurie’s website sells a combination of paper goods and custom gifts online and Laurie Louis Designs will be branching out into specialty boutiques in 2018.

Growing up, when Laurie’s mom and her friends hosted an event, they made sure that everything matched from the invitations to the table cloths and napkins. Today, she’s carrying on that tradition and helping others create magical events starting with custom stationary to match their theme from beginning to end. I recently attended an intimate dinner party Laurie hosted to showcase her work and discuss her design style. This dinner party was no exception to her entertaining rule — red tablecloths, blue lanterns to light our meals accented with beautiful yellow sunflowers and catering from local company H&M.

Each design is carefully thought out, with Laurie handling all of the design work and the majority of her printing. If there are items she can’t personally produce out of her design studio, she uses a trusted small printing business in Alabama to handle her client orders, knowing they have the same expectations regarding quality and customer satisfaction.

I asked Laurie if she worked with thermal and letterpress stationery and she told me she’d love to branch out in the future, but she has to test and work with everything until it meets her high standards for craftsmanship.

As my son heads into his senior year of high school, I’m already in the planning stages for his graduation party. I’ll be planning on designing custom invitations and gifts with Laurie to fete him before he flies the nest for college.

Disclosure: I attended an event for Laurie Louis Designs and was given a small gift as a dinner guest.

Blank Wall Project — Part 2

May 18, 2016 by Lisa Leave a Comment

My husband and I sat down over the weekend to discuss our plans for decorating our house. What I have is essentially a blank canvas — all white walls that are 10 feet in height. After listening to some podcasts, and laughing ourselves silly over the suggested budgets, we realized that any collection, whether from an artist or box store, we’ll hang what we like. We’re the ones who have to live with what we have hanging on our walls and that is what is most important.

I’ve been combing the internet, hitting up thrift stores (there are amazing gems found in them!) and walking the aisles trying to figure out what I want to see. As I shared in my previous post on walls, we’re looking to add bold color, but we have to love it. I have a small collection of Haitian art and metalwork, so the colors will blend and harmonize.

I want to add this piece titled “End of Summer” to my kitchen. The end of summer signals the start of a change — school starts back, the days grow shorter, and we start preparing for winter. My end of summer always culminates with me gleaning the last of the tomatoes for canning n

My husband is from the Washington, DC, area and this would be a great addition so we can pay homage to his hometown.

Of course, this beautiful photo print would have to go in my bedroom.

There’s certainly a lot to think about in this process. Designing a home that represents our tastes (which can be wildly different) is proving to be a big challenge. My husband is going to read this post and say “Lisa, you’re overthinking it.” I’d rather overthink it than it be something we both can’t live with together.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Blank Wall Project — Part 1

April 30, 2016 by Lisa Leave a Comment

When we bought our house, we left the walls and ceilings white. Our reasoning behind this is so we can play with color throughout our home. Our decor is an eclectic blend featuring my husband’s love of clean, modern design, while paying homage to my southern roots. As such, the walls are an empty canvas right now, which has started my blank wall project. It’s time that I start looking for, or creating pieces that I’ll love and use in my home.

These are a few I have my eye on — bold statement pieces featuring bright colors, powerful imagery, and a touch of whimsy, is what drew me to them.

Home Decor — Blank Wall Project #1 by dailypinch featuring paint brushes

West Elm pop art / Canvas painting, $345 / NOVICA paint brush / Inspirational wall art

May Designs — Pretty. Simple.

September 22, 2014 by Lisa Leave a Comment

If you’ve followed me here for any length of time, you’ll know I’m very picky about the paper I write on. But Lisa,you’re a blogger? Yes, I am. But I also write a great deal offline in various sundry notebooks, as well as keep a paper planner. May Designssent me a sample knowing I couldn’t resist the allure of pretty notebooks and quality paper.

Mica May started May Designs because she was tired of ugly notebooks. I just want to tell her “We all are, girl. We all are.” As a self-proclaimed font freak with a Pantone crush, she knew what she had to do. About a year after college, she launched a boutique graphic design firm. Clients of her design firm took notice of the stylish notebooks she always carried and May Designs was born.

Don’t you love these new Watercolor designs below?

If you want to personalize cards, notebooks, stationary, or gift cards with Mica’s gorgeous designs, you’ll find the most difficult part of the process is selecting from the gorgeous designs. I’ve created a few to share here, but again, the true test of the product is to have it in your hands. May Designs uses top quality paper that is going to work with any pen or pencil in your arsenal.

Disclosure: I was sent a notebook from May Designs some months ago. That one has been filled to the brim and I’ve bought quite a few more since that time and see many more in my future.

Add a Pop of Color to Your Decor

January 7, 2014 by Lisa Leave a Comment

Over at Houzz this month, I’m chasing away the winter blahs and looking to add a pop of color my decor, while staying on a budget. Never an easy task. By focusing on colors I love, and am crushing on, I’ve found items for every room that will add that little something that pulls things together and perks me up as I wait for spring.

Guest Picks: Add a pop of color to your decor

Kitchen designs, bathroom designs, and more ∨Use the help of top home decorators to select matching nightstands and new lamp shades for your own bedroom design.
Find shelving, customizable closet systems and stylish home furniture to whip your closet into shape.

Laurie Louis Designs — Southern Social Stationary and Gifts

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Blank Wall Project — Part 2

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Blank Wall Project — Part 1

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May Designs — Pretty. Simple.

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Add a Pop of Color to Your Decor

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