I just finished these bridal shower invites for a friend – fun to put them all together, as she wanted a variety of colors and patterns.
I’ll be offering similar custom invites in my shop, if you’re interested.
How is everyone’s weekends going?
Every year I design a holiday postcard to send to friends and family. Sometimes it’s just a pretty design, and sometimes it’s more relevant to what’s going on at the moment. I like to send postcards because they’re a lot more fun to design and you save lots of money on postage. If you’re not into designing your own stuff, I found a great solution for you.
e. m. papers has a great selection of not just holiday cards but invites and calendars and labels too, all that you can download and print out at home. Imagine always having the right card there at your disposal for any last-minute purposes, or having a stylish but affordable wedding invitation suite. You can check her out either online or on etsy. I especially like the Woodcuts Calendar for next year – simple and chic.
I have to admit, I hate Evite. I’m sure that it serves a useful function but it’s cluttered and campy and well, seriously annoying. I’d like it to have a little more style.
Paperless Post is a great way to create stylish and gorgeous invites to send via email that are a great bridge between the more sophisticated world of paper invites and the eco-friendly and easy aspect of email invites. You actually pick out papers, colors, designs and fonts. You can even pick the envelope liners. Then, for a small fee (it’s really not that bad, all things considered) you can send them to your contacts and they can actually “open” the invitation. It’s brilliant. If you’re interested in learning more, click here.
1. How to make a ruffled pillow from Kelly + Olive. I think that even if you don’t want to make a pillow, the technique could be useful for other projects.
2. Great people stationery from Just Something I Made, plus all of the templates to make your own!
3. These little packages were intended to be for wedding favors, but you could use them for party favors or lovely little gifts.
4. How adorable and simple are these invites? IDiY rounds up all the latest and greatest in tutorials for you, and this is just one of her finds.
5. Everyone knows how much I love bunting – now you can turn it into a stamp! Another adorable tutorial from Just Something I Made.
6. Last but not least, make your very own scratch-off stickers from ArtMind. These would be a great party game, or to send out with your shop orders.
Here’s what I’ve been crushing on lately.
1. Satsuma Press‘s letterpress lovelies. They make invites, stationary, calling cards, wedding invites, and just a whole lot of pretty letterpressed things. I’m a sucker for it, I know, but they have nice modern design with a bit of a natural edge that’s really appealing.
2. I know that jewelry is all over the place, but that makes the occasional item that stands out all the more interesting. I’m loving the line by Gemella Jewelry – the pieces are intricately crafted, with beautiful high-quality gemstones and a lovely approach to a traditional medium. Great for mother’s day!
3. I’m not afraid to admit it. I go to garage sales A LOT. At least I did before I moved to Arizona and discovered the wonders of one-stop flea market shopping. However, it’s been a lifetime hobby for me and I can’t imagine going much longer without returning to the futile chase. This amazing app solves the problem of “how do I hit as many garage sales as possible in one quick, efficent route?”. It uses vulcan mind-meld to work google maps into craigslist listings and creating the perfect internet use. All hail the almighty lifehacker.
4. A photographer from Boulder, Colorado is attempting to photography one million faces in just one year. She’s turned it into a great way to raise money for charity, as well as meet lots of interesting people and support lots of interesting causes. It’s fun to keep up with her progress and to see all of the amazing faces out there. Check out more about the project here.
5. Speaking of photography – wow. That’s all I can say to describe this photograph. Taken by someone called Funambula (?) you can check out here tumblr here. I love the sense of whimsy, and that color combination is just to die for.
6. Speaking of whimsical, who doesn’t want some rainbow cupcakes? I’ve been seeing them everywhere lately and I’m dying to try to make some. It looks like someone turned a leprechaun into a delicious, sweet sugary mess. That’s right, I said it. You can find a tutorial here to make your very own – if you do, I’d like to see what they look like!
7. I was always taught in art school to NEVER use typography unless it killed you, especially in painting. This lovely print makes me smile and say, screw that! Love the message, love the execution. Part of the 20×200 project (offering limited editions of awesome art prints for just $20!) I think that I need one on my wall. Unless this year happens to kill me first.
8. (not pictured) Has anyone ever heard of this blog, Decorno? I stumbled across it last weekend and did the thing where I clicked back so far, I felt a little ashamed of myself and had to stop. At some point, it just gets creepy. Anyway, the information is interesting, and the writing is FANTASTIC. I’m not sure if it’s nobel-prize worthy, but it makes me laugh, and damnit, that’s enough for me.
That’s all for now, folks. Thanks for allowing me to slowly dig through my bookmark list. I hope you find something to pique your interest.
