Emmaline Bride; a handmade wedding marketplace

I love being a part of the Emmaline Bride handmade marketplace {where artists sell their unique wedding items to creative brides}. Below are a few of my favorite art pieces that can be found at this online bridal market…have fun shopping!

PINK STRAWBERRY BUTTON BOUQUET

FLORAL FLOWER GIRL DRESS

PRESSED GRAPES BRACELET

WEDGE WITH PEACOCK FEATHER FLOWER

SOMETHING BLUE CLUTCH

 

minted designs

Yes, I’ll admit it, I’m a late bloomer when it comes to the online stationery store minted.com, but I finally made time at the end of this past year to get minted. I’m now joining a ton of talented artists by participating in the minted design challenges. I’m super excited to submit my designs, plus I love sketching out new ideas…it feels like art school all over again!

The most recent keep in touch good housekeeping challenge is now open for voting! Designers were asked to create personal stationery with matching skinny wrap address labels for men, women & children. I of course would love your friendly vote on any of the papercake designs cards & your comments are always welcome too.  {thanks for contributing, all of us starving artists need your support since we ultimately design for you.

…and below are a few of my favorites from this challenge:

ps. the be mine valentine challenge voting has closed, you can still check out & order the very cool valentine card winning designs here!

 

Valentine Treats via Half Baked; the cake blog

I found half baked; the cake blog thru twitter one day … I love this site. Great party & wedding inspiration, cakes by event or theme, dessert & cocktail ideas plus local cake designers!  I’m now getting excited for some yummy valentine sweets after this pretty post too…

 

a paper interview

LCI Paper’s Do it yourself Creative Blog posted an interview they had with me on how the design process worked when creating the wedding invitation for clients Nhaman & Jeremy. I love this paper company, I go to their website all the time for pointed double wedding envelopes along with pre-cut blank cards. They make it easy to create your own invitations. Check out their post below and their paper site here:

 

A Rockin Bat Mitzvah Party Invitation

I had to share this Bat Mitzvah Invitation that I recently designed for {& with} Jessica…she drew the fun illustrations of herself & friends to include in her rockin party album package!

The records are printed front & back on round labels and slides inside a jacket sleeve with customized vellum cover. We also added a few enclosure cards that complement the fun & colorful design, including a map/accommodations card.

I’m so glad Ilona from Fantasy Events found me & introduced me to Jessica & her mom…I love the final package design & can’t wait to start on the “backstage” party stationery! {their custom save-the-date concert ticket is also shown below}.

below: the same concert save-the-date ticket design but personalized for a Wedding; includes choice of colors & custom monogram to match any theme.

 

Wedding Day Slideshow

Lauren from Cohn Frankel Photography sent me a slideshow from Viani & Aldrich’s Wedding which took place in San Francisco’s Presidio Park {I created Viani’s ceremony program & reception cards}. I love seeing my clients wedding day photos, especially after assembling their orders beforehand and imagining how the day will look as I pack it all up.

This slideshow really tells the “day of” story for me and Lauren captured it beautifully. Check it out & thank you Lauren & Viani for sharing!

*update: the motorcycle cake topper on Viani & Aldrich’s cake {shown here} is from Tops the Cake, you can customize the hair color too! so cool!

 

Coordinate & share your Wedding Colors

Recently my client who lives in another city sent me a link showing her wedding colors via The Dessy Group. They have a new collection of wedding tools in their Pantone Wedding™ section.
I’m loving this idea! Not only can you look for dresses & accessories, but at the same time choose your wedding color combo & design inspiration boards for you & your vendors.

This helps so much as an invitation vendor, I can now easily view the exact color palette while designing karen’s custom wedding stationery package & choosing the paper colors. Check it out!

 

Holiday Baking: Snowball Cookies

Perfect timing!  My mom just sent me her “secret” holiday snowball cookie recipe and now I can compare with the research Cake Spy just provided on their blog. Check out all the variations they tested here … I noticed that mom’s recipe is slightly different too {adding vanilla & pecans, which reads more like the Russian Teacakes} oh well, I’m excited to start baking…I hope you find a cookie you love too, happy holiday’s!

 

Eco-Beautiful Weddings Online Magazine

The Winter 2010, Eco-Beautiful Weddings E-zine is live:
We are the first and only eco-friendly and eco-couture international online wedding magazine. Take a look at our premiere issue filled with hundreds of ideas, beautiful weddings and celebrities! —the Eco-Beautiful Weddings Blog

So yes, I’m all about having an actual printed magazine to hold & flip through {especially since my design background has been, and still is, within the publishing business}…but I must admit, it was fun to hear the pages swish when I clicked on the corners. The content is creative & all the images are bright & colorful. Plus, it’s so easy to select a product description or advertiser and instantly be redirected to their website.  Being that I’m also in the invitation/stationery biz, the wedding E-zine is definitely helping me think first by offering more recycled paper solutions when starting a project with my brides. Thanks!

* below is a quick glance showing a few of my favorite online spreads…and as a fellow art director, the layouts look fabulous!  Have fun clicking through the pages…

 

Your Personalized Wedding Map

It’s been another fun year working closely with all my brides, not only on their custom invitations but on their personalized Wedding maps too!

Most clients request that I also design & print their enclosure cards with their custom Wedding Invitation package that I create, but this year I began assisting a few DIY brides who either created their own invitation -or- chose an invite from another website, but didn’t have the time or option to include a map. Therefore, I started designing personalized Wedding maps based on an invite design. Once the map is finalized, I provide a printable digital map via email. Each gal can then print on their own paper or upload to an online printer of choice.
This process has worked out great & I love adding that extra unique style to each stationery package {my brides also seem very excited too}!  Check out a few of the Wedding maps I designed this year, which show how we incorporated each gal’s theme onto their map: adding personalized info & locations, colors, fonts & any design details/or monogram {plus each are custom sized to fit an invite package or welcome bag}.

We had two successful Enclosure Card contests this year with Amy Jean at The Relentless Bride Blog and recently at The Weddzilla Blog. I’m currently working with the 2 winners on their designs, but I love hearing from all the brides who entered + new inquires too. Please let me know if you need any assistance creating your personalized Wedding Map.
{fyi: papercake can also print your map if needed}.