Sep 3, 2010
Posted on Sep 3, 2010 in paper goods | 2 comments
Yowza! I’m so excited to (finally) share our entire invitation suite with all you lovely people. If you’ve been following along with my extremely bizarre anatomy analogy (it just popped into my head one day, go figure), then you’ve already seen the skin and bones of our invitations. And you’re dying to see more. Or you’re just sick of how drawn out this reveal is, but indulge the crazy a little mkay?
I promise I’ll shut up now and get to the point already. Set. Go. We’ll start with…
Our Awesome Invitation Suite:
I have no words, just LOVE!
Again From a Different Angle:
And now one yummy little detail at a time starting with…
The Envelope:
Black Envelopes/White Calligraphy make me swoon. The Envelopes are 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 Squares from Paper Source. And big thanks to Cupcake for her amazing post on designing your own invites- the tip on starting with the envelopes was invaluable! As for calligraphy, I had the best luck using cheapie white gel pens and I made it up as I went along- no way we could afford a pro! Bonus: I picked up a new skill. 
The Inner Envelope:
It became apparent that we needed a way to bundle up the many pieces of our invite and the translucent vellum envelopes offered a little glimpse of our custom artwork. We ordered 6×6 envelopes here and the service was lovely and quick.
The Name Tag:
Probably my favorite part. I have miles and miles of muslin lying around the house, and with the stamps I already had this was a totally free and uber personal way to inform our guests exactly who was included in their invitation.
Don’t Worry! We Didn’t Forget Michelle:
Each guest got their own little muslin tag and for friends who we gave a +1 to, there was an additional tag that said “and guest.”
The Inner Envelopes Backside:
Sigh. More vellum goodness.
Our Actual Invitation/RSVP Tag:
I designed our invitations in Illustrator and printed them off our home printer onto Paper Bag text weight paper from Paper Source. CAUTION: While the text weight of paper bag looks exactly like a brown paper bag in delicious shade/tone/texture, the cover weight is a different/disappointing color and not nearly as awesome/tactile. Since we printed the invites on a light weight paper, we backed ‘em with some black Arches paper from an art store.
And Again:
Not that anyone will notice (except maybe a few paper-crazed readers) but all the paper for our invitations was torn with a tearing edge ruler so as to have a lovely deckle…
An Original Lino Print by Moi:
Did I say the tags were my favorite part? I lied. The artwork is my favorite favorite. It was really important to us that we included something with our invitations that our guests could actually keep/use/display. Now I know the peeps we invited love us and all that jazz, but I don’t really expect that they’re gonna cherish and/or display our envelope or the text of our invitation. But maybe, just maybe, they’ll hang on to an easily framable piece of art?! (IKEA, Ribba $4.99, and yes we made the art this size on purpose) Or not. C’est la vie. The art gets its own post, so I’ll shut up now.
RSVP Tag:
We were a little (teeny tiny) bit green after all and opted not to do RSVP cards/envelopes. Or we were cheap and didn’t wanna shell out left for stamps…. Anyhoo, these manilla tags are a job liability of mine (they’re lying around everywhere) so we decided to put them to good use and let our guests know to check our website for more info and to RSVP.
And FINIS.
Thanks for being so attentive and indulging my crazy! In the end our invitations are exactly what we wanted them to be- unique, artistic, informal, and affordable. We did spend a considerable (incalculable?!) amount of time on them though, so if you’re planning on going the DIY route I recommend starting EVEN earlier than you are planning. Maybe even before you get engaged.
What do you think lovelies- is DIY worth it to you or would you rather shell out the cold hard cash?
Sep 2, 2010
Posted on Sep 2, 2010 in paper goods | 4 comments
Okay. Are you ready to see exactly what our guests found after they recovered from swooning* over the skin (envelopes/calligraphy/liners) of our invitations?
First A Little Reminder:
After ripping into these bad boys (swoons & smelling salts aside of course) our guests were greeted with a translucent vellum envelope:
Specifically, they were greeted with one of the following three colors peeking through the vellum:
The envelopes were tied up with bakers twine and bore individual little muslin tags stamped with a heart, and our guests names:
The name tags are one of my favorite parts and man were they a serious labor of love! They took a bridesmaid, a couple dogs, my awesome-sauce alphabet rolling stamp, and loads of time:
And I LOVE ‘em! (The tags, the maid, and the dogs!)
Here’s A Closer Look:
It was really important to us that our invitations make our guests feel like they were getting a special little package in the mail. A beautiful little present. Of course, I *do* realize that most folks just rip into invites and don’t go all gaga the way us abouttobemarried peeps do, but I’m still hoping our invites put a smile on our guests faces and made them feel just a little extra special. All paper, twine, and vellum aside, our wedding is quite simply a celebration with the most special people in our lives. And it felt really good to reach out and invite ‘em!
And that my lovelies concludes this portion of our awesome invitation anatomy: the bones. Next up: The guts (aka. The Big Reveal!) of our Invites of Awesomeness!
Whew! Just writing this post has made me tired all over again! It’s a little mind boggling how much work we put into these invitations, although we were totally, 110% satisfied with the results. As were our wallets. Big Smile.
Did you spend countless hours making your own invitations? If so, I’m curious why you went the DIY route? Budget? Artistry? Blogland pressure to DIY every-’effing-thing? Or something else? AND if you were a super sane bride who just shelled out the cash, were you able to get exactly what you were looking for?
Sep 1, 2010
Posted on Sep 1, 2010 in paper goods | 3 comments
Just in case you’ve been wondering if we actually invited anyone to this awesome shindig of ours, I think it’s high time I talk gush about our invitations. Just a little gushing mkay? And maybe a photo or two. No big deal.
First off, my most sincere apologies to the trees. As green as our wedding will be in a lot of ways, the invitations are not one of them. What can I say? Hangs head in shame. I absolutely LOVE paper.
And that brings me to these invitations of ours. Our relationship was hot, heavy, and all-consuming. I should have mentioned them earlier, but quite frankly we just needed a little break from each other. I was sick of their constant and increasing demands- a liner here, a little twine there, an inner vellum envelope in a nearly impossible to find size, and the list went on. Our invitations were a demanding lover, and finally I had to say enough is enough.
After the post office lied to us about the amount of postage it would take to get these invitations out of my life (*shakes fist), I resigned myself to slapping a blue goat (“It’s a ram, a ram is better right?” said the placating postal worker) on the last few invites and dropping them in the mail. Yes. You read correctly. Some of our wedding invitations required an additional 15 cents postage, and damn it if that blue goat wasn’t our savior. But that’s a beast for another post. Har. Har.
And so without further ado I give you our invitations, boxed up and ready to go in all their glory:
The Front of the Envelope:
Calligraphy by moi:
It’s been a few weeks and since I’m out of practice I almost ran out of room for the “Obama.” Oops. Oh well.
Stamps to die for:
The Liner:
A Closer Look:
And there you have it. That’s the skinny (and the skin) of our most excellent invitations. Still to come: The bones, the guts, and finally the heart (awwww) of our invitations. So stick around mkay?
Anyone else recently kick that demanding invitation lover to the curb? Doesn’t it feel good to know how much effort you put into the relationship now that it’s over? Smile. And I certainly don’t miss those non-stop crafting days one little bit…
Aug 1, 2010
Posted on Aug 1, 2010 in DIY | 3 comments
Ask and you shall receive, my lovelies.
Now I’m not gonna lie and claim complete originality on this one- a quick google search will turn up all sorts of similar DIY cupcake stands, varying only by theme and degree of difficulty.
I will say that this DIY is extremely easy, crazy cheap, super fast, and made from items you may actually have lying around the house. So that’s what I’ve got goin’ on.
Let the cupcake madness commence.
1. Gather your Supplies:
You will need:
Cardboard Cake Rounds- 8”, 10”, 12”, 14”, 3 each
Decorative Paper- 12×12 works for the smaller rounds/wrapping
paper is great for
the larger rounds
Ribbon- 4 yards 5/8” or 1/2”
3 Full Canned Goods- varying sizes
Hot Glue Gun
Zots/Glue Stick (optional)
2. Measure/Cut Paper to Cover the Cans
Use a soft measuring tape to measure the height and
circumference of your cans and cut appropriate sizes of paper. I
stamped mine with this cute strawberry stamp because the
birthday girl is gaga for strawberries.
3. Cover Cans With Decorative Paper
Secure the paper to the cans using zots or hot glue
4. Hot Glue Three Cake Rounds of Each Size Together
This one is pretty self explanatory right?
5. Cut Decorative Paper to Cover Cake Rounds
Simply use the cake rounds as a guide and trace the various sized
circles onto your decorative paper. Cut out. This should yield 4
different paper circles: 8”, 10”, 12”, 14”
6. Affix Decorative Paper to Cake Rounds
Simply use zots/dots of hot glue/glue stick to adhere your
decorative paper rounds to the top of the cake rounds.
7. Wrap the Edges of each Round with Ribbon
Attach ribbon with a bead of hot glue every 6 inches or so.
8. Glue each Round to a Can
Glue the smallest can to the bottom of the smallest round using
hot glue around the edge/lip of the can. You can totally skip this
step- but it does add a little extra stability!
9. Stack ‘Em Up
Need I say more?
10. Admire Your Work in Action
I was definitely pretty pleased with this last minute DIY adventure and hope that you are too! And I would love to see the rad themes you come up with to make this project your own! It’s so easy peasy, I might even make a little stripetastic one (6/8/10”) to display our vegan/gluten free desserts on…
How are you displaying your sweets? And are you offering special options for your guests with dietary restrictions or is that just cuckoo-bananas?
Jul 28, 2010
Posted on Jul 28, 2010 in real life | 5 comments
This weekend was one of the last 7 or so weekends until the wedding. That’s not a lot of time folks. And we still have A LOT to do. Like invitations. And we got very little (wedding related) stuff done this weekend. And that’s okay. Because life happens while we’re busy planning weddings. And it’s important to actually be here for it.
We did have dinner with dear friends who are moving back to SF in only a few short weeks. And I did tackle my backyard clean up/gardening extravaganza. And I did bake/frost 50 strawberry cupcakes for my friend’s daughter’s birthday party. And I did build a pretty awesome cupcake tower to display said cupcakes on. And I did go to the park and spend time watching the birthday girl, now two, eat three cupcakes at once and run back and forth on a mad sugar high. And I did receive many fallen leaves (from said birthday girl) as thanks for all my efforts. Best. Payment. Ever.
And then I came home to our (newly spruced up) backyard, nursed a beer or two and did a little work on our invitations. And I could finally relax a little because it’s all coming together and more importantly I think, because I finally took time to pick up the pieces of all the other life “projects” that have been mowed over or shoved aside to make this wedding happen.
So while it’s easy to get caught up in planning themostimportantdayofourlives (that’s what they say right?! ) I think it’s nice necessary to take a little time to enjoy all the other days too.
And with those deep thoughts I give you my delicious cupcake recipe- which was a hit with toddlers and their parents alike! I hope you enjoy it too!
Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. white vinegar
1 tbsp. all-fruit strawberry jam
1 lb. tub (clear plastic) of strawberries
or about 20 berries
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake pans with cupcake liners
- Combine Dry ingredients in a bowl (flour/sugar/bakingsoda)
- Combine Wet ingredients in another bowl (oil/vanilla/white vinegar)
- Puree Strawberries in food processor/blender
- Add pureed strawberries and jam to the wet ingredients and mix well
- Pour wet mixture into dry bowl and mix until incorporated, but don’t over mix
- Fill cupcake liners almost full with strawberry batter
- Bake for 21 minutes
- Cool on wire rack & frost away!
Strawberry Ice-Cream Frosting:
8oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp. all-fruit strawberry jam
- Let cream cheese/butter soften to room temperature.
- Combine cream cheese/butter in food processor/mixer until smooth
- Add strawberry jam and mix
- Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and mix
- Transfer frosting to refrigerator for 20 minutes to firm up before frosting
A few notes:
*Why yes! The cupcakes are in fact VEGAN. But don’t let that dissuade you- they’re delicious, light, moist, and soft!
*Why no! The frosting is decidedly NOT vegan, but would be super easy and work just fine if you want to substitute vegan cream cheese/butter.
*The cupcakes will turn out a light pink color and while I kept it natural for the kiddos, you could add some beet powder/red food coloring for a really pretty red cake/pink frosting combo
*Try not to eat all of the frosting before you get some on the cupcakes. It really is yummers! (In my obviously humble opinion)
And finally a picture of a corner of our newly spruced up yard, and the awesome/fully customizable cupcake tower I built in under an hour for under $15. You know you want a tutorial.
I LOVE this cupcake tower (of terror) so much that it almost makes me wish we were having cupcakes at the wedding! Nom. Nom. And our yard. I LOVE our yard.
What do you LOVE about your life right now? Today? Wedding planning/insanity/details aside…
