The Artful Bride: Wedding Invitations

By Laura McFadden and April L. Paffrath 80 pages. Retails $12.99. Quarry Books, imprint of Rockport Publishers.

This was one of the books that I could find on making wedding invitations. The wedding invitations and stationery featured are wonderfully diverse and range from those fitting for an Asian-inspired wedding to destination weddings, to a country affair. The end results are professional-looking with an artsy feel. I imagine seeing several of the pieces in InStyle Weddings, The Knot, or Martha Stewart Weddings. The 24 projects are divided into elegant invitations; concept invitations; and announcements, save the date cares, shower invitations. The introductions for each project and short pieces on elements of an invitation make for interesting reads. Large photos illustrate what each card would look like. The instructions are easy to follow, supplemented by templates at the end of the book. The projects come with a variation idea, tips, or both.

Examples of my favorite projects include:

• A fold-out card featuring a heart made with two red overlapping thumbprints
• A sunprint lacy delight invitation made with paper doilies and pressed flowers
• An petal fold card held together with an Asian frog and decorated with Japanese papers
• A tropical invitation sent in a bottle and decorated with shells
• A magnetic couple poetry kit
• A champagne bottle label
• A magnetic save the date card for the refrigerator
• My favorite! – A destination card made with a hangtag and a country map of the wedding locale

Somerset Studio March/April ‘07 Issue: Women in Literature

Published by Stampington & Company.
This is one of my favorite magazine for paper arts. Published six times a year, the magazine is jampacked with inspirational ideas provided by contributors and readers on paper crafts using stamping, lettering, and a variety of other techniques. All the projects have a folkart-ish and romantic feel to them. I also use it as a source for identifying suppliers. I picked up the March/April ’07 issue because of 3 articles.

The essay by Michele Heather Pollock (pg 26) describes her paper quilt art which “features abstract human images and hand-embroidered poetry.” Inspired by the sculptures of Gustav Vigeland in Norway, her art is a merger of paper, textile and poetry using the tracings of the photos that she took of the sculptures.

In the Melange section of the magazine – “a lively romp through journals, zines, and art adventures” – the article by Pam Garrison (pg 52) tells of the creation of her blog and served as an inspiration for me to plunge in and start my own blog.

Jar Scenes (pg 78) which features clear jars of all shapes and sizes serving as vessels of paper art works. It’s sculpture meets 2-D paper arts.

Decorate Life: Home Decor

With artists Mellette Berezoski, Maggie Holmes, Jennifer Jensen, Lynne Montgomery, Kris Stanger, Loni Stevens, Erin Terrell, Julie Turner , and creative director Gail Pierce-Watne. 126 pages. Retail $19.99. Making Memories.

Full of inspirations, this book contains more than 80 projects by 8 designers. Although the designs may vary, the book is consistent in the freshness of the styles and picture presentations of the projects. With the exception of chapter headings, the book’s first 111 pages are purely pictoral with each page showcasing a project. Although the pictoral portion is divided into 8 chapters, the projects can be grouped into wall décor, table décor, and organization. The last chapter provides instructions for each of the illustrated projects. The directions may not be detailed, but many of the projects use the same techniques and the pictures are so great that this should not be an issue.

The projects are amazing and show new uses for all of these materials. They are also easy and most can be made using scrapbooking supplies such as ribbons, brads, tags and wood parts. True to Making Memories’s strengths as a company that produces creative scrapbooking and paper arts products, most of the projects incorporate photographs. It’s like scrapbooking for walls and home accents!

Examples of my favorite projects include:

• A decorated clipboard frame that can be used to hold a calendar, picture, recipe or notepad
• Wooden letters embellished to match your home décor for hanging or placing on a fireplace mantle
• A clock using metal tin frames
• Coasters using metal tin frames
• File folders that are stitched into storage pockets
• A canvas growth chart using stamped images and photos
• A mirror decorated with an inspirational rub-on quote
• Metal tin containers wrapped with ribbon