Gone with the Wind $75 off letterpress wedding

Gone with the Wind 75th

In honor of one of my favorite books and movie of all time, little dove design is offering $75 off of your letterpress printed wedding suite.

Published in 1936 and making its film debut on December 15th, 1939, Gone with the Wind captured hearts across the world. It is still one of the most memorable and epic movies of all time. Gone with the Wind is the box office gold standard, which all other movies haven’t been able to top,” says Paul Dergarabedian of tracking firm Rentrak.

During the 12th annual Academy Awards, the following movies were nominated for Best Picture against Gone with the Wind: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; Wuthering Heights; Goodbye, Mr. Chips; Stagecoach; Love Affair; The Wizard of Oz; The Rains Came; The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex; Ninotchka; Of Mice and Men; and Dark Victory. Gone with the Wind received a whopping 13 nominations that year! Although all of these films displayed brilliant movie making, Gone With the Wind stole the show.

I for one, thrilled over every aspect of this movie. I loved the gowns, the history, the spirit and drive, but most of all… the romance. It is a movie that focuses on the survival of the fittest, a changing world and the lengths one would go to get what they desire.

Rhett, is everyones favorite bad boy. He has boyish charm, dimples and a twinkle in his eye, that I for one, could not help falling for. However, the more we get to know his character, we find out that this bad boy image is but a facade. Deep down, his character owns emotional depth far greater than what we see in Scarlet. Our hearts side with him on his battle and sheer will to win over Scarlet’s heart. Many women would have liked to have been on the receiving end of his affections. YES, I wanted one of these kisses!!!

Rhett Butler: “Open your eyes and look at me. No, I don’t think I will kiss you. Although you need kissing badly. That’s what’s wrong with you. You should be kissed and often and by someone who knows how.“

Scarlett: “Rhett, don’t. I shall faint.“

Rhett Butler: “I want you to faint. This is what you were meant for. None of the fools you’ve ever know have kissed you like this, have they? Your Charles, or your Frank, or your stupid Ashley.“

However, it is the end of Gone with the Wind, that makes my heart ache and brings me to tears every time. Rhett utters his infamous “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” as he walks out the door, leaving Scarlett in a sobbing heap at the foot of the stairs. The final scene closes with the hopeful, ever resourceful, Scarlett comforting herself, with the words “Tara! Home. I’ll go home, and I’ll think of some way to get him back! After all, tomorrow is another day!”

Margaret Mitchell’s famous writing chronicles the love and hate relationship between this couple with such ease and grace. We are left wondering if these lovers will ever reunite? It seems they have always come together in the past, but is it really too late at this last juncture? Is enough, enough? Perhaps this enduring question is what makes Gone with the Wind so powerful. Ever the romantic, I choose to believe that for all their fire and differences, they will find each other again… Love will endure.

Receive $75 off letterpress wedding suite when you mention code ROMANCE75. *

*Not to be combined with any other offer or discount. Offer valid through 12/31/14.
Gone with the Wind – $75 off letterpress

Personalize your wedding invitations

A wedding is one of the most exciting and special events of your life. It celebrates you and your love. One of the first things your guests and loved ones will see is the invitation suite announcing this celebration. It will set the tone and feel of the event and should reflect both of you as a couple.

Adding custom details such as monograms, favorite flowers, colors or mutual interests into the design really help make it more personal. This will be something you will look back on for years to come. Many of my brides have the stationery from their wedding framed! It is a great bespoke keepsake and a wonderful way to commemorate the event.

One of my brides felt very strongly about incorporating her pet into the festivities. Pets are so much a part of our lives and families. After speaking to the couple, we decided it would be fitting to add their sweet cat into the stationery suite. Poses of the feline decorated everything format he invitation to the escort cards. To further personalize these invitations, a line was printed for a calligrapher to hand address each invitation to the individual recipient.

feline invitation set

personalized guest line

I have also created invitations that hold the brides favorite flowers or give a nod to the design of the bridal dress. Using envelope liners with the couple names or a special motif also creates a more personal aspect to the stationery set.

I have even traveled and looked at couples venues and hand illustrated the event site for an extra personal invitation and appreciation for the celebration site. This particular wedding took place at Skyland Manor in Ringwood, home of New Jerseys botanical gardens. The reception site features a beautiful castle amongst stunning grounds. Although my travel took place during the summer months, we knew that this wedding would a wintery affair. The theme would be a custom woodland winter inspired suite. I sketched the castle and decided to frame it with bare trees and snowflakes which were further embellished swarovski crystals for added twinkle. Later, faux bois velum sheets were used as wrappers to encase the invite adding to the magical woodland theme.

Woodland Winter

Skyland Manor

I love creating custom and personalized wedding suites. If you have an idea or would love to discuss ways to make your wedding suite extra social and unique to both of you as a couple, please feel free to drop me a line. I would love to hear from you.

Woodland Party Celebration

This woodland themed birthday party took shape from an image of a fox my daughter envisioned. (see previous post) It made for a wonderful theme for a children’s birthday party! We had so much fun decorating and making all of the goodies to accompany our woodland celebration.

Woodland Fox Card

For centerpieces, I used store bought red roses and the rest came from our garden of herbs, berries and yes, some weeds. Anyone, who has any type of garden knows that the weeds are always readily available. My dad often jokes, the weeds are what grow best. haha! The black pom pom shaped flowers are actually Black Eyed Susies that lost their petals. However, I thought they worked really well in the arrangement.

Woodland Centerpiece

For party favors, I made nutshell babies ready for hanging. Each little doll was custom made to resemble the recipient. Embroidery floss was carefully selected to match hair color, styled, cut and finished with an acorn cap – also collected from our yard. For all of the little girls attending, sweet little ladybug and mushrooms bobby pins were made and then placed on custom made backer cards.

Nutshell Babies

Hedgehog Favor Bags

Small rocks were also collected, painted as ladybugs and used in a scavenger hunt.

ladybug rocks

The desserts were sugar and gingerbread cookies in the shape of deer, mushrooms, foxes and small hedgehogs. Assorted berry and apple pies as well as caramel apple cupcakes graced the table.

Fawn Cupcakes

Hand illustrated mushroom table cards let guests know the flavors of each pie.

If you need custom invitations, party favors or gift tags, please do not hesitate to contact me. I love bringing ideas to life!

Mushroom Table Cards

Mushroom Cookies

Hedgehog Cookies

Fox Pie

Deer Cupcake

Salted Caramel Apple Pie

Where do we find Inspiration?

Where do we find inspiration? The other day, we were discussing my daughter’s birthday and the woodland theme she would like for her celebration. We came up with ideas for cookies, cakes, decorations and of course the invitation. Her favorite color is red and so she decided we must have a red fox delivering the birthday message. Here is HER drawing that inspired our little fox.

Marina’s drawing

I loved it so much, that I decided to do a few variations of this little guy. I used several mediums, including water color, colored pencils and my computer. Here are the results of our little test.

watercolor fox

Fox Card

So, you see, sometimes all we need to do is listen to our client and find out what makes them happy. In this case it was the little fox that brought a smile to my daughter’s face. I can’t wait to show you how the whole party turns out. (I will happily post some photos of festivities for you to see)

As far as MY inspiration, I find it everywhere. It could be the petals of a flower, the patterns waves make in the sand, a sentimental toy, or a longing for comfort food… All these things can inspire a theme. In the end, it has to be something that is beautiful and something that makes us happy. One of my very favorite things is hearing how my designs helped make an event so much more special. Adding that extra bit of joy to an already beautiful moment makes me so proud.

The work at home MOM

I am a designer, illustrator, artist and mom to three very lovely girls. I also happen to have a pretty cool home studio. I am very fortunate in many ways. However, working from home sometimes comes with its challenges.

On one particular day, as I was scrambling to get my parcels ready for my UPS man, I had set my kids up with colored pencils and paper downstairs to keep them occupied. As it turned out, many of the pencils were quite blunt and badly needed sharpening. I started taking the pencils and sharpening them manually and soon realized that at this rate, I would be here all day. Plus, I still needed to gather up my packages for the UPS pick-up. I decided I would take the box upstairs to the electronic pencil sharpener. I don’t think I could have been gone more than 15 minutes.

Well, you ask, “what could possibly happen in 15 minutes?” Those of you with children can probably answer this question very quickly. It turns out that mommy was taking a bit too long to sharpen those pencils. My twins decided to take matters into their own hands and look into to our child proof/locked kitchen drawer that contains the pencils, markers and YES, scissors. I might also mention that the so called “child proof” only works on adults. Children seem to have a great knack for getting into things they are not supposed to and easily dismantling just about anything.

As I am walking back downstairs I hear some giggling and see some tufts of hair on the floor. I drop the box of pencils, run down the stairs almost killing myself in the process. Low and behold, hair is EVERYWHERE!!! I mean it is in the hall, bathroom floor, sink and shower. It was as if Edward Scissor hands went to town in our home. I start screaming and the kids look terrified. I see the girls standing on the stool, looking into the bathroom mirror, one with scissors in hand and the other with a crew cut!! I am frantic! What on earth happened here? Obviously, the scissors looked more appealing then the pencils they had been trying to get out of the drawer. This is also the week before their birthday party!! AUGH!!!!

I hear the doorbell ring. I am an uncontrollable, sobbing, hysterical mess. It has to be my UPS man (who also happens to resemble Dean Martin/George Clooney in a way) I swing open the door, shaking and trying as best I can to take the packages to him. Looking back on it, I have to laugh. I don’t think he knew what to do. He asked if he should call 911. I think he almost felt bad leaving me like that. He most likely thought I needed a sedative. I don’t know, I guess it was the complete shock of it. Just an hour ago, my daughter had beautiful long hair put up in pig tails. Now, she had bald patches cut into her little crew cut.

I call my neighbor, my rock, my second mom, as I am in almost no shape to drive. We need to go to the salon/barber shop. My daughter has bald patches in her hair!! She sits in the salon chair and I hope they can fix it into some type of cute pixie cut. I ask her what she thinks of her freshly shorn hair and she replies “I look beautiful”. Yes, you do… She will always look beautiful, no matter what. I feel a bit embarassed now as I panicked more than anyone. Afterall, it is only hair. It can grow back. Plus, she actually looks quite cute with her NEW short hairstyle.

Sweet little Pixie Cut

Working from home is fun and satisfying, and as many working moms can attest, at times a bit “challenging”. Just don’t let me tell you the story of when we actually did need to call 911 because my kids thought it would be fun to stick their heads through the stair railing. Yes, the officer needed to break my stairs in order to get her head unstuck. Never, ever a dull moment. So let me add, working from home is s always fun, satisfying, and EVENTFUL.

the culprit

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