Kraft paper on ALL the things!

In my last post, I showed off a fun rehearsal dinner invitation that I had recently made - complete with a bluegrass dinosaur!  Okay, yes.  I admit, I'm kind of obsessed with him.  Turns out I'm also obsessed with two other things lately.

First - bangs.  Once a year, I go through the ultimate struggle of deciding if I want to say "yes" or "no" to bangs - like pretty much every other female, except maybe Zooey Deschanel, who can rock a bang like nobody else. Part of me wants to say, "YOLO" and "Do it!  Hey, they could be fun!  You need a change!" While, the other (much more realistic) side says, "Bangs are probably not a good idea for someone who wakes up and leaves JUST enough time to shower and grab a banana before scurrying out the door for work.  Dry your hair before leaving? HA!  How about dry your hair with your heat vent in your car while driving and eating the banana you grabbed on your way out.  Also, girl - you are a sweaty beast.  Your bangs will get sweaty and curl up into unflattering little frizz monsters, dangling on your forehead." Regardless, I have scheduled my appointment for next Wednesday and my fun, irrational side is winning. We'll see what happens when Wednesday comes.  The struggle is real.

Second - kraft paper.  I used this look with the dinosaur invite to give it a more earthy and Jurassic feel.  This look is super rustic and perfect for fall, too!  Since making this invite, I have used this look for a bridal shower invitation, which you can find here.  Then today, I thought, hey! that look would translate really well to the current chalkboard designs that are in the shop, too!  So, I swapped out the chalkboard background on the Oh Deer! invite and really loved the result.  So, guess what that means!  It's now available in the shop.  I also did the same thing with the other chalkboard invite in the shop.  You can find them here and here!

Here are both invites with the chalkboard and kraft paper looks for you to enjoy.

-- Alison --

Coolest Rehearsal Dinner. Ever.

Lately, I've received some requests for custom invitations that have completely and utterly confirmed that opening this shop is the best decision I've made in a long time.  It's just so exciting to get to work with so many people that have such great, clever, and quirky ideas.  This job is a blasty blast.  I seriously love it.

One of my favorite requests has been from a bride that I had worked with previously with her wedding invites.  She is awesome, to say the least.  For her wedding invites, she ordered the floral mason jar invite, which you can find here.

When she contacted me asking if I would be able to create an invitation for her rehearsal dinner in a similar style, I was not only flattered, but super excited.  She then went on to say that the party will be at a fossil site and asked if there was any way to incorporate a dinosaur into the design. When I saw this, I got the HUGEST smile and ideas started buzzing around in my head.  There may have even been a small dance in my chair.  Seriously, how awesome is this?  If that's not cool enough, she mentioned there would also be bluegrass and BBQ.  At this point, I asked her if I could come because who wouldn't want to go to this party?

After much deliberation of how to incorporate a dinosaur into the rustic vibe of the original invite, with the feel of bluegrass and BBQ, it finally came to me.  The dinosaur had to be playing a banjo.  There was nothing else that made sense for this.

We could not be happier with the final result.  In fact, the bride informed me that this dinosaur has been deemed their wedding mascot.

Have I built up the suspense enough for you yet?
















No?



















Yes?
















Okay, here it is!

--Alison--

A Nutty New Listing

I've seen a lot of wedding invitations that have quirky portraits of the bride and groom (or bride/bride groom/groom, we don't judge here) on them. This idea is great and I love it, but I decided to take this idea and bring it to the next level of quirkiness. Maybe it's the fact that I spend too much time with Sam, my husband, that gave me this idea. One of his favorite things is animals doing human things. It could also be that our backyard is overrun with squirrels. Huge, giant, mutant squirrels that eat through our garbage cans because they just can't ever stop eating. If you combine those two things, you end up with things like this:

This little gem is something Sam created a few years ago, using a photo he took of one of the 2348972 squirrels in our yard.

Whatever the reason, the idea to draw the portraits, but replace the people with squirrels is just something I had to do. I'm pretty in love with the result and hope you are too!

Here are a few images of my process:

If you love this invite set, I have good news for you! It's now available in the shop (check it out here). All four variations of the squirrel are included in the listing. So, have fun, and pick the two that best suit you and your sweetie!


--Alison--

Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies

For those of you who don't know, I love to bake.  Part of the reason why I love it is due to my sweet tooth. I love me some cookies.  However, the biggest reason is to share the final product with others.

Cookies = Happiness

I can thank my mom for my love of baking.  She has taught me a lot of valuable lessons in life, but the most important is how to bake.  I know I'll never be as good as she is, but I will certainly try my best!

Every year at Christmas time, I do a baking marathon, where I spend a whole week baking as many cookies as I can.  There are the staple cookies that I like to include every year in my offering, but sometimes I like to switch it up and toss a new recipe into the mix.  I don't want to brag, but people love these cookies so much that when I walk in the door on Christmas Eve holding my GIANT platter of cookies, instead of "ALISON IS HERE!" I'm usually greeted with "ALISON'S COOKIES ARE HERE!"

My husband, Sam, and I were craving a little sweet treat the other day.  After searching Pinterest for a while, making sure to pin lots of things that would be handy when I renovate my bathroom in the house I don't own and a bunch of hair dos that I will spend several minutes at before giving up and throwing my hair up in a knot, I found a winner!  The recipe can be found here and it. is. DELICIOUS!  I am a HUGE fan of Little Debbie's Oatmeal Cream Pies, but they don't compare to these bad boys.  The recipe was pretty easy and I followed it exactly until the frosting.  I added a bunch of extra powered sugar, like..a bunch more.  I ended up using 12 tablespoons so that it didn't just taste like cream cheese.

These guys have made the cut for the Christmas platter this year.

If you are a fan of oatmeal cream pies, I strongly suggest you try these!  Let me know what you think in the comments.  I look forward to hearing from you! :)

Here are some photos of that time I made the most delicious cookies, ever.

Here is the link to the recipe again, just in case you missed it above:  YUM!


--Alison--