Back to the Hotel

Hello, there!  I wanted to show you one last detail of Julie's wedding invitations that we are quite proud of and then I promise to move on.  This was definitely a product of a brainstorming session between Julie and I. The problem?  How to include the hotel information with the invitations without it looking ugly/ghetto/cheap.  The solution? Make something awesome.  What else did you expect??

Julie's mind is a spreadsheet. That's how she thinks.  That is how she works. That is how she stays organized. She asked me if including a spreadsheet of all the hotel info would look ugly. I bluntly told her yes. So she challenged me to come up with a better way to present the information.  I accepted the challenge. Only, when I saw the information, the best way to present it was with a spreadsheet.  Boo for it having to be functional.  So, I kept thinking about it and then came up with this idea. Kelly and I did something similar for her wedding programs, so I just adapted it to Julie's spreadsheet and voila! Pure genius. OK, maybe I'm going overboard with the genius stuff, but I think it is pretty clever.  Yay for it being able to be functional and pretty!

We entered the spreadsheet onto an 8 1/2 x 11 paper so we'd get two to a page.

We then used a score board and scored the paper.

Cut it in half and patted ourselves on the back that it actually worked.  I was pretty particular that all the folds coincided with the beginning of a column so there was no folds over text.  Functional? Check.

Then it came down to the making it pretty part.  I bought cardstock that matched the outer and inner envelopes.

I then used my Silhouette to write "Hotel Information"on them in the same font we used on the invites.

Now, I realize the Silhouette has it's own sketch pens. And now they have come out with metallic sketch pens, but I didn't want to pay the price of those sketch pens and to have to wait for them to be shipped to me.  Especially because I didn't know how far the ink on one sketch pen will go, so I didn't want to get into the guessing game of how many sketch pens I needed.  I am also OCD and didn't know if the gold sketch pen would match the gold in the invitations, so I bought gold pens that best matched the invites, and used my own pens.

I also realize that the Silhouette has a pen holder. But, for the price, again, I didn't want to have to pay for it and then have to wait for it to be shipped to me.  So. This is what I did...

If you see a sketch pen, it looks like a short, fat pen. That is because the carrier that holds it only holds things that are about 1/2" wide. So, I basically took some thick cardstock and rolled it around my pen until it fit the carrier snugly.  Then I taped it pretty well together.

When I put it inside the carrier, I taped it to the carrier as well. I've used a sketch pen before, and the cap of the pen always pops off or loosens a bit as the Silhouette is working, which makes Pintobean very angry. So I've become accustomed to taping pens to the carrier just to prevent it from messing up whatever it is I am working on.

The only trick is to get the pressure of the pen right since you are not using a pen holder. This is probably where it is smart to have the pen holder, but I'm not really known for taking short cuts.  Yes, I can admit that, Anita. ;)  However, the pen pressure isn't an issue unless you find that the pen is not actually touching the page -- in that case just tap the pen down before you tape it to the carrier -- or unless you are working with really thick cardstock because it has some give to it when the pen hits the paper -- you will know you have it too low when you see the ink blotching.

The time sucking aspect of this is....the Silhouette is not designed to "print" fonts.  It "outlines".  Meaning, it simply just traces the outline of the letters you are working on.  So, basically when you are using the Silhouette to write or "sketch" words/letters, it traces the outline of the font.  Translation:  You get empty gaps between the lines that you will need to fill in - unless you like that look.

I enlarged the lettering on the previous pic so you could see what I am talking about.

So, once they were all printed, I cut them down and used the same gold pen to fill in the gaps.  Then let them sit overnight to dry.

Then I cut just solid cardstock the same size. So, essentially I had the front and back of what would be little hotel info booklets. I then pasted the cards to the spreadsheets.

For some added cuteness, Julie was trying to figure out where we could use these paper clips she found.

I made sure we found a place to use them.

And that, my friends, is the story of how the cutest hotel info booklets ever were made.  Oh, and do I need to mention that I rounded all the corners?  Because that's kind of my thing.  Rounded corners.

Are you not entertained?!?  That quote is a family fave.  Had to use it.

I have another really fun post in the making.  Just be patient with me.  I'm going to really lay this one on thick...  

A Tisket, A Tasket. Another Chai Pani Gift Basket.

Edit:  I've added the photographer's pics of the baskets at the end of this post.  Love. :)  Photo credits go to Rachel Kabukala Photography.  

One of my closest friends is getting married. And I couldn't be happier.  Ever since I met her in 2003, I've been dreaming of her wedding.  It was pretty much a given when she found The One that I'd be helping her plan her wedding.  And so far, I've enjoyed every minute of it.

For her chai pani (engagement), she asked me to decorate the gifts and basket she would be giving her fiance.  The color scheme for the event was lime green, royal blue, and cream.  She wanted me to keep everything masculine (i.e. no ribbon). She loved the basket I chose for her (future) sister-in-law at her brother's chai pani.  And she loves peacock feathers so she wanted me to include peacock feathers like the basket I made for her (future) sister-in-law at her brother's chandlo. So, the big decision was what to do next.

Hobby Lobby came to my rescue.  As usual.  When I went to look for ideas on what to do, I purposely avoided the ribbon aisle so I could think outside of the box, but the Christmas ribbon aisle called me.  And when the Christmas ribbon aisle calls you, my friends, you must answer.  Because it always means something good.  And guess what?  I found some ribbon that matched her sari perfectly.  So even though I was instructed not to use ribbon, I bought 4 rolls.  I secretly wanted to hoard this ribbon, but it matched her sari so perfectly, it seemed rude of me not to share it's awesomeness with the world Jackson, Mississippi.  It was my duty to use it and let it be seen. So I made a decision to use it.

I also bought some gold rope that I thought seemed masculine.  Then, I pre-cut what I could and packed up my carry-on - oh yes, my friends, I am a traveling craft room - and hoped that I had everything I needed.  You wouldn't believe how much attention I attracted at the airport with my peacock feathers sticking out of my bag.  Too funny. 

I never like to put anyone out with my craziness, so usually when people offer to help, I almost always decline.  Especially because I never really know what I want to do until I sit down and stare at it for 4 hours.  This time I knew I was in over my head so I accepted some help.  Ashley, Asmini, and Swati pretty much saved my life.  They were very patient with me as I decided what I wanted to do and made me feel confident in my choices.  They actually put everything together for me while I worked on the basket, so I cannot take credit for how lovely they all looked.  All I had to do was snip ribbon.  You don't know how grateful I am for their help. 

Here are the baskets on the day of the ceremony just before their debut.  The photographer took lots of good pics of them.  I did not.  Ha. 

Here is my friend holding one of the gifts.  Look how perfectly everything coordinated!!  I'm telling you, when the Christmas ribbon aisle calls you, you must answer! Oh, and she loved the ribbon. :) 

Here is the basket.  I kept it very simple.  I couldn't resist the blinged out peacock feather I found on the same aisle as the Christmas ribbon.  And, as I was walking to check out, I saw some 4" gold letters and snatched up a "D" - the groom's first initial.  If you've ever been to my house, you know I'm a big fan of initials.  And even though I wasn't sure if my friend would go for it, I bought it anyway.  I love those last minute things you pick up.  No matter how well thought out my creative plan is, the last minute purchases always seem to be the best.  Love when that happens. 

Here are all the gifts in action - including her gift basket from the groom's side of the family.  It is always a cool feeling to see the things I create in action.  :")  Well, in this case, it was the things Ashley, Asmini and Swati created.  Ha.  Thanks, Ladies!  You don't know how relieved I felt when everything was done. 

My friend Anita jokingly calls me the Basket Whisperer now that I've had my fair share of decorated baskets under my belt.  This is just one more set to add to my repertoire.  :)

I have a couple of things I am working on but I am not sure I will have time to post it before I head out on my trip.  But, you never know.  When my craft room calls, I always answer.... (I'm think going to just keep recycling that phrase....)

{Me adjusting the bows :)}

Engaged in the details

I have some fun stuff to show you today.  I was trusted to design and create almost everything for my friend Julie's brother's chai pani (engagement).  He's become sort of a little brother to me so I was happy to do it. I love weddings and all that they entail, but mostly I love the details. I'm sure you've noticed that by now. 

Bhavik is one of the most fashionable guys I know.  He's the kind of guy you want to dress, only he can probably dress himself better than you could.  So, as far as design, I wanted things to look clean, modern, and...am I aging myself here?....hip.

Since it was an engagement and not an actual wedding, I could take some liberties and veer away from the traditional Indian aesthetic.  Julie and her sister wanted to use fall colors for the event, but since I wanted to keep it fresh, I came up with a color palette that was sort of a modern take on fall colors.  I chose a modern font, and, since I've been obsessed with stripes lately, I incorporated it into the look and designed a striped pattern that would pretty much go on everything.  Overall, the combo really fit the vibe I was after and showed a bit of Bhavik's personality. 

I started with the itineraries.  I wanted something that didn't waste a lot of paper, was unique looking, and was, of course, functional.  Each itinerary was 1/3 of an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper.

I made the itineraries into a fold down card using the striped pattern I designed and took that as an opportunity to put some color on the front.  The front side was folded shorter to reveal 1" of the inside of the card.  On this reveal, I included a message from the family saying 'thank you'. 

They were all attached to the white welcome boxes (I love gable boxes and loved that Julie let me buy them for this event) using a clothespin (I love clothespins and use them whenever and wherever I can.  It's sort of my thing now). 

When choosing favors, I like to go with the edible variety unless there is something you can find that really fits the couples personality.  Most people toss the favors at some point anyway.  For this event, the bride loves yogurt covered pretzels and Bhavik loves the color orange, so Julie and I packaged the pretzels with orange gummy bears.  While we were packaging everything, my house smelled like a dreamsicle.  :) 

The tags I made were simple.  I think it goes without saying, I used up a printer cartridge or two, but totally worth it.

We used small cellophane bags and attached each tag with a mini stapler.  Above is a close up of the favors when we finished. 

And here they are all ready to go.

And here they are in action.   They looked sooooo cute on the tables. In hindsight I probably should have take a snap of the entire table so you can see how cute they were. But, oh well. 

One other detail that Julie requested was signs to put at each event.  On Saturday, there was a cocktail hour and dinner.  Sunday was a breakfast and then lunch following the chai pani ceremony.

This was the one thing I was a little afraid of making because of the size of it - something about the size intimidated me - but Staples came to my rescue and printed the signs I designed and had them ready within 24 hours. Very simple.  And it was a nice touch to each event.  I felt like it personalized it a bit more.

I am pretty angry with myself that I did not get a picture of the guest book I made.  It was pretty cute, but you'll have to take my word for it.  I just might email the bride to see if she'll send me a pic of it at the risk of sounding crazy.

My next duties were centerpieces.  We hired a florist for Sunday's lunch following the ceremony, but we wanted something simple and cost effective for Saturday.  Something I've realized about myself is that flowers make me happy.  So, I almost see it as a must at these types of events.  Luckily, Central Market carries an awesome variety, so I bought a few stems and placed them around the bar tables at the cocktail hour and the other round tables.  

This is one of my favorite flowers ever.  I am not big on sunflowers unless they are the giant ones, but these colored ones just make me smile every time I look at them.  It fit our color scheme and make such a statement as just one bloom since the bar tables had black linens on them. 

Since the sunflowers were a bit pricier than other flowers, I also bought these spider mums to put at the other round tables that were there that were going to have white linens.  The cocktail hour was supposed to be outside by the pool area, but unfortunately we got rained out - hence the wet centerpieces - so we had to move everything inside into the hotel restaurant.  My centerpieces were too small and simple to make an impact in such a dark, large area, so they were basically non existent. :(  That was upsetting, but I guess that's what I get for not thinking of a plan B.  At least I got some snaps of them before they were moved, though.  These centerpieces were reused for the breakfast.  Nice call, Julie. 

The next centerpiece I put together was for the welcome dinner on Saturday night. 

Again, we wanted something simple and cost effective, so I stuck to just one bloom per table.  I scored some orchids from the florist, so I included those as well.  For more color, I used some sashes that my mom and grandmother made for my wedding as a table runner.   And don't be fooled by the rocks that I got.....I'm still Pintobean from the block.  Yeah.....Mr. Bean got sick of me saying that over and over again.

Moving on....I miscounted the number of tables I had to put blooms on - I am still confused as to how I did that - but the orchids came out to play and pretty much made it look like they always meant to be included.

I was also able to work with a florist for the lunch on Sunday.  I was able to do what I wanted here as well.  My friend's family really trusts me!!  Ha!   I tossed out my ideas for the centerpieces and, man, did the florist deliver.  I've worked with her before, so when I got the preview she said in her South African accent, "I know what you like.  You like 'different'."  Yes, I do.  In fact, I love 'different'.  :)

The first centerpiece was small.  I wanted to incorporate moss, unique flowers, and lots of color. 

The second centerpiece threw me for a loop.  I wanted just small, short vases with moss, rocks and a floating flower.  The florist surprised me with this.  Love. 

The third centerpiece I wanted square moss boxes and orchids.  Since the florist was working within our budget, she gave me this.  And I couldn't be more pleased.  This centerpiece was my favorite one.  Love. Love. Love.  

No, my friends, my duties didn't end there.  I also needed to decorate the basket that was going to be given to the bride.  Much like the basket I made for Bhavik's chandlo.  Only this time, the family wanted the basket to be open, so my options were limited.  I decided to keep the basket simple so it wouldn't clash or compete with the items inside.

I added a layer of glitter onto the basket using mod podge for some subtle bling.  Over the glitter layer, I rubbed on antique gold acrylic paint.  It really added a sheen to the basket that I did not expect.  The pics don't do it justice.  Finally, I added some trim from India. Thanks, Sharmee.  It was hard to let go of the trim because I intended on keeping it in my archives, but it pretty much made the basket and the items inside it come together.  Definitely worth the sacrifice.

Here is the finished product.  I think it looks pretty amazing.  The antique gold paint really highlighted the antique gold in the outfits. And the trim highlighted the border on the sari, the shoes, and the purse.  It really came together nicely. 

Julie's sister Alpa and I worked on the linens together, but Alpa really put her a lot of work into the backdrop. My only input was to add the orange to it instead of it being all that mulberry color.  Alpa had the decorator add some crystals for some bling and it looked really amazing.  Awesome job, Alpa. 

You'll see the bags I made at the front of the stage here.  I was really, really disappointed that they chose to turn the hand painted fronts away and show off the plain, unpainted backs.  But, what to do? 

Here is their close up.  Disappointing.  But it was cool to see them being passed out to the 11 people they were intended for.  Hopefully the photographer got a couple of snaps of them facing forward.  :(

Overall, the entire weekend went really well.  I was pleased with how everything looked and grateful that everyone seemed to enjoy it all.  I cannot tell you how cute this couple is together.  I swear they could be the stars of a Bollywood movie.  They are pretty awesome people so I can't wait for the wedding and to see their future babies.  They will be so beautiful.  :) Congrats, Bhavik and Asmini!! 

Everyday I'm Stenciling

Hello!  I thought I'd put up a quick post to show what I just recently made.  Remember the basket I made for this chandlo?  Well, my friend's brother is now having his chai pani (engagement) next month.  My friend's family has somewhat adpoted Mr. Bean and I, so I do what I can and in turn reap the benefits of awesome homemade Gujarati food.  It's a win for the Beans for sure.

My friend's mom shares my same affection for jute bags.  She received a small gift sized jute bag as part of a favor at a wedding and loves it.  It had a pretty red jacquard ribbon on it and an ohm painted on it.  Really, really cute.  She asked me to find some like it for her for the chai pani but with a Ganesh on them.  I just knew it'd be easy to find, but after about 4 days of many internet searches and a million different combinations of keywords, the only thing I came up with were vendors that sold with a minimum of 1000 pieces.  We couldn't really justify buying 1000 since we only needed 11 of them.  I did find some mini jute bags that were blank, so I made a promise I wasn't sure I could keep.  I told her I'd put the Ganesh on them myself. When I hung up the phone, I asked myself out loud, "Now, why'd you go and say a thing like that??" 

My friend sent me an image of the Ganesh she wanted and I pretended I knew what I was doing.  Since the image was so small and somewhat intricate (for it's size), I didn't want to hand cut it.  Instead, I used the Silhouette's trace feature to trace the outline of the image.  I say this very nonchalantly, but the trace feature was a discovery I made at about 1:00 am when I was desperate for a solution to the problem I volunteered myself for.  It is probably the most awesome discovery known to man.  Or at least to me.  I should go down in some crafty wall of fame somewhere.  Seriously.  It's that awesome.  I even woke up Mr. Bean to tell him. He didn't find it quite as awesome at the time, but once I finished everything, he was sure to pat himself on the back for getting me the Silhouette. 

I stole borrowed some transparencies from work, closed my eyes, and hit "cut" on the Silhouette.  And it worked.

I placed cardboard inside the bags and placed my stencil on top.  I taped the stencil down with painter's tape and just used a cheap sponge brush to dab the paint over the stencil.

We wanted to keep the bags simple, but you know my obsession with rhinestones by now, so it won't surprise you that I decided the bags needed some bling.

So, I added a rhinestone as the bindi.  Just stayin' classy, my friends.  

And here they are!  My friend's mom will see them tomorrow.  I hope she likes them.  I'm kind of hoping she doesn't because I kind of want to keep them.... A girl can never have enough small jute bags with a Ganesh painted on them, can she? 

I like big books....

I love books and I love a cute bookmark.  I started a tradition with our book club back in 2007 when I brought back bookmarks from the Sydney Opera House for all my book club friends.  Since then, everyone has brought us bookmarks from all of their travels.  So, I've got a really cute collection of bookmarks from India, China, Turkey and even Marfa, Texas.  Since my book club was celebrating it's 6th anniversary, Anita and I wanted to do something small for everyone.  If you remember the totes we made for our 5th anniversary, you'll know Anita is a magician with the silkscreen.  Recently, she dug into her magic hat and pulled out a pretty awesome idea for our 6th anniversary gifts.

I saw a t-shirt online that I wanted to steal the quote from so I basically threatened to hold my breath until Anita came up with an idea on how to incorporate it in our gifts.  It's a good thing she's so crafty because I wouldn't have lasted long, but we'll just keep that between us.

She came up with the idea to make to make some button pins, but that didn't pan out because it required us to buy or rent a machine.  She then discovered that you can make fabric buttons with just a simple cover button kit and refills available at Hancock Fabrics. And suddenly all of my dreams were fulfilled.  Making fabric buttons has sort of been a dream of mine for a while now.  I have weird dreams, I know.  Then, I was stumped as to what we would do with these fabric buttons and she came up with the ingenious idea of a book band.  And that, my friends, is how the bookband was born.  

 

We decided to silkscreen the quote onto some fabric I have in my stash.  I designed the button with the quote and Anita worked her magic with the screen and got it ready for us. You can see the quote here.... "I like big books and I cannot lie."  In case you don't get it, it is a play on Sir Mix-a-lot's song "Baby Got Back."  Cracks. Me. Up.  Needless to say, I had this song in my head for a few weeks.....

 

We originally went with a yellow paint on linen so this pic is from our first couple of trials.  It didn't show up well on the fabric - and linen is not the best fabric to use when silkscreening such a small surface area because the weave is so large - so we ended up going with black ink and another fabric.  It actually looked better that way anyway. 

We cut up all the quotes according to the size specified on the cover button.  Our buttons were going to be 1 1/2", so it was maybe an additional 3/4" of fabric that is required to wrap around the button. 

Our first good button!!!   The kit was easy to use and push the back onto on the front but the "refills" aren't.  We had to coax them with a couple of taps of a hammer.  One thing: The "refills" aren't refills.  They don't require the kit.  I want to write Hancock a letter to tell them to get familiar with what they are selling but I'll let it go this time since the box on the "refills" say 'no extra tools required'. 

Our pile of buttons!!!!  We took those and strung 3/8" elastic thru the back and sewed the edges together to create a loop.  Then, we burned the edges to ensure they wouldn't fray. 

Our book bands!!  This is them in action on my Kindle.  Trust me.  The irony was not lost on us.....

 

And here they are all wrapped up!!  Our fellow book club members loved them.  We figure this will be the beginning of our bookband empire.  :)