enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

  • out with the old. in with the june.

    Enjoyjune I am obsessed with the new anthro catalog, but sadly, I have only seen it from afar. Anthropologie stopped sending me catalogs. Which I was fine with until the June issue was full of letterpress looking type. I actually went to a store yesterday in search of the catalog, but alas, they were out. Long story short – I played with layer transparency last night in photoshop and made the above image. Totally inspired by the June front cover.

    It's June fourth already. Which means, good bye to May.

    Mayphoto 1. 05.01, 2. 05.02, 3. 05.03, 4. 05.04, 5. 05.05, 6. 05.06, 7. 05.07, 8. 05.08, 9. 05.10, 10. 05.13, 11. 05.14, 12. 05.15, 13. 05.16, 14. 05.17, 15. 05.18, 16. 05.19, 17. 05.20, 18. 05.22, 19. 05.23, 20. 05.24, 21. 05.25, 22. 05.26, 23. 05.27, 24. 05.28, 25. 05.29, 26. 05.30, 27. 05.31

    I did alright on my May photo a day, but I am working on 100% participation for June. I am also hoping to complete more projects this month. And have more pool days. And more days that are the opposite of the current gray and instead are filled with sunshine. I would love to go to the gym 20 times this month. I would love to get back into the letterpress shop and make some stuff. I can't wait to see UP.

    June, stay awhile. In fact, overstay your welcome and please, let's avoid the winter months entirely.

  • finally.

    IMG_0635IMG_0634
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    New summer mini book kits for sale! Mine is starting to fill up nicely…

  • wedding wednesday : paper.

    Weddingwed
    Wedwed060309 Decisions, decisions. Don't worry, I sell paper to brides. I realize that most guests throw out the invites. But paper is my thing. So I want to get it right. I have until September to get Save the Dates made and the tone set. Right now it's a toss up between the whimsy of hand-drawn poppies and the graphic-ness of circles. My photoshop skills (and lack there of) are also a huge factor.

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    Update : to answer a few questions.

    Yes, Yes, I am making my own wedding invitations. I will be letterpressing the invites and the save the dates. And also probably the RSVP cards.

    I will also be making my programs, menus and place cards. Those will be flat printed – no letterpress.

    I think I am going to go with the hand-drawn poppies. I just need to figure out how to get them into the computer so they look good enough to be made into a letterpress plate… I will keep you posted.

  • new art for june.

    Junewallart The wall over our kitchen table has been suffering a case of the blahhhs since February. I was finally inspired by the letterpress prints from the swap to get some mats and hang some art.

    From left to right : my practice wedding flowers blown up to 8×10 and printed at home on white cardstock, a letterpress print by 12fifteen, a page from an old Domino magazine & another letterpress print by delphine press.

    (If you are interested, here is a great collection of all the prints that were included in the letterpress swap. They're amazing. Next year, I need to step up my game.)

  • if i can put together a project each monday, i’ll be a happy lady.

    Promon1 Last week, I got a envelope from Hagit that included her workshop payment and an adidas catalog from a few years ago. She said she loved the catalog and that she hoped it would inspire me. I took the catalog on the metro with me to work on Wednesday and came up with an idea for a new minibook.

    The plan was to make a small booklet with 10 things I am currently loving. I make these sorts of lists all the time. It is sort of an obsession to track my obsessions. The catalog was very simple and clean, and I wanted my book to have the same feel.
    Inspo1 Inspired by the large numbers, clean typeface, and silhouetted photos, I made the following:
    IMG_0610 IMG_0611 IMG_0599 IMG_0600 IMG_0601IMG_0602IMG_0603IMG_0604IMG_0605IMG_0606IMG_0607IMG_0608IMG_0609 The book is made from 3 sheets of gray 8.5×11 cardstock that are cut in half. I used Microsoft Word (for mac) to set up the text and numbers. Then (after a lot of effort and a few mess-ups) printed the pages so they had text on both sides and still would flow correctly when folded in half.

    Faves I took pictures of my 10 favorites and layered them all in photoshop. I printed two pages at home on 8.5×11 photo paper and carefully silhouetted the photos before sticking them into the book with my new favorite adhesive, Kolo photo tape.

    I made the spine by braiding together three colors of embroidery floss. I didn't have the right ribbon and for some reason, I had an urge last night to make a friendship bracelet.

    This book is different than my usually messy, anything goes minibook style – but I am happy with the results. Now that I (finally) have a word template I would love to make more, maybe monthly? Will my favorites change that often? Probably.

    Have a great week and a happy Monday.

  • i love melanie.

    IMG_0525IMG_0534 IMG_0568 Such a fun weekend with my girl. Melanie, come back soon.

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    Small reminder : Tomorrow the Get Crafty workshop starts! If you are interested, be sure to sign up.

  • really, really cool.

    IMG_0512 Awhile ago, I participated in a letterpress swap hosted by Paper Stories. Today the 38 assorted prints came. I am completely blown away. I can't wait to sift through and get them up on my walls. And oh man…there is a lot of great orange in there.

  • hip hip.

    IMG_0507 IMG_0508 The top photo is a picture of a picture of clovers. The bottom photo is a picture of my tom's and my grandpa sweater headed off to work.

    It's Thursday. Ordinarily, Thursday's pretty blah but today is great because I have a visitor on the way. Melanie, I cannot wait to see you in t-minus 11.5 hours. We'll start the weekend early.

  • etc. on wednesday.

    Chances are you already read Ali's blog, but I figured I would share. She is giving away a spot in my Get Crafty workshop (as well as other fabulous items) today.

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    Also, I just stumbled on these this morning: custom address stamps. Love the price tag + designs. via Green Wedding Shoes.

  • wedding wednesday : honeymoon, cake & hair.

    Weddingwed

    We are getting married in less than eleven months. I accidentally DVRed and watched Here Come the Newlyweds. It's a total joke of a show, but regardless, it made me even more excited. I can't wait to be with Paul forever. I know the marriage part will be more fun than the planning part. And it is really impressive that something could beat the planning part.

    Wedwed2 Because of Paul's graduation, we will be leaving for our honeymoon about three weeks after the wedding. Which means a year from today we will still be in Europe. We are planning to visit the south of France and Cinque Terre in Italy. We want a romantic vacation with nothing more than wine and beaches and good food: cheese, bread and olives to be precise. I can hardly wait to see these beautiful locations with my main man.

    I had a bright, though probably not original, idea to use postcards from our honeymoon spots as our thank you notes. So when we are not eating, drinking, taking photos and etc., we'll be looking for cool postcards to mail to our wedding guests when we get back home. (Sorry wedding guests who read, I am ruining all the suspense.)

    And to give away another surprise : we are hoping for carrot wedding cake. For one, we love carrot cake. For two, IT'S ORANGE! Talk about a match made in heaven. I want a causal looking cake. Messy frosting, real (orange) roses, a few layers high, under $700, please.

    The photo in the bottom right is my most favorite hair image of the moment. My hair will be up – no question. I am loving the sidebun. And no doubt, I'll be enjoying a glass or six of champagne.

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    Image credits : carrot cake, cinque terre, and south of france via google image search; that perfect cake from Style Me Pretty; postcards from Amazon; and beautiful bride photographed by the fabulous Kate Headley.