inspirational {art}

I have been so swamped with wedding shenanigans that I have seem to have lost my way in my own love affair with art. I am behind on my current artists, and haven't been to a gallery or museum in over a year. Yesterday I was just introduced to the works of Jacob Hashimoto. I realize he has been exhibiting his works now for years but he is new to me. I am just in love with the depth of his pieces. He has a permanent exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London, a future trip. Right now though Erin and I will be off to New York in March and I am so looking forward to going to museums and galleries everyday there. I am currently searching for a show of his work there, Anyone?



Right now the MOMA's current show is the early works of Tim Burton... So excited to see this.

Cotton LOve

Our 2 year wedding anniversary was yesterday....mmmmm love. The 2nd year is cotton. Since we are both pretty bad at giving presents on present giving days :) we usually go out to dinner and do funny stuff to celebrate. So for our cotton present we each made one another a cotton ball animal. Erin made me a "Gerb-amb" combo of a gerbil and a lamb. I made Erin a "lyo-errier" a mix between a lyon and a scottish terrier. Both equally filled with love and goodness! Happy anniversary to us!

I tweeted, wait, twooted, no twitted... No twittered....

Whatever Twitter really is, I did it. I signed up. So what is next. you follow me? :)

Our humble but totally boring home!

So we were totally stoked to find out that Design Sponge wanted us to send them pics of our home for their sneak peek section they do every monday... So after days of scrambling and making sure everything looked as tidy as a work/home space can look we took loads of pics and sent them there way. Then this morning I get a email thanking me for the pictures but telling me that my home is not "quite right for the site" OUCH! that really made my husband and I feel like we were a complete pile of shit thrown up against the door. As struggling artists with massive student loans and working hard running both of our businesses, we have stayed in our same apartment for the last 6 years. We don't spend money on fancy furniture as one day when we have saved enough money to buy a house in california, we plan on finding the perfect furniture and found objects that fits that style of house. We are planning on moving this year and upgrading to a house, rental of course, but in the meantime we do our best to live humbly and enjoy ourselves everyday. We are thankful for what we do have so we keep our focus on trying to fulfill our dreams of working for ourselves as artists. So I thought instead of letting these photos go to waste, I would share with you our humble but not design sponge friendly apartment and workspace. I did show our work space before on a previous post, but here it is again along with the rest of our space. Are there any entrepreneurs, artists, or small business owners out there that make sacrifices for the better of your business? Do you still live humbly? However bad we felt from this rejection, we are still happy with where things are in our lives and what is going on... don't forget my post yesterday as there is so much going on with tons of exciting weddings and NEWS to come....

Erin did a project during school where he would print photos directly on the backs of skateboards... this was done in the darkroom using film GASP! :)
our coffee table is a salvaged piece of marble that sits on an old wooden beer crate filled with all our travel photos.
I collect the beer caps I just love all the colors when together.

you know when your work takes over your home when a fax sits upon your wine cooler.

Erin named it the "La Vin du Fax"
One of my paintings
a mixed media collage piece I did

our tiny little garden in our "back alley yard"

A new light

This is how I'm feeling right now! New weddings, fun projects, awesome
photography, & the most exciting news ever ever!!!!

My Family...

Not sure if it is the economy, the sudden explosion of DIY weddings, or maybe it is me? But things have been slow in the invitation front...I have lots of other stuff going on with our photography and my flower design, making May and June very busy and lots of fun. But I can't help to wonder What can I do differently to stay focused, motivated, and inspired right now? Blogging isn't one of them. :) So on a search to find some inspiration and motivation and with the death of my computer last week I have been slowly trying to reorganize what was saved and I found all these images of my family (that I had scanned a while ago) I haven't looked at in a while...

My parents on their wedding day! My most favorite picture....EVER!

My grandmother with my mom as a baby... this picture always makes me feel joy. And gets me excited for the day my husband and I start a family.

My dad doing his dentistry on my brother.
My dad and brother at our old house ( One time I fell out of that door at the top of that barn)

My mom with me on her lap and my 2 sisters. I don't think I was too happy getting my picture taken.. :)

Me with my grandma on halloween.
My mom and her little sis, my Aunt Cindy....
My Grandma, so gorgeous.

My Grandmother again... she was an actress this was her headshot.

Death to the E-Mac

The Day finally came.... 7 years it has been my work horse. I know you all are thinking an E-Mac... circa 2002... you run a business and do modern designs on that!!! Are you crazy! Yes and No! We also have a new I-Mac and a Mac book. However, I do all my emailing, designing, and some printing from that computer. So when it decided to completely shut down with no hope of ever coming back to life, the only way to save all my work (lucky for me I back up everything!) from the last 3 days of emails and design changes were not backed up was to take the whole thing apart! So My Super husband came to the rescue and completely tore it to pieces, retrieved the Hard drive and saved all my work from the last 3 days!!! YAY for super Husband!!! Since nothing important was lost (at least what I can tell right now) we had a little fun with it. For now I will have to use the laptop for most of my work and when I do major designing or printing I will have to rock, paper, scissors with my husband to use the I-mac (that is technically his computer but he has to learn to share!) :) Come summer when we have paid off the other 2 computers I can get a new one and I am excited for that day! As frustrating as it is I am happy I am good at backing up my work. So for those of you that are wondering why I haven't been very good emailing lately this is why!



Here is my super husband inside the emac casing pretending to be a spaceball!:)

Didn't want to, but I did.....

I made a page in facebook. So far Erin and I are the only fans... Although I am not a big fan of my own work, for humility reasons and hard on myself, I was more just trying to figure the thing out. I figured the more I can show up around the web the better. Still haven't started to tweet or flick... Have to draw the line somewhere or I would be on the frickin' computer all day!
Nothing much on my facebook page but go take a look!

WAITING.....

I am waiting for a few things to happen around the blog world so I can post all my new work... I also have ideas that I want to produce soooooooo bad but just can't at the moment, as I have 2 printing jobs taking up all my tiempo for the rest of the month... and well no extra moola to do them with. GRRRR........ well I guess I will have 2 print jobs to show at the end of the month. that's good. :) Sorry!

My Photo Studio {a wooden chest}

I found this old WWII chest on the side of the road. It sits right at my front door and is what I use to take all {well, 90% of} my photos of my invitations and projects on. This little setup can provide the perfect spot for almost all my invitation designs. It has started to take it's toll in the rain but I love it. Since most of my designs have a soft vintage feel and rustic organic charm, what better place to prop them up then on an old wooden chest filled with history! I usually add a few flowers or something that represents the theme of the invite. Ladies and Gents... The Chest.

Anyone ever thrown their computer through the window?

I think I might this morning. Of course right now I am working on my husbands beautifully new computer while mine is sounds like a jet engine taking off while it searches for it's brain or at least trying to remember it's purpose in life.

I know I know....

Nothing new! YET!!!... Oh you just wait. In the meantime get off the computer!! take a walk, drink some wine, kiss your pet, tell your mom you love her, enjoy your life. Call your best friend not text. Sing to your favorite song. You'll need it because when you come back to my blog in the next couple days you'll be on the computer for so long your bum will flatten, your hair will grey and your cat will gnaw on your toes. what's coming you say??....
4 bouquets
3 table tops
2 invitations
& 1 super cool save the date
0 sleep :)

Perhaps I am thinking of another "what boy wants to wear a flower anyway..." flowerless boutonniere series. What theme or occupation Should I do?? I have ideas for these...
A. Fly Fisherman
B. Engineer/Architect

Come back soon!!

I LOVE MY HUSBAND!!!!!!

Just thought I would let everyone know! :)

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!

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

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.