The day is finally here!!! It's like Christmas!!! Ok, you guys haven't been waiting for this for a billion years, but I have, and you're going to be so excited. SO! I’m thrilled to get to announce the launch of the newest and coolest paper store on the web, Cactus & Quail, founded by my friend Jamie of A Desert Fete. Jamie is on of my oldest friends on the blog-o-sphere. She and I started blogging at the same time, and she was the second wedding graduate ever. Do you guys remember her wedding? She got married in Joshua Tree, and they did everything their way:
Yeah, amazing stuff. Plus, last year when I did a reader survey, she was the one that designed all those amazing graphs for us, which she did just because she’s an incredibly generous person. And she was here drinking margaritas with me seconds after APW re-launched in April, when I was a nervous wreck. So that's Jamie, and she's fantastic.
Over the last six months, Jamie has been working frantically behind the scenes to build her own stationery company. She’s a trained architect, but she also happens to be a brilliant designer. My desk is cluttered with Jamie gifts, cards and invitations, each of them more beautiful than the last. So after many, many email exchanges and late night business brainstorming phone calls where she let me help just a little, I’m thrilled that the launch day of Jamie’s stationery business, Cactus and Quail, is finally here. Seriously, if you start licking your screen trying to make out with these paper goods, just remember that I warned you that might happen. (And sorry Jamie! J does not like when I gush over her, so today might be a little painful, but what else can I say?)
Jamie’s line is a mix of all the best things. She has a Ready Made line full of lovely hand-done illustrations. You can order .jpgs and print them yourself, allowing you to afford stunningly hip wedding invitations (and baby announcements, and all kinds of goodies) at really (REALLY, REALLY) low costs (Like, I've discussed raising her rates with her, but she won't do it, and you win). You buy them either as simple illustrations or with her personalization (she'll just add words, or do a full blown invitation suite, both for really affordable prices), and you print them at home. Done. OR, if you're like, "F*ck DIY," she can print them for you.
And if all that wasn’t enough, she has a flea-market where she sells little do-dads that she made by hand. I’m working really hard not to buy every single thing she puts in that shop, so I would like you to help me by buying stuff, so she sells out, and I can’t stuff my house with Jamie-made objects. Thanks. And of course, she does custom invitations, which are so wonderful they make me want to cry.
I could not be more excited for Jamie, or for you guys, or for ME. Because I need note cards, and maybe birthday invitations, and would it be weird to have a baby just so Jamie could do the announcements? Whatever, I’m on the fence about that.
So, go browse and enjoy. Seriously, GO BROWSE. Maybe you don't need wedding invitations, but maybe you need notecards. Or Christmas presents. Or is that just me? (And Jamie, Congratulations. I couldn't be more proud.)



































































:::wipes drool off chin::: Oh wow oh wow oh wow-eeeeeeee!!! I am just a complete nerd when it comes to paper products and these are simply divine looking! Such talent we have on APW – I love it.
OK – gonna sip my coffee this morning and go drool a bit more over pretty paper…
December 1, 2010 8:42 am
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Oh man, these are completely beautiful!
December 1, 2010 8:52 am
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These are perfect, just what I’ve been looking for for my awesome Frank Lloyd Wright Inspired/ Outdoorsy themed wedding! And super affordable too! EXCITED!
December 1, 2010 9:00 am
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Umm, Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired?! Please tell me you’ll do a grad post or something. The major architecture nerd in me *needs* to see this.
December 1, 2010 10:18 am
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Aww thanks!
I’m a huge architecture buff myself. We’re actually having our wedding a Kentuck Knob, a property he designed. I’m super excited!
December 2, 2010 8:46 am
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YAY! Love this. Bookmarking NOW.
December 1, 2010 9:32 am
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Yup. All of it. Purchased that Barn Owl already.
December 1, 2010 9:57 am
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Absolutely beautiful Jamie!
December 1, 2010 10:21 am
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sometimes I have dreams about those survey results. ok not really but I was blown away by them, and just looking through the C&Q site briefly, I’m salivating. congrats on the launch!
December 1, 2010 11:26 am
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Pretty! And I absolutely love the name.
December 1, 2010 1:17 pm
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NOT WEIRD AT ALL to have a baby just so Jamie can do the birth announcements. Seriously, I was thinking precisely the same thing for a moment there.
Possibly ill-advised, but not weird. :)
December 1, 2010 1:47 pm
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Um. Yes. However you and I are actually trying to have babies so not so weird at all.
December 1, 2010 3:47 pm
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even with the warning… I’m coming VERY close to licking this computer screen!!!
December 1, 2010 2:29 pm
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I LOVE desert fete and I’m loving these designs- so exciting!
December 1, 2010 6:56 pm
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I forgot about the survey results! We’ve come so far! Well, mostly just you, Meg, and Jamie. Yay!!!
December 1, 2010 11:01 pm
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megggggg!!!!!!!!!
thank you! i wouldn’t be here without ya.
and thanks everybody! soooo glad you like. :)
December 3, 2010 8:54 am
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