Things & Stuff: The Blog of Em & Friends

*DISCLAIMER: I am not an intellectual property lawyer (nor any other kind of lawyer) and this post should not be taken as legal advice or permission.* I get asked a lot about the issue of using famous quotes on products, and this post is my attempt at shedding some light on this (very complicated) topic. I know this isn't a fun thing to hear, but in most cases, the answer to the question "Can I legally use X quote on my products?" is going to be no, with a few exceptions (which I'll get to in a minute).

  Pictured above: Elizabeth Gilbert Women I Love and Admire Journal WRITE SOME LETTERS Write to yourself at age 15, or any other age that was to...

Free 8 x 10 printable coloring page, for your de-stressing pleasure.     Instructions for printing: click on the thumbnail to open a new page, ...

I wrote the original version of this blog post back in 2015, about two years after launching the Emily McDowell brand. As I write this update, it’s 2021, and we’ve just changed our name to Em & Friends. If you’re trying to decide whether to name your business after yourself, I’m hoping this information can help you make that call.

We put so much pressure on ourselves to say the perfect thing, don’t we? That’s one of the biggest hurdles in trying to be there for someone during a difficult time. But when your life is falling apart, there’s no magical phrase to make it all better. In fact, there’s really nothing you can say to someone to make it hurt less or feel OK, mostly because the person suffering doesn’t actually need you to talk. They need you to listen. To be present. To be okay with silence if they don’t feel like talking.

Hi everyone! Emily here, firing up our long-dormant blog to share some photos from our March 17th launch event for the Lisa Congdon for Emily McDowell & Friends collection. (Despite the date, it was unaffiliated with St. Patrick’s Day. We did serve beer, but it was regular beer-colored, not green.)

Hello, Women's Marchers! This design started off as my own personal 2017 Women's March sign, and people liked it so much, we turned it into a tote...

When I started Emily McDowell Studio five years ago, I wasn’t thinking all that hard about what it could become. I was more focused on the immediate questions like, “Will anyone buy this card?” and “Is there a better place than Staples to buy all this fancy printer paper?” (Yes, and not really.) 

In case you missed it, we recently released a new product category: screen printed zipper pouches. When I started designing these pouches last summ...

We're adding another new category of cards to our line. We're starting small with three styles, but I'm planning to add more in the spring. We're calling these new cards Parenting Support, and they're designed for anyone who's struggling with the day-to-day of raising small to medium-sized people.

Hi guys. This is for me and for you and for all of us.

To reflect my current mood, in three colors! Free to download for personal use, not okay to sell. Disclaimer, schmisclaimer.