Preoccupied

I haven’t been posting for a while as I have been preoccupied with the following:

1.  Buying roller derby skates and gear

2. Learning how to skate in my roller derby skates and gear

3. Trying out for roller derby

4.  Being accepted on my local roller derby league (!)

5.  Practice, practice, practice (aka: making my dreams come true)

Currently, going to a standing position from a sitting position hurts a lot on account of my bruised tailbone but I sort of love it….SO worth it.

Bread Crumbs : On the Cellie at the Alley

I bet you can't guess what we did over the weekend...
(besides roller derby of course).

Inspired by Posen Collab

A few months back my (event planner) friend Melanie and I collaborated to design and craft a wedding party scene for Nonpareil Magazine. Our look was photographed by Sarah Faubus and the result of our effort was published this month. 

Our party theme was inspired by Zac Posen’s Spring 2011 collection. Hence the bold floral fabrics....

pleating...

(This paper mobile by Haru became our seating chart)

and bows...

(These hair clips and bow ties by Peter and Wendy became our favors )

I really can’t express how much I love artistic collaborations. Combining forces with someone who has a talent I respect and admire makes me feel a little like a super-hero—even if just temporarily.

Check out this months Nonpariel Mag for more photos, party details and for instructions on how to create your own felt bow pins and how to make your own pleated, fabric invitations (designed by yours truly).

Bread Crumbs : Continental Breakfast

Happiness is Going Back to the Future

I've been hiding out lately, blowing my nose every 5 minutes for the second week in a row. Being sick is the worst. I've also been trying to wrap up a few projects on the computer which necessitates procrastination-breaks sanity-breaks every now and then. Browsing blogs has become my virtual break-room and lucky for you, I came across this gem of a project that I simply had to share.

Photographer Irina Werning has been a busy gal, inviting various groups of people to go Back to the Future by recreating a photo from their childhood-past.

Have you seen this genius? It's pretty amazing. This kind of stuff makes me really, really happy. To have a good day, check out more pics on her site HERE.

Bread Crumbs: Bird is the Word

Hendrix taught himself to draw birds....lots and lots and lots of birds.

Apparently the card with 2 birds on it are ducks—to be specific—the one with a long neck is actually a swan and some birds are sitting in nests. There's PU-LENTY more where this came from...plenty.

*art installation courtesy of Hendrix himself.

Hendrix and the Purple Crayon: Birthday Invite Year 5

I didn’t design any invites for Hendrix’s birthday last year since we had had a private family party so I'm going to move right along to this year’s invitations which were designed with the theme; Harold Hendrix and the Purple Crayon (after the book by Crockett Johnson).

As you might remember, Harold—the little boy in the story—creates a world of adventure for himself with his imagination and the use of his magical purple crayon. I wanted to tie this idea into the design of the invitation and yet I wanted the message to be comprehended should the receiver be unfamiliar with the old tale. I did this by blatantly informing the reader the theme for the party right in the text of the invite (click photo to enlarge). I also included a notebook and purple crayon for the receiver to draw their own adventures.

For the notebooks I adhered various patterned washi paper to a thick cover stock for the covers and for sketching paper I just used a plain white 20# stock. I bound each 5” square book together with a thick needle and purple embroidery thread. 

Formatting the information for the invitation was the quickest part of this project, (binding the books took the bulk of my time). The party info was printed on a linen paper and then wrapped around the notebook as a belly band. The band held the notebook nice and flat as well as housed a purple crayon which was slipped right underneath to complete the look. I had originally planned to attach the crayon another way but after much experimentation, this simple solution was the most aesthetically pleasing.

Well, that covers it a week of birthday invitations, we should really do this again sometime. And in case you missed it, check out year one's Buggy invites, year two's Car Cruising invites, and year three's Messy Party invites. 

P.S. As a piece of unsolicited advise; I highly recommended you hand deliver your 4 year old's birthday invites to their friends parents rather than have him hand deliver them himself to his friends. This will prevent an eager child from tearing off and discarding the important details to an upcoming party before their parents ever set eyes on the information and then you won't feel the need to email all the parents later on to make sure their coloring pad came with an invitation attached—this after you find a small stack of belly bands abandoned on the floor as a crumpled memory (run-on sentence to elicit drama). Obviously I am only speaking hypothetically!

Mr. Messy: Birthday Invite Year 3

When Hendrix turned 3 we had a messy party. I’m totally cheating on this one because I had very little to do with the design process here. In fact, my only contribution involved formatting the party details on the back of the postcard invitations; not very exciting (and yes, I am a big fan of postcard correspondence. I once designed a postcard wedding invitation—at the bride’s request, can’t beat the cheap-o postage).

Hendrix designed the rest of the invitations himself by painting a unique image on the font of each card.

After all the invitations were dry, I helped Hendrix stick white Avery labels to the font of each card that said, “Let’s get messy.”

This party was Hendrix’s favorite to date—with certainly the best designed invitations to date. I loved each and every one of his creations.

By the way, if you ever host a messy party for your child you absolutely must have a kiddie pool full of wet spaghetti noodles, your kids will think you’re the coolest parent in the world and all the neighborhood children will agree.