Last August was full of weddings for me. My husband and I went to 3 weddings in the span of 4 weeks! You may recall a couple of the cards I made for them.

One of the weddings was for Katie and Peder. I've known Katie since I was 10. My family moved into a new house and pretty quickly met Katie and her 2 sisters who lived next door. She and my younger sister became close friends and have stayed in touch all these years. So of course we were all ecstatic when she announced her and Peder's engagement!

Shortly after she got engaged, Katie got in contact with me and told me that after seeing the invitations I made for my sister's wedding in 2014, she knew that I had to make her invitations, too! Of course I said yes!

The wedding colors were pink, coral, and yellow, with grey for the boys, so I found a pale grey and pale coral for the invitations.

Katie chose to go with a paper-lace design with K&P watermarked behind the text. It is difficult to see in the photos, but it shows up better on the RSVP back.

The back of the invitation featured a pocket to hold the RSVP, envelope, and insert card with map and directions. Everything tucked neatly inside so nothing got lost when you opened the envelope.

Katie and Peder's wedding was gorgeous! The ballroom was so elegant, the decorations were fun and colorful, and the dancing was highly entertaining! And I wouldn't have expected anything less from such a fun-loving couple. Especially since their wedding party had 22 people in it!

Congratulations to Katie and Peder!
And thank you for letting me be a part of your special day!

Happy Crafting!

Every year after Thanksgiving, I bring my cards into work to sell in the break room. I always sell a few, and it gets my name and work out there. This year, I was approached by a fellow teacher asking for some custom cards for a gift. She wanted some music themed cards. Easy!

I used this stamp on ivory paper to make the background paper, along with some distress ink to make it look older. That paper was then adhered to a black card base.

For the sentiment, I used this stamp on more ivory paper distressed with ink. I mounted it on black paper, cut a banner edge, and mounted it on the card with foam tape to give some dimension. I also added some die cut leaves behind the sentiment banner.

I really like how these cards came out. I made 4 for the special order (which she used for a holiday party gift game) and 4 extra which sold at work in just days! I think I'll have to make some more!

Happy Crafting!

I've done several invitations over the last few years, and an invitation order usually involves at least a few dozen invitations, if not over 100! Imagine my surprise when a friend asked me for just one invitation!

She has a friend whose husband planned a Vegas getaway for her 40th birthday! And not just for him and her, but for 3 other couples! And she had no idea! What an amazing gift, right? So my friend and the other 2 couples decided to make the weekend extra special and plan a special dinner, a spa afternoon, and a show.

Since the husband and friends planned the whole weekend, they didn't need invitations, but the birthday girl did, so that's what I got to make! A reverse invitation. And what better colors to use for a Vegas getaway than gold and black?

I stamped the band holding it all together with some gold embossing to give it a bit more shine.

I made the invitation a tri-fold invitation with two pockets so the show tickets and a birthday message could be tucked into the pockets.

The center panel outlined the schedule of events for the weekend as well as a description of the spa treatment.

I am told the birthday girl was thoroughly surprised and the weekend was amazing. And I am super jealous.

Happy Crafting!

My mom has a group of really close girl friends from college. 
There are 8 of them. 
It can be quite intense when they are all together.

The great thing about having a bunch of friends like that is that there is always something to celebrate! Most of their kids are around marriage and baby-having age, so there are lots of showers to plan and attend. They all take turns hosting bridal and baby showers for each others' kids. 

Whenever my mom hosts, she comes to me for the invitations (DUH!), and now one of her friends has also started coming to me first for her invitations, too! This summer alone, I've made 3 sets of invites for Carol; one set for my sister's bridal shower, one set for another daughter of 'The Girls' (it sounds like a cult!), and one set for her daughter's friend.

I've really enjoyed making all these invites because it gave me a break from the pile of periwinkle products I had to make for my sister's wedding this summer (another post later - I'm still recovering and taking photos).

When I make invites as a commission for someone, I find out what theme, colors, or preferences they have in place for the event so I have a direction. Next, I create 3-5 prototypes using different papers and designs and send photos of these to the buyer. Once they choose a design (or tweak/combine one), I get crafting!

Here's the invite I made for Carol for my sister's shower:

I actually didn't make any other prototypes for this one and I didn't show Carol ahead of time because she said I could do whatever I thought Erin would like best. And Erin loved them! She always keeps stuff I make for her, she's so sweet!

Here's another invite I made for Carol:
(I put generic info on this one for photographing)

Her instructions were "bright colors".
Here are the other 3 prototypes I made for this order:

The last order came with the instructions "sangria wine red and eggplant purple with matte gold as an accent". Now there's a bride who knows what she wants! Here's what Carol chose:

And while I did make 3 other prototypes, I only made 'dummy' words for one other one:

So there we are!
I am so happy that Carol likes my designs and comes to me for her invitation needs! I hope some of the people who get the invites seek me out as well!

Happy Crafting!