full of flavor...

I love mixing and matching vibrant colors and rich textures together. Most of my pieces have multiple layers of various materials. Some of the combinations include items such as brightly stained wood, ribbon, handmade paper, glass, vellum, trim and metal.

Surrounding myself with yummy colors and textures always gets my creative juices flowing

When I create a new design, I shuffle through all of my shelves of handmade paper, ribbon and trim looking to make that perfect color combination. Once I find a match that suits my fancy I begin to select various findings to add to the design. The studio has many drawers and containers filled lots of findings such as buttons, charms, fabric, yarn, glass pebbles, tags, stamps, nuts, bolts, game pieces, ticket stubs, beads, wire and dictionary definitions (just to name a few).

Paper, bright handmade patterned Indian papers are my favorites.	Organdy, velvet, iridescent, grosgrain... I love all ribbons
I have many collections of findings in all shapes, sizes, colors and textures

After I select my favorite findings, I use them to spell out a word or quote. This "ransom note" style is one of a.i. paper design's signature looks. Adding the findings is an important part of the design because they create another layer of texture while the word or quote gives the piece special meaning.

I named this product line "ransom quotes" because of the word styling	This word styling is used on a lot of my designs, like this recipe stand
I always get excited when I put everything together to complete a design. I'll never tire of using all of the delicious colors and textures the world has to offer. It's what makes my pieces come to life.

anything but ordinary...

I love clever and unique designs. One of my ongoing challenges is to take everyday items and look at them in a different light.

One of my original and still very popular concepts is my ribbon frame. I wanted to affix a photo on the front of a frame instead of from behind. I started playing around with drilling holes and using different hardware pieces. Eventually I came up with a nut and bolt system that effectively held a photo and a piece of glass to the front of the frame. After that, I added handmade papers, ribbons, stamped words and findings and the first ribbon frame was born. Since then, I have designed a variety of other frames that hold photos with thin ribbons and magnets as well.

The original ribbon frame is still one of our most popular designs

Thin pieces of ribbon hold the photo in place on our posy frames

An adorned bulldog clip holds the photo on this pampered pet frame.

Some of my more recent designs have many creative functions. The calendar keeper houses twelve monthly calendar sheets which simply are attached with two adorned paper fasteners. There is also a strong clip to hold your mail or coupons and a spot for a pencil and post it pad. The mirror message home holds a replaceable 5x7 legal pad and pencil. You can also place your keys on the hooks and showcase a photo or keep your bills together with the bulldog clip.

This stylish design helps you keep your dates straight, bills organized and notes in place.	Memo message boards are all about practical functionality mixed with hip artistic style.
I thrive on thinking up new ideas. A lot of them are simple concepts, but they keep my designs fresh, different and set a.i. paper design apart from the rest.