Its About Time...

So, I've been a horrible excuse for a blogger since the beginning.  I haven't been able to get myself to commit to one particular topic to kinda stick with.  Did I want to blog about motherhood (as if there weren't enough of THOSE blogs around), or try my hand a diet and excersise (yeah, cause I've had SO much luck with that over the years... blah...).  Finally, I realized what I've had in front of my face this whole time.  My invitations.  I can't say for sure that I'll ever start a "real" business with this, but for now, I'm enjoying my creative time and enjoying even more the oppurtunity to help people that want custom, but not at a custom price.  Granted, my invitations are NOT cheap either.  I start at $4 a piece and go up from there, but at least you're getting EXACTLY what you want at a price you can afford. 

The whole idea for this came up in 2008 when I was planning my own wedding.  I couldn't find what I wanted, regardless of price (even though budget was DEFINITELY on my mind). I wanted a custom, expensive look, without the actual expensive part.  After looking on EVERY invitation website humanly possible, I decided to make my own.  It took a while, but I got exactly what I wanted, at a better price than I ever could have imagined (the only things I had to pay for were envelopes and paper!). 

I unfortunately didn't thing to get a picture of my invitations, but there are the table cards I came up with, which match the invites.  To say I was proud of myself would be an understatement.  I can't even begin to tell you how many compliments I got quite literally as soon as they were mailed out.  My wedding became a chance to "showcase" my creativity, and even the morning of my wedding, "crafting ground zero" was the first stop!

As you can see, pink and flowers were the focal point of my wedding and I wouldn't have it any other way. I wouldn't chance a single aspect of anything from my wedding day, even though all this "crafty" business took up so much time.  Every detail was so planned out, that it all felt so custom.  So me. 

And so, that brings us to the very first invitation set I made for someone ELSE! It actually started off between Christi and myself talking about starting a wedding business (which I would still LOVE to do!) and evolved into her invitations.  She sent me a few ideas to give me a clue as to what she was looking for, and I got to work.  Thankfully, having a bride that KNOWS what she wants is a HUGE help.  So, here we go....

Next time, I'll get better pictures, but for now, this will have to do.  This girl is OBSESSED with all things blingy, hence the sparkly envelopes/pochettes.  Her wedding colors were black & hot pink, and so that is the evolution of this invitation.  I am really happy with how these came out.  Even though I missed out on painting, I'm pretty sure hand painted invitations wouldn't have gone with her wedding at all, and these couldn't be more perfect. I just knew making these that this wedding would be fantastic, fun and upbeat.  I'll find out in June if I'm right... (I'm always right, FYI.  Just ask my husband). 

Next up, I'm working on an invitation for a woman named Courtney, who is having a destination wedding and DOES require and hand painted invite, so I'm SUPER excited about it.  Its not quite finished yet, which luckily gives me a reason to blog again!  I cannot wait to see how this one comes out.  It will definitely NOT disappoint!