My 120 Challenge for 2015

Halloween has just passed. That means Thanksgiving is on its way, with all the delicious mid-century recipes that I continue to make out of pure nostalgia. 

Overnight Salad
thank you 1960s and mayonnaise for this Thanksgiving winner of a side dish

After that, I am officially allowed to listen to Bing Crosby on repeat, to watch Charlie Brown Christmas as many times as I like, and to start baking, baking, baking. 

The holiday season wouldn't be complete
without a little Bing Crosby

After Christmas, that last big event is New Year's. Bring on the holiday joy. 

This year, I've decided my New Year's resolution a little early. In 2015, I want to complete 120 wedding invitation orders through my etsy shop. 

Q: So, why am I sharing this on my blog? 

A: I want potential clients to know what their patronage means to me and my small business.

Now, I'm sharing this on my blog for one very specific reason. I want to take this opportunity to share with potential clients my motivations for growing my wedding invitation business. I currently have a day job, one that I actually love. So I do understand how completely confusing this may be. That said, I have a few bigger life goals that I want to help accommodate by building up my side business:

1. I want to start a family. Day care is very expensive, and even more so since I live in London. By building up my business online, I'm hoping to create a scenario where my return to work doesn't cause my home greater expense than otherwise. At this time, working full time and taking care of young children sounds like a tall order. So my thoughts are that I really ought to start now. 
2. I want to finish paying off my student loan. I finished a PhD, and as a result was essentially studying for 12 straight years. Whilst I'm proud that my student debt was far below the national average for my level of education, my completion of my goal in 2015 would mean that I am able to say bye-bye to monthly loan payments. Until it's gone, all proceeds from my etsy shop go directly to the retrospective funding of my education, in art history, which will also influence the form and shape of the new invites I'll have to design. 
3. I need reason to design more, and more often. Enough said. 

Next Steps

I've received a few orders in the last month or so, which is really inspiring. I only have two designs on my Etsy shop at the moment: 

Barley Wedding Invitations
available in four ale-inspired colors

Hops Wedding Invitations

First things first: I need to hit the design grindstone. My two current designs were inspired by my love (and longing for) my beer-loving home town: Portland, Oregon. I'll be breaking beyond that boundary a bit in coming designs, but still sticking within my original concept of sharing my own Love's Leftovers. 

If you're reading this post and have an idea for a new wedding design concept that you'd like me to develop, just leave your comment below. 

Barley Wedding Invitations, Perfect for a Pub or Microbrewery Wedding

I've been talking about this for ages, and working on these new ones for (embarrassingly) months. Just yesterday, I posted my first two listings on Etsy of my new Barley Wedding Invitations.

I've hand designed my barley graphic, and have developed four different colour schemes for my designs. These will be available in Stout, Irish Red, Amber Ale (pictured below), and Hefeweizen.

I'll post more photos of the other colours soon. The grey English summer kept me from photographing all of them at once. Here's a peek at the new Barley wedding invitation suite in the warn and welcoming Amber Ale colour scheme:

Amber Ale invitation cards, $1.75 each (minimum order 50)

I used my grandparents names in these samples. Love them, and love these cards!

RSVP postcards, $1.50 each (min. order 50)

Invitation inserts, $0.75 each (min. order 50)

The paper components of the full suite, soon to come: new photo with address labels and gorgeous matching silk ribbon.

Happy Customer! Feedback from a recent bride-to-be

The shop has been open for nearly two months now, and I've already had the privilege of working with a few new brides-to-be on their stationery. I received an email from a client today that brightened my day. So much so, in fact, that I wanted to share her feedback with the rest of you.

"Everyone LOVES the invites! Thank you so much. People have been wanting to keep the post card because they love it so much. "

Happy bride-to-be, happy invitation designer! More designs to debut soon, so keep an eye out.

Fantastic updates to my beer hops wedding invitations now available on ETSY

Full invitation suite, new and improved!

I've been working on this for a while, but thought I'd share full details of the upgrades I've made to my wedding invitations. My invitations are now printed on really fantastic new papers, giving and even better weight and feel than my originals.

RSVP Cards with gorgeous drawing of hops plant

RSVP cards are now printed on 300gsm card with a matte overlay. The heavier weight really gives the suite a fuller texture. The matte overlay preserves the image while in the post.

Invitation with hops graphic at top

Invitation cards and inserts are printed on 280gsm textured card in a lovely light cream color. This picture does not do the card justice! The weight and texture of the new material makes the invitation as special as your big day will be! For better photos of the texture of the card, see my instagram photos from my earlier post: http://loves-leftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/beer-hops-wedding-invitations-preview.html 

RSVP card back

Customers can now choose to order invitation components a-la-carte. Previously, I only sold these invites as a full suite. Now that I have these fantastic papers, and a great printer to go with them, I am better able to process orders custom to my clients tastes. 

Portland, the best beer town in the US, maybe even the world

Photo from CNN, "8 Best Beer Towns in America"

I woke up this morning to the happy news that CNN has given my home town, Portland, Oregon, top marks in its ranking of the "8 Best Beer Towns in America."

Now I haven't actually resided in Portland for nearly five years now, but my love of finely crafted ale endures. I now live in London, a city also known for its affinity for real ale. Despite my best efforts, I still have not come around to the flat, slightly warm English ale. They're fine. Don't get me wrong. They just are not as good as what I was spoiled with in Portland.

A proud day for me and my home town. Congratulations Portland! I miss you.

Beer Hops Wedding Invitations: Preview My New, Fancy Paper!

After just a few weeks of being back in business, I've been able to successfully improve my beer hops themed wedding invitations. The new papers really enhance the looks and feel of these invites. The invitation cards and inserts will now be printed on gorgeous 280gsm textured card in a beautiful cream color. The postcards have also been upgraded, now printed on 350gsm card with a silky matte overlay.

Here are a couple little photos as a teaser. Updates to appear to my store tomorrow!

Vintage Beer Labels [Things I Like]

Now that I've re-opened my Etsy shop, and received my first orders (!!!), I've been finding new inspiration for new designs. Since brewers hops are the motif for my wedding invitations, I've been dreaming of other ways to creatively integrate beer into a wedding without sacrificing the class and sophistication that I wanted for my own event. So now I'm in the process of designing beer labels for home brewers and couples to use to affix to their favorite beverages.

I haven't worked out the kinks with the new designs yet, but I've found a few vintage labels that I thought were really beautiful. They are my inspiration for the new line of beer labels, coasters, and even another option for a beer-inspired wedding invitation suite. 

I'll post pics once the new line is ready to roll out. But for now, here are a few images that you might enjoy, too.

A Special Brew: Inspiration for My Beer Hops Wedding Invitations

For some, creativity comes from within. Not for me, though. I wish I could claim some form of natural genius, but I really cannot. The inspiration for all of my creative endeavours is almost always inspired by dear friends, beautiful things I happen to come upon, and the amazing places where I have been so fortunate to live.

The inspiration for my Beer Hops Wedding Invitations came from two important sources: first, my hometown, Portland, Oregon; and second, my dear friends, Courtney and Dan. Both sources were in equal measure when I was dreaming up these little beauties.

Portland is a wonderfully weird city, the best place on earth in my humble opinion. To me, it is the perfect balance of new and old, of natural and industrial, and of rush and rest. My favorite things about Portland have always been the wonderful camaraderie of its inhabitants, its commitment to keeping it green, its affinity for the patina of time, its excellent locally sourced food, and of course, its world-famous craft breweries!

When they got married in September of 2010, I think Courtney and Dan styled their wedding in a perfectly Portland way. This wedding touched on everything I love most about Portland, and even more importantly, everything I know and love about them as a couple. I've known Courtney and Dan since our days back at the University of Oregon. Though my intercontinental movements have prevented me from staying in touch with them as much as I'd otherwise like to, I have kept tabs on them through Facebook. Thank goodness for Facebook. When I saw their wedding snaps, I was so truly overjoyed for them, and was further inspired by their use of beer hops as decoration at their wedding. So beautiful.

Here are a few snaps from their fantastically beautiful wedding. Thanks Courtney and Dan for your permission to share a few of these with my clients and readers. I hope they're as inspired by your gorgeous wedding as I was!

The success in Courtney's styling was the details

I love this photo because this is how she has always looked at Dan.

The beer hops garland was a brilliant idea!
The setting was incredible!

Beautiful details, a splash of colour,
and a gorgeous Portland late summer day.

Simply stunning. The whole day was just so perfectly done.

Portland at night, sigh, what a great place,
what a great wedding!

Whisked away by pedi-cab.
I love the touches they put on this day.

Wedding #1, Our Civil Ceremony [About Me]

When I was last posting to this blog, I was planning my weddings (yep, two of them). Our first was a civil ceremony in January of 2011, an intimate gathering of our families. I'll post photos from our big Italian wedding soon.

Now that both events have come and gone, I thought I'd share some of the photos . I always meant to share links to the great shops and suppliers I found when planning our weddings. Now's my chance to express some thanks, too! Links to dress shops, hair dressers, our venue and more below.

January 29, 2011

 

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For those who are wondering, here are a few notes about the lovely shops that helped us make this day so  beautiful and special.

 Our civil ceremony took place at the truly beautiful Weybridge, Surrey (UK)  registry office. Simon wore a beautiful brown suit and matching shoes from House of Fraser. I wore the most amazing 1950s party dress from Xtabay Vintage in Portland, Oregon ($250). My mom's dress is also from Xtabay. For hair and makeup, I took an opportunity to save a bit of money and had my hair done at Headmasters in Shepherds Bush, London (50 GBP) and makeup at MAC cosmetics in Westfield (25 GBP). I found the white coat at Brass Plum in Nordstrom ($60). My vintage handbag was a real find, from The Rag and Bone in State College, Pennsylvania ($15). My adorable vintage heels came from Aureolin Lake Fine Antiques on Etsy ($32).

Special thanks to Grandma Dean for the lovely faceted glass drop earrings, and to the Antiques Fair in Shere, Surrey (UK) for my engagement ring and our wedding rings.

And even more special thanks to Ewan for taking these amazing photos! He doesn't typically take wedding snaps, but shot a few at both our civil ceremony and our big Italian wedding, too. Right now his work is on display at Box Brownie in Stratford, Warwickshire (UK). Anyone looking for striking and colourful photo prints for their office or home walls, do check out his pics (especially the ones from Italy, they're fabulous)!