2009 PROMOTION!! SPREAD THE WORD!

AS PROMISED WE ARE DOING A PROMOTION FOR 2009!! HURRY IT IS ONLY FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY!!! PLEASE PASS IT ON!
If you book Erin Hearts Court for your photography you get a free engagement session. (a $400 value) YAY! If you book me (Flush Designs) for your invitations you will receive 10% off (that averages about $200) If you book us both you get both deals! I am also willing to throw in a day of discussion for you to pick my brain about your wedding and give you design ideas and advise. (which I usually do for all my clients anyways...)
CHECK OUR SITES FOR INFO, PORTFOLIOS, AND PRICING. Some restrictions apply for the invites and also depends if your wedding date is still available. Feel free to contact us for any information and inquiries.
www.erinheartscourt.com
www.flushdesigns.com

NEW WEBSITE IS LIVE!!! YAY YIPPY HORRAY WOO HOO

Flush Designs' (me) new website is done and ready for viewing! I am sure I have a typographical errors somewhere, and I am sure my teacher sister will point it out. :)
Go Now and take a look! I am so excited as now I can constantly add new work so much easier! If I get board of my color scheme I can change it. yay! although I am loving the blue and red.
Drum Roll please.....
Here it is! www.flushdesigns.com
Don't forget to visit our new Photo site www.erinheartscourt.com
I will be listing a promotion soon. Stay Tuned....

Frida Kahlo table top invite take 2

Here is the second invite concept for the table top I will be doing for Once Wed. This a more subtle, sweet and airy design. Very simple and whimsical. I based it on the flowers always worn at the top of Frida's hair with her braids that wrap up. Big fluffy flowers adorn her head all the time it is so beautiful. This would be a simple design letterpress and possibly tied together with some natural colored raffia, in a kraft envelope. This is more the Garden aspect as opposed to the Fiesta aspect as the first version. Hope you like them. Stay tuned at Once Wed for the table top design. I also had to show my new love of my rusty cookie tin filled with flowers. How sweet and charming is that!!

Frida Kahlo table top invite take 1

I did 2 versions of the invite inspired by the table top design I am going to do for Once Wed. Look out Monday the 9th! The first idea was to make the invite like a fiesta mexican flag all tied together. I used a colorful ribbon to tie it all together by stitching it on all three pieces. I think a thinner ribbon would work better but this is just the base idea... :)
This is more colorful and casual then the second one I will display. Hope this gives a little sneak peak into my table top fun. I can't wait. if you didn't already you can see my inspiration board here.

Your feedback on our new websites...

I have been in front of the computer for 2 days straight 12 hours a day all weekend trying to get this done. I now have red eyes & a sore butt. :)

Just want to let everyone know that Erin Hearts Court is up and running! We are still adding some more work but the basics are up! Check it out and let us know what you think.

Also I am working on mine at the moment and have it partially done. (some sections aren't up yet) You can see it in action right now just to get a feel of the new layout.
I would love some critique on it..colors, layout, ease of use, photos.... etc.
Here is the link. You can still compare it to my original site here.

Feedback would be great!

I am going to be doing a promotion when it is all up and ready. So Look out!

Ceremony program...a collage of our love notes!

These are quick photos of my wedding programs. I had made 4 versions of different collages of notes, drawings, journal entries and fun items {the giving tree} from our 10 years of dating that we gave each other. Some of them were in my husband's wallet for 10 years so they were folded and dirty but it made it more fun. I printed the ceremony program on the back with poem that I wrote in place of the "order of service" and I made up names for all involved. It was so fun to watch people trying to collect all 4 versions.

My Studio & Home {small- but gets the job done}

As a wedding vendor there is something to say about having a "shop" or "studio". It gives a bit of mojo to your work. But as an Artist there is something to say about just having a "home" :) So as a self employed "wedding artist" I turned my home into my studio. It is small and I could definitely use a few more tables and chairs and storage. Our hopes will be to get a larger space this summer. With 5 printers, 3 cats, 3 computers, 2 scanners, and a husband, it can get a bit tight to say the least. It causes screams of frustration about once a month when I decide to make a nice dinner and realize my "kitchen" table (it is in quotes because it is actually in the living room and we call our couch our dining table.... explanation coming :) ) Anyways when I realize my kitchen table is covered in photos, letterpress plates, bills, extension cords, lenses, and a cat, hence the move to the dining table AKA the couch. It makes living a working completely one thing. I know if I expand I will be able to grow my business, but for now it is good and we are happy. So with out further adu: This is my work space.... a clean version! :) tee he... and a couple of pics of me, one of which I am very serious. BTW that is not the press I use for most of my projects I rent a big beast of a press at another studio. That little guy is for the tiny projects. I used to do my major projects on it until I grew a popeye arm. :) All taken by my lovely husband

Frida Kahlo garden fiesta table top inspiration board...hold on to your sombreros!

I have the pleasure of designing another table top trend for Emily over at Once Wed which I will have done at the end of this month. So here is my inspiration. Bright colors, rustic pots, vintage fabrics and tamales! I have challenged myself to using a round table with white table cloth, white napkins and boring white dishes.... everything most venues supply for weddings! :( I want to show that boring linens and static dishware can be made to look exciting by bringing in a few elements on your own with out having to re-rent everything you're already supplied. (which defeats the purpose of the all in one venue and a budget)

Hope I can do it! :)

One Arrangement-Multiple vases

I just purchased these lovely crystal glass vases from Anthropologie yesterday with hopes to make an arrangement by grouping them together. It seemed to work just how I wanted it to. :) I just filled them with flowers and rosemary and kumquats from around my complex. The daffodils I bought at Trader Joe's, ten stems for like $2. I know a lot of you are suffering in 5 degree weather and here I am in Southern California dilly dallying around in 85 degree weather making spring time arrangements. Sorry! :( Hopefully it will just cheer you up and give you inspiration. I actually think 2 of the vases are actually candle holders... Oh well.
Tee hee. :)

Do judge a wine by it's label...

In Case some of you out there didn't know I grew up in near Napa Valley. I went to high school in Napa. Wow, you may think, how cool to grow up in Napa! Seriously, think about it. Can you imagine being 17 in the vast lands of vineyards with nothing to do. We were surrounded by the utmost beautiful landscapes you can think of, fantastic weather, great restaurants and über fabulous people, but were bored out of our teenage minds. I was friends with... well just think of any major winery and I knew the kids-they were bored too. We drove around, went to parties, drank beer or strawberry hill (yeah dude) and complained of nothing to do. However, I did pay close attention to the signs around me as I drove the windy roads of highway 12 and the streets of sonoma, singing along to James, Depeche mode, sometimes a little Led Zeppelin, I noticed the wineries and their logos. I remember always appreciating the way they used type and color. I loved (and still love) how they use fine art for special bottles, and a slightly different shape for the Pinot Noir verses the Cabernet. It is almost sexy.
I love wine. I love drinking wine and do try to pick ones for the taste but I am a sucker for a great label. I will buy any wine if I love the label. Sometimes it is just the simplicity of the text or sometimes it has the vintage qualities of an old early 19th century advertisement. it all inspires me. I will drink that bottle, but what is most important to me is the label. I will save it. If I am stuck on a design I will look at my labels. If I want a amazing font with that special curve on the G, I look through my labels or go buy a new bottle. It all is amazing to me. Now, when I go back to napa, I breathe the air, I enjoy the rolling hills of vineyards, and I use the time to discover new wineries, new labels, and new art. Oh and I drink wine with my friends until our lips and teeth are as purple as can be.
Here are some of my favorite labels. I know some of the pics are small but I can't find larger images and I am too lazy to scan my own labels.
On a side note the Buoncristiani wine label is painted by my friend Aaron Buoncristiani. He is a wonderful artist and winemaker.
Enjoy my inspiration.

Flush Designs and Erin Hearts Court is Featured on Southern Weddings Magazine today!

Hey all just want to tell you to go visit Southern Weddings Magazine today to see the feature of Erin and Courtney's (no, not us, the bride and groom just have the same name) wedding. We shot it in October and has been featured on Once Wed and now Southern Weddings Magazine. So Fun!!! WE are so excited. They did a 4 part feature using a ridiculous amount of pictures! They also dedicated one whole part to just her invites and other wedding stationary done by yours truly! Though Courtney booked us through Paloma Images this wedding was truely the one that really sealed the deal that Erin and I love to shoot weddings together and going forward with our new photography duo Erin Hearts Court!
Go now and visit!

Erin Hearts Court-Wedding photography

I Have officially teamed up with my husband, Erin of jameserin.com and Palomaimages.com, in our own wedding photography team. Erin Hearts Court. Although we are working on our website and it will hopefully be up by the end of this month, we have the new and exciting logo and splash page done. www.erinheartscourt.com
You can go visit the site and then click on the blog to see our work ( well... sort of it is not complete yet either) and then call us up and book us for your wedding because we are so totally awesome! :)

While you are in my blog here you can see the weddings we have shot together in past posts so click on those too.

We are excited and as soon as it is complete and ready for viewing I will post again! Check back to our blog often to see slideshows of real weddings!

Look out world not only will I photograph your wedding but I will do your invites, your design and your flowers, and overall just make it so unique your friends who just got married will want to divorce their spouse so they can marry them again, Just to try and top yours. :) ha ha...

Kelly & Louis Wedding 12.20.08

Here are my just a few of my favorite pictures from the wedding Erin and I just shot on December, 20th 2008. The couple is originally from California but moved to Texas. The wedding was here in pasadena but we only just met the cute couple that day as they booked us from texas. They were just absolutely happy and smiley the whole time! One sad note- a button off my new pair of boots came off that day! GRRR I even saw it, but thought someone dropped it off a coat or something so I just put it down where I saw it.... WELL that was MY button!! I had warn my boots only twice and didn't have them memorized yet... I think the nuns at the church will think I am crazy if I go there asking for a leather button, it's probably already been used in the children's arts and crafts class... :(
Oh well- enjoy the pictures!