off to italy

jo is getting married on 08.08.2008 in italy. since she's having a rather large (peacock themed) wedding, she needed two books instead of just one. her books are a little larger than normal to accommodate larger photos on the inside...

i used a shimmery gold paper for the front panel... i love it because it changes colors depending on what light it's in.

i know i've been a little behind on posting book photos lately... i promise i'll try to catch up before we head off to dallas on thursday!

anniversary (part one)

doug and i are celebrating our one year anniversary on july 28th. to commemorate this event, i wanted to share some of our gorgeous photos (courtesy of leslie from savant photography) from our special day. (check out her gallery on her website... leslie is an amazing photographer and i couldn't have been happier with ALL of our beautiful photos!)

doug doesn't like having his picture taken, but i think he looks adorable in front of the camera!

this is actually one of my bridal photos, but i just couldn't leave it out.

our wedding and reception took place at the historic watson building, in downtown lubbock. this is right before the guests started arriving. i was all dressed up on the balcony and couldn't go down to greet anyone!

we turned off all the lights for the ceremony and lit candles on every table. with the fading light shining through the windows, it was perfect.

anniversary (part two)

this set is of the bridal party, mostly. i couldn't have been happier to spend the day with our closest friends at our side.

one of my friends and co-workers, brandi, is always writing about the beautiful west texas sky on her blog. i couldn't agree with her more because the sky was as blue as ever that day.

i love this photo. need i say more?

doug and all his guys, looking very sharp in their tuxedos.

this was actually post-wedding. (and my dress is still dirty from walking all over the brick streets of downtown lubbock). it's probably too late to get that cleaned...

our photographer, (who was several months pregnant at the time) decided to lay on the street and take photos of us walking over her... glad there weren't any cars around!

anniversary (part three)

my uncle paul, who is a preacher in plainview, was kind enough of officiate the ceremony. we stood on the balcony facing the street as all our guests watched from below.

i guess you could say our wedding had a lot of family input. my cousin made us this tasty cake (can't wait to eat some on monday). i hand dyed the lace and stitched it to the green satin ribbon and accent ribbon and added a few sparkly things to finish it off. i couldn't have been happier with the way our cake turned out.

we opted for sparking strawberry wine instead of champagne. we forgot to take it with us when we left and all the 'helpers' finished it off... (thank-you, by the way, to all our friends and family who helped us plan from the very beginning. you all made it very special, and doug and i couldn't have done it without your love and support.)

right before we hopped in the getaway car (aka the celica), leslie grabbed us for one last shot.

and they lived happily ever after.

gifts for a baby boy...

anyone who knows me, knows that i love paper. any kind of paper. but especially pretty paper. i've had this stash of martha stewart gift wrap sitting in my studio closet for several months now... just waiting to make someone's gift beautiful. since our friend mat and stacie are expecting a baby boy here pretty soon, i decided it was time to put away the gift bags and bring out the paper.

my kitchen, ladies and gentlemen, is the place where i take all of my product pictures. it has the most gorgeous green paint for the backdrop, and my antique vintage table (refinished by my father-in-law!) makes a great place to display pretty things. i promise someday i'll show you my whole kitchen... but it needs to be on a day when it's clean-er :)

i was afraid doug was going to confiscate that little green monster when i brought it home from babies r us. it makes the cutest little 'blaaahhh!' sound. i personally thought that was a sound every child needs to learn how to make.

mmmm marian!

when marian told me that her invitation designer had found this pretty pink paper at michael's and used it for her wedding invitations, i was more than happy ( i heart michael's, what can i say?) to drive down to our local crafty place and pick some up. the stardream blue and metallic gold work beautifully with this designer paper for a book that's simple and elegant.

I am also creating a blank scrapbook with these same colors/papers that she can fill up with wedding memories! What a great idea... I know I have tons of wedding stuff sitting in a box somewhere that could be used to make a cool scrapbook...

new toy!

okay... so i don't guess it's really a toy since i'm going to file it under "business expense"... but it's pretty awesome! i ordered it from JLMould who was very easy to work with and made me this beautiful stamp out of a jpeg file i sent her! the best thing about it? it's completely clear so that i know exactly where i'm stamping. i love it! i'm sure there's going to be a lot more things that say paperlust around our house now...

red hot!

stripes are very hot right now! natalie will need this hot book at her reception on the yacht... 

pretty in pink

i used to hate pink. really hate it. there i said it! but this book has made me found a new appreciation for the color. paired with some lovely greens, pink can be very beautiful, but not overly feminine. and while i won't be out buying everything pink i can get my hands on... i will certainly be more open to it now thanks to orla :)

going green

i seem to be getting to know a lot of kat-y/ies here lately! this katy is getting married in august and chose some very fun paper for her cover. hope she has a happy wedding!

golden girl

christine is using the same colors in her wedding as my friend katie, but in a completely different way! she's using indian motifs to complete the look for her wedding, and i think this book will fit right in...

seeing green (and blue)

how i love this book! the colors just worked together so beautifully and i'm so glad i had that vellum laying around. i hope jessica enjoys it as much as i do!

the little green branch with berries (on the front panel) was actually from jessica's wedding invitations, but it blended perfectly with the paper we used. 

halloween in july!

so it's not really halloween time, but that would be fun, huh? michelle is already preparing for halloween though, seeing as how she's getting married on that spooky day. she is a brave soul to have that day as an anniversary, but at least her hubby won't ever forget it! here's her black and white book, it went off in the mail today and i hope she loves it!

here's a closer view of the front panel, which featured an awesome tree drawing from her invitation/poster.

baby time!

olivia is almost here! michelle checked into the hospital today to induce labor. hopefully we'll be meeting the beautiful baby girl here pretty soon!

oh july!

i think a very important thing for any business to do is create goals for each month and try (operative word here) to reach them. i kind of made some some goals for june about mid-way through the month... so i don't think it really counts (although i did reach a few of those goals). so... here as a constant reminder for the month of july... are my goals for this month:

1:: reach 50 sales in my etsy store by the end of the month

2:: introduce 3 new products

3:: set-up shop in my newest (and only) retail location (hodgepodge!) and get 5 guestbook orders

4:: introduce 2 new earring styles

5:: improve upon my photography skills and knowledge of the camera

6:: learn a new craft/skill (currently i really really want to learn soap making, dunno why!)

7:: give away one free guestbook through a giveaway on my blog

this is something i'm going to try (there's that word again) to follow every month and see if it actually does improve my business.

mmm kraft...

i'll be posting several new books that i completed over the weekend! blogger apparently doesn't like me to try to upload more than 2 photos at a time so... i'll be uploading one book at a time!

here's jerica's beautiful book! i just love kraft paper and couldn't be happier to use some of paper-source's new eco friendly paper. this particular print uses 80% post consumer waste! woohoo!

the big day is coming up pretty soon! happy wedding!