Tag: handmade

Sarcastic Monday

~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

I treasure my coffee mug collection. It’s equal parts hand thrown pieces by yours truly (with the early pieces so heavy they’re able to do double duty as a door stop, overqualified paper weight or deadly weapon) and mugs that possess some quality that made my unable to pass by without purchasing—they’re just the right shape for my hands, so large you can eat a full meal out of them, the inside is glazed with the most perfect blue known to man…etc.

However, since my snarkiest friend Sarah showed me this little gem above—which I now covet with my whole heart—I’ve been thinking about mugs that say something. Something funny, yet just a little bit cruel. (All together now, “Just like you!” Feel better? Me too.)

Anyway, to that end, I present: Sarcastic Mug Monday! [WARNING: Don’t scroll down to the bottom of this post if you’re not a fan of curse words…Mom!]

Always a reliable source for paraphernalia covered in the phrases you think, but never say, The Onion store carries the mug above. Now, I don’t have my interns get me coffee, but I think I’ll get the mug and use it around the office nonetheless, just to remind them that I could.

Yeah, I know it’s a water bottle, but it’s so perfect I couldn’t pass it up. I need it!

If you like your cynicism hand-painted, In a Glaze is your mug mecca. I also thoroughly appreciate that this baby can hold a generous 24 ounces of caffeinated goodness!

In case you were wondering, this phrase can also be plastered on a beer stein. So when you drink too much to be clever, your beverage of choice can do it for you. Brilliant!

Last but certainly not least…the promised profanity. This little guy is hand thrown and made to order by Jennifer of JMN Pottery. Despite the excellent craftsmanship, you might want to confine this specimen to the privacy of your home.

you & me part 2: Flowers

~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

From the moment we announced our engagement, friends and family began loading me up with bridal magazines. I fell in love with the Picasso calla lilies featured in one such publication. I also knew I wanted a modern, single flower, tightly packed bouquet. Simple, right?

Wrong. Apparently, callas are one of the more expensive flowers commonly available. And because of the style of bouquet I wanted, we needed a lot of them. Oh, and even though the florist didn’t have to do much, he would double the price of the flowers to account for his labor.

Much to my mom’s chagrin, I decided to order the flowers through an online wholesaler and make the bouquets myself. Come on, I took floral arranging in 4-H!

I know you’re all waiting for a hilarious tale of mishap after mishap, but sorry. The flowers arrived on time and in perfect condition, arranging them was easy and they stood up for the entire reception (and the gift opening the following day!). Oh, and going the DIY route saved me several hundred dollars!

Photos by Captured Moments photo & video.

you & me part 1: Invitations

~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 1 Comment

Hello readers! (Are there any of you left out there?) So sorry for once again becoming MIA—it’s been a busy couple of months. First and foremost, we got married! I of course went the DIY route for as much as I could—which, turns out, is completely insane, but I couldn’t have been happier with the results of all the projects.

First up: Invitations

For those of you who know me in real life, it will come as no surprise that the day after I received Dave Matthews Band’s Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King in the mail (I pre-ordered, natch) I announced to the fiance that we would be dancing to “You & Me” for our first dance. Let’s just stop right here; have you heard it? No? I’m going to need you to go ahead and click right here, or here if you’re more into live music, before we can proceed.

There, I feel better. See what I mean? Beautiful song, PERFECT for a first dance.

Anyway, I’m getting sidetracked. The point I’m trying to make here is that this song inspired the design for the invitations, which I naturally carried through all the stationery and decor for the entire day. What? We need another aside? Ok, here goes:

Why do you need consistency throughout the visuals for an event? (Some might call it a theme, but I hesitate to do so…makes me think of the appalling prom themes we had in high school: “Under the Sea,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”—the last one you might think could be pretty gorgeous, except that whoever was in charge of the decor chose to accentuate the browns and olives of the forest setting instead of the magical quality of Shakespeare’s masterpiece. Anyway, really off track now.)

First of all, I needed a consistent identity for my wedding because I’m a graphic designer. It’s what I do.There’s nothing I hate more than receiving a save the date with one look, an invitation with a completely separate one, placecards that have nothing to do with either and a thank-you that appears to be chosen completely at random.

Second, having a consistent look for your event forces you to really think about what your goals for the day are and how you want to represent that. It helps you to avoid magpie syndrome (“Ooh! Shiny thing!”). Your invitation tells guests what to expect and your thank you note reminds them of your day.

Anyway, back to the invitation. I’ve designed invitations for many different couples holding receptions that are as unique as they are. I’ve done tons of research into invite trends, I surround myself with good design day in and day out. But when it came to designing my own, I was stumped. I literally sat with a blank page open on my computer for three weeks.

Finally, I decided to eschew illustration entirely and focus on making the typography the star of the show. (Readers who know my design work are saying “DUH!” right now.) Once I finally made a decision, everything came together easily and turned out beautifully.

Our day was simple and elegant and so were our invitations. I chose the tall and skinny format suited to a #10 envelope (if they hadn’t been so heavy, they could have been mailed with regular postage!).

I spent several full days printing—completely filling our house with pieces of cardboard covered in invite pages as we waited for them to dry—and then my mom came down for a weekend of assembly. I kept it pretty simple; just a single grommet in the corner purchased from a local scrapbook shop. I paired the silver and plum printing on Crane’s bright white lettra with metallic silver envelopes that I printed in plum.

Instead of creating a separate RSVP card, I incorporated it into the invitation itself and simply cut a line of perforation above it so guests could tear them off and return them in the provided mini envelope.