IN THE STUDIO // INDEPENDENT WEDDING FAIR

I am very excited to be a part of the upcoming Something New: Independent Wedding Fair this February at the very chic Five Event Center in Minneapolis. Are you looking for local and independent vendors to help you with your wedding? Do you know someone who is? Do you want your wedding to stand out in a way that only a passionate professional who cares deeply about what they do can help you with? Do you know someone who wants this for their wedding? This will be the fair to attend. In the coming months I will feature other vendors and news from the fair.

Go here to get your tickets.

SHOP // MERINGUE RINGS {REAL & NOT-SO-REAL}

When I saw this post on Poppytalk I got so excited because I thought is was just a sweetly distinctive idea for a favor at a wedding. Meringue rings! Why had no one thought of this before? They would look stunning either on a place setting or on a long table, glorious in their white repetition. And then I actually read the post and found out that these are silicone and really are rings to be worn on a finger, not gluttonously devoured at first site. I will admit my mild disappointment, but then I realized that there are lots of great bakeries out there that could make the real thing for you and your lovely wedding {or maybe you're just that talented and could pull it off yourself}. What great inspiration for wedding favors. Now get on the phone, find out what local bakery will do them for you and report back. :)

The rings themselves are from German designer Tanja Hartmann and are available here.

INSPIRATION FILE // MARGARET KILGALLEN

I have always wanted to try my hand at hand lettering and Margaret Kilgallen's work is perfect inspiration. So off to take yet another look at the REDCAT Gallery's exhibition catalog of their 2005 exhibit In the Sweet Bye & Bye. From the REDCAT web site :

“Margaret Kilgallen: In the Sweet Bye & Bye presents works by the influential Bay Area painter. Kilgallen’s unique re-sourcing of sweetly familiar and non-hierarchical everyday places, markings and people was in large part inspired by the wandering culture of immigrants, railway workers and dreamers. She was especially interested in evidence of a maker’s hand—in seeing traces of the maker in her work.”

That, in a nut shell, is why I love, love, love her work – the importance of both the everyday and the hand! If you want to see more images from the exhibit go to Flickr where sketchypad.annex has a great photo set from the exhibition itself. It will give you a taste of her work and make you order the book as quickly as I did.

Margaret Kilgallen: In the Sweet Bye & Bye at The Curiosity Shoppe.

IN THE STUDIO // HOLIDAY CARDS A-PLENTY

I have been so very busy with custom printed holiday and Christmas cards lately. This makes me very happy. Here are some of my offerings, all of which are available at my Etsy shop. The card above can be bought as is, with the simple greeting "May your days be merry and bright." {a 6 pack is $14 or if you buy 30 or more cards they are $2 a piece} or you may have your own custom message letterpress printed at the bottom {50 for $95}. Both are printing on 100% cotton paper and include white envelopes and self adhesive photo corners for you to mount your own photo to the card. This has been my single most popular card so far this season. For the custom card I need 3 weeks from final approval of artwork to shipping the cards so now's the time to order if you want them out before Christmas.

The rest of the cards below can be bought blank inside or you may customize these as well. With these I offer digital personalization and letterpress personalization. Contact me if you are interested {there's a link to contact me on the right side bar} in either type of personalization.