Showing posts with label creating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creating. Show all posts

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Wedding Invitations

I thought it might be fun to show a few elements from our wedding that we created ourselves. I just think there are far too many crazy difficult wedding-related things on this little internet of ours. There is simply SO much wedding inspiration out there it becomes overwhelming and frankly a little discouraging... cause you can't do everything. And you don't want to copy everyone else's ideas. And what gets me the most is the impression that's given that everyone should have an endless budget and throw money at it like a maniac! There are far too few resources for brides (and grooms) looking to do things affordably, without compromising on the look and feel of the day. Okay, maybe you'll compromise on things because of money, yes. But good taste is good taste and it has nothing to do with money.

If you want to see the inspiration for the feel of our wedding, see my Wedding pinterest board, by clicking here.

So I will share the first thing we made ourselves in the whole process: invitations, of course!

I wanted them to be more than some coloured paper glued together... I love texture and mixing materials, and  I had noticed lots of different things that are, indeed, paper but are not normal card-making papers. I guess re-purposing is what I'm getting at. And since a mix of neutrals was the look I wanted, there was no concern over matching turquoises or anything like that.



The front sheet was ivory linen-textured card stock we found at Micheal's on sale. I think it was something like 30c a sheet.  We cut it to size, printed the text using our friend's laser printer, and used a punch to round the corners ($20). The paper doilies are from the dollar store. I think we bought 6 packs of 15ish at $1 a pack. The kraft-paper cardstock on the bottom was a $25 stack from Micheal's which had all different patterns but the Kraft brown background in common. I had originally planned to use torn out sheets from an old dictionary to provide this 'patterned' layer. But when the time came, the yellowed dictionary I had was a really off colour next to the other whites and it just didn't work. So when we found this stack at Micheal's, we went for it. And we used every last sheet, so it was worth the money. The return envelopes came from Value Village. I love perusing their stationary section and had found airmail envelopes there before so I found more luckily. And I bought the large envelopes from Grand & Toy near my work because I literally couldn't seem to find them anywhere else ($8/25 I think). This is the largest envelope you can mail with standard postage and it made sense since we had the long airmail envelopes to fit in there. Also, I honestly can't get over the price of envelopes at places like Micheal's. I went to look for some for our thank-you cards but then realised it would have been like $1/envelope! And I don't want shimmery gold thank you very much! (their white envelopes all seemed to come with cards. I remedied this another way. WHOLE other post...)
The thread for sewing the sheets together was stuff already lying around so call it free. Some people's had brown thread, some read, but my favorites were just black thread. I used glue dots from the dollar store for attaching the top invite card to the doily paper. ($2)



 By far, the thing that took the longest was choosing the fonts and laying out the wording. We found that by making some words grey and some black, it made the whole thing look a lot more legible and kinda professional looking. Thanks to DaFont.com for the fonts Peach Sundress and Return To Sender ! The other text was all Rockwell. Everything was laid out in Word and printed on a desktop printer. Simple.



The back held the RSVP card, which was sewn on together with the doily and the kraft card stock. (that was easier than you might think too. Stack them, and push them through the sewing machine one after the other. Cut them apart later.) Before sewing the RSVP on though I took them through the sewing machine with an unthreaded needle to give it a perforation. Most people figured out that that meant you could tear it off. :) 


The Cow, Chicken and Carrots graphics were all found within 5 minutes of Google image searching. 
Love the internet. They, again, were correctly interpreted by most. :)




I was really attached to the idea of a hand-drawn map or something really cutesy, but frankly we didn't have the time. We just printed a Google Map to show how to get to the park as well as a park map to show how to get to the lodge. It looked better than I expected just because of the coloured paper background.





And that's all folks! I think all in all we spent more on stamps than on the invitations by far, so I would call it a success. And it was really really fun to do!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Vancouver Destination for you...

Have you ever been to Dressew?
Well, if you're ever in Vancouver and you like fabric, you should go there. It's A. MAZE. ING.

Last time Dad was in town, we went there upon recommendation by my cousin. Here's me in front of their ric-rac wall.

There are also floor to ceiling walls of cord, ribbon, lace, brown buttons, orange buttons, snaps, straps, sequins .... and then there are the bolts and bolts (and bolts) of fabric!
Its fun to look at even if you're not a sewer. I couldn't leave without a few meters of the giant green ric-rac. And Dad even enjoyed it!
Just TONNES of stuff. Like the kind of stuff you always wonder if you can get somewhere, y'know?

Go if you ever get a chance!

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Can I just say...

..... I love blogs!? I have been reading blogs all morning. It's been a while since I've done that. And yes I am putting off a certain drafting job that needs doing. But guess what, it's me that will reep the consquences of procrastination and I am well aware, so never you mind! (tee hee ... words I will regret)

So, yeah, I was feeling slightly guilty that I'm not getting anything done this morning save feeling inspired by my on-lap computer sitting in my pjs  in front of a warm fire. (on-lap...lap-top... I think I like my version better :D)

Do I use perenthesis too much? (Do I care?)

But I do need to share something I painted a few weeks ago when I had a free Sunday with the girls and they showed me this idea of pasting images from a magazine onto a canvas and then filling in the background! You will not believe how much fun this is!



I did this on a little 9 x 5 inch ish canvas and, as you can see, pasted an image of a girl diving off a diving board with clouds and sky in the background on the top and an image of diamonds on the bottom. The diamonds got covered with a lot of paint with just some of the magazine image still showing through. Same with the diving girl I suppose. But I like it, I like it a lot. You should try it and let me know how it turns out!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Lighting Smighting

As I was looking for some lighting (what I really want and can't seem to find a picture of is something dangly and small that would look raindrop-like. Help?) I found this amaaaazing designer who makes stuff like this:


And then, google made me stumble upon this art by Stuart Haygarth:

And  I had a thought! Maybe the fact that I've always enjoyed the lighting aspect of Interior Design could be paired with this artsy fartsy stuff that looks like it would be SO fun to make!
Who knew?!

K back to work...

Monday, March 1, 2010

1940s Hair

Check out Casey Brown of "Elegantly Amused" on YouTube for hair tutorials!

My Before & After:
After trying the front bang-curl part about four trillion times, I finally settled with it like this, but my hair really doesn't do that 'neat and tidy' look she does so perfectly!

So fun though! You should check out her YouTube channel and blog and Etsy shop and whatever else she's got linked from her blog. Pretty neat chicky!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

A ways away...



Leif, Laura
Moxie, Mom
Wade, Tara

I miss you all and am thinkin' of you!

And I can't wait to see what's in that belly, Tara, hopefully it won't get scared off by the face your husband is making :)

Laura, we never really got a photo together that weekend, but I did have a photo of what I made you to represent for you guys, works I guess!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Judge me and Fix me

Any volunteers to make this have more contrast?! I need a photoshop buff. Because the spool is yellow, it just doesn't do high contrast black and white it seems. Ultimately I'd like it to have a hard edge around the spool too, and more black lines. I'm not sure if I love it yet but I'm thinking it would work as a logo if it had the contasted lines I'm talkin' about. What do you think?


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Morning Creation

Some cute ol' fabric I've had sitting around forever
It used to be a curtain. And I remember sewing the random pleats into it one day back when we lived in Australia. That's all I did to it. So today I finally made it fit as a skirt, added a zipper and a hem.


Surprisingly enough, it does stay up without the belt, but I like the little touch of 'modern' that it adds. :)

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Before & After



Now I'm goin' around with my bottle of spray paint... hmmm... what else would look good white....?

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Dear...

Dear Susie:
I am really excited that you got your parcel already!!! Yay! When I was at the Post office, I was over the weight limit by like miniscule amounts so I actually ripped out some pages from that lists book to get it down to weight!!! (Don't worry, I took them from the 'work' section)
Dang that glitter. I shoulda took that out instead.
Also, really excited to be able to Skype with you now!

Dear Everyone Else:
Here are the projects that I made, all 5, all different, all interesting and unique and beautiful in their own special way...maybe... sort of, anyways.

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I'm glad you all like them, or so you say ;) either way, I had fun! Thanks for joining in!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Your Handmade Game Gift is on it's way!

Remember the game?
Yeah, so I am done makin' my stuff (Step 1) and getting it in the mail (very important Step 2)

I used this game as an excuse to try making a few things that I'd been wanting to try for a while and just see how it goes; so you were guinea pigs and there were some screw ups but what can you do... give them away thats what!
I won't tell you what I made each of you because they're all a little different, but I will tell you what it could be made of. Here are all of the supplies used:

- old tshirt
- old sweater, shrunken
- value village-bought fabric
- old curtains from VV
- pieces off a purse I don't want
- ribbon that was lying around
- an old man shirt I got at Value Village to use for somethin' I don't remember it was so long ago
- fabric that came from mom's house or grandma's house or both
- recently purchased thrift shop fabric
- used socks
- cotton thread
- old buttons

So, as you can see, I didn't spend any money on the making of these things. As a result, you may notice that the thread doesn't match or something crazy like that. Also please be advised I enjoy sewing but it doesn't mean I'm a pro, I am still learning, and you (lucky you) got to be a part of the learning process!
Also. my machine requires a fair bit of steering (as I like to call it), even when you're sewing in a straight-ish line, so, yeah, my stitches may look somewhat wobilly.

Anyways, enough excuses yet?!

I really, sincerely, hope you like what comes in your mail box (except you Calgarians, I am making a special trip to drop those off cause it's cheaper than Canada Post :P) !

Love,

Ayla

Saturday, January 9, 2010

L&J Wedding Photos Sparkled!

Lane & Jocelyn's photographer has blogged some of their Wedding photos here
Look good so far, don't they!?
This was my surprise for them:



I thought it would make a great departure shot, and the photographer captured it perfectly!
They loved it. I had fun covering all the little match boxes with lace and paper with their initials stenciled on (my new favourite way to do lettering, if you haven't noticed my new banner!)

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

an Etsy shop

Here's what I've been up to lately!
Time to advertise to the world ... there is much more to come, but you can look at what I had time to upload today!
Get shoppin' folks, it's all one-of-a-kind, first come first served!
;)
And this is my 100th blog post!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Taking Advice...

Yay for playing with words! I liked everyone's ideas. Everyone's!
I tried a different way of puting two together by writing all the words on peices of paper and puting them in a jar, pulling them out . . . Then I'm not restricted to my brain's ideas.

See Home - uh...
Bon Fine - does Bon mean good? Good Fine? haha!
Cushy Sing - that sounds like a voice lesson tip... tool... thing I know nothing about. A la "have a cushy voice, now.."
Habits Love - habits love... what
Kind Purely - ESL?
Sentimental Secret - barf
Porcelain Heart - porcelain is consistent throughout; pure. But too delicate sounding. And nice.
Little Polka Dot - good name for a kid's store
Soul Jam
Once One Hundred - has a ring to it?
Ruby Street
Blue Olive
Smile Simply
Button What
Ocean Ruby
Red Heap
Tea Light
Puzzle Fine
Porcelain Simply
Habits Kind - Kind Habits
Polka Dot Oh - Oh Polka Dot
Polka Dot Ocean

Simply What . . . okay this game is getting old.

Then I developed an obsession with the word/name Simon. As in simple simon... was a pie man. I'm not really a boo-yah-crazy-lovin pie person but Simon is still a good name.

Simon Soul
YaySimon
All Simon
Simon Island

Yellow Dawn (favourite colour, middle name)

My boy hates when I ask for help and then don't take the advice given, too. So you're not alone if you're thinkin 'uh why did you even ask for help, Ayla?!', but I am sorry! I was just trying to get some creative sparks flying, so thank you!

ONE of these days I will get on this and I will actually have something to show for my 'thoughts' on openning an Etsy shop. I am still struggling with the idea of putting myself out there when I feel like my ideas have all been done; I have nothing new to offer, and that feeling always bothers me. A lot.

And also wondering if selling vintage finds and treasures is stupid or smart. I just can't decide. But I do have some treasures...
I just don't like those shops where they sell a set of bowls for $35 when you can get them at the Salvos for $2. But at the same time, maybe my ability to pick out the great stuff, IS worth money. Is it? Please, I need some opinions.

Alrighty, Good Nighty!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Inspire Me


heart
home
olive
live
street
what
secret
tea
more
blue
heap
porcelain
sing
little
ocean
button
oh
one-hundred
shining
sentimental
habits
puzzle
hard-cover
smile
ruby
kind
who
jam
once
light
polka-dot
love
simply
bon
red
cushy
purely
see
soul
sailing
my
fine
ticket

Put 2 of those words together in a way that sounds like a cute little vintagey shop name. And let's see what this inspires...
Oh, and you can add an & if you must.

Yeah you. Thank you.

Monday, September 14, 2009

My New Dayjob


You would not believe how much fun I'm having describing cushion covers.

They've got personalities.


Info soon to be revealed!


But for now, meet Betsy:

Betsy is a vintage rose fabric, completely upfront in her 100% cotton down-to-earth-ness.
She loves to rest in lazy, comfy, cozy rooms. . .
She loves to be a headrest while you read a good book. . .
She's a pretty denim blue colour. . .
She has a blue/white striped back side with overlapping fabric closure for access to cushion. . .


P.S. Mom, is this fabric vintage? Where did it come from? Grandma? I'm calling it vintage. It feels old.

Monday, August 10, 2009

screen shots

I am taking a quick break from this.

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Thats the plan for the office space

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And thats the plan for the residence above it.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Design Blabber again. I'm apparently not THAT busy


Laura, I am so glad you asked! How AM I going to do that... Well I thought maybe I could try and pull out the sample bin and see what else I have.






It turns out a lot (more than I thought I had)


Most of it, I have no idea where it came from.
(Although I THINK that the few times I've raided the sample room at school I've gotten super lucky because everyone else says its a waste of time - pssscht! Some of the fabric samples are big enough to make a skirt - a free skirt!- you can't complain about that!)
I found a concrete sample that is the EXACT shade and type of thing that I was thinking I wanted for the whole office space. Consistent flooring = a little needed continuity. And I found a sample that is a vinyl wallcovering that acts as a whiteboard - perfect! I am yet to decide if it belongs in the meeting room or by the draftsperson's desk... or in the sample library... or everywhere... I'm trying to shout communication, right?!
(Sorry, I'm not sure, did I talk about that here? w/e, basically www=communication=good=knowledge=global connections=global village=my office space)

Also, most if not all of the non-patterned walls will be white. or a version of white. So that should calm down the papers.

And the wallpaper on one wall will not be sharing the line of site with another wallpapered wall. However, even if that does look good in real life, I need it to look good on a sample board which might be a different story. But, once I get the wallpapers (please please please closer to the 5 than the 10 business days!) I can play with it, see what type of white goes with it all and choose what goes where.
Here's some stuff that could work and I'm putting aside for now.

oooh and see those metalic kinda loopy things on the top left? They are called cascade curtains and are basically loops of metal - come in many many finishes - basically like a fireplace screen if you know what I mean. But they look sooo interesting and dramatic as an actual curtain or room divider. And it perfectly demonstrates my concept. So I also need to find a place for that.

My materials so totally rock my world! I thought this part was going to be painful!!

Today I worked on the ceiling plan. Chose most of my lighting and drew it all out rough....

Other than that, my Saturday included a nap and a salmon dinner and a movie at home with the boy!

P.S. Looking forward to Convention in the morning!




Friday, August 7, 2009

My walls will be so Beautiful!

I worked on the floor plans from about 10 til about 7:30.... at which point I was too hungry to keep going, came home and had supper, and now can't seem to pick myself up to go back to school and keep at it... !!!

But I'm happy with what I did get done and my critiques were quite good, I got a lot of positive comments about the concept and layouts, so I feel a lot better about it now!


My next worry is the material boards I have to do. This will be very time consuming... just did an online search for wallcoverings and somehow... found some great samples - $5 each, but I can't risk not finding them in time and I know that wallcoverings are the hardest to get samples of (especially free) and that I REALLY REALLY want to display the different cultures and 'global influence' by using wallpaper... so... I think I can justify it if it lets me stress a little less. . .

So here is what I found (this is very exciting!):

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Got a little Asian Hawaiian, Portugese, American, Moroccan.... I am happy. This is what I wanted.



Thanks for the encouraging comments!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Inspiration comes of working

These all seem like nice offices for an Architect:

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So now that I've wasted an hour finding those... and blogging about it....


I am still not decided on concept.




... I want something that can translate to these types of looks. Maybe "loft", but its a bit vague. I had thought of "global", incorporating different designs from different cultures and what-not. . . hard to explain without an image. OR the other idea I had was Venice/Italy/Gondola - the 'water' aspect would translate through the use of glass (aka the 1st picture sort of, I like how they used glass there) with rustic and historic looking things like the buildings would be. I could use stripes. :D. And bridges. But I don't want it to FEEL like Venice. Just be inspired by it. Modern Venice if you will.



Thoughts?

I NEEEEEED to decide completely and whole-heartedly like NOW.
Let me fill you in...
In 1 month....
I need to complete:

1. a concept statement

2. floor plans (upper and lower)

3. draw 4 elevations, 1 section of entire building

4. draw 1 perspective showing design in best possible way

5. create furniture board - chosen pieces to be illustrated/put together in an appealing way, labelled etc.

6. Colour & material board - must have actual materials, for ALL areas

7. Millwork drawing of reception desk; plan, elevations, section, specs, labels, finishes, dimensions etc.

8. Reflected ceiling plan - spec. all lighting types, create schedule, label all ceiling heights and finishes, both floors

9. sketchbook - used all the way through to show design intent/purpose/train of thought/ideas etc.


This is my plan of action:

- come up with STRONG concept (I am close to committing)

- space plan for functionality/adjacencies - upper & lower floors

- space plan design - add details, design interest, relate space to concept more

- layout furniture (research systems furniture, choose, research all items and have pictures and dimensions first)

- reflected ceiling plan - add some ceiling detail, choose luminaires, play with ceiling heights, whatever. Draw.

- Perspective drawing. Elevations drawings. Section drawings. All Manual. No CAD. I am mad about that. tripple the time...

- Colours and Materials - actually I should start the search for those now

- furniture board (probably the only thing on the list that COULD be done the night before IF I HAD to, which I am not planning on, but... y'know... just sayin'

- Millwork drawings - this CAN be done in CAD, so yippee! AAnd shouldn't take too too long. A day or 2 tops.

- Sketchbook - already started, and will continue to use tonnes as if they don't think it looks 'complete' they don't mark the project at all. Thats right.


So, I am looking for volunteers to come and stay with me for the month. Must be capable of:

a) doing laundry
b) reminding me when to shower
c) reminging me when not to blog
d) reminding me to sleep and, most importantly,
e) making me food

and, a bonus ability would be to keep my room somewhat liveable for the month. And possibly searching for a job for me come September.
Got it? K. Thanks.


Happy B.C. day!

Inspiration comes of working.
Imagination is more important than knowledge
The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others. Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature. Life is an exciting business and most exciting when it is lived for others. You cannot do much about the length of your life, but you can do a lot about its depth and width.
- As quoted by my green folder that holds papers.