Cry Baby Ink

Wedding Invitation Giveaway :: LAST DAY TO ENTER

2011-04-14T08:21:00.000-06:00

Head over to Couture Colorado to enter a wedding invite contest where you can win 50% OFF letterpress wedding invites!! Contest ends tonight! Hurry Hurry!

How to Word a Wedding Invitation - The 6 Essentials

2011-03-15T16:55:00.000-06:00

If you've been trying to figure out how to word your invitation and are getting more and more confused, don't worry, you're not alone.

To break it down, there are 6 essential pieces of information that need to be included: 1. the Host 2. the Request line 3. the name of the Bride & Groom 4. the Time 5. the Date and 6. the Location .

Beyond these 6 essentials, the rest is just preference.

Host Line

The host line is exactly what it sounds like. Whom ever is "hosting" (i.e. paying for) the wedding is considered the host. If it is your traditional mother and father of the bride paying, the host line may simply read:

if both sets of parents are hosting, it would read:

*Notice how there is no "and" between the sets of parents? This is the "proper" formatting, however, if you are more comfortable with adding an "and" between the two, by all means, go for it.

If the bride and groom are hosting, the line would read:

Request Line

The Request line is where the host requests a guests attendance to an event.

A traditional request line would read:

You see both spellings of "honour" and "honor" on invitations. The first being the obviously more formal but both are perfectly acceptable. Requesting the "honour (or honor) of someones presence" is a formality usually reserved for a religious ceremony at a place of worship. Weddings outside of places of worship would read:

Bride and Groom Names

This one is pretty standard, if only the parents of the bride are listed as hosts, then you would write the brides name using just her first and middle name (since her last name is presumably the same as her parents). For example:

If both parents names are listed, you would include the first and middle name of both bride and groom:

Feel free to use "to" instead of "and" depending on how the rest of the invite is worded.

Time

The most formal way to write time is:

Also, if you're worried that your guests won't understand that by saying six o'clock, you don't mean six o'clock in the morning, feel free to write out:

Date

Writing out a date can be pretty confusing, so here it is:

The day of the week, in this case Saturday, leads and is capitalized. The day of the month is lower case since it's not a proper noun. The month is capitalized, again a proper noun. Only the first letter in the year is capitalized. Again, if you're more comfortable with capitalizing Two Thousand Eleven, go for it, I can guarantee the etiquette police will NOT come knocking on your door :)

Now, I'm sure you've also seen the year written both ways, "Two thousand eleven" and "Two thousand and eleven". The former is the most "proper" but the latter isn't "wrong" per se. It just depends on your taste.

Location

This is simple the place, city and state where the ceremony will take place.

Or, if you're only including the invite and RSVP in the invitation mailing (without a reception card or any additional info), you could write:

When you combine all of the components, you have a complete and properly worded wedding invitation:

**Of course, not all weddings or family situations fit in to a neat little box with a bow on top :) I'll post some options for other types of family situations later on. In the mean time, feel free to leave a comment w/ questions on how to word an invite for your particular situation.

DIY Favors: Pantone & Cookies

2011-03-07T03:35:00.016-07:00

This has been posted all over the interwebs, so I'll just jump right on that bandwagon, cause it's fun!

When I saw these Pantone chip inspired cookies posted by Kim Neill @ KimCreativeStar.com, I nearly feel outta my chair. So cute! So clever! So delicious!

I immediately thought they'd be a great DIY favor for a shower or even the wedding! Personalized cookies in your wedding colors!

When most people think of a color, they usually think in terms of Red, Orange, Yellow Green & Blue. But ask a designer what color they want and chances are they'll say PMS 192 or 715 or 604 or some other random number. PMS stands for Pantone Matching System and number denote a specific shade of a color, since there are hundreds of each.

Anyhoodle, I just couldn't pass up talking about about 2 things that I love: Color and Cookies!

New Colors @ Paper Source

2011-01-26T08:55:00.001-07:00

The 2011 Waste Not Paper Catalog (wholesale division of Paper Source) arrived yesterday!

What's even more exciting than just getting a brandy new catalog in the mail is their introduction of 2 NEW colors!

Feast your eyes on Fig & Clover (Clover available May 2011):

Paper Source always does a great job about pairing unexcpeted colors. Check out these Fig color combos:

I bet these Clover combos are going to be a big hit this Spring! Having a St. Patrick's Day Party perhaps?

The Paper Source Catalog is always a great source of inspiration, especially if you live in a state without an actual PS store (like me).

If you'd like to receive a catalog, you can sign up over here at the PS website.

Letterpress Greetings: Old Tom Foolery

2011-01-24T08:36:00.011-07:00

I admit it. I'm a sucker for paper. And letterpress. And unexpected wit. Add the three together and you have one of my personal favorite Greeting Card companies, Old Tom Foolery.

Their tag line says it all: "Unsapy, uncrappy greetings..."

Yeah, I'd say so:

Weddings:

Valentines Day:

Birthdays:

Check out the Old Tom Foolery website to find fun cards for every occasion!

DIY Christmas Stockings

2010-12-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

Since all of my tree ornaments were handmade, I needed to come up with stockings that continued the theme of the Burlap and Twine Christmas Tree,

I've been on an image transfer kick lately. I've used freezer paper stencils for my tree skirt here, a gel medium transfer technique that I learned over at How About Orange, but the one I used for my Christmas "Stockings" was a simple iron on transfer.

You can buy image transfer paper at almost any craft store, you can use it in a regular old ink jet printer, it's super easy.

I found these great graphics over at Just Something I Made, if you are a crafter, scrapbooker or just like to play with graphic design, you really must check out JSIM. Written and designed by Cathe Holden, it's just bursting with ridiculously fun inspiration and downloads, there are just endless possibilities:

She designed these lovely labels to use on bottles of glitter:

What do glitter bottles have to do with Christmas Stocks? Everything! Duh.

I downloaded this graphic, added a little Illustrator magic and suddenly had a fun image to use on my stockings:

My first idea for the stocking was to do iron these on small burlap sacks, but the weave of the burlap was too wide to take the graphic. So I found these similar muslin bags, applied the iron on, and here's how they came out:

So far my entire tree was DIY and inspired by other blogs in blogland. So, thank you creative bloggers for all of your work. I hope someday I can provide as much inspiration as I receive.

Burlap & Twine Christmas Tree

2010-12-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

'Tis the season to go craft crazy. I mean, clearly there aren't more important responsibilities to take care of like going to work, taking care of your children, or reLAXING! Nooo....spending hours wrapping twine around styrofoam balls is a MUCH more logical use of time...so that's what I did.

Inspiration:
I was inspired by a sheet of screen printed burlap I bought in Seattle a few months back. Taking such an unexpected material, like a utility fabric and making it something beautiful really got my brain buzzing.

Needing an excuse to play with my new favorite material, I decided on a Burlap & Twine Christmas Tree. So here's what I made:

Burlap Flowers:

I went over to Joann Fabric and picked up about 10 yards of burlap for $1.50/yard (after 50% off coupon). I cut out somewhere between a one and a billion circles, folded them in quarters and wired the bottoms together (I didn't have any actual wire, so I unfolded a bunch of those cheap metal ornament hooks), and **poof** you've got flower:

Paper "Mod" Ornaments:

My studio already kinda looks like a paper warehouse, so when I saw this ornament tutorial over on Design Sponge a while back, I had plently of material to work with. Some ornaments I made from plain kraft paper, some from old time Christmas scrap book paper and my favorites, from pages of a vintage geography book I found at an antique shop.

Twine Wrapped Ball:
This ornament is pretty easy, although more time consuming than you might think. It's just twine wrapped around a styrofoam ball. If you try it, just make sure you add dots of glue along the way, it'll keep the wrap tight and also keep you from losing your work if you have to stop half way through:

Stringy Wrapped Bally Thing:

These stringy wrapped bally things are from Martha Stewart. I had some rolls of twine, some yarn, and funky textured string. All you have to do is wrap the string around a balloon and paint with glue, I used Elmer's, but a crocheting stiffener would probably work better. Martha's tutorial is here. The size of your stringy ball can be as big as you can blow a balloon, no need to limit yourself to "fist size" as instructed in the tutorial.

Some hung:

Some just tucked in between branches:

Tree Topper:
Now, I don't know about you, but I tend to find inspiration just about everywhere. Even when I'm in a doctors office...about to get an x-ray...to make sure there isn't a growth...on my SPINE (there wasn't). Anyhoodle, as I was sitting at the imaging center, I saw this fun thing hanging from the ceiling. I just loved it, so I took a picture to save for a rainy day:

Little did I know then, the lonely star hanging from that ugly drop ceiling was my future Christmas Tree topper.

The paper is from the same vintage geography book other ornaments are made from:

Here 'tis on the floor:

Here 'tis atop the tree:

Tree Skirt:
And the final touch, a tree skirt. I still had yards of burlap left and just draped the unfinished fabric around the bottom of the tree. It totally worked, but it was missing something.

I had read about a freezer paper stencil technique all over the internets. It was easy enough, just cut a design into the paper or use an inkjet printer to print your image on the paper side (not the waxy side) and use as a cutting template. Then, iron the paper (waxy side down) to your material and brush or dab paint right on top. When you're done painting, just pull the paper up. No waxy or sticky residue left behind.

Oh, did I mention that a whole roll of this stuff costs all of $3.50? Make your own stencils for $3.50? Oh yeah, I'm all over it:

Here's the cut out:

And here's the painted version: I used printers ink, which I wouldn't recommend, it's way too sticky, fabric paint would do just fine and be much more forgiving:

Finished!

Put it all together and you have a Handmade Burlap & Twine Christmas Tree:

Coming soon: Personalized Stockings and Burlap Holiday Wreath.

Destination Bridal Bouquets

2010-06-24T16:52:00.000-06:00

How great are these??

I know a lot of brides struggle with the cost of wedding flowers since the flowers die after one day. What if you could find a bouquet that you could enjoy for years to come?

Check out these amazing shell bouquets from Kimberly Aurora of Romantic Flowers on Etsy. How great would these be for a destination wedding or a beach wedding? So different! So fun!

She also wrote a book & blog called Bouquet Chic where you can check out other fab bouquet designs.

Baby Girl 1st Birthday Party Invitation

2010-05-27T11:25:00.001-06:00

My little girl turned the big 1 last month! For someone who designs stationery, personal projects are always great excuses to go all out! And by "all out" I mean SUPER complicated :)

Two techniques I'd been wanting to play with were fabric envelopes and sewn paper. Add those together and and you have a labor intensive nightmare. But, through all my whining, the result was rediculously fun and I'd do it over in a second!

{fabric}

{Make the Cut software}

{Cricut}

{completed envelope}

{add a wrap around mailing label, printed on fabric}

{sew remaining monkey fabric strips on invites}

And finally, after only 6 yards of fabric, several rolls of fusible webbing, 17 lattes and a multitude of hours I'll never be able to get back, POOF handmade fabric envelopes with sew paper and fabric wrap around labels just like that!

What over the top crafts have you done for your family and friends?

National Stationery Show Recap 5: Business Card Roundup Part 3

2010-05-25T13:37:00.003-06:00

I could easily write 14 more posts about business cards, but I gotsta to stop somewhere.

Here are just a few more that I had to highlight.

Hazel & Violet Ink: 1 color 2 side letterpress

{front}

{back}

Delphine Press: 1 color 1 side letterpress

{front}

Bella Muse:
2 color 2 side digital print
CBI card included just to show you the scale.

{front}

{back}

Petits Mots: 1 color 1 side digital print

{front}

And last but not least, my own:

CryBaby Ink

2 color duplex letterpress,

{front}

Now here's the tricky part, I knew I wanted duplexed back, but I couldn't figure out which paper to duplex with. There was blue velvet, gray velvet, blue rice paper, white rice paper, and some super fun ephemera wrapping paper from Cavallini. So, instead of doing what most people do and edit, I chose all of them :)

{backs}

{velvets}

{rice paper}

{Cavallini Paper}

{And a paper sandwich}

probably my fav of the bunch

Thanks for playing along, I hope you've had fun...

National Stationery Show Recap 4: Business Card Roundup Part 2

2010-05-24T11:05:00.001-06:00

More business card fabu-locity.

Laser Cutting Shapes:
~2 color digital print w/ black laser cut overlay

{front}

Bobbin Design:
digital print 1 color 2 side w/ stitching:

{front}

{back}

Looks like I may need another lesson in aperture settings ;)

Tisel le:
~2 color, 2 side letterpress:

{front}

{back}

Czar Press:
~ 2 Color, 2 side letterpress:

{front}

{back}

...still more to come...

National Stationery Show Recap 3: Business Card Roundup Part 1

2010-05-23T20:51:00.132-06:00

Of course any trade show you go to will have business cards ga-lore. BUT, when you go to a stationery trade show, these little cards don't just to hold contact info, each one is a tiny piece of lovely design you can keep in your pocket.

Here are some lovelies collected from the show this year.

By far, this one from Flywheel Press is my favorite, 2 color die cut 2 sided letterpress:

{front}

{back}

Twig & Fig 2 color duplexed letterpress:

{front}

{back}

BirdDog Press: 2 color 1 side letterpress

{front}

Spark Letterpress - 1 color 2 side letterpress, 4 part w/ grommet:

{front}

{back}

....stay tuned for part II...

National Stationery Show Recap: Oh So Beautiful Paper

2010-05-23T17:06:00.005-06:00

Make sure you check out Oh So Beautiful Paper's recap of the Stationery Show here.

It's one of my favorite blogs and although we went to the same show, she offers a totally different perspective along with tons of AMAZING product shots like this from Austin Press:

And this from HammerPress:

And booth shots like this, Regas:

And this one from Albertine Press:

Oh So Beautiful Paper is the definitive source for tons of paper and total inspiration!

National Stationery Show Recap 2: Lead Graffiti

2010-05-20T09:13:00.003-06:00

I had the pleasure of meeting some of the folks that make up Lead Graffiti at NSS this week.

Their lines incorporate a few super fun techiniques and I can't wait to order some for myself!

Their monogram line features different styles of wood and metal type blind letterpressed onto foldover cards, then ink is hand rolled over the impression to make the image pop. Since each card is hand inked, no 2 are the same:

Image credit: http://www.leadgraffiti.com/. I did photoshop the saturation just a smidge so the contrast would show a little more, actual colors will vary

And THESE adorable Scribble Cards for your creative little ones:

Each card has a sweet blind letterpressed image so your little ones can take a crayon, color over and make their own little masterpieces (like the lower left image). Find me a grandparent who wouldn't just LOVE this!

So much fun paper...more to come!

National Stationery Show Recap 1: Delphine Press

2010-05-19T07:44:00.026-06:00

Just landed back in Denver from a 3 day whirlwind trip to NYC for the 2010 National Stationery Show. It was my first and I can easily say it just. Blew. My. Mind.

Not only was it inspiring to be surrounded by designers who I've admired for years, but to be able to actually stop by and say hello to them, see their brandy new lines AND meet new designers who I didn't already know? Wow. Just, wow.

One of the ladies who I had the pleasure to meet was Erika from Delphine.

I've been a fan on Delphine for a few years and have even bought every letterpress journal of theirs that I can get my hands on. Delphine has just introduced a line of 15 new digitally printed Save the Date designs starting at @ $105 for 50. Their fancy new website allows the bride to personalize and proof the elements before placing an order.

How lovely:

image credit: delphinepress.com

And of course you have to love Delphine's signature stitch motif here:

image credit: delphinepress.com

Such a great way to get high design at a low price.

Thanks for taking time to chat with me Erika! It was great to finally meet you in person and I wish you all the success with your new digital line!

4th of July Wedding Invitation

2010-04-22T20:51:00.001-06:00

Wedding season is in full effect! I was contact by Laura to design an invitation for a wedding that would be during 4th of July weekend. The challenge was, how do you incorporate the Indepedence Day holiday "feel" without making it look like an invitation to a backyard barbeque?

I had just the thing.

There is a letterpress technique called "blind" letterpress that I'd benn dying to try out, this was the perfect opportunity.

We came up with a graphic that emobied the holiday (fireworks) and then letterpressed it into the paper without ink, hence the "blind" part, get it?

We used 220# 100% cotton paper (for those of you who aren't paper geeks like me, that means THICK) and the impression just popped of the page.

It was simple, understated and just lovely:

Close up:

It's always fun to create something "new" and once again, the bride was just such a joy to work with.

Thanks Laura for letting me help you design your invitations!

New Designers at Crane & CO.

2010-04-22T19:44:00.000-06:00

I just posted a comment this morning over on the blog Exquisite Stationery (*love*) about the designs at Crane & Co Stationers. You may not think you know who Crane & Co. is, but believe me, ya do. They have retail locations in higher-end malls across the country, they are the nations oldest stationer and if you don't think you've ever seen Crane paper before, just look in your wallet, Crane has supplied the paper for US currency (for those of you who actually USE such a thing) to the US Treasury since 1879.

Now, I love Crane for their tradition and their elegance, but besides buying their unprinted 100% cotton paper to print invitations on, I've never actually purchased "stationary" from them, that will soon change!

I just jumped over to Cranes blog and saw this post! They just announced they've brought on THREE new studio artists!

From the Crane blog, here are their brandy new designers, click on their names to be directed to their work posted on Cranes blog...not sure how keen they'd be to me using their pics, so you'll just have to click for yourself:

Peggy Wong

Julia Farill

Christine Ferrante

Happy Clicking!

Martha, Oprah and Yulia??

2010-04-21T13:51:00.002-06:00

Anyone remember my post about the book Papercraft and illustrator Yulia Brodskaya? Cliffnotes version: cool book about artists using paper as a medium, one of them being Yulia who uses a hokey old paper quilling technique to take her flat ink on paper typographic illustrations and pops it right into the 3-D world. Like-a-dis...

Anyone ever heard of some snooty old broad named Martha Stewart? Anyone happen to read her April issue?

Anyone happen to notice these feature headings?

This one too:

And then there's that other slacker who's slide to number TWO of the Forbes list of The Most Influential Women in Media, Oprah. Anyone else put their back out carrying this tank of a magazine home from the grocery store?

And although she may have 22 OTHER fairly interesting women write SINGLE articles for the issue, it was Yulia who was highlighted throughout...

and finally:

It's like a chick mag, craft junkie, paper snob, design lovers mecca!

Better Homes and Gardens

2010-02-07T08:39:00.002-07:00

I'm just so excited to have been contacted by Better Homes and Gardens to ask if they can publish one of my ideas in this months "Color Issue". Of course I said yes!

Here it is!

That's me! # 29!

Page 72

The majority of ideas were from interior designers, I was one of only two plain ol' readers whose decor advice was highlighted.

Happy day!

Crafty Poppa

2010-01-29T17:14:00.000-07:00

I found this blog after I had flipped through Kirsty, a daily fascination, which slid me down a slope to The Mother Huddle because they had a fun post about business cards (another ephemeral obsession) which then swooshed me through a worm hole over to Say Yes to Hoboken where there were just TOO many ridiculously fun posts to even begin to discuss here...

SO...so I finally rolled up on Made By Joel written by an artist who likes to do little crafty projects with his kids. Last time I checked, Dads + crafts + kids = awesome.

Paper animal finger puppets:

Stuffed dolls & animals:

Sleeping bags for your little frogs, I mean, little frogs to nap too, right?:

And THIS!

A ZOO blanket!

You've got some lucky kids Joel!

RSVP Address

2010-01-27T07:41:00.002-07:00

How great would these return address stamps be for newlyweds?

You can find them, and many more here and Paperwink.

A little sweeter than those freebies you get in the mail, dontcha think?

A Wedding Invite

2009-12-16T08:11:00.001-07:00

I have to confess, there must be about 100 wedding invitation websites bookmarked on my browser. I'm not sure that I want to admit exactly how many hours per week I spend flipping through these websites, however, I'd imagine that if I spent that time writing, I probably could have completed my own multi volume encyclopedia collection by now. So yeah, I was pretty sure that I'd seen every clever idea out there.

I was wrong.

Instead of the standard 5 plus piece wedding invite suite, this one was made of 3 simple pieces, a paper Save the Date, the Main Invite Envelope (a DVD sleeve) and the Main Invite (a DVD). All pieces were designed by the groom. If I've ever seen an invitation suite that oozes "labor of love", this is surely it.

Save The Date:

Photo Credit: howdesign.com

Video Invite:

If your invites mean as much to you as these obviously did to this couple and make your guests smile as much as this one made me smile, ya done good kid.

Hey Cowboy! {Hawaiian Style}

2009-12-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

My husband and I are visiting his parents in Maui. I must say, of all the places you have to travel to see your in-laws, Maui ain't too shabby.

Since my husband grew up here, I've had a chance to experience not only the decadent resorts and twinkling beaches, but also get a bit of the "local" flavor. Literally, in the form of Ramen (and all this time I thought it was just a dusty package of freeze dried noodles with an unidentifiable package of some type of salty substance found on the bottom shelf at the grocery store), and figuratively, in the form of Hawaiian history.

I must have visited the town of Makowao more than a dozen times before I realized that almost all the storefront signs looked like they could have been plucked right from the middle of the Wild Wild West.

Take a look:

After I made the genius realization that this town had a cowboy feel to it (and was feeling quite astute in my observational skillz), my husband informed me that the word "Paniolo", (as written on the sign welcoming you to and from this town, see picture below. A sign that I've also seen countless times) means Hawaiian Cowboy.

I googled "Paniolo" and found this (I couldn't find a direct link to the part about Paniolo's, so I copied it here from Wikipedia), it's a darling little piece of history.

"Hawaiian Paniolo

The Hawaiian cowboy, the paniolo, is also a direct descendant of the vaquero of California and Mexico. Experts in Hawaiian etymology believe "Paniolo" is a Hawaiianized pronunciation of español. (The Hawaiian language has no /s/ sound, and all syllables and words must end in a vowel.) Paniolo, like cowboys on the mainland of North America, learned their skills from Mexican vaqueros.

By the early 1800s, Capt. George Vancouver's gift of cattle to Pai`ea Kamehameha, monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, had multiplied astonishingly, and were wreaking havoc throughout the countryside. About 1812, John Parker, a sailor who had jumped ship and settled in the islands, received permission from Kamehameha to capture the wild cattle and develop a beef industry.

The Hawaiian style of ranching originally included capturing wild cattle by driving them into pits dug in the forest floor. Once tamed somewhat by hunger and thirst, they were hauled out up a steep ramp, and tied by their horns to the horns of a tame, older steer (or ox) that knew where the paddock with food and water was located. The industry grew slowly under the reign of Kamehameha's son Liholiho (Kamehameha II).

Later, Liholiho's brother, Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III), visited California, then still a part of Mexico. He was impressed with the skill of the Mexican vaqueros, and invited several to Hawai`i in 1832 to teach the Hawaiian people how to work cattle.

Even today, traditional paniolo dress, as well as certain styles of Hawaiian formal attire, reflect the Spanish heritage of the vaquero.[64] The traditional Hawaiian saddle, the noho lio,[65] and many other tools of the cowboy's trade have a distinctly Mexican/Spanish look and many Hawaiian ranching families still carry the names of the vaqueros who married Hawaiian women and made Hawai`i their home."

Well, ya learn something new everyday.

Faux Bois

2009-11-07T20:29:00.000-07:00

I Spy: Fabulous Faux Bois, from the French word False Wood (according to Wikipedia).

Any idea why Faux Bois is to this year what Silhouettes were to last? I can only think that is has something to do with the shift to more organic, natural feeling & looking materials. Is it an economic statement? Less flash more natural? Dunno.

Two things I do know however:

1. it's everywhere

and

2. I loves it

Baby Blocks: Get yours at Something's Hiding in Here (also found on my daughters bookshelf) :

Stationary from Umbel on Etsy:

Packing tape, found at TapeSwell:

Lamp shapes, find these at Dot and Line:

Fabric from Hawthorne Threads:
Moleskin notebooks from Mara Jane Creations:

Find out how to add Faux Bois to your holiday season in this month's issue of Martha Stewart Living. Finally a yule log I can love, an edible one. Find out how here: And gift boxes too! Find out how here:

There's even a whole blog dedicated to the love

of Faux Bois, It's (K)not Wood .

Where have you spied Faux Bois? Send me pictures and I'll post 'em!

It's Here! December Paper Source Catalog

2009-11-03T05:21:00.000-07:00

Yippie! The December Paper Source Catalog is here!

Fabulous Faux Bois (stayed tuned for a forth coming post dedicated to Faux Bois):

Super fun imprintables...Christmas letter anyone? :

Paper Amaryllis:

Get yours here.

p.s. Did you know Paper Source has a blog?

Books by Their Cover

2009-10-31T07:38:00.000-06:00

We're told not to judge a book by it's cover, even if these weren't classics, they would be an exception to the rule:

Over at Design Sponge, designer Coralie Bickfor-Smith was interviewed about her cover designs for release of hardbound, cloth covered classics for Penguin.

Ohh lala:

Check out the rest of the interview over at DesignSpongeOnline.com .

Papercraft - A Book for People Like Me...

2009-10-29T10:00:00.000-06:00

Hi. My name is Kristen, and I'm a paper addict.

The day after I wrote the Playing With Paper post, I came home to find a beautiful package on my doorstep. In the la la land of my brains, the gift was wrapped in hand silk screen paper with a raw dupioni ribbon and left by a secret admirer, there might have even been a horse involved. However, in hum-drum-blah-boring reality, the "present" was my Amazon order in a standard corrugated box left by the mailman.

Anyhoodle, inside the box was Papercraft: Design and Art with Paper, edited by Robert Klante, Sven Ehmann and Birga Meyer, published by Gestalten in Berlin.

There are really no words to describe this book without sounding like a complete wacko. How do I know that I would sound like a wacko if I tried to convey my thinkings? Because of the odd and slightly frightened sideways glances I received from my husband as I squealed, groaned and tried to slow my rapid breathing each time I turned a delicious glossy page.

So I won't bore you with my opinions & ramblings, I'll just say this, if your someone who lives for creativity with paper, buy this book...now.

Here are a few bites:

Any idea what this is?
It's a close up of a bunch of torn pieces of paper. Big whoop, right? Until, of course, you zoom out and see that the bits are so meticulously placed to become this...

If you know of any other books like this, please oh, please oh, would you let me know :)

Lovely Paper

2009-10-24T07:12:00.001-06:00

I'm always on the look out for lovely paper. Whether it be personal stationary, wedding stationary, journals or misc. ephemera I just...can't...get...enough.

My favorite design house as of today (although my ADD does not allow me to hold onto favs for very long) is, by far, Wiley Valentine. Their colors, textures and overall style make me want to take a pile of their stationary, throw it up in the air, let it fall where it may then proceed to roll around in it.

I bought this boxed set back in Seattle and am down to my last card & envelope. Honestly, I just can't see any occasion worthy of parting with my last card. So there it will sit, lonely in it's lovely box, on my shelf.

*disclaimer*My photos came out a little on the pink side, the paper is actually a bright white.

They also do a luscious line of wedding stationary. Oh to have a wedding do over...and an unlimited budget...

You can find these at Minted.

Another thing they do that I think is just TOO fun, they take their misprints, extras, etc. and cut them down into bookmarks. You can find these little treasures on their Etsy page...

What designers do you think everyone should know about?

Playing with Paper

2009-10-22T07:44:00.000-06:00

My husband I celebrated our 2 year anniversary last month. He's a pretty hard person to buy gifts for, he doesn't want many things and the things he does want, he buys. I had seen paper cut artists on Etsy and thought this was the perfect excuse to finally get my own custom piece.

I worked with Paper Cuts by Joe. I sent Joe a photo from our wedding and within a day he sent me a digital proof of the final piece. A week later I had the finished product. It was SO much lovelier than I had expected:

Fiddling around the interweb I found some other artists using paper is crazy ways that are just too fun not to share.

The first is a typography paper cut by Made by Julene, it makes me weak in the knees:

You can find her cuts on Etsy (of course), her website and see her latest work updated on her blog.

The instructor in my graphic design class turned me on to a paper sculpture named Peter Callesen. He takes single sheets of paper and cuts, tears and sculpts them into tiny pieces of art:

If you're looking for something a little more attainable, you can buy these delicate little paper cut pop up cards through Publique Living:

And finally, my girlfriend Amanda sent me over this link a few weeks ago. It's really incredible how the artist, Yulia Brodskaya took a hokey little paper craft, Quilling, and just blew it up! Gives me butterflies, what about you?

What artists make your heart pitter patter?

Baby Block Shower Invites

2009-09-05T08:19:00.000-06:00

My sister & her husband are expecting their first child (the 4th grandchild for my parents bringing the total to 4 girls and 0 boys!).

Besides being super excited for my sister, any time I have an excuse to make stationary, I do a little happy dance.

I have no idea what made me think of a baby block, but once I come up with an idea, it HAS to be done. If I don't do it, I twitch. A little obsessive? Perhaps.

Coming up with the idea is easy, figuring out the "how" is the tricky part.

Wandering through the holyland (some might call it Micheal's), I saw these plain flat boxes. My first thought was to screen print w/ my Gocco. But considering my mostly hate/hate relationship with the curse-ed little machine, I decided that printing on full sheet labels, then cutting down to size was the way to go.

I printed the letters B - A - B - Y behind the text.
And then, of course, is the envelope design. Above the address reads, "Won't you please join us?". The back reads "Some Assembly Required"

Was this an easy project? No.

Was it worth it? Absolutely!

Fashion, Function & 'Fridgerators

2009-08-23T21:53:00.000-06:00

In my next life, I would like my entire kitchen to make me feel like I'm living in a bag of Skittles.

I found this website http://www.bigchillfridge.com/ listed in the back of some design mag. Since then, I've been trying a multitude of different things to try and convince my husband that the kitchen we remodeled not 7 months ago could really use some updating. Alas, even my Jedi mind trick failed, ho hum...

Are you ready for this:

Can you imagine?

Fridges

Stoves

AND dishwashers!

If dropping $1700.00 on a dishwasher just 'cause it's cute doesn't seem interesting to you, Big Chill sells the front panels separately for only $525.

So, if anyone can come up with a way to convince my husband that a pink fridge really IS just the best idea I've ever had, would ya let me know? Thanks!

Things of Beauty

2009-08-20T09:44:00.000-06:00

Do you ever walk around and start taking pictures of random things just because you're stuck by their design and beauty?

I do, all the time. I'm easily inspired by some of the most random, mundane things like...

The ceiling of a salami shop in Seattle:

Catalogs

Magazines:

A door knob catching the sun light coming in the window:

Paper:

Reflections in the kitchen:

This fun little thing, an ephemera pack found at a vintage market here in Denver, just random findings telling a happy little color story:

And some of my favorite things, my notebooks. I have more notebooks than words I could possible fill them with. But more than function, they simply make me happy.

What sort of everyday things inspire you?

Textile Design

2009-08-19T15:55:00.000-06:00

Oh how I'm loving this...

Read all about Kristen Doran and her delicious texile designs here:
http://www.cheekybeaks.blogspot.com/

Cubicle Envy - Papaya

2009-08-14T09:48:00.000-06:00

If you needed any further proof that your grey-upholstered-florescent-lit-half-walled-cubicle sucks, check out this post from Decor8:

http://decor8blog.com/2009/08/11/papayas-new-workspace/

Yeah, I'm weeping too...

Amy Butler...Take 2

2009-08-13T14:53:00.000-06:00

Can’t get enough Amy Butler? Neither can I, that’s why I did the happy dance this afternoon when I saw her NEW line of rugs, Amy Butler for Chandra , posted over at DIYideas.com .

Don't you love?

Caracas :

Wall flower:

Coventry:

Chrysanthemum:

Now if I could just find $1699 lying around, hmmm, let me go check the dryer…

To view the full line, check out the Amy Butler website: http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/

all photos via amybutler.com

Amy Butler

2009-08-10T08:54:00.000-06:00

One designer I'm constantly drawn to is Amy Butler. Her color combo's and big bold patterns are just simply fun. If you click around the interweb, you'll find a gaggle of crafters who share my excitement over AB's designs.

A quick scan of Etsy (have I ever mentioned them?) yields over 16,000 crafts tagged w/ AB.

Here are some fun things made from AB fabrics that I've found through my travels around the web-o-spher.

Purses:

Girl By Aileen offers this adorable clutch and many others.

Fallen Sparrow lets you choose your own fabric from a whole collection of AB (among other) fabrics .

Baby clothes:

Blossombebe has these darling baby dresses that are, get this, reversible! Genius!

Stationary:

Head over to Chaliejo for some AB fabric covered stationary **gasp**, oh how I love thee!

Furniture:

What I'm really dying for is a chair re-upholstered w/ AB fabric like these:

photo credit & chairs by Anilia via flickr

Or this:

Heck, you'll wanna check out the whole post about these chairs here on Decor8.

More:

Don't worry paper lovers, AB has a line of scrapbooking paper for you too. It's available at Joann Fabric & Crafts :

Me:

Of course AB has made it into my house as well:

Pillow made by Mom :)

What projects have you created with AB? Send me pictures and I'll include them in a later post!

Nifty & Thrifty

2009-08-06T11:04:00.000-06:00

One of the things that drives me a little b-a-n-a-n-a-s about home decor is how pricey it can be. Regardless of the economy, I just can't justify spending 3 times the amount on something functional just 'cause I like the pattern.

Enter my happy place, Target. One of the things that I love about Target (besides the joy I get out of hours of aimless wandering) is it's partnership with design brands to offer affordable design for those of us who just won't lay out a mortgage payment for a new bedding set.

One of their partnerships has been with Dwell Studios for a line of modern bedding that brings a lot of style for little dinero.

Here is there non-Target bedding line from Dwell Studios, Talon :

The set comes with a Full/Queen Duvet & 2 standard shams. It retails for $220.00 (which really isn't too bad).

Now here's what the Baroque Duvet Set from DwellStudio for Target looks like:

It retails for $79.99!

And here's what it looks like in our newly finished guest bedroom:

I think me loves it!

Etsy Prints

2009-08-01T08:16:00.000-06:00

I recently purchased two prints for the nursery. If you want to know the truth, I was just looking for another reason to buy a print or two from Etsy and the nursery seemed like the perfect alibi.

This print is by Jess Gonacha, it's hand illustrated, digitally printed and speaks to my love of hand-drawn typography.

photo by: jessgonacha.etsy.com

This print (as seen in just about every design magazine these days) was hand screen printed by sfgirlbybay. I loved the message and thought it had a fun history.

Of course, if you're not into the whole feel good vibe, you could always go for this one:

photo by: olliemoss.com

Etsy: Butterfly Mobiles

2009-07-30T16:10:00.000-06:00

It's no secret, I love (or *heart* as all the cool kids are saying) Etsy.com. I don't think there is one single thing that is not available on the site, well, except may be carburetors (thank you spell check for not letting me write car-bor-a-tor). Nope, just looked, there are no carburetors for sale (however, when I entered "carburetor" into the search box a, um, "pipe" did pop up in the search result. But don't worry, the listing said "Pipes are sold for legal smoking uses only", so it's cool.)

I'm a big print & paper geek as most people know. I love anything letterpressed, screen printed, gocco'd or any other type of paper stuffs.

I was on a mission to find the "right" mobile. I have this habit of once I get an idea of how something is "supposed" to look in my head, everything that is not that exact thing just looks wrong. Most of the time makes me crazy but other times bring me great joy. This find was the latter.

Jenny Makes Mobiles made this sweet butterfly mobile out of little paper cutouts. I really just think it's the best thing since cream in a puff. There is no motor, so you have to spin it yourself, but as you spin, all of the tiny butterflies flit and flutter and look like they're flying in a halo over the crib. Like this:

You can buy it off Etsy for $30.00 (your money going directly into the artisit's hands that made it), or, you can buy this one:

from Pottery Barn for $85 and your money goes to some foreign land (well, actually you can't buy it from PB anymore, they're out of stock. **Update, I did just find the PB mobile on ebay for $180!). Or you can buy this one :

for the low low price of $60,000.

Some call it wasteful spending...I call it helping the economy.

What little things do you buy that just make your day?

Paper & Walls

2009-07-26T14:13:00.000-06:00

Have you noticed all of the wallpaper being featured in design blogs & magazines lately? I just can't get enough of all of the big modern prints that are popping up everywhere, it surly ain't your granma's wallpaper.

When we bought this house a year ago, it was COVERED in wallpaper. Some might have called it "vintage" since it was 40 some years old. I called it, well, gross. It took me weeks (ok, maybe an exaggeration) to score , steam and scrape clean the paper & glue that had fossilized onto the walls.

Here's what the original wallpaper looked like in the kitchen and in the basement stairwell:

Horrific, no? Luckily I didn't have to waste too much water steaming it off, after the 6th hour of peeling, I just used the tears that ran down my sweaty face.

After I recovered from my wallpaper induced PTSD, not only did I slowly learn to love wallpaper, but I also took the plunge! Well sorta, ok, ok, maybe it was just a the inside of a built in cabinet and not an entire wall and maybe just a lampshade or two, but hey...it's a start!

So, the first wallpaper project involved the dining room built-in. The white cabinet in the corner of two gray walls needed a little "pop". The living room in our house is yellow so lining the inside of the built-in with a yellow wallpaper would be an easy way to tie the rooms together.

Before:

After:

One of the things I learned from my dive into the world of wallpaper is that you can't just buy one roll. You have to buy two at minimum. When I was finished with the built in, I still had just about a full roll of this stuff. Knowing that there was no way the husband was going to let me put wallpaper on the, heaven forbid, wall, I had another idea...

The breakfast bar needed two pendants above it to separate the space between the dining room and kitchen. Of course we couldn't find a fixture that both matched the kitchen hardware and wasn't stupid expensive. Finally, I just went to Target and bought 2 lamps with drum shades and sent the husband to Lowes to pick up a pendent light kit. I cut the paper to size and used removable (in case I screwed it up) adhesive to attach it to the shade.

Here's what the breakfast bar looked like before we hung the pendants:

And here is the result:

If you're looking to get some fun ideas about how to use wallpaper but don't have the stomach to commit to a whole wall, check out Wallpaper Projects from The Curiosity Shoppe.

DIY Magazine & DIYideas.com also has loads of fun ideas and inspiration.

I bought the black & white wallpaper in the picture above, I really had no reason to buy it except for think it sure was purty, but when an idea strikes, I'll be ready!

What DIY touches have made your house a home?

Blog Envy

2009-07-20T19:05:00.000-06:00

What happens when you read your favorite "mommy" blog and your favorite crafter blog on the same day? Inspiration!

While getting my daily dose of Dooce.com, I really dug the wall flowers she placed above her changing table in her baby girl's nursery. They're from Umbra and just so cute. I love how they seem to float up the wall.

photocredit: Dooce.com.

The Umbra flowers reminded me of a recent post on the weddings and cookies blog (written by Renee of Ugly Kitty fame). She's experimenting with paper decor for her 2010 wedding.

Photo credit: weddingsandcookies.blogspot.com

Combine the two and *poof*! Paper wall flowers above the changing table ...

Where do you find inspiration?

Announcements Announcing...

2009-07-18T12:11:00.000-06:00

Ella Juliet Jackson

4.4.09

She's given me a really great excuse for not showing my bloggy blog any love over the past year. However, many other craft/design/decor projects have be afoot and I'm hoping to capture them all (and anything else that I'm loving at the moment) here.

So I'll start with my first Ella related paper project:

Birth Announcements!

All of the paper came from Paper Source. For the card, I used a #10 Luxe note card in Fino White. The envelope is a #10 Luxe open ended in Blush. I did not use the button & string version, occasionally the button from the envelope can dent the note card inside.

The fonts used were Bickham Script, Bickham Script Fancy and Century Gothic. Each envelope was addressed to the recipient using Bickham for the names and the Century Gothic for the addresses.

***

head band by Blossom Heads

Stay tuned for butterfly mobiles, wall flowers, etsy prints and other nursery decor...

Goodbye Seattle!

2008-07-03T11:27:00.000-06:00

Well friends, today is our last day at residents of the wonderful state of Washington. We hit the road this afternoon and head north to Vancouver, east to Banff, south through Montana, Wyoming until we arrive in our next home town of Denver, CO! I'll be off line (if I can stand it) for the next week and look forward to blogging from the other side of the continental divide.

My empty house...

Sarah's Basho

2008-07-03T10:05:00.000-06:00

Sarah called me about her wedding invites a few months back, she had a vision of using basho along with her colors of Sapphire, pink and purple. Originally we were planning to use a photo of her wedding location as the background for set, but it just wasn't working once we did an actual mock up. Sarah had an idea to use different tropical graphics on each insert. We brought in her Sapphire by using a sparkly deep blue matte between her main invite and the textured basho paper. I think captured her vision, even though our phone calls always wound up more about the trials of wedding planning and other misc chit chat than about the actual invites :)

Cork in Cork, Ireland!

2008-07-01T13:47:00.000-06:00

Congratulations to Will and Marcie who were married in Cork, Ireland Monday!

When talking about their escort cards, Marcie had asked if we could incorporate corks as their place card holders. Ask and the bride shall receive! Not only did we make place card holders out of cork for the wedding in Cork, but we also personalized them with the brides & grooms names in a font that coordinated with their program covers and Save the Dates!

Small detail. Big impact.

Tasty Face

2008-06-27T09:25:00.000-06:00

We all know about the tiny tastiness that are M&M's. Who can resist?

Photo credit: mymms.com

You might even know that you can have personal messages printed on M&M's as a wedding favor...

photocredit: mymms.com

Perhaps you've even combined your love for chocolate and baseball...

photo credit: mymms.com

But did you know that you can now print pictures on M&M's too??

photocredit: mymms.com

The My M&M's website: http://www.mymms.com/, has tons of creative ideas on how you use photo M&M's and also has a few restrictions: according to the website, they won't accept vulgar language or pictures...they "don't want to leave a bad taste in anyone's mouth."

Cookies Part II

2008-06-23T07:52:00.000-06:00

Since we were talking about cookies yesterday, here's another great company to check out , Meli and Angi,

http://www.meliandangi.com/.

photocredit meliandangi.com

Ridiculous Deliciousness

2008-06-22T09:25:00.000-06:00

Most of us look for design or wedding inspiration in, well, design and wedding magazines. Last week I stumbled across this fabulous find in a magazine, yes, but not where you might think. I found these in Newsweek, right next to an article about golf courses in Bolivia and what investments will safe guard your savings.

Well, these little gems definitely don’t fit into the safe guarding your savings category, but boy, are they just not the cutest things?

Check out these Butterflies in Nature cookies by Eleni's New York, http://www.elenis.com/.

photo credit: elenis.com

Elenis New York offers hand iced cookies perfect for wedding favors and bridal showers, but they also have a cookies for kids birthday, holidays and thank you gifts.

photo credit: elenis.com

Feeling Fortunate? Fortunate Biscuits, http://www.fortunatebuiscuits.com/, offers hand-dipped fortune cookies that are a delightful surprise. With cookie flavors ranging from the vanilla to pineapple and toppings from cappuccino cream to banana and Cinnamon.

photo credit: fortunatebiscuits.com

photocredit: fortunatebiscuits.com

photocredit: fortunatebiscuits.com

Practical? No. Fabulous? Definitely.

Programs, Programs Everywhere!

2008-06-15T12:42:00.001-06:00

Program set
Originally uploaded by CryBabyInk

Bridal season is upon us my friends and boy have I been busy cranking out the accessory details! Programs, escort cards and table numbers for brides from Ireland to Hawaii.

The programs came in all sizes: single panel, small, mutli page and tall! Each had custom elements that reflected the wedding style, some brides even supplied their own graphic details which is an easy way to tie elements from different sources together.

Your program size will usually be determined by the amount of content you need, here we used a tri fold, this allowed us to print a lot of content but keep the finished product down to a single sheet vs. adding pages.

For Marcie & Wills program, we went with a more formal booklet style consisting of 6 printed pages.

Look closely at Daniela and Tony's program, can you spot their monogram initial "B" in the top and bottom flourish?

Happy wedding day to all of my brides! I can't wait to post pictures of your big day!

Table Decor, Martha style

2008-06-06T07:44:00.000-06:00

Check out these 2 fabulous and simple projects from http://www.marthstewart.com/ ! What an easy way to personalize any event.

Fire and Water

photo credit marthastewart.com

Simply take a small candle holder (pillar or votive) and place it inside a larger one. Fill the space between the 2 holders with water (tinted with food coloring) and you can create a centerpiece to match any decor.

For complete instructions, click here: http://tinyurl.com/6aavet

Festive Drink Umbrella

photo credit marthastewart.com

And what is a summer party or ocean side wedding without a cocktail umbrella? Thursdays "Craft of the Day" on http://www.marthastewart.com/ shows you how to make your own Festive Drink Umbrella out of origami paper. Think about all the possibilities...what about printing the bride and grooms name for a wedding or, better yet, using them as place cards? What about printing little fortunes on each for an Asian dinner party? What about printing titles of One Hit Wonders from the 80's that your guests will have to sing, after a few cocktails of course!

For complete instructions click here: http://tinyurl.com/6legkn

How will you use your creativity to make these projects your own?

Home Design

2008-06-01T22:56:00.000-06:00

A few weeks back my mother was in town for a visit. She loves quilt stores as much as I love paper stores, so I took her on a little tour of Seattle quilt shops. Normally, I don't buy anything, having no idea how to quilt, sew or do much of anything fabric related, I usually just take on chauffeur status.

A print caught my eye with it's deep reds and sparkly golds called Graceful Geisha's from designer Lonni Rossi. I wound up buying it, having no idea what to do with it, but knew I'd eventually have a vision.

This is a 1 yard panel of the fabric

And this is what happens when you have a gorgeous print, a few canvases and a staple gun...

Where will you find design inspiration from?

Height of Elegance

2008-05-30T07:47:00.001-06:00

What kind of invitation do you make for a bride and groom with impeccable taste and a traditional vision?

I worked with Marcie and Will on their Save the Dates a few months back. Since they're getting married in Ireland, we knew we'd go with an Irish theme. They were pretty clear that their invitations were to be formal, but we could be a little more casual with the Save the Dates. We used a shimmery green backing and 2 color thermography (raised type) to give the text that sparkle that you just can't get with digital printing. We went with an envelope to match the matting and viola, a sparkly green treasure delivered to each guest.

More pics coming soon

Then it was on to the invitations. I knew the bride and groom wanted their invites to be the official announcement of their event, so we had to think classic and elegant, but with a WOW factor. The bride and groom also requested a special detail that I just knew would be a big hit, they wanted the invitation to be personalized with the name of each guest.

So, I called my friend & master calligrapher Laura Hooper of LH Calligraphy, http://www.lhcalligraphy.com/ and told her my vision. She hand designed an invitation in calligraphy then had it letterpressed with a blank space so she could go back and personalize each invitation with the name of the guest.

Blank

It was a hand crafted effort from beginning to end, lovely calligraphy complimented by the beauty of letterpress, each piece was truly a work of art.

Personalized

Inserts

What will you do to WOW your guests?

More DIY: Petal & Layered Programs

2008-05-29T08:25:00.000-06:00

Once upon a time, a brand shiny new Micheal's Crafts opened it's doors in a land not so far far away...

Strolling through the aisles, I can across a some products that I've received numerous requests for, Petal Fan Programs and Layered Programs. In the past I've tried to steer clear of taking on these projects, they are amazingly time consuming to create from scratch and as you can imagine, the more components to an item and the longer it takes to cut, print and assemble the more expensive it becomes.

DIY Petal Fan Programs

Once again, Gartner Studios to save the day! They have partnered with Brides Magazine to come up with an exclusive line of print at home wedding accessories, not just invites, but wedding programs, chair signs, favor boxes, even letterpressed (looking) place cards sold exclusively at Micheal's. Usually, I'm not a huge fan of craft store wedding products, to much painted plastic and tulle for me, but I think Gartner really hit this mark this time. Their designs are modern and sophisticated, including everything from whimsical soft pink dots to elegant black damask designs (p.s. you'll be seeing much more damask in the coming months). It's an inexpensive, or should I say, less expensive, way to add all of those extra details to your wedding without having to take out a second mortgage.

Some others fun things from the collection:

DIY Chair Signs

Damask Place Cards

See the entire line here: http://tinyurl.com/3yr23n

Happy Planning!

Imprintable Invites at Target

2008-05-28T19:39:00.000-06:00

Stay tuned for Cry Baby Ink Letterpress Imprintable Stationary and Pocketfold DIY kits...

Until then...

Looking to get that letterpressed feel at a DIY price?

Target and Gartner Studios have introduced a line of imprintable wedding stationary that they are calling Letter Impress. Their design suite offers a letterpressed graphic on a card that you can run through your printer at home. Great idea, great price. The only thing is, it's not actually letterpressed, hence the name Letter Impress. It's printed flat, then embossed, and only the graphic is embossed, not the printed text. But unless your one who checks registration and such things, no one willever know.

Tinsel Trading

2007-11-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

Fabulous find of the day...

http://www.tinseltrading.com/catalog/cat-paper.php

Not that I have any idea what these little paper appliques would be used for, but I must have them!