NEW Folded Christmas cards 2016

Finally the new folded Christmas cards have arrived as well and I quickly put them in the shop. (If you happen to be looking for Christmas postcards, you can find that post HERE.) As the mother-of-pearl cardstock unfortunately wasn’t available anymore I had to choose a new one. The new cards are printed on linen textured white cardstock.

(If you fell love with the mother of perl cardstock that I used last year – there are still a few of those folded cards left, too. You can find the designs when you scroll further down.)

Folded Christmas cards

– printed on 280g linen textured cardboard –

 – gorgeous silver envelope is included –

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Calm Christmas Angel – folded card available HERE

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Snowglobe Angel – folded card available HERE

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Weihnachtswünsche – folded card available HERE

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Calm Christmas – folded card available HERE

The cards printed on mother of pearl cardstock still available in the shop are the following:

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Angel hug – folded card available HERE

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Christmas hug – folded card available HERE

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Calm Christmas – folded card available HERE

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ChristmasTREE – folded card available HERE

And there is also the mix and match 5-pack of folded Christmas cards – you pick any 5 folded cards for 9.90€!

Just go HERE – and don’t forget to tell me which cards you want during the ordering process. ;-)

Now, do you have any suggestions or ideas for new Christmas card designs for next year?

Can’t wait to read your comment! :-)

 

NEW Christmascard postcards for 2016

NEW Christmascard postcards for 2016

It’s November already. Time seems to fly. It doesn’t feel at all like Christmas to me, but I know that it’ll come quickly – so here are finally the new Christmas postcards for this year.

If you’re more interested in folded cards – you can find some folded cards from last year in the shop. The new ones will be out next week. If you don’t wanna miss it just sign up to my newsletter.

If you have ordered Christmas postcards – or any postcards – from me before – these are different. :-) After having tried different printers I finally gave in and did try out moo.com. I had to let go of the rounded corners that I was rather fond of. But they are printed on thicker cardstock and have an easy-to-write-on back. I figured that’s more important than the rounded corners. Even though they would have been nice. :-)

Christmas postcards

– printed on 330g thick  cardstock –
– matte finish –
– 14,8cm x 10,5cm –
– easy to write on back –

I added two new designs:

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“Calm Christmas Angel” – postcard available HERE

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“Calm Snow Angel” – English version – postcard available HERE

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There is also a German version of this card :-) – just in case you have some German relatives – postcard available HERE

And of course my designs from the last years are also available:

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“Calm Christmas” – postcard available HERE

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“ChristmasTREE” – postcard available HERE

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“Christmas Wishes” – postcard available HERE

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“Weihnachtswünsche” – again a German card – postcard available HERE

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“Christmas Hug” – postcard available HERE

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“Angel Hug” – postcard available HERE

If you can’t decide which postcard to buy – you can buy a pack of 8 and pick your favorites. (And save some money while doing so as well.) You can find the Christmas postcard set, where you can pick 8 cards of your choice HERE.

Just a little warning: I ordered 50 postcards of each design and I won’t be able to reorder this year. So if you really like a card, please order as soon as you can. Once they’re gone – they’re gone.

And again, if you wanna be informed when the new folded cards are in the shop, sign up to my newsletter HERE.

Now I’m curious – which of the postcard designs is your favorite?

Do you love yoga? (Free yoga and new yoga postcards)

Postcard set YOGA-LOVE

To be honest, I don’t remember when I started to do yoga. But I do remember that I was truly blown away when I did some pregnancy yoga with my second child and it felt SO good for my back and my stomach. It was simply awesome. Ever since I did yoga on and off. And over the last years it’s become a regular habit that I treasure. (Yes, I do fall of the yoga-wagon once in a while. I haven’t found a cure for that one yet. But I do always get back to it.)

Even though I do it quite regularly I do feel rather shy telling people about it. Cause in all this time I have only once taken an in-person class. The rest of the time I do yoga with the help of online-videos or DVDs. So, I might think I’m doing yoga, but someone watching me might think I’m doing some weird form of interpretive dance while watching yoga-videos … who knows. ;-) But at some point I figured, you know, as long as it feels good in my body and is good for my soul – why should I care what anyone else thinks!? I love yoga. And that’s why I finally created these YOGA-LOVE postcards and am so excited to share them with you:

Postcard set YOGA-LOVE

And I thought in order to celebrate the launch of my cards and share a bit more of the yoga-love I share with you my fav online yoga resources. So, here are five yoga links I wouldn’t wanna live without:

1 My all-time favorite go-to resource is Erin Motz from the Bad yogiI simply love her free classes. (She has awesome longer paid classes, too, though.) There are certain themes to the classes, so you can easily pick what feels right at the moment. Also the classes are usually about 10 to 20 minutes, so short enough to squeeze them into even the busiest day. My two favorite free classes from her at the moment are “Perfect as I am Flow” und “Yoga for when you feel run down”.

Little extra tip: Starting in October Erin runs her free 30 Day Yoga-Challenge again. This was the challenge that helped me to do yoga regularly in the first place. So if your goal is to do yoga more regularly I recommend signing up. You can thank me later. ;-)

YOGA-LOVE postcard - easy seat/ Schneidersitz

2 I just recently – finally – managed how to do the forearm headstand and I’m super proud. Not because I think it’s so important that you’re able to do that. But I had tried for so long … it was just such a nice feeling to finally figure it out. And I did figure it out with the help of the video “How to do a headstand for beginners” by Adriene. She explains so well how to set it all up – and that made all the difference to me. She has many other yoga-videos, too. So check her out.

3 Doyouyoga.com is a pretty big site with many articles on yoga. When you register you can try out a bunch of free classes.

YOGA-LOVE postcards - tree/ Baum, mixed media art by Ursula Markgraf

4 About a year ago I discovered YIN-Yoga and fell in love. I find it especially wonderful on those days that I just don’t feel like doing regular yoga – or doing anything at all. ;-) It did need a bit of getting used to as it felt kinda weird at first, to not move as much and hold poses quite long. But once that initial awkwardness was over it just felt amazing. I do love doing this: 30 minute yin and meditation class.

5 Once in a while I try some of the videos by Ekhart Yoga. I do like for example this Yoga for digestion.

YOGA-LOVE postcards - dancer/ Tänzer, mixed media art by Ursula Markgraf

I hope I could inspire you to try out some new yoga videos. And if you have a yoga-person in your life you want to send some greetings to or just want a visual reminder on your wall – check out my YOGA-LOVE postcards HERE. They can be framed as a sweet mini-gift as well. ;-)

Do you have any favorite yoga links or resources? Dvds, books, online-shops?

Looking forward to your tips in the comments!

And if you don’t wanna miss anything – new yoga-Christmas cards for example ;-) – then sign up to my free newsletter. :-)

Wanna know what you are?

Wanna know what you are?

Honestly, I am not a huge fan of Valentine’s day. But I do love to make people feel special. Putting a smile on someone’s face is just wonderful. Telling someone with a little something that you care. Showing someone that they are appreciated.

"Du bist ..." Postkarten-Kollektion von Ursula Markgraf

That is why I created my new postcard collection with some of my mixed-media art on them. To tell someone with a little card that they are loved. (The writing on the left side of the art piece reads “Du bist geliebt” which is “You are loved” in German.)

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To remind them that they are worthy. (“Du bist wertvoll” in German.)

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To make sure that they never forget that they are free. (“Du bist frei” in German.)

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What do you think of my square postcards?

"Du bist ..." Postkarten-Kollektion von Ursula Markgraf

Of course you can see more pictures of the postcards in the SHOP. And as the postcards are brandnew they will be available for a reduced introduction price until the 21st of February, 2015.

Who would you want to send one to?

 

Christmas wishes – instructions for the perfect gift

Christmas wishes – instructions for the perfect gift

Somehow over the years finding the perfect gift for loved ones has become harder and harder. Or is that just me?

I don’t know whether this is because so many things are readily available at all times. Or whether we simply like other things than 10 years ago.

When I created this Christmas card – I named it “Christmas wishes” – I was thinking about what we REALLY wish for. Probably not just at Christmas, but maybe especially at Christmas. We all would like more time, love, health, satisfaction, and joy in our lifes, wouldn’t we? So I was thinking about … how could we GIVE those things to the people we love?

Postcard "Christmas wishes" by Ursula Markgraf

Christmas card “Christmas wishes” – can be bought HERE
 

I came up with some ideas, but feel free to add your own ones in the comments! Would love to hear them!!!

LOVE

Give something that tells the person every single day how much you value him or her. This could be a piece of jewellery – maybe even custom-made or made by yourself. Or it could be an art print that expresses how important that person is. Or you could simply write an old-fashioned loveletter. Yes, with an actual pen. Or even fountain pen? Not on the computer! :-)

HEALTH

Health is such a huge thing. And as health is not just the absence of illness, there are many things that you can give someone to help them feel more healthy, more well, more whole.
You could give a gift certificate for a massage, for a sauna visit or a meditation cd or course. I am still loving the meditations by Deepak Choprah and putting those on my Christmas wishlist.
Or simply a handmade bar of soap that does not contain unhealthy ingredients – what a wonderful and luxurious way to support someones health. You can also make things like sugar scrubs yourself. It’s quick, easy and the recipient can pamper his or her skin.

TIME

Of course you can not really gift someone time. We all have the same amount of time – so that is that. BUT, you can gift someone special time. Time he or she can spend with herself or himself. (For moms probably THE best gift ever.)
Often we get the perception that we do not have enough time when we’re simply too busy. So helping someone stop the crazy-race for a bit will give them more – consciously spent – time. You could also gift him or her a wonderful looking planner or calendar that can be used to organize time in a better way.

SATISFACTION

This one is really tricky cause in the end there is nothing you can give to someone that will make him or her feel satisfied if they do not have a certain mindset.  In my opinion – and experience – feeling satisfied is less about what you actually own or have accomplished, but more about how you feel and how much you are in tune with your own needs and desires. So in the end it really is up to each one of us to make sure we do feel satisfied, but you can still give something that will make it easier for the recipient to find a way to feel satisfied. One of my favourite things to give – and to get – is of course books. And my all-time-favourite in regard to how I feel about my life is “Steering by starlight” by Martha Beck. If it was available in German, I would literally give it to everyone I know!
(And no, this is not an affiliate link. I just simply totally love and adore that book.)
You could also gift a wonderful precious journal with the intention for it to be used as a gratitude journal. Most of us actually have pretty amazing lifes, but with the business and the distraction we simply forget to focus on all the wonderful and beautiful things that happen each and every day. This is also a totally wonderful gift for kids!

JOY

I think this one is the easiest to give. At least if you know the gift-recipient a bit. Whatever this person enjoys will bring her joy. Right?
She likes to draw? Get her colored pencils or a fresh sketch book! (ME!)
She likes to read? Get her a book! (Again – ME!)
She likes to cook? Some wonderful spices or a cooking course. (Not me. Send that to my husband. ;-) )
And if worse comes to worse and you really can not think of ANYthing that this person would enjoy … how about a fresh notebook? I somehow feel that with a notebook you can never go wrong. You can buy them big or small, beautiful or funny, simple or super-fancy.
I recently fell in love with the look of the Paperblank ones – OMG. They look just so wonderful. And the ones by Ecojot – different style – also look wonderful. And love their cause.
Awesome thing is, you can use notebooks for everything you can think of: jotting down ideas, planning your to dos, writing down your dreams, journaling, collecting your fav recipes, glueing photos or little bits and bobs from your every day life in there, sketch, …. The list is endless!
Or is that just me that has a tad of a notebook-obsession? ;-)

I hope I could give you some starters for Christmas present ideas. Let me know what your thougths are in the comments! And if you have a favourite gift to give – share it!

 

Sunday whispers – Reminders from the little girl inside you

Sunday whispers – Reminders from the little girl inside you

I have not written in such a long time. But behind the scenes I was busy working on something I am so psyched to share. My first ever own postcard line. *squeal*

Each card has a message for you from the little girl inside you. You know her, right? The one that wants to play, enjoy life, go on adventures, be held and loved. The one that deeply believes that you are just glorious and can do ANYTHING you ever set your mind on.
(She is kinda like the opposite to your inner critic I wrote about earlier.)

Sometimes with life getting busy and so many things to do we forget about the little girl inside us. We get busy working on “stuff”. We stop listening to our dreams. We stop believing that we are princesses and have all the power in the world.

So, these postcards are reminders from your little girl. She tells you that you are a princess. That you are wonderful, beautiful, amazing and capable of anything you want to do.

That your dreams will give you wings. They might be scary, but they will make it possible to fly.

That living your life is not about doing what you think you are supposed to do. Living your life is about YOU, about your dreams. This is the one life you have – so live your dream. Every day. And for the big dreams – live your dream every day a tiny bit more. ;-)

Enjoy my postcards and their messages?
Then hop over to my shop and buy a set. Each set consists of 6 cards – 2 cards of each design. So you can keep one and send one. ;-)

Mixed-media postcard set P.S. There is an English and a German version of the cards. So choose whichever you like.