more pattern love

here are a few more designs i put together:

these two were inspired by an indian'y cushion i saw the other day:

it's monday.. i have a headache.  meh.

a night in paris..

lately i've been wanting to throw a wine tasting party. not that i truly like wine.. i'll still choose beer over wine if given the choice. maybe it's my need to feel a bit more grown up than i feel i am. or perhaps i need a fun project to work on. who knows. anyway, if one day i were to throw a wine tasting party, i've got the invitation made.

you know, a beer tasting party would probably be even more fun! as far as the food is concerned, make pub food style tapas? it could work..

my dream invitation..

i saw this invitation set for a double wedding which i fell head over heels over! the invitation's presentation was so creatively thought out, i really do wish i had done the same for our wedding.




had i seen this about a year and a half ago.. i would have been inspired to make this our invitation:

outside wrap - front:


outside wrap - back:


inside sheet - front:


inside sheet - back:


*sigh* now i need to go figure out how to build a time machine.

from oh so beautiful paper

bowties or butterflies?

bowties are a popular theme for baby showers if they're expecting a boy, and butterflies for girls.. but what about those who don't want to know what they will be giving birth to?  bowties or butterflies would be such a cute theme!  seriously.. someone in my family needs to get pregnant.

curvalicious

i saw the curvy border on many michael's ads and remembered it's a typical border for invitations!  this turned out really cute..

groom + bride + mandap

i saw this save the date and thought it was so cute!

and then i indian'i'fied it..

from weddingphotography.com.ph

Here are links for the different options:
Printable
Printed cards with envelope

giraffe baby shower invite

i was experimenting with different invite colours, and these colours seemed most appropriate for a baby shower.. why can't one of the bhabhis have a baby soon?!

indian mango - invitation set

so i had an idea for a "logo" of sorts, writing around a common indian shape - the mango! it worked out pretty funky, so i decided to run with it and try making an invitation set around it.

invite card (front & back), rsvp card (front & back), envelope

that turned out pretty good..

photo save the date

these are two photo save the dates i've come across.. the first one i found last year and the other i found  yesterday.  i really like them both!  when i found the first one, i showed kiwi the picture asking if he thought it would be fun to do something similar for ours.  i mean it wouldn't be difficult since i do those types of edits on photoshop often anyway..

we actually found  a great location for it (via google maps street view..), but couldn't follow through due to "unforseen circumstances" during that particular trip to toronto.  oh well.  maybe we could do it for our thank you card.  during our quick shoot after the wedding, we could stand near a billboard or a fun sign.  hrmm.. the hall's in an industrial area, so it shouldn't be hard!

(by the way, as much as i love the yellow balloon in the second picture, it's not the only reason i love it :P)

from oh so beautiful paper 1 & oh so beautiful paper 2

stamps

i picked up my stamp yesterday! i had one custom made with our logo. way cheaper than i thought it would cost. i'm going to become an embossing fiend i think with this thing!

i ordered it from bizzy b stamp & scraps. only took a couple of days to be made :) i wish i thought of ordering it before.. could have used it on the save the dates and invitations.

oh well.. i'm still really excited to use it! lots of projects..

colour match

indian weddings are known for their (what seems to be never-ending) gift giving to family members. after the wedding, parents of the bride/groom give a gift to their family; usually this is a sari and/or dress shirt.

for my generation of kids in our family, we've bought saris for close family to wear at the wedding which doubles as their gift after the wedding. two-in-one.. you get your colour scheme without breaking the bank.

the saris i bought for my close cousin-sisters to wear are all odd shades of blue and green. for the international cousins, i was trying to figure out a way to give them the sari colour so that they can sort out their chaniyo and jewellery.

taking a picture and emailing it doesn't work.  the image shown on your screen vs. my screen is not usually the same as far as colours are concerned; they tend to vary slightly.

one of my fois suggested i use bobbins. since the thread is easily found in a wide shade variety. eh.. that costs money. we're in wallet-friendly mode here!

so i decided to visit the paint section at the renovation stores.. those paint swatches are free. :) i went to three different stores and completely raided them of their blues and greens. i was nice and only took one of each. in the end, i think i had about 50 strips of paint cards (with 5 different shades per card). with the slightest difference in colours being covered by these swatches, i was able to find exact matches for all the saris. SUCCESS! i'm impressed by my genius'ness. :)

you know, i wished i'd have asked myself.. what would martha stewart do? make fashion cards of course! i could have easily made these.. i have the tools, supplies, and skills. oh well.. maybe for someone else's wedding.

from the ritzy bee blog

rsvp cards

for the invites, dad didn't want to put number invited right on the invitation itself.  instead, we made space for it on the rsvp card.

i really like how this rsvp card is worded:
"we reserved ______ seats for you"

wish i had seen this before! it's an easy way to make the people you invite to your wedding feel just that little bit special.

from oh so beautiful paper

save the dates!

the save the dates arrived at kiwi's doorstep last week.  they're small magnets designed with just the essential information on them.  and a picture of our hands.. yup, no faces.  i kind of won that battle.. faceless magnets.

anyway, i wanted to dress it up a bit and make a holder for the magnets.  kiwi suggested maps of toronto.  so i printed a cartoon'ish map on cardstock, cut them down to slightly larger than business cards, and cut slits on either end to slip the magnet through.  it turned out .. okay.  not how i thought it would look in my head.  ah well, it'll have to do.  if i thought it through properly, i would have made the map to be just slightly smaller than the envelope which would have looked a lot better.

one of the initial ideas to house the save the dates were origami hearts.  they would have been interesting, cute, and wedding appropriate.  but there were problems.. the hearts would have had to be huge to fit the 3.5" x 2" magnets, so then the envelopes would have had to be oversized.  some uncles and aunties may not realise you have to open the heart to see what's housed inside unless there was a label that said: OPEN HERE. with the paper being a map printout, i can't imagine that label standing out..  so i nix'ed that idea completely.

if a guest goes missing..

here's another alternative to the traditional guest book.. fingerprint your guests!  actually, it's an interesting keepsake after the wedding.. at least if a guest needs an alibi, they have one.  eh.. yeah, not funny.  anyway, i only like the idea as an interesting piece of art to stick on your wall.  it is pretty to look at.

i'm not a big fan of inking guests though.. and then expecting them to enjoy the finger food during cocktails.  bleh :S

from etsy listing: lovliday

going postal

i often see calligraphy as an important part of someone's wedding stationary. it has that classy prettiness to it. the one thing i don't get though are the envelopes. i agree, it looks ridiculously awesome all the curved lines and swirlies, but how are you to guarantee your invites get delivered.. to the right address?

the only reason i ask is because at work, the postman is .. well crazy.  his instability often shines through when he flings the mail because he's offended by the fact no one is at the front desk waiting to take the mail from him.  or when someone is at the front desk, he brightens that person's day with musings of serial killers and his anger towards puppies.  anyway, the point is, i can see this postal postman looking at this envelope, grunting at the sight of swirls and girliness, then chucking it out the window as he drives to the next postbox.

initially..

we both want a monogram for the wedding.  there are so many different routes to go - classical, romantic, contemporary, or cutesy?  here are a few i came up with..

i like this because it's classy and simple.

a hint of cuteness.

it's pretty while incorporating his last name.

the reason i actually like this is his last name is hidden in the heart. the way our initials intersect creates a k. it's totally not obvious and one of those things that you'd have to point out to the majority of people (if we choose to do so..)

this is the same as the one above except not as much cuteness and the k is a focal point.

so much fun. i really have no other words to describe it.

this is just plain and simple and i actually kind of like it.






what to do.. what to do.. i'll just let him decide.

engravable guestbook

my brother and bhabhi's photographer provided a 16" x 20" photograph with a large matt and frame. the purpose of the matt was for guests to leave their congratulatories on - it basically replaced the traditional guestbook. it's nice because they're faced with everyone's best wishes every day since it hangs in their bedroom. the biggest issue was the pens i bought for people to write with. i got the silver and gold liquid pens. since the picture was sitting on an easel, the pen would slowly stop working as you write. then someone shook the pen and the ink went all over their picture :S eek.. the photographer was good though; he replaced the picture for free!

anyway, going on the same idea without the pen issues, here's another idea for a "picture frame guest book": it's an engravable frame! it's gorgeous and something you wouldn't be embarrassed to hang. (unless someone were to write an inappropriate message or draw a lewd picture :S)

creative reply

this is a cute idea for an rsvp - ask guests to respond in a creative manner on the sheet you provide. AND can double as something for people to look at during cocktails. it would be a risk that you wouldn't get a single creative reply.. but there are lots of fun uncles and aunties out there that would take advantage!  i can see a few of them even writing out a silly poem: "roses are red. violets are blue.  we wouldn't miss your wedding.. even if you wanted us to."  for those who aren't able to make the wedding, this would be a great way for them to share their best wishes on a personal level.
from feteny.com