Invitations: Hayley and Reuben

I am so excited about this post for a few reasons. First, because these invites are for my friends Hayley and Reuben... I've known Hayley since our crazy highschool days and we've seen each other through several stages of boyfriends (hah!) and I couldn't be happier that she's found someone so fun and awesome and perfect for her like Reuben! Reuben is a worship leader at lots of different churches around Atlanta, but often at Midtown, where we attend.

Secondly, I'm very excited about these invitations because they're so FUN! This couple has so much personality and absolutely no pretense, and I feel like the invitations evoke the exact same attitude - eclectic, fun and unashamedly different. There is nothing more satisfying than working on invitations for people who love to live outside of the box!



These invitations are laid out like mine and Collin's were - a tri-fold invitation that has a tear-away response postcard. By designing like this, I am able to cut costs by printing the entire thing all at once, and you save money on postage by only putting a 28 cent stamp on the response! Also, I think it's really fun to get an invitation that unfolds, revealing the special parts of it in steps. Here, you can see the perforated line to tear away the response...



Here is the entire front and back of the invite all unfolded:



The inside has a bible page background from Song of Solomon... since weddings are all about love and this couple has always been involved in ministry, I thought this was a special choice.



The outside background is an old piece of sheet music from Reuben's alma mater - Georgia Tech! The sheet music is for "Ramblin' Wreck," GA Tech's fight song... a little detail that not everyone will notice, but still fun for those who do!

Since the couple is getting married at an art gallery, I thought it would be fun to vignette the text in picture frames, along with their adorable engagement photos since we had lots of room to work with...



And once the guests tear away their response card, the invitation piece stands alone for a long life stuck to the refrigerator!



When I printed these invitations, I still had room left on my press sheet, so I went ahead and set up some programs and thank you postcards to match. Still using the same pictures and themes, doing the programs and thank you notes early takes away the stress of having to deal with those things last minute.





I love square invitations, but squares are always more postage, so I rarely suggest them for my clients. These programs, however, don't have to be mailed anywhere, so I was free to make them square! The front of the program is Hayley's favorite engagement photo, and with their names tucked subtly in the corner, I thought they could easily go from the ceremony back home and put into photo frames - a little picture souvenir of this fantastic wedding! I can't wait to actually go!

Travel: Nashville

This weekend Collin and I decided it was time to visit a piece of our family in Tennessee. More specifically, the youngest brother at school in Murfreesboro and the eldest brother, his wife, and wee baby in Nashville. If I was smart and blog-minded I would have brought my camera. But instead I was my usual self, just making sure I packed my favorite sweat pants and four or five random pieces that might make some outfits if push came to shove... my iPhone without a charger, my wallet without my ID... what's new?

Anyway, I think there's still merit in sharing our trip in case any of you are planning to head up to Nashville sometime soon - we never do what we're "supposed to" when we visit a city, we just do what feels right. Usually that ends up being fun, relaxing and delicious. Of course, I've googled all the images, which I hate to do but there's no other option now, is there?



Anyone who has spent any time in Nashville will recognize this scene: the exuberance of Broadway. Honky tonks and boot shops galore, you can hear the twanging of guitars first thing in the morning and through the night. I'm not a very "southern" person in most respects, I've long attributed it to the fact that I'm half Iranian. There was always something gnawing inside me that said, "You're a little too tan for cowboy boots and straw hats. You know this, right?" I can enjoy my Chickfila and Zaxby's with the rest of them, I drink my tea sweet and I spend my days barefoot in the summer. But when it comes to the real south... Tim McGraw and collard greens stuff, I have to kindly bow out. So did we spend our time in Nashville looking for the perfect pair of boots or wandering through the Country Music Hall of Fame? Not really.



We did drive down to the blessed little space between Vanderbilt and Belmont called Hillsboro Village - quintessentially collegiate with it's boutiques and cafes. I stopped in my tracks when I peered through the window of Hot & Cold, a coffee and icy treats shop owned by some of Nashville's finest foodies. A married couple, he stocks the coffee and she makes the paletas (the Mexican version of popsicles, irresistable). Anyway, who doesn't love ordering from a place that has the menu artfully illustrated on chalkboard walls?



Also in Hillsboro Village is a little heaven on earth for a paper enthusiast like me - Social Graces. This place is for women only, seeing as how only women work there and only women would spend an hour ooing and ahhing at the paper poms laced up to vintage cabinets displaying letterpressed folios. Yes, it's a girl thing. This is the kind of place I'd love to own one day - to take a space and make useless, beautiful things and display them high and low... they also have the Smock wedding album, which I suggest you find if you're not going to ask me to make your invitations for you. Definitely second choice. :)



On the way back to East Nashville, we circled this replica of the Parthenon just north of Vanderbilt campus. I've never been to the real Parthenon in Athens, but I think this one should do me for a little while until I make it to Greece.

And finally, I'll share with you a little competition I like to call "Battle of the Breakfast." Saturday morning we went to Nashville Biscuit House, your classic southern diner...



On our way home on Sunday we stopped at Noshville, a New-York style deli.



Let me just preface with this - I'm not a fan of "breakfast" the way most people in South understand it. I grew up with cucumber, tomato and feta on pita for breakfast... or at least a bagel and cream cheese. If we had eggs, they were in an omelette with plenty of onions, tomatoes and potatoes. We only made sausage and bacon on Christmas morning. At Nashville Biscuit House, I had some thin coffee-flavored warm water and a western omelette. Collin had the country fried steak. I ate it, it was food. But Noshville... ohhh the Jews know how to make some breakfast! The griddlecakes were light and crispy around the edges. The potatoes were herby and crunchy. The sausage was zesty and the bagel was perfect. Definitely the winner. Five stars. The end.

Anyway, our little mini-trip to Nashville was a fun skip away from Atlanta. We made it home in about three and a half hours, no trouble at all. It was my first time in Nashville, but I'm sure it won't be the last. Especially with our cute little niece waiting for us to come visit her!

Invitations: Lauren and Logan, Pt. 2

It has been too long since I last blogged. I sincerely apologize, I feel like every time I'm ready to take pictures of a project I've finished, it's a glum grey day in Atlanta and finding a cute spot to prop up my paper is near impossible. With all of the snow storm mess in Atlanta last week, you'd think I would have been more crafty and creative, but it was actually quite the opposite. The opportunity to stay holed up in my office, clicking around invitation designs from dawn till dusk completely engulfed me - though it was a positive, productive use of time... wasn't much to blog about. However - all of that tedious mouse-clicking has now yielded the completion of a few new projects, and since the sun is making some appearances we're back on track!

You may remember Logan and Lauren from their save the dates back in September - well the time is near for this happy couple and here are their invitations!



You may recall that the wedding colors are blush pink and navy - a gorgeous combination for March. For the invitations, we decided to go a more formal, refined route and keep things black and white. This has been my first black and white project in over a year, but I have been so happy with the result. I'm all for organic, outspoken, bold color and pattern... but there is nothing as timeless and sophisticated as clean white paper with crisp black text. It's ancient and modern at the same time - traditional but one-of-a-kind. Something that can go in a frame alongside your parents and grandparents invitations and stand up proud. Anyway, maybe I'm getting a little carried away, but in short, I love it!





We brought back the monogram in one color, of course. And while we're talking about it, let me take this opportunity to give a little design tip - you shouldn't ever design a logo, mark, monogram, etc. that can't be converted to black and white. I could have done a monogram with fades and gradients, drop shadows and colorful fills... but making something that can seamlessly be converted to a stamp or an engraving is far more important. Now, Lauren can easily get her monogram printed on cups, embroidered on pillows, or embossed on a photo album. Take a look at these examples of monograms used from the paper to decor, from No. Four Eleven and Emma J. Design.



I think the entire set looks fantastic, and I'm very confident that the rest of the wedding is going to be even more beautiful!

Invitations: Amanda and Josh, Pt. 1

Back to weddings! Today I wanted to share something I completed a few weeks ago - another set of save the date magnets for an upcoming spring wedding!



Amanda had initially wanted to go with a pink and green color scheme, but as the time went on she realized that she would have more options in dresses, decor, etc. if she went with pink and grey. Good thing, because pink and grey is gorgeous - one of my favorite combinations! There is a great inspiration board for pink and grey from Snippet & Ink full of beautiful images, but I put together a little board of my own favorite grey+pink ideas...



The ring is from Tiffany, if you've got an extra $770,000 laying around. The flowers, paper, and mantle are from different weddings featured on Style Me Pretty. And let me just say that if I could do my wedding over again, my bridesmaids would be wearing this Time Gone By dress and carrying gorgeous blush pink and white bouquets bound in thick black ribbon.

Amanda sent me some of their engagement pictures to use on the magnets, and they were all so cute it was hard to decide! The photographer is Photography by Shannon - take a look at some of these!





I used a more modern typeface and layout for these save the dates since I had the feeling that's the direction Amanda's wedding will take. We bought matching Envelopments envelopes in London Fog grey. I think they turned out beautifully, and I can't wait to see what Amanda does with the rest of the wedding!

Benched for the Season

You like that sports analogy? I'm getting the hang of being a baseball wife, I think. I have been informed by Collin that I now properly use the term "bush league," whereas before I would say it about anything. Refining my cultural vernacular. Anyway.

The other night we hosted a wedding shower for our good friends Hayley and Reuben, and since it was a couples shower we were expecting lots of people to show up. Well, maybe not lots for an ordinary house, but in our small two bedroom apartment the most people we'd ever fit was about 13. I knew that if we were going to make it through a night with perhaps 20 people at our place, we needed more places to sit.

I had been looking on craigslist for a bench to redo/recover, but everything I found was way too ugly. Usually you see ugly stuff that you can imagine looking nice with some paint and new textiles, but these things were foul. Either the kinds of things you would find in a dollhouse or ones from an 80's hotel lobby. Really bad. I gave up the search until I agreed to host the shower, then I knew it was a necessity. Finally, Collin and I decided to think outside the box and inspiration struck! We headed to Ikea (where everything is multi-functional and cheap!)

We decided to get two LACK side tables in white and set them side-by-side as our base. We asked a store clerk if they were sturdy enough to sit on, and she said they use them as stools for stocking shelves in the store all the time. That worked for me - and the price tag of $7.99 a piece really worked!





We also happened upon these IRIS chair pads in the rugs to pillows to bedding section? You know what I mean. They're perfectly square, exactly 2/3 the size of the LACK table surface - which meant that I could buy nine, cut three in half, stack them two up and make one cushion that was the exact same size as our new "bench." (I promise it works if you think about it for a minute). We bought them and I immediately set to work at cutting the covers off to expose the 15"x15"x1" foam squares inside. I then arranged them to make the size cushion I needed and then sewed a muslin cover to keep them all together.



For the cushion cover, I looked in my extensive stores of fabric I've bought in the past and never used. It's part of my January to March resolution to make something out of all of my (seven rubbermaid tubs full of) fabric and either sell, gift, or use the result instead of moving around 200lbs of fabric every six months! Ick! Well, I found a fabric I bought in 2007 from a semi-deserted looking discount fabric warehouse in East Jesus Nowhere, South Carolina. This place sells fabric by the pound, usually under $5/lb, so the discounts are insane. This one in particular is a fabric by Premier Prints called Annie in "sweet potato" (you can always find that information on the selvage if you buy from a discount distributor - good to know if you end up needing more).



Since the fabric is 48" wide and my bench was only 45" I could use the width of the fabric, and therefore only needed about two yards for the whole project. Other supplies included:
- about 14 yards of welting
- about 2 yards of contrast fabric (brown) for the cording and pillows, I used a thick cotton twill
- a lot of straight pins
- 1 22" invisible zipper (natural) for cushion, 2 14" invisible zippers (natural) for pillows
- a spool of thread (brown)
I bought the rest of the things I needed at Forsyth Fabrics right by our apartment. The twill was about $12 a yard, and the welting is something like 40 cents a yard. I went to Whipstitch, a.k.a. Heaven, for the zippers. Most of their fabrics are better suited for quilting and apparel, not upholstery, but they have a great supply of notions (buttons, zippers, thread, linen spray, etc.).

I didn't have a pattern for the cushion... I've sewn lots of cushions in the past, but this box-style cover with a zipper and cording was kind of a monster. I got in the middle of it and wanted to die (it was also after midnight at that point). I went to bed, got up in the morning, and then found this great tutorial on Sew, Mama, Sew! I had already started the cushion a different way, but this step-by-step helped give me some direction for how to sew the bottom together. With some patience and some extra caution, I finally finished!




I used the straps from the old chair pad covers to make velcro straps for my new cushion. I used the leftover brown fabric and some natural-colored twill I already had to make two 12"x24" pillows to go on top...




Looking back, I'm so glad that I put together this bench instead of buying something I only halfway liked. The only thing I'd do differently would be to go to Hancock and actually buy a single piece of foam in the size I needed instead of piecing it together. All the cushions from Ikea ended up being $36, which is a really good price for foam. From shopping around quickly for alternatives it looked like a single piece would have been around $70. Was it worth the trouble of making sure those foam squares didn't buckle and overlap inside the cushion? I don't think so. I also could have probably found a better deal on foam (or a coupon) if I had more time... did I mention that I sewed this the day of the shower? Yikes.

It's also great that in the future, when we move into a new place and may not have space for a bench, we can take the side tables apart and use them as tables, or a bookshelf, or chairs - that kind of versatility is what we're looking for whenever we buy any furniture. This bench is only going to be here until the middle of March and we don't have time to brood over purchases! Seriously, huge thanks to my mom and God for giving me the creativity and confidence to make things on my own - I'd be utterly lost without it!

Designing Digital: A Few Tips

Just a little educational tidbit for you today - I have a few projects in the works right now: home/decorating stuff, two sets of save the dates, etc. Look for those funsies coming up. (Yes, funsies is a word.)

Today I just wanted to take a quick minute to talk about doing wedding invitations the economical but equally risky way: digital printing.

Digital is just a cover-all word for anything that's not printed on a press. Whether it's an inkjet printout at home or a professional color-laser print, it's all digital. This is a great tool, but unfortunately the ambiguousness of the category leaves lots of people confused and/or disappointed with their final product. I always strive for the best quality whenever I go digital, but sometimes that's an excuse for people to give you cheap, strangely colored prints on floppy paper. Let's do some clarifying, shall we?

Any invitation you find or purchase online is going to be printed digitally unless otherwise clearly stated (and with a drastic price increase). Websites like Vista Print, Wedding Paper Divas, and lots of Etsy listings provide incredibly economical invites, but the compromise is in quality. The big websites will provide laser prints, which are clear, usually a little off in color from what you thought (there's really no way to get around this), and slightly glossy even on matte paper.

Some, not all, listings on Etsy will be inkjet, which is ink placed in dots per inch (or dpi), so it is common to get a dotty or grainy pattern in this kind of print. However, the ink is fluid and transparent so there is some blurring on the paper which compensates for this. Sometimes thick or textured paper can allow for too much bleeding/blurring, and small text can be slightly unclear. This ink takes on the finish of the paper you print it on, so matte paper will have a matte print.

For my purposes, I always print digitally through a professional printer with a color laser printer. I do not print on any paper that's less than 100lb cardstock, especially since stationery is supposed to have a weight that's more substantial. I choose to print laser because it's a clear, reliable, smudge-proof toner. It's more durable in the mail and always sharp for small type. An average cost for laser printing is around $1 a piece, although this varies with paper and color choices. Take a look at the difference between laser and letterpress:


Laser, Wedding Paper Divas


Letterpress, Bella Figura

When looking online, make sure you know what's going on! Check to see if the print is letterpress, thermography, flat offset, digital inkjet, or digital laser. Check the paper weight - regular copy paper is usually 24lb text, regular cardstock is 80lb cover (13-14pt is another measure), thin envelopes are 24lb text. Good envelopes are around 60-70lb text, good cardstock is 100-110lb cover. Great cardstock (especially for letterpress) is 220lb cover.

Now, aside from technical and physical characteristics of digital printing, there's the design aspect.

Lots of boxed, embellished invitations are for purchase at office supply or craft stores. These are the kind of invitations that come with all the paper you need, you print them yourself at home. This can be a great option, but lots of brides are confined to Microsoft Word documents and standard typefaces as their drawing board - there's only so much you can do. The difference between a custom designed invitation and a print-at-home version is really in the intangibles.

Just like you would take tips from a decorator on how to liven up a room with a few good details, it's a good idea to talk to a designer about some good pointers for coming up with a polished looking invitation. I'll touch on a few basics that are sure to turn your DIY project from typical to outstanding:

1) Type

There is a difference between good and bad type. Hate to break it to you, but any type you download for free online is probably not great type. Not because it doesn't look cool, but because it most likely wasn't properly designed. A legitimately designed typeface takes time, lots of time, to create - and the people who do that for a living don't give those things away for free. Like I said, intangibles. You won't look at bad type and be able to explain why it doesn't look as polished as a professional invitation... it just doesn't. Take a look at these two type samples side by side:



The type on the left is called "Champagne & Limousines," the name is incredibly tempting, I know. It's free on dafont.com. The type on the right is called Jubilat, and is available from Darden Studio for $229.00. I imagine the former is used in numerous ads for skeezy nightclubs, whereas the latter is frequently used in the pages of Martha Stewart Living. Now, I'm not saying that you should purchase a $200 typeface for your invitations, there are lots of options in between. I like to browse myfonts.com to find fun, new scripts that usually fall between $30-$60. Also, most type is sold in packages of families (every version of weight and italics) and if you know that you will only use one style, you can buy just that one for a much smaller cost. And why not pay the typographers for their work, they have to pay the rent somehow, right?

2) Image

When it comes to invitations, I think the rule should be: If you can't use an image wisely, then don't use it at all. Traditionally, invitations don't have any images on them - just text. However, with more unique weddings and brides full of personality, I think images on invitations can display the look and "atmosphere" of your wedding - getting your guests ready to be swept away with romance or to expect barbecue at the reception! I think the saddest way to misuse an image is to pick one that doesn't say anything. Why is it there if it has no purpose? Let's compare!


Swanky, classy, fun - Hello Lucky!


... swirly? - Wedding Paper Divas

Not that one of these invitations is pretty and the other isn't - they're both pretty in their own ways. But, one uses a style purposefully to convey an attitude... the other doesn't say much. I think the second invitation would feel the same with or without the image, maybe even more sophisticated with well-thought out type and no image. See what I'm saying?

3) Chaos

With invitations and many other fine things in life, less is more. You want your invitation to be that breathtakingly beautiful, simply subtle, quiet reminder that your guests have been invited to something really special. Not a loud, flashy character yelling at your friends from the refrigerator door. Too many images, colors, typefaces - these things can clutter your information so much that nobody can find the time of the ceremony. You can go pretty far without jumping over the edge, but be mindful of the point where you've got more than you bargained for.


Heirloom - Lucky Luxe


Journey Together - Minted

The top invitation here has a lot going on - all those swirls, the border, the different typefaces, the two silhouettes. What a smart design choice, then, to print the entire thing in the ever classic and consistent black. It takes something that could be incredibly wild and makes it classic and exquisite. The second also has lots going on - two shades of yellow, two shades of pink, brown text, the tree, the couple on the bike, the pink band at the bottom. This invitation is cute, but it reminds me of something more appropriate for a shower than the main event.

Hopefully these tips are helpful and not just nitpicky - that's not my intention in the least. There is no reason to sweat the small stuff during a wedding, no need to fret that designers and grumps are going to scoff at your invitations. These things are just helpful to know when designing/ordering your invitations and searching for something that just looks good.

For my part, I design each invitation set specifically for the customer. There are so many nuances of personality, priority and daydreaming that set us apart. I love to take the late night inspirations and turn them into something real. Speaking of which... back to work!

Organization, the Spice of Life

A new year, lots of resolutions. My resolutions have nothing to do with staying organized since that is a necessity (but also a rarity) when moving every six months. I made a few about losing weight... what's new? However, there is something about a new year that gives you the extra oomph to fix the most pesky of inconveniences that plagued everyday life in the previous days. The squeaky door, the loose drawer... for me it was the spice rack.



About ten years ago my mother bought the most perfect spice jars at Ikea (back then we could only buy what would fit back in our suitcases when we went to visit family in Sweden). Clear glass, screw-on lid, made to sit upright or angled to the side... I've envied this purchase ever since I moved out. Well, I don't know if I wasn't looking hard enough, but a few weeks ago while dashing through Ikea, I spotted those exact same spice jars - Rajtan, I found you!



I bought four packages (which later turned into five, six, seven... as of yesterday, eight) and immediately filled them with my spices, but then the obvious problem arose: what was in that jar again? Well, after weeks of opening and smelling five jars to figure out which was tarragon I finally decided to use my brain and make labels.



I chose Avery 5410 1" round white labels on a 4"x6" sheet that runs easily through the printer (I found them in-store at Staples). Since I'm on a Mac and don't usually use Microsoft Word, I just measured the sheet to make my own template in Adobe Illustrator. From there, I created a label scheme and varied color with name to create individulal, easy to identify labels for each jar.




Labeling my spices like this not only helps me find them faster, but it also lets me know when I'm low and need to add something to my grocery list. Any extra spice I have that won't fit in the jar goes in the freezer (usually in bulk containers since I buy these at the farmers market where they're a fraction of the cost and infinitely fresher than the regular grocery.)



If you're interested in getting your spices organized like this, I've saved my template as a PDF to share with you! Just open the -link- and save the PDF to your desktop... buy some labels and print them out! I've made labels for the 36 spices I have, let me know if I'm missing something (and don't say "pumpkin pie spice" because that's not real. Cinnamon, clove, ginger and nutmeg are real!)