Etsy might Dress Me

If you're a crafty gal on the look for inspiration and handmade goodness and you haven't explored Etsy yet -- what, what, what are you waiting for! I log into Etsy no less than 4x a day. I even created my own store, Jenn A Say, to peddle thrifting finds (and excess Cibu gift boxes). You never know what you're going to unearth on Etsy but everything is either handcrafted or vintage. The site is so PURE in it's creative aspirations, it's palatable. The homepage is tricked out with in a myriad of search options: color, time capsule, editors picks, local artists. Today's search unearthed the dresses above, made by Armour sans Anguish (great name!). If Christian doesn't come through, either of these will do.... or maybe the short Doily Dress for the reception?

Wedding Pallet -- Technicolor Autumn Afternoon

Inspired by this brilliant site, I opened up Photoshop and finally cranked out our official color-texture storyboard. I encourage any suggestions on quirky (but classy) groomsmen attire, fun favors and a decorative ring pillow. I'm sure I'll come up with those details later, but this particular color pallet project satisfied my graphic design needs for today.

What's my name?

I am so in love with the idea of a custom illustrated wedding map to include with the invitations and/or welcome bags. Many (most!) of our guests are very familiar with Charlottesville already, but even Albemarle County natives can appreciate the whimsy and reverence of this memento. Maybe I'll draw it myself....

The Photographer: Jen Curtis

Last month I entered a "Love Story" essay contest on my fave wedding blog, Once Wed. The prize for the most interesting story was a $5600 wedding photography package by Jen Curtis, a celebrated Boston photographer who works solely with film (no digital images). I didn't win first place (boo!) but my submission was impressive enough to earn a very-healthy runner up discount on Jen Curtis' services. Check out Jen's blog for an snapshot of her amazing work.

Jen's work was recently featured in Vow magazine. Can wait to see which bridal mag publishes our wedding!

Wanted: Vintage Cobalt Glass

On the lookout for 2" - 7" vintage cobalt glass bottles to use as floral vessles (image these) on the long, banquet style tables. I want them all to be "found," either borrowed from friends (something borrowed and something blue!) or scored at an estate sale, on ebay or in your mom's attic. Keep your eyes open for a "USA" mark on the base and Bromo-Seltzer Emerson Drug Company, Baltimore, MD bottles manufactered from 1865 - 1950. If you see one at a thrift store or estate sale don't spend more than $5!

DIY Save the Dates using Photoshop and Vistaprint

My favorite part of wedding planning is the correspondence. I've always enjoyed paper, handwriting and graphic design and making our own save the dates was important to me. I wanted the save the date to feel autumn-like but I also wanted it to be a poignant snapshot into Matt's and my life. At Cibu Jenny's suggestion I changed the title from "Save the Date" to "Savor the Days."

First I scanned the pictures and mementos. In Photoshop, I created the black "filmstrip" using the rectangular shape tool. Using the crop tool, I cut 1 inch boxes and sized the images to fit inside the boxes.The autumn leaves background layer was an old photo I took in Georgetown. The "Proof" stamp layer was lifted from a elementray school picture proof.

For the the bulletin-board feel postcard back side I scanned real leaves collected on our first trip to Ash Lawn and the ticket stub from our first kiss football game. For the "stamp" I used a vintage postcard of Ash Lawn I found on Etsy. The other elements (pointing finger, circle) are standard Photoshop "shapes" found in the custom shape tool.

I uploaded all the graphics on Vistaprint and created100 postcards, color front and back; 100 magnets and 200 envelopes with return address printed on back flap. Including priority shipping the entire cost came to $177.

To format and print the addresses on the envelopes, I used the Letters and Mailing tool in Microsoft Word. The cursive font is "Jefferson," downloaded free from http://www.1001freefonts.com/. The block font is Trajan, the Cibu font.

The postage was another fun part. I love the idea of combining different vintage US stamps to equal .42 but unused vintage US postage is not that easy to find. I was able to purchase a sheet of .22 1987 American Wildlife stamps on Ebay and combined those with current .10 and .05 stamps to create the scrapbook effect.

Just in case you were wondering how "Savor the Days" was made.

Jenn and Matt are getting married

As if Cibu doesn't keep me busy enough, I've decided to create a Jenn and Matt: October 17, 2009, a wedding blog, to keep all of our guests abreast of wedding planning and details.

Who: Jennifer Patricia Mapp and Matthew Jeremy Bressan
When: October 17, 2009
Where: Ash-Lawn Highland, Charlottesville, Va
Why: Because I like Virginia history and peacocks. And Matt and I are getting married
Band: The Dickens
Dress: Christian V. Siriano

That's about all I've got for now, but I'll keep ya' posted!
xoxo jenn