Art Stories: Eleanor Boynton of Oh Louise! Personalized Stationery

Good afternoon lovelies! How is your Monday going? Mine is busy, busy after catching up on vacation emails and other work.

Today I'd like to introduce you to Eleanor Boynton. She'll be joining us all week with some super fabulous DIY ideas for your home. I wanted you to get to know her first, so I've put together and interview highlighting her business, Oh Louise! and a peek into her workspace.

What is your preferred medium?

I make
handmade stationery… personalized note cards, invitations, and prints. The
process is all original and handmade from start to finish – I design each &
every piece in Illustrator, print in my home office, and cut, fold, &
package everything myself. I love that each card or invitation that my
customers end up with was completely created by me.

 

How did you get started? (we'd love to
know if there are any generational influences, family history etc.)

I have always
loved doing crafty things. Since I was able to I’ve been making anything I
could… I had a very long scrapbooking stage, designed websites for a while,
and even had a card table set up in my house in college where the dining room
table was supposed to be… it was a total disaster area with all of my
crafting materials spread out everywhere. Finally I ended up designing
stationery, which luckily turned into my career!

I definitely
get my entrepreneur spirit and creativity from my mom… she creates the most beautifully
decorated iced sugar cookies and sells them to people in the Dallas area. She
has always been encouraging to me in pursuing my creative endeavors and
supports my ideas and ventures whole-heartedly. My younger sister also has this
creative drive & has just opened an Etsy shop called “Come and Take It”
where she sells re-purposed vintage finds from Texas!

 

Who or what inspires you?

I’m
definitely inspired by all of the other women entrepreneurs out there who have
started their own businesses… whether it be by blogging, photographing,
designing, decorating… It’s so inspiring to see women going for their dreams
& making things happen. As far as when I am designing, I’m inspired mainly
by beautiful images that I see on-line or in magazines… As you can see in my
office, I have started hanging magazine clippings up by my computer with colors
or patterns that make me happy & make me want to create beautiful designs!

 

What advice would you give to someone
wanting to get into this medium?

I would say
to create things that are beautiful to you… don’t try to “please” others by
creating what you think they would like… you are creative & artistic, so
create things that you like – in my opinion you will be more successful this
way and you will enjoy yourself much more!

Also, never
compromise yourself by pricing your items too low… respect your time and your
skills as a designer and others will too!

 

 

Does vintage play a role in your art
or life? If so, how?

Absolutely!
Many images that motivate me are of beautiful vintage pieces, redone or not…
the textures & colors are so inspiring and classic.

 

What is important for your customer to
know about your work?

Like I said
earlier, all of my work is completely designed by me & created from start
to finish with my 2 hands! Because I am so thankful and excited that stationery
has become my career, I am absolutely dedicated to making every order I ship
out as perfect as can be… I believe that if you take the time and money to
order from me, that you deserve great customer service, fast turn-around time,
and a beautiful product that is just the way you wanted it!

Thanks so much Eleanor for sharing your workspace and beautiful invitations with us. Join Elanor back here this week, she seems to have a knack for beautiful DIY projects too!