Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Buttermilk and friends

Have you heard of Jessica Hische's font Buttermilk? If you 1) read this sort of blog and 2) don't live under a rock, then you probably have. It's available for purchase here. Since it debuted last year it's been fun to see the great uses it's been put to.

Suann used it for birthday party favors:



Andres used it to design his wedding invitation suite.



Mimi used it in DIY drink labels.



Jessica herself used it to design a suite for Bella Figura.



Betsywhite used it in her "Bella" invitation.



I must say I won't discriminate, however. I also love the font "Memoriam," which Lauren used for her wedding's paper products, and I love whatever swirly font Melangerie NYC used on their tote bag.









More deets on the program here and the guestbook here.

What's your favorite font?

Friday, June 25, 2010

Dream Home: Hideaways + Nooks

I want a home that's full of tucked away corners, places to hide and explore and pretend and get lost in. Where the layout of the entire structure isn't obvious the minute you sent foot in the door, or from the outside. One with eaves and dormers and crawlspaces and awkward peaks to the roof. Cozy. Unique.


{via The Inspired Room}


unknown


{Domino}


{House Beautiful}


{The New York Times}


Max Kim Bee

K + C wedding invitation

Since it's Kate's birthday today (happy birthday, sister!), I thought it was as good a time as any to share her wedding invitation with y'all. These were definitely a labor of love, but since we didn't print them ourselves, not a particularly agonizing process. In fact, I would say we were as pleased with the end result as we were the process. Without further ado...

We chose the A7 envelopes in matte lemon drop from Paper Presentation. I hand-wrote the addresses with a simple black pen, and Kate chose the wedding cake stamps.



As you probably have gathered by now, bunting is something of a theme for this wedding, and we decided to carry that through to the paper goods, as well. The envelope liners were conceptualized by me, actualized by the fabulous Chelsey from Fourth & Folded, printed and cut by me, and installed by Kate. Teamwork, I tell you!



The stack guests saw when they opened the flap. From front to back, we have reception card, second reception card, reply postcard, information card, and wedding invitation, all tied off with yellow and white baker's twine from Divine Twine.



Instead of including a reply card, we included a reply postcard from the wedding location, and asked guests to write a note letting us know which events they'd be able to attend. I'm jealous Kate will be receiving 100 pretty postcards in the mail over the next two months!





The whole suite:



We went with simple wording for the invitation, and opted to recognize C's parents, as well.



"And afterward for lunch and lawn games," says the reception card.



K and C will be having a second reception in C's home state since a significant number of his family and family friends won't be able to travel across the country for the August events.



The information card was double-sided. The first side detailed the weekend's events, starting, as you can see, with a wiffle ball game and wharf jumping. Whee!



The reverse included some of the details found on K + C's wedding website, including travel and packing information.



One more look at the whole shebang...



...and it's on to the nitty-gritty.

Cost Breakdown:
--$423 for 100 letterpress invitations, 100 letterpress reception cards, 25 letterpress California reception cards, and 100 double-sided, flat-printed information cards from Clinton Press
--$50 (approximately) for paper for all suite pieces from Paper Depot. If there was one thing we (I) could have changed, it would have been to order thicker paper.
--$37.05 for 125 matte lemon drop A7 envelopes from Paper Presentation
--$50 for 100 postcards from the wedding location
--$7.50 for baker's twine from Divine Twine. (The spool is $15, but we used half for this project and half for another.)
--$15 (approximately) for the black markers and ink pad for addressing
--$0 for envelope liners. I printed them on my home computer and Chelsey kindly gifted her services. We love you, Chelsey!!
--$25.76 for reply postcard postage
--$56.12 for invitation postage

TOTAL: $664.43

We mailed 92 invitations, which comes out to a cost of $7.22 per invite. Yes, we easily could have bought something cheaper, but they wouldn't have been as perfect for this wedding. We actually had budgeted (somewhat arbitrarily) $668 for invitations, so I'd say we did pretty well!

What do you think? Would you be excited about K + C's wedding if you got this in the mail?!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Figueroa Mountain Wedding









Okay, add this one to the list of Most Beautiful Weddings Ever. Kind of makes you want to scrap all of your wedding plans, invite your twenty closest loves to an amazing location, ditch the trendy color schemes (or really, any color scheme at all) and spend all of your money on flowers, photography, and pretty cakes. Or maybe that's just me, even though I usually don't feel this way!

Please, please go see more images on Aaron Delesie's blog. All images are credited to him.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Whoopie!





Classic Maine goodie + adorable striped bag... anyone else see what I see here?

P.S. I see a welcome dinner favor. Complete with an adorable tag. Whoopie!!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Emersonmade Sneak Peak











Wow. WOwowowowowowowow. Seriously. Talk about a life dream. Running a creative business with my husband on a farm on the New England coast out of a farmhouse we completely refurbished? Yes. Yes, please. You must go see the rest of this D*S sneak peek... there is a to-die-for pantry that I've withheld from you in this post and it is not to be missed. My heart pretty much aches for this to be my life. See the rest of the images here, as well as Emersonmade's line here!

P.S. A few Emerson products I love...







P.P.S. THOSE CHAIRS! Exactly what I was talking about here.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Board No. 73: Daisy Blue



Sweet and happy -- that pretty much sums up this board. Mix a backyard garden, a short, ruffly wedding dress, and colored bowls full of daisies and billy balls and you've got the recipe for a perfect spring or summer soiree. My favorite element? The oversized satin bow on that bouquet!

The Details
First: favor bag photo by Jessica Johnston Photography via Style Me Pretty; cake by Lovin' Sullivan; pom pom chair back photo by Scobey Photography via Southern Weddings

Second: bouquet photo by Our Labor of Love; gardenia corsage photo by Beaux Arts Photographie via Once Wed; daisy and billy ball centerpiece by Wedding Style Guide

Third: accessory photo by Martha Stewart Weddings via Snippet & Ink; bridals photo by Brooke Schwab via Southern Weddings

Fourth: pomander photo via Weddingbee; travel stationery suite by Martha Stewart Weddings

Friday, June 18, 2010

Happy weekend!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! Just wanted to share a sneak peek of the curtains I finished last week for our bedroom. Thanks again to everyone who offered up fabric source suggestions -- I ended up at Mill Outlet Village and it was wonderful! More soon...



P.S. Last weekend J and I went swimming here. It was awesome. If you're looking for something fun to do, take a look at my suggestions!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Les petites douceurs



I would really like someone I know to have a little girl so I can gift them this print by Eva Juliet. Wouldn't it be so sweet in a nursery?

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Good Bones Great Pieces







Stumbled upon this first apartment and I love it! Yes, I said first apartment... ahhh, if only I had an interior decorator mother on my side (oh well... love you, Mom!). You can see more on Traditional Home here, and you can also read the featured mother daughter blog here.

P.S. Remember my bedroom decorating dilemma? I'm thinking I might have found a workable color scheme in this apartment! Blue ticking stripes? Check. Classic but peppy palette? Check. We might have a winner. What do you think?

P.P.S. Love this pillow! Good thing it's sold because I'm pretty sure it's out of my budget.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

How to find fun things to do!

How's that for a post title?

As some of you know, J and I moved away from (most of) our family and friends after college. Even after about a year in our new locale, we don't know too many people, so we're mostly left to our own devices in terms of entertainment. And since we're on a relatively limited budget, said entertainment generally needs to be free or inexpensive.

Even with those restrictions, we've become somewhat famous among those who love us for "doing fun things." A few have asked me how we find things to do. Here's my best advice.



Tip One: Watch the News
J watches the news every night (he really, really loves the weather, but usually tunes in for the whole shebang). News stations will often sponsor or have a presence at interesting community events, giving them incentive to promote them beforehand.

Success Story: Last August, the North Carolina Symphony played a concert in a downtown Raleigh park. A local news anchor was hosting, and talked it up on the nightly news, which is why we heard about it. We brought dinner and a picnic blanket, listened to fantastic music for about three hours, and bought dessert crepes to top off the night. Cost: FREE (two crepes were about $6)



Tip Two: Listen to the Radio
I find that the best stations to tune in to are NPR and the oldies station. You're looking for the advertisements here, so don't change the station once the music stops!

Success Story: The Koka Booth Amphitheater in Cary shows recently released feature films every Thursday in the summer. The Amphitheater itself is beautiful, and the surroundings are equally so. The back deck hosts a variety of independent vendors, and you're also welcome to bring your own food and drink. Heard about this while driving home on NPR! Cost: $6 for two tickets


{via the NY Times}

Tip Three: Read the NY Times Travel Section
They have entries for an astonishing array of locales across the US (and beyond!), and they always unearth some fun choices. Check the main page out here.

Success Story: The nearby NC Museum of Art has an awesome sculpture garden. We first read about it here, and have since walked and biked its path many times, including with out-of-town visitors. Cost: FREE


{flickr}

Tip Four: Read Grace's Guides
I've talked about this a bit here, but Design*Sponge has amassed an excellent collection of City Guides, similar to the Times' write-ups but with a longer list of options and more of an indie-crafty bent. Click here to see if there's one for your area!

Success Story: The Durham guide lists Daisy Cakes as a great place to stop for a snack, and it didn't disappoint. J and I stopped by the adorable vintage airstream trailer for a cupcake and the house specialty, the pop't-art (homemade preserves in a flaky crust, served warm), after visiting the Durham Farmer's Market down the street. Cost: $5.50



Tip Five: Use Your Resources
This could mean a variety of things, but for us, it primarily means the universities: Duke, UNC, and NC State are all within a half hour's drive. About four times a year I make a point to stop by each school's website (specifically, their calendar) to see what lectures, performances, or events might be on tap. I'd also recommend checking out your town or region's Parks & Rec publication, for notice of festivals (which are often free) and classes (which are often inexpensive), as well as your local library.

Success Story: One of the best things we've done in NC thus far was attend the Duke Chorale's annual Christmas concert. The singing was wonderful, every pew in the breathtaking Duke Chapel was filled, and it really put us in the Christmas spirit (and y'all know I love Christmas). Cost: a can of food each for the local food bank. We also found out about and attended a Sweet Honey in the Rock concert in the Duke Gardens via the web calendar. Cost: FREE, pictured above).


{flickr}

Tip Six: Talk to the Locals
Fairly obvious, but worth mentioning. Once you start to meet people who've lived in the area, you can of course pick their brains about little-known landmarks and leisure activities, but I'd also suggest some innocent eavesdropping. (What?! You haven't done this in, say, a coffee shop?)

Success Story: We may have to drive 40 minutes, but we've found an NC ice cream place that rivals our beloved Buttonwoods back home in Connecticut (okay, not quite). Fresh churned from cows that graze in the front yard. One of my company's interns tipped me off to this one. Cost: about $6 for two cones



Tip Seven: Be Observant
Again, I know this is fairly obvious, but stick with me here, because this is the single best tip I've got. Wherever J and I are, we keep our eyes peeled. And then we remember to follow up once we're back home.

Success Story: What do we keep our eyes peeled for? We never know, but it's usually something good. We discovered Backwoods OK while on an unrelated hike, the Western Wake Farmer's Market while driving home from the library, and the best family farm (with the most delicious pick-your-own strawberries) because we weren't afraid to follow a sign onto a side road on the way home from the grocery store. Be open to adventure (and keep a pad with you to jot down notes!) and you'll never be bored.

So tell me -- what are your best tips for "doing fun things"? I'd love to hear!

{All photos by moi or J unless otherwise noted}