Lavender Kay

Here is an email invitation I made a few months back and thought I would share it.

We had a little end of the year get together with Holly and her roommates to celebrate the start of summer.  Just for fun, I decided to make an invitation for it.  In recent years, parties have become so informal but because of my love of cards, I deemed it necessary to make a card – and bring back the formality.  Yes, an invitation in the mail would be better but sometimes there just isn’t time for that.  But I think I would like to also start sending more letters through the mail.  I know how much I like getting mail, and I assume most everyone else does too 🙂

One of my new favorite things to do is to shop at antique stores.  Spokane has a million and they are rich with wondrous treasures!  You walk into an antique store and you feel like you have been transported into another world.  Most of the stuff I wanted was much to expensive for me right now but here are pictures of a few fun things I bought.

Kinda random I know.  But I just thought the vintage bingo card and receipts would be fun to use for my next card design.

I decided to go back to my roots and make a few homemade greeting cards on the 4th of July while Jonathan was studying.   First I pulled out my ivory matte folded cards to use for the base.  Then I cut up my new Anthropologie magazine (one of my favorite things ) and used it for the pictures in my cards.

Here are a few of them by themselves.

I realized this used to be one of my favorite things to do and it had been forever!  I am a little rusty and I want to make more in my free time.

Here is a postcard I bought at a cluttered vintage store in Stockholm, Sweden.  The store was located in a narrow, cobblestone ally and was so full of stuff you could barely walk through the aisle ways without things toppling over on you.  There were piles of old books and magazines that reached almost to the ceiling.  It was magical.  I found this postcard while I was rummaging through some stuff at our apartment the other day and I have been feeling very nostalgic about Europe ever since.  I am amazed at how easy it is to get back to your normal routine and go through your daily life while forgetting  all about such an experience as backpacking through Europe.  Oh how I miss it.

Last night Jonathan and I went to our neighbor’s house (who also happens to be our landlord) for a neighborhood BBQ.  Four houses of people attended, making the guest count about ten people in all.  And what a great time it was. My introverted nature sometimes keeps me from taking part in these types of events, but when I give in and attend, I am always surprised by how much fun I can have. We spent the night having good food, good conversation, and much laughter with the people who were strangers to us just hours before.  I also gained much insight into the act huckleberry picking and how the term, “pecking order” came to be.

I am encouraged by all the wonderful people I live next to.  Knowing your neighbors seems to be a thing of the past.  But I hope that can change.  I hope we can go back to befriending our neighbors and knowing the people we live next to.  (After all, I did end up marring my neighbor) I read somewhere that “community died when we stopped building front porches.”  Maybe a little extreme, but I believe there is some truth to this statement.  Instead of spending a sunny day on the front porch with a glass of sweet tea and a hello to the people passing by, we have built fences and garages attached to our houses, making it much harder to even come into contact with our neighbors.  I don’t think this is true for everyone, but I think it is true for me.  Ever since Jonathan and I have moved into this house, we have spent a lot of time sitting on our front porch.  The neighborhood BBQ was born in part, by sitting on the front porch and talking to our neighbors.

So here’s to front porches and wonderful neighbors!

Kristen Marie Photography

I have a deep love for ribbon and twine.  Or string or anything of the sort.  I find all the colors, textures and sizes enchanting.  There is just so many things you can do with them.  You can make beautiful cards with ribbon.  A unique piece of ribbon can transform the wrapping of a birthday present.  You can hang different pieces of ribbon against a plain wall to make it fancy.

I find myself keeping ever scrap of ribbon from every present I have ever received.  Jonathan is always surprised to find new pieces of ribbon lying around our apartment.  But I just can’t help myself!  It is so useful. Without twine, my wedding bouquet wouldn’t have turned out as perfect as it was!  So to ribbon and twine, you are one of my favorite things.

PS Thank you to Allie and Kayla and Danielle and everyone who made the beautiful bouquets at my wedding!  They were superb.

I just finished up designing and packaging some wedding invitations for a friend of Holly’s.  I had SO much fun with these invitations and I am just loving paper bag brown right now!  Here are a few pictures I took of the invitations.  They kind of took over our living room for a few days!

Sometimes I forget what a walk through my neighborhood does for my happiness.  The long winter spell Spokane had this year took away all my desire to go on walks.  But with new neighborhoods to explore and glimpses of the sun, I have gained a new appreciation for walking. It calms my nerves and clears my mind.

Weddings bring about so much stress whether we want them to or not.  I plan weddings for a living and I am still amazed by all the little details involved.  Make reservations.  Call florists.  Set up appointments.  Make a thousand decisions.  To do lists!  The hope is that it is all worth it in the end and you can enjoy the big day.  I am going to commit to enjoying my wedding.  What a novel idea!  I am not going to let the day pass we by but instead I am going to try and soak up every moment.  I am going to enjoy all the wonderful people and dance the night away.  Hopefully 🙂