Etsy Favorites {#3}

It's time for another round of etsy favorites.  This time I'm featuring items from some of my favorite etsy sellers.

First up is Ink and Button.  I love the adorable headbands and fascinators that she makes, and she does custom orders.  Plus, she uses mason jars in her photos, and you know how much I love mason jars!

{Ink and Button}

Next is etsy seller Tytie who turns old things like books into furniture pieces for your home.  LOVE these, but seriously, how cute is that tea cup light!?

{tytie}

Looking for a more wedding specific etsy seller?  How about goosegrease, who makes custom wedding toppers, or even sells DIY kits so you can make your own!

{goosegrease}

Sew in Love

There's nothing better than being in love.  Happy Valentine's Day.

How cute is this DIY card?  From Bird and Banner.

luxe adornments...

Mr. AIF's lovely and thoughtful sister surprised me with the most darling little necklace this Christmas... and naturally I couldn't wait to show you all! It's an adorable sterling/white gold plated lariat that hangs perfectly and goes with virtually everything... plus the little birdie reminds me of Twitter! How many necklaces can you say that about?

Etsy Love

Here are a few of my current favorite etsy items for home, wedding, or everyday!

These luggage tags are such a fun gift for honeymooners!

Get one here

These tea towels are a cute housewarming, hostess, or wedding gift:

Get some here

And my very favorite.  Two words.  Cake Bunting!

How much do you love these?  

Happy Weekend everyone!  xx

Etsy Treasure

I like to browse the Etsy Treasuries that people compile.  They are like inspiration boards where you can purchase the items!  Here are some of my recent favorites:

Yellow and Grey Graphic:

Whimsical Wedding:

Text and Typography:

White Wash:

Woodland Inspiration:

My Wedding: The Details

So in case you didn't see yesterday, my wedding was featured on Style Me Pretty this week, and I'm still riding on that high!  It has been 10 months since my wedding and I thought I was sort of "over it" but having my wedding on SMP has reminded me how much I loved that day and how wonderful it was.  So I wanted to share some more of the detail photos.

I wore shoes from J.Crew (that I got on sale for $99), had a dress label sewn into my gown with my married name and wedding date (bought from etsy seller danamariecreations), my gown was the "Fern" by Melissa Sweet, my mom gave me a hanky with family heirlooms stitched on which I wrapped around my bouquet, my maids and I wore earrings by Erin Gallagher and I wore a garter by Julianne Smith.

My florals were done by Greenwich Floral Design.  We did multiples mixed with larger arrangements (but all low) in vintage containers I collected like milk glass, white pottery pitchers, glass bottles and mason jars, etc.  If only peonies had not recently gone out of season my florals would have been just what I wanted, but I loved them anyways.

I collected vintage keys and tied them to our escort cards (and also to floral containers).  I made my programs myself and included custom made cd's inside of music we love and incorporated into our wedding.  I did lots of other DIY projects, like the petal cones above.  We served Hemingway mojitos as our signature drink, as a nod to my husband's favorite writer (he is also a writer and a book lover).  We had cupcakes in lieu of cake, done by our favorite bakery, Vanilla Bake Shop.

My maid of honor and I designed all of my paper goods.  We started with a custom monogram and incorporated that in my save-the-dates, invitations, programs, welcome bags, cupcake flags, and drink stirs.  We also made my entire invitation suite (which was letterpress printed at Studio on Fire).  We made signs for the card table, guestbook table, bathroom baskets, flip flop baskets, and cake table.  Besides my invites, my favorite paper elements were my cupcake flags, my drink stirs (which had our monogram on one side and famous quotes about drinking on the other side), and the cootie catcher menus!  As a result of our collaboration, we started an etsy shop called Tilde Designs where we sell all of these paper goods, among other things, and do custom orders.  Check us out so we can both become stay-at-home moms someday instead of the lawyers we currently are!

I hope you like the details from my wedding.  Please leave any questions in the comment section and I would be happy to answer them!

I've also done previous posts of some of the DIY projects I did.  To see those go here, here, and here.

Etsy Favorites {#2}

Time for another round of Etsy favorites, and this time they are all wedding items!

First up, this unique and personal fingerprint wedding band from fabuluster:

And for $195, it is a pretty affordable wedding band!

I love personalized cake toppers, and I love cupcakes in lieu of a traditional wedding cake.  So how adorable are these cupcake toppers from goosegrease!?

And they are customizable.

These personalized buttons are so fun and could be cool attached to the guests' escort cards, from repchi:

These chalkboard thought bubbles would be perfect for your DIY photobooth!

From dzns4ubyme

These papercut banners would be great for a shower, rehearsal dinner, or backyard wedding, and they can also be personalized with your names and wedding colors:

By aymujer

There are tons of lovelies for your special day at Etsy, all you have to do is look.

It's in the Details: Vintage Paper

Using vintage paper to decorate for your wedding is a great way to be eco-friendly (it is recycling, after all!) and to also add some personalized vintage elements in your decor.  Whether you reuse old sheet music, newspaper, or pages from vintage books (use ones already in bad shape rather than destroying nice vintage books), you can do lots of cool things with vintage paper.

Mobile, wreath, and garland by Royal Buffet

Images via Ritzy Bee and Snippet & Ink

Via {Frolic!} with a DIY tutorial here.

Etsy Favorites {#1}

I've been a vocal fan of Etsy since I started this blog, and I want to devote a post a week to my favorite new Etsy finds or sellers.  This week, I am loving these fun package wrapping supplies by Etsy seller maythird.  I love giving gifts and sending packages, and I think it is really important to wrap packages pretty!  They could also be incorporated into favors, escort cards, or on welcome bags for your wedding.

My current obsession: Pillows

I am in the market for some throw pillows and wanted something different and quirky but still in keeping with the style of my living room.  I decided to look on Etsy to start, and I ended up spending hours looking at pillows.  Who knew you could find so many cool pillows on Etsy!  I can't decide which to buy now, because I will never be able to explain why I need 9 throw pillows to my husband or my couch.  But seriously. . . how cute are each one of these?

Pillows available from the following Etsy sellers:

le papier studio, Naomi Murrell, Spool + Sparrow, 

Word Garden, Jolie Marche, Love, California,

Junah Bird Designs, La Vie Lavande, Les Petits Tresors

Allow me to introduce . . . Tilde Designs!

What happens when two girls meet in law school, cram for countless exams, study for the bar exam, and become attorneys?  Practice law, you might say. . . and you would probably be correct in most cases.  But in the case of my best friend Kate and I, we also decided we wanted to channel our creative talents and skills (those acquired in our own wedding planning, NOT in law school) to start a wedding/event design and paper goods business.

Kate is an amazing paper goods designer.  She started dabbling in it for her own wedding and did everything but the calligraphy for my wedding (and did a fantastic job, I might add).  We had the best time collaborating over Save-the-Dates and invitations, menus, cupcake flags, and various other wedding signage.  Those elements we designed together were what made my wedding cohesive, thoughtful, and full of personal touches.

Kate and I thought it might be fun to put our design brains together and launch a little business.  Not to be deterred by distance (she lives in Chicago and I in L.A.), or day jobs (we both still have them), we formed a plan.  Over our bliss cakes and coffee brunch at M. Henry last fall, we made the decision to devote 2010 to launch our new baby . . . Tilde Designs.  Less than two months in, we have an etsy shop and this blog, and several new clients already.  We couldn't be more excited about what the future holds!

So please stop by our etsy shop for paper goods, a customized monogram, or an inspiration board designed for your event.  Check back often for new items or request any customized item you want.  If someone you know is getting married, throwing a wedding or baby shower, in need of personalized cards, having a baby, or just likes pretty paper goods, please send them our way!

xx
Kate & Chandra

Let them eat...cupcakes!

I know, I know, cupcakes in lieu of cake is no longer a revolutionary concept.  But, I still think it is a fantastic idea and fun way to show personality, especially if you LOVE cupcakes like I LOVE cupcakes!

My husband and I had a cupcake tower instead of a cake.  We had a favorite bakery for a couple of years (big shout out to Vanilla Bakeshop!)  and we were lucky enough to get to have that bakery do our cupcake tower and for our venue to waive our cake cutting fee and allow it.  Our guests went nuts over those cupcakes.  Plus we picked our favorite flavors and it was easier to feed to each other during our "cake cutting."  And it allowed us to make adorable signs that told guests what flavor of cupcakes were on which level and cute little flags with our monogram on them.

So for all of you brides out there who are considering cupcakes instead of a traditional cake, I say go for it. They make for yummy treats and great pictures!

Cupcakes and tower design by Vanilla Bakeshop, Signs and flags by Tilde Designs, bird cake toppers by Cotton Bird Designs, and photos by Jennifer Roper

It's in the Details: Ring Bowls

There are some great alternatives to the boring ring pillow.  One of my favorites are customized ring bowls from Paloma's Nest, another of my favorite etsy sellers.  The ring bowls come in different sizes and prices, and can be customized with your names, wedding date, or whatever your heart desires.  My favorite is the gold trimmed bowl.  Which one is your favorite?

Even if you don't have a ring bearer, you could use a ring bowl to carry your rings in and pass them around your guests (remember my ring warming ceremony post) or photograph your rings in one.  Then you also have a beautiful keepsake long after your wedding has passed.

It's in the Details: Vintage Hankies

Vintage hankies aren't just for your grandmother anymore.  They are a thoughtful gift or element to include in your wedding.  I gifted my bridesmaids with vintage hankies that were wrapped around their bouquets (and my own bouquet was wrapped with two vintage hankies - one from my mother and one from my grandmother).  I gave my mother and mother-in-law hankies with a special message embroidered on them, and even gifted one to my betrothed with a message and our wedding date on it.  Another thoughtful idea would be putting out a basket of vintage hankies for wedding guests with a sign directing them to take one.

I've been a fan of Bird and Banner's hankies on their etsy shop for a while, but I recently discovered they'll be selling them at Anthropologie as well (like I need another excuse to go to Anthropologie!)  Here's a little eye candy, but be sure to check them out at their website and etsy shop.

Valentine Love

With two weeks until Valentine's Day, I wanted to devote some posts to all things Valentine.  First up, some of my favorite Valentine cards and stationery.  I'd be happy to get any one of these from my Valentine!

Night Owl Paper Goods

                                                                     Chewing the Cud                                                                   

Lily Jane Stationery

Rifle Paper Company

Wiley Valentine