a mention at berin made

Erin Hung of BerinMade has a series on her blog called For the Love of Lettering.  You can suggest a phrase or words and she will hand letter it and post to her blog.  I thought it would be fun to submit one of my favorites quotes and Erin picked me!

Erin is a super talented illustrator whose work I admire.  She has a very feminine style to her hand lettering that's just eye candy, all the time.  Check out her site - BerinMade and today's post on my suggestion.  It will look familiar - http://www.berinmade.com/blog/13536114

Thank you, Erin, for choosing my quote and for giving me a mention! 

the elusive paper source pantone + cymk color chart

For designer folk and paper lovers in general, it's super helpful to be familiar with Paper Source's line.  Their paper contains PCW recycled content, the quality is excellent and their colors are so very versatile.  I'm lucky enough to live close to a retail store and it always takes some serious self-control when I shop there.

I've been on a quest for some time, looking for the matching CYMK and/or Pantone color codes for  Paper Source's line.  It turns out that their actual color codes are proprietary and it is very difficult to find a simple guide for color matching.  I've heard that if you contact them by phone, they'll tell you that they can't provide this information.

After some trial and error with color matching, the information literally landed in my inbox.  For your downloading pleasure (and in the hopes that I'm not violating some Terms of Use somewhere), a complete color guide to Paper Source's line, straight from the source itself:

Paper Source Color Chart

Keep in mind that these are not 100% accurate, but it's as close as you can get.

I really hope this helps a DIY'er or fellow stationery designer.  I would love to hear how this may have helped someone!

dear creatures + seychelles fall 2012

I'm not, nor have I ever been very fashion conscious.  In fact, my husband has the lion's share of our closet.  I've lost weight, gained weight from my pregnancy and then lost it again.  I don't really have a consistent wardrobe and I'm trying to change that as of late.

I've never been excited about any clothing line, but I'm completely smitten with the fall 2012 collection from Dear Creatures.  I've been awaiting its release since I found out about it in May and actually contacted them to find out when the pieces are being launched on their online store.  Yes, I'm that nuts about it and I just may have to beg, borrow and steal to get them.

Some photos of my favorite pieces:

If I get one piece, it will be this red Camille dress

I don't have a red jacket, so I can get this one, right?

I love both of these

Sage for me, please!

Loving the navy version

The release schedule they gave me:

Camille Dress  - 8/10-8/31

Mia Dress - 8/10-8/31

Penny Dress - 9/1-9/30

Chelsea Coat - 10/1-10/31

I also love the shoes shown in the Dear Creatures fall lookbook.  Come to find out, they're made by my favorite shoe line, Seychelles.  I purchased a pair of Seychelles Trip the Light Fantastic heels earlier this year and I am now completely in love with the brand.  I love cute shoes, but they have to be comfortable and made well.  Seychelles are both and that's very hard to find.

I have my eye on Seychelles' fall collection, which is being released now through October.  I contacted them about the Dear Creatures lookbook and they will be sending some information over to me on how I can get my hands on those beauties.

Which of these are your favorites?

**UPDATE!**

Emerging Thoughts is having a pre-sale on select styles from the fall Dear Creatures line.  Just ordered my Camille dress!

Dear Creatures released some of the new items in their online shop.  Use DCEXTRA10 at checkout for 10% off!

Seychelles got back to me.  Here's what they said about the shoes:

     The Dear Creatures Fall '12 catalog was shot earlier this year with these then-current styles.

      Seychelles:
      Clue
      Explorer
      Spacebar
      Case Closed
      Apostrophe
      Safari

      BC Footwear:
      Alamo

diy handkerchief invitations

This weekend I was hard at work finishing up some wedding invites.  I did the calligraphy, collected the handkerchiefs, provided the vintage stamps and assembled them to post.  I am SO happy with the way they turned out.  There's nothing more satisfying than seeing one of my ideas come to life. 

The original wedding invite handkerchief idea came from Bird and Banner.  I remember falling in love with them when I was planning my own wedding and was so happy to hear that one of my clients was interested in them.

Wedding hanky tutorials are all over the Internet.  Literally.  There's a freezer paper method, rubber stamp method, silk screening and the method one I chose - t-shirt transfers.

I read several tutorials and was ready to give it a try.  I had everything printed, organized and had an assembly line set up - ready to rock!  Then Murphy's Law kicked in.  

Many of the tutorials I read listed the Avery dark t-shirt transfers as the ONLY ones to try.  I did a test run and got the hanky on the left:

Does that look right to you?  Um, no.  I couldn't believe it.   Isn't everything you read on the Internet true?!  This doesn't even look like the photos in the tutorials that suggested this type of transfer.

I thought I had done something wrong and then I remembered seeing the transfers for light-colored fabric.  Back to the craft store I went.  I came home and did another test run and it finally worked! 
 
Here are some other tips for doing your own wedding invitation handkerchiefs, from me, someone who did it wrong the first time:

* Press the transfer.  Do not iron it.  In other words, place the iron on the transfer and firmly press.  Do not move the iron around like we all do when ironing clothing.   Make sure the iron covers the transfer evenly. 

* Cover a book with a pillowcase and use this to iron versus using an ironing board.  It really does help the transfer to set evenly on the fabric.

* Get enough supplies to do a few test runs.  Print and complete one set before getting into full-on assembly mode so that any adjustments can be made.  This is my golden rule for any project.

* Let the transfer fully cool after ironing.  The paper backing will separate easily and cleanly if it is cool.

* Lastly, DO NOT use the Avery transfers for dark fabric unless you are going for that huge white block effect.  Buy the transfers for light-colored fabric and don't look back.

I hope this has been helpful for someone!  I certainly did enjoy doing this project and I look forward to many, many more...

One last photo of the finished piece: