More Weddings

This is just a follow up post on the wedding that I wrote about like... uhhhh... a month and a half ago! Which btw, I have a new post that I'm working on. Should be up soon! In the mean time here's a great photo by one of my good friends, Jocinda of the program I made for Matt & Karis's big day.

Congrats Grads of 2011

This school year (2010-2011) I taught my first ever Graphics Class to the the high school seniors at my old high school. Now before I make it sound too glamorous... it's a tiny private school at our church and there were a total of three graduates this year. BUT, we love it and many of us FBCA brats have called it home. So, obviously, when the principal (and my second mom) asked me to teach Graphics last summer, I was delighted! My three students are great kids. One of them I've known since she was running around in diapers and her mom used to babysit me while my mom worked. The other girl, Kirida, is my best friend's little sister and I love being able to have a front row seat on this amazing girl's life... go Reeda! And last, but not least James was a newer edition to the group (if you can call four years together new!), but he was by far the one to pick up on all the "techy" stuff the fastest and excel. Needless to say I'm beyond proud of all three of my Graphics students, now Graphics graduates... go show the world how awesome you guys are! And for my lovely readers, here's some samples of their amazing work...

This was the graduation invitation that the class designed for all their guests. Each student did an assigned design in which they were allowed to show as much or as little individuality that they wanted, and then our wonderful principal had the final say of course... but this is almost exactly the way that our winning design was intended... amazing job, Reeda!

For their final projects they were each assigned a self portrait... James chose to do his in color while the girls kept their b/w with just a touch of some green eyes. They did a brilliant job, but I have to say, these don't come close to doing you guys justice ;)

I have more to post on the contribution I made to the graduation later (what kind of Graphics teacher would I be if I didn't add my touch to it just a little???)... till then, everyone have a beautiful evening!

This weekend was one of my girlfriend's birthdays and we've been craft buddies with our gifts recently, so obviously, no store-bought anything would do! I went to one of my recent addictions to pick out the perfect pieces for this necklace that I had in mind for her... oh, lucky for you! More iPhone pics! :)

I designed it to be a nice long necklace... think it ended up being close to 30"... reeeeeaaaaaally enjoyed making it. And Alee's response was sooooooo worth it! Thanks for being such an awesome buddy, girlie! :)

My Bestie... the wedding planner

This last weekend I got to help out one of my very good friends, Wendy, who also happens to be an aspiring wedding coordinator. She definitely is one of the most talented people I've ever met at seeing something in her mind, and not only pulling it off, but doing it without breaking the bank... and not only that, she manages to pull off these miracles in the most unexpected places. This weekend's example: an office space converted to elegant wedding venue.

In the midst of the crazy last week of wedding prep for Wendy and her current couple, she called me in for some last minute wedding designs, which I was happy to help with. Her idea behind the feel of the wedding was an earthy, casual elegance with plenty of class brought into being with tall glass vases filled with 4 foot long branches and peonies, sparkling chandeliers, and yards and yards of fabric. The main colors for the ceremony were white, jade, and brown. I was able to pull from the invitations designed by the groom for my font choices, but made the rest my own while still keeping with the feel they desired for their special day. Check it out...

This is an office space converted into wedding ceremony venue... she's good, right??? For the ceremony, we put red peonies in all the vases with the sticks and trailed a white runner down the aisle. Again, not the greatest pics, but my good friend, Jocie (Jocinda Olson Photography) will be posting soon and there will be much better photos on there.

Here's the cover of the programs. Each of them was tied together with a hemp bow.

And here's a view of the inside pages.

Night at home

So, tonight I was supposed to be doing laundry... and well... I did a little bit (*biting lip... there's kinda a HUGE pile still to do). BUT, I also made my mom & bff a completely fattening and incredibly yummy dinner! I found a recipe for home-made corn dogs on Real Mom Kitchen yesterday while catching up on my favorite blogs and couldn't resist. I bought all the ingredients tonight on the fly and made up my first batch ever of home-made corn dogs (don't judge my pictures... there's better ones on the recipe blog page :)

Like I said... don't judge my pics :) I paired them up with Annie's mac & cheese and corn on the cob... yum!

And then I got right on the laundry! Okay... not... really...

I then started playing around with a pattern that I found on Delia Creates to make a t-shirt into a produce bag and oh my word! Sooooo easy! And turned out super cute. The only not-so-great-don't-think-I-want-it t-shirt I had on hand was a navy one. Definitely going to try this out on a lighter shirt... maybe even patterned :)

And that's it for this posting! Have a fantabulous night everyone!

The baby shower was a hit! Shawna got loaded down with gifts and little Alex shouldn't need anything for the next year! For Alex's gift, I made the onesie cupcakes from the tutorial on Little Birdie Secrets (http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2011/02/baby-onesie-cupcake-tutorial-and-sweet.html). Alex's mommy & daddy have chosen a jungle theme for their lil pride and joy so I went nuts in the baby section of Target to make my cutie cupcakes ;) And for the shower's edible goodies, I volunteered to make the cookie dough bites (yes! cookie dough! and we decided to switch up two tablespoons milk for each egg so each "bite" was Alex-safe and everyone else-safe for that matter) and mac&cheese bites which were delectable! Here's some photos from the shower. Enjoy!

First off... here's some of the prep on my end :)

mac&cheese bites! before&after :)

cookie dough bites... before&after!

and here's some shots from the shower... the decorations we've all been working on came together beautifully! Awesome, awesome job, Sarah!

here's the dot backdrop that Stace & I made :)

Congratulations Shawna & Adrian! Aunt Cate can't wait to meet your son!

Other than weddings... BABIES!

One of my girlfriends is going to be having a baby (hopefully) in the next several weeks and her sisters asked me to join in on the baby shower fun... I got to design a custom invitation and labels... which as we talked about last time, I LOVE!

Shawna is having a bouncing (literally... he's an active one!) baby boy. So, the colors for the shower are classic baby blue, green and gray all chosen from coordinating fabrics our host, Sarah picked out. The plaid on the invitation, the birds on the labels, and the cutie "b" on the return address labels were all inspired by the fabric choices. The theme of the party has a more clean, sophisticated style to it, but still fun and very baby-like. The fun part about all of this is that not only am I able to pull out my graphic designer skillz I've been able to be "crafty" with it too... Last week we all got together and made a doily paper chain from green, blue and white paper (Martha Stewart, you are a genius!). Then this week, me and my bff (also sister of mommy-to-be) designed, printed and constructed a cutie dot backdrop for the gift table. There's a whole lot more that we've been working on but those are my favorites so far ;)

I'll post some of the pics from the shower after the big day on Saturday, but for now here's some digital previews of what the invitations looked like.

Getting Serious

Ok, so I've been told by a good friend of mine that I need to get serious about my blogging purely for the exposure that it will give my products. I've listed a ton of my invitations on etsy.com and am patiently awaiting some bites... I've sold two things so far and am praying and hoping more will come in. So, now that I've poured my heart out about my design work and desperate need for more business, please direct your focus to the pictures :) This post is all about my wedding work. I've blogged a couple of the weddings that I've had the wonderful privilege to be apart of so far. And here's a little more...

I started designing for only one wedding at first (I work as a Graphic Designer at my church) with not much of an intention on continuing... the wedding I designed for back in 2009, was for one of my best friends. She and her fiance wanted something one of a kind, but didn't have the budget to pay one-of-a-kind prices, so she asked me if I would be willing to design for their wedding... I was more than thrilled and delighted that she'd ask, but also very intimidated since I didn't know anything about weddings or designing for them. [Sidebar here: seems like everyone goes through this part of their lives where everyone they know is getting married, and then all of a sudden it's over and then everyone is having babies... anyone ever paid attention to this??? K, back to the subject] I quickly got online and started looking... I was shocked at the market there is for wedding designers, printers, letterpressmen, calligraphers, and all things wedding stationary and I had never heard of it... go figure! In the end I did a completely custom wedding package that included save the dates, invitations (base, RSVP card, extra note card), programs, candy bar banner, and thank you cards and I LOVED it. Not too long after that I got a request from another friend and then another... so, now five weddings, two bridal showers, one baby shower, and at least eight birthdays later, I am so in love with the invitation industry and am coming up with stock designs and can't get enough of this field. I still love working at my church full-time and the fulfillment it gives, but have now added moonlighting as an invitation designer to my belt. So, anyone need an invitation designed??? Bring it on! (oh, and check out my etsy shop too! http://www.etsy.com/shop/catelovinlife?ref=si_shop )

valentines

Thanks to my bff, Alee, I got this idea for hers and a couple other of my good buddies' valentines. What it is: felt and ribbon bookmarks. I used my cricket to cut out a pattern for the hearts... and a little fabric glue and a couple buttons later, ba-da-b00m-ba-da-bing! Happy Valentines, everyone!

headband

This is the headband that I made this weekend... it's the braided headband from the blog maryjanesandgaloshes.com (which is soooo cool, btw). It was super easy and turned out really cute! i also made one for my "adopted' niece out of some of her old dresses ;)

Thank You Cards

On a less um... professional? note... There are obvious flaws in these cards, but I think that adds to the charm. My best friend bought me a hand crank letterpress last year for Christmas. So, this year I decided to use some damask plates and make my own thank you cards for this Christmas... oh, and no computer involved! :)

Thanksgiving Place Cards

2010 was my year of stepping out of my comfort zone in hosting... I hosted several larger gatherings at my new home with my best friend and mom. I've designed for several weddings, parties, etc. but to be the hostess for these events was something new... and I have to say I loved every minute of it! This is a preview of the place cards that I designed for my family. From everyone that was able to attend, we ranged in age from 3 years old to 73 years old. I think the place cards worked well :)

And as far as hosting... I think I will definitely be doing more of it!

zember wedding | brittney bridal shower

Brittney Jacobs, soon to be Zember had a Christmas bridal shower thrown by myself and couple of our friends. The whole idea behind the shower was celebrating not only the soon-to-be Mrs. Zember but the time of the year as well. The holly berries and colors were carried throughout the evening through signage, games, and posters (will be posted later). The feel that I wanted to communicate through this invitation was a holiday casual get-together.

zember wedding invitation

One of my most recent projects has been for a very good friend and his fiance. Brittney and Jason are having a winter wedding this January. The feel they wanted was clean, but warm and classic.

Congratulations, Brittney and Jason! It has been a joy having a part in your wedding. Prayers for you both in this next part of your journey.