Wedding Branding

I was cleaning out my hard drive the other night when I stumbled upon this little gem. When Nate and I were looking for a place to get married {almost 3 years ago!}...we were very close to having our wedding at The Union Project, an old Baptist church in Pittsburgh's East End that has been converted into a space used for creative "stuff."

Their slogan "Providing community space to connect, create & celebrate."

{Check out the site for more info}

Anyways, I was digging through my "Wedding Inspiration" folder 

{any engaged or married woman knows what I'm talking about!} and found a bunch of my preliminary designs.

I was really into the whole "brand your wedding" idea so I had designed this logo/monogram in green and brown {those were our colors} inspired by the awesome stained glass windows at The Union Project.

I really love it and wish that I got to use it...

For the Love of Poppies!

Poppy Spotting!

I don't know about you but I am totally, madly in love with Anthropologie.

When I walk into the store, the best way that I can describe it is:

It's like my brain + soul completely exploded and created a store 

and called it Anthropologie!

As I was browsing the site, I found stylized "Melded Poppy" hardware.

First, "Melded Poppy Knobs"....which come in Sky, White, Yellow + Green.

{I like them all but if I had to pick, I'd say the Sky is my favorite.}

The knobs also come in a cluster design....they are like mini bouquets!

And they also have "Melded Poppy" wall hooks!

which comes in a single or a double hook!

As my friend Victoria would say, these are "supes cute" and I think that

they would be adorable in an office or studio!

They range from $8 - $22. Check them out at your local Anthropologie!

Surprise!

My friend + co-worker, Anna had a little surprise waiting for me
at my desk this morning! How cute are these?
They are little cupcake lip glosses!
{Is that the correct way to pluralize gloss?}

Thanks Anna, you're so sweet!

Sock Monkey Baby Shower

My little sister is pregnant with her first baby!

I threw her a baby shower this past Saturday. Planning this shower has been my life since November. I lived + breathed "Sock Monkey" for 5 months!

We decided to do a Sock Monkey theme because my sister LOVES monkeys!
Her entire guest bathroom is literally filled with them, I'm talking toilet seat cover, toothbrush holder....the whole deal! Her and her hubby are also doing a monkey theme in the nursery {of course}. I loved the color palette that we could do with a Sock Monkey themed shower...the red + chocolate brown + cream is such a modern palette compared to your old school baby blue.

I designed the invitation to fit a #10 envelope. I thought it was nice to see something that wasn't your typical 5x7.

It is safe to say that I probably bit off more {a lot more} than I could chew.
I had so many ideas and wanted to do all of them! I am really thankful for the late night craft session that went down at my place the weekend before. My mom, aunts and cousins came to the rescue!

I came across Sock Monkey sugar cookies in my search for all things Sock Monkey and I just HAD to make them! Now...please note that I have never worked with royal icing before and it was SO much harder than I anticipated. At one point I had a total melt down and said to my hubby "I HATE doing things that I'm not good at!" -haha.

However, I got through it and was pleased with their outcome even though most of the monkeys looked a little sad because there mouths kept running...making little frowns. I also decided to make them cookie "pops" which I had never done but they came out perfect.
{there were only a few casualties}

Our favors doubled as the center piece. The favors were "candy kabobs" -consisting of swedish fish and bulls eyes {I never knew they had a name....I just called them caramels with the icing middle}.

I decoupaged pots with different kinds of coordinating scrap book paper and we stuck the kabobs in the pots using floral foam. For added monkey-ness, I added big Sock Monkey cut-outs on skewers in the middle.

A few of my favorite things:

Super cute polka dot balloons that I found on amazon.

This HUGE stuffed Sock Monkey head that I actually found at Big Lots!

And my sister of course!
I am so excited for the arrival of my first nephew, Brody Alexander!
{Due April 20, 2011}


The Sock Monkey invitations are also now for sale in my Etsy shop!

Poppy!

I am the most indecisive person alive! {my hubby can vouch!}

I need some help! My extremely generous sister loves to spoil me with lavish gifts. {But...who's complaining?} She bought me a Coach bag as a thank you for the baby shower that I just threw for her. {Photos coming soon!}
She picked one out for me but told me that I could totally go look at the other bags to see if there was something I liked better.

I took a little trip tonight to go browse the selection.
I thought that I'd totally stick with the signature "C" print but I think I may have fallen for a "Poppy" one!

How cute would that be? It was pretty much made for me, right? {hello..Penelope Poppy here!}
So there are two bags in the "Poppy Petal Print Glam" style that I really love but I am torn as to which bag to get! They are both the same price, one is a very nice sized tote.....

I LOVE this bag and would get it without hesitation but there is one small problem. The shoulder straps are kind of short and it doesn't like to stay on my shoulder {at least with my winter coat on anyways.}

The other bag is a smaller cross body bag....

Which is equally as cute but I find myself wondering if I should just go all out and get the big tote since I will probably never be able to buy one.

Please help!

Our Lucky Day!

Paper Source launched their newest envelope color today, Clover!

And guess what!? Green is actually one of my favorite colors!

I am doing wedding invitations this year for a Peacock themed wedding.
Clover may be an interesting color to keep in mind for the color palette,
along with Peacock {of course} and Midnight!

I need to get with the program and order a new swatch book!
I still haven't seen Sunshine, Peacock, Paper Bag or Fig!