"A simple card can be a personal form of art that expresses thoughts, hope and love," explains Ghega Scolari, proprietor of Cartabella (Italian for "beautiful paper").

"I moved Cartabella to 825 East Westfield Boulevard in August after designing stationery and cards in the French Pharmacie for a year. My dream was to work in a little shop like this one. I love Broad Ripple because of the variety of people that live, work or visit the area. I keep all the samples of my creations to show people in order to help them create with me their own personalized and unique stationery," she noted.

Mrs. Scolari described her background: "I was born in Milan, but grew up in Como, the silk capital of the world. There, all the business and industry is related to textiles and textile design, so I studied to be a textile designer. I always wanted to do something artistic, because I always loved to paint and draw."

"My father was an insurance agent in Como and my mother, a casalinga (housewife). I graduated as a textile designer from the Istituto Setificio di Como, then I attended the Fashion Design Marangoni School in Milan and also studied art history in Bologna," she said.

"I was designing on paper for fashion stylists, from which designs were printed on fabric. I moved to Florence when I got married and lived there for 11 years, during which period my children, Tommaso (Tommy) and Filippo (Phil), were born. I worked for an entrepreneur who owned a company who had me design silk scarves for Fendi, Capucci and Lancetti under their brand that were used for corporate merchandising. I later did the merchandising for the Museum Palazzo Grassi in Venice and the Vatican Museum in Rome, in addition to the Guggenheim in New York and the Museum of Art in Philadelphia," she added.

Her husband's career move brought their family across the Atlantic. "In 1997, my husband Nico (a financial manager for Eli Lilly), was transferred to Indianapolis from Florence. My two children were only six and four years old when we moved, so I initially spent my time mainly taking care of them. As they grew up, I started creating Christmas cards for my family. A lot of the people that were receiving them liked them so much that they encouraged me to start my own business. I have always liked paper and I collected bows and ribbons and all kinds of boxes. Sometimes, I'll buy a bow, copy a design and reproduce it on paper and put it together in a colorful box. I was always fascinated by working with paper and started creating Christmas cards and weddings invitations, birthday cards and any kind of invitation for graduations. Since I also liked photography, I started placing pictures on notepads and other stationery enclosed in personalized gift boxes. Something really unique and personal that I can make is a photo collage with all the most important and special pictures of someone's life. People can have it printed on a big poster or can use it to make a unique invitation for the big birthday, anniversary, graduation, open house or wedding. When I work on wedding invitations, I initially get to know my clients and create their "logo" based on their artistic likes. I put together something special for them, like a monogram, and customize whatever they like, creating finally a "family logo" that people can use on their personal stationery," she explained.

Her atelier (which she shares with photographer Sarah Morris) in Broad Ripple displays her creative works. You can visit Cartabella and build with Ghega your own personalized stationery box with some note cards, thank-you notes, notepads, gift tags, place cards, recipe cards, wine tags or little enclosure cards, according to your budget, for yourself or for your friends. In a few words, you can plan your own personal box and Ghega will create it for you! You can learn more about her design work at cartabellashop.com or by e-mailing her (which she prefers) at ghega2@mac.com with your stationery or design idea. Cartabella is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

She is also using on her cards Italian words, like "amore" or "bacio" (love or kiss) that can be universally understood, in order to emphasize her home Country of Italy while creating. "When I receive a card in the mail, I like it to be something special, like a gift," she said. She is inspiring people to pick up a pen and rediscover the fine art of writing, a more personalized form of communication.

Mrs. Scolari's cards and stationery make special gifts for any occasion in one's life or in the life of a significant other, including the forthcoming Valentines Day.