The Future Mrs. Darcy

Throw your mittens around your kittens and AWAY WE GO!

2009-10-12T12:07:00.003-04:00

So you've probably been wondering where I am and the answer is I've been working my wee tail off to get the new site up and running! Oh and I sprained my ankle which if anything has only helped by leaving me stranded in front of my computer for hours on end.

Here's what I see on my end but if you're not a Firefox 3.5.3 and on a mac... well I just hope it looks the same as it does on my end! I'm working on other browsers so if it's not 100% just stay tuned.

There are a lot of new features; I almost don't know where to begin! First of all, you can change your RSS settting or blog roll because The Future Mrs. Darcy website and The Future Mrs. Darcy blog are now one in the same!! Blogger and Wordpress don't play as nicely together as I would like though so I'm going through and manually re-adding all of the photos so as of now anything pre-late June '09 will have a lot of crazy looking code in it. The new RSS feed URL for Feedburner/Bloglines/Google Reader/etc is: http://thefuturemrsdarcy.com/feed/. If you don't use RSS just go to: http://thefuturemrsdarcy.com/category/blog/

Second, you can streamline your planning process by sharing you new favorite design with the world via facebook, twitter, wordpress, blogger, linkedin, reddit, stumbled upon, myspace, or digg or save it to your delicious links.

Third, you can promote what designs you like the best. Each design has a "heart" and the 4 designs with the most hearts at the end of the week will be featured on the home page.

Lastly, you and email me with questions and start an order from the website. Just fill out the form below each description and you're on your way to checking "invitations" off your to-do list.

Head on over and let me know what you think!

Weddings galore!

2009-09-14T10:49:00.017-04:00

So if facebook is any indication, a good percentage of you is looking blearily at your computers this morning after a weekend of wedding madness. I've seen photos from 4 sets of wedding not including the one I went to myself, our very own Harry Potter girl, R.'s and let me tell you: my cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

Here's a quick hit of what I loved about it:

Everything was simple and elegant. Candles lined the way from the Church to the reception hall (bottom right) and they had different lanterns and tea lights as the centerpiece for each table. Both the Church and reception hall were natural wood and white so all the flickering candles gave it a magical touch without needing to find a way to float thousands of candles in the vaulted ceilings (a la Hogwarts). It seems odd to write, but with the simple elegant set up let them be center of attention. The wording in the ceremony, little wax seals on the place cards, Knight and Queen table toppers were little extras that helped carry though their personalities without being IN YOUR FACE but it was that their friends and families helped with what they could and were all just really exciting for the couple that all the minutiae that usually goes with weddings wasn't necessary.

Well done, Mr. and Mrs. V. I hope you're having heaps and tons of fun in Quebec!

Lady and The Tramp

2009-09-01T12:23:00.004-04:00

Hello All! I'm back from camping and NYC and loving this half summer/half fall weather we're having up in New England. Can it just stay like this until November please? Cool in the mornings and evenings and warm and sunny during the days? Please!

Anyway, as I've mentioned before I have some new custom designs that will be released soon but I really liked the initial designs so I've been re-working them to couples as well. We started off with Bonnie and Clyde (which I've already acknowledged is a crazy name but it's such a lovely invitation that I think it can carry it) and now we've got Lady and the Tramp.

The original background was the wood grain but I figured we'd already covered that in the last one so I changed it to this fun swirly pattern in red since Lady and the Tramp should be red in my head.

When I started working with this custom bride she had sent me the link to their wedding website and what should I happen to find on there but several photos of their darling pug. Now he didn't make it to their final invitation but he does make several guest appearances on their RSVP and directions card. If there are no pugs in your life (admittedly I don't think there are any in Lady or Tramp's) I can add in another breed or a whole other species (bird, cat, butterfly, hedgehog) or the line can end in a pretty bow or can just run off the page but OPTIONS!!- you've got some options.

Invitations, as they have been since the great pricing restructure of June '09, are $5 a set (set includes invitation, RSVP and 2 envelopes) which means for that same price you can get a samples of this invitation or any of the others with your lovely name and wedding information on it. This isn't available on etsy yet but feel free to email me at kristenhcox (at) gmail.com.

In Love...

2009-08-21T11:58:00.004-04:00

...with this photo.
Here's what Martha says about it:

60 Outdoor Party Ideas
Bottle Beauty Hurricane

Bars and buffet tables must be adequately lighted, but they're often located far from electrical outlets. An easy, inexpensive solution is to gather clear apothecary bottles and fill them with lamp oil and wicks. Arrange the bottles under a large hurricane for protection. We set these on a sturdy glass cake stand.

Yes, please! Of course, I'm suspicious, though. Do you have clear apothecary bottles in your house? No, I didn't think so. But quick google search took me to ebottles and SKS and faster than Emeril can say BAM!-- BAM! tons of glass bottles. Same went for the lamp oil and wicks. Now, the search for giant hurricane (I'm assuming they meant hurricane "lamp" or "lantern") didn't prove as easy because that glass pieces is HUGE! I mean check out how many bottles they fit in there. BUT don't fear, several years ago my mom had foot surgery around that holiday which meant that when she needed something I had to go track it down. I was sent out of roughly 12 billion search for a mystical kind of dish called a "trifle bowl" and I believe that will do just nicely in this situation. In fact, Martha sells one at Kmart for $10. Here's a photo so you know what you're in for:
And then when you're done you can make tons of tasty desserts. Or if you're worried that people will set themselves on fire not having such high sides, there's a cool lantern on sale at Pottery Barn that you can put your bottles in.

So it's official. This is totally possible.

In other news:
I thought of couple to use for the second of the custom invites but it requires some changes to make it work so it won't be showing its pretty face just yet.

My website for my corporate design work is done. Or hopefully will be by the time you click that link. If you know of anyone in need of some contract graphic design work, you know who to point them to (me!)

And lastly, it's my husband's birthday next week so he's taken the week off and we're heading off the grid so in the meantime... here's a funny video, a trip down memory lane, some lovely photos, awesome trinkets, and lastly, coffee cup drawings.

Bonnie and Clyde

2009-08-13T13:10:00.006-04:00

Since you're all brainstorming couple names for the upcoming reveal of the custom invitations in September, I thought I'd make it worth your while.

When I start custom invitations (or really any design work) I talk everything over with the client about what they're looking for and then I create around 3 designs as a jumping off point. Usually one will stand apart from the pack in my mind but for the most recent custom designs- I loved them all which is GREAT because now you all get 3 new designs coming your way.

First up is: Bonnie and Clyde. (Details to the right)

I know it's kind of an odd couple to go with but I was scanning through lists of famous couples and it just popped out at me.

Invitations, as they have been since the great pricing restructure of June '09, are $5 a set (set includes invitation, RSVP and 2 envelopes) which means for that same price you can get a samples of this invitation or any of the others with your lovely name and wedding information on it. This isn't available on etsy yet but feel free to email me at kristenhcox (at) gmail.com.

To add to your Oprah repitoire

2009-08-11T10:08:00.002-04:00

We've been through picture posing before but, really, you can never really go over it too much. This time it's not my vague remembering of a friend telling me about an Oprah episode she saw once but an article by a former model handler from Elite. Oooh Aaaah.

10 Ways to Look Good in Photos

I'm sure you'll have read some of the tips before but the one that really stood out to me is #2: "Put your tongue behind your teeth and smile, which will relax your face." Let me know if it works for you but I find it hard to put my tongue behind my teeth gently. I've been practicing this in the mirror for the last day and I keep having to clench my teeth together to keep my tongue from not showing. Ok. I think this blog post has officially gotten weird.

Better luck to you with the photo tips.

Yay! Exciting!

2009-08-05T11:46:00.002-04:00

More lovely custom invitations on their way out to the post office today! I like to wait until the RSVPs are due until posting photos of the actual invitations themselves so no one gets the drop on actual wedding guests. Buuuuut in the mean time think of couples that have a connection to trees (oak specifically) and/or good ole Southern roots. And if you want to hit the trifeca- pugs! Intriging stuff, huh?

Here's a sneak peak:

Spotted: rare weekend posting!

2009-08-01T13:29:00.003-04:00

So I'm usually not a big fan of Guinness World Record things but this one is so adorable and very appropriate for my site. I don't want to give it away but this is the setting of the "longest whisper chain" record. It's a little over 3 minutes and you have to wait until the very end but it's worth it!

Jewelry How To- FINALLY!

2009-07-31T14:48:00.012-04:00

Subtitle: I'm baaaaaack.

Whew so it's been a crazy week. I went to my parents' last weekend (where Bailey had the most fun ever playing with my Mom's dog, Jazzy, and swimming up a storm in the pool) and then my teenage sister and her boyfriend came to visit Monday-Thursday and since it's hotter than death here my sister's boyfriend stayed up in our air conditioned offices and long story short (too late)- I've been in severe computer withdrawal. I'm also desperate for people to make concise decisions. Is that something all teenagers are unable to do?

ANYWAY- ON TOP OF THAT I can finally explain the jewelry how-to since I've been purposely trying to be vague as hell. So. One of my friends does this thing where on the year that you turn the day of the month that you birthday is on, it's considered your "Golden" Birthday and you get a corresponding number of daily presents each day of the month. Let's use a real world example, shall we? Jen is turning 31 TODAY (Happy Birthday Jen) on July 31st so all month a bunch of us gave her 31 objects each day of the month. I had two days so I gave her 31 mini cookie cutters one day and decided that 31 of anything was a lot of something and she's kind of OCD clean freak* so I wanted to give something consolidated. Like a necklace! With 31 beads on it!! Fabulous idea, n'est pas?!

Oh wait. I have NO beading jewelry experience. I did take a metals class in college but that was more bending wire and using a blow torch (which I've since probably forgotten how to do).

So the first time around I just winged it and I basically finished but broke the chain by accident and all the beads started falling off which is completely un-related to the chain breaking and related to the fact I was kinda doing it wrong. Here's how you do it right:

First I have some new tools (and found correct names for the others):
Your chain probably won't have a failed attempt at beading on it though. Also the "flat head pins" are special jewelry pins (they're not sharp) so don't go raiding your sewing kit.

I had found some translucent purple, green and white beads that reminded me of glass and the ocean so I was going for a big cluster like coral or something. If that's not your style- spread those beads out! And we begin:

Step 1: Take a pin and add your desired bead(s) on it. I sometimes had to use the small beads as a stopper because the larger beads had holes that were ever so slightly too large for the pins and some were falling off. The examples below only use the one beads though.

Step 2: Using the round nose pliers bend the pin so it's at a 90 degree angle like this:

Step 3: Keep the grip on the bead the same and using your free hand bend the wire back over the top edge of the round nose pliers making a question mark shape like this:

Step 4: Add the chain to the end of the pin. Sometimes I'd move the chain to the curve of the wire so chain would be on the left and pliers keeping it on on the right but whatever is easiest for you.

Step 5: Wrap the end of the wire to coil around itself creating a loop for the chain that will keep the bead secure. (The photo in Step 6 without the pliers in the way will show the desired result)

Step 6: Admire your handiwork.
Step 7: Once I had a couple of beads on I wanted to make sure it was staying even from left to right so I attached the clasp to the smaller jump ring and both to the chain and the larger jump ring on the opposite side. I forgot to take any photos though so read up here on the proper way to use jump rings. It's basically bend it towards you to open and backwards to close again. I'd model it on my leg and pick out a new spot for each bead.

Repeat Steps 1-6 until you have the desired look. Again- that's my leg. I'll see if I can get a photo of the birthday girl in her finished necklace so they'll be a more proper end to the post.

There you have it. I think it took one and a half DVR'ed episodes of The Closer from start to finished (after I'd taken off all the beads done incorrectly the first time and repaired the chain).

Oh-- repairing the chain. That's what the wire was for. It was the same process as 1-6 but done to both sides to create two loops which each attached to one side of the wire.

Anyway this was quick, cheap, and easy once someone told me the correct way to do it and could be a great bridesmaids gift option. OR to be even quicker, cheaper and easier- EARRINGS! If you make either or both or something similar, send me a photo and I'll get a little gallery started.

*Hi Jen! :D

Chill pill, dude.

2009-07-23T14:16:00.004-04:00

(This is what we're trying to avoid)

So here we find ourselves. Smack in the middle of wedding season. Let's take a deep breath.

I've always thought when I was ready to have kids I'd want to plan it so I wouldn't be 9 months preggers in August. But for some reason I never equated that gem of knowledge to other aspects where it might be valid like "I don't want to spend my entire summer freaking the F out planning a wedding" when I set a September 15th date. In fact, I compounded it by moving from DC to MA at the same time. But that's my own bowl of crazy.

And it seems like a lot of people are in that boat. Every time I chat it up with a bride-to-be lately at some point they half shout "IF I EVER MAKE IT THERE!" and by "there" they're referring to it "THE BIG DAY". In honor of all of them I'm going to pour a flute of champagne* on the ground for all my brides who've fallen down the rabbit hole of insanity.

Remember it's all about getting MARRIED. You about to hitch yourself to one hell of a man who has been smiling and nodding (albeit somewhat terrifiedly) about fabric swatches and flowers and guest lists and favors and more. Do you know where I got the name of my business from? Have I shared that story yet? Well, it's been awhile if I have. This is from the most recent Kiera Knightley P&P:

Mr. Darcy: How are you this evening, my dear?
Elizabeth Bennet: Very well... although I wish you would not call me "my dear."
Mr. Darcy: [chuckles] Why?
Elizabeth Bennet: Because it's what my father always calls my mother when he's cross about something.
Mr. Darcy: What endearments am I allowed?
Elizabeth Bennet: Well let me think...”Lizzie" for every day, "My Pearl" for Sundays, and...”Goddess Divine"... but only on *very* special occasions.
Mr. Darcy: And... what should I call you when I am cross? Mrs. Darcy...?
Elizabeth Bennet: No! No. You may only call me "Mrs. Darcy"... when you are completely, and perfectly, and incandescently happy.
Mr. Darcy: [he snickers] Then how are you this evening... Mrs. Darcy?
[kisses her on the forehead]
Mr. Darcy: Mrs. Darcy...
[kisses her on the right cheek]
Mr. Darcy: Mrs. Darcy...
[kisses her on the nose]
Mr. Darcy: Mrs. Darcy...
[kisses her on the left cheek]
Mr. Darcy: Mrs. Darcy...
[finally kisses her on the mouth]

That's about to be you! You're going to be "Mrs. Darcy" and be completely, and perfectly, and incandescently happy. Not always... but you'll have someone to go through it all with!

So screw favors. Screw flowers and crazy relatives and the like. They'll be great. Think about weddings you went to before you got engaged. Do you have one in your mind? Great. What kind of chairs did they have? Were they covered? What did you eat? What kind of centerpieces did they have? Hmm... do I hear crickets? If you happen to remember it all, you crazy loon-- go poll some co-workers. It's in the name of science and getting up from your desk.

What people remember is whether they had fun. And people will have fun if you're having fun. When you perform, even if you screw up if you just keep going- 90% of the people don't notice. If you fling yourself to the floor and stamp your feet, 100% of the people will notice. And that won't be fun for anyone.

BUT most importantly it won't be fun for YOU! So elect a bridesmaid to be extra chipper and bubbly so things stay happy (and not cry-y- ugh- puffy eyes- don't get me started) and make sure there are plants in the audience to start dancing and to keep it going. You'll be just fine and you'll make it there with all your hair intact and not in a pile around you.

*Symbolically. I a) don't have champagne on hand, b) would be so sad to see undrank champagne on the floor I might cry and c) would probably have to clean it up after.

Birdcage Veil How-To

2009-07-20T15:37:00.011-04:00

Good afternoon all! I am almost ashamed to post what I am about to post because it is just too damn easy and too damn cheap. It's ridiculous. A short while ago I went down to DC to help R. with her wedding veil since I (kinda-sorta) had practice making Brandy's party veils.

To do this exactly as we did you must begin by eating scrumptious mexican food (along with pitchers of margaritas, of course), watching copious Drunk History on YouTube (1, 2, 2.5, 3, 4), and discussing the pros and tragedies ("cons" is too soft a term in this instance) of fairy/faerie-inspired weddings. Then the previously banished husband/fiance team calls up and asks how things are going and you go, "Ummm yeah. It'll just be a little bit longer" and decide you need to get started N O W.

First review the piles of things you've bought or in this case what people have bought and foisted upon you.
We have 4 ivory silk flower pins from Claire's, wrapped wires with beads (check around your local craft store), feathers on wire (again, craft store has told of this kind of stuff), 2 colors of birdcage veil (which sells at fabric stores for around $5 a yard), regular bridal veil (smaller holes), scissors and a hot glue gun on-hand (off screen). The silk flowers from Claire's were (I'm told) $5 a piece and if you're looking for silk flowers YOU MUST GET THESE. The reason these flowers are amazing AND why we didn't need the glue gun was they had both a safety pin AND a hair clip attached to it. And by "hair clip" I mean this:

If you have thick hair or don't think this would do the job they also sell ones just like this with grooves to lock your hair in a bit more but either way if you have a silk flowers you like that don't have clips or safety pins of them, you can get clips/pins like this and hot glue it on the back. But we didn't need to.

R. isn't entirely sure how she wants her hair to look but she does know she wants it low on her head and the veil to cover it so we played around with some looks. We decided we liked the ivory veiling (as opposed to the white) with ivory flower. Starting with the top gather the fabric from either sides to the top. This, unfortunately, looks like a giant tangle in all photos so I made a little diagram:
Pinch the fabric where there are the finger prints and bring to the top corner. In other words, create 2 or 3 pleats on each side to bring the top and bottom corners of each side together.

The photo below was a trial was one flower and many pleats to make a more bubble-like shape around the hair:

But we all ended up liking the two flowers with a more open flow-y veil, as seen below:
(These were just trials to get the look down which is why you see the ends of the veil on the right.)

Since we weren't sure about the final hair AND we were using the two flowers we decided to make an adjustable veil. I'm pretty sure we're coining a phrase there too. The Future Mrs. Darcy- Home of the Adjustable Veil!!

Anyway, we gathered up either side of the veil with a minimum number of pleats and pinned it together using the safety pin attached to the flower BUT we kept each side separate so each side of the veil is attached to a single flower like this:

To attach to R. we slide each flowers' clip in from opposite sides above her hair-do. This way we're not fixing the veil to the impromptu bun that we had her in while we were creating. We then hot glued some of the beads on the wire to the underside of one of the flowers so they could poke out with a little extra shine and texture.

Here's how it looks on:

Feathers and beads and actual (fake) birds are all optional as well. Either sew them on or hot glue it on but make sure all your work is covered (obviously) by feathers or petals or veiling. This process is all about just trying it out so maybe instead of the "make a fake dress out of toilet paper" game at the bridal shower maybe get some craft materials and let your friends and family help out on the trial and error.

So we were done... and we had all this stuff left over... and a camera out. GAG REEL!

If you have any questions just let me know! Also, all beads are a go on the jewelry How-To, I just need to find some other pliers to put on the clasp, but that is for a later date!

So instructions ARE good... hmm. Interesting.

2009-07-17T16:16:00.003-04:00

So here are all the ingredients for the jewelry how-to buuuuuuuut well I nearly finished and IT BROKE! IT FRIGGIN' BROKE! LAST BEAD-- BROOOOOKE. Crap. So went to the bead store and SHOCKER- asked for a general guideline of how to proceed. For not knowing a damn thing I did pretty well but I now have some better pointers. So if you have some pins (top left), beads (bottom left from 15 to 60 cents a piece), clasp and jump rings, cutty snippy jewelry tool and roundy bendy jewelry tool (top to bottom- each $8) and some chain (that I'd already put two beads on) then you will be ready to go when I post correct instructions!!

Now I just need to go re-do the entire necklace. This bringing back frogging knitting anxiety that I had back in the day* but I'm SURE a beer will help!

*I'd love to be able to say I don't need to frog anymore because I'm the knitting shit but alas, it's because all my knitting stuff lives in a big storage box in the basement and doesn't get much love these days. Although YOU KNOW this has been snagging by eye for awhile-- Mrs. Darcy Cardigan-- why you gotta be so cruel knitting gods?!

Whew!

2009-07-16T15:01:00.001-04:00

I was in DC last week then had some monitor issues (that have now been resolved- finally) but unfortunately not feeling so hot today. Stomach has not been friendly and there's been some slight dizziness (wtf?!) so I may go sit and think of something brilliant that I'll share tomorrow.

Toodles!

Oops!

2009-07-08T13:43:00.004-04:00

I'm currently working on a "How-to" jewelry project, which has been much easier than I thought (I have no jewelry experience) but as I was attaching the last bead I somehow broke the chain! And I saw somehow because I was kinda sorta watching tv...and eating... at the same time so not sure how it all went down but I'm pretty sure it's easily fixable- I just need a "jump ring". I think. Everything I've looked at online seems to say "jump ring" is to "jewelry" as "carbon" is to "life" so I'm placing my bets there.

The second "How-to" I'm flying to DC tomorrow to do. I'm going to work with R. (of Harry Potter fame) to make her veil. I made veils for Brandy's (from Modern Toile) birthday last year so I'm sure this will be as fun. I don't have written or photo documentation of how those veils were made but if you just CAN'T wait the recipe is kind of like this: bird cage veil (from fabric store) + fake pearls (which you can't really see in the photo) + bag of feathers + hot glue gun + beer (for imbibing although any alcohol will do) = veil. Ta-da.*

*The real veil how to will be more informative- don't worry! :)

Martha's Crafts

2009-06-29T10:56:00.009-04:00

For some reason about 2 months ago I went momentarily ga-ga (more so than normal) for Martha Stewart and signed up for a slew of daily emails. Because apparently getting 20 you-asked-for-it corporate emails (target, IKEA, macys, crate and barrel, borders etc) a day just wasn't enough for me! BUT Martha's have been kind of great. I get a dinner email and craft email every day.

I'm not sure about you but just about every other day I have a near melt down at 5:30 when Michael and I look at each other and go "what do you want for dinner?" "I don't know- what do you want?" and back and forth that goes. Now I have little email folder called "dinner" and everytime I get something that seems appetizing I save it in there. So the other night we had:

Aparagus and Gruyere Tart.

First, it actually looked just like the picture (which almost never happens); second, it was ridiculously easy to make and third, very tasty. Also, it looks really fancy-schmancy so if you needed some finger food for a bridal shower- there you go!

Next, there are two crafts that would be perfect for weddings. I can't justify buying every Martha Stewart Wedding issue lately so forgive me if these are repeats.

Under a Big Sky: Craft How-Tos and Leaf-Covered Candleholder
and

Both nice and nature-y but each in a different way.

Linkage

2009-06-25T14:31:00.008-04:00

So it's Thursday... the day is winding down... it's maybe been gray outside your window for so long that you can't remember what the sun looks like... you might need to just go download the new Wedding Style Guide. I wrote about them back in May and what I didn't realize then is that is besides having awesome free downloads, the downloads of past issues are only AUD $4.95 ($3.96 US)! Instant gratification for cheap!

(photo by AMYATLAS.COM)

Doesn't that just look fun and bright and summer-y? OH you know what ELSE looks fun and bright and summer-y and if I had known was possible would have totally been in my wedding?
Cotton! Yes! The fabric of your life! As featured in NY Magazine's Weekend Bash in the Country. Also as in says in the caption "The best part is that cotton doesn’t die, so I’ll have it forever." Wha? I can't testify to the accuracy of that, but even cooler if it's true!

Lastly, I kept seeing the AMAZING Jordan from Oh Happy Day! Mentioning posts she's written for Project Wedding. Since everything I see that Jordan creates on Oh Happy Day is so wonderfully well-thought out and creative I headed over and was really surprised at what I found. Project Wedding looks like it's giving The Knot a run for their money! There are tons of wonderful ideas like this:DIY Weddings: Mapping it out!

and this:

DIY Weddings: The Purple Picnic

So lots of pretty pictures to look through to make it to 5pm! Enjoy!

Awesomeness

2009-06-24T17:21:00.004-04:00

So despite the incessant rainyness (raininess? meh- I'm making up a word so let's go with the first) in Boston I have found AWESOMENESS.

First- I agree with Kathryn from Snippet and Ink and this is "currently my most favorite wedding ever" too. Why?

(photo by Josh Goleman)

Yeah. Prepare to blow your mind. The first several photos are photos of them getting ready then it escalates to you gasping a lot then finally by the end you're just doing silent guppy mouth gestures. Also I was really glad to see that they had a wedding planner. I'm not saying that the couple is any less talented but I'm always glad to see that someone didn't just fall into being amazing with no wedding experience. By the way, in case you're in the South, their wedding planner was Liz Demos from Vintage General, a blog I may have to start stalking.

Secondly, I came across Camp Comfort via Nib's Blog and HELLO, NEW HAIRSTYLE!

(collage by Camp Comfort)

I've (thankfully) come to my senses and realized summer in all its humid glory is not the time for me to getting bangs but when Fall rolls around my hair should be long enough where it can be cut to that. The woman in question is apparently Alexa Chung who is "an English television presenter, model and fashion journalist" (thank you Wikipedia). Camp Comfort is definitely bumping out something on my google reader (I'm trying to restrict how much I have on there otherwise I get overloaded) and will hopefully help get me past my summer style which has been dubbed "out of work camp counselor". Iterations have been "slutty camp counselor", "this is the only time I get out camp counselor", or "my clothes are the same age as these children camp counselor" so it's nicely ironic that Camp Comfort will bring me to a newer better level.

Voting Has Begun!

2009-06-22T17:49:00.005-04:00

So remember when I was all stressed out getting the holiday card ready in time? Well in the half an hour I had left I made ANOTHER one after that. The little girl in the other photo was just too frickin' cute to pass up.
I had a bell quote floating around my head and I went with "The bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe" from the Polar Express but after it was posted I remembered the one I REALLY wanted to use "All that the children could hear was the ringing of bells" from Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales (which his read of is just about my favorite thing to listen to around Christmas despite the fact it's about 20 minutes long).

But voting is open so please please please go vote for the one above or the one below:

You can click on the images to get to their pages on Minted.com!

HOLY CRAP!

2009-06-15T10:36:00.005-04:00

Ahhhh so I knew minted was doing a ginormous xmas card design and I kept MEANING to enter but with the whole losing of the job (did I mention this before- meh- it's depressing- we don't need to dwell) I've been busy trying to both get the new The Future Mrs. Darcy site up as well as find some new freelance clients. This weekend I decided I should really enter and I knew the deadline was Monday so I'll work on it all day Monday and voila! So imagine me strolling upstairs to the office after the dog's been fed and whatnot, thinking about some breakfast and tea for myself, and casually replying to some facebook comments, then FINALLY head over to the Minted site only to realize the deadline is 9am pacific. Which- HOLY CRAP- sends me into a tail spin. PACIFIC?!? Think think think. When is pacific time?! Crap crap. So it's now 9am and by my calculations it needs to be in by either 12. Frantic frantic frantic type type type design design design. Fast forward an hour and a half and-- though I still have low grade adrenaline rush and my hands are both clammy AND shaking it's been uploaded!!
Back up to this past weekend where my last pairs of flip flops and more of our couch were half destroyed by the little pup and -- light bulb-- we have an idea. The only issue was I really expected the images to be of older kids. All the families were of a Mom, Dad and wee baby. Maybe it's just my family but all the Christmas cards we get are of various school age children and/or pets so I had to adjust and use our pup. Whew!

Anyway, as always, if it doesn't win, in 90 days I can sell it myself AND as a matter of fact, putting up all old minted non-winners onto etsy and hopefully the new site is one of my goals for this week! But hopefully it'll just win. :)

And NOW I think I'll get some of that food and tea I was thinking about 2 hours ago.

Getting close!

2009-06-10T11:36:00.001-04:00

Hello! I've been kind of AWOL lately- as I'm sure you realized- but I've been alternating by playing photographer and errand girl. Since you probably don't want to hear about my trip to Lowe's, DSW or Crate and Barrel (meh, maybe that last two aren't bad) but the photos of the invitations are pretty nice, if I say so myself. This is all gearing up for the grand unveiling on the website but ye olde programmer/husband has been extremely busy this week.

But in alphabetical order:

Adam + Eve

Allie + Noah

Ariel + Eric

Bogey + Bacall

Elizabeth + Darcy

Ginny + Harry

Holly + Paul

Jim + Pam

Josephine + Napoleon

Rose + Jack

Sally + Harry
(Photos coming soon! The first round didn't come out well so I need to re-shoot)

Sandy + Danny
(Again some photography issues with the rest of the pieces but I did get one of just the invitation)

Sloane + Ferris

So there you have it! Consider it your very own sneak peek!

Polls!

2009-06-02T13:08:00.005-04:00

Hey all! I've been working with my friend, Brandy, proprietress of Modern Toile Photography to get her website ready so she can FINALLY share all her photos with the world but the last little element we're working on is the logo.

If you wouldn't mind taking a gander at some options below and casting your vote, well, that would be just lovely of you! (Double click on the images for larger versions)

Which logo for Brandy's photography business do you like the best? (double click on an image to make the images larger)(trends)

I'm not entirely sure the javascript version will work so just in case, here's the direct link: http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/1672047/

Gracias!

Talkin' 'bout a clean desktop!

2009-06-01T12:58:00.004-04:00

To continue with the random bits that have been lingering on my desktop...

...first I bring you labels! I've been going through pricing for some custom invitations (which I've already half named the Faith Hill/Tim McGraw invitation suite in my head- I don't know why- it just jumped out at me) and it's $50 for a big old box of regular envelopes. The cheapest I can get them printed is $235 for 500 envelopes. Now, granted, if you're smart with what address you use you can use them for shower invitations, wedding invitations, thank you cards and whatever else you want but you're sitting on a lot of A7 envelopes with your name on them if the others come with their own envelopes.

But really who wants to spend another $235 when you're still going to need someone to address the "to" section later on anyway! Not I, Brown Cow. So that's why when I did my invitations and then later sent out moving cards --- WAIT HOLD THE EFFIN' PHONE. How are my invitations (which later became the Elizabeth and Darcy invitations) not featured on ye olde blog? WTF, mate? These are the times I wish I had an underling to yell at instead of berrating myself. We shall remedy that quickly, my dears. The posting of the Elizabeth and Darcy, that is. Not the underling, unfortunately. Anyway, where was I? Ah. Labels.

Those are a little beat up since they were the two that were returned when we flubbed the addresses but you get the idea. I super love the moving card label (left) for the Monopoly moving card (which is also for sale, so you too can have your very own!! In your very favorite monopoly block color-- I went with Illinois/Kentucky/Indiana red but it was a close call over PA/NC/Pacific Ave Green). We have a list of addresses (now corrected) which we use whenever we need to send out a mass mailing. Xmas cards, invitations- whatever, it's great.

Secondly I'll jump ahead and show my effin' invitations! (Shaking fist at mystified husband and dog). Ta-da. These are/were my invitations. The map is the unfolded inside of the written directions (which are below the map). I used labels again on the reply envelope (top right). The whole kit and caboodle went into the pocket of the Envelopement which I loved. The design on the back was someone I scribbled down on the metro and spent foreeeeever refining. The back has our first initials in what looks like a swirly pattern but the swirly pattern is actually "Cox" (my married name) in a funky cursive. No one really picked up on it which I actually like more because it was my little secret personal bit that I had added.

The essentials are all there for the Elizabeth and Darcy suite, as you can see, to the left, where the invitation is chillaxin' in my mint plant. The rest of the pieces can be found in my Etsy store along with a series of invitations in different colors to give you a better idea of what the invitation would look like in your wedding colors.

Don't worry, no swirling letters with my last name on the back. :)

Speaking of etsy, the next item to be cleared on my desktop (since it will be saved here for posterity) is the most awesome shirt ever. I came across this when I was searching for something to wear to my friend's 30th bday party but times as they are (combined with the fact I'm a tight wad) I just couldn't justify $60 and then another $10 for shipping. Grrr. I really want it though. I don't want this to be another "Sgt. Pepper inspired t-shirt that they no longer make for women and I should have just bought it when I saw it online 2 years ago thing!!!! @#$%$#^!!!!" I'm slightly bitter.

Don't you love it? AHHHH I LOVE IT. This will be a present to myself. I'm now not sure I want to tell you about because you could take mine. Le sigh. I'll be nice. It's from Les Enfants Sauvages, which is an awesome store name for awesome things. It comes in several colors and is made of "indian cotton veil" which I have no idea what that is but it sounds very soft. The proprietor will be at the Renegade Craft Sale in Brooklyn this weekend if you're in the area. Damn it! I was just in Brooklyn too.

The tear drop cut outs go around the back as well and it's got a tie of some sorts so you can pull it in at the waist just like Stacy and Clinton would want me to! Waahhh!

[Photo by LesEnfantSauvages]

Lastly I'll just throw some pretty pictures your way. The first was from Antler magazine which is an online mag that I read the first issue but wasn't really loving it except this photo. I have written down "Antler-Ozemhaluk" as the title of the image. I'm hoping that "Ozemhaluk" is some sort of photo credit to give credit where it's due.

The next photo (of the bride) was found on my search for wedding magazines around the world. It was on the home page of an Aussie magazine but I was never able to find the wedding that went with it (much to my dismay) but I liked the photo so much I thought I'd keep it around.

I tried to look it up from the photographer but I couldn't find it on his website and I'm beginning to believe that it's more of an editorial shot than a shot from a real live wedding ceremony.

Touché, internet, touché.

[Photo by: George Fetting]

Super lastly, we have something I was looking through today via Not Martha: Niki-lynn's photo stream on flickr. I was really blown away and then she had a birthday celebration photo and she's FIFTEEN YEARS OLD. If this turns out to be some sort of LonelyGrl whatever marketing bit- I'm revolting.

Ahhh clean desktop. Now I shall go finally work on my website after many months! Woo-hoo!

[Photo by niki-lynn]

Grab bag

2009-05-28T13:08:00.003-04:00

Hey there! Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. (How can it already seem like a distant memory?) I had a whirlwind trip to NYC for my friend's 30th and learned there are some amazing perks to knowing someone who is a sommelier. I have also learned that staying out to 4 am and drinking like you're on shore leave is not something you can just jump back into. :)

Things have been pretty cold and gray up in the Northeast which has been unfortunately reflecting pretty closely to how things have been going for me this past week (friend's birthday excluded) so I'm going to keep it simple and try and turn things around with clearing up all the things I've been saving on my desktop.

First, a gorgeous new font, Memoriam by Canada Type:All my loving, indeed. I'm always looking for scripty fonts that won't make people gag on wedding invitations (cough *scriptina* cough) and this definitely fits the bill.

Secondly I came across this surprise wedding on Studio7 (wedding photography). That's right. A SURPRISE wedding. The couple invited all their friends over for an "engagement party" and little did they know when they got there it was the actual wedding.

(photos by Studio7 Photography)

The photographers caught each of the bridesmaids reactions as they saw the bride in her wedding dress (I love the girl on the bottom left!) and apparently the brides brother told the rest of the guests that "the engagement had been called off... [dramatic pause].. because they're getting married tonight!" Talk about dialing it up to 11!

The next wedding I've had saved was found on Snippet and Ink and was planned by Alison Events. Growing up I started dance in Pre-K and continued to my senior year, was tech crew in Middle School for the musicals (I had auditioned but never got in to any of them but all my friends were in it so I still wanted to be apart of it*) and then in high school was in all 8 shows offered over the 4 years, and then 2 more shows in college so I think it's safe to say I liked the stage experience. So when I saw this wedding had taken place in a small club with the ceremony on stage, you know I was all over it.

(Above three photos by Adi Nevo)

The guys wore pinstripes and fedora, there was a slight Mexican vibe throughout complete with tequila shot and Pacifico waiting to the guests at their seats, a swing dance lesson before the dancing got started and the Mood Swing Orchestra for people to practice their new skills to all night long. I can't tell you how many of my friends from high school this would be perfect for.

Wow, my desktop is overcrowded. I still have 3 more random photos but I think those will wait until Monday. Have a great weekend!

Everyone who NEEDS this Memorial Day vaca-- please raise your hands.

2009-05-21T12:10:00.009-04:00

(Don't you just love Anne Taintor? We wanted have her magnets as shower favors but they were a little too much for us in the end. Le sigh.)
Well I am totally looking forward to having a couple of days off. My friend is having her 30th birthday party! YAY! This year both of my bridesmaids are turning 30 and my Mom is turning 60. Holy f-ing party planning, I know.

But that's not why I decided to blog today. (Unless you have some good ideas what I should wear to NYC this weekend- if so- abandon the rest of the post and email me, you can go back and read it later). I've always wondered where people who want a unique wedding dress go if they don't know a tailor or seamstress... well, you can go to shopflick and get this beauty from Mr. Larkin.

Or you can get this for everyone you know from the Beard Head Store:

Aren't choices grand?

In the immortal words of Lil John...

2009-05-15T10:18:00.005-04:00

I was cruising through Mighty Good blog on google reader when I happen to come across these little darlings:
And since this wedding season I actually have weddings to go to I was like maybe I'll spluge and get me some new shoes. Now let me note that I am not a shoe person. I currently wear my JUNIOR PROM SHOES to fancy events. Yes, over 12 year old shoes. I have really bad ankles and really sensitive feet so most of the time shoes shred my feet to blister covered ribbons then I trip and sprain my ankle (TMI? Sorry) so when I find something that mostly works-- I stick with it. But these are cute. They appear to be made out of some sort of cotton derivative not pleather or barbed wire (which I feel must be a secret ingredient in other shoes). So I figure-- totally J. Crew. I'm totally going to blow like $80* on these shoes but then I'll have cute colorful shoes so shut up little cheap-o voice in my head!

Click on the link from Mighty Goods, scan to see where I can get me some...

PAYLESS?!?!

WHAT?!? YEAAAAAAH!!!

I also like these which are on sale for $14.99!! They have a little bling which I'm usually not 100% down with on shoes but if anyone gets that close to my shoe I probably don't care what they think.

And these for $12.99!!! THIRTEEN DOLLARS!!! Basically for the price of a burrito, chips and guac you can get darling little shoes. And they come in 4 different colors so you can get orange shoes if you want and not worry that you have something it'll work with.

*Ok this is where my friend emails me and says "Awww you're adorable. You think nice shoes only cost $80. Try $180." but I write $80 because $80 is the way upper echelon of how much I would pay for the shoes pictured. Err... well probably any shoe provided it was off the shelf and not crafted by lechrechauns for me. Then I'd be willing to pay $140. Or pay them with thimbles of whiskey! Muahahaha!**

**Yeah so at this point I should mention that I had really weird dreams last night that included a Prince video with complete choreography that I'm pretty sure doesn't exist and my dog talking to me like the puppies in Air Bud so there may be some lingering effects... but the shoes aren't one of them!

Their labor of love

2009-05-12T08:37:00.007-04:00

On Thursday last week when I was gearing up for the Harry Potter trials, I found myself staring at that very last Harry Potter in the hizzouse inspired picture from Once Wed, and decided that I MUSTMUSTMUST find out more about it. To the left is the picture in question again so you don't have to go clicking around.

The picture is the combined efforts of Joy Thigpen, who has some lovely close ups of the above table as well as fabulous inspiration boards, and Our Labor of Love photography which you are just going to have to go take a look at after this. There's just no other way around it. Becaaaause, in addition to having ~~awesome~~ (what's one step above awesome? ahh yes, of course, thank you townsfolk) wicked friggin' awesome photos, you can totally spy on other weddings and use it as a giant inspiration board for yourself!

Like... maybe rethink the ban on line/group dances at the reception...

Or realize you don't need to grow your hair out for your wedding when this short to medium 'do looks so great (and thank you for the overhead shot so it will be that much easier to show the hairdresser!)...

Or find the perfect way to coordinate your bridesmaids in the winter without demanding jacket styles (the salmon colored wraps)...

Hello? Flowers? Get your printer and your pointing finger out! I want that, that and that.

Or need something crazy gorgeous that you probably wouldn't have thought of yourself? LIKE UPSIDE DOWN FLOWER CHANDELIER THING-A-MA-BOBS?!? Yes, please.ALL PHOTOS BY OUR LABOR OF LOVE

BRIDE BEWARE THOUGH-- WARNING WARNING-- if you click on the link that says "Smilebooth" on their blog, any holdout feelings on whether or not to do the whole photo booth thang at the wedding will be crushed. Obliterated. You will neeeeeed a photo booth. You'll give up the schmancy shoes just to get a photo booth. You'll wonder how you can start incorporating it into your non-wedding-related life. And finally, you'll want to work at Google because they apparently throw kick ass parties for their employees.

Distressed without the 100 year wait

2009-05-08T13:52:00.006-04:00

My friend, R., of Harry Potter in the hizzouse fame, asked me the other day if I knew about any ways to distress wedding invitations and- shockingly- I kind of did. Two Christmases ago my husband and I got his niece and nephew Watson Scavenger Hunt tickets (which are awesome and in many cities in case you're wondering) so I decided to make it a scavenger hunt to find the tickets. I got a little overboard and found myself in the kitchen with a lighter try to figure out how much is too much singed edges and trying to find things to stain the clues.

This is not quite a tutorial since you'll still have to play around with the technique but here are the results from my first trial.

(before left; after right)

Staining with Tea
I first started with a brewed tea bag concentrating on the corners and let that sink in for about 5 minutes, and gently blotted areas that pooled too much in the center over the text with a paper towel.

To keep the staining to the corners I perched the invitation over the paper towel and let that sit. Play with this time to see how much it will stain the corners.

This was probably the best idea from the new trials. I was trying to find a way to singe the edges without lighting it on fire because that tends to streaks of ash across the front and would definitely leave ash all of the envelope. I used the flat iron when the invitation was only slightly damp but if you do a slow fanning motion you can create a stiff curl (kind of like you would if you were flipping your hair).

So here's the before and after again. It's not a style for everyone but it's nice parchment-y look.

I printed several test versions so I can keep on experimenting. I'm thinking Coke maybe the next trial since it would stain and not smell (like coffee would).

And, yes, it's a Harry Potter invite. I did it quickly for something to test with but... I'm liking it. A lot. So you'll definitely see more of it in the future.

(The paper used was Paper Source Luxe Cream Cover. I also tried their Opal Cover which had a nice sparkle to it but the tea just beaded off.)

April Showers, where are my May flowers?

2009-05-07T11:20:00.005-04:00

In the Northeast we had a peak of sunny weather in the end of April. Just enough to haul out the grill and the lawn chairs and it's been dreary and rainy ever since. But at least it's about 50 degrees.

I think I've mentioned before that when I went to go pick out my wedding flowers I could name four (roses/irises, which I don't like and peonies/rananculus which were both out of season) and dislike both. Thankfully my florist had a stack of books and I went through and pointed.

Since then I've been getting my flower education slowly by surely through yoga. Strange, I know, but one of the women in my classes, Jeri Solomon, is a the owner of Jeri Solomon Floral Design and brings new arrangements every week and for all of us not quite in the know, leave a small card explaining what is what. I can now spot forsythia in yards in the neighborhood. Today we had lovely hyacinths (which I originally thought were lilacs but hey- they're pretty close- get off my back). :)

Jeri was a featured floral designer for Bloomingdale's Registry in April and I have some gorgeous pictures that might help you forget gray skies for a bit.

I really can't decide which one I like best. The first one is so vibrant and I love the textures but the second one had such elegant structure to it and the pop of the yellow against the black vase in the third one is so snappy. Now I suppose the real challenge now would be if I could say what everything is. I'm seeing orchids in all. Calla lilies in the last two. And I'm 80% sure those are gerber daisies in the last one. But then again, you could always just point and say "I like THAT one."

If you're in the Northeast definitely check out Jeri Solomon Floral Design. She creates gorgeous arrangements for weddings, corporate events, social events, and even if you just need to impress your guests with a kick ass arrangement in your house. And when I find a new spectacular flower from her yoga arrangements- I'll be sure to let you know.

Dum dum da dum

2009-05-04T16:57:00.004-04:00

So my searches of all things wedding from around the (english-speaking) world was kind of a bust. There is no foreign Martha Stewart that we just don't know about. The British, Scottish and Irish wedding magazine sites were pretty close to ours but in the sense it had links to vendors but no expansive image galleries.

I did find this though:

PRELUDE
1. Hayden Symphony No. 100 in G Major, South German Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor, Alexander Von Pitamic
2. Bach Air on the G String, The Hamburg Orchestra. Conductor, Robert Stehli

PROCESSIONAL
1. Wagner Wedding March from Lohengrin, The Hamburg Symphony Orchestra. Conductor, Hans-Jurgen Walther
2. Clake Trumpet Voluntary, Philharmonica Slavonica. Conductor, Alfred Scholz
3.Handel Music for the Royal Fireworks, The Munich Symphony Orcestra. Conductor, Albert Lizzio

SIGNING THE REGISTER
1. Shubert Ave Maria, City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor, James Fitzpatrick. Soprano, Charlotte Kinder
2. Pachelbel Canon in D, City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor, James Fitzpatrick

RECESSIONAL
1. Mendelssohn Wedding March from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Philharmonica Slavonica. Conductor, Alberto Lizzio
2. Handel Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, Salzburg Chamber Soloists
3. Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, Philharmonica Slavonica. Conductor, Henry Adolph

I'm not sure if they have this on the US version of Brides but to have samples of those to listen to those before would have been VERY helpful. For my wedding, the organist played samples for my Mom and I and we were like "umm, the first one I think".

I still don't know what we used. All I know is that I walked down the aisle to the same thing as Princess Di. That's how I was sold on that from the organist. Princess music? Yes, please.

The Queen's English

2009-05-01T09:23:00.006-04:00

In the post-Domino decor blog world (which sounds like it should be small but isn't) I feel like people have started gravitating to a couple of cool magazines from Australia like Real Living Magazine. This prompted a quick search to places that I thought would have similarly new and fresh wedding magazines. My first thought was Brazil (all those colors! all the culture!) but, oh right, I don't speak Portuguese. So back to those who speak English and specifically the Aussies and I found this:They have a nice blog and you can buy issues online (both digital $11.95 AUD [$8.68 USD] or printed $14.95 [$10.86]) if you don't feel like jetting around the world for a magazine but what I thought was best was they have a big ole free downloads section!

They're most idea for bridal shower (other various pre-wedding shindigs) and favors which is great because I feel like those are aspects of the wedding where you stop and think "Wait, THERE'S MORE PLANNING?!!?"

I'm liking this new theme at the moment so I'm off to find more across the pond (or WAY across) inspiration!

Because you'll need that hair for the wedding photos

2009-04-29T11:33:00.005-04:00

Sometimes you find the perfect image and in your rapture quick "save as" you don't quite remember to label it as something other than "wedding-idea.jpg" and then when you want to find where you got it from later-- CRAP. Was it Snippet and Ink? Or Martha Stewart? Brooklyn Bride?

Or maybe you're reading a blog and just found the most perfect photo ever and you want to know if it's part of a series but alas, your lovely blogger has forgotten where he or she got it from.
So you spend hours online searching for it and getting more and more frantic and clumps of hair get ripped out BUT NO LONGER!!!
This just saved my sanity. I had saved some images for general "later business use" but the place where I had listed them as being from isn't selling the photos 2 years later. Fast forward two hours later of me scouring sites until -- LIGHTBULB-- TinEye. Found where the photos are being sold now in roughly 3 seconds.

So now that you are keeping that pretty hair, I've been meaning to ask if anyone has any shoulder length hairstyles they want to pass onto me? [Awesome segue, I know.] I'm offering up chin length (and one shorter) looks in return.

The last one the face is blurred out because it's someone I went to high school with who's picture I stumbled across on myspace or something a long time ago. We didn't really know each other but I really liked her hair in the picture so I saved it. The first Katie Holmes image has been my go-to for awhile but I'm thinking about growing my hair out a bit for the summer.

Have a good hump day and hope TinEye helps!

Stickin' it.

2009-04-27T16:33:00.006-04:00

My latest design love is definitely packaging and branding. I've started reading a slew of blogs (err... um 2, Dieline and Brand New... but it SEEMS like a slew) and one of them mentioned something that really stuck with me: packaging is the advertising. Sure if you're a big company you still dole out the big bucks for advertising but when the consumer faced with 39 packages of new health conscious potato chips-- that bag better look good. And think about, how many of your favorite brands has re-designed lately. Or seems to re-design every other time you go to the store. (I feel like Green Giant frozen veggies that are targeted for some kind of health [antioxidant, healthy weight, etc] and Wheat Thins are always changing).

As a result a good portion of the packaging design coming out these days rocks my socks AAAAND has got me thinking.

(left: Student work by Shon Tanner: right: Azul Reál Cachaça by Adam&Co.)

(left: Student work from Melissa Adams (this is actually a lot like some custom work I've been doing but you'll have to wait to see that later); right: Student work from Eyal Baumert)

(left Est natural cosmetics by Satelite, right: Lovejoy Vodka produced by Integrity Spirits and designed by ID Branding)

How lovely, right? So this got me to thinking- does a wedding invitation really need to be paper? I've been writing this post for a couple days and thinking what could be accomplished by just using stickers. Looking at these packages you can definitely have beautifully designed stickers and I've been trying to think of cool ways to base wedding invitations around it. I have some ideas but I'm not 100% there yet.

The more I think of weddings the more it seems everyone has these grand ideas of what it HAS TO be and less about what COULD work. Less thinking outside of the box- more building something better entirely, if that makes any sense*. :)

*It's hot today. My brain may be melting.

I'm ridiculous

2009-04-24T16:54:00.005-04:00

I'm planning my escape into the sunshine and the Phish Gin and Juice cover just came on iTunes as I found this:
I think I made this like 5 years ago. I can't really remember why but I still think it's funny.

Have a great weekend!

Suzy Homewrecker

2009-04-24T15:04:00.005-04:00

My friend brought me a cute little apron (the Minerva) for my birthday* when she visited last weekend and I wore it the other day and my husband said "Ooh I like it, you look just like a little Suzy Homewrecker" I think he meant "Suzy Homemaker" but I think it's funnier this way.

Yesterday was full of general craftiness. First there was the sewing craftiness. I have a simple sewing machine from Sears that I got a couple of years ago and get inspired every once in awhile. I am BY NO MEANS a good "sew-er". But I have fun- and that's what counts in my book.

It all started with me smelling like beef. We're still training our puppy so I've gotten in the habit of carrying a handful of the soft puppy dog treats in my pocket. Now all my pants smell like beef, chicken, salmon or liver. Then Fiona on Burn Notice (on USA Networks) was occasionally wear a magical NON-FUGLY fanny pack and I remembered a cute wallet in Denyse Schmidt's Quilts and it kind of went down like this:

And then I realized that although I kind of like the idea of this hip hugging design that smaller would be better so I started making another smaller one and then something happened with the bobbin or rather the thread from the needle ends up wrapping around whatever encases the bobbin and yeah- no idea how to fix it so the other one is half done.

Second bit of craftiness was that I made Chocolate Caramel Crack(ers) that I saw a couple days ago on Smitten Kitchen and... well... Hi, my name is Kristen and I'm an addict.

(image from Smitten Kitchen- I didn't do as nice a job cutting mine)

Honestly, if you think your job/friendships/etc. are in peril: make some of these, don't tell them where you got the recipe from and believe me, they're going to have to hold on to you. Deb says you can add nuts (I used walnuts on half) BUT as I was considering sprinkling some on my grapefruit this morning I thought "coarsely chopped pretzels would be out of sight on this".

Hopefully it will be as nice for you (where ever you are) as it's forecasted for the Northeast this weekend-- we may see 80 DEGREES! AHHHHSOEXCITED! Go play!

*My birthday is Nov. 1st. I think she's adopted an annual birthday present concept where you get it when you get it and you'll get about one a year. I think it's a fabulous idea present-wise. Cake should always be there to acknowledge the actual day.

Minted Contest!

2009-04-22T13:06:00.006-04:00

As promised here is the graduation party invite I've been working on for the latest Minted contest:
I think it's a little more Urban Outfitters than the rest so I'm excited......buuuuut since it IS going off in a little more of a different direction I'm thinking I'll wait to post it until the submission date gets closer. Or I'll say "screw it" and post it later on today so I can forget about it for awhile since I'm already throwing it out in the world now. It's about 50/50 shot.

Also in the news- I bought a new hat. This is not the most flattering photo but I was mid-thought whether I should choose the LEAST expensive wine or the SECOND least expensive wine to not seem so cheap (I bought both instead! Choosing is overrated.)

(image by Modern Toile photography [link to come!])

And new Earth Day inspired news is that we've joined Boston Organics. I'm not sure if places like this are everywhere yet but I'm sure they will be soon. We've signed up for the cheapest 1/2 fruit 1/2 veggies every other week plans so every other Friday a box of delicious goodies show up at our door. It's like a cross between being in a cooking show and being rich (I pretend a magical butler picks the food and leaves it for us)

(image from farmfresh.org)

We ate kale the other night. KALE, people! I had a kiwi for desert the previous night instead of a Reese's peanut butter cup egg leftover from Easter. I think the plan tonight is to roast up the zucchini and potatoes on the grill since it's getting nicer. Hm, come to think of it, if anyone knows if you CAN grill zucchini and/or potatoes with good results-let me know that as well.

Whew!

2009-04-21T17:08:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was more like a "grueling landscaping day" as opposed to an "any wedding or paper-related day" so bear with me.

And hopefully the waaaay "after" pictures will be something like these:

(image from How Stuff Works Deck Ideas)

(image from www.remodeldesign.com/construction)

So that was yesterday. Today I've been working on some designs for the latest Minted contest for party invitations. I'm working on designs for the Graduation party because I want to do something that a 17/18 year old might actually like as opposed to just something that their Mom deems is okay.

But more on that tomorrow. :)

Just call me LiLo.

2009-04-16T11:19:00.005-04:00

The paparazzi is coming to town. My good friend and rampant photographer is rollin' into town tomorrow and will be here for the weekend which means a host of wonderful things: a) I'll have quality photos of the invitations instead of my wobbly hand photos (I need a tripod but haven't bought one yet), b) we'll get to go have swanky drinks, c) you may find yourself a wedding photographer if you live in the DC/VA/MD and d) maybe, just maybe, I'll get a new facebook picture. Totally lame, I know, but I'm pumped.

EXCEPT for the fact I'm now realizing that I'll have a photographer with me for 3 days. Weddings are a day of looking good- I need to look good for 3 whole days. Thankfully Mother Nature has accepted my "step up" for some nice weather from a couple of days ago and it's been gorgeous here so I'll have some natural light on my side but- my hair?! Disaster. Skin? Well, that's doing fine except for the fact I'm not pretty sure I just jinxed myself. Clothes?! The fear is rising. I may need to go hide under my desk for a bit.

But in honor of my neurosis I'm going to bust out the Oprah move for you all. My bridesmaids are way cool and therefore have been asked to be in other weddings. At my shower, Jenn pulled us all aside and said "Listen- when we take pictures at the wedding- this is how you have to stand. I heard about it on Oprah." We all leaned in eagerly the hear the Gospel of the Mighty Oprah. "You need to rotate your body about 15 degrees so the photo isn't taken of you straight on or you'll appear wide. You'll have your bouquet but you NEED to carry it with your arm away from your body otherwise you'll have a big fat smooshy looking arm. And plant the bouquet at your hip so it doesn't block your entire middle."

Check it out:
Look at those toned arms! We're not completely swallowed by bouquets! Just rocking it.

Boys kind of look they're worried about getting punched downtown but I'm not sure if there's a boy "Oprah Move". Eh, boys don't have to wear strapless dresses though so they're on their own.

Have a great weekend!

Taxes suck- have something for free!

2009-04-15T15:25:00.011-04:00

Yes--- FREE! In my trolling the internet for any free thing I could find after the IRS took everything short of a kidney from us, I thought, "Hey self, you have a business. YOU could give something away."

Self, that is a lovely idea! But what to give away? A quick ponder up to the heavens:
Oh right! Those fois bois* table numbers I've been meaning to make because I love the Martha Stewart Macy*s brochure with the fois bois cover I got while I was planning my wedding 3 years ago and finally decided that would be a good idea for table numbers and wrote it on my chalkboard ceilings to remind myself over three months ago but hadn't done anything with until my new custom bride mentioned her wedding was going to take place under an oak tree and found some lovely fois bois making it so much easier for me to make actual table numbers today!

Whew.

I made 7 different colors all with table numbers 1-12 (and named them increasingly silly names): [row 1] gray, marigold, red, [row 2] moss, sky blue, stained and [row 3] raw.

Click each of the color names above to download your very own copy. The files are all about 14MB so they may take a couple of minutes to download.

(sample page of "Raw" pdf)

If you still need more:

Subway is giving out free cookies,
PF Chang's is offering a 15% discount on your meal tonight,
buy a coffee at Dunkin Donuts today and get a free donut,
Walgreens is offering 15 free 4x6 prints (enter coupon code TAXDAY at W Photo check out on April 15, 2008 only),
board games are 10% off today at Troll and Toad,
McCormick & Schmick's is offering diners a $10.40 certificate for future use and there'll be $15 to $20 entrees discounted to $10.40,
MaggieMoo's Ice Cream and Treatery will give away single-scoop servings to customers at 200 stores,
Cinnabon will give out Tax Day Bites, free bite-size cinnamon rolls usually known as Classic Bites (from 5 to 8 p.m.),
T.G.I. Friday's will give Wednesday customers $5 Bonus Bites gift cards for food and beverage purchases of $15 to $25 and $10 cards for those who spend more than $25 as well as members of the 1,000-outlet chain's frequent-customer program also will get double points,
(for those West Coast readers) Taco Del Mar will run a promotion: "Taxes Suck. Tacos Don't." People can register at the Taco Del Mar website for an e-mailed coupon for a free tax day taco,
and I BET that California Tortilla is giving away SOMETHING but, alas, I'm no longer in DC so I don't know.

ENJOY! And it would be so very lovely if you send pictures of the table numbers if you use them. :)

*Edited at a much later date to add: I took french for 7 years and now am having a panic attack that "fois bois" is incorrect and it should be "faux bois" which seems to make more sense but google is showing both as viable. If anyone knows for sure, please let me know. Merci!

Gonna Make You Happy

2009-04-14T17:32:00.002-04:00

Hey all I'm writing this with a trim brush in my mouth since I've decided to re-paint my office without moving any furniture or drop cloths or anywhere to put this brush down but for fun I'll leave you with this video in honor of my husband getting Red Alert 3 and a new video card:

Crankypants

2009-04-13T14:37:00.007-04:00

Hope everyone had a good weekend filled with whichever religiousness you subscribe to and lots of candy-- because candy is universal and, by golly, you're worth it.

So as you see it appears my "crankypants" is mixed with a little "crazy shut-in" but that's how I'm rolling this monday. I'm all put out because I'm half tied to the house today waiting for edits which means I can PRETEND that I'm missing out on awesome things which I probably wouldn't do as opposed to sitting in front of my computer and cursing Windows Media Player plug-in from keeping me from watching the Lamb Cam. AND it's past Easter, Mother Nature, I'm no longer impressed with your low-50s weather. Time to step up your game!

But since I had a good food weekend I thought I do a happy little book review.
I believe I received this at my bridal shower. I wasn't quite sold by the cover and the fact it was a "Bride and Groom" cookbook but I love cookbooks so I was like "I'll check this out later". My bridal shower was in May in upstate New York and I was living in DC at the time knowing full well that after the wedding in September I'd be moving to Boston so it probably was also along the lines of, "I'm leaving everything in NY so I don't have to move it twice."

But fast forward to after the wedding living in Boston and let me tell you- this cookbook rocks my socks. The book jacket has pretty scallopped edges and the pictures are all lovely and, oh yeah, the food is great. I have made more recipes from this book than any other cookbook. I've made the:

Pizza dough from scratch
Flaky piecrust to go with the...
Personalized chicken pot pies
Guacamole
Pesto-- which went with...
Goat cheese, sun-dried tomato and pesto torta (which I brought to Easter yesterday and was sooo good)
Brie and champagne fondue
Chicken "divine"
Frittata with sun-dried tomatoes, cream cheese and basil
French toast with hot buttered run-maple syrup
Mom's "flyaway" Pancakes with Melted Berries (my favorite of the book)
Quick-and-Easy Drop Biscuits (the cheddar version which was so good that I opted for the left over biscuit today instead of a Reese's Peanut Butter Egg)
Harvest Apple Crisp
Great Robert's Whiskey Sour Slush
Mary's Bloody Mary's (although I never have Clamato around so I just used V8)

And yes, the last two are correct, there are drink recipes in the back! Also I've made 15 recipes, although that's out of many many more in the book, but FIFTEEN?!? That's amazing. That's got to be some sort of cookbook record. At least for me. But anyway--great cookbook-- and totally an impulse buy for your aunts, friends, cousins while getting other registry gifts at Bed, Bath and Beyond or Crate and Barrel so HINT AWAY!!

And the winner is...

2009-04-10T20:51:00.005-04:00

ARIEL AND ERIC ON THE DARK BACKGROUND!

(Ariel and Eric photo by Azetylen found on deviantart)

And by Ariel and Eric, I am referring, of course, to the Little Mermaid and what Hans Christian Anderson probably wanted them named. Nothing at all to do with a very powerful mouse. All Hans Christian Anderson, indeed.

Thank you to everyone who voted!!

Rut-ro George!

2009-04-09T09:17:00.005-04:00

I just took a look at the poll (on the right hand navigation) for the Ariel/Eric or Jackie/John invitations and we have a 3 way tie!! So in keeping up with recent elections-- every vote counts. I don't know who I'll call in for recounting votes and special election panels so let's just have a definite winner, okay?

I'm running off to yoga now but I wanted to share something else I found on my old CDs the other day:

This was a banner ad from Target's Club Wed that I saw the very first time I logged onto the Knot. I loved it. I thought, "Dress-- check-- just need to track it down." So I posted it to forums and scoured designer sites and email Target's main office and stalked their stylists' blogs and-- SQUAT! In the end I found another dress that was nothing like the one above and loved it and we've been living happily ever after since then. Moral of the story-- everything will be okay. Maybe not how you first envisioned it-- but it will be okay.

TFMD and the terrible horrible no good very bad day.

2009-04-08T13:19:00.007-04:00

Today my puppy is getting spayed, we got a flat tire on the way to the vet (necessitating me going to a tire store where I'll undoubtedly try and get upsold and then have to wait around forever and a day), a possible freelance design job that was ABOUT to go to me ended up going in-house, and my abs and arms are so sore from yoga yesterday every time I sneeze I feel like someone punched me in the stomach.

Blerg.

But in the vein of my body being in pain, I thought I'd share a trick for killer arms from my old yoga instructor that DOESN'T include push-ups or weights. Now let me get out that I am not a doctor, although I do watch a lot of House (btw-- OH MY GOD. That is all I will say for those who haven't watched it yet), so I'm not qualified to even tell you that your arm bone is connected to your shoulder bone so don't blame me if you do this and your arms fall off or something.

Step 1. Press your elbows and palms together and make your upper arms parallel with the ground (you'll probably be staring at your wrists).

Step 2. Keeping elbows and palms tightly together send your palms forward in a chopping motion.

Repeat until you think you can't do it anymore then do 20 more because that's what my yoga teacher would have done.

I've created a ridiculous little animation of myself doing it for clarification:

(sorry if this didn't work for you at first, apparently you can't use animated gifs using blogger's image upload)

You're supposed to keep everything but your forearms still but it's hard to do that and stop and take 2 pictures so that's why this isn't the most perfect demo.

Also, yes, everything is backwards because I live in a parallel universe (and was using Photo Booth).

After you're sick of the forward chopping motion you can also start with the same position and chop upwards so, in that case, your forearms would remain still and upper arms would be moving up and down.

For both the more you squeeze your elbows and palms together the better a work out you'll receive.

If you need more tricep punishment and have a little yoga knowledge see what got my arms in the state their in: dolphin.

From the vault

2009-04-07T15:47:00.003-04:00

I'm not a terribly organized person (despite my awesome shelving and box system in both my office and basement) but for some reason I end up being pretty militant about files on my computer. So in my "documents" folder I have a folder called "personal projects" which is basically a catch-all for all design work that is probably not going to be paid. Within that folder is another called "friends" and then it's broken down by friend name from there. Friend-work is kind of sporadic but I found myself rooting through old files yesterday and I found:

To back up the story a bit, I met several of my good friends at a very "The Office"/"Office Space" like work environment where we were forced to take online ethics quizzes (which, I believe we used each others answers to save time), sexual harassment training, and file TPS reports (ok, well, the last one is a lie) and when we were good little worker drones and completed our tasked we'd be given crappy certificates that we were supposed to hang on our cubicle (or officle*) walls as acceptable flair.

It wasn't long before I started creating our own fake certificates like "Most Improved Touching" for our friend who preferred extra personal space. I would cite more examples but I also had a habit of cleverly hiding files at work and, well, 4 years later, I can't remember where they are or what they're called. ANYWAY- I created the above for my Jen when she quit smoking for her wedding. See, I warped it back around to weddings.

So, if you are quitting for your wedding or any other reason and you need a happy little reminder or some encouragement you can download the file, add your own name and how long here:
DOWNLOAD!

*Oh, officle, I almost forgot to explain. At this job some people had what we called "officles" which were 4 slightly taller cubicle walls with one door so you could have a freestanding office but made of (basically) cubicle parts.

Come one, come all-- get your ephemera!

2009-04-03T09:49:00.011-04:00

I love the idea of vintage tin cans or old cigar boxes used to carry flower, favors, or just as decoration. In the description of the Martha Stewart photo above she (or rather, her people) say "New or vintage, the containers are inexpensive and easy to find at specialty-food stores, tag sales, and online auctions." Riiiight. I mean it sounds feasible but I bet somewhere in the world right now there's a bride gearing up to go on ANOTHER search through thrift stores this weekend hoping to find cans like in the picture, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and wondering why the 5 cans in her recycling bins can't just look more interesting.

So, when I came across papier valise provisions this morning I needed to share. Feast your eyes on these:

I think the question you should be asking yourself is what CAN'T you attach those to?! All for under $5 and in most cases you get several in a package. And did I mention that it's $5 Canadian?!! Which is, as of 10:31 am on Friday April 3rd, $4.04 American dollars.

OH... planning a garden wedding... how about these for table numbers?
For the low low price of $4.50 (CAD) for 7.

Or are you having a photo booth, you lucky duck, and need some tickets?
Take your pick because the above is one of many tickets they sell.

And I'm sure you can find uses for these gems as well:

And those are only the highlights so go take a look for yourself: papier valise provisions

The REAL Special Preview!!

2009-04-02T16:59:00.004-04:00

Note to self: there is a deep love of grammar in those who read this blog. :)

I thought my funny joke from yesterday's ghastly "invitation" would be that it was printed on an index card trying to be letterpress that had "BYOB" on it and was generally hit by every branch of crappy wedding invitation foof on as it fell out of the ugly tree. The grammar error of "you're"/"your" was something I thought would be my own little "tee hee" in addition but you all are quick on the uptake!

Anyway, thank you for putting up with my attempt at humor. :) Here's the real deal.

Errr...but it's not that simple. The bride came up with two fabulous ideas for a famous couple names and now I can't decide which I like better. On top of that we originally tried out both light text on dark background and dark text on light background and the two friends I polled on it, of course, each picked one. Let's throw it all on the wall and see what sticks!

I've added a poll to the right hand side of the blog so vote for your favorite!

Special Preview!!*

2009-04-01T12:12:00.010-04:00

Yay! So today I have a very special preview of a wedding invitation! I have been working with a custom order and the bride requested I wait until after she sent hers out for me to unveil it!

The bride had a lot of great ideas for me to work with and a pretty tight budget but I think we worked through to get something we could both really like.

She had really fallen in love with a lot of elements she'd seen in other weddings like ornaments, flower graphics, and stripe patterns but nothing had everything she needed. Also, like most brides out there, she really wanted to go letterpress but it just wasn't in her budget so we needed to brainstorm some out of the box ideas.

The solution we came up with was to print the invitations out on an accessible card stock-- INDEX CARDS-- and she was going to use a bone folders to go over the printed material to blind emboss (which simply means- make an indentation) and give the appearance of letterpress. Now THAT is attention to detail!

So I know you're probably dying to take a look (click for larger image):

And here is a sample of how the final turned out! (click for larger image)

Now for the great part-- I've giving this design away FOR FREE!!! Just click the link below and you'll download a word template where all you have to do is add your wedding invitation and hit print on your office print and BOOM-- wedding invitations done!

Click here for your copy!*

ENJOY!!!

*Yes, this is an April Fools Day joke. Don't worry I have an actual custom sample to preview tomorrow. But the word doc really does have all the info so go play a trick on your bridesmaids or something! Have fun!

Tit for Tat and General Awesomeness

2009-03-30T13:48:00.010-04:00

Trolling around the internet on friday I found another fabulous etsy vendor that I need to share:
I found them reference on a design site for their totally fun "Keep Calm" spoof calendars. If you don't know the Keep Calm series please see: here then return. Oh and while you're there, I'm planning on basing my entire kitchen redesign around the "If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen" poster. Can't wait!

Anyway Little Brown Pen has spoof calendars for men and women. Here are the women's:

So yeah, I bought a calendar nearly 4 months into the year-- THAT is how great they are. The men's are as follows:
January: Keep Warm and Get it On
February: Play Guitar and Look Sensitive
March: Remove Shirt and Pretend It's Warm
April: Drive Fast and Hydroplane
May: Buy Flowers and Sell Hard
June: Pump Fist and Drink Beer
July: Fire Up and Sear Meat
August: Shave Chest and Suck in Gut
September: Watch Replay and Curse Interception
October: Carve Pumpkins and Scare Children
November: Eat Turkey and Fall Asleep
December: Say Thanks and Exchange for Porn

BUT what I liked best about it is it's proof of concept for an idea I've been playing around with for The Future Mrs. Darcy. Basically, when you order the calendar, after you pay they send you a pdf of the calendar which you then print yourself. So it keeps the costs down as much as you want them. I've already talked with several brides about commercially printing the invitations/RSVP and everything included in the mail and then printing everything else (programs, table cards, table numbers, menus, etc) at local copy stores but if you haven't noticed (because I certainly have) commercial printing is expensive! I feel horrible when I have to tell brides who want 25 invitations that it's going to cost nearly as much as the 100 invitations I quote on etsy. Especially since a lot of times I bet people are only having 50ish guests (if you think most invitations are mailed out to two people) because they are trying to have a wedding that fits their budget. Anyway, I'm planning on posting some listings on etsy for print your own soon and I was very glad to see someone else already showing it works, even if it is on a smaller scale.

I also came across something fabulous on Big Cartel (which is an etsy-like site).

A lot of the prints are very macabre but I love it. Love love love it. All the photos below are of the image then a detail so you can read the text.

And lastly, because this is such a wonderful combination of my husbands love for zombies* and me, I have to share:

*Exhibit A: these were our Halloween costumes this past year.

Busy Busy

2009-03-26T13:44:00.007-04:00

Hello one and all! I'm busy at work coming up with some designs for M. who is looking for some invitations that have "the overall feel is true Southern Comfort, imagine old quilts and miss-matched dishware. I love texture and would like to use some type of real wood if possible" and using one of my favorite Martha Perfect Palettes: marigold and pewter. Totally cool, I know, so I'm all into that at the moment.

BUT-- I wanted to let you know that the voting is open on Minted for the baby shower invitations. I have two designs in the running so if you like-- you can go vote here.

&

And if THAT isn't enough to make your Thursday go by quick enough I found this which would be an awesome addition to my Harry Potter/Natural non-flower table centerpieces:
From Once Wed -- the rest of the post, filled more drool-worthy gorgeous pictures can be found here.

And LASTLY if you still need more:
This is awesome and if I have to make it "wedding-y" I'd say just about everyone in our wedding party would have run around shrieking with joy like a girl if they got these. Bear Sleeping Bag (I can't remember where I saw it first but oh if I had to guess I'd probably say Mighty Goods, Swiss Miss, Not Martha or Pygmalion in a Blanket)

And these are my new favorite blogs: I Suwannee, The Lil Bee, 100 Layer Cake, and Shelter.

Whew, and if you're STILL here go to flickr and search for "dutch tulip fields".

And with THAT I bid you good day.

Morning People

2009-03-23T08:44:00.004-04:00

Let it be known that I am NOT a morning person. Or really a night owl. I'm a sleeper. Back in the day I could sleep 12, even 14, hours no problem. I think today my ideal amount of sleep per night is about 9 hours which I was pretty good at getting and... enter the dog.

Bailey does not seem to have the same views as I do on sleep. She doesn't understand the concept of weekends so everyday she wakes up around 6:45 and progressively gets louder and louder until we take her out at 7:30. Also I should mention that she was a VERY shy puppy when we got her and we read that we should keep her in our room to sleep so when wakes up at 6:45-- we know it.

Anyway, standing outside on Saturday morning in the freezing cold waiting for the pup to do her puppy business I started wondering if I'd ever get to sleep in again. Because it starts with the dog and then once you have kids, I'm sure it takes like a decade before they understand the joys of sleeping in, and quickly through my mind flitted "...First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby carriage..."

And I thought, damn, that's a slightly less out there idea for a baby shower invitation than my last one so upstairs I went and:
So the submission deadline was supposed to end last night at midnight but it doesn't look like anything is closed down so maybe a week until voting starts? I'll keep checking and let you know.

Have a great Monday*

*House and 24 are on tonight-- see Monday can be tolerable!

Modern Bride

2009-03-20T09:55:00.004-04:00

(image of bride by ePi.Longo on flickr)

My husband recently has started creating iPhone apps and I suggested a wedding variety app after seeing that the ones available don't look so hot but we're not sure what the best app would be. SO I figured I'd ask you: is there anything the iPhone could do to help make your wedding planning smoother?

If your suggestion is chosen I may contact you for finer points and you'd get the app for free. What I think would be even more fabulous is if we got a bunch of suggestions then I'd let everyone vote and whichever app end up getting the most votes, everyone who voted for that one would get a free copy.*

So submit your ideas and tell your friends!

*I'm now told that Apple has dictated you can only give away 100 free copies of an app but really I would be shocked/overjoyed/REALLY shocked if we had such a voting turn out that I would find a way to make it up to those over 100 posts that voted.

Cake Topper

2009-03-12T10:13:00.005-04:00

I'm sad to say that I don't troll Etsy probably as much as I should considering what talented people there are out there. Then again, I can't remember the last time I bought something anywhere- be in store or online or mass produced or handmade (EXCEPT MY NEW COMPUTER!!! YAY!!!!! MORE RAM!!!*). But what I do like to do, every month or so, I see who likes my shop. I know, so self-centered, but I guess like goes to like and I found the coolest little shop-- or rather she found me, which then let me find her... but semantic aside how fun are these:

Naked Peggies (great name as well)

AND these:And it gets better. Here is the description that goes along with the Talladega Nights duo:

SALE!

I was watching Talladega Nights the other night and was inspired to paint these. Shake and Bake!!

If you love Ricky Bobby and Cal Naughton Jr. as much as I do you hafta have these! They are 2.5" and proud!

They are each handpainted with non-toxic paints and finished with a non-toxic gloss varnish.

Not intended for those under 3 years old and those who will still eat the occasional raisin off the floor.

She seems like a real person, right? In case you haven't already figure it's out-- I love conversational writing. When people starting writing dissertations and waxing lyrical I can't help but wonder why they're trying so hard. Also I think I watched Talladega Nights the same night she did. It was the weekend of Taco Bell, Talladega Nights, Old School and box wine. Klassy weekend, huh? ;)

AND better (-er)... she's from Boston. Which means if I'm a lucky girl I can go to Grand or SOWA** and hopefully see these darlings in person.***

So, again, Naked Peggies is the name of the store which carries many cool peggies so check it out!

*Sorry, I totally nerded out there.
**AH! If you wait long enough on the SOWA home page there's a rotating series of pictures and one is of John Malkovich (or John Malkovich's evil twin) at SOWA. Why do I never see famous people?
***Also I have no idea if Naked Peggies are sold anywhere but on Etsy but both Grand and SOWA are cool place where if she DOES sell them elsewhere those are places I'll check first.

Minted

2009-03-11T10:17:00.005-04:00

Hey-there hi-there ho-there!

I just wanted to let everyone know that the Every Second Counts birthday card is now available at Minted.com. You can get to it by clicking here.

Here's a little reminder of what it looks like:

They're also having a new "Baby Shower" invite for

Modern moms-to-be and their friends search high and low for baby shower invitations that say "fun and modern", not "cutesy".

Yeah... I think I can do not "cutesy". :) I just submitted this one which I'm calling "For Apatow" (as in Judd Apatow, of Knocked Up, 40 Year Old Virgin, Superbad and many other examples of awesomeness)
So as you can see it's roughly a billion times less cutesy than most baby shower invites but it's for people who are pregnant and - shocker - have a sense of humor and I think a lot of times we forget the two can overlap.

Lastly, and I hate to mention this, let me know if you see a boob instead of a belly in the design. I think it funny (don't ask my why) that babies can pop out their mom's belly buttons and I really liked how the "p" in "knocked up" just fit right in but it's a belly not a boob. :)

Harry Potter in the hizzouse!

2009-03-02T18:35:00.017-05:00

So my wonderful lovely friend R. emailed me the other day asking:

in your online searches have you seen anything about how to have a harry potter/fantasy wedding? i can find stuff for little kids birthday parties. im thinking things like instead of floral centerpieces, candlescapes with river rocks and dried moss, and there will be lanterns placed around the property. where/how can i incorporate other things like that?!

which of course is awesome sounding so I went all crazy today and found stuff I thought would be cool and I was half way into entering it all into a big inDesign document which I would pdf for her and I thought, "Perhaps there are others. Perhaps I should share"

And here we are. Any images that are small you can click to make larger.

Elegant rustic

First of all my scanner crapped out on me but I was able to find some of the photos that I had flagged online. This is one of them. (Tee hee this was just for R. but we'll keep it)

I think it has that floating candle vibe which I’ve always liked about the Hogwarts Dining Hall (which is apparently the dining hall of Christ Church College’s in Oxford if you’re looking for specific pics but I’m sure you knew that). I’m sure it’s a little flowery-er than you were thinking but I think replacing the flowers with moss and such would get the idea going. The one downside to this one is that the centerpiece is tall which makes it harder for people to talk. But that might not bother you or you could scale it down.

http://www.brides.com/planning/flowers/gallery/editorspick/detail/164942?f=3126%3a58&f=664%3a2023&offset=9#_chip=0

Images from Brides.com “Go Green”

These were the other images from my book that I found online, conveniently in the same section. Instead of searching for Harry Potter or fantasy I started looking at the elements you were looking for- moss, candles, etc and most places categorize them as “rustic”, “eco”, or something like that. I think that gets at half of the Harry Potter theme but adding the candles and whatnot will give it more of an elegant- exclusive children’s magic school vibe.

I think the crazy plants in the second one again, might not be hitting the mark, but definitely will give a magic-y non-standard look.

Oh and everything is green (color not environment) b/c that’s what I had flagged for myself back in the day.

http://www.brides.com/planning/ecochicweddings/feature/slide/164830/?nav=redirect_slideshow#_slide=164832

Martha Martha Martha

I thought these candles were kind of cool. When I think Harry Potter/fantasy I also conjure up the spells classes with all the cool sciency looking glass stuff. Also I didn’t get a chance to search for it but try “enchanted” or “fairytale” weddings to see if that gets at the theme without being specifically Harry Potter.

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/photogallery/50-great-centerpieces?lnc=00e72f09fba1d110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=lpg_Homepage&lpgStart=1&currentslide=11&currentChapter=1

Mood Lighting

So I liked the look of all the candles and then OMG - there’s a book in the middle too. Fabulousness. This site had a bunch of cool stuff on the page so I kept it to the label not just the one post.

www.dcnearlyweds.com/labels/Decorations.html

Jackpot
(click to make larger)
I’m sure this is about 6 billion times girlier than you were thinking but it has a bunch of fun elements. I found this by searching for “beaker centerpiece” not really sure what I was going to find but I think the beakers and the fern-looking plants look cool BUUUUT I kind of freaked out when I saw the last jar on the bottom is labeled “love potion”. I think it would be hilarious if you put booze in them too. But that's just me.

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2008/11/10/real-wedding-by-james-abel-ii-5/

Birchwood Centerpiece Tutorial

Kind of self-explanatory.
http://kurtcyr.com/birchwoo.htm

Mossy Centerpiece From Blog

http://highwaytomarriage.blogspot.com/search/label/Center%20pieces

Martha Stewart is a God

The mushrooms may be a little much but this has a small tutorial about working with the moss and some info about buying stump vases. Also we used some mushroom bits in my centerpieces but they were more large abstract looking leaves or pod-like.

http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.58031cf9775720e593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=26d552c56ed38110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=f66452c56ed38110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=print&currentslide=1&rsc=communitytools_gardening&lnc=8599cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&page=1

You can see the mushroomy bits a little in my knottie bio- scroll down to flowers: http://community.theknot.com/cs/ks/user/default.aspx?UserName=kreinertsen&m=1&MsdVisit=1

More mossy stuff
These had a little more whimsy in them.

http://blog.kimvallee.com/archive/2007/07/17/trend-report-the-raw-materials-are-the-honor-guests-of.aspx

Now more stumps
I think this has a link where to buy as well.

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2007/10/16/wedding-details-by-small-stump/

Nice mix of nature and elegance

This site has a lot of looks like this. Fun and out of the box. And yes, I've mentioned them on the blog before.

http://hatchcreativestudio.com/

The second photo is by the same people but from here:
http://www.stylemepretty.com/2008/08/21/table-inspirations-by-hatch-creative-studio/

I LOOOOVE this place

If nothing else it gives you an idea of what is out there. Also since I’m thinking of it now my cousin once told me that she gets all of her candles at Church supply store b/c they’re much cheaper there.

I’m not sure if the lanterns come with the place but I think Pearl River has lanterns that are pretty cheap.

http://www.jamaligarden.com/

Ok well it's not one definitive answer but hopefully enough ideas that can be cobbled together to something out of this world. Although if I've totally missed the mark, R., just let me know and I'll keep working at it. :)

Envelope Liner: How-to

2009-02-25T09:13:00.010-05:00

Good morning! This weekend I worked on making envelope liners for a set of custom invitations and I figured while I was learning the process I could document it for anyone else who wants to jazz up their invitations.

My envelope liner documentary starts at the Paper Source where I bought: paper for the liners, chip board, double sided tape, and a bone folder. Combine this with the box cutter, ruler, pencil, and cutting mat that I already owned and you get this:

Quick overview of the process: Using the envelope that you're lining make a template from the chip board. With the chip board template cut liner shapes out of the paper. Insert paper into envelope, fold at flap crease and tape into place along the flap. Repeat.

Step 1: Cut a hole in the box... just kidding. I couldn't resist. Open the envelope that will be lined and trace the shape onto the chip board. I recommend using the edge of the chip board instead of placing the envelope in the center-- less cuts means less chance for errors.

Yes. I am that pale.

Step 2: Using a ruler cut the traced shape out of the chip board.

Step 3: Once you have the exact shape of the envelope cut out of the chip board, trim the chip board 1/4 of an inch all the way around, again using the ruler.

Step 4: Test the trimmed chip board template in the envelope. Make sure the seal of the envelope isn't covered by the template.

Step 5: Using the chip board template begin cutting shapes from the liner paper. The chip board is thick enough where you don't need to use a ruler as well with this step BUT the chip board isn't infallible. In the process of making 160 envelope liners, I had to create 2 new chip board templates after the one I had been using got ragged or cut. The chip board was $2 for a pack of 10 sheets so this wasn't a big deal. If you are using Paper Source envelopes they do sell plastic templates that go along with their envelopes but since I didn't use their envelopes and I couldn't use their templates I can't say whether the plastic was more durable. And again, use the edge of the paper so you can make less cuts.

I usually cut 10 or 20 at a time before I moved to the next step but for the first time go through the entire process just to ensure everything works out fine.

Step 6: Insert the liner into the envelope. I usually left a 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch below the seal of the envelope just to allow for a little shifting when it's folded.
Step 7: Using your non-dominant hand hold the paper in place and fold the flap over with your dominant hand. Or do it however feels comfortable. The only reason I specify is that I'm left handed so this may look backwards to you. I know I had a tendency to get confused when I looked up knitting instructions online because they were always done right handed so just trying to be clear. :) Since I couldn't take the photo showing both hands I added on the photo where I'd hold the liner in place when I folded it.

Step 7: Using the bone folder, run the edge along the fold of the flap to get a crisp fold. This time I usually would hold the paper at the flap so I could keep both the flat and folded parts of the liner in place. I bought a plastic bone folder because we were using light colored envelopes but an employee at the Paper Source told me that if you're using darker envelopes to get the most expensive (possibly teflon) bone folder so it doesn't leave a sheen on the darker envelopes.

Step 8: Open the envelope flap leaving the liner still folded and apply double sided tape along the edges. The "double-sided tape" I used was more like thin glue that rolled off the dispenser, so it was very thin and you couldn't see outlines when it adhered. I used Therm O Web Memory Tape Runner which worked great EXCEPT the Paper Source near me apparently never has refills available. I hear that's not the case in most stores but just to save yourself some trouble, when you buy your dispenser-- check they have refills or you'll end up having to buy another dispenser just to get more tape like I did.

Step 9: Things may have shifted when you were applying the tape so re-center the liner left to right in the envelope and make sure the fold of the liner is against the fold of the envelope and then re-fold the envelope over the tape and press gently over the envelope flap to seal the two together!

Step 10: Re-open envelope flap and admire your handiwork.

Re-fold the envelope flap and stack envelopes closed to keep the nice crease in the envelope and liner.

So ta-da! Lovely lined envelopes adding a nice touch to your invitations. With most DIY projects the steps are easy but do take time. To create 160 liners and then add the invitations, it took around 6 hours. Spread out over 2 days it wasn't so bad but just something to keep in mind while you're planning.

Lastly, as I said before, these envelope liners are for custom invitations. I'm sure the bride doesn't want her info splashed all over the internet so I'm trying to think what couple the invitation should be called from here on out. The inspiration we started with was "seaside eleagance...the reception site is really beautiful and elegant, so I don't want any of those casual beachy wedding invitations that I keep seeing." At first I was thinking Odysseus and Penelope since Odysseus had quite the long sea voyage although lately I think Ferdinand and Miranda would be a better match but, honestly, I bet most people's first thought reading that was "I thought Miranda was with Steve..." We are both correct because the Miranda I was thinking was from the Tempest (which I happened to see at the Globe Theatre in London in the rain [it's an ampitheatre] with Vanessa Redgraves as Prospero) not Miranda from Sex in the City (who was with Steve). And Jack/Kate/Sawyer from LOST doesn't really tap into the "elegant" aspect so does anyone have any more seaside couples they want to suggest?

BIRTHDAY INVITES AT MINTED!

2009-02-13T13:39:00.006-05:00

UH-DOOOY I can't believe I forgot to write all about this before! My birthday card design from Minted was an editor's pick! Just a reminder- here is what it looks like:
I also created a second colorway choice, a thank you card and a mailing label for the series for them so I'll make sure to let you know when they're available to for purchase!

The contest was:

"Kids' birthdays come around every year and parents seek to find invites that are void of clichés and aren’t too cutesy. We asked designers to create playful, fun and modern birthday party invitations."

I chose to use Alex as my inspiration who was looking for a party that they were thinking would be centered around clowns, music or art. Here was the description I included along with it:

I think the intersection of clowns (circus), musicians and art is probably Hatch Show Print so I created an energetic Hatch inspired bday invite that rocks ages 1-101.

Since 5 year olds will usually tell you their age quite precisely I thought counting it in seconds would be a cool way to explain how old you're turning. Also once you hit the questionable years... the ones I'm entering... where all of a sudden big numbers are looming-- though I don't care- 30 ain't gonna kill me!-- some people might feel more comfortable obscuring the info just a teensie bit. :)

Hope you enjoy-- again-- ~~I'll let you know when they're debuted!~~
AVAILABLE NOW: Click here to see Every Second Counts at Minted.com

Inspiration Board

2009-02-13T10:20:00.004-05:00

Back in July I went to enter an inspiration board contest (I forget where but most likely one of the blogs in the "A little of everything that is wedding" section below on the right) but I read the date wrong on the deadline so they weren't able to accept it although they did say they'd keep it on hand for their next contest. I'm guessing it got lost in the shuffle though b/c I haven't seen it anywhere. So I'll show it here!

Going clockwise starting in the top left the images are: St Michel by Josh Derr found on flickr; "Transfixed" by shutterBRI found on flickr); Flowers from Martha Stewart (can't quite find the link but if you REALLY want me to search for it more just let me know in the comments section); Cake by Lovin' Sullivan Cakes; Dress by Angel Sanchez; Flowers from Martha Stewart; Riviera Dress from Siri (they have wonderful dresses- I wish I had just gone for these for my bridesmaids); Veil from Bride's Head Revisited; Necklace featured in a picture on oneatlanticevents.com website; Ferris and Sloane invites from The Future Mrs. Darcy.

This is my Sloane + Ferris inspiration board. When I was doing the invitations I had them getting married at the Art Institute of Chicago which was featured in the movie so I stuck with that. I think it's cool without trying too much.

Also I have about 10 other photos that didn't make the final cut into the inspiration board so if you're loving the yellow just let me know and I'll get the extras together.

Have a great friday!

Moving Sucks

2009-02-12T10:47:00.004-05:00

I've moved a little less than 20 times since I left my parents house for college and I have had horror stories from giant trucks complete with big ass truck clutches* dying in a new apartment complex blocking in all the people on the street to not one of the 8 people who promised me showing up to help me move. Bastards. Although my really strong friend, Miguel, came later on and moved all the large furniture I couldn't get myself.

When we moved into our house this past summer we hired movers for the very first time. It was amazing. It was joyous. It kicked ass. The couch that took us two days to get into our last apartment-- came out in 5 minutes! FIVE MINUTES! But the downside is that we are still breaking down boxes to get recycling to take them. So since I figure a lot of people move around their weddings I'll share a new service I just saw on swissmiss.

http://earthfriendlymoving.com/greenbox/

(Sorry about the play icon in the middle-- there's a rotating series of pictures on the homepage)

Sturdy boxes with handles and no need to packing tape? Wonderful! And you can feel good about yourself because it's environmentally friendly. And if you just like sturdy boxes with handles- that's fine too!

*I've driven standard cars all my life but that didn't stop driving a truck that could FIT my car in the back any easier.

Sneak peak!

2009-02-10T13:48:00.005-05:00

My BRAND SPANKING NEW website design is ready to be built but I thought I'd give y'all* a sneak peak:

Oooh ahhhh! As you can see there will be a place on each story where you can mark it as your favorite which will result in the "viewer favorites" on the home page as well as places on each story where you can save it to delicious, post it on facebook, twitter it, and more social niceties.

But it may take a little while due to our new love...
BAILEY!!

And because I'm a dork I'll also post my inspiration board for the website. May come in handy if you're planning a library themed wedding. Or an Austen themed wedding. Or just like those and don't need a "theme" to your wedding. :)

Top to Bottom, Left to Right (there's a lot in there so if you want more specifics about any one just let me know):
[row 1] Mask Invitation for Charlie Trotter's by Also Design; Lovely selection of book cover by Coralie Bickford-Smith via design:related; Vintage Emma book cover found on flickr here;
[row 2] page from Anthropologie catalog (Dec 2008 pg 4); Ashes and Milk website; Jessica Hische website (she is SO talented- go take a look!);
[middle] Colophon found on flickr;
[row 3] Jane Austen, The Complete Novels designed by Kelly Blair for Penguin Books; Vintage Library Card found on flickr; Natalie Portman photo found on flickr;
[row 4] Anthropologie web site; Eccentric Islands book design by Wink; Country website by Mucca; and, lastly, Ad for Walters Art Museum by Principle.

*Yeah, I wrote, "y'all". I worked in Virginia for 3 years, though, so I'm allowed.

Time to get your pens and your pencils.

2009-01-22T14:12:00.003-05:00

photo by signora oriente on flickr.

I don't know why it is but it seems like your own projects are always the hardest. And with all of the "best moment of your life" pressure involved with weddings I think it can grind your decision-making and clear-thinking to halt.

I'm sure I've said it before but designing my own wedding invitations was a process (to say the least) but as soon as I started for others-- it was a snap! Making decisions for other people (especially fictional ones) was so easy.

Lately I've been trying to spruce up my website and I feel like I'm in the same rut. I start a design, refine a million times, finally start to build it and -- meh-- then I don't like it anymore. I can spend DAYS going through websites for inspiration and collecting photos and looking through magazines and-- is this sounding familiar to anyone yet-- I feel like I'm in the same wedding planning rut.

So today I imposed a moratorium on searching and tried a trick from my Catholic Engaged Encounter Retreat (I know- shocking- but keep reading- it's not religious at all). At our retreat weekend we were constantly writing. The girls would stay in the conference room and the boys would go up to the hotel room and we'd write on a topic for 15 minutes. At first I remember thinking that there was no way I'd be able to write for 15 minutes solid but if you finished early chances were, you'd end up sitting in silence on a hard floor waiting for time to be up, which sucked. So I'd just keep free form writing and it was interesting to see where my mind would take me.

So today I got out on of my notebooks and gave myself 15 minutes to just write down everything I wanted my website to be. It's pretty messily jotted down and very questionable punctuation but my brain seems a little calmer. The road to follow a little clearer. So if you are stuck under a mountain of great ideas and variety routes to take grab yourself a pen and paper* and write for 15 minutes. No need for paragraphs or complete sentences- just go! And if you can write for 15 minutes without stopping-- why not make it 30! I think the secret is write past the point where you think you're done. Very scientific, I know. :)

*Yes, I really think a pen and paper is the way to go. I'm sure you can type faster than you can write but computers are just too distracting and chances are your couch is more comfy than your desk chair anyway.

The English Department

2009-01-13T15:31:00.006-05:00

While trying to knock down my google reader to under 1000 posts I came across The English Department via Housemartin (who is also: Ink and Peat and should be your go-to for any flower inspiration needs). As you can probably guess- I love the name. Love the cute dress in the window (and the green one on the wall, I suspect, although I can't see it very well). The font used in the name. The yellow on the website. Love it all.

The main website has general store information but the blog by the owner of the store/dress designer Elizabeth Dye has many lovely lovely pictures so don't forget to check that out as well.

And as if you needed more to get you excited-- they're having a bridal show on Feb. 2! From what I've seen of her dresses I'm guessing it would be kind of like Anthropologie putting on a bridal show. Now I know some of you fainted at the mere thought there- so dust yourself off. Take a moment. And google map directions to Portland.

Shout outs!

2008-12-22T14:27:00.003-05:00

Everytime I think of the concept of a "shout out" I'm immediately transported back to frantically dialing FLY 92.3 (hometown teenie-bopper radio station) on my piano phone in the middle school but in this case I can't think of a better way to describe a "thank you" for other blogs who've mentioned the Future Mrs Darcy!

http://snippetandink.blogspot.com
http://hasel.typepad.com
http://marryingthenavy.blogspot.com
http://modernvintagedesigns.squarespace.com
http://engageology.wordpress.com
http://justasmalltownbride.blogspot.com
http://www.elizabethannedesigns.com
http://www.diybride.com
http://grantrileyweddings.blogspot.com
http://domestigals.blogspot.com
http://karasheridan.com
http://springcart.typepad.com
http://www.myweddingreport.com
http://www.katystardust.blogspot.com
http://honeymyheart.blogspot.com
http://www.casandoideias.com (this is in Portuguese- if you google the URL you should get a "translate this page" option)

Thanks everyone!!

You saw it here first!

2008-12-15T19:19:00.004-05:00

Unless you just came here from minted.com, that is. So in a creative rut today, I decided to head over to minted and see what their contest of the moment was. It's kid's birthday which I don't know much about but I figured it would be a fun little exercise to try it out so-- ta da!

Alex, the child in question, had possible themes listed as : Pirates, Party in the park, Clown at party, Art party, Musician at party. I figured the intersection of clowns (circus), musicians and art is Hatch Show Print (I know, I mentioned them last post too). But really to be 100000% honest- I went to a burlesque show for my friend's birthday party this week so I think that may have got my mind in the old school poster mindset. I didn't write that in my inspiration section, though, because I didn't want to freak out parents in case they could see it later! No one wants to be in a "child's birthday" mindset then fall down a rabbit hole to "pasties". :D

Anyway-- be fruitful and vote for me when voting round opens in the New Year!!

Colour (see, it's fancier that way)

2008-12-11T12:33:00.008-05:00

If it hasn't been said before- I love color! In my ideabank there are various screen shots that are just small blocks of color that I saw and loved. Like this vibrant red-orange:

And this deep inky blue:

And I also LOVE color names which is why my office ended up Celtic Gray (back walls) and Firelight (bookcases). The sloped walls are chalkboard paint in Charcoal.

I was driving the other day and these ads for Indian Tourism and nearly ran off the road.

Especially the last two. Would you feel free-er if someone ask you what your wedding colors and you could say "Watercolours" or "Technicolour"? It wasn't until I was through with my planning that I thought-- there really wasn't any reason I should have stuck to green and white and black. I could have thought "Deep in the forest" or "Dingle Penisula Landscapes" and maybe come up with more cohesive ideas.

So again, keep thinking and think different.

Love it!

2008-12-05T20:58:00.004-05:00

I've been meaning to post for a couple of days now but instead I've been sulky and pouty that web design fairies (kin to underpants gnomes and single sock dryer eaters, naturally) haven't whispered sweet nothings in my ear for my website re-design BUT while wandering aimlessly through my delicious tags I came across something so wonderful I just had to share:

Hatch Creative Studio I think I must have kept skipping over them in delicious b/c I was confusing them in my head with Hatch Show Print (I'm unsure if their website is apart of the Country Music Hall of Fame or I just couldn't find it so I linked to a google image search) which is quite awesome as well but just in a different way.

Back to Hatch Creative Studio:
When you lead off your images with this one- you know everything else you see is going to rock.

So cute. And then the next picture:

I RESOLVE to do an arrangement in my house like that this spring. We had mushroomy things and pod flower things (like the 5th over) in my centerpieces and I loooooove it.

Definitely check them out for planning info and ideas. I don't think I've been so excited to refind a website in awhile. They list themselves as having "fresh ideas from a cage-free thinking environment" and I think is very necessary to shake off all the dust and preconceptions (especially with weddings!) and look at things in a new way.

I mean, look at this...

...I know! I'm practically reduced to guppy fish mouth. Now, not that you needed any more incentive, I'm sure, but let me wet your whistle a little more and say... they have an artichoke bouquet. Run over there ASAP: Hatch Creative Studio!

She's Crafty!

2008-11-18T16:00:00.005-05:00

Greetings and salutations all! A couple of weeks ago I had to make a quick stop at the Paper Source (I know, twist my arm, huh) for some cream colored paper to print out a sample for one of my lovely custom brides. Or rather, that is to say: one of my customers, who is a bride, who is getting custom invitations. I haven't ventured out into the mail order bride sector just yet! Anyway- I was looking around at all the crafty things and like a 4 year old touching every last thing in the store and I got to thinking, "I'm crafty and all but I don't send out invitations or do cute things or own a stamp set or decorate my house at holidays/changing of seasons to make it look like a Martha/Real Simple/Domino spread DESPITE the fact that I have a whole section in my binder dedicated to just that. Sure there was the Game which was pretty cool but that was in February!" I think that the people who would enjoy my work are the people that would do those sorts of things and I know that I really didn't get the wedding nuances until I went through it myself so I've decided to start living to my craftiest potential and fire up some neurons so they might spill over into the work areas of my life. After all how do I free myself from the box of mailing conventions if I never send actual mail out?!

But kind of like Jack the Pumpkin King (ooh hold please- I've said the magic words- need to put on "Miss You" by Blink-182) my first attempt to bring craftiness to the every day went a little awry. I blame Daniel Silva (I just finished Moscow Rules) and an overactive imagination. So here's the set up: my Mom and I went out to eat when I was in my home town for a bit to this restaurant that has been around forever but I knew about in a general way but never went to. It was fabulous- they had a cheese platter and a good wine selection. Cheese is paramount to my friends and I (remind me to tell you about the cheese plate competition that happened a couple of months ago). I decided that next time my 2 good friends and I are in town, we would all go and have fun. The problem was that they both live in NYC and therefore catch rides home with each other sometimes. If I TOLD them what restaurant I was talking about they'd go without me out of desperation for something new around the homestead. So instead I have told them that such a place exists but refuse to mention its name. This prompted one friend to search online for an extended period of time but my secret is still safe. Oh- I should mention- this started roughly 8 months ago and the first time we'll all be home again is-- ding ding ding! THANKSGIVING! Enter craftiness. I wanted to send them a lovely invitation inviting them to our much awaited outing but after having read Moscow Rules all I could think of was inviting them to be abducted from their homes KGB-style. And I only had my husband's crappy black and white printer with gross college stains still on it to print it on since I need a bit of a break from Kinko's.

So this is what was sent to my friends on friday morning:
How do you invite someone somewhere without telling them where? Translate it to Russian! Bitchin' right? The top name has been changed to one of my friend's Secret Agent Name for her protection. :) The strange black holes are me replicating in photoshop where holes were punched out. Unfortunately when I started this process I thought I owned a hole punch. No such luck so I had to do my best at cutting circles with a box cutter. Hint- if you ever need to cut circle with a knife, carving pumpkins, sending russian secret invitations to your friends, etc- it's best to cut an octagon then go at it in a circular fashion, where you'll probably go wonky and end up with a misshapen oval.

You may be thinking "Hm why did you old timey army black out the place if your friends don't speak, read or write Russian or anything close?" I'm glad you asked! Because one of them SOMEHOW translated it. I figured I'd be safe since it wasn't online or anything so they couldn't copy and paste back and forth in using a handy tool like this: http://translation2.paralink.com/. But I had a nagging suspicion that these girls are as devious as I am and thankfully covered my bases. Muhahahahahaha!

So it's not exactly pretty and flowery and wedding-like but it was fun to see how you parse down the information for an invitation (time, date, place and who it's from so they don't call the police or anything). I almost included an "I'll pick you up then" but whatever- it was funnier this way.

Now it's onto Holiday Cards! Excuse me while I vomit slightly but I've been also working on corporate holiday cards which is like being in the 5th ring of Hell because they want to be holiday-ish but not offend anyone in the galaxy and it needs to go through 238907 layers of beaurocracy before a decision is made. I need a couple of weeks away from that or my Christmas will resemble live action someecards.com, although- how awesome would that be? Right now I'm leaning towards and updated American Gothic but I fear it's too... silly? obvious? done?

Which reminds me- did I ever post my moving card here? I fear not. It's on the main website (which is due for a redesign any day now so for any TFMD version 2 lovers- get your fix now!) but I'll post here as well:

We had our real info (obviously) and some fun bits about the house underneath that I just reverted to actual Monopoly card stuff for the dummy version. And speaking of monopoly, wanna waste some time: http://www.mentalfloss.com/quiz/quiz.php?q=486

New fonts

2008-11-03T17:20:00.005-05:00

Not too long ago I received a wonderful- "hey you haven't bought anything in awhile here's a $20 with no minimum purchase" coupon from the lovely folks over at veer.com which is basically as close as I've ever gotten to the toys'R'us sweepstakes where you have 5 minutes to run through the store and get what you can. SO I bought me some lovely fonts. They were both around $20 and I couldn't decide so -- I got both.

The first is very art deco old school wonderfulness: Estilo.
When I went to go create these samples, for some reason the only things popping in my head were tongue twisters which, though fun to say, usually only showcase a lot of the same letter. I wanted to do a pangram (sentence with all the letters of the alphabet) with it as well but that sort of puzzlry is way out of my league and "the quick brown fox..." was feeling a little played out. Thankfully big huge type foundries have the same thoughts and have sponsors several contests about it. The pangram above is from a typophile.com contest and written by Joe Pemberton.

Second we have RTF Amethyst which I love as an alternative to the very used in wedding invitation: script fonts.That tongue twister is also the one that I am the very worst at. Although I did read one while I was looking for new tongue twisters that I don't think we ever did in theater classes and probably for good reason "I'm not the pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's mate, And I'm only plucking pheasants 'cause the pheasant plucker's late." Tee hee.

So there are my two new awesome fonts that are looking for wedding invitation homes.

Two slightly related projects on the horizon are: 1) to revamp the website to maybe add places for customers to add feedback, definitely to places for customers to add to delicious or digg, and maybe some larger rotating images on the homepage and 2) to come up with a quiz for new customers- specifically custom customers (these tongue twisters appear to have me on an alliteration kick). The other day I was talking to a bride trying to get an idea of what she was looking for in invitations but she didn't really have a theme or a strong connection to the location of her wedding-- all she really had were her colors. So I was trying to illicit a little more info from her but I kept asking for descriptive things that she wanted her wedding like romantic or modern but after talking with her for a bit I realized I'm probably not going to ask "Do you want your wedding to be elegant... or fairytale... or dramatic?" and have the bride go "No, actually, I'd really like my wedding to be trashy and fugly."

I think the biggest variation you get with people trying to describe their weddings is "classic" or "modern" which even of themselves-- creates BIG ranges. So in the back of my mind I was thinking-- "Man this all sounds so familiar. I feel like I've been through this before" and, no, not with my own wedding but when I bought that book that I had read about in Domino then coveted for a year and finally bought about 6 months ago-- YUP-- Style Statement by Carrie McCarthy & Danielle LaPorte.

I got about half way through and I did start getting an idea of what my style statement would revolve around but I couldn't find any good words to encompass it (it was the concept of stories/imaginations-- yes, the girl who designs wedding invitation for fictional characters loves stories-- I know, you must be shocked but it was kind of a cool a-ha moment for me) anyway- and then ended up hiding the book on myself while I was frantically cleaning for guests.

I was recounting this whole ordeal to a photographer friend who does weddings as well who had just come from an initial meeting with a client and had had a similar situation and after asking a couple key questions about what the groom liked to do fell into a wealth of wonderful ideas where to shoot their engagement photos. It just so happens I am traveling back down below the Mason-Dixon where she lives so we are going to try and make this all happen this week.

Aren't you excited? I looooove learn more about yourself quizzes. Actually I think I'm going to go work on my style statement right now.

And lastly-- if anyone is looking for a good bridesmaid's gift or a gift to give to a bride or, hell, an "I had a bad day and I need compensation" gift-- Bath and Body Works "Perfect Cashmere" items are so wonderful. I just received the knit lounge set, the robe, and the slippers for my birthday and I AM LOVING IT.

Eye Candy

2008-10-21T17:15:00.004-04:00

So, much like Persephone I've been lured back into the dark scary world of Corporate America (via my new office in the attic) which is why you hear crickets on the blog.

But there have been wedding designs creeping in there and breaking up the monotony. Firstly being my lovely cousin who I'll refer to as: (surprise) Lovely Cousin who is getting married... soon.

It's the seaside equivalent of the new Adam + Eve. Like if those crazy kids went for a destination wedding. The colors my cousin is using in her wedding are what I'd call "Fall-but-not-orange" colors. Chocolate, cranberry, sage, creams... which just saying makes me want to cook rich foods but also buy decadent fall boots. Anyway-- ta da!

I've changed all the names to their most generic.

Also I've been working on some custom wedding invitations. No, I'm not going to post hers before we've settled on the very last details, but I will post a design that was in one of my first rounds that she decided to pass on. It's simple. Like really simple but I loooove it. Maybe it's because I'm a font nerd, who knows? Oh note to self-- post new fonts that are in play.

I love that inky navy blue but I also like the flowing colors so it's whatever floats your boat. I chose Napoleon and Josephine because I've been reading Lauren Willig books but I'm not 100% sold on it. Anyone have any other suggestions for couples?

I hope you like it! Unfortunately the fonts will have to wait until next time because I'm going to a concert tonight and need to remember how to put on makeup before I go out!

Have a lovely tuesday night everyone!

A place for everything and everything in its place.

2008-09-30T22:35:00.004-04:00

When I was planning my wedding I relied almost entirely on my "ideabank", my delicous, and my binder.

My "ideabanks" are various folders on my desktop, mostly for design inspiration but then to wedding inspiration and home inspiration. Whenever I came across an image on a blog or a website (even if it wasn't specifically "wedding"), I control-clicked (I'm on a mac) and "saved image as..." into the correct folder. Then when I had a decision to make I opened all my pictures and looked for little lightbulb to go off over my head.

If there was a whole website that I liked then it went in my delicious feed. I had a catch-all "wedding" tag but also a "flowers" tag, "bridesmaid" tag, "gifts" tag, "centerpieces" tag, "guestbook" tag, and even a mysterious "penmanship" tag. Again, when there were decisions I felt comforted by having my resources at hand. I remember why it's so important when a friend of mine who is planning her wedding asked me about birdcage veils (which I didn't have in my wedding) and I only have vague recollections of seeing beautiful pictures in blogs I've read but couldn't remember a name or a website if I tried.*

{My wedding binder is currently hiding but I'll look for it more tomorrow}

And the last of my planning trifecta was my binder. I'm a magazine junkie and once I got engaged it was open season. Then I found Martha Stewart Weddings. [insert Homer Simpson donut drool]. Over a year after my wedding and I'm proud everytime I'm able to leave the check out line at the grocery store and I don't succumb to its gorgeous layouts. Has anyone seen the rannuculus spread from last year? AHHHH!! AMAZING! The problem was despite grabbing all my flags from my domino magazines and then reinforcing with post it flags-- it was too much to search through. Thus was born the binders. I have 1/2 inch binders with clear inserts for everything. In this case it started with wedding then lead to "WOW that box is heavy. I need to go through all these magazines before I move" :) I wish it was more discipline than that but have you ever tried to lift a box full of magazines!!??

But after all of this my question is this: brides, bridesmaids, planners- what do you do to keep you information overflow from taking over? And is there anyway The Future Mrs Darcy can help?

Let me know! Also I was running through some custom ideas for a lovely local bride and I stumbled on something I looooooooooves. But this is one of those cases where I've got a design and now I need a couple. What's a blogger to do? Do I smell ... contest?!

*Check out Brooklyn Bride for bird cage veils as well as http://myrakim.etsy.com. Or if you're feeling reeeeallly crafty- I ... um... made some extravagant hair pieces with feathers and fake pearls and veils for my friend's 30th on a whim last week. :) Cone party hats were totes overrated for her fabulessness.

Good find!

2008-09-12T10:06:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone I stumbled upon these great planning sheets from Russell + Hazel:
(image from Russell+Hazel)

They have 57 (!) FREE templates that can help you lay out budgets, vendors, contacts, and a ton more. And as not to add to an ever growing pile of "wedding related" papers, keep all your free templates organized in their stylish wedding binder too. It costs $75 and includes:
- Signature Binder
- 12 Section tabs with pockets
- Planning notebook
- Organized adhesive note set
- Sheet protectors
- 2 business card pages
- 10 8-1/2 x 11" pages
- 5 Multi Format pages (holds 11 x 17" or 8-1/2 x 11")

Oh and peace of mind. :)

And what I like the most is that it doesn't SCREAM wedding. You can take it to work or leave it on your coffee table and no one will know that you're consumed day and night by how to get peonies for your October wedding!

The Newest Oldest Invitation on the block.

2008-08-25T11:53:00.004-04:00

The very first invitation I did was for the VP of Marketing of the company I worked for 2 or 3 companies ago. It was set on her horse farm in Virginia and she wanted a simple natural look. Allie and Noah invitation actually evolved from one of the original ideas that I sent over but the one she went with has been lurking on CD in my drawer for the past 4 years. My cousin is now getting married, again in Virginia but on the other side of the state on the Chesapeake, and was looking for something simple and natural and I knew that rang bells somewhere in my head. So upstairs I went and rooted through all my yet-to-be-unpacked-once-my-office-is-finished-office-boxes and resurrected my first ever wedding invitation. I tweaked it a little from my old boss' and I think I try and find some sea grass for my cousin but now without further ado-- my Oldest yet Newest wedding invitation: Adam and Eve.

I'll let you know when it's available to buy on Etsy!

One Last

2008-08-18T11:32:00.005-04:00

So I got my dates confused and the Minted contest lasted until SATURDAY, not Friday as I originally thought, so I made another one.

It's a little... drier but I think people dig that probably more than the outlandish stuff so who knows? Ha, now watch this one win!

Anyway, I thought a little vespa would be fun.

I think it's a pretty good lot all of them together. The contest was fun and hopefully will pay off in the end but I've learned that people make a TON of these, I think just to throw them all at the wall and see what sticks in some cases. Also I've learned to not post them until the last possible second. Later in the same day I posted the one with the red and green airmail stripes (the first of the previous post) someone else posted 2 new designs air mail stripes. Now, I'm not saying I invented the concept of air mail 50 or so years before my birth somehow but I make mine and then there's a knock off an hour later? I know it seems silly and trivial but that design is the one I'm most pleased with how it came out and to see someone pony off of it makes me feel mine is less worth while for some reason.

Anyway- end rant. I'll let you know when voting begins.

Minted Contest!

2008-08-15T17:49:00.006-04:00

Hey everyone! I'm not sure if you've heard of Minted or it's great contests but I finally remembered to check back there and have been gung-ho about their new Thank You card contest. I thought I went a little crazy with 7 designs until I saw most of the other designers whose designs I like submitted more like 17, 18, or HOLY CRAPOLLA 33 designs. WOW completely wished I'd checked those stats out before the last day you're allowed to submit! I would have done my super Vespa idea.

Anyway now's the part where I beg you to go to Minted and vote for my designs. Yeah I won't even beat around the bush with that. Please vote for me. :)

Here's what you're looking for:

And if any of these win then you can buy them on Minted's site!!!! YAY!!! And if the don't win, I'll sell the ones I like best in 90 days when their hold is relinquished. Ooh and I won't tell you which ones I like best for vote vote vote for your favorites.

Happy Weekend!

Quick someone invite me to a wedding...

2008-07-09T09:12:00.004-04:00

...I need to justify buying this dress from Anthropologie. :)

So in other news... the etsy store seems to be getting some traffic which is fantastic! Unfortunately etsy hasn't joined forced with google analytics so I can only judge by people who add the store as a favorite.

The last couple of days I've been working on some smaller non-wedding projects for those other aspects of your life like friend's birthdays, moving, and new baby cards. Well actually not birthdays yet but I'm planning on it so if there's a message you think would make your life easier if it were on a card- let me know.

Ummmm... L.C. if you happen to be reading... STOP!

Now that we got that out of the way-

Here are the two baby related cards: (one is naughty and one is nice)
I'm going to get pricing on the moving card for myself today- oh- I forgot to mention- my husband and I just closed on our house and have been renovating (trial by fire style, as we don't have much experience but watch a lot of DIY TV) a lot this past week. That's how the moving card idea came out. Anyway, I'll post some before and afters... once we get to the "after" stage. :)

If you just NEED these baby cards or moving cards notnowrightNOW just let me know. Otherwise keep an eye out on etsy!

News and Updates

2008-06-20T12:13:00.003-04:00

Hey Happy Almost Really Truly Summer everyone! So after roughly a million years- I think the etsy site will be up and running soon! I've been speaking with 2 sets of printers recently to try and figure out pricing. I've also set up a small site to show them what the designs look like so you should take a look too:
http://thefuturemrsdarcy.com

It shows off the entire line of some of the invitations you may have seen on the site here. It's not quite soup to nuts but you can get a better idea of what more than just an invite and RSVP would look like, and, as always, if you want a piece that's not listed, I'll make it for you! See, isn't that easy?

Oh and since it's friday this is completely NOT wedding related but hilarious and if there was an office out there that regularly did this- I would go back to an office. http://gizmodo.com/5018272/the-great-nerf-office-war

Have a great weekend!

TGIF Boys and Girls!

2008-06-06T17:23:00.009-04:00

Hiya! Some good news on the etsy front- after not hearing from a printer I've done business with before I've decided to bite the bullet and find someone in the Boston area and - HOORAY - they've already gotten back to me to tell me they'll have pricing on Monday. Also to get everything ready for said printer I had to put my nose to the wedding grindstone and flush out some of the designs so I have a bunch of new things to show you. Today we'll go with something a little different: Ferris and Sloane from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, of course.

Fans of the movie can note that the "wedding" is being held at the Art Institute of Chicago which was there they had that nice little musical montage in the movie but after I added that as the place I couldn't help but think what an amazing venue it would be. Who would give a crap about having just the right peonies when you are surrounded by such fabulous artwork?! So if that inspires you and you find a museum for you, send me pictures!

(p.s.- the RSVP isn't that ginormous- the invitation is just being shrunk to fit in the window!)

Gift Ideas for Guys- Part 3

2008-04-29T09:00:00.006-04:00

Well here is the conclusion of the Gift Ideas for Guys series. The first two are here and here.
This brings us to the end of our rope. You've tried things that he might rather YOU buy for him, places to go and things to do right here to the land of randomness, because you still have no idea what to get.

1- Carnivorous Plants from ThinkGeek.com 2- Unofficial MacGyver Handbook from Amazon 3- Golden Tee for your TV from Amazon and 4-Beer of the Month Club from the aptly titled http://www.beermonthclub.com/.

As you can see there's a certain "toy from the crazy uncle you only see once a year" quality to these gifts but you know those were always the toys that went over best at Christmas.

First we have the Carnivorous Plants from ThinkGeek.com which is only the tip of the iceberg for the toys and gadgets they offer. My husband and I recently got the carnivorous plants along with the Annoy-a-tron, the Firesteel Knife, Airzooka Air Gun, Cool Shooters Ice Shot Glasses, Thundercats shirt, and Japanese Puzzle for a giant cornucopia of craziness birthday present for a good friend of ours. My husband has been strongly campaigning for small dueling helicopters ever since as well. Now as you can probably tell from the list of things we bought it's not all computer/science geekiness but there's a general spectrum of toys and gadgets and things from childhood where you can probably find SOMETHING. Also it's great if you need to round out a smaller gift that you've already got but feel it might not be enough on its own.

Secondly, we come to MacGyver which probably represents the largest segments of things I bought my husband simply because they started releasing the DVDs right around the time we started dating. The book was probably one of the last MacGyver presents but it show dedication to the MacGyver cause on my part (or at least I believe so). Now I'm not saying everyone would be thrilled with MacGyver DVDs or books BUT maybe there's something that you picked up about something he loved when he was younger. Did he watch Goonies everyday of 7th grade but you notice he only has the VHS? Was he shocked and amazed you didn't know what Airwolf was? Well the great thing about a lot of these is that they floating around the bottom of the bargain bin so you can get a little something nostalgic pretty inexpensively. And sure, it won't be something that he'll use everyday of his life, but it does show you've been listening and you're willing to watch his stuff (after all how much Sex in the City have you put him through?)

Next we have Golden Tee for the TV. I think it might have gotten this for my brother-in-law and I'm not sure I'd have put it on the list except for the fact that my friend's boyfriend is a Golden Tee nut! He is crazy for the Golden Tee and so are all of his friends. Then I remember that my husband has been known to feed in like $10 at a time to said game when we're out. $10?! For real? Photo Hunt is only 50 cents! Anyway, I feel there are a bunch of games that are sort of 80s technology that are still around and could be pretty fun! Check out Amazon as well as the game section of Target to see what they have.

Lastly we come to the Beer of the Month Club. Not the most earth shattering idea but let me tell you from experience- getting alcohol delivered to your door can make you giddy. Every time I've either given this or received it I've had to go with the quarterly plan but by all means if you're rich go for the monthly version! [Send some to me too] Also beer (or wine) is not where the "of the month" club begins and ends. This site says it has over 120 "of the month club" options from cigars to ties to steaks to oils (eating variety although I'm sure if you search you'll find of the massaging variety). I think best of all this is a gift that you ultimately forget about then BAM! new season- there's more! But they are a little expensive so if you're in a super creative mood, last Valentine's Day a friend of mine drafted an idea for a gift of the month for each month for her boyfriend. It was kind of a combination of every gift I've mentioned on the list for a whole year. Now that's a little crazy (and much too expensive we realized) but if you can think of small items of the month- let us know!

And with that-- it's time for some breakfast and some This Old House on DVR.

Stay tuned for some information on my soon to be opened Etsy store! That's right- no more teasing you with invitations- it's time to buy and cross one more thing of your list soon!

Gift Ideas for Guys- Part 2

2008-04-03T09:09:00.007-04:00

Here we have the second installment of Gifts for Guys- Shindigs and Hootananies! Commonly known as events , parties or the like. Sometimes is the perfect gift isn't a popping out in your head maybe something you can put a bow on is in order. Many times, I think that these can be the gifts that are remembered the most because it's not here- use this- it's a built up to the event and several hours of fun after. Also great for those living in small spaces- memories are don't take up any unnecessary space next to your couch or on your desk.

1- Scavenger Hunt; 2- Tickets to show; 3- Surprise Party; 4- The Game

So the descriptions of these are a little odd as you can see but I'll do my best to explain. #1 is one of the ideas that I have not COMPLETELY done myself but I was at the end party. This was something my friend's brother did for her birthday and it was insanely well thought out. He hid things in stores and in Churches and bars and created sudoku puzzles and she had a blast. This definitely falls under the category of "Not expensive but INCREDIBLY time consuming". Also probably not for everyone but if you have an Indiana Jones or a Dan Brown fan on your hands- give it some thought. Oh and make sure to either have party and the end or the whole group come along. Don't give them the answers though- no cheating! If you like the concept but don't have the time check out Watson Adventures located in NYC, Boston, DC, Chicago, Philly, and LA. Also read on to #4 which might work too.

But we've got #2 to go over before that. #2 is probably the simplest idea but again when searching for something physically- we tend to over look the simple. Get him tickets to his favorite type of event. We have always enjoyed comedy shows so I went for some Dave Atell and Lewis Black tickets a couple of years ago but for you it could be a band he loves, tickets to a game, tickets to go see a live taping of a show (I've always meant to get us Daily Show, SNL and/or Conan O'Brien tickets but be forewarned- some of these rely on lotteries or stand by and are not guaranteed). And if you don't live in driving distance to NYC- probably not for you either (Sorry! Don't be too sad though, it's probably been spring where you are for much longer). Some places to scour for tickets are Ticketmaster, Craigslist, and StubHub. I'm people have a much longer list of place so if you have a favorite spot to get the hardest to get tickets just let me know and I'll update the list.

#3- Get someone a dark dank cavern? OH contraire! That dank cavern is filled with untold amounts of beer! Yes you DC residents might recognize it as Brickskeller, which happened to be where I had a surprise party for my husband a couple of years ago. Obviously this is best for a birthday party but maybe not. Maybe you're really creative and use it for something else. (But if you are please let me know so we can all copy you!) At the time I didn't know all of his friends as well as I do today so I enlisted the help of a girl he works with to handle the work crowd, our friend from college to handle the college crowd and one of his friends from home to handle the home crowd and whipped them into shape to try and get as many people as possible there. Friends of his came down from all areas to visit, fun was had by all and people who were just used to hearing the others names in passing got to meet. Sidenote if you plan this undertaking yourself- if you are accompanying the surprisee get someone to corral people who are waiting. We happen to walk in and run into two of his friends on a bar run (which is ridiculous b/c we had a waitress) who stopped and were like "Hey. Umm. Happy Birthday"

Ahhhh #4. The Game. This proves how ridiculous I can be. My husband like games. A big Deal or No Deal fan. (I actually won $20 at a superbowl party on his friend's "home made" version on index cards- woohoo!). Sooooo the Game is the reason I started writing this post, only I didn't know it yet. Valentine's Day this year I was STUMPED what to do. I searched the blogs and articles and scoured gift sites and NADA. So I tried to think what he might need the most and at the time- he needed to get away. Somewhere there wasn't phones ringing or a computer to do work on and the weekend after Valentine's was a 3-day weekend this year. So now the question was where to go. There was a deal on a really nice hotel on travelzoo so that was an option but we've also always talked about going back to the town we went to college in and going to the places we used to eat and drink. But which trip to choose? Well it was his present so I decided I'd let him choose but decided to make it a bit more fun than that. I got two boxes from Target and some silly things that represented each trip (a lobster for a trip to the beach/ a keg cup for a trip to where we went to college are two examples) and drew a nice map on the lid of each and then a big 1 or 2 on the lids. The morning of Valentines Day I made a trail of Hershey's Kisses to the boxes and said he could pick one, look inside and he'd then decide whether he wanted that trip--- OR (Price is Right style) he could pass and he'd have to go with whatever was the in second box. He pick the first one (beach) and off we went. It's a little tricky since I couldn't book anything until he picked but it all turned out well in the end. We even got upgraded from our Travelzoo deal to a suite!

Ok. SO there you have it! Part 2. There's still one more so until then... I have some Rachel Ray Papa al Pomodoro!

Allie and Noah

2008-03-12T20:39:00.003-04:00

Like sorbet after a big meal, I'll slide some more previews into the mix between our Gifts for Guys posts.

This is the only one of my designs I've used a photograph before. You usually don't think of photographs in wedding invitations but, in fact, I think this is really traditional and classic looking. I hope you enjoy!

(I don't know if I've written this before but if you are a bride interested in any of my designs, just let me know. Let me know your information (via comments or (quickest method) email) and I'll get you prices lickety split!)

And, don't forget, stay tuned for the next installment of Gifts for Guys!

Gift Ideas for Guys- Part 1

2008-03-10T14:59:00.012-04:00

So as promised about a month ago, here are some gifts that I think are good for the hardest group to shop for: guys.

Let me start out by saying that I'm kind of a present-giving nutjob. I always try to find the absolute perfect gift for people so much so that I kind of wish that birthdays were set up where once a year when you found something for someone you'd just give it to them then and then on their actual birthday make them food. This is because I always find the "so-perfect-they-don't-even-know-they-want-this-but-will-love-it" gift in March who someone whose birthday is in October. Or something like that. And it doesn't make sense to me to get it in March and hold onto it b/c it may no longer be perfect in October or they may find it and buy it for themselves and then I suppose I'd have to find a receipt to return it. That doesn't usually go over well.

But I digress... I think men are so hard to shop for because a) you can't just buy them what you want like you can with a lot of girl friends or sisters and b) when they want something THEY BUY IT. No, "arg should I shouldn't I?", they just buy it. Doesn't matter if it's December first and you've been asking him what he wants for Christmas/Hannauka. He'll buy it for himself. Le sigh.

So I feel like I've come up with some good ideas over the years which you can spin and make yours. Yay! I'm going to stick to things that I have actually bought over the years mostly for my husband (but also some things we got for his friend who was at one time our roommate and best man at our wedding.)

Starting off:
1) t-shirts from Threadless.com, 2) Grooming Lounge Gift Certificate, 3) Sephora Scent Sampler Gift Certificate For Him, 4) Silk Boxers

While it's kind of stereotypical to think that men hate shopping unless it's for the new big screen tv or something, in my case, it's totally true. Now I nearly got my husband a cashmere sweater for Valentine's Day (there was such a sale at Macy's!) my general feeling was "He'd like it but blah". Threadless shirts on the other hand are fun and cool. I found Threadless when they mentioned it in a little sidebar in my college's monthly magazine back in 2000 and I think between the two of us, my husband and I have roughly 20 Threadless shirts. The t-shirts are made from user submissions, voted on, and then printed on American Apparel shirts. If you think you're not seeing anything on Threadless and you're looking for funny shirts also check out glarkware.com, bustedtees.com, and there are a slew of other that are all escaping me now.

Number 2, The Grooming Lounge is from our days in DC (although they've apparently opened another store in Atlanta). They do, as the name implies, all sorts of male grooming. Hair, face, nails, skin, massages, all the things YOU'D want in a nice day spa EXCEPT the Grooming Lounge is all leather and wood and Old Boys Club rich looking.

[Start Scene] In the midst of Christmas shoppers in a horribly narrow Boston area mall, the crowd parts to reveal a slightly bedraggled woman clutching a fistful of narrow paper strips. As she passes people she can be heard muttering "top paper is Lacoste, then Calvin Klein, then Lazzaro, ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss, Burberry, Lacoste, Calvin Klein, Ralph-NO NO STUPID STUPID! Calvin Klein, Lazzaro, Ralph Lauren, Oooh my head hurts. Lacoste, Calvin Klein, which one to pick, which one to pick? Lazzaro, Ralph Lauren, I liked Lacoste but maybe the Burberry. Wait was this Burberry Brit for Men or Burberry Touch for Men... AHHHHH" She fall to the ground in madness. [End Scene] Soooo needless to say the Sephora Scent Sampler for Men basically saved my sanity this Christmas. Not only because it saved me from all my little sheets of paper (though if you do go that route-- here's a hint-- BRING A PEN not all of the colognes have pre-printed sheets at the department stores) but also because a fragrance smells different out of the bottle than it does once it reacts with your body chemistry.

And lastly, silk boxers. Come on, they're fun! I actually recommend the faux silk boxers that Target sells because how many guys that you know check the labels or - shock - hand wash some of their clothes?!

Ok this has been about 5 times longer than I expected so stay tuned to my next installment of my gifts for guys and if it's so super incredible dire that you get a present right this very minute, hey, take a deep breath then go check out my favorite online stores.

And now for something completely opulent!

2008-02-14T13:26:00.005-05:00

For this Valentine's a preview that tres romantique as well as pain in the ass-- which is the two sides of Valentine's Day I've heard from my friends today!

Satine and Christian from Moulin Rouge. It's featured here in the over-the-top magenta and aqua but as always in available in your specific color.

Ooh la la! Satine and Christian Invitation

Detail of the Satine and Christian Invitiation

Also, I know it will be about a year late (or early depending on your view) but in the next couple of days I'm going to try and round up the best gifts for men and the best gifts for women because despite my scouring the web for the last week I didn't find much.

Have a wonderful Valentine's everyone and if your day isn't looking so bright, remember, there's a good chance you have a 3 day weekend this week! :)

Logo and design

2008-02-11T12:34:00.000-05:00

So after much hair pulling and pacing I've finally agreed upon a logo for myself! Drum roll please... Here you have it:
One of the reasons I've been excited to throw myself back into the sometimes crazy realm of wedding is because I had accumulated so much information... AFTER I had already set everything in motion. Also, I find it's a lot easier to to pick things when it's not for yourself. Hence the ease of creating invitations and the stress of creating a logo for the company.

But after about 20 wholly different ideas then another 20 after I redesigned the web page I think I've got one I'm comfortable in sickness and health, through good times and bad.

And those dashes around the logo remind me I have several more individual invitation designs to unveil. This one was inspired first by Holly Golightly (and Paul, too, I suppose) from Breakfast at Tiffany's then an aqua and green wedding palette I saw in Martha Stewart Weddings, then that lovely font used by Blueprint and a pattern from a book I have.

I hope you enjoy!

Happy Day at the Office!

2008-01-30T11:55:00.000-05:00

My Mr. Darcy is doing well with his new software: firepublish AND our new office chairs came so we can finally put our dining room chairs back around the dining room table! HOORAY!
The office chairs are Boss Chair model B580. They around $150 which (we found) is quite a steal as far as office chairs go.

But since office chairs aren't the prettiest thing to look at, how about a sneak peak at Rose and Jack from the Titanic...

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

The Complete Jane Austen

2008-01-13T21:06:00.000-05:00

So with a business called "The Future Mrs. Darcy" it would be pretty remiss of me to not mention The Complete Jane Austen on PBS Masterpiece Theatre which starts... right now. Or 7 minutes ago making me get MY Mr. Darcy to go pause it on the DVR while I make the following graphic and refresh my wine.

Also for everyone else's nerves who are shot like mine, I'm pleased to report Jane Austen is 100% Manning free (nothing makes me care about sports than a bracket and potential win)

:)

Gifts

2007-12-17T15:33:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-11T16:58:00.000-05:00

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]

2007-12-05T12:24:00.001-05:00

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!

2007-12-05T11:21:00.000-05:00

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!

I'm back!

2007-11-28T17:39:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay, folks. I had a lovely Thanksgiving and have been up to my ears in my freelance work since I got back.

It's nice to get out of wedding madness for a little while (and getting paid doesn't hurt either) but those projects are wrapping up so I started working some extras for my Sandy and Danny (from Grease) invites. It's quite weird to find yourself getting too "into" fictional characters wedding plans! A lot of the characters I use are characters that I love so I can't just stick any old reception location on there. Bogey and Bacall were by far the easiest since they actually did get married so I can use their wedding date and location but wikipedia didn't quite say where their guests stayed or their wedding menu so I end up researching place in the area and scanning menus online.

Thankfully all my fictional characters have an unlimited budget so Sandy and Danny have reserved all of the rooms at boutique hotel Amarano in Burbank for their guests, Sloane and Ferris (from Ferris Bueller's Day Off) are having their ceremony at the Art Institute of Chicago (which was featured in the movie), Satine and Christian (from Moulin Rouge) are having their ceremony held at Sacre Coeur and (obviously) Holly and Paul (from Breakfast at Tiffany's) are having their reception at the famed 5th Avenue jewelry store.

But after working on Sandy and Danny's menu (with a Smashed Potato Bar- mmm so good!) I need to find some non-fictional food of my own. :)

As always check back for more previews of upcoming designs and for website release info!

Bogey and Bacall

2007-11-20T15:20:00.001-05:00

As promised while we're all waiting for the website to be finished here is a preview of Bogey and Bacall:

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

Feast for your eyes!

2007-11-19T19:16:00.000-05:00

I took some time from the getting the website together today to add some extra pieces to my Bogey and Bacall line. Or rather, Bacall and Bogey. I'm trying to create a system where (properly) the womens' names come first but you'd be surprised how often it's common to say the complete opposite.

Perhaps I'll post some pictures tomorrow but in the mean time here are some great links for your wedding planning needs.

Rebecca Thruss

Can you hear my Homer drool? I cannot believe I found this website AFTER my wedding?! Rebecca has worked with my high priestess of weddings (Martha) and represent all that I love. Want to hop on the inspiration board band wagon? Consider this your ticket. This is a great place to get ahold of a couple of key ideas that will guide your wedding planning process.

Jamali Garden
Ok I'm bringing you straight to the "metal" section here. This is from my days of mint julep cup adoration on the wedding homefront. In the end I didn't go with bud vases on the tables but everytime I see that picture on their website I try and creatively think of a reason why I NEED those vases. And they're only around $5 a piece! When spring rolls around and ranunculus (I think that's what those are) start to bloom... LOOK OUT. I'm going to order a whole slew of those.

Cox and Cox

Again I'm showing you a specific page but for an intimate winter wedding these would be perfect. Cox & Cox has a ton of beautiful things that can make reception or at least help you define a "look" for your wedding.

Hope this helps with all of your planning. Stay tuned for some sneak peaks at TFMD design and more wedding planning links!

Knottie Bio Finished

2007-11-13T16:11:00.000-05:00

After two long days finding just the right pictures and cropping and writing and coding my Knottie Bio is FINALLY DONE! There weren't many Upstate New York brides when I was looking so hopefully it'll be a good resource for some local ladies or maybe just spark an idea or two for someone else. And if I'm really lucky hopefully it'll drum up some business!

Check it out here at: kreinertsen knottie bio

If you have any questions just let me know!

Welcome!

2007-11-07T22:16:00.001-05:00

Greetings and Salutations! This is the first blog post for The Future Mrs. Darcy, wedding paper goods maker extraordinare. (Yeah, still looking for a way to consolidate and shorten).

The blog is the companion site to TheFutureMrsDarcy.com which will be going live soon. In this blog I'll let readers check out wedding invitation designs in the works and make sure we're providing exactly what brides are looking for. In the meantime we have lots to do to get the site up and running.

To peak your interest though some interesting features at The Future Mrs. Darcy:

All designs are named after famous couples.
When I was getting married I'd look at wedding invitations and I'd like "Jen and Michael" but 10 days later when I was trying to recall which one it was I'd spent hours click through each one going was it "Grace and John? No. Liz and Nick? No." Not only is this a good way to get a handle on each design but maybe even to help you gravitate to styles you like.
Designs are available in customizable colors.
Fall in love with the aqua "Rose and Jack" from the Titanic invite (so sometimes we fudge the stories endings a little...ok A LOT) but you had planned on having everything pink? Not a problem!
And what we're most excited about- so you've fallen in love with "Jim and Pam" from the Office but how would you and your fiance's name look? Preview your information in real time for all our designs!

We can barely wait to bring it to you so make sure and come back often to see what we're up to!