Mar 22, 2010
Posted on Mar 22, 2010 in STD's, awesomeness, paper goods | 8 comments
Okay, now that I’ve jumped the proverbial gun and shown you most all of our STD’s business, it’s time to slow-down, back-track, and check out the glorious little details that if I’m honest with myself most likely will end up in our guests’ recycling bin. Oh well, I love ‘em anyway and I hope you will too!
First up- The Envelope/Label/Stampy goodness. Yes, I went the zazzle route and I couldn’t be more pleased with the result! AND I took your advice, all of it, and stuck with my fabric inspired wrap-around label and tweaked my printer a little bit to achieve a brighter label. So thanks for talking me down off that ledge.
The front:
How much do you LOVE our stamps? I die. Most of our guests got Macaroni and Cheese, a few got Nautical Love, and our lucky international guests got both!!
And then the back:
Yes we really did send our Save the Date to the Obamas! The one with the Mac & Cheese stamp actually. They’re busy peeps and we wanna make sure we get in there before their dance card fills up… And we wanna make sure they remember to fight for our rights too, especially our right to wed! So slap our magnet up on the fridge at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue yo, and think about us when you grab your oj in them morning Mr. President!
Moving right along- when our guests ever-so-carefully open the envelope and slide out our STD, they will be greeted with this kraft paper card that I created in illustrator and printed on our printer:
After following the incredibly direct directions (not to be redundant) our guests will flip the card over to find our piece de resistance, that’s to say the most excellent refrigerator magnet that ever lived, aka our custom-made photo-strip caricatures from the amazing Stinkerpants. Behold:
You might notice that the frame is the same one I used for our guests’ addresses on the envelope label, no?
And SQUEAL! Don’t we make the damn cutest cartoons you’ve ever seen? Don’t our pets make the damn cutest cartoons you’ve ever seen? DOUBLE SQUEAL! In case there was any question, I am absolutely ga ga over our STD’s! No joke- I actually have two on our refrigerator at this exact moment. I LUUUURVE ‘em! Anyhoo, here’s a few more pics just in case you’re not totally convinced:
It was such a pleasure to work with Sara in creating these amazing little pieces of art and we are so pleased with the final result! Thanks a bajillion Sara! Any day now our STD’s will start arriving in our guests’ mailboxes and I hope they’re even a little bit as excited about them as we are! I really do think our STD’s set the amazingly awesome and super fun tone we’re going for with our wedding and am so super excited to finally announce our celebration to all our loved ones! I didn’t think I could be more excited for our wedding, but sending our STD’s has really made it feel real, ya know? It’s fantastic!
What about you? Did sending your STD’s make you feel like your wedding is the real deal?
Mar 1, 2010
Posted on Mar 1, 2010 in DIY, STD's, fashion | 5 comments
So I’ll just admit it.
I may have gotten a little ahead of myself and previewed our STD too soon. Yes that horrific screeching you hear is the sound of this STD party* coming to a grinding halt. Or maybe it’s that awful tape tearing sound as we put together yet another box…
So before we totally derail (um, we’re moving this week. enough said) I wanna share my dilemma and cross my fingers you have a few brilliant ideas or words of encouragement to help a girl out.
The problem (and maybe the solution) start with this delicious fabric:
I first came across this beauty while making my Valentine Swap Flowers and I. Fell. In. LOVE. I’m seriously leaning towards making every single guest at our wedding a “guest of honor flower” that will look a little something like these:
Anyhoo, maybe you remember my Bridesmaid Three-Way dilemma documented here and semi-resolved here? So this gorgeous fabric provides us with a beautiful wedding color palette and sets us up to have bridesmaids sporting dresses like these:
source
Le sigh. Um yeah. Love ‘em. Anyway my infatuation true love for this fabric knows no bounds and this weekend I did a little experiment and incorporated it into our STD labels. And that’s where this train ground to a halt. Have I overdone it? Do they look too primary? Too childish? Do they have just the right je ne sais quois? I just don’t know anymore.
Oh sorry- here ya go, our fabric inspired (i.e. scanned) wrap-around labels:
The real deal will be printed on kraft paper labels and the envelope is a delicous smoky black color that I was too lazy to get a really good picture of, but I think my real reservation is that I can’t get the stripes to print as vibrantly beautiful as the actual fabric or as this screenshot:
Is it my printer? Is there some tweaking I can do in illustrator to help correct this problem? Or am I just a crazy person who is obsessing over an envelope label? Be nice with that last one. For comparisions sake I’ll leave you with this last photo:
And two questions:
What changes (if any) would you make to the label?
Which direction would you affix the label- so that the wrap-around return address seals the flap, or ends up on the other side?
*I look forward to getting this STD party restarted! 
Feb 25, 2010
Posted on Feb 25, 2010 in STD's | 2 comments
That’s “Google to Do It For Me”, in case ya didn’t know. Anyhoo…
“Google Docs is magic.”
That was Scissors response when I mentioned writing about it to a few of my fellow bees yesterday. And, um, she is in fact correct. And then some.
Google is magic and Google Docs is THE magic potion that will gather your guest’s info in gossamer thread and deliver it to you by unicorn post.** Seriously it’s that amazing. So get me a butter beer (and add a shot of makers to it) while I rhapsodize about my guest list.
I know I have a tendency towards hyperbole, but after thinking about the list of things google helped me out with today alone, I’m pretty sure I’m not exaggerating this time.
Check it:
I learned what is appropriate to wear with a white dinner jacket.
I figured out where to get lunch.
I navigated to David Hasselhoff’s house.
AND I entered 54 email addresses, hit send, and ALREADY got back 32 complete sets of contact info for our lovely guest list. In spreadsheet form.
I’m most excited about that last accomplishment- so thanks google!
You want your guest list delivered up by unicorn post too?
It’s so easy and so awesome that all you blog reading smartie pants probably don’t even need a tutorial, but I’m gonna give it to you anyway! This tutorial is officially dedicated to all you scissor-wielding, level eleven gocco-masters and Macgyver crafties who can turn grandmas hanky, a paperclip, and a piece of gum into something etsy-worthy, but look at the computer, throw your hands in the air and are like, “excel, waaaah?” So ready or not, let’s get organized:
1. Go here. Yes. There are really around 70 amazing templates to help you organize dang near every aspect of your wedding. It looks a little something like this:
2. Today we’re gonna focus on the Guest List, so scroll down to the “Wedding: Address Book by Google” template. Hit the “Use this Template” button
3. Now the fun begins- it’s time to pick a theme for the cute email you’ll send out to all your lovely guests asking them to share their contact info. Click “Themes” and pick one you like. Here are a few of our contenders:
AND:
AND:
4. When you find a theme you like hit “Apply,” then edit the note that will accompany your form if you’re so inclined. Here’s Ours:
5. Finally hit “email this form” and send your cutsie little form off to family and friends.
6. Check back as your spreadsheet magically fills up and looks a little something like this (but more full and awesome)
And that’s all there is to it folks. It’s seriously that simple. And so awesome! One of my favorite parts so far, besides inching towards the we-can-finally-mail-our-STD’s finish line of course, has been the comment section on the spreadsheet where friends can leave you a little message. A few notable ones we’ve received so far have included:
“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!,” “hurry up with dem grandbabies,” “um…how about you guys are effing adorable” and “Google Docs rocks my Striped Socks”….
Oh wait, that last one may have been mine! hee hee. So that’s all there is to it really. I’m sure we’ll be hitting up Google Docs for a bunch more organizing help as our wedding day gets closer and I’ll be sure to keep you informed on the awesomeness. Are you a tech saavy bride with a few favorite tricks up your sleeve for making planning/crafting/wedding easier? Care to share? Pretty please…
ALL pics in this post are screenshots from Google Docs.
*This is a good example of my tendency towards hyperbole.
**I know, I know it’s owl post, but I want unicorns damnit!
Feb 25, 2010
Posted on Feb 25, 2010 in STD's | 2 comments
Not the nasty kind.
The cute kind.
The awesome kind:
Sure some folks think STD’s are silly and unnecessary but we think they’re silly AND awesome. So we’re having ‘em.
Squeal. Sigh. Double Squeal.
Aren’t they gonna be awesome?!
Ssshhh. Don’t tell anyone okay?
Next up- we gather addresses so we can get these bad-ass STD’s firmly situated on our friends fridges where they belong.
*This portion of our STD by the amazing Stinkerpants
