A (happy) New Year filled with New Ideas...

I tend to shy away from making "new year's resolutions" per say but I do make a point of trying to be better about certain things such as:

• When invited to events (work or personal) try your hardest to attend... I did better in 2011 but it's still a work in progress.
• Sunscreen. Always. I mastered this.
• Get the H&H website up and running. Check! (okay I can't take all the credit, this is largely in thanks to my extremely talented/supportive fiance who figured out a way to DIY and we did). ALWAYS DIY when possible.

This year I will attempt to add a few additional things to my list of personal and professional improvements

• Eat more fruits and veggies. Seriously. (also remember those Omega3 pills in the medicine drawer? Time to get back to taking those.) 
• Give back. Big or Small. Being busy isn't a good enough excuse not to.

I try hard to follow the trends of patterns, styles and colors in order to successfully incorporate into them invitations and stationery. I think this year; less will be more. Alot of the simple geometric shapes and bold colors that were resurrected this year will continue to evolve in different ways.

I had come across a fabric pattern and color pallet that really struck my eye and I wanted to incorporate it into an invitation so I decided to volunteer myself since I happened to be in the market for a save the date :)

Chevron teal

 

 Courtesy of Hobart & Haven

Damask graphics are also a popular choice to add to invitations. They are easily made into patterns or can be self standing like in the save the date below. I particularly love how this graphic is bright and cheery for the couple's summer wedding.

 Courtesy of Hobart & Haven

I've also seen an increase in the use of watercolor on invitations and I REALLY want to try it. I think it's so simple, yet really unique. Every piece would have slight differences.

Courtesy of Invitation Crush

 What are your goals or resolutions? What patterns have you been attracted to for home or accessory decorating?

Photo Cards

I just had the pleasure of working on a photo card Save the Date for a newly engaged couple and wanted to share the final product. One of the new trends (that I'm loving) is using the entire photo for the design of the card with text laid over it. Of course it helps when you have an adorable picture like this couple with great outfits, scenery etc. It's such a great use of your engagement photos.

Tip: You can easily do this for your Holiday cards and birth announcements as well!

Well HELLO EBATES!

Incase I'm not the only one who's been shopping in the dark since 1998, I thought I'd share this great site I learned about today from my friend Meg. When you register with EBATES they literally give you a % back on purchases you make through participating stores (you just need to get to the store of your choice by clicking on their link through the ebates site). For instance, I will get 8% cash back on a bridesmaid dress I just purchased from JCrew today. You also get $5 for referrals you make (if your friend ends up using the site to purchase something from a store). I'm assuming they must make their money on ads and kick backs. I did the research as I'm a skeptic for any type of "deal" and it's legit. Enjoy and spread the word!

http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=QOjrmvxtTzZS2wRw2MqNLg%3D%3D

My new helper: Meet Charlie

 

The word "helper" may not be exactly the right word... perhaps major distraction, master messer or new obsession may be more accurate. As you can tell, Charlie has the epitome of puppy dog eyes which make it very easy for him to get what he wants which usually consists of cuddles, constant attention or a never ending game of fetch. Nonetheless he is the newest addition here at Hobart & Haven and he may just inspire me to design a couple pet friendly note cards for the animal lovers out there. While some aspects of quality of life suffer like lack of sleep, floors that need a daily cleaning and triple laundry, there are also many aspects that are forever improved like the unconditional love your loyal pup provides, the pride you have over teaching a trick or command and the new dog owner friends you meet at the dog parks. THANK GOD for dog parks.

Wine bottle table numbers

I wanted to share a great way of labeling your wedding reception tables. I created about 4-5 different custom wine bottle labels for this wedding and used one specific design for labeling the table numbers. These wine bottles are also a great takeaway gift for guests or a convenient treat to pop open at the table. I'll work on gathering pictures of the other labels and the escort tags next!

Finishing touches that give your invites a little something special.

There are so many special touches you can add to your wedding invitations. One of my favorite jobs of the summer was this navy and green wedding invitation set that we tied up nice and pretty with matching green and white twine from Divine Twine (they come in a variety of colors and have so many uses). This bride also splurged on calligraphy from the talented Jenna Hein from Love, Jenna. I could stare at her handwriting all day long. It's just gorgeous. I also created matching wine bottle labels and escort tags that I'll be posting soon after the pictures come back. They were a hit!

Pink and Gold wedding invitation + the art of embossing

One of my very best friends got married a couple weekends ago had asked me to help out with her invitations. Her wedding was a very fancy and romantic affair held in Connecticut. Her colors were gold and pink (two colors that can either go very wrong ... or very right) so it was a challenge to find just the right hues, shimmers, etc. but we did it! It was important for the invitations to set the right tone so we used double matting and the art of embossing to get just the look she was going for.

For those who aren't sure of what embossing is.... it's the process of raising an image using a couple tools.

1- a rubber stamp/ink pad with the graphic of your choice
2- Embossing powder
3- Embossing heat tool that you can buy from any craft or paper store

Once you stamp the graphic, you lightly sprinkle the powder over it and then use the heat tool to raise the image. Brush off the excess powder and voila!! As you can imagine, this process is extremely time consuming however the finished product is awesome.

Congratulations Niki and John! xoxo