Stinkerpants

Save the Date: K and M!

June 22, 2009 in Blog • Weddings-Blog • Custom Weddings • Save The Dates

Happy Monday, people!  I am feeling *much* better since devising a new (well, sort of) direction for my business.  But more on that later.

For right now, I have a project to show you guys.  Actually, I have a backlog of projects!  My friend Marianne pointed out last week that I’m a slacker with sharing my finished projects on the blog, and she really enjoys seeing them.  So here’s a recent Save the Date!

When M first contacted me, she got me *very* excited about drawing a cheongsam (a Chinese red wedding dress).  As some of you may remember, I had the cheongsam for my wedding custom made, so I learned a lot about the beauty of these dresses.

M had a lot of other details to incorporate, too, including the date written in red diamonds (I’d never noticed that before, but it’s  a common way to write dates in Chinese culture!), paper lanterns with Chinese characters, and their pet turtles, climbing all over one another.

Here’s a detail shot of the turtles.  M sent me a photo of her turtles to work from!  I love including pets in drawings, and the turtles were a first!

I really love how these Save the Dates turned out! It was really fun to incorporate Chinese traditions into fun Save the Dates.

And as I said last week, I just finished a BUNCH of projects that were *really* fun to draw, so I look forward to sharing them with you, too!

Running a Business: Marketing through Shows

June 11, 2009 in Running A Business • Advice

Recently I’ve been working a bit more on marketing–or at least thinking about it.  A lot of the blogs I follow are of fellow crafters and stationery designers.  Recently there’s been a lot of coverage of the National Stationery Show, and people are now talking about the Renegade Craft Fair, which was this past weekend in Brooklyn and will be hitting San Francisco next month.

I haven’t done any of these craft or stationery shows.  I’m not sure that I really fit in at a craft show, as my wares are pretty much limited to greeting cards and artwork–everything else is custom, which kind of defeats the purpose of a craft show, right?  People come to purchase.

I would love to do the National Stationery Show (or the Gift Fair), especially for my greeting cards. The cost of attending those shows is seriously prohibitive, though (think thousands of dollars, plus the cost of travel and booth decorations).

I’ve done one bridal show–Lovely Details for two years. It’s a smaller show and is much less expensive than the bigger bridal shows, which can be $1500 for a booth.

Last year, I didn’t get much business from the bridal show.  It is a small show, so that’s not to say that I wouldn’t get a better return at a bigger show.   This year I had the pleasure of meeting a few of my readers (hi guys!) and people seemed to react with more enthusiasm at my table (which, appearance-wise, hasn’t really changed that much since last year).  Maybe people are looking for more personalized/different wedding stuff than they were last year?  I have no idea.

One cool and slightly unexpected thing I found last year was that there are a bunch of really amazing wedding vendors in the bay area, and they are very fun people.  This year was no different.  I had the opportunity to meet Amanda of Blueberry Photography, Audrey at Glowing Bridal, Andrea at Sift Cupcakery, Jennifer at Jennifer Longaway Photography, and John at Enhanced Lighting.  These are super nice people, and they make me really excited to be part of the wedding vendor community.  Last year I wanted to be best friends with Lisa + James, Huckleberry Karen and Lisa at Bellissima Vita (more on these four in about a month), and I’m happy to say that I am now pretty good friends with all of them.

So there are benefits to doing things like this, other than just getting business.  I don’t think of it as networking–I think of it as meeting awesome new people whom I would love to see again.

But is it worth the high cost for some of the bigger shows?  I’m not sure.  As a bride, I only went to a few shows, and I didn’t book any of my vendors after seeing them at a show.  How about you guys?  Would you book a vendor because you saw them at a fair?

Bridal Book Giveaways!

June 10, 2009 in Blog • Miscellaneous • Giveaways

A few weeks ago, we were lucky enough to have our storage area redone with a whole lot of new cabinetry.  In order to give the workmen access to the area, though, we had to clean out all of our stuff. And man, did we ever have a lot of stuff!

After the wedding, I just kind of abandoned all of my wedding planning things–I stuffed them into a corner and tried to forget they were there, because I just didn’t feel like dealing with them.  Nine months have passed!  Can you believe it?  And now that I’ve gone through it all, I have some stuff I’d like to share with you guys!

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be running giveaways here on my blog for six different wedding planning books–so if you know anyone who’s planning a wedding or just got engaged, tell them about it!

Here are the books I’ll be giving away (in the order that they’ll be listed):

 I DO: A guide to Creating your Own Unique Wedding Ceremony
by Sydney Barbara Metrick.
Retails for $14.95 and is in great condition.

The Artful Bride’s Wedding Invitations: A Stylish Bride’s Guide to Simple, Handmade Wedding Correspondence
by Laura McFadden & April L Paffrath
Retails for $12.99 and is in great condition

The Creative Jewish Wedding Book: A Hands-on Guide to New & Old Traditions, Ceremonies and Celebrations
by Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer
Retails for $19.99 and is in great condition

The Everything Wedding Organizer (with checklists, charts, and worksheets for planning the perfect day)
by Shelly Hagen
Retails for $16.95 and is in great condition

the Wedding Ceremony Planner: the Essential Guide to the Most Important Part of your Wedding Day
by Reverend Judith Johnson, PhD
Retails for $16.95.  This one has some notes and highlighting in it, and was by far my favorite resource for writing our ceremony.  If you don’t win this, buy it!  It’s a great book.

Great Wedding Tips from the Experts: What Every Bride Can Learn from the Most Successful Wedding Planners
by Robbi GW Ernst III
Retails for $18.95 and is in great condition.  This book got awesome reviews on Amazon, but I bought it too late in our planning to use it!

As you can see, it’s a pretty great haul!  Just comment on the individual posts, and a few days later I’ll post the winner.  :)

Favorite Things: Every Day Food

June 9, 2009 in I Freakin' Love This Thing! • I Freakin' Love this Kitchen Stuff!

Whoo, it’s been awhile since I did a “Favorite Things,” hasn’t it?!  Well, here is another one of my favorite things, courtesy (once again) of my friend Sarah.

When I first started cooking, Sarah told me about this magazine and let me borrow a few of her old copies.  HOLY MOLY.  The recipes in here are fantabulous.  Furthermore, every issue teaches you about a different type of food and a different type of kitchenware.  I feel my brains expanding everytime I read one, let me tell you.  Most of the recipes are healthy (with the exception of the dessert section), and I haven’t had one yet that was less than 90% tasty.

I got a free subscription for reviewing a few of my vendors on WeddingWire (which I happily would have done anyway!), but I will definitely renew my subscription when the free one ends.  Highly recommended!

Blog Header!

June 8, 2009 in

I’m so excited!  Last week my friend Sarah asked me to create a blog header for her.  She purchased a template from Rainy Day Templates for her cooking blog and felt like it needed a little something extra to make it personal.  She also wanted a way to rate her recipes.  Here’s what I came up with:

As you may have noticed, I don’t typically do eyeballs.  I usually just do happy little smiley eyes.  But Sarah has very striking blue eyes, and I really felt like I needed to include them.  :)  Sarah requested a vintage apron and asked to be holding a kitchen tool of some sort.

And for her rating system?  Little spatulas, of course!!

If you’re looking to update your blog but don’t have a big budget, check out the templates over at Rainy Day Templates.  They’re really modern and cute!