Mint

We finally made it to the new Charlotte Ikea this weekend and did our part to “fix” the economy. That doesn’t stop me from window shopping, though! Here are a few things I’d love to have:

1. Hot weather is nearly here, and I don’t need this knitted coffee sleeve for my iced lattes. But, it is darn cute. Add it to your porcelain coffee cup and you’ll be 100% eco.

2. Digging around for change in the bottom of my purse is getting really old. The fabric on this oktak purse reminds me of those much-loved otomi textiles.

3. I can’t get enough of green lately, and this light-weight ikat scarf is just right for Spring.

4.. Urban Outfitters is selling a holga attachment that lets you use polaroid instant film with your holga. Whoa. However, the $150 price tag might make you think twice. I mean, waiting a week for your prints isn’t that hard. Still, coveted.

5. Keep those links coming, Ali! We’d both love a pair of these adorable red shoes, and they look like they might be comfy too!

Thanks Ana, for letting me know the name of my mystery flower. It’s Nigella Damascena, or “love in a mist.”

Brendan designed our rehearsal dinner invitations, and at the last minute we decided to gocco a silhouette illustration I made and slip that in the envelopes as well. The invitations were printed at a cheap, local printer (similar to kinkos) on French Speckletone Kraft.

I gocco’d the illustration on French Mod-Tone aqua paper, which we had lying around from some previous invitation idea. It’s a patterned paper, but it’s hard to see in the photos…

We wanted them to feel casual, light-hearted and fun, and we didn’t mind a departure from our other printed materials. (see our save the dates, invitations, & programs)

On a side note, those flowers popped up in my backyard this week. Anyone know what they are?

You can see more photos of the flowers, the invitations, and a couple photos from our actual rehearsal dinner on Mint’s Flickr. Have a great weekend!

I completely forgot I hadn’t shown these yet on Mint! Our programs & direction cards were really fun to design, and easy to assemble since I had them printed at the same place I took our save the dates, used regular old cardstock, and had the printer cut them down to size and punch the holes. We tied the ribbons in one quick evening, and it was done!

I made four different covers, but the inside content was the same for each program. They were 6 pages long including the cover, and about 4×5″.

The direction cards used our profile illustration from the guest book and rehearsal dinner invitations (coming tomorrow!). I used a hand-held corner rounder from Michael’s, which was surprisingly fast and easy. They were handed out to guests as they left the ceremony so that they could easily find our reception.

For more photos, you can visit Mint’s flickr.

*These are now available for sale! If you’re interested, please email mintdesignblog (at) gmail (dot) com.

I love the products from Shoestring Home, and am so happy to have them as a new Mint sponsor. Most of us are operating on small budgets these days, and it’s nice to find a place where you can spruce up your home without breaking the bank. Please welcome Shoestring Home!

If you are interested in becoming a Mint sponsor, please email mintdesignblog [at] gmail [dot] com for rates and visitor information.

As much as I enjoyed this past year of wedding planning (tying ribbons to programs, goccoing invitations, and thinking of color schemes is way up my alley), it was a lot of work. And yeah, I made it a lot of work, because like I said I enjoyed it. But now that the wedding is over, it seems I once again have some free time and thinking of where I might spend it is thrilling. Here are a few simple things that are making me very happy at the moment:

Thank you Kristy for introducing me to this Slate-blog-turned-website. Double X is a site written by women on life, culture, parenting, the arts, politics, health, work, and everything in between. It launched yesterday and I’m looking forward to reading up. Articles of note? becoming a parent, the failures of feminism, and my generation’s inability to wean (from mom). Double X also has blogs within it, and my personal favorite-to-be is “Nick’s Dream House,” written by Nick Olsen (former Domino Deal Hunter). He had me at this: “And if I can’t afford what I want, I’ll make or fake it myself.” My kind of guy.

I moved here four years ago and love it. Find out why Durham, NC rocks (and thanks for putting us on the map, Jessie!) photo credit, also jessie’s.

Six whole, sad weeks after moving in to our house, we have finally hung a few pictures on our walls. Feels like home. (print by ellie annan)

The idea of a wedding registry and matching dishes freaked me out a little at first. But man do our wonky Crate & Barrel dishes put a smile on my face.

Most recently, I’ve read White is for Witching (pre-release courtesy of It’s Nice That), Jitterbug Perfume, and The Namesake. What a treat! Illustration for White is for Witching by Jon Klassen.

What’s making you happy this week?

Recently, I saw a post on It’s Nice That offering free, pre-release copies of White is for Witching. Naturally I jumped on it; I love to read, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I occasionally choose books by their covers. Case in point, White is for Witching (really good, by the way). The cover was illustrated by Jon Klassen, who also worked on Coraline. There is so much more on his website.