This is not your Grandmother's bench

My (amazing) mother is a super talented woman who has been creating awesome needlepoint work for the last 9 years (an old hobby she picked up again after pseudo-retiring). It seems as if she is always creating something stunning and impressive - shoes, pillows, bookmarks, luggage tags, purses and wall hangings to name a few! The latest addition to my ever growing collection is this beautiful occasional bench.

My mom found the bench at an estate sale (for $5!), took off the old covering, had the design custom printed on the canvas (from a sketch I provided her) and needlepointed the design (which took close to a year!) Once she completed all the work she had the bench re-covered. The end result? A glamorous and stylish occasional bench that I will always treasure. Thanks, Mom!

On another note: Jonny and I carved a pumpkin last night (we named him Frankie... get it?!?) Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Swankys Spooktacular Halloween Extravanga!

Join Swanky's this Friday night for their annual Halloween Bash! There will be live music, costumes, drink specials and all sorts of Halloween madness! Plus Jamie Randolph and the Darkhorse will be playing! See you there!

poster by J Press Designs

Real (Lexington) Weddings - Mary & Ellis

Mary Mitchell (Roberts) is one of my favorite people on the planet! She is smart, sassy and knows EXACTLY what she wants. For some people, that could be a recipe for disaster when it comes to client personalities - but not for me! Over the past year we worked together on all aspects of her wedding stationery (Save the Dates, Invitations, Programs - the works! Her sister even contacted me to do the Bachelorette Party invitations!) and we were all super pleased with the results!

For the Save the Dates, Mary wanted something bright and colorful that expressed elements of nature and had a modern feel, all while being classic at the same time. We collaborated to come up with the stunning design that we were both very proud of!

The wedding invitations were another story... She wanted to incorporate some of the elements of the Save the Date without being a total duplicate. I sharpened some of the illustrations and minimized the floral composition, kept the bumble bee icon and added some round corners, and voilá! A simple, classic yet modern wedding invitation.

An amazing wedding for an amazing couple! Congrats, Bums!

October Inspiration Board

In my home, I love to display all kinds of stuff on my magnetic-chalk-inspiration-board thingie (one of the best gifts I have ever received, BTW): invitations, ticket stubs for recent concerts, photos, nicknacks and really anything that I come across that inspires me in some way. My board changes constantly, so I am hoping to share it with you from time to time to show you all the little comings and goings in my life. PS - We totally went to Iceland this past summer - check out our photos here.

Weekend Project - Coffee Table Facelift

I salvaged a coffee table from a garage sale a while ago with full intention of painting it, and this weekend we decided to finally get to it!

Jonathan thought that spray paint would be the best and most reasonable option (it's not a family heirloom or anything...) We purchased 1 can of primer (gray), 1 can of paint (we ended up needing 2 more...) and 1 can of clear lacquer.

First we sanded it - not too much, we just wanted to rough it up - then Jonny got busy with the prime, paint and lacquer.

and... Voliá!

A (almost) bran new coffee table! The process did not take that long and I am super pleased with the end result! Just goes to show what a couple of cans of spray paint (and an awesome husband!) can get ya!

Other weekend news:

I dropped of my John Murphy prints to be framed (stay tuned to see then once they are hung!) and I made Martha's Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling - Delicious!

(Also, you will have to excuse the quality of my photos for a bit. My camera died on me and I am still researching... if anyone has any great camera suggestions, please let me know!)

LuvMud 2010

This weekend I participated in my very first 5K race: LuvMud 2010! The race was a 5k obstacle race where we ran, jumped, climbed and crawled through mud to reach the finish line. There were 6 obstacles (bear crawl, slide, wall climb, hay bale jump, etc.) to complete - the final obstacle was huge MUD PIT (hence:LuvMud) and costumes were strongly encouraged! The race was a fund raiser for Habitat for Hope, a non-profit organization that supports, serves and cares for families that have a child that is critically or chronically ill. Swankys Taco Shopsponsored our 4 person team and I designed the (awesome) tanks we wore!

The race was hard work, but LOTS of fun and we were all super glad that it was such a success (there were over 1,000 people registered for the race - I think that's pretty good for the first year!) Click here to read more about the race and WAY TO GO Swankys Sucios! ("sucio" means "dirty" in Spanish and, man, were we DIRTY!)

Little Rock Urban Farming

"The purpose of the Little Rock Urban Farming blog is to engage the community in a discussion about food security and public health and how urban farming is a creative and intelligent way to address these interdependent issues. We can beautify our urban landscapes while providing our communities with healthy great tasting food all while increasing the value of surrounding properties and improving the quality of life."

My cousin, Chris Hiryak, founded Little Rock Urban Farming, the terrific organization mentioned above (shown with the logo I designed for him!) Chris came in town a couple of weeks ago to visit and brought me the most bountiful basket of fresh grown produce I have ever seen! The amazingly generous gift included fresh tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplant, peppers, cucumbers, etc. PLUS fig and pear preserves, home-made tomato sauce, pickled hot peppers and much, much more! We had an awesome weekend and (with a gift like that) I'll welcome him to visit anytime!

Check out his blog here!

Real (Nashville) Weddings - Christy & Alex

Christy Collier (a great friend of mine who I met in New York) became engaged the Fall of '08, and I was super excited when she asked me to design her Save the Dates! Her wedding was going to take place in Nashville (her hometown) and she wanted to combine her wedding colors (navy + deep red with accents of Tiffany blue and pink) + a "Nashville" look. We selected the below design - chic and modern with a slight Western feel - perfect for the occasion!

We wanted the invitations to be more formal than the Save the Dates, so we decided on using (multiple) classic fonts and, but a non-traditional layout. Simple color choices mixed with the fonts and layout plus the super glamourous and luxurious letter press printing gave the invites the modern yet vintage look that Christy and Alex were after.

How did you meet? Tell us your story.

We met on match.com. He was my first and last match date! :-)

Describe the inspiration behind your wedding invitations.

We were pushing for the vintage/whimsical aspect of our wedding theme and found a wedding invite online with font we thought really captured that feel. We emailed Susan the font which she later used in our very own invitations but with her own flair (which we loved and turns out, so did many of our guests!).

What/ where did you draw inspiration from when planning your wedding?

Etsy, She & Him songs, Twinkly Light photos a la Tavern on the Green

How/ Where did you find your dress?

I was inspired by Audrey Hepburn's style and wanted a dress that was a fusion between her wedding gown in funny face and from her real-life wedding to Mel Ferrer in 1954. I saw a dress on a mannequin, at Arzelle's dress shop in Nashville, that had a lovely bodice and long train. I tried it on and told the sales person i wanted the train cut off to hit my knee. She looked mortified.

What are 3 adjectives that describe your wedding day?

Vintage, chic, whimsical

Church: The Wightman Chapel at Scarritt-Bennett Center Reception: The Cannery Ballroom Flowers: Melissa Broadwell, Vintage Florals Photography:Krista Lee Photography Cake: Sweet Dreams Cookie Company Invitations: J Press Designs DJ: Russell Cothran, DJ Catering: Chef's Market Lighting-Nashville Event Lighting