<p>Although you may not have ever heard her name, you most likely have already seen the work of <a href="http://www.murrayslawannex.com/?hg=0&;nr=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leslie Moak Murray</a>.</p>
<p>That is because over the past 20 years, it has graced an enviable body of work — 1,000 greeting cards, as well as 50-100 designs of beverage napkins, magnetic note pads, pocket note pads, sticky notes, mugs and coasters. Oh, and don&#8217;t forget gift tags, shopping list pads, t-shirts, calendars, Christmas ornaments, floaty pens and plastic tumblers. Leslie has also illustrated two little humor <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=leslie+moak+murray&;i=digital-text&;crid=1YDUWOGL237U1&;sprefix=leslie+moak+murray+%2Cdigital-text%2C128&;ref=nb_sb_noss" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">books</a> (written with her sister), <em>Playing With Matches</em>, about bad <span class="s1">Match.com</span> dates, and <em>Aging Disgracefully.</em></p>
<p class="p1">&#8220;Wow, no wonder I&#8217;m so tired!&#8221; she told me.</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter wp-image-6211" src="http://thepaperchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/2.jpg" alt="2" width="618" height="992" /> <img class="aligncenter wp-image-6212" src="http://thepaperchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/3.jpg" alt="3" width="618" height="954" /> <img class="aligncenter wp-image-6213" src="http://thepaperchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/4.jpg" alt="4" width="618" height="954" /></p>
<p>You can shop Leslie&#8217;s expansive range of greeting cards, mugs, and magnetic list pads, available through <a href="http://www.leanintree.com/home.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leanin&#8217; Tree</a>, here. Meanwhile, let&#8217;s find out what makes this funny lady tick!</p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-6317" src="http://thepaperchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Leslie-in-studio1.jpg" alt="Leslie-in-studio" width="222" height="240" /></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">1. SS: How did you get into this crazy business? </span></p>
<p class="p1">LMM: I&#8217;ve been making greeting cards to give to my friends and family since I was 10, and was still doing that when I met my husband, an ad agency guy. One day he said, &#8220;Don&#8217;t give these away, let&#8217;s sell them.&#8221;</p>
<p class="p1">Through his business, he knew printers and engravers, and he taught me how to prepare art for printing, something I never learned in the Fine Art department in college — there, the mindset was &#8220;if you mass-produce or earn money from your art before you&#8217;re dead, you&#8217;re a sellout haha.&#8221; We borrowed capital from our families with a contract promising to repay them at 12% interest, which we were able to do in the first few years.</p>
<p class="p1">Jim&#8217;s ad agency guys made us a nice professional show display, and we went to the New York <a href="http://nationalstationeryshow.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">National Stationery Show </a>for the first time. We left with enough reps to cover the U.S.</p>
<p class="p3">2. SS: Are there any design or lifestyle trends you are finding yourself particularly intrigued with these days?</p>
<p class="p1">LMM: I&#8217;m very happy to see hand-drawn art and lettering enjoying renewed favor. I think it&#8217;s a reaction against all the years of vectors, and I&#8217;m glad to see it. Digital is great, and thank goodness for Photoshop, but it&#8217;s good to see evidence of the human hand getting some appreciation.</p>
<p class="p1">I was the last artist in the Industrialized World to learn Photoshop, and still consider myself a beginner, but I sure don&#8217;t miss those days of having to FedEx oversized original art to the publisher and spending thousands on art supplies.</p>
<p class="p1">I love the chalkboard style of hand lettering, I love letterpress, and I love flat design. This past year, I found myself going back to my old psd files and clearing all the &#8220;bevel and emboss&#8221; layer styles. Also the gradient overlays. Suddenly they look so last year.</p><div class="inline-post clearfix"><div class="see-also byline">See also</div><div id="block-wrap-50928" class="block-wrap-native block-wrap block-wrap-23 block-css-50928 block-wrap-classic columns__m--1 elements-design-3 block-ani block-skin-0 tipi-box block-wrap-thumbnail ppl-m-1 clearfix" data-id="50928" data-base="0"><div class="tipi-row-inner-style clearfix"><div class="tipi-row-inner-box contents sticky--wrap"><div class="block block-23 clearfix"><article class="tipi-xs-12 clearfix with-fi ani-base tipi-xs-typo split-1 split-design-1 loop-0 preview-thumbnail preview-23 elements-design-3 post-2175 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-the-five-questions tag-cards tag-cat-seto tag-christmas tag-design tag-ferme-a-papier tag-sarah-schwartz tag-the-five-questions-2" style="--animation-order:0"><div class="preview-mini-wrap clearfix"><div class="mask"><a href="https://thepapernerd.com/the-five-questions-cat-seto/" class="mask-img"><img width="100" height="100" src="https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ferme_welcomestranger_holiday_banner2-copy.jpg?resize=100%2C100&;ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ferme_welcomestranger_holiday_banner2-copy.jpg?resize=150%2C150&;ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ferme_welcomestranger_holiday_banner2-copy.jpg?resize=200%2C200&;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ferme_welcomestranger_holiday_banner2-copy.jpg?resize=24%2C24&;ssl=1 24w, https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ferme_welcomestranger_holiday_banner2-copy.jpg?resize=48%2C48&;ssl=1 48w, https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ferme_welcomestranger_holiday_banner2-copy.jpg?resize=96%2C96&;ssl=1 96w, https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ferme_welcomestranger_holiday_banner2-copy.jpg?resize=300%2C300&;ssl=1 300w" sizes="(max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px" /></a></div><div class="meta"><div class="byline byline-2 byline-cats-design-4"><div class="byline-part cats"><a href="https://thepapernerd.com/category/the-five-questions/" style="color:#b79b0d" class="cat">The Five Questions</a></div></div><div class="title-wrap"><h3 class="title"><a href="https://thepapernerd.com/the-five-questions-cat-seto/">The Five Questions: Cat Seto</a></h3></div><div class="byline byline-3"><span class="byline-part date"><i class="tipi-i-calendar" aria-hidden="true"></i> <time class="entry-date published dateCreated flipboard-date" datetime="2013-12-11T16:47:05+00:00">December 11, 2013</time></span><span class="byline-part likes-count"><a href="#" class="tipi-like-count " data-pid="2175"><span class="likes-heart"><i class="tipi-i-heart-o" aria-hidden="true"></i><i class="tipi-i-heart" aria-hidden="true"></i></span><span class="tipi-value">0</span></a></span></div></div></div></article></div></div></div></div></div></tipimidc>
<p class="p3">3. SS: What letter, card or invitation first comes to mind as the best you&#8217;ve ever received?</p>
<p class="p1">LMM: I loved getting the beautiful formal invitation to my sister&#8217;s wedding.</p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">4. SS: What are your three favorite paper lines aside from your own? </span></p>
<p class="p1">LMM: I love Jonesy, The Chalk Shoppe (which I discovered through <a href="http://stationerytrendsmag.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Stationery Trends</a>!), and Paper D&#8217;Art by Claire Mitchard and Mark Everdell.</p>
<p class="p3">5. SS: Is there anything you do personally to keep letter-writing, card-sending and invitation using alive?</p>
<p class="p1">LMM: Whenever anyone sends a gift or does something nice for my daughter, I stand over her until she writes a thank you note. A HANDWRITTEN note. With a STAMP on it. She used to try to tell me nobody does this anymore, but this ploy doesn&#8217;t work on me. And of course I write thank you notes, because my mother was from the South. Also, when a credit card company or store asks if I want to go paperless. I always say no so they&#8217;ll have to mail it. Any small thing to keep the post office going.</p>


The Five Questions: Leslie Moak Murray
