Lia, Ellinée & Elli

Hello, I am Lia Griffith, daily DIYer, crafty blogger, gluten-free cook, mom of an 18-year-old daughter and the Creative Director of Elli design studio.

My background: Coming from an artist family I chose a graphic design major in college. It seemed like the practical creative career choice as the artist part of my family was often “starving”. Well, not literally, but you know what I mean. Graphic design has served me well, as I have had a flourishing and colorful design career. Along with branding and print design, I have had the opportunity to design many restaurant and retail spaces, owned both a children’s boutique and a European style flower shop and had a children’s clothing line that was sold at Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and even the Disney stores. Yes, those were the delightful parts of the path that wove in around the hills and boulders of my solo parenting life, and that is my history. Now, I have my dream job. I work in an artsy loft studio with a group of super talented people in the heart of Portland, Oregon. And every day we design really pretty printed stationery that we sell on elli.com.

Ellinée blog: This blog was a bit of a happy accident. While we were building our Elli site we decided to put more effort into our blog to create a little community of like minded paper lovers. If you have not noticed already, I have a thing for paper. I have made over 35 paper gowns that I have shown on runways, have been featured in many magazines and blogs and even in a television ad for China. You can see a few of my creations here. I now take all that 3-d paper crafting love and make my paper flowers for this blog. Even beyond paper, my motto is truly “handcraft your life”. I am one of those who is constantly recovering or painting furniture, sewing pillows and making gifts for friends and family. I do get a kick of of making something for near to nothing, but it is the delight of making something by hand that adds to the richness of everyday life. I feel so lucky that I have Ellinée, where I share not only my own but also my circle of very talented designers creative nuggets, tutorial and lots and lots of free printables. Life is good!

The Elli shop: Just to be really transparent. . . right now it is the Elli shop that makes our generous blogging possible. So next time you need some yummy personal note cards, snappy party invites, gorgeous Holiday photo cards, or unique wedding invitations. . . to name a few, go check out our shop. We know you will love the fresh designs, the luscious eggshell paper and the amazing prices.  It is a win-win!

The photos on Ellinée: Photography is my new love. All of the photos on this blog are styled and photographed by me (unless otherwise noted) and as of January 2012 on a Canon 5DMarkII with a 50mm lens. I use natural light. . . always.

To all readers: I love your post comments and emails! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.