Philbrook Museum of Art

I will be speaking at the Philbrook Museum of Art on Feb. 27th 2010. The presentation includes information about my journey as a professional artist as well as handouts and instructions to make your own pop-up card designed by me. I will also be signing greeting cards after the presentation.

Here's the link to the Philbrook Museum and some more information from their site:

http://philbrook.org/education/public/family.cfm

An Afternoon with Mary Beth Cryan

Date: Saturday, February 27, 2010 Times: 1:00pm to 3:00pm Free with Museum Admission Room: Patti Johnson Wilson Hall Meet the Princess of Pop-Ups, Mary Beth Cryan, an award winning paper engineer, illustrator and toy designer. Cryan has designed pop-up books and greeting cards, many of which are currently sold at the Museum of Modern Art and Target, among other places. Discover how she got her start and learn cool tricks of the trade from Cryan to make your own original pop-up card with your family.

Toys "R" Us Gift Cards

The Toys "R" Us gift cards I designed and illustrated are currently available in stores. I am thrilled with them. The colors printed gorgeous!

The assignment was to design creative, novelty gift cards with play value. Since novelty and creative are my middle names it was the perfect project for me. The first card is a die-cut crown. The second is a jeweled ring that can be worn by the recipient. And the third features a removable cat that can be used as a bookmark.

Here they are featured on their riders.

Alien Pop-Up

Here is a fun Happy Birthday card that has recently been released. I was responsible for the concept, illustration, and paper engineering. Unfortunately, you can only buy it in Canada. So I haven't seen it on the shelves.

You have a Pop-Up book idea, now what?

I get a lot of inquiries from people who have an idea for a pop-up book but don't know what to do next. So I've decided to write a little tutorial on how to get your pop-up book published.

How to get a pop-up book published:

1. Come up with a great idea for a pop-up book.

2. Write the manuscript (manuscript = all the text that will appear in the book ). For Pop-up books this can be as small as a few sentences or as long as a few pages.

3. Write a killer query letter. The query letter should explain why your book idea is great and have some description of how you envision the pop-up elements in the book. These websites will show you how. http://www.ehow.com/how_3165_write-query-letter.html http://www.underdown.org/mf_query_letters.htm

4. Make a list of publishers whom you would like to submit your book to. The book "Artist's & Graphic Designer's Market" has lists of publishers and detailed instructions on how to submit to them. http://www.amazon.com/2010-Artists-Graphic-Designers-Market/dp/1582975833
If your book is for children get the Children's version entitled "Children's Writer's & Illustrators Market." http://bit.ly/7P83VI

5. Send your manuscript and query letter to publishers. Most people think that they need to have a paper engineer make a model of the book for them before they can submit it. But that is NOT true. All a publisher needs from you is the manuscript and the query letter. After your book gets accepted for publication the editor will hire a paper engineer for you.

And that's it!

Good luck with all your future pop-up endeavors!!!

100,000 Cards

In 2008, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City sold 12,256 boxes of my holiday cards. There are 8 cards in a box. That is 98,048 cards sold!

To see this years offerings click here.

The Princess of Pop-ups found her Prince

After a year of planning, our day finally arrived and we got married!! It was an amazing, beautiful day. Here are my favorite photos of the details.







I tried on 90 dresses in 4 different states. My dress is from Rosa Clara's Aire Barcelona collection and purchased at Helene's Bridal and Tux in North Providence, RI.

The dress:

The dress details:


All the stationery was designed by me.

The invitation:
The programs:


The place cards:

My pop-up book collector friend, Carolyn Hughes, gave us this beautiful, limited edition, out of print, pop-up guest book.
The flowers were from Studio 539 in Providence, RI.

My bouquet:


The Matron of Honor's Bouquet

The Bridesmaid's bouquet:



The boutineers:
The centerpiece:



The place card grass:

The room at Blissful Meadows:



The Flower Girls:

The Bridesmaids:


The Groomsmen:


Blissful Meadows Golf Club:




I am lucky to be related to and know many talented photographers. The above photos were captured by Maria Story, Paul Cryan, Jim Cryan, and Solveig Hayward.

MoMA 2009

"Light the candles" on this card throughout Hanukkah.



Are you ready to start your Holiday shopping? The MoMA just posted their 2009 holiday card line in their online store. The line includes two brand new cards conceptualized, illustrated, and engineered by me.

You can buy them here. www.momastore.org