Woah, I can't believe that the last and unfortunately, one and only Fun Ideas post was written five months back! Has it really been that long? Anyhow, here's a quick recap - Fun Ideas is a column space intended for easy crafty tips and tricks, as well as creative ideas for simple DIY projects that anyone can easily follow and recreate. Just like the previous craft tutorial post, I used papers from honey&gazelle's Pretty Papers Pack: Mellow Motifs and Flashy Florals for this easy-peasy envelope liners tutorial. Don't you agree that sometimes all we need is fancy papers to spruce up plain and boring envelopes? With Christmas just two months away, I have been listing down the people I would like to send a Christmas love note to. Commercially-sold envelopes are usually plain and though I like plain envelopes on most days, I adore envelopes with the prettiest liners. I am especially drawn to good quality and heavy grammage envelopes lined with fancy papers. With that said, I am glad to announce that we are working on new envelope designs and improving the paper quality at the same time. I am going to keep my fingers crossed that the entire production process will go smoothly! Complement your handwritten card or letter by adding a touch of jazz to any plain envelope with an envelope liner. An envelope liner instantly dresses up an envelope and makes the entire experience of opening up a letter or card that much more special. There are many envelope liner tutorials out there on the world wide web but I have to say that this tutorial is my favourite and go-to solution because it is probably the easiest and laziest method. Score! This tutorial is perfect for those of you who may want to line a gazillion envelopes in the shortest time possible. The toughest part of this tutorial is possibly choosing which Pretty Paper to use. As you may know, each of our Pretty Paper Pack consists of eight sheets of four double-sided designs, so that essentially means that you have eight different designs to choose from. Just imagine how beautiful your envelopes will look after you line them with the prettiest papers yet! Do-It-Yourself: Easy Envelope Liners Step 1- Trace an envelope with its flap open against a Pretty Paper of your choice and then proceed to cut it out. Step 2- Measure approximately 1/2" from the bottom of the liner. Trim it away. This excess is not needed. Step 3- Slot the liner into the envelope, then align it to the center of the envelope. Step 4- Glue down the liner to the envelope with a glue stick or double-sided sticky tape. Liquid glue tends to create a soggy mess on both the envelope and the liner, so I would usually avoid using it when working with paper. And, you are done. This tutorial works for any type of envelopes, so just pick up an envelope and a patterned paper of choice and give it a go! Oh, how I love the look of lined envelopes!
- Did I convince you to line your envelopes for Christmas? If so, I think it's about time to get started! :) Have fun! xMin
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It has been a while since the last update and round-up on all our new releases, so let's get right into it! We have been busy and there are many exciting new launches on our webstore! Wordsearch Postcard Set - The Third Collection We are super psyched to finally launch the third installation of honey&gazelle's bestselling range of puzzle postcards! Being wordsearch puzzle geeks ourselves, we have been absolutely thrilled at the positive response towards the Wordsearch Postcards. Do you know that the first collection of Wordsearch Postcards was introduced in July last year? Wordsearch Postcards are without doubt, one of our favourite products in our retail line and I always get a buzz of excitement whenever I am designing a new collection. The third installation features brand new puzzles with accompanying illustrations in the following themes: Warning: Hot!, Childhood Games, Languages, and Sweets for my Sweet. Watercolour Memo Card Pack The Watercolour Memo Card Pack is a totally new addition to our retail range. When Min and I were young, we often bought boxes and boxes of memo cards that were often adorned with super cute Japanese illustrations. We would then use these memo cards as little greeting cards for birthday presents, petite cards for regular messages to friends, note cards to jot down highly important study notes, and strangely enough, bookmarks. Similarly, these watercolour memo cards are versatile blank cards for you to use however you wish. We love how dreamy the splashes of watercolour turned out! These cards are printed on premium recycled matte stock and can handle many types of markers and inks without leakage. This means that you would be able to use and write on the front AND back of the cards without the fear of ink seeping through to the other side. We love the memo cards so much that we have made them a permanent addition to the honey&gazelle retail line! We will introduce various styles and designs in future, so do keep a lookout for new memo card releases if you like them as much as we do! New arrivals of single greeting cards Last but not least, we have been consistently updating our range of single (individual) greeting cards on a biweekly basis. The below images reveal some of the new designs that are available for purchase! Please remember that all single greeting cards are produced in a very limited quantity, so if you like a particular design, we would definitely recommend that you pick up it up fast! -
Do you have any product suggestions for us? Tell us what you'd like to see us produce next! <3 Jia. Sunday Stickies is a column where we reflect on the past week and pen those thoughts down on sticky pads. Expect notes to ourselves and others, advice, reminders for the week ahead, quotes, and anything random actually. Gosh, what a week in the studio. Now that we are firmly planted in October, the panic level in the office is high. Projects, products, and panic. As Jia remains resolutely at her desk buried deep in illustrations and design, Min spent her week navigating the often murky waters of new supplier negotiations. Finding and trusting a new supplier is always a tricky thing and more often that not, we get it right. Well, not this week. Right smack in the middle of our studio now are boxes and boxes of papers and envelopes. The boxes are just chilling there because… they got our order wrong. Sigh! Here’s to tying up our resolution in a nice big bow! Min: I have never made a scrapbook before. It shouldn’t be a difficult task since it’s all about layering different papers, pictures and overlaying the papers with more embellishments and stickers, right? Well, that was what I thought. So scrapbooking turns out to be a really tedious process and it’s not something I am jolly good at but Jia and I definitely winged it. We gave it to one of our best friends, who will be getting married in a weeks’ time and she absolutely loved it! Even though my body is aching from the barre class we had together, my heart is still swelling with love and happiness as we spent a girly day out with her. We have been friends since we kids and to know that she has found her true love and will soon be married to her best friend, makes me overly joyous and excited. I can’t wait for the wedding ceremony, where Jia and I will be decked out in Punjabi suits. Ah, can’t wait, can’t wait! Jia: If there was a scale of 1-10 with 1 being devoid of sentiments and 10 being overwhelmingly sentimental, I think I would be a 3. I have no qualms throwing away old letters, tickets, and other keepsakes in the name of spring-cleaning, which is the reason why I have never done a scrapbook in my entire life. So, imagine my surprise when Min and I managed to produce a pretty decent scrapbook as a gift for one of our dearest friend’s hen’s night, and she loved it!
T’was a great heartwarming yet hilarious night of girly bonding, funny and ballsy dares featuring many sporting guys and Backstreet Boys, and hours of reminiscing our good times with the bride-to-be. And now, we head towards the Chinese-Indian wedding of the year! Can’t wait for the upcoming Sunday! - Do you have any good tips and tricks to scrapbooking? With Love, Min+Jia. Kyushu is located in the southwest of Japan and is best known for its active volcanoes, sandy beaches and natural hot springs. If you are planning to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life, Kyushu is the place for you. We flew to Kagoshima, the southern tip of Kyushu and drove clockwise towards Kumamoto and Fukuoka and then back down to Kagoshima. We drove approximately 1000km in 10 days! It was quite an experience. My boyfriend and I love long road trips as it reminds us of fond memories when we were in the USA. Our holidays usually include long scenic drives outside the city! We packed our trekking gear for this trip because we were eager to scale some mountains and volcanoes. Unfortunately, we did not manage to trek up any volcano because of a recent eruption and earthquake. So we drove around and took plenty of pictures instead. Kyushu in the summertime is filled with lush greenery and clear blue skies. A local told me that summer weather gets better in September because the humidity is lower! Explore // Trekking up active volcanoes This would have been the highlight of the trip, if not for the recent earthquake. There are many volcanoes and mountains in Kyushu, so put on your hiking shoes and climb away. The largest active volcano as well as the most prominent one is Mount Aso, located in the Kumamoto Prefecture. It is said that the central crater group of Mount Aso includes five different peaks - Mount Taka, Mount Naka, Mount Eboshi, Mount Kijima and Mount Neko. I can only imagine trekking up all five different peaks. What a majestic volcano! Be reminded to check the volcano's main website and daily weather forecasts if you are planning to hike around the area. Since these are active volcanoes, expect occasional eruptions and entry restrictions due to the emission of toxic volcanic gases. Safety first! Do // Indulge in natural hot springs Kyushu is home to many natural hot springs, or also known as onsen in Japanese. You will find many hot springs as you travel around Kyushu, but the city of Beppu in Ōita Prefecture, Northeast of Kyushu, is probably the king of hot springs. If stripping down to your birthday suit while dipping in hot water with strangers is not quite your thing, you would be pleased to know that Kyushu has many public hot spring foot bath areas as well. Foot baths are perfect for relaxing aching calf muscles after a long hike or long hours of shopping. During my trip, I overcame my fear of public nudity and visited different hot springs everyday. I came home with softer and fairer skin! Woohoo! Though the effects did not last very long, I am still fairly amazed at the wonders of natural hot spring water. To be honest, I was very hesitant to bare it all at a hot spring, but trust me when I say that the pros outweigh the cons. No one is going to remember you anyway! The hot water will surely melt away every bit of anxiety, stress and fear. Though I did not visit Yakushima Onsen, I did try the volcano sand bath at Ibusuki Onsen! The idea of being buried in hot volcano sand sounded extremely daunting at first, but I really just went with the flow. We were told to quickly remove our slippers and lie still on hot sand while the staff piled on heaps of hot volcano sand. I laid still for a total of 15 minutes, the recommended time, and I was completely soaked in perspiration when I came out. Goodbye toxins! I highly recommend pairing the sand bath with a good soak in the onsen. Ah, life is good... See // Spend a day with flowers at Nokonoshima Island Park Located off Fukuoka, Nokonoshima Island offers a quiet respite, ideal for a day of tranquil getaway. The garden was almost empty by the time we got there at 3pm. Most tourists have gone back to the city and we had the garden to ourselves. It is true that Spring may be the perfect season to visit the garden, but we still saw a variety of blooming flowers to admire and take a selfie with in early September. Nokonoshima Island Park offers many quiet and serene picnic spots and I wished I brought along some snacks and a mat. Besides from admiring the lush greenery and sea of flowers that the garden offers, we spent our afternoon lazing on wooden swings, chasing fluffy rabbits, talking about life and watching ferries create big waves in the ocean. This could possibly be one of my favourite dates! :) Eat // Sumptuous Japanese Breakfasts What is a trip to Japan without big and hearty breakfasts? On most days, I was stuffed to the brim like a turkey at Thanksgiving dinner. But hey, I am not complaining. I love big, sumptuous breakfasts! The variety of each breakfast never fails to amaze me every morning and I was thinking of Totto-chan the whole time. If you are familiar with the book, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window, you will know that her mum would pack her lunch with "something from the ocean and something from the hills". On the first day, I spent an hour in and out of the onsen and I came out hungry and I looked almost like a dehydrated plum. Note to self and everyone else - always hydrate before and after going to a hot spring! Thankfully, there was a food stall near the onsen and I ordered a bowl of cold somen. Oh, believe me when I say that the somen was the best tasting thing in the whole wide world. I kid you not! Thank you, Kyushu, for being such a dream. I'll be back in December!
- What do you think of natural hot springs? Yay or Nay? Tell me all about it! xMin Some time back in June, we were approached by the Sample Store to design a range of limited edition postcards for the company's Giftopia Movement campaign. Concerned about the daily addiction to technology and the weakening emphasis on real-life relationship building amongst loved ones, the company wanted to release attractive and fun postcards to encourage communication, the postal-way. And, that's where we came in! honey&gazelle Design Studio designed 18 postcards that were split into sets of threes. We also created an overarching hidden message that would be revealed upon the collection of all the postcards. There is a total of eight sets of postcards to be collected - six sets designed by us and an additional two sets of postcards created by the Sample Store. Simply arrange the postcards in a gorgeous rainbow gradient and with a little bit of brains and hard work, the message will be revealed! We were so thrilled with the designs of the postcards and have been waiting with bated breaths to get the go-ahead from the company to make the announcement. All six sets have finally been manufactured and released by the Sample Store! To our delight, Sample Store produced postcards with pre-paid local (Singapore) postage. How fancy, huh? All you really need to do is write and post! There is absolutely no need to find a stamp to lick and paste. Haha, gotta hate the taste of glue, right? We rarely share about the corporate and studio projects that we work on. So, we thought it would be nice to reveal one project and see if you enjoy reading about our studio work on our blog! Keep reading to find out more about the different concepts of the postcard sets, and if you are bored, don't worry, regular blogging will resume after this post :) (Above) The Love Set This should look pretty familiar, right? Yes, based on our bestselling Say It With Words Greeting Cards, the Love series is a throwback to the good old days of expressing your love with words because everyone loves receiving snail mail straight from the heart! The Love series features our signature artful concoctions of smooth washes of watercolours and delicate illustrations mixed with dainty script to exude the scent of dreamy-eyed tenderness and romance. (Top L) The Reconnecting Set How often have you reminisced about the good times with someone whom you have lost touch with? It is, sadly, a pretty common occurrence as people grow up, embark on different paths in life, and do their best to survive in a competitive hectic world. The Reconnecting series is a lighthearted and simple way to spark new conversations with your old friends. If you have been meaning to rekindle old ties and reconnect with the people you miss, this postcard series is perfect for it! (Top R) The Happy Set Yay, also based on our bestselling Say It With Words Greeting Cards, the Happy series is all about the vibrant strips of watercolours with fun and uplifting hand-written quotes. Share sheer positivity and cheer with these postcards because any surprise snail mail with encouraging words will definitely brighten up someone’s day! (Bottom) The I Spy Set Yep, we produced a special edition of our favourite I Spy puzzle postcards for the Sample Store. This set of I Spy postcards feature letter-writing related illustrations in fresh and cheerful colours. Search for that one unique illustration within the artwork; there is just one that stands alone from the rest! (Top L) The I Jio You Set
‘I Jio You’ is a popular Singlish phrase used by many when asking their friends out for a gathering. As creators of paper with personality, our take on the classic lingo is one of restrained boldness and tongue-in-cheek simplicity. With this series of I Jio You postcards, your friends will now have no reason to say “eh, you bo jio!” once they receive a handwritten invitation from you. How’s that for some understated classiness with Singlish? (Top R) The Motivation Set Last but not least, the Motivational postcard series is an adaptation of our motivational art prints. The postcard series features gorgeous and bold watercolour backgrounds with hand-brushed original quotes that aim to lift you out of the dark abyss. Pass this on to a friend who needs some comfort and encouragement as a way to show that you care. These postcards are only available for purchase at the Sample Store website, so if you are interested, just head on over to their website for more details! - Did any of the postcard sets catch your eye? Tell us which set is your favourite and if we should continue to post highlights from our studio work! With Love, Min+Jia. |
Min+JiaThe humans behind honey&gazelle Design Studio. When we are not frantically working, we share our mishmash of thoughts on design, life, and love here. Grab a cuppa and stay for a bit! Categories
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