...to sum up...

What a CRAZY winter/spring it has been! I have been swamped and am LOVING every second of it!

What makes things even crazier, however, is that I am headed to Rome next week for work to teach Final Cut Pro to our Rome bureau. I am beyond ecstatic, but nervous about the flight. ALSO, this means I am working triple-time to make sure I have all invites to my brides before I'm gone, as I am flying straight to Colorado from Rome for a wedding and won't be back in time to have them shipped for the suggested 2-months-before-the-wedding mail out date.

I am working with the most fun brides right now! They are very open to ideas and suggestions, which allows me to experiment with new ideas. I am doing a BEAUTIFUL pink and champagne pocketfold for one bride and a FABULOUS "booklet" invitation with navy (yay!) and green swirls for another.

Also, I am having my first go around with scalloped program fans, and I love how they're turning out!

The groom requested that I include The Lord's Prayer for those guests who don't know it:

And how cool is this? The invite was printed on plantable seed paper. You plant it, and it grows flowers! How novel! :)

Oh, and can I please take a moment to say how excited I was to find out a friend of a past bridal client FRAMED her invite and gave it to the bride for a gift? I couldn't help but feel honored :)

OK! Thanks for the break! I'm off to address some envelopes for rehearsal dinner invites. It's at a pub in Ireland!

Slan leat anois mo stor!

Emily

new web site!

www.embellishedbyemily.com has seen a drastic change!

The pink and grey site was really starting to get to me. It didn't convey the elegance that I thought demonstrated my capabilities. So, after much research, I revamped it and am very happy with the results.

Many more images still need to be added. I typically prefer to wait until after the event has occurred to post the invitation, and I also change the details around when the client requests.

Please let me know what you think of this recent revamp! I am excited for the many things Embellished by Emily has in store :)

Warmly,

Emily

p.s. - This photo warms my heart. It is of my lovely boyfriend of 5 years and myself last year at one of my best gal's wedding. Julie is now in Bolivia with her husband, and I miss her so much. This picture takes me back to what a fun day that was. I miss you, Jules! Please come back soon!!!! OH, the photo was taken by Michael Connor of www.connorstudios.com. Check him out for your wedding photography needs!

Loving what I do

Embellished by Emily has been the name of my business since 2006, and I went back and forth at the beginning when I first thought it up. Now I couldn't be happier with it. Every time I take on a project outside of my normal paper invitations/announcements, the broad business name of "Embellished by Emily" makes more sense. The name says I can take any of your ideas and embellish them to your liking. Anything you desire can be embellished by Emily!

The days are getting longer and sunnier and warmer, and I am so incredibly excited about this! Cookouts and weddings are just around the corner.

I would love to post some things I've been working on in the realm of weddings and babies, but prefer to wait until after the event takes place to post it to my public site. So in the meantime, I will leave you with my paper flowers I made last weekend. I have no idea where I got the idea, but a couple sheets of scrapbook paper, some leftover fabric, and an awesome vase from Marshalls later, I have myself a never-dying table display!

Happy Spring!!

Warmly,

Emily

Jack's Wall Art

Jack's wall hangings...

Baby Jack's nursery has a transportation theme. So fun!

I took the design of the bedding ...

... and made it into these matching button-and-canvas wall hangings.

Aiden's wall art coming soon!

spring weddings!

I am working on some spring and summer weddings now. Yay! I love love LOVE the colors of spring. Anything to get me out of this snow and slush mess! As of this evening, www.embellishedbyemily.com will see some minor changes -- just an addition of some things completed in recent months.

It's fun when I hear from a bride who loved an invitation she got in the mail SO much that she just has to have the same one for her wedding. Lets me know I'm doing something right. I have one invitation that has now been used 3 times, but difference color schemes and a few alterations each time. For example, the original bride wanted the purple and black pocketfold to be tied with a little skinny ribbon and bow. The second bride wanted the same pocketfold but red and black and a larger ribbon with her monogram tag on the front. The third bride wants it to be black and hotpink. The good news is, I love customizing these for each individual bride.

I also just completed two wall hangings for a friend's little boy, Aiden, who just moved up into his big boy room. Canvases are such a fun way to grow my creative cells and really let the imagination soar. I just did 3 nursery canvases for another dear friend's newborn son, Jack. They are button-sewn and just darling. Photos to come.

In the midst of this, I will be helping my friend Jennifer prepare for her spring wedding. It is going to be on a lake, and since Jen is not normally into all this wedding jazz, she has asked me to take charge! The colors are Olive, navy and cornflower, and I cannot wait to arrange her bouquets and make her little pillow and basket. I will also be putting together a flower girl crown of flowers.

When choosing the name of my business, I wanted to make sure I picked something that was not invitation-specific. I wanted people to know that if it's creative, Embellished by Emily can do it. You come to me with your fabulous ideas, and I just add onto them, embellishing your thoughts and dreams of how you want the finished product to look. So far I'm loving every second of it!

Warmly,

Emily

spring weddings!!!

I am up to my ears in pink paisley and green pocketfolds! That can only mean one thing -- springtime wedding season is just around the corner! And I couldn't be more excited.

Before I get too excited about the warm weather again (since it is only December) I should point out that some of the schemes I'm working on for January and February weddings are gorgeous. Red seems to be a very popular wedding color. I'd say it's probably surpassed purple.

Red/black/silver is also popular and elegant.

Beth and Jason are having a Kansas wedding in January, using those three colors, and we were both very happy with how they turned out. Her pocketfolds were custom-sized.

Moving on to Danielle and Sergio. This bride is so sweet and has great visions for her wedding day. She wanted Red and gold, and is getting married in a gazebo. The gazebo on this invite is actually from a photo she had taken at the venue on a nasty, rainy day. A little digital alteration, and voila! Perfect graphical element. I LOVE the paper this is printed on. It's a pearlescent called "stardream quartz" and is GORGEOUS. The envelopes are metallic, too! Quite the "pop" the bride requested, I think.

Here's a fun tip for my "green" brides. online RSVP. If it's done right, it is completely elegant and sophisticated. I have a bride who is preparing for a June wedding. Her invitations will be printed on "plantable" paper -- you can plant it after receiving it, and flowers will bloom! The accents on the invitation match her wedding Web site, so when guests hop online to RSVP, it still makes sense. I recommend www.mywedding.com for setting up an elegant site. They have tons of background options, and their RSVP section is very classy. This idea works best if the majority of wedding guests are internet-savvy, as it might be difficult for people like great-grandma to have access to the internet. The blue in the background of the above picture is handmade paper that will act as the back cardstock for her panel invite. The envelope is recycled, as are the twine pieces. I cannot WAIT to see this final product!

Happy planning! The ideas are limitless!!

warmly,

Emily

I am truly blessed.

O how I love my brides and mamas!

Every time a new email comes to embellishedbyemiy, I sit back and think about just how lucky I am to have a day job and a side job that I love so much! As far as Embellished by Emily goes, how hard could it possibly be not to love the "work" involved? Every person who contacts me is completely elated with their newest stage in life and wants ME to be the one to illustrate that for them. Blessings are definitely counted every night. Believe me.

I currently have 3 weddings I am working on (save the dates, invites, programs) in one way or another. Three weddings = three very different brides = my favorite! One wedding will take place in a castle in Ireland, one wedding is in a beautiful outdoor-garden setting in Illinois, and the third will be in a gorgeous Christian church in the center of my hometown. See? Very different... Keeps the cogs from getting rusty :)

A very popular trend today is the "pocketfold" invitation. These are so wonderful when including multiple pieces of information. And since most receptions are held somewhere other than the church assembly hall these days, an added direction and reception card is almost always necessary. I am so excited about the pink and green pocketfold I am working on. What a FUN combo of colors for a wedding for such a FUN-loving couple.

Of course there are tons of options for pocketfold invitations. I can make them any size, shape and color you desire. Like this one I did for M+J's August wedding.

I really am lucky my love for glue, scissors, paper and art advanced beyond the 3rd grade!















With all that being said, I will leave you with this:


My very best friend, Stephanie, was the first wedding I ever did invitations for. I owe her a HUGE thank you from the bottom of my heart for not removing me from her wedding party and her life after the disaster that was her invitations and programs. Needless to say I have learned a LOT from her wedding almost 5 years ago, and whenever the topic comes up, we laugh it off, and Stephanie is proud that she was my "guinea pig." Now all I have to do is cross my fingers that she trusts me again when it comes time for her baby announcements!
Bundle up as the weather turns!
Warmly,
Emily