We're revisiting Letters from Lana and its goals. Come back soon!
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Letters from Lana originated from the simple desire to show people they are loved through a hand-crafted card. Each card is inspired by a friend or family member. Check out these past designs. View designs on my blog (opens new page). * Future organizations we'll donate to Our Rescue.
The thrill of receiving a piece of snail-mail, or a handwritten card means so much these days. I seek to share this love through my hand-crafted cards.
Each card is inspired by a friend or family member. Proceeds will be donated to an organization related to this card’s materials or chosen by the card’s muse.
Bows, bikes, and whimsy – my good friend Anna is a ball of sunshine. She and I actually meant on account of our last names both starting with "TA" - one of the best roommate combos known to man. Anna and I used to talk about starting a non-profit where we donated schools supplies to children. We found Pencils of Promise which is exactly the model we wanted to take when we started our organization.
My sister Abbie (aka my "movie star sister") has been my role model all my life. When I need sound advice, I go to her. Even for the fun stuff, she tells me what's all the rage (hence the foxes) “It’s the most wonderful time of the year…” is the quote that can sum up my sister and my love for all things stationery. This was the Staples commercial branding strategy during the back-to-school season; which was literally, Abbie and my favorite time of year. Not only then, but October-November time when the new calendar year planners come out and we can start scouting out new planners to purchase. My love of cards and anything of the like can mostly be attributed to her and our bond over these items. She gave me some amazing stamps and ideas for my ‘forest animal’ line.
Abby and I got to experience Tokyo's finest craft stores over a weekend, where she was nicknamed our 'craft army captain.' She also happens to be one of my biggest card customers.One of my earliest memories of my friendship with Abby is our shared love of Paper Source. The rest is history as we share stationery finds around Shanghai, go to the Shanghai Kids Market for stickers, or just daydream about tassels and ribbon.
MAPS! Among the many traits I get from my father – my love of maps and stellar sense of direction stem from him. Now I understand why he spent hours studying maps before roadtrips, a characteristic only map lovers would understand. This line is dedicated to him. He also happened to be one of the most caring people...except when it comes to fish. He's an avid fisherman during the spring, which I have fond memories of as a little girl.
My husband’s favorite animal is the frog, so it’s not even a question of what his card line would be. When asked if there was ‘go-to’ frog he would draw as a kid, this is what it looked like. For my forever prince charming, let’s save the frogs.
My cousin Debbie and I had some fun memories growing up. We've also shared some fun crafting memories, and she was muse behind my blog, Emboss Everything. She worked in India for a while and gifted me beautiful hand-crafted paper, which in turn was a catalyst for me to start making cards.
My favorite Irish(wo)man! A blessing that descended upon us in Shanghai. Oddly enough, she shares my love of watching movie trailers and aspires to join in breakfast dance parties. She thought of me during her travels in Singapore and Hong Kong, bringing me back a sticker book full of inspirations quotes, tape, and stamps.
One of my oldest friends – we’ve known each other for over a decade. One of the earliest memories of her is helping her out with lending her a t-shirt for PE class. Of the many similarities we share, one of the best is our weird affinity for all things space and alien...”Take me to your leader!”
Coffee chats, giraffes, elephants, and wine, just a few things that remind me of my friend Hayley. She works in international development – changing the world through her curiosity of cultures and people!
A planner x a million – I met my dear friend Jo in Shanghai as well. She trumped me in my planning trait as she showed me her color coded Excel planner. She was one of my first card commissioners – asking me to make a card for her friend’s wedding. This card line is dedicate to her.
One of the best photographers I know, Jordan knows how much I love stationery. For a white-elephant Christmas present, he gave me awesome washi tape and amazing small note paper. He's also a sentimentalist - he asked me to make an anniversary card for his girlfriend, which inspired this sea-animals line.
All my creativity and the urge to work with my hands come from my mother. She and I share a similar life path as we were both accountants, but have hobbies using our hands, away from the computer. In her retirement, she's picked up Chinese painting. This line is dedicated to her as butterflies blossom into being, just as our creativity streaks have done so over the years.
One of my favorite people of Shanghai – she has such a big heart, not only for humans but for animals as well! At one point, I called her a zoo as she was adopting pets left and right. My inspiration for her card line stems from her love of animals, particularly cats.
I had the pleasure of working with Ngaire. It was in the office that we'd discuss lunch options and I introduced her to the 'ghetto cheese quesadilla.' Ngaire asked me to make a few baby cards as a lot of her friends were expecting. Her request led to these stork designs. In addition, I made her birthday card for her in 2014, and the simplicity of the balloon suited her as she's one of the most talented graphic designers I know.
My baby nephew Sebastian inspired my elephant card designs as these were the shapes I used for his mobile. I now use that elephant design for multiple lines, but also as a general mascot for life. A portion of ‘Sebastian’ card proceeds will be donated to Boat People SOS.
My SbS partner! My pursuit of cards and crafting blossomed after our fateful badminton session in Xujiahui park. We share a love of elephants (funny enough, a lot of my friends share a love of elephants..). She also suggested making panda cards, so this line is dedicated to her as I found this paper with her on our beloved Fuzhou Lu. A portion of proceeds from “Sophie” will be donated to Elephant Nature Foundation UK.
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