Gifts

I'm working on the very un-fun task of taking my jpg of the website design and actually making it a functioning website. In the meantime 'tis the season for gifts so I thought I'd run down my favorite gift sites in case anyone is looking for a last minute holiday gift or a gift for your attendants.

To see what I got my attendants check out my knottie bio.

Now for my faves:


Mighty Goods - This is my favorite site to try and find different and interesting things for people. Like Red Envelope (another good site) you can search by occasion or recipient but I find Red Envelope where tends to be all "jewelry and home goods for women" and "golfing, booze, and grilling for men" Mighty Goods seems to have more rounded choices.




Charles and Marie- This kind of has crazy stuff and a lot of it is out of my price range but if you have someone on your list that is too cool for school this is a great place to start looking.



Greener Grass Design- To be honest I completely forgot about these guys until I went looking in my "gifts" tag on delicious to write this entry BUT possibly found a gift for my secret santa person (my husband's brother-in-law- could I have picked a harder person to buy for for the first year we're spending xmas together?!!)




Chiasso- I stumbled upon this site years ago while searching for something to get my very design oriented grandmother. It's similar to the others with very modern/rethought items.



Knock Knock- Again what would I do without my delicious tags? I must have found this awhile ago and marked it and note to self: this site is awesome- don't forget it anymore! If I haven't mentioned how much I love snarky things and (even more) well designed snarky things then... umm... I just did. WARNING: you may end up buying things for yourself instead of others. Like a "wheel o wisdom", or "Big Ups post its"


Day-Lab- has cool gifts for girls from fun jewelry and bags to instant sea monkeys aaaaand....


Night-Lab- has cool gifts for boys like hipster shirts, books about brothels in Nevada, graphic novels and comic books.


Curiosity Shoppe- has design-y, retro-y, crafty stuff which I'm realizing, after putting together this list, is what I'm all about. I don't want anyone to say "Oh my sister got this for xmas too!" when someone opens my gift. Also a lot of the things on this list fall outside of the typical scope of gifts which gives you an opportunity to find something that is even more tailored to your recipient.

Now, I really need to go through these myself and find a good husband's brother in law gift for under $25. :)

I'll have what she's having

So I maaay have said that the last one was my favorite buuuut I think this one is my new favorite. (Any bets on how many "favorite"s I have by this time next year?)

Without further ado:Left to right from top to bottom: Invitations/RSVP/Accommodations/Map (see below for more description), Menu, Table Number, Place Card, folding diagram

This one takes some explaining too. First of all, all the designs posted are usually at about 60% of their size once you double click to get the "full" size otherwise you'd have to scroll all over the place to see them. Since this design is 4 times the length when it's unfolded- it's about 30%.
In the bottom right corner there's a small mock up how the invitation would look folded. BUT for jollies I'll walk us through it.

The invitation is 4 panels printed on both sides. This is another one where you can go to town customizing it to tell your story. For Harry and Sally the first panel says:

1 roadtrip
3 introductions
12 years
4 new year’s parties
2 friends
and in 3 months

Then the second panel opens to say:

1 happily ever after

Open to the third panel is a traditional invitation. The fourth panel is a photo of whatever your heart desires. An engagement photo, a drawing that has meaning to you, a family tree- it's up to you! That photo also happens to be the reverse side of an RSVP postcard that your guests fill out and mail back to you.

So that brings us to the back. As I said, the first back panel is the RSVP. The second panel is what I generally refer to in my head as an "extras" panel. I did "accommodations" for this design but you can do "directions", other events for the wedding weekend. For the last two panels I did a big map, so please if you're having your wedding in lower Manhattan- please make my re-drawing of half of Manhattan for something other than a fictional couple! :)

The rest of the elements are back to the 60% size you're used to, as opposed to giant-like compared to the invite.

What I really love about this series is that it has less to do with "My colors are 'BLUSH' and 'BASHFUL' and everything WILL be in one of those two colors even if it looks like the Church is covered in Pepto Bismol" (oh don't worry, though, we'll get to Shelby and Jackson from Steel Magnolias, oh yes we will) and more about creating a feeling for your big day. This says swank sophisticated fun wedding to me.

Hopefully it's saying nice things to you too.

That's what she said! [Old Version with added New Version]

I love the Office so when I started picked couples for invitations Jim and Pam were one of the first to come to mind.

These are a little farther out of the box that most marketing managers would go for but have endless possibilities for customization, and in case you missed it, they're a lot of fun. Also you can adorn them with as much office supplies as you can pilfer from your current employer!

Clockwise from top to bottom: Invitations, RSVP (front) and RSVP (back) [the RSVPs for this design are a postcard that your guests can mail back to you after filling out the proper forms and notarizing it {kidding}], Directions, Place Card, Table Number, and Menu.

The "Inter-Department Delivery" on the front of the RSVP is customized to highlight key moments in your relationship, jokes you may have with each other, or can introduce your wedding party.

Make sure you double click on the image to get a slightly large version so you are able to read all of the fields. If it's still too small and you'd like clarification just leave me a message and I'll let you know what it all says.

Finally some quick ideas I've had while creating these if you want to take it to that level:

• Organizing the place cards in a Rolodex


• Artfully paper clipping everything together in the envelope


• Having coffee drinks (with alcohol) as your signature drink at the wedding


• Powerpoint slideshow of the bride and groom at the reception


• Coordinating website for the wedding

If you have any more suggestions let me know and I'll add them to the list.

[Edited to add: Some things seem hard to read even in the larger size so under the names in the invitation it says "first name, last name" and under the Church it says "enter meeting location in the space provided above". On the RSVP the choices to reply are: "I plan on attending this meeting/I plan on attending this meeting and have cc’ed the request to these others in my department/I am unable to attend due to a previously scheduled budget conference call". Hope this helps]

[Edited to add- July 10th, 2008- the above picture is for the original design I had for this. I liked the concept but was never 100% about the actual outcome. Right before I opened the etsy store I had a burst of creativity and redesigned the line to the following.]

You're the one that I want!

Do-wah-do-wah-do-waaaa! Oo Oo Oo!

Grease fans? Anyone?

Well here it is: my 50s girlie-girl invitations. This will be available in a multitude of colors besides pink so don't freak out if you like it but haven't worn pink since your Mother stopped dressing you.

Clockwise from top to bottom: Invitations, RSVP, Menu, Table Numbers, Place Card, and Details (This can be anything you'd like. I've featured "accomodations" and "weekend events").


I'll also let you in on a little secret: I'm putting the finishing touches on one of my absolute favorite designs today so check back later and there may be another set featured that's wayyy down the other end of the spectrum from these... Curiosity piqued? See you later!