Plantable Seed Paper

I just ordered some plantable seed paper so it should be on its way shortly! I have experimented with some sample sheets and was actually sending out "free" bookmarks with my company info on them with all the books I swap with paperbackswap.com. I've recently pposted more books which are flying off my shelves but no more paper so no more bookmarks. :(

I'm also going to incorporate the paper in some holiday card ideas I'm conjuring up!! YES the retailers are already preparing for the holidays, can you believe it?! Although I am usually a summer gal, I'm kind of looking forward to the cooler weather. I think it's because I don't feel well with my arm/neck and just want to wear big comfy clothes and hibernate!! Surgery is on Thursday...

Wedding Favors - chair boxes

Just finished up a wedding favor project - chair boxes. The couple customized the color of the chairs and the ribbon, we also recreated a mongram which had been incorporated in their wedding invitations. I am not sure what they are going to fill them with, but I referred them to http://www.candywarehouse.com/ which is a great source for bulk candy and you can search by occasion or color! I am selling the same chairs and other favors on etsy right now at: http://www.inervainvitations.etsy.com/ but once these listings are over, will be moving to dolceinvito.etsy.

Professional and Personal ~ Dolce Invito

New name and hopefully new clients in the near future! I came up with Dolce Invito which is Italian for sweet invitation. It sounds nicer than Minerva and is not in use by others like Carta Bella was. SO I'm testing it out. Once I would open a brick and mortar store, I have visions of cotton candy machines and cupcakes with custom invitation orders.

On a personal note, recently, I haven't been able to use my right arm which is causing a little bit of trouble for working on projects and even blogging. I have another herniated disc. I already had a discectomy and fusion at C5-C6, C6-C7 in November of 2006 but it looks like I've got to go back under the knife. :( I had the x-ray and MRI on Friday and will see the Doctor again on Tuesday to discuss surgery and scheduling.

Hope til hope endures... hopefully from this suffering good things will also come my way.

A few new things

I've been busy with the cricut and the accucut and if that wasn't enough I decided to also use the scraps from some of the decorative paper and make jewelry. I think this is a nice addition though and would be fabulous to incorporate a decorative paper into your invitations and then also for favors, gifts, for your bridesmaids or bridal jewelry.

I also just finished putting together a little invite for my goddaughter, Marissa, who has gone country on me and will be riding her horse next month at a fair.

I will be going back to the cutting board later and getting our wedding thank yous cut and ready to go.

The rest of the new images will be uploaded to www.weddingwire.com/minerva and also on facebook!

Busy in the Basement

I received my Accucut! I have been busy in the basement with it trying out the different dies I ordered and adding a lot to the portfolio. Even Gerson (my husband) couldn't resist saying how "cute" some of the invitations were!!

Cricut: you can teach an old machine new tricks

I have been playing with my CRICUT a lot lately, doing some invites with the New Arrivals and Wedding cartridges... BUT I finally broke down and purchased the SCAL software, it did seem a little pricey... I even tried the trial and really didn't have much luck with it so I dismissed it for a while then I continued to see what some others out there were doing with theirs so I decided to give it a real go! I am really happy and have been playing around with different images and figuring out how to take an image from drawing to cut out. It's a little lengthy process for me right now - I scan it with my HP, use PSE to manipulate it, open it with Inkscape (thank you for free downloads!!) and trace it there and save it as the .svg, THEN I open up SCAL and send it to the CRICUT!! Right now I'm refining a birdcage invitation which I think is going to be very nice once it's refined! I will try to post .svg files in the future once I'm a little more than amateur at this and will definitely post some new images up soon!

Post-wedding update

So I've recently returned from our honeymoon in Mexico which was great! Now it's back to work!! I recently had a friend post my information on a parents' listserv and also posted my business cards at Whole Foods, and I'm really crossing my fingers for some more clients!! I made this photo frame for my friend that just gave birth (she was overdue) and matted with a white mat and visited her at the hospital. Sidney (the new arrival) is so adorable - and has more hair then I've ever seen on a such a small head!!

I'm considering reaching out to friends about creating my very own website but all within time I guess. Right now, I have a potential for a little girl's 1st birthday party invitations and have been in conversations with someone that works with Gerson at the hospital to do their wedding favors so if both of those end up working out, I will be really happy. I'm also starting to work on ideas for my friend, Michelle's baby announcements for her second little boy expected at the end of the month. I'll be ordering my Accucut and dies probably this week. I'm nervous about shelling out all the dough but am trying to be optimistic that it will pay off in the end. Should be super fun to use and I really look forward to getting it moving once it arrives and make different ideas for the portfolio.