It was so great to host last week’s Save the Date giveaway from 42 pressed – and I’m thrilled to finally announce the winner!  And the lucky reader is…
Yay!  Kate chose the Love Birds collection for her June 2011 wedding in Pittsburgh, PA.  A big conÂgratÂuÂlaÂtions to Kate — and a huge thank you to both everyÂone who entered the conÂtest and to 42 Pressed for sponÂsorÂing the giveaway!
I am so excited by Marta’s latest idea – The Penpal Project!  In a collaboration with photographer Summer Harms, Marta is offering a series of photographic postcard prints inspired by baking and simple living – each photograph is absolutely stunning.  Such a great way to send a hand written note and let a friend know that you’re thinking of them!
This is just a small glimpse into the gorgeous collection – you can read more about the project here and check out the full collection right here!
Also, just one last reminder about our Save the Date giveaway from 42 Pressed! Â The contest ends at midnight tonight, so enter to win right here!
{image credits: summer harms via marta writes}
It feels so good to be back home! I’m slowly catching up from being away last week, so first today I thought I’d start off with some photos from our stop at Brimfield on Friday. Since this was my first time at the show, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. The show was a bit of a bust in terms of my personal wishlist (sadly the good deals were few and far between), but I did end up coming home with my top priority – an antique shoe rack, yay! Although I didn’t come home with much this year, there were still plenty of gorgeous antiques to be seen:
So many beautiful cabinets, and in all sorts of sizes and shapes! If I ever open my own brick and mortar stationery store, I’ll definitely be coming to Brimfield for a few of these gorgeous pieces.
And of course, there was plenty of antique wood and metal type.
So many glass jars and bottles! From brown and blue mason jars to milk bottles to antique apothecary bottles, Brimfield is a total gold mine for anyone planning a wedding.
So many beautiful antique quilts. I’m still a little bit sad that this one didn’t end up coming home with me…
My husband particularly enjoyed the antique military ephemera – these are just like my grandfather’s pilot’s wings from the U.S. Army Air Corps!
Have any of you been to Brimfield? I’d be curious to know if you found the selection to be different in May vs. September – or if you have a favorite find from the show!
{all photos by me}
Happy Friday everyone!  I’m still on my blog field trip that I mentioned at the beginning of the week – and while I’ll have full details next week, I’m seriously excited because today we’re heading to Brimfield!  It’s my first time at the show and I have a long list of things I’m hoping to find and bring back home.  I’m afraid I don’t have my usual Friday round-up post for you today, so instead I’ll leave you with a few photos from our trip so far…
…we’ve been up in the mountains, and today the cooler fall weather brought clouds, a bit of rain, and LOTS of mist. Â For someone who isn’t used to spending a lot of time this far up above sea level, it was pretty cool and more than a little surreal. Â I can only imagine how beautiful these mountains must be once the leaves start to turn!
So that’s it for me until Monday – oh, and don’t forget to enter for a chance to win 100 letterpress Save the Dates from 42 Pressed – the contest closes Monday at midnight!  But just in case you missed it this week…
See you all next week!
{all photos by me}
Today’s real invitations come to us from Eleanor, a graphic designer and recent bride whose father happens to be a letterpress printer (lucky girl!).  Eleanor knew that she wanted the invitations to reflect her wedding’s outdoor garden party theme, but chose to print on chipboard for a more relaxed feel.  Eleanor and her fiancé spent two days with her Dad in the print shop creating her three-color wedding invitation, and fortunately for us she documented the entire process!
From Eleanor: My parents live on a 5 acre property in Sebastopol, which is not quite a backyard but not quite a farm, and I wanted the invitations to reflect the feeling of an outdoor, mid-summer, evening garden party.  I knew white string party lights would be a key element in our wedding reception décor and decided to make them a featured part of our invitation design.
The overall feel of the wedding was homemade and DIY with some of the print shop elements that I grew up with – butcher paper from my Dad’s shop for the table runners, chipboard for the invitations, and old wood type table numbers that we painted to go along with our color scheme.
I intentionally did not try to match everything perfectly, there was an overall look that tied everything together.
My dad is an longtime letterpress printer and is somewhat of a curmudgeon (he doesn’t even have a website!) – he makes a big point of refusing to print items such as wedding invitations.  He wanted me to see how much work goes into making the invitations I designed.
If I had known how difficult it is to get white to read on chip board I would have never designed them that way!  It was indeed a good education.  I’m  very happy with how the invitations came out, but mostly what makes them so special is they are infused with so much love – as my dad, my husband and I bonded over those two days while his Heidelberg press huffed, puffed and clanked away in his shop.
Eleanor has a ton more photos from the printing process, which you can find on her flickr page, and you can see more from Eleanor’s wedding over on her blog.  Eleanor has also created a printable version of her wedding invitation suite, which you can find available for purchase on her website right here!  Thanks so much Eleanor!
{image credits: Eleanor | E.M. Papers}
