When I took on the personal project to send Bear a card each week that he is gone (a small part of the "awesome girlfriend" repuation), I immediately turned to etsy for my papergoods. Initially I started out purchasing funny cards, then loving and slightly risque cards...After so many weeks of the traditional "picture/sentiment on the outside, sentiment/blank on the inside" cards I knew I had to step up my creativity. Thank goodness I found paperleaves, 'cause this girl was running out of ideas. Her tag line "If I had a shop in real life it would be pedal-powered gypsy caravan. But this will do for now." piqued my interest and her offerings caught my eye.
Pretty cute, eh? It came with a handmade map envelope. As soon as I spied this one, I added it to my favorites with the intention of a later purchase to send to a dear friend of mine (the manager of the band Bear is in, let's call her MM). She (yes, SHE) has been so sweet since the moment I first met my lovely bf, and I miss her friendship and amazing cooking while she is away in Turkey taking care of business (and inturn missing her wonderful husband who, like me, remains in Seattle patiently awaiting her return).
Shortly after that, while looking for "pigeon" (Bear's nickname for me) themed/related paraphenalia, I came across paperleaves' Wee Free Bird pop up card:
Holy crap - how adorable, right? And it comes with a handmade sheet music card - instantly the word "SCORE" popped into the front of my brain, surrounded by flashing lightbulbs and accompanied by big band music. When I read through to the bottom of the listing and she found "I welcome requests for any kind or color of bird!" I instantly dropped her a line to see if she could accomodate my desire for a pink pigeon. Apparently, she loves doing custom orders "knowing that something I make will be perfect for someone" and after a few days I recieved a follow up to our conversation as well as a preview of my Wee Free pink pigeon.
I practically squealed with glee.
I was even more excited once I recieved both cards and got to see them in person - I have no idea how she learned to make these pop ups, but the craftsmanship is impeccable for such small pieces. A few days later I had them both in the mail and they happened to arrive at the same time "Seattle Care Package" I had prepared for Bear's parents was hand delivered to it's recipients (thanks to MM's husband [at least one of us got to make the trip to Istanbul]). From what I hear, they were a huge hit and my "neat stuff" finding skills were deemed impressive.
So, not only is Kristen super nice to deal with, she makes fantastic (sometimes custom) stuff that I would be proud to give to any of my friends or loved ones. As a matter of fact, I've got another purchase in the works as we speak - my first ever "reserved listing" on etsy, and one that is sure to bring a smile to many faces.
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