It's All In The Display

I can't believe that October is almost here. That means Fall is close, but more importantly it means Fancy Designs will be backstage at the 64th Annual Country Music Awards. I can barely contain my excitement, especially after taking a peak at this years nominee list. Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Lee Brice, Brantley Gilbert, Little Big Town, Zac Brown Band...OH MY! I thought long and hard about what would be the perfect item for me to display backstage and what better to display at a music awards event than a speaker? A custom speaker with distressed leather and parchment elements! What do you think?

Funny How a Melody Sounds Like a Memory

Nothing like a little Eric Church to get me into the mood for the 46th Annual Country Music Awards!

We'll have a fabulous country/western themed notecard set going into 85 celebrity swag bags as well as 35 swag bags that will be received by various members of the press. We'll also have something very special on display for celebrities to pose with (but that's for another day!) I'd like to introduce you all to the designs I've cooked up (and brought back) for this fantastic event.

Firstly, our Rustic Lace Notecards. These are very near and dear to my heart. They are modeled after the invitations I designed for our April 2013 wedding! Very light and elegant! Perfect for sending love notes to that special someone.

Our Divine Bovine collection is making a comeback for this event!

Another favorite of mine, our Rustic Parchment Notecards. I love the textures on it!

and lastly, our Western Skulls Notecards, that were inspired by my fiance, the bullrider.

46th Annual Country Music Awards

We are so excited to announce our participation in the 46th Annual Country Music Awards thanks to our association with The Artisan Group. If you've been following my blog, you may remember our participation in GBK's Emmy Awards Gift Lounge. It's a very exciting process and I cannot wait to share with you what we have in store for the country music icons backstage at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee!

I Didn't StUTTER

Shortly after getting the opportunity to gift one of my all-time favorites, an opportunity to gift Trista Sutter came up. Yes, Trista Sutter, from The Bachelorette (the gorgeous gal who snagged up her hunky fire fighter.)

I immediately started thinking romantic, elegant, and sweet for her design, and our Romantic Rose line was born! The design was printed on metallic champagne paper to give it an even classier quality.

This Is No sTori

It's been a while! I'm so happy to be settling back into my blog. A big thanks goes to Sprout Web Creations for helping me get it all up and running!

In the time we've been away we've had some pretty big changes, amazing opportunities, and great news come to Fancy Designs! (All in due time!) For starters The Artisan Group had an amazing opportunity to gift, non other than one of my all-time favorite people, Donna Martin Tori Spelling! The fashion & craft icon herself.

I decided to go with a sleek chevron pattern in a kelly green tone as the theme for Tori, adding a chandelier embellishment to her note card set. We also included a matching iPhone 4 case.

Be sure to check out our Tori Collection here.

The End Is Sweet

A year ago if you had asked me if I thought my silly little business would become successful, I would have told you probably not. Had you asked me if I thought my products would make it into the hands of celebrities at a celebrity gifting suite hosted by GBK Productions, I would have thought you were crazy. It's amazing what a little hard work, determination, and a can do attitude can get you. Of course, I didn't accomplish any of this all by myself. If it wasn't for Valerie Guerrero, Nikki Cutro, The Artisan Group & Gavin B. Keilly, none of this would have been possible. If my business flopped tomorrow, I'd be the happiest person because this year has been one of the craziest, busiest and most nerve wracking of my entire life. Every paper cut and freak out was well worth it.


(The extremely handsome Wes Ramsey from The Playboy Club and the very funny Zach Woods from The Office with our iPhone 4 case.)

I have so many plans for the future of Fancy Designs and myself and I wouldn't be making these plans without the support of such an amazing organization and such terrific members.

Be sure to check out the rest of the pictures from the terrific event here!

Hello Emmy's

Our stuff is off to the Emmy's this week. I've been so nervous and excited, which hasn't helped with the other stresses in my life. I'm a little relieved that it's here, sad to see it go and hoping for the best! After seeing everything that has gone into our swag bag, that will go to the press, that will be displayed on our table, I know it's going to be a hit. The swag is pretty amazing!

Here's a little sneak peak at the Emmy's Event Guide!







Did you know The Artisan Group has an official Gift Guide? Check it out! Perfect for the holidays that are right around the corner!

GBK's 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards Gift Lounge

It's so hard to believe that it's already August. It's even harder to believe that September is right around the corner and with that brings the Emmy Awards Gift Lounge. I've been so excited up until now. I started packing all my bags and my display piece up to send off to California and it struck me just how real this is. It's 46 days away! Seeing the amazing nominee list had butterflies in my stomach (what if some amazing actress like Melissa McCarthy or Betty White likes my stationery or some stud like Hugh Laurie or Timothy Olyphant just looks at them for a slit second before tossing them out...) BIG butterflies!

Sadly I can say, without a doubt, that none of us will be heartbroken to get these bags out of the house. Marie and Martini will be very happy to not be banned from any room that I happen to be storing them in and Will is going to be happy that I'm not constantly cursing because I'm tediously pinning Fancy Designs pins onto bags.



I can't say enough how thankful I am for The Artisan Group. Thank you so much Valerie and Nikki for having faith in me. And of course, thanks to GBK Productions and their amazing gift lounges! Without them none of this would be possible!

Cute As a Button

When I was brainstorming how I planned to package my stationery for the Emmy Awards, I knew I wanted to add something to the organza bags. I thought about some really over the top bows, but I changed my mind. I didn't want it to be too much and I decided against having to make 110 bows (why give myself more work?) Then I thought about how cute a little button would be on the bags! I found a few places but they had crazy prices and refused to make the extra 10 I needed, they would only do 200. I really had no need for that many. Then I found Button Arcade on Etsy. Not only were their prices amazing but they were super friendly and were willing to do 110!

How cute are they?

Getting My Swag On

Preparing for the 2011 Emmy's has been a bit of a battle. It seems like no matter how many lists or charts I make, I find myself forgetting something or not accounting for something. With that said, I have to admit that this is stressful but TERRIFIC all at the same time. I recently discovered that I failed to account for the fact that I needed 550 envelopes...how does someone forget that? At the same time, we received amazing news that our products will not only be represented by The Artistan Group but we have the honor of being represented with GBK Productions.

Recently I received my clear bags that my stationery, envelopes and business cards will go into so I started the process of putting those together. We also made some improvements to our business card design and ordered some new ones and they look fabulous!

After finding out we got invited to the GBK gift lounge we also found out that one of our bags would go straight to the CEO of GBK Productions, Gavin B. Keilly. When Valerie said that it would be okay if we made something customized for him or his daughter, I think we all took advantage. I've seen some pretty amazing things being made for him, I hope he likes everything as much as I have so far!

I re-designed these note cards just for the occasion (and then regretted not ordering a set for myself.)



I couldn't be any happier with how they came out. I love the modern simplicity of the design and I hope he does too!

Exciting News: The Artisan Group

Our products will be attending the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards Gift Lounge in Beverly Hills, California. It still seems a bit surreal but I'm very excited to get started on my gift bags and picking out a display product! I'm so blessed to have wonderful representatives like Valerie Guerrero and Nikki Cutro. Without the Artisan Group this wouldn't be possible!

What is The Artisan Group you ask? Are you familiar with those huge and lavish gifting events that take place before award shows such as The Emmy's, The Grammy's, the Golden Globes, etc? I'm sure you know what a swag bag is, if you haven't been living under a rock (we've all seen the Geico commercial, we understand.) The Artisan Group provides samples from a lovely group of artisans for the celebrities at these pre-event lounges.

Each one of the artists gets the opportunity to display one of their items on the display table so the celebrities can stop by and sneak a peek at all the goodies and hear a little bit about that artists work. Celebrities can even stop and pose for a quick picture with your display piece! How neat is that?


(Giuliana Rancic, Host of E! News, and star of "Giuliana & Bill". *with a former promotions group.)

Are you thinking this sounds too good to be true, this has to be a scam? Well if you were, I can assure you, that this is not a scam and it's the real deal. The Artisan Group was legally formed as a DBA organization. You don't have to take my word for it, you can contact the owner, Valerie Guerrero.


(Paula Abdul, formerly of American Idol. *with a former promotions group.)

Now that we have established that this is indeed legit and not a scam, are you an Artisan who would be interested in participating in events such as the ones described above? The Artisan Group is a collection of talented, supportive and unique artists, it's possibly the best group of people I've ever found myself working along side. The Artisan Group is always looking for unique, talented artisans to represent at the next major award gift lounge. Do you think you have what it takes? The group is exclusive and only the best of the best will be selected, is this you? You can find registration here.

Keep in mind, the next event is The Emmy's Gift Lounge on September 18th, 2011. Don't miss your chance to be seen :)

**Fancy Designs does not own or claim to own the images seen in this post.