Cake (via Martha Stewart)

Wedding cakes kind of scare me. I'll admit to that. something about something so big and so expensive that you can't really taste until the day of. I guess this is showing the true colors of my micromanager self. Like the dress at least you get to try on. And the dress you try on is the dress you'll wear so that's that. Cake?!?! I don't really have opinions on cake. My favorite cake would be a stack of baked lays or chocolate chip cookies in a cake stack. But I have people in my life who have strong opinions about cake. (Yes I am talking about you Miss. R, but also my Mom :)

All of that said, this cake rocks. Thanks Martha.

(Via: Style Me Pretty)

Birds (by Spark letterpress)

I joke about having love birds as a theme until I see something as great as this. I simply love this. Love love love. Such great design by Spark. *sigh*

I will be spending some time at their blog.

Via Oh So Beautiful Paper.

Brilliance (by Cathe Holden of Just Something Made)

Oh my god BRILLIANT!!!! Watch out envelopes!!! Thank you thank you Cathe Holden!

(Blog Trail: Fffound, Handmade Charlotte, Lobo Likes Lonely Pie, Just Something Made)

Cat (by PenguinAndFish)

I love this! It isn't a card but instead a fabulous notebook by penguinandfish. I'm sorry. This is when I have to fully admit my love of cats. So cute!

(blog trail: Ffffound, Penguin and Fish blog, Etsy)

Painted CD Stands (by Lena)

Oh neat! The bride, Lena, found some CD stands and spray painted them in her colors. I love how she added the yellow and gray poms, and invitations. She clearly has an eye for design.

Have I mentioned my love for adding furniture outside yet? And here is a great example of making something really designy but within budget.

The photography is the work of Andrew Lin. He has more great shots of this wedding on his blog.

(via Snippet & Ink)

Invite (by Simplesong Desin)

What a pretty invite! It's the first I've seen like that. Very cool work of Simplesong Design. Photographs by Kate Headley.

Also, I love when people incorporate fruit/vegetables into their decor. It's one of those things I'm not interested in doing; it's not my style. But it's a style I really love. And every time I see it I just think, "Wow. So neat."

(Note: I realized the fruit/veggie comment made no sense. Click on Kate Headley's blog and you'll see what I mean! :)

(via: RitzyBee Blog)

Plushy Owls! (By cynicthelamb)

Owls! These are the really cute work of cynicthelamb. Is our theme going to be birds? Love Flocks Together. OK, now I'm making myself laugh. *sigh* Did I tell you I bought a bird cage at Goodwill today? (Right before I locked my keys in my car.) Don't tell Z about the bird cage! (Just joking!)

(Via: Vintage Indie, Vintage Indie Kids, Etsy)

Necklace by spinthread

I love this idea. I've seen lace necklaces (beautiful), and I hope jewelry goes more toward this trend. This is the lovely work over at the Esty shop spinthread.

(via Oh So Beautiful Paper)

Fabric Lables (from Make Something via IDIY)

My first thought was, "How much does a typewriter cost...hmmm..." but then I remembered I have a stamp that's the same type face. I mean, it doesn't quite look *this* cool but it's the right price.

This is from the always great Idiy and from Make Something.

Table Piece (via Style Me Pretty)

This is exactly the type of piece I love. LOVE! In fact I'm starting a new tag for it. So great.

I can't find the name of the bride anywhere, but wow. Nice work couple!

There's a ton more pretty at Style Me Pretty.

Pictures by: Zoom Photography

Folded Invites (by Elise & Patrick via Design*Sponge)

This seems like such a happy wedding. Wow.

I'm thinking about invitations again. Here's nice example of something folded. I like the long envelope because I think it looks nice. Cards are loose inside. Something to think about.

Photos by Our Labor of Love.

(via Ffffound, Design*Sponge)

Boutonnieres (by Mrs. Sunbeam of Wedding Bee)

Mrs. Sunbeam over at WeddingBees blog has a great little tutorial about how to make lacy boutonnieres (<--- damn those french words are hard to spell!).

I haven't even thought about boutonnieres at all. At all all. I'm still in the "oh those are cute/pretty/insert adjective here" stage. Soon this will be followed by the "Oh no, this or that this or that?!?!" stage.

Anyway, *cough* boutonnieres!

Hello Possibilities

So the excitement is back. Maybe it's that we head home tomorrow, and I can feel myself switching gears. The Rocky music is beginning to play, and I'm suddenly very motivated to make giant letters out of cardboard. Er, or such things as that. Watch out living room.

Next week is the last week I have free before going into rehearsals for a local theater show. Suddenly 4 nights a week, until the beginning to December, I'm off the time market. The other nights I'm trying to catch up with laundry and life. It's sort of an intense time, but it's something I absolutely love. It also does an incredible job of streamlining my life. Because I have such limited time, I'm better about being organized.

That said, this coming week is dedicated to things like sleep and exercise AND finishing the save the dates (envelopes too?) I think it can be done, and I'm excited to try.

Giant Paper Cut (by Amy Soczka)

So I'm adding things to my list of Things Little Girls Would Want to Be When They Grew Up If They Knew They Existed- list. Installation artist. Becaue you can do installations...for you...stores.

This incredible work is in an Urban Outfitters in Wisconsin. It's the work of Amy Soczka.

Yeah...she has on there that she does them for order. (Drool.) Who wouldn't want something like this behind them on their wedding day?!

(via Fffound)

Yellow Flower (by MaiharDesign)

I really do hope that the fabric flower thing stays around for awhile. Tonight on the SanFran bus I saw a girl wearing a headband with feathers on it. Not sticky up but sleek and chic. Sooo wanted to squeal with delight but didn't want to come across, you know, crazy.

This canary yellow delight is by MaiharDesign.

(Found via WeddingChicks.)

Card Rack (by Bonnie Tsang)

This image is from photographer Bonnie Tsang. I think it may be from the Greenwich Letterpress shop, which is totally awesome. Z and I went there on the recommendation of graphic designer, Erin Jang, when we were in New York, and it really was awesome.

OK, the point though is that card racks could be cute as centerpieces. I have no idea from there...you know...how to make them not look ridiculous. I just think it could be an interesting idea.
(Trail: Pretty Procrastination)

Flags and Food (via Once Wed)

This whole wedding is gorgeous. The mismatched plates are faaantastic! (And apparently a company rents them like that. Brilliant.)

See more photos here.

(Via: OnceWed)

Theme?

So I'm back to thinking there needs to be a theme. Or something that makes things fit together somehow. The weddings I've gone to have never seemed to have overt themes, and I felt like theirs always looked really pulled together. Why am I worried about ours? I have no idea. In part it's because I see all these super planned weddings online. And they are beautiful. And they all seem to have such THEMES whether it be color or otherwise. It makes me worried our "no specific color" will seem chaotic. If there is a paper sculpture in the front yard and sheep made of chicken wire and paper in the back, will that seem strange? Maybe. Maybe not. I have no idea. If they are both green will it really help matters? Nooooo idea.

This may be fodder for our loooong ass drive back to Oregon Saturday. When we talked about it last night Z had the idea of Anthropologie Art Deco. I love him for this.

I do know that I am attracted to very specific types of weddings online. They are the whimsy feminine ones. Ones with flags and cake stands and pinks and soft colors. Probably a balloon. Right now that's not exactly the direction I'm heading with the planned fabric flowers and banners. It's more a color thing than an object thing.

I think it'll be good for me to get back home to my studio, paints and cutting board.

Pretty Paper Bags (by Amy Atlas via Design*Sponge)

Amy Atlas really is amazing. She is what little girls would want to grow up and be if they knew such things as "stylists" existed before the age of oh, um, 28. These are some brown paper bags she made for Sunday Suppers.

(Via Ffffound, Design*Sponge)

Travel Themed Invites (Via iDIY blog)

How great is this travel-themed invite. A lot of hard work by both the bride, Holly, and groom, Sean. Sean designed the whole thing. Wow. Big double triple wow. I really like the double pocket on the right side of the invitation. Really classy and something to keep in mind as Z and I foray into ours.

(Via the very cool: idiy blog)

Cheese! (via Style Me Pretty)

I looove the idea of a cheese bar. I don't know why. I mean, I like cheese but no more than let's say chocolate or diet coke. (It'd be kind of funny to have a diet coke bar.) Actually I like the idea of having mini cheese bars on every table. Something for people to snack on while they are waiting for food.

Here is the awesome cheese bar from Sarah Matteson's wedding via Style Me Pretty.

Photography by Brendan McLaughlin.

Little OOT Bags (by Mrs. Apple Cider, WeddingBees)

I love this type of bag. Mrs. Apple Cider from the Wedding Bee Blog has a good tutorial on how she did this. Stamps are great. I'm not doing this but I can still appreciate it!

Ah Yes. (via 100LayerCake)

Sometimes I have trouble describing how I see our wedding. Like if you could hold the few words in your hand, what would those words be?

I have this board from 100LayerCake labeled in my notes as "Exactly." I expected to see furniture and cake when the link opened. I was a little surprised by the bookmark choice. There isn't a lot of the image design that connects with me here. But then I read the title: Late Summer Whimsy. Aaah. Yes! So yes! Exactly. Late Summer Whimsy.

Glitter Frame (by Creature Comforts)

I need to reintroduce myself to the wonders of glitter. I bought a Papyrus card today b/c of it's glittery surface and there is an artist Britto that Zach and I saw in a gallery in South Beach a few years ago. The link doesn't do him justice but he had huge swaths in glitter. It gave his paintings a fantastic texture (not to mention sparkle.)

This is all to say that I really like this straight forward glitter from from Creature Comforts.

(Also I love the doily ribbon award :)

Pink Bag Possibilites (inspired by Adrian Kondratowicz)

This is from an installation piece, AnyColorYouLike, by artist Adrian Kondratowicz. Looking at these bags though it makes me wonder what you could make using giant patterned plastic bags. Giant flowers perhaps? So does that mean you could take something relatively inexpensive and bendable like large white plastic bags, spray paint them, and then make them into giant flowers? Hmm? Hmmm...

(Via: Oh Joy)

Festive Vellum Save the Dates (from Lisa Rupp)

These are from awhile ago but a good thing that can't go bad. Love vellum. Love. Or why the sale table at one of the TWO PaperSources w/in bus distance from our house sitting was wonderful! Vellum envelopes a-plenty.

This wonderfully imaginative work is from Lisa Rupp and her guest blogging on Creature Comforts.

Beverage Jar (from Crate and Barrel)

I like this. It's a beverage jar from Crate and Barrel via Style Me Pretty. The Create and Barrel link is no longer good, which leads me to believe that they have sold out. Sad. So pretty. These are lovely filled with a colorful liquid and fruit slices.

Cards and Ideas by Wren Handmade

If you haven't received a birthday card that looks like this yet you probably will soon. (Except for you Emily. Yours is finished and hopefully not lost. *cough*)

This tutorial aligns really closely with my style.

The garland is fantastic!

Creative work of Wren Handmade as a guest blogger on Design*Sponge.

Membership to the Group

Something about San Francisco makes me a self conscious bride to be. Maybe it's that we're living off a street that is so baby-centic, it makes me hyper aware of being a part of a group. I am The Bride Group. I am the Paper Source Group. I am ruin every one's life over superfluous things group. I'm THAT group.

But I'm not, right? Right? There are separate groups within the Group? I'm being too hard on the Group?

I think it was the Yelp reviews that did me in. I'm all for store reviews, but something about all the negative comments about the Papyrus or Paper Source stores seemed petty. Someone complained that the tiles were loose in one of the stores. But said it in a way that seemed really unnecessary (to my clearly overly sensitive brain.) Some definitely have valid complaints. But reading them all en mass, the valid ones, the petty ones, all just seemed overwhelming artificial. So much of wedding culture is fake. Fake want. Fake desire. Not that the emotions aren't real, but the whole groundwork of why we have those emotions is manufactured. Has been manufactured. Manufactured want and need. And most sadly, manufactured feelings of entitlement.

I go through phases. In some, I explode in excitement. And in others, I want to pull back and hide in my self consciousness. Today was the latter. Yes. Clearly.

An Oregon Night In SanFran

So here we are in SanFran and after a full day of museums and good food we settled into a night just like any we'd have in Oregon. Zach made us dinner and then went in for some evening work while I set up and worked on Save the Dates. I have to say it was incredibly relaxing. There is something about rocking out to music through my cheap-ass headphones and gluing down tiny flags. Therapeutic. Totally.

However, one wonders: Will I ever finish these?

Folded Inspiration

I can't find the original source to this image so I'm not posting it, but it did make me think how cool it could be to have a pamphlet-style wedding program.

Promo Cards (via Element)

OK, I'm not even totally what these cards from Element are for but I love them! It's got the wrap around design that's so in right now. But I love how it's put together. Seems like it's a great business card design (which it may be promotion for their firm) or just a note that says hello. You could also put in an image of the groom carrying the bride in all their dressy glory and it could be a thank you card.

(via Ffffound)

San Fran!

Zach and I head to San Francisco tomorrow morning for two weeks. We will be house sitting for my cousin while she's on her honeymoon. I'm trying to figure out which project I should bring down to work on. So many of the current projects are in the testing phase, which requires a lot of supplies. That's no good. Also there are cats so unlike my studio at home I can't just leave piles out with the confidence they will be in the same arrangement when I get back. So I think I'll bring flag materials. I can wad the fabric up in a bag and put all the cutting supplies in a box. Yes yes. Flags it is.

Still not finished with the Save the Dates aaaand probably won't be until we get back. I'm not hauling down stacks of cards with loose flags in between the layers. That is anti progress. :)

Wash Your Stamps

One of the final Aug 14th stamp sheets.

Rebecca Thuss

Originally I was going to post this just because I think it's pretty but in trying to find the credit, I came to Rebecca Thuss's portfolio. Aaaamazing.

Check out her Favors/Paper/Craft Portfolio. Swoon.

Craft Explosion

This is last night circa 6pm.

The Key
1. Paper Source rolls. I'll be back for you later!
2. Teal Hoody. I love you and no one else does. Also I should really wash you.
3. The purse where my driver's license and credit card weren't when I realized I needed them pre crafts.
4. Desk
5. B/c why *wouldn't* you have a family-sized pancake griddle still in the box in the middle of your studio?
6. An owl! (This could be like a where's waldo only it's owls...or carpet. Which ever.)
7. Future fabric flowers.
8. You!

Bark Inspired Thumbnails (by me)

OK, so that Bark invitation inspiration that I just referenced? Here's my thumbnail graphic for our hypothetical version.

Wrapped Invite (Inspired by Bark)

I like this over the top/bottom wrap sleeve.

This is a self promotion newspaper for the design firm Bark.

Via: Ffffound, ItsNiceThat

Candy Stand (via Once Wed)

I love stands. Cake stands. Candy stands. Cupcake stands. Anything with tiers really. So naturally, this image from Kevin and Paige's wedding really jumped out.

(Via: Ffffound, OnceWed)

The Play by Play (or Longest Poster EVER!)

6pm- It's 6pm on the dot and I just got home. I'm where I wanted to be at 4:30. But no, I didn't have my credit card or my driver's license on me so even though I left work early, I still had to come back to the apartment. That added 30 minutes. Getting suckered into going to Micheal's in addition to our local craft store added another 45. So here it is. Six pm and my craft table looks like it may have been the epicenter of something bad.

But I'm getting these monsters (said lovingly) done. I'm giving myself 30 minutes to clean my space. At thirty I'll check in again. Go!

6:30 Good enough. Time to assess where I'm at:
Finished-10
All but flags-26
All but flags, flags loosely chosen (this will probably totally change)-42
math math math 36+42= 78
Owl and front but no inside Aug 14, 2010-25
8- insides stamped

6:40 Finished my veggie puffs, opened diet rockstar (should have gotten 2)
I'm starting with stamping out the 25 insides.

7:00- talk. Dealing with stupid work stuff. Grrrr...

7:15-OK stamp, why aren't you working?!? You worked fine before!

7:21: Standing in the bathroom with a hair dryer...b/c I'm vain. No, b/c I'm trying to dry out my damn stamp. Isn't there good tv on Wednesdays?

7:23: For the love of god, finally.
I always assumed people said you needed to clean your stamps so that your colors stay true or something to the aesthetic effect. But no. You clean your stamp so some weird chemical reaction doesn't occur between your Platinum Planet and your Pearlescent Chocolate
(later) Woohoo! 12 successfully stamped of brown on polkadot green

7:35- Zach stabbed his foot while making the bed (I hope it wasn't something in my bed pile!) Quick break to find neosporm.

7:44 Immediately don't follow my own advice and change colors b/c I'm too lazy to wash the damn stamp again.
-can't find ink I'm sure I bought.

7:45 oooh think ink isn't going to work. Where is that stuff I bought?

7:54: Found it. Great. *sigh* At least Zach is no longer bleeding.

8:04 - Stamped! Now they need to dry and be traced and cut. Bring back the hair dryer!

8:07 Holy crap! You know what's magical? A HAIRDRYER!
(Note to self-Blog entitled: My parents are idiots.)

8:30- all traced and cut out. Time to clean up and move to gluing them in. I'm in serene "I can get everything done phase." The phase where the caffeine is coursing. I haven't over eaten and I'm making progress. This is inevitably followed by the "Holy crap I'm tired and I'll never get this done" feeling a few hours later. Moving on.

8:34 Break for a snack! Rhubarb upside down cake!
9pm- back from cake break and watching an episode of The IT crowd with Zach. Table is clean. Let's go.

9:20 Best impulse buy ever!!! It's a dot glue applicator. (Also learned a Fordian Way to put on tape. Tape tape rotate 90, tape tape<---This is for my own notes.) 9:30- 21 insides finished and adhered inside. Wait, I'm missing 4. How did I miscount again?!?! Gah! Why can't I do basic math?!?!

9:32- Wooohoo! Found a pile on the floor!! I can do basic math! I just can't locate things in piles.

9:48 Glad I got one of the glue dot re-fillers. 29 Insides taped and secured!!! Time to clean up the space and prep the next step. *Lesson learned: Do everything in stages. Get caught up with a stage and then move on. Between each set take 5 minutes to clean up the previous stage and prep the next. Makes that next step go infinitely quicker. (tiny bit later) Hmmm...just noticed that I kicked over my cards with the tiny flags inside. I guess I knew I was redoing that section anyways. I need to 1. Stop misplacing things and 2. Stop kicking things. 3. Learn to count. 10:09 Damn hippy music on kink. I hate their lights out program. It's the NPR equivalent of the classical music shows. Gugh.

10:30 Sigh. I've glued 6. This is going to be reeeeeeeally slow. Kink Acoustic isn't doing it for me. I need music! I also need a change of tactic. I'm going to time myself.

10:44 Three done. THREE?!?! I'm averaging 3 every 15 minutes or 1 every 5. W.O.W. Must change tactics. I told Z how long it took for each and he said, "So it'll take 500 minutes?" I didn't like his use of math so I went instead in search of snacks.

11:21 I'm cruising! Changed tactics so that I'm just coordinating the flags. I'll glue them in later. I'm realizing however that dark green is a really hard color to match with flags. And I'm beginning to seriously second guess my decisions. Aesthetic not ethics. Aesthetics not ethics. And repeat.

12:31 It's October and I'm faaaar from finished. Zach's going to bed and that always feels strange. I'm working until 2am and then I'm going to sleep. I'm bored numb of matching flags. I'm switching back to glue activities. I need to work a different muscle.

1:00 OK, my wrists are starting to complain. Kind of like me.

1:40am- Time to call it quits. Quits I say. I think I finished an additional grand total of 16, but I'm probably just another night away so that isn't *so* bad, right? Hmmm...craft table again looks like it was the epicenter of some disaster...but it's also kind of pretty. :)