Wedding Season?

It's almost that time of year folks! Wedding season. I know, I know, for most of you that means June through August, but for those of us in the invitation business, wedding season starts now! Couples start researching ideas now for spring and summer weddings, so it's time for me to get my creative juices flowing. I have a bunch of new designs in the shop already, but my favorite thing to do is work one on one with couples to create something really special. My best invitation designs come from working with couples, rather than creating something on my own.

This Henna Aspen invitation idea came from a bride who found me on Etsy. She liked my Tree of Love invitations, but was getting married in a forest of Aspens and all of the bridesmaids would be adorned with henna. From that came this sketch, and one of my favorite sets ever!

This Vintage Floral invitation design was inspired by a fabric pulled from a bride's stash of vintage scarves!

This is the newest design, which I finished literally minutes ago, so it isn't in the shop just yet.
(UPDATE: Here it is! The Emily Invitation Suite!)

Can't you just see it done with scraps of lace from a bride's veil or dress? Or from her mom's? Love.

With all that in mind, 

if you or a friend will be married this spring or summer, 

contact me for a custom design. 

I am offering to waive my custom design fee

for the entire month of March! 

That means you will pay only for the invitations themselves: 

a $50-$75 savings! 

Feel free to Pin or share this on Facebook 

and Twitter to get the word out to your pals!

Breakfast with the Primes

It's been quite a long time since I shared one of my oddball early morning conversations with E. Years actually. Before Jude our breakfast chats were about fruits and zombies, now they are about toys. This week E passed his most beloved toy down to Jude: Optimus Prime. It's only the best Christmas gift my husband ever got, and our little dude broke it within minutes. The thing had clearly seen better days, but it still works. Jude loves playing with it and feeding it gas and oil (like it's a baby), but the best part is listening to our almost two year old try to say "Optimus Prime."

E: Jude, who is that you're playing with?

JUDE: Prime.

E: Yes, but which one? Optimus Prime. There are lots of Primes. 

ME: There are?

E: (eye roll ) YES. Optimus Prime, Rodimus Prime, Megatron was a Prime and then he was Galvatron and Unicron. 

ME: Did he turn into a unicorn?

E: (huge eye roll) NO. He turned into a PLANET. 

ME: That doesn't make sense. If his name was Unicron he should have turned into a unicorn.

E: THAT doesn't make sense. Unicorns aren't real things. Why would he turn into something that isn't real?

***
I'm only partly sure he was joking.

Last Minute Love

Well, folks, Valentine's Day is tomorrow. If you have been a Last Minute Larry, no need to fret! There are plenty of shops that will be open late for you procrastinators looking for an expensive gift, and I'm pretty sure Hallmark will be able to hook you up in the early AM if necessary. However, if you are looking for a tiny something, a handmade little crafty something, maybe for a kid or a pal, here you go. These little bird seed valentines make a great last minute craft project for your kiddos and work as a sweet gift at the same time.

I found several recipes online for making bird seed cakes, but some of them actually required baking, and some included weird ingredients. I ended up with a modified version of a recipe like this one from Folk Lifestyle, a blog to which you will now become addicted. You're welcome.

Anywho, I had to add an additional ingredient to the mix because we happen to have a squirrel issue. By issue I mean serious-frigging-problem-with-giant-house-cat-sized-squirrels-who-dig-up-and-eat-anything-they-can-get-their-dastardly-paws-upon. So I added a generous 1/4 cup of red hot pepper flakes. Take that you little punks. We made lots of sizes and shapes, including bird seed beads in my mini muffin tin. These we strung along a length of twine and tied up in a tree as garland, hoping the little birdies would feast. Sadly it rained like crazy that night and most of the seed cakes dissolved and fell in a heap to the ground. I suggest hanging these outside where they won't get too wet:)

If you plan on giving these as gifts, decorate them with little tags! I stamped ours on plantable seed paper and tied them up with baker's twine. They just happened to fit into the heart printed treat bags I send out with my shop packages. Kismet!

Birdseed Ornaments
Ingredients:
3/4 cup of all purpose flour
4 cups mixed birdseed
5 Tbls. corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup red pepper flakes
wax paper
baking sheets
baking molds/muffin tins/cookie cutters
a chopstick
ribbon

Preparation:
Line your baking sheets with wax paper. Spray any tins or cutters with cooking spray. Place cookie cutters on the wax paper. In a large bowl mix all ingredients until sticky and combined. Pour into molds/tins/cutters and press firmly. Poke a hole with the chopstick for hanging your ribbon. Let sit for 3 hours, remove from tins and flip over, let sit another 3 hours or until very dry. Add twine, ribbon or string to hang.