Woodland Wedding Save The Date Cards

I have just been taking a look through some of my initial woodland wedding theme ideas and found these save the date cards. I designed them when I first had the idea of a Midsummer Night’s Dream Wedding. They would also compliment an outdoor wedding, preferably in the woods or for a wedding with a fairytale theme.

Woodland Wedding Theme Save The Date Cards

These save the date cards were one of a few concepts and I came up with at the beginning and I had lots of fun researching woodland wedding stationery. I thought about designing matching wedding invitations and complimentary stationery such as place cards and table settings before I changed my own wedding theme to the sea.

I am thinking that they would have been nice printed on a vintage card stock or handmade paper containing flecks of plants or flower petals, possibly keeping the design as a monotone colour or maybe adding some extra shades of a woodland palette.

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Beware The Judderman, My Dear

Whilst on my web travels, I came across one of my favourite adverts of all time. Directed by Enda McCallion for Smirnoff Metz, Forrest got children and grown ups alike hiding behind the sofa and quaking in their slippers! Remember this one? Beautifully creepy!

Beware the Judderman my dear, when the moon is fat.
Sharp of tongue and spindle limbed he is, and cunning.
With sweetened talk of schnapps and Metz and the deliciousness of Judders – but schnapps though sweet has teeth my love, and sharpened ones at that.
Beware the Judderman my dear, when the moon is fat.

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Alberto Cerriteño

I have discovered so many new artists since writing my previous post, Terrible Yellow Eyes, and one illustrator in particular really caught my eye. Alberto Cerriteño.  His artwork is so vibrant and colourful, I can’t help but smile at his often humorous and completely wacky creations. From cute little critters and fun monsters to amusing animal and people portraits, Alberto injects such energy and liveliness into his work through rich textures and decorative patterns. His Mexican roots can clearly be seen with his artistic influences including alternative cartoons and pop surrealism.

Recuerdos by Alberto CerriteñoRecuerdos by Alberto Cerriteño

Alberto Cerriteño is currently working in Portland USA as an independent artist and his creative ideas are applied through many different mediums, from watercolour, pen and ink drawings and digital illustrations, through to paper work, packaging, installations and animation. An example of which I must include below for the short film to accompany Brian Vogan’s delightful children’s song That’s How A Pumpkin Grows.

I tend to be drawn towards illustration with a paper cut quality. I find coffee painted artwork and humorous designs appealing and I am often influenced by flat compositions loaded with texture. Alberto Cerriteño ticks all of those boxes for me so I am not surprised that I have suddenly gone ga-ga for his artwork. Take a look at his blog for instant gratification!

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Terrible Yellow Eyes

All good things must come to an end and unfortunately, this is true for the Terrible Yellow Eyes blog which was set up by artist Cory Godbey as a tribute to that much loved childrens book classic Where the Wild Things Are. This was one of my most favourite stories as a child and the facinating drawings and illustrations of the brilliant Maurice Sendak have imprinted themselves on my mind, recently awakened by the release of the film in the UK, December 2009.

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice SendakWhere the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Terrible Yellow Eyes is a collection of illustrations and artworks contributed by a number of extremely talented artists in honour of Maurice Sendak’s 80th birthday. The blog has been a great source of inspiration to me, through learning of new illustrators and immersing myself in their beautiful work, to the memories it has evoked in me of first discovering this enchanting book.

Terrible Yellow Eyes WebsiteTerrible Yellow Eyes as created by Cory Godbey

Where the Wild Things Are is a piece of genius. The plot is simple, yet spellbinding. The central character is Max, a young boy dressed in a wolf costume who one evening, is sent to bed by his mother for making mischief. In his room, his imagination creates a wild wood and vast sea in which he sails to the land of the Wild Things. Here Max is confronted with monsters with scary yellow looking eyes but he manages to conquer them by staring at them and not blinking. He is the made the King of All Wild Things and has a fabulous time cavorting with the beasts. Soon, however, he is homesick and returns to his bedroom to find his supper waiting for him, still hot!

Maurice Sendak at 80Maurice Sendak still wild at 80

I have just purchased an old 1963 hardback version of the book from Amazon to relight my Sendak fire. I hope one day to read this to my children and introduce to them the magic of this story and wonder of such imagination. This website features so many talented artists and awesome pieces of work, I am including some of my favourites here.

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The Mixed Media Art of Nagib Karsan

Nagib Karson is one of my favourite Artists at the moment. I have a great appreciation for his trademark mixed media style, which is a combination of paint and collage, using card, paper, magazines and print. The use of different texture overlayed with colour gives his work a wonderful depth and texture and I find myself wanting to touch and feel the paintings as well as enjoy them visually. I often lose myself in wondering where he got the each paper cutting from. What made him decide on that particular texture? Does the newspaper text mean anything and is it relavant to the picture or place itself?

Day Trippers, St IvesDay Trippers, St Ives ~ Mixed Media by Nagib Karsan

I haven’t found much information on the internet for Nagib Karsan. It seems he was born in Tanzania in 1955, and spent his childhood years in Africa and in boarding school in the UK. Nagim is said to have been inspired by the watercolours of Frank Webb and impressionism and influences can certainly be seen in his current works. Nagib currently resides in Surrey and is a member of the Dorking Group of Artists and the Guildford Art Society, amongst others. His works commonly depict harbour scenes, sea side towns and city scapes.

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How to make Paper Flowers Tutorial

Whilst browsing Etsy, one of my favourite websites for handmade inspiration, I stumbled upon this excellent tutorial for making elegant parchment flowers from the wonderful paper wizard, Jeffrey Rudell.

Pretty flowers and pretty simple to make. I am going to try crafting something similar, possibly using pastel blues, muted greens, creams and whites for a sea colour theme. I really do want fresh flowers and grasses for the wedding but as we have little budget for this and I really don’t want to use fabric flowers, I may consider paper flowers as part of the centerpieces instead.

Jeffrey Rudell Paper FlowersPicture via Craft Stylish DIY Wedding Blog Paper Flower Tutorial Page

There are numerous pictures of paper flowers on the internet. Here are a few of my favourites. Some are very life like and others more decorative. I am going to try experimenting with both, possibly using pattered paper for some. I have noticed that most of my favourites are from Martha Stewart Crafts but they don’t seem to be available anymore.

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Chanel Paper Flower Fashion Show

The decor used in Chanel’s Spring/Summer 2009 Haute Couture show was made entirely out of paper. The Chanel Website reports that 7000 paper flowers were handmade for the event totalling in 4800 hours work and 4000 m2 of paper.

Close up of Chanel Paper FlowersClose up of the Paper Flowers ~ Photographs by Charlotte M. Frieze

This original decor got me thinking about using paper as a material for my own wedding decorations. My partner being a lithographic printer gives me access to lots of left over paper stock which would otherwise find its way into the recyling bin. Paper in abundance and being green too. It may be the perfect resource. It has opened up a whole new world to me and I am excited to jump right in!

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Using Vintage Books as Centerpieces

I have been thinking of vintage items to add to my wedding table display. One idea that I have seen recently and that has inspired me is using old books for centerpieces. Possibly on their own or as a platform for other decorative items such as flowers, etc. The books below are perfect in colour for a sea themed wedding, plus the decorative spines really add an old worldly feel. So elegant and charming.

Blue Vintage BooksBlue Vintage Books Idea ~ Picture from Country Living

A fantastic place to start looking for old books is in the local charity shops. Remove the dust jackets to see what the binding looks like beneath. The colour and condition will ultimately effect your decision. Search for decorative spines and gold foiling, embossing and silver blocking. This will add interest and style. Books from thrift stores will tend to be very cheap and so this should be a relatively inexpensive way to decorate the wedding table. Another place to check for vintage books is on ebay, though these often seem to be collectors items and therefore can be expensive. The opportuntity to be able to give the book a once over is also removed. However, I think postage may be free so you can browse in the confort of your own home!

I just made my first ebay vintage book purchase by looking for a book that would not only fit in with a sea colour theme, but would also have some relevant content. I searched for books with St Ives and Carbis Bay in the title and old seafaring books which I thought would be appropriate. I’ll post some pictures once my collection starts to grow!

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