The third and final wedding of August this year (one, two) was my sister-in-law Emily and her boyfriend Lindsay. The were married at Minnehaha Falls amid stunning foliage and loving family and friends.

I was so excited when they asked me to make their wedding stationary! I had already made their save-the-dates, so I knew the feel they were going for with their invitation as well. Simple, elegant, natural, and light.

I found a delicate leaf die-cut to add to the top of the invitation. And I didn't even know that the ceremony site had a canopy of leaves! It was perfect!

I kept the whole invitation pretty simple. I did add a pocket to the back to hold the RSVP card/envelope and an insert card for directions and information.

The reception was at a fun local restaurant. Emily and Lindsay wanted assigned seating, but the meal was a buffet, so we didn't have to deal with individual seating cards. Instead, I made a poster telling everyone which table to go to.

The tables were marked with different herbs. Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, etc. I also made the signs that went into the pots of the plants on the tables. And as a wedding favor, each guest got a small package of the herb on their table!

I am so happy for Emily and Lindsay! I hope their life together is as beautiful and full as the amazing garden they were married in.

Photos of the couple were taken by Melissa Hesse.

Happy Crafting!

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!

Wedding season may be several months away, but I have been playing with the "&" stamp that I used on the wedding cards I made last summer.

I heat-embossed the stamped image with white embossing powder, then used distress inks (we all know how much I love those!) to make a colorful watercolor-like background. Some simple matting, and voila! Cards ready for any wedding!

What I really like about this design is that I can make it in any color combination I want - making it really easy to customize the card to the wedding! I made a blue, a lavender/pale pink, and a bright pink to begin with. I think those are pretty generic wedding colors, right?

I stamped the inside with a 'Congratulations' in a matching color of ink.

I have these listed on Etsy right now, but if you'd like one in a different color combination, just let me know and I can make one just for your special occasion!

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Crafting!

Have you ever had a vision of how something would turn out and you got so excited you couldn't wait to get started and you worked really hard on it and then it didn't turn out anything like what you have envisioned?

If you said no, you're a liar.  ^_^

It happens to me all the time. And most of the time, I scrap it or start over or just walk away. But this time I couldn't. This time I had an out of town wedding that we were leaving for the next day and I had no more time to make another card. So I stuck with it.

The color I had envisioned kept alluding me. I could not get my distress inks to do what I wanted! But I kept adding more layers. I kept trying more colors. I pushed through till I got the result I had set out to get.

And you know what? It felt really, really good when the color finally showed up.

When I finally got what I wanted, I was too tired to come up with an all new design, so I stuck with the one I made for a previous wedding card and took out some vellum and matching paper to finish up this card.

I really love this card. It matches the invitations perfectly (which I made - post coming soon!) and there's nothing quite like the triumph of working through crafting adversity. (How's that for dramatic!)

What do you do when a project doesn't turn out the way you envisioned it? Do you scrap it? Start over? Keep going? Throw it out the window and eat some chocolate?  ^_^

Happy Crafting!

August 2015 will forever be known in our house as "The August of Insanity!" Of the 5 weekends (technically) in August, 1 was full of birthday celebrations for my mom and sister and 3 were full of weddings. Yes 3. And one hasn't even happened yet! At least I had one August weekend off. Though I used that weekend for dress shopping for the weddings...

With so many events coming up, I knew I would have to make some cards. Here is the first on I made: a wedding card for the first wedding.

I know it doesn't look like a traditional wedding card, but the couple that were married are very outdoors-y, so I thought I should go with a lightly 'camo' look. I white heat embossed the large ampersand, then used distress inks and my favorite 'smooshing' technique to create the center piece. The piece behind it is dry embossed vellum. I love how it turned out! All the softness of vellum, but with a unique texture.

I mounted both layers with foam tape onto a top-folding kraft cardstock base. A quick "Congratulations" stamp on the inside, and the card was complete!

I really like how it turned out, I think I'm going to use this design for some more wedding cards! It's super customizable, so I can use the wedding colors for each couple.

Happy Crafting!

A wedding doesn't always have to be a big, expensive, extravagant event. One of my brides, Marie, chose to do a small destination wedding and have a local reception a few months later. Her mother (who is a friend of my parents) contacted me last spring about making the invitations for the local reception. Of course I jumped at the chance!

Marie had sunflowers at her wedding, so I wanted to find a way to incorporate those into the design of the invitation without getting too 'theme-y'. Is that a word? It is now!

The mother of the bride and I settled on this design; bold and elegant, but simple and fun. I love it!

(Names and contact info have been changed on the invitation to insure privacy)

As you should know by now, I'm slightly obsessed with distress inks. I was so excited to be able to incorporate them into this project to create a soft watercolor look. I heat embossed the sunflower stamp with black embossing powder, then used the distress inks and a paintbrush to paint the sunflower with bright yellows and oranges.

A few things I learned from this project:

1) Watercolor paper is really the best thing to use with any technique that uses water. Unfortunately, I haven't found a watercolor paper that goes through the printer and shows the printing well, so I used a heavy cardstock. It worked well and they looked great, but I'd love to find a 'printable' watercolor paper.

2) Along those lines - don't overwork the colors. I had to be careful with my brush to avoid the paper from pilling with the amount of water I was using, which was good because the more I messed with the colors, the less I liked the outcome. Less is more!

3) If you are using black embossing powder, do yourself a HUGE favor and use an anti-static powder tool. For some reason, black embossing powder sticks to EVERYTHING!!! Another option is to use black ink and clear embossing powder.

4) If everything is not dry before you start to assemble, it will smear and you will have to do it over. Ask me how I know...

Congratulations to Marie and Matt on their wedding, their reception, and beginning their life together!

Happy Crafting!