The Notting Hill


The Metropolis


The Woodstock

They're up! You guys are the first to see these, I really hope you like them! Your comments were so nice on the drawings, I was encouraged to get them up sooner!
We drove up to Montreal yesterday in the midst of a mammoth Nor'Easter stretching from Providence to Albany straight thru to Montreal. We arrived safely last night after about 8 hours of white knuckle driving. We're here for the week, all cozy underneath about a foot and a half of snow. I'm so excited to settle into a white Christmas and to see my family. I'll be back to regular blogging on the second of January, with plenty of new ideas and an entirely new blog design! Have a cheerful, safe and happy holiday and we'll see you in the new year!

So I promised you a preview of next year's new designs, and here it is! I was really into drawing patterns these past few months, and really wanted to do all hand-drawn stuff for this year's new designs. I had a really great time doing the patterns for the folders, and then designing around them to create slightly whimsical, modern invites with a real hand-made feel. Above is the drawing I made for the "Woodstock" folder. It's actually a perfectly repeating pattern, (something I am very proud of). If you tile it with itself, it's seamless, and the trees just go on for ever and ever... I'm thinking of wallpapering my office with it. Either that, or the pattern for the "Metropolis" which is below. Also a perfectly repeating pattern, only this time the city goes on and on forever. This one took me so long to finish, but I'm really happy with the way it turned out.


The last one was a study in patience for me, although not a perfectly repeating pattern, it's also hand drawn. The concept behind this one was to take two lines, integrate and twist them up with lots and lots of other lines, then color the original two with a bright hue and the rest with a neutral. The two bright lines travel together thru the tangle of other lines, kind of like how two people committed to each other travel together thru life (my idea never sounded as dorky as it did just then). Eventually the lines come together on the invites and form a knot.


The final products are not up on the website yet, so I don't want to spoil the surprise, but you guys will be the first to know when they go up! Let me know what you all think.

Christmas shopping, DONE! Blog re-design, um, not quite. New wedding invitations, DONE! Yeah, that's right. Done. Stay tuned for a sneak peek of those tomorrow. Yay!
So I'm back from my little hiatus, trollin the web as usual, and I see that Oh Joy! has posted amazing pictures from a fantastic blog called Once Wed. I have never been to this blog before, but I was captivated! Such eye candy! So many pritty photos! Definitely worth a good long look.

I've been on overdrive lately trying to get all my new designs finished for Kenzie Kate, my blog overhaul done, my Christmas shopping finished, it's been kind of crazy. Then, Friday I discovered that our basement was flooded with about 2 inches of water, which had to be pumped out, artwork and books recovered, everything dried out. Now I'm at the end of the weekend (in which I was supposed to accomplish lots of work) and I think I'm about at the same place I was when I knocked off work on Friday, minus a few boxes of basement stuff, (which is by definition stuff we don't really use that often). So while I'm happy we're high and dry, I'm feeling a little behind in my work and a little stressed out. That was a very long way of saying that posting might be light until I get back up on top of things in the next day or two.
In the mean time, I wanted to point you towards these amazing butterflies on Etsy. Wouldn't these be fantastic on top of a cake? Or strung from the ceiling hovering over the cake? I heart them, and they're made even better by being a bargain.

Have a party to attend this spring? These embroidered dresses are my favorites, especially the watercolor number. If only it were warmer. I love Anthropologie.

*Everyone had such strong opinions about the last dress, I thought I might look for something a little less controversial! Some of your posts definitely made me laugh, I'll never look at "ombre" the same way again! Thanks for the comments!

I have typically not loved "the fade effect". I tend to think that it looks a little like you waded thru a puddle... BUT, this dress caught my eye. I thought that it could be really pretty for a beach wedding. It's not something I would normally be drawn to, so this sort of surprised me. Although... I did love Gwen Stefani's dress, which had a similar white to pink fade. What do you think of the fade? Ok for the right event? Or just dirty looking?

How perfect would these his and hers mugs from Jonathan Adler be for a newlywed couple? Love Jonathan Adler, I want them all!

We're back! Our trip to Brooklyn was fantastic. My friends are now officially old. Ha! Kidding! We had an amazing time, ate at all our favorite places, shopped (although I was not inspired by my selection of tops), and had an amazing time in general. I'm back to my usual schedule this week, working on a blog re-design, new invitation designs, busy, busy. Plus! let the Christmas shopping commence! I need to get going on that, like now. Yikes.
Speaking of shopping, I'm thinking of upping the "gift" quotient on the blog between now and the holidays for obvious reasons. I've wanted one of these embroidered wall hangings from Chez Sucre Chez since I first saw them a few months back. I would love to give any of these as a gift, especially the initials or the "Love" letters for newlyweds. I also really love the peacocks. Check them out!

I'm off to Brooklyn this weekend, back to the ol' stomping grounds! Two of my very good friends are having their 30th (whoa) birthdays this weekend, and I wouldn't miss those shindigs for the world. I'm also going wedding dress shopping (not for myself) and am going to attempt to revisit all my old favorite stores. Mama needs some new tops! I'm also going to try and go to a few of my old favorite restaurants, I'm thinking Steinhof... If you can't tell, I'm thoroughly looking forward to all my weekend prospects!
In the mean time I will leave you with these adorable outdoor lanterns, available at Home Infatuation. Love them.

Birch veneer snowflakes, porcelain feathers or golden Christmas trees, all perfect as holiday ornaments, or as decor for a winter wedding. I would love to hang those porcelain feathers from a chandelier or get a bunch of the snowflakes and create a little indoor snowstorm around an alter or in a ceremony space. All from Roost, all available at Velocity. Via Oh Joy!

I love to look at beautiful cakes. I prefer it to gowns or jewelry or... most other things! It's just so much fun to see what sugar can do in the hands of an artist. It's something I would love to learn if I ever had a second career. Alas, for now I will continue to dump my sugar into my coffee and leave the art to the experts. One of those experts is Krista Markell of Sugarcoat It, who uses two dimensional shapes to create amazing 3 dimensional creations. If you're lucky enough to be based in San Fran, check her out!

My two favorite decor magazines have come out with fantastic books in the past few months. Collectively, they are my new favorite way to kill a Sunday. The Domino Book of Decorating is easy to read, fun to look at, and packed with useful information. The Home Book, from the editors of House Beautiful is a bounty of eye candy, image after image of inspiration, a book I could stare at for the better part of an afternoon and barely get half way thru. What I love about both books is that rather than focus on where to get specific items (that, let's face it, tend to be too expensive for most of us), the books focus more on the method, what to look for, what rules should be followed, which can be broken. Sofa legs on the carpet? Sofa legs off the carpet? Half on, half off? Will anyone notice either way? As someone who has always had an interest in decor, but never really any space to decorate, these are the sorts of things I want to know.

Either of these would be the perfect gift for newlyweds (or anyone) moving into their first home/apartment. Had I not a copy of both already (couldn't wait), they would be on my Christmas list for sure!