Concert Poster Inspired Save the Dates

I love it when brides have a specific idea or theme in mind for their invitations. Lauren had these great engagement photos taken by photographer, Lindsay McDonald, inspired by the Bob Dylan album cover that you see in the picture. Music is a very important part of Lauren and John's life and will play a big part in their wedding so they knew that they wanted their save the dates and invitations to reflect that.

Lauren wanted to go with a vintage concert poster look for the save the dates. It was a simple 5x7 card, printed on both sides. She has a great fall color palette that is really enjoyed working with. We chose the aubergine envelopes to compliment. Her aunt will hand address the envelopes with gold ink.

Food Diary of A Pregnant Lady - (The Last 24 Hours)

I am writing this as a reminder to myself 5 months from now, when I wonder how I could have possibly gained 40 lbs. during this pregnancy.

3:00 AM - I am awakened. I have to pee, someone is kicking me from the inside and I am starving. I walk downstairs in the dark to find a granola bar. Seems like the only sensible and convenient thing to eat in the middle of the night.

7:00 AM - Take 1 prenatal horse pill and 3 Ibuprofen (believe it or not, these are Dr. approved) for the persistent headaches.

7:15 AM - Breakfast. Egg on toast and a can of Coke. (Not so Dr. approved)

7:25 AM - Still hungry. Second breakfast. Egg on toast.

9:00 AM - Drive by the donut store. I resist the urge to pull in and get one. Remind myself that donuts were my downfall in the last pregnancy.

9:20 AM - Eat a Cadbury Egg that I picked up in the gas station on a whim a few days ago. WHAT?! I don't even like those things. I never have! Not even as a kid! But I wonder why because they are quite tasty.

12:30 PM - Lunch date with a friend. I order the burrito/taco combo plate with a side of beans and rice, another coke. I practice some restraint and only eat 85% of it.

1:30 PM - I tell myself that as a Pregnant, I am no longer allowed to eat Mexican. I feel horrible.

3:00 PM - Handful of mini chocolate chip cookies.

5:00 PM - First dinner. Half of an avacado and the remainder of Cam's grilled cheese.

5:15 PM - Two spoonfuls of Cam's superman ice cream.

5:45 PM - Remove Cam from his timeout chair and crack a mini bottle of red wine. That equals one glass, so all of you pregnancy health nuts out there, don't get all crazy on me. My Dr. doesn't mind the occasional glass.

6:00 PM - After a day of stuffing my face with grotesque Mexican food, I decide that chicken salad would be our best option for dinner. Start prepping that. Crack another mini bottle of wine. (Shhh. Not so Dr. or husband approved).

7:00 PM - Feel slightly better about myself. Perhaps due to the light meal and wine.

8:00 PM - The vanilla ice cream is calling my name. Have a bowl of that with chocolate sauce.

9:00 PM - Thoroughly disgusted with myself, call it a night and vow to eat better tomorrow.

French Letterpress Invitations

This is one of my favorite wedding suites to date. Jackie is have a destination wedding of sorts in Cannes, France. Her inspiration was sort of an Art Nouveau style with ornate, French details. Her original colors were plum and apple green, but with a wedding by the sea, we decided that the soft aqua was much more appropriate, and I am so glad she did! The subtleness of the aqua, paired with the contrast of black makes such an impact.

For the graphics, I chose a swirl pattern that reminded me of the ocean waves and added the speckles for interest and an unexpected detail. You could even say they look like grains of sand. :) Fot the French details, I used a lacy looking boarder and used it sparingly within the booklet and on the thank you card. We also incorporated a bit of French with the English translation on the pieces for fun and personalization.

The bride really wanted to have letterpress, but had to work within a budget. So we letterpressed the invitation and booklet only, and offset printed the remaining pieces.

With guests coming from all over the world, she wanted to include information about travel options, hotels and things to do while in Cannes. The best way to combine all of this information was in a booklet. It even has space in the back to write notes. This way, guests can carry it with them. We eliminated the traditional response card to save, and she is having her guests email her with their RSVP. The other pieces included a weekend timeline and an invitation to the rehearsal dinner.

Everything was packaged beautifully with a simple cord wrap in variegated colors of blues, greens and aqua.

Valentine's Day Card

My friend and wedding industry pro, Lindsey Nartker asked me to help her with her rebranding project.

Lindsey, of the formally named, Lindsey Nartker Designs, has revamped her business name and added more services to her event planning business. Now named Flourish Event Design, Lindsey and her team not only offer event planning, but floral and decor design as well.

She thought it would be fun to send a Valentine's Day card out letting everyone know about her big changes. She wrote the cute poem and I designed the card for her.

Check out her website here, and see her blog for the latest happenings at Flourish Event Design.

Katie's Camp Invitations - The Wedding

Remember these?

Well here is the wedding that the invitations were created for, as shot by the amazing, Kelty from Steep Street Photography.

Earlier this month Jen from Green Wedding Shoes featured this wedding. Here are some more images that you didn't see. Read more about the makings of the wedding from the bride herself over at Green Wedding Shoes. To see even more eye candy, check out the Steep Street blog.

Katie's Aunt made a quilt as a gift for the bride and the groom with the entire timeline I created for them stitched into it! Amazing!






I love how lush and green everything is. What a lovely setting for an outdoor wedding.

Christmas Card 2010

Every year I do a Christmas card that goes out to past clients and all the great people I get to work with throughout the wedding season. I try to do a different layout and inject some humor into it so that it is not your typical Christmas card.

This year's topic was, Things I May or May Not Like About Christmas. I went all out with envelope liners (which apparently rubbed off on the cotton paper :/. I will not do that again), vintage stamps and hand done calligraphy.

The stamps came from The Paper Nickel. Holly has a huge selection of stamps and takes all of the work out of it for you. You can tell her your colors or theme and she will hand select stamps that match your project.

The calligraphy was done by Nicole Black at The Left Handed Calligrapher.

Kendall's Timeline Save the Date

For a more fun and casual approach to save the dates, we opted for a timeline of events leading up to Kendall and John's engagement. She came up with cute sayings for the important events in their relationship.

I also did another save the date, within the save the date, which I had never done before! Many of Kendall's girlfriends are getting married this year, and she wanted to make sure they would be able to attend her shower as well. She included a save the date to the bridal shower along with the regular save the date, to a select number of friends and family.

Napa Valley - Save the Dates

Brooke's wedding is being held at the Beaulieu Garden in Napa Valley. A gorgeous setting for an outdoor wedding. She wanted her save the dates to have a rustic, but soft, romantic and a European feel. Many of Brooke's guests are coming from all over the country so she also liked the idea of doing a vintage travel theme. Instead of the typical grapes and vines that you often see with a wine country wedding, Brooke is using olive branches throughout her decor, and wanted to incorporate them into her save the dates as well.

She chose the super soft and luxurious cotton paper.

We also did custom olive branch stamps, with translucent envelopes and fun wrap around mailing labels.

Colorado - Save the Date, Represent Your State

Hillary really liked my Santa Fe save the dates and wanted to recreate something similar for her Colorado wedding. Complete with mountain scenery and columbines. (Colorado's state flower).

Her wedding is taking place on a ranch in Telluride. She wanted her save the dates to have that rustic feel. We went with craft paper and the ever popular vintage map mailing labels.

Spanish Style Wedding Accessories

Andrea's beautiful wedding accessories to compliment her Spanish Style invitations.

Her color palette is full of rich wines, golds and plums, so for her accessories, we went with a deep plum with gold foil and thermography details.

The menus were die-cut to fit chargers, and are gold foiled, using the same ornate, iron work pattern from her invitations.

Wedding programs were printed on soft cotton paper, then rolled and tied together with gold ribbon.

The weekend itinerary booklet was printed with gold thermography and a timeline of events for the wedding day.

My Momma

Isn't she pretty. One of my favorite pictures.

When I Had Skillz

To finish up my week of looking back on my college days. I thought I would share some more of my artwork. These were assignments that I had to do for Drawing 101. It was a class where you touched on all different subjects for drawing, such a collage, still life, and yes, nudes. My first experience with nude drawing was insane! Lets just say, body glitter, a piercing where it shouldn't have been and something else that I do not think it would be appropriate for me to elaborate here on this forum! Lucky for you, I will not be posting any of my sketches from that session!

I wish my hand drawing skills were what they used to be. That is something I have to practice at. I do not have the natural talent that some do, but I thought it was a good effort. :) The majority of my work is done on a computer, therefore, my hand drawing skills have really diminished. Even my handwriting is terrible. In school they really encourage you you to sketch out your ideas first and then bring them to life with your design software so that you don't get out of practice of hand drawing. I used to do this, but I admit, I have gotten very lazy and skip that step and go right to the computer. Perhaps that will be something I will work on for 2011...

For this project we had to make a collage of magazine clippings first and then draw it.