enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

get crafty : an online workshop.

March 23, 2009

My creative style has changed over and over again. Sometimes I am go to straight and clean lines. Other times, I love the look of something soft and fluid. I have been addicted to text, paint, letter stickers, textured paper, chipboard, stamps, handwriting, computer journaling, silhouetted photos, black and white photos…the works. I love that with paper crafting you never have to stick to one shape, size, medium or color palette. There is room for everything in scrapbook albums, art journals and mini books.

One change that seems to be fairly permanent in my own scrapbooking evolution is my avoidance of "traditional" scrapbooking tools and products. I can appreciate new product releases, but rarely find myself incorporating them into my projects. I prefer items that I have created. Papers I have hand stamped. Stickers created on my computer. Hand cut titles. My pages are a part of me – and I want more than just the photos to reflect that.

Over two weeks, this class will explore techniques on how to build your projects from the ground up. We will break away from the traditional scrapbooking products and design our own paper and embellishments. Each weekday, there will be a "lecture", a project, an idea to try to that day and an idea to save for future use. In addition, there will be photos, journaling prompts and anything else I come up with.

I will talk about what inspires me and would love to hear what inspires you. Please join me on this new paper adventure. Spots for the class will open on Wednesday, April 1st on this blog with details on how to pay.

After signing up, you will receive via email a site address and password to a separate blog. Waiting on the class site wil be some great links and recommendations for items you will want to have in your craft arsenal (nothing expensive, probably items you already have on hand!) when the class begins.

The official “instruction” will begin April 13-April 24 with daily posts, ideas, tutorials and downloads for you to look at and work with.

The price for the class is $20. A little pricey, I recognize that. But I am doing my best to make it worth every penny. I have been hoarding ideas for this for eight months and am finally bursting with the excitement of sharing. I can’t wait to see what projects will come out of this for all of us!

I will be posting small sneak peeks of some of the projects we will be tackling within the next two weeks. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments. I will respond via email and perhaps in a second post. Thank you!

PS : No, this does not mean I will be abandoning my normal blog for two weeks. My internship is ending at the beginning of April, so free-time is going to be my middle name. I will be sure to keep posting here.
p to e: so, is there a method to your madness? e to p: no.

March 22, 2009

Still stitching away over here. Paul thinks I am a nut. Which, I would say is a fair assessment.

It is starting to feel a little tiny bit warmer here. I am excited for a new week, and of course a new season.
victory!

March 20, 2009

Paul's on call so it's just me, a tangle of embroidery floss and the NCAA tournament. Table number 7: Done. Not perfect, but done. And Fight On, Trojans!
a little big project.

March 20, 2009

A while back I saw a wedding on Snippet & Ink where the bride cross-stitched her table numbers. The wedding stayed in my head and I think I want to do something similar. I realize this is a little crazy – I don't have a reception venue and I don't even know how many tables we will have.

But, this spring, cross-stitching is the new knitting. And I am excited to have a new project.

I am making up the pattern as I go. I stamped (it's a Martha Stewart stamp from Michael's) the orange seven on graph paper and I am tripling the number of boxes as I stitch onto the cloth. I'll keep you posted.
cheers to that.

March 18, 2009

AH-HA! A peek of sunshine yesterday was good, good. And a nice beer to ring in St. Patty's was just right as well.

Thank you for the comments on my bridesmaid invites. This wedding is going to be craft central. As well as quite elegant. Handmade Elegance. Paul said yesterday we should bring some CORAL into the gray/orange/cream color scheme. And I am rolling along with that plan.

Current google reader stars:

+ this fabulous flower picture on Sarah Parrott's wedding blog

+ baked penne pasta on Design Crush

+ a shoe story on Orange Beautiful (I love those navy blue flats)

+ the new Poppytalk Handmade market

+ the purple card on this post at the Ritzy Bee Blog

+ crazy & fabulous paper flowers on the Martha Stewart Craft blog

Rumor has it there is sunshine headed into DC today. I am quite excited.
envelope pocket love.

March 17, 2009

I am planning on having five bridesmaids (and a possible sixth depending on the Peace Corps and the price of flights from Guatemala) and I asked them via phone, email or text message last week. I told each girl to wait for the "official invite" which would come in the mail.

I printed up 4 different cards for each girl: 1. who they were, 2. what they might be wearing, 3. the events they would be attending and 4. "I promise to not be a crazy-nut bride". Each card was typeset in Photoshop (that lovely font is Susie's Hand) and then printed onto an A6 card.

I made pockets out of two envelopes by sticking the flap of one envelope into the other and then "lining" the part where they overlap with a piece of paper that was about 6.25"x8.5". This is an old Paper Source trick that I am fairly certain Caroline invented. It works great when you have a lot of different pieces to an invitation.

The four cards fit neatly into the envelope pockets.

The envelope flap that did not get tucked in was glued down to the "front side" of the other envelope. I tied the package with ribbon and stamped and signed the back.
These would be just perfect hand delivered, but as my girls are all across the country, I slipped them into larger envelopes and mailed them out.

All supplies from Paper Source: A6 gravel envelopes, A6 superfine soft white cards, bracket stamp, heart stamp, cream patterned paper, ribbon and tangerine Colorbox chalk ink not listed.

+++

I have had requests to share the text on the cards :

Attire:

Dress – I plan to find something that will flatter
each of you and allow you to be in a tie for the
second hottest girl at the party. I will have
you each choose from a few different styles of
dresses, all in the same color family. It is not a
big deal to me that you match exactly, just that
you all feel fabulous in what you are wearing.

Shoes – you are responsible for finding your own
that match the dress – if you already own them,
that is fantastic. If you find something you love,
email it to me and I will yay or nay. (This feels so
much like rush, I can’t believe it.) Please, no black
shoes. And no match-matchy. Your shoes should
not be the same color as the dress. We’ll chat.

Hair – do whatever you like. I think most of you
are the hair down sort of people – which works
for me. My hair will be up, but please do what
you wish. I am hoping we’ll be able to get some
stylists for the day of. We may also schedule a
practice round… we’ll see.

Makeup – you all know what you look best in.
Again, I am hoping to bring someone in to at
least do mine, if you are interested in that, I am
sure we can arrange it.
Let me know if you start to see anything you love.
I may love it too.

Expectations:

The only events that you are required to attend are the
wedding, the reception and the rehearsal.

The ceremony/reception will be April 24, 2010 in
downtown Sacramento. Everything will start at 4PM,
followed by cocktails, followed by a sit down dinner and
dancing.

The rehearsal will be at 5PM at the church on Friday 4/23
and will be followed by a fabulous dinner thrown by Paul’s
parents. You will not need to worry about transportation
to any of the events. Between my family, Paul’s and the
friends we have in Sacramento, we should be all set.

I realize that most of you are out of towners so I will be in
touch about hotel arrangements for Friday-Sunday.

I imagine there will be a bridal shower or two before the
wedding that you will be invited to, but there is no
obligation to make it to those. I totally understand the
expense of flying back and forth.

I would love to have a grand bachelorette party – maybe
Vegas? Maybe 901 club? Maybe Sacramento? I will let
you all plan as much of that as you are interested in. I
would love to combine the college and high school girls
for a big bash, but let me know what works.

You are more than welcome to bring dates. You will be sitting with your
dates and friends for the reception, so no worries there.
I won’t make you sit at a front table, but I would love for
you to make a toast or say something if you are interested.

I Promise:

To not turn into a bridezilla. I do
understand that this day is about Elise
and Paul. Not dying flowers or a bad
spray tan. I promise to keep things light
and fun and exciting. I will count on you
girls to tell the jokes and BE HONEST
about if I look weird or if I am getting too
worked up. Or if I really need to NOT wear
a blue bird on my head.

Thank you for being part of all this! I am
so excited to spend so much of it with
you five.

The six of you:

This card included each girls' name and email address plus a little blurb about how I know them, etc. It was a "get to know each other" card. And they all promptly started emailing each other so it worked.
rain, rain, go away.

March 16, 2009

(photo inspired by the better executed one found here.)

We are coming up on our sixth day of dreary weather and gray skies and I am starting to pull my hair out. I am aching for sunshine and warmth. I am counting the days until we are back in California. (No offense, east coast, the homesickness – that lay dormant for 1.5 years – is getting to me.)

Inspired by this and this blog this past weekend. What is inspiring you?
good-bye daily card.

March 14, 2009

For 10 months, while I was 22, I kept a blog called "The Daily Card". Each day I decorated a playing card and posted them here. I am closing the blog now in order to make room for some new projects I have planned.

The cards are currently in organized by color in baseball card protectors and stored in an American Crafts album.

This project drove me crazy at the end, but now I love that I have over 300 cards with a sentiment from nearly everyday of a whole year. I recommend this project – even if it is just to capture a week or a month.
yes, i have seen the j.crew wedding dresses.

March 13, 2009

I have stalked the j.crew wedding section long before I was in the market for a wedding dress. They are lovely. Here are six sweet ones and my humble opinions:
The front of this one is similar to the dress I posted this morning, but the back is just too plain. Beautiful, don't get me wrong, I would just like a little something more interesting.

I like how this one "billows out" a little bit in the skirt. Cute and summery, but I don't know how flattering that top would be. And would I spend the whole night worrying about it and constantly be adjusting myself? Probably. Not so hot.

I adore the color on this one. I really want something more cream than white. And it is cute. Except we have the same adjusting situation. And also, I like that flower but wouldn't it be awkward when you are also holding a bouquet of flowers? This one though, I would like to try on more than the first two.

This one just looks pretty And the price is good. But same problems with the top…
Probably a little too simple for the price, but I am a fan of this one. Maybe it's the pockets? I really feel like pockets in a wedding dress are a good idea. I think I would keep my camera in there.
So lovely, but I really think you would need to be 6 feet tall and a skinny-mini to pull this one off. And Paul would be like, "Seriously?"

Bottom line : I do think the j.crew wedding dresses are lovely. But I just don't think any of them are Mine.

People have a lot of different goals in mind when picking a wedding dress: "I want to look like a princess." or "I want to look timeless." or "I want to look fabulous in photographs." While I would love to achieve all of those as well, my priority is that Paul can't take his eyes off of me. That probably sounds odd, but isn't the point that the groom thinks the bride looks fabulous? I know Paul would not be a fan if I came down in something that was too fashion-forward, made me look like a cake-topper, or the worst, with a blue bird in my hair. And while I am willing to battle to the death over the color orange, I know I will be thinking about his opinion more than my own* on this dress hunt.

(*That's not too say I won't love it too…)
the one dress of probably 364 that i will love.

March 13, 2009

Dress by Jenny Yoo via 100 Layer Cake (fabulous blog, btw.)

Today's "ooh la la" is over a dress. So far, the dress has been the
hardest part for me to visualize. I am going to shop for one in real
life with my mom, but for now I am just getting familiar with what I
like online.

This dress has a great v-neck in the front, which I am looking for.
And no train, which I do not want. And, oh man, am I in love with the
detail on the back. Plus it is just over $1000. And I am learning that
while that seems like oodles of money, it is really pretty inexpensive
for a wedding gown.