art deco table numbers

here's another piece of my in-laws wedding that i created. the look of the wedding was art deco inspired. on natural colored tags i hand lettered the table numbers with my micron pens. i used my light table to help me line up each tag so they came out similar and the numbers were relatively centered. and then each card got a unique art deco inspired doodle frame. i really enjoyed making these and love how they turned out. they were then hung on colored mason jars filled with big flowers (i don't know what any flower types are named, but they were pretty) along with pom pom flowers that sarah created.

the wedding book

it's been a year and a half now since my brother-in-law and now sister-in-law got married and i still haven't gotten around to posting about all the different details and designs from the wedding. i probably never will show it all - partly because i didn't think to take pictures of everything. the wedding was an art deco styled peacock-colored theme/design with hand lettering on everything. my process for all the hand lettering went from sketchbook to pen on tracing paper to computer and then print. when all was said and done i took all the tracing paper original pen designs and bound them in a book. i placed the cardstock that was used to print each page throughout the book separating the tracing papers. for the fabric cover: i drew a design by hand; redrew it on the computer; colored it; then had it printed on a linen-cotton blend fabric. i used thin board to build the book cover gluing the fabric to sectioned pieces. i lined up all the tracing paper designs (including every single original design from the wedding: the save the dates, invites, response cards, directions, soap labels - everything) with the cardstock paper and used c clamps and flower press boards to hold them together. i added thin layers of pvc glue along the one edge of all the papers - lots of layers over a lot of time to build up that binding. i then added those little fabric tape end pieces (i can't remember what they call those in the bookbinding world, but they look really nice.) and finally attached the book cover. i was proud of how it turned out and i've always wanted to try my hand at bookbinding. it's a fragile book (the pages could easily rip out like a notebook) but i thought it was a really nice gift to commemorate their wedding.

bachelorette and bachelor invites

i don't think i've shared these yet...so here are the invites to both the bachelorette party and the bachelor party. everything hand lettered and doodled. i love the envelopes, the iridescent vellum for the girls and the black vellum for the boys paired with flower seed packet stamps on the girls and johnny cash stamps on the boys. and silver hilighter worked on both envelopes. the bachelorette party was a day at the spa followed by pizza and a movie. the bachelor party was a dinner at an irish pub.

shower invites

here's another piece of the hand lettering set i created for the wedding. this is the bridal shower invite. i had a little bit of a geometric theme happening for this party, but i created the hand lettering on every piece of the wedding. and these irridescent vellum envelopes we found at hollo's are just beautiful (although a bit difficult to find a pen that works well  on them.) and again we carried the color theme into the shower as well, so the teal paper was a nice way to do that.

the save-the-dates

seems like forever ago now, but the first thing i created for the wedding were the save the date postcards. i lettered and drew all the designs by hand. i printed and cut all of them. they went out as postcards so they got pretty dirty in the mailing system, but that just adds charm. we did have problems with the first paper we chose - it was an irridescent laser paper, that did not seem to like being printed on at all! even thru a laser printer the ink was rubbing off - that was upsetting. so we redid on white paper, but they got the job done.

table numbers

i don't have a picture of the final table centerpieces, but here are the number tags i hand lettered. the tags are about 3 inches wide and we got those at hollo's papercraft (love that place.) each one is unique and hand lettered with a black micron pen (probably size 02 or 03, i don't remember.) i think i averaged one tag a night. these tags were then tied with teal and white twine to a tinted mason jar filled with a very large white hydrangea - they looked fabulous. with the table number mason jars were little milk jars in black carriers filled with colorful yarn pom pom flowers that sarah made. hopefully the photographer took pictures of the table set up so i can show those later.

the wedding ties

another thing i sewed for the wedding were the ties for the groom and groomsmen. i had never made ties before and i'm not sure i would care to make them every again, haha. actually, i can appreciate why ties are so freaking expensive now. i think they turned out nice and if i found the perfect fabric then i would probably make another tie for my husband. i also made pocket squares for all the men (significantly easier to create) out of the purple fabric, however i didn't seem to take any pictures of those. the other thing about making these ties was that since i didn't know what i was doing and was following a pattern i didn't know what the end result was going to be - they turned out to be a skinny tie of sorts (which i love), however they were a bit short for half the men (half the wedding party is over 6 feet tall.) so keep height in mind if you plan on creating ties for a group.

flower girl dresses

so i will have lots of wedding stuff to show once i get all the photos organized and such (actually i didn't even get around to take photos of everything i made so i'm hoping the professional photographer did.) i did make the flower girl dresses though; one for my daughter and one for my niece. they both looked so cute all dolled up. i found this fabulous washable silk fabric in teal and purple. they have flecks of accent color in the fabric as well that just looks fantastic. i also found some perfectly matching tulle. i have very limited experience with silk and i had never sewn with tulle before (i made myself a tulle skirt right away to get a feel for the stuff - not so easy to work with i discovered.) the dresses are a fairly simple shape and i added the tulle (which i basically took the skirt pattern piece and flared it out more to cut the tulle pieces.) and i sewed the tulle right into the waistline. the purple bow belt is a separate piece (which was great because alex had practically grown out of the belt by the time the wedding arrived, so she was able to wear it for the ceremony and take it off for the reception.) i think the dresses turned out fabulous and alex might even wear hers to holiday tea as well (since it washed really well and i just have to figure out what to do with the rips in the tulle that appeared post wedding; probably from the fancy dancing alex was doing!)