omg: it's a girl! baby shower invites

When I was talking with my friends about my baby shower they were hosting for me, it was sort of assumed I would create the invite. Let's face it, I'm a control freak when it comes to design and I don't think any of them wanted to try to make an invite for the party only to have me redo it. It was so much fun making the invite I started to search for other ideas to make the baby shower fun for everyone. 

Favors: Seed Packs
Since we're naming our daughter Ruby Rose, I got the idea to create customized "seed packs" as favors. I purchased baby envelopes from Paper Source and created a label that matched the invite design, then filled with red poppy seeds. I was able to find the seeds from American Meadows in bulk so they were way more affordable. To house the favors I found little steel buckets at the Target dollar spot adding to the growing Flower Theme. Then added a Tolberone chocolate and a candle wrapped in tulle and TA-DA! It's a cute little gift for the attendees.

Games: Custom Bingo

I was trying to find a few games that weren't cheesy or over the top and came across Gift Bingo. Basically you create icons and stick one on each present (or a few depending on the number of gifts to icons). Then as you are opening the gifts you call out the icon and the attendees see if it's on their card, first person to have a line wins a gift. This way people don't get as bored watching you open gifts. There are quite a few sites that will help with the creation of the bingo cards. I didn't like the icons, so I used the cards as a guide and replaced the icons with my own art. People seemed to like the game a lot, we played about 3 rounds - as someone would win we cleared the cards and start again. 

Thank You Cards

The final piece I designed for the shower was the Thank you cards. This was an easy one, I used the same pattern from the other pieces are replaced the copy with a thank you note. Then filled them out with personal messages to each the guest.

baby bird :: room transformation

We are prepping for a major addition in our house, our first baby girl - Ruby Rose. We converted the office space into the nursery and lovingly picked out every item that will flank our baby girl. Our friend Lulu Painting helped out with the painting and stenciling of the ceiling. And many of the items in the room were gifted to us through our amazing friends & family at baby showers. 

Thank you to everyone that helped us build it - we can't wait to bring our baby bird home to her new nest

wedding season

It's that season again... time for weddings! I've done three wedding invites in the last few months. It's a new venture for me - someone who has previously sworn off doing wedding materials. Well, let me be the first to say, I was wrong! I love doing wedding invites and helping to plan the space with decorations and signs. Granted all three of the brides I worked with are amazing and had a clear vision of what they wanted - that of course made it super easy!  

The pictures above are the materials for my good friends Joel & Lauren. We chose to use an nontraditional size, utilizing a #10 long envelope for the invite. I think this gives the piece a unexpected touch of elegance. I adore the colors the couple chose as their wedding theme - Tiffany blue holds a special place in my heart (hence the color of the will work for clothes branding!). 

The images below are also my amazing friends Bethany & Daniel. Since their wedding is a Florida Keys destination wedding we chose an art deco style font with a light flourish as accent. I love the lime green they chose as their theme, very fresh. 

The third invite is currently being finalized before printing - updates/images coming soon on that one! This process has definitely taught me to stay open minded about projects and to never make declarative statements like 'I'll never work on wedding invites'. Happy summer everyone! 

spring cleanse palette

I need a distraction from the bitter cold that is hitting minneapolis right now, so I'm focusing on the upcoming spring color trends and planing my new wardrobe...

I think the upcoming season will be filled with bright optimistic colors that will grounded with tried and true neutrals. Bright pink, light teal, tangerine orange are among the brights palette, and I think we might see yellow make a come back this year. It takes on a 50's pastel feel. Sand, white and navy will be neutral shades to help ground the brights and add a Parisian flare. We'll continue to see an abundance of patterns including flirty florals, animal themes, abstract and geometric shapes. 

Can't wait to wear little jackets again! 

Zara is Coming to America :: Sep 7th, 2011

A few weeks ago I received a note from Zara mentioning they'd like to send me a package to announce their U.S. debut. I sort of wrote it off, because as you fellow bloggers know, we get a lot of weird emails that seem kind of fishy. But, last week an email stated my package was on it's way via Fedex, My interest was peaked. Not only did Zara feed half of my trend inspiration (see post below) with their amazing blazers, sweaters and coats, they were sending me a personal package?! 

Last week I received the beautifully designed package. A fabric bag encasing a simple box filled with pictures of the 50 states from various photographers. As well as a gift card and an invitation to pre-order from their site today! I have huge expectations for my online retailers, they must have free shipping and free returns... Zara does both!I adore Zara and can't wait to get my order!

fall wants :: 2011

...As it turns out I am quite needy this season! I have so many looks I want to experiment with - I am especially digging the new boots this year. They are reminiscent of my childhood favorites that I wore until the bottoms gave ‘way. This pair of boots called Nanette by Mia are on their way to me now, and were a large inspiration factor to the rest of my ‘fall wants’. I am slightly ashamed that I am wishing summer away to brisker days so I can once again rock scarves and boots.

envision artopia :: fall 2011

It's that time again.... Envision Artopia Fall! I was super excited when Ignite Models Inc. contacted me to work on the promotional materials for the second time. Once again, the photos they provided for the fashion materials were amazing, so naturally I was jazzed to get working on the designs. This time around we decided I would provide a sample interface layout for double-think to build. They were great to work with, and... I'm actually going to have them help build my site (about time right?!). Check out the event site here for more details!

I am so excited for this fashion show, when you have superstars like ignite, Citypages and Graves behind an event it's bound to succeed. The production is spot-on at this series and makes you feel like you're in a bigger city than minneapolis. Mark your calendars!