The Holidays are Approaching!

Tomorrow starts the onsalught of Holiday marketing - goodbye Fall and Halloween, hello, Christmas!  Well, not actually, but it always seems to me that as soon as Halloween is done, the major Christmas marketing begins.  One of my local radio stations plays Christmas music now until New Years and people begin their 2 month shopping bonanza.  In the spirit of Holiday over kill, I decided to post a holiday invitation set that I recently created.

The bride was a referral to me from a friend that is a great customer.  This friend was one of my first ever weddings and she has since ordered a handful of other invitations.  I was so grateful that she referred me, because to me this is the greatest compliment I can get!!  I really got excited for this set especially after I began working with the bride - she had an awesome wedding design in mind.  Her wedding is going to be held on New Year's Eve and will be using the regal color scheme of black, ivory and gold.  I can only imagine how glam and glitzy this event will be!

The bride chose the "Holiday Sparkle" design, with some minor changes.  We changed the color scheme, dropped the snowflakes, and added some small swirls.  What we ended up with was an invitation perfect for a NYE wedding!

The set included invitation with printed return address, RSVP card and envelope, and an accommodations card:

 And as a gift to the bride and groom, I had a Christmas ornament made from their invitation from Remaking Memories:

Cheers to you, Hali and Curtis!

Autumn Bliss

So far it has been a gorgeous fall in Michigan - great colors, lots of sunshine, and perfect temperatures.

Fall is a very popular time to have a wedding, with good reason!

I would like to share some wedding invitations that I recently made for a fall wedding that I know will be simply stunning.  The bride was looking for something fall-ish, but wasn't crazy for any of the designs that I already had.  So, I went to the drawing board (literally) and came up with this invitation.  I drew and hand painted the branch for this invitation, which really makes her invitations one of  a kind!

I also created these coordinating thank you cards:

 And I also had a special gift made for the bride from Remaking Memories.  This two-sided ornament was made from their invitation:

We ended up changing the envelope from the ivory envelope pictured to a gorgeous pumpkin colored envelope - the final set was gorgeous!!  However, I forgot to take a photo of the invites with the colored envelope, which is so disappointing because it really was a stunning set all put together.

Anyway, I thought this invitation set was one of my favorites.  It also got me thinking, I could hand paint more artwork for invitations and make really unique invitations.  Are there any ideas out there? What would you like to see??

A Contest (Sort of)

I decided that I want to increase my fan following on facebook.  What genius plan did I come up with??  A giveaway, of course! 

Check my facebook page for the details!

Fancy Schmancy

Awhile back I posted about the invitation suite for Adam & Elia.  Their wedding suite was gorgeous, they are great people, the whole experience was memorable. 

After the wedding, I was able to get a glimpse of their gorgeous wedding photos.  To my surprise and excitement I spotted some photos taken of the stationery that I created.  It looked stunning, simply stunning!  So, I contacted the photographer, RJ Neal, and asked if I could share his photos.  He quickly obliged, which was so generous of him. 

So, check out these photos of the stationery from Elia & Adam's wedding and prepare to be impressed!

Many thanks to RJ Near Photography for these high quality, outstanding photos.  Check out his work here - http://rjnphoto.com.

Also, as a follow up to the previous post in regards to naming this new design, I have to share what I decided.  There were many great ideas, but nothing that really "nailed it". After talking with 2 creative friends, I decided that since this design was created just for this wedding, it was only fitting to name the design after them.  So, there you have it, my new design, titled "Elia".

Look until you really "see"

The title of this blog is a familiar saying that is credited to my dear friend, Lois.  She has taught me in many ways to feed my creative soul and look at things until I really "see" them.  She has taught me to see beauty in lines and shapes and to explore the simple things that we oftentimes overlook.  What I am going to share with you today is my way of doing exactly that.

Years ago, I was bitten by the travel bug.  My desire to travel is very evident and I have been grateful to have had so many opportunities to travel and explore new places.  I have enjoyed long, exotic trips to places like Hawaii and Australia, and also love investigating the beauty of my own state, Michigan.  When I go somewhere new, I love to get involved with the local experience.  I like to enjoy local cuisines, explore interesting neighborhoods and attempt to experience the location in an authentic way.  Years ago I used to love purchasing oodles and oodles of souvenirs and trinkets to remind me of my experiences.  A few years and life lessons later I have now changed the type of souvenir that I like to collect from trinkets to treasured photos.  I love taking snapshots of beautiful places and spaces.  By looking and really "seeing" some of these places I have discovered something new that is quite fun and interesting!

Behold, my letter art.  Since I started this little project over a year ago, I have come to realize that letters are everywhere!  Architecture, nature, food, etc.  Look and you shall see!

I have collected an entire alphabet throughout my travels and have really enjoyed this process.  From the letter A hidden in a police barricade in Chicago, to the letter L piled into a mosaic sculpture in Australia, I have collected letters everywhere.  I have made many letter art pieces for people and am now beginning to explore more possibilities.  From framed photos to return address labels and note cards, the possibilities are endless!  With the holidays creeping up on us, I thought it was a fitting time to share this unique idea in hopes that many of you will find that this is the perfect personalized gift.

Enjoy what you see, and please, start dreaming.  I would love to create something for you or a loved one!

These photos are available in 4"x10", 5.5"x14", 8"x10" and 5"x7"

Or, you can have some return address labels made like these!

I can create note cards, photos, address labels, you name it!  So, start dreaming!  And remember, start looking until you can really "see"