Starting Off Small

It finally feels like summer.

My schedule has cleared and my days are mostly my own. I'm slowly working my way back into my summer routine and art making. I find it difficult sometimes to regain my art "mojo" after a long absence from creating. I decided not to push myself too hard, but just start small.

Over the last week or so, I've made these little floral ACEO's.  They are nothing totally innovative or groundbreaking, just something I know and understand. I do feel the need change things up and try something new. Unfortunately, I don't know quite what that is yet. Until then, I'll keep plugging away, and it will come to me.

Tried and True is available for sale in my Etsy shoppe. The others will be up for sale shortly.

Ta-Ta.

Wedded Bliss

Ciao Ciao Friends! We're back from our wedding and honeymoon road trip. What an amazing few weeks. The whole wedding, including pre-party and post events went off without a hitch!

I'm sharing just a few pictures that were taken by friends and family at the wedding and reception at Wilson Creek Winery in Temecula, California. (I don't have the pro shots quite yet.)The weather was gorgeous and the winery provided a beautiful and elegant backdrop.

 

One of our good friends officiated the wedding. She did a fabulous job! It was so nice to have someone so close to us actually perform the ceremony. 

Matt's son Jack did a reading. Doesn't he look adorable in his tux? From the minute he knew Matt and I were getting married he told us he would be wearing a James Bond style tux. Love that kid! 

Matt's sister Carrie and my brother Kyle provided the music. They sang Iron & Wine's "Such Great Heights" as a duet, which was just beautiful!

 

Our reception was in the winery barrel room.  So cool! With very minimal decoration, this room was breathtaking.  We had one of these centerpieces on each table. Green spider mums were floated in the vase and were topped off by a floating candle. 

I was thrilled with all of the flowers at the wedding. All green, just what I wanted. The florist asked to take a picture to keep in her files as it was so unique. 

The whole day was just amazing and I wouldn't have changed a thing!  I'll be sure to share some of the professional wedding shots when they come. Our photographer was great too! 

Until next time! Ta-Ta.

9 Days and Counting!

I can't believe that in just 9 days, I will be a Mrs! I head out to California for the wedding on Monday, so my week has been filled with last minute details, phone calls and packing. I can't wait!

Since our California wedding is small, we are having a large reception back home in July. I just finished up the reception invites so that they can be mailed out while we are in California. Now that school is out and my days are my own, I actually had time to take some good pictures of these invites to share with you here!

Considering I would be making 140 invitations for the reception, I decided to keep them more simple than the wedding invite, which had an envelope liner, and several pieces enclosed within a tiny pocket folder. This invitation contains just  5"x7" card, an outer envelope and an envelope for the response card.

I used a handy little perforating wheel, that I picked up for a dollar at the craft store, to make the response card that can be detached and sent in.  Cool huh? Now,  I can't take credit for this perforated design; I actually came across this idea in the Etsy shop of the talented Michelle Brusegaard.  Be sure to check out her beautiful collection of paper goods.

I went with a totally new color scheme for this invite. I was inspired by one of the typewriters I picked up to use as decoration at the reception. Feels quite summery doesn't it?

Though I do love the look of hand addressed envelopes, time was not going to allow for that.  Just as I did for the wedding invite, I created a wrap-around address label, that features our return address on the back. I'm very pleased with the way they turned out and feel proud that I was able to design, print, and cut all the pieces myself.

All of the paper and envelopes I used for both the wedding and reception invites came from the Paper Source. Love that place! The quality of the paper is outstanding, is easy to print on, and shipping is out of this world fast!

OK, I'm off! I'll be sure to post some wedding pics when we get home in early July.

Ta-Ta.

On the Hunt

Can you believe it??? 2 blog posts in 2 days!

Matt came up with the brilliant idea of utilizing his typewriter collection as decoration for our wedding reception in July. We  hope to be able to put a manual typewriter on each table, and ask our guests to type us a note. That way, the typewriters really do double duty as both table decor and guest book. Love it!

Matt has a few typewriters, but not nearly enough to deck out each table, so we are on the hunt. I've reached out to friends and family and have been scouring local thrift and antique stores in search of these adorable relics of the past.  I have managed to find 9 so far and this Underwood is by far my favorite.  I got it for a steal in a crazy little antique store in Clinton, Wisconsin. Score!

So here's where you come in blog friends. Do you live in the greater Rockford and have a manual typewriter sitting around that we might borrow on July 30th?  We'd be happy to pick them up and return them to you. Please let me know. I promise we'll be nice to them!

Ta-Ta!

Spring Break (Work)

Well hello friends! Long time no see.

It's finally Spring Break at school and I've had some time to catch up on things I've been meaning to do for months now (like write on this blog!)

With just 51 days to go, wedding planning has been taking up a great deal of my time. It's exciting, but geez, I'm tired! This week I decided to knock off the few remaining details I need to wrap up for the Temecula Wedding, one of them being wedding favors. As an artist, I knew I wanted to incorporate my art into the wedding favor. I decided to make card sets, a gift I'd hope that my guests would appreciate and actually take home with them. I realize that the handwritten note is dying, but I hope these cards encourage my guests to write!

The artwork that I decided to feature on the cards may look familiar to some of you. This piece started its life as the backdrop for my wedding "Save the Date" card (seen above).  I came across the original watercolor and collage backdrop today, and decided to finish up the composition to use as the imagery on the cards. 

I filled in the negative space with more of my abstract flower forms and added a little more embellishment with my trusty white gel pen. I decided to add a little pop of orange in the right corner just to shake things up a bit. I'm happy with the results, and I hope that my guests will like them too!

My next artistic endeavor is to create reception invitations. We are having a small wedding at a winery in Temecula, California and then having a large reception here in our hometown when we return. Though I love the color scheme I have chosen for the Temecula affair (chartreuse green, black and white) I decided to shake it up a bit for the reception. Stay tuned for more details soon!

Try. Everyday. An ACEO

2.5" x 3.5" mixed media on Bristol Board.

This is my first piece in about a month.  I feel a little rusty, but I'm glad to be back to work. 

Just like always, I just happened upon the text I included here while flipping through a magazine. The words I clipped seem like a good mantra for me right now. I'll try, everyday, just to do a little something artistic for myself.

What is your current mantra?

My Etsy Wedding Registry

Mid-Century Modern Inspired ... FlotsamFurnitu... $450.00	Silverware Stripes - set of ... kathymellor $64.00
Bowl Geometric Decorative Bl... sewZinski $38.00	Magnetic Spice Rack Tins Con... saltcityspice $32.00
Urban Throw Pillow - Style n... NestaHome $35.00	8x8 barrie quote clock. mbartstudios $45.00
Crochet Cotton Dishcloths - ... Sweetbriers $10.50	Custom round monogram, scree... vital $96.00
Mid Century Vintage Footed S... jenscloset $18.50	Vintage Enameled Gas Station... BarkingSandsVi... $90.00
letter J GlamDecay $2.00	Moka Express cotton tea towe... mengseldesign $13.00
iRetrofone Classic - Deluxe ... freelandstudio... $250.00	Nostalgia - set of 9 photo b... SusannahTucker $140.00
Vintage Mid Century Eames DC... rhan $225.00	Recycled Chenille Sea Urchin... Hepstyles $70.00

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com A/B image testing.

As lovers of vintage and handmade, Matt and I would love to register for our upcoming wedding on Etsy. There are so many incredible things here that you just can't buy in a store!  

Though I created this collection all by my lonesome, I know that Matt would agree with my choices. He is a huge fan of the "Mad Men" style.... He's drawn to Midcentury Modern, all things Scandinavian, clean lines and simple silhouettes. As you can see, his tastes have rubbed off on me! 

I was able to import this Etsy Treasury, links and all, with a hack I came across on Whale Shark Websites by way of Twitter.  What an easy way to import a ton of links in a hurry! 


I hope to have some new artwork to show you in the near future, but don't hold your breath. There just doesn't seem to be time for that at the moment. 


Ta-Ta!