Moodboards: Paperless Post Wedding Moodboard

I was inspired by Paperless Post to pick a favorite wedding invitation and put together some ideas and  a Moodboard for the event I imagine for that invitation. Whoa....Moodboards?  Artists and interior decorators have long used Moodboards to set a mood and keep track of ideas in a concrete visual way. Moodboards can be a large cork board, a piece of paper or a notebook...anything that can hold your ideas can be a Moodboard and what works for one designer may be different from what works for another.

Brandon's Vintage Barn Wedding

Those of us who got married BEFORE the World Wide Web was actually useful know it was a whole different world. I think of those days as the dark ages. I got married in 1994 and yes, the Information Superhighway existed, but retailers had yet to figure out how to use this platform to reach consumers and Google co-founder Larry Page, was still an engineering student at The University of Michigan (Go Blue!).  Pre-Google search engines were...lacking...Alta Vista anyone?  Oh, but who remembers when everyone on TV gave out website addresses as "H T T P colon backslash backslash W W W dot website dot com"... yeah, good times.

In 1994, websites had long #$%!# addresses, but content was mostly limited to a homepage with bad graphics in awful colors-yes, COLORS plural- and little else. Obviously, things have changed and there is no doubt that it is INCREDIBLE to have so many ideas simply one click away. I longed to have a recommitment ceremony, simply so I could plan a wedding with today's plethora of resources. There are so many ideas online today that one can simply pick and chose and plan for any type of wedding. But all of this readily available information can easily be incredibly overwhelming to even the best DIYer and for anyone with little-to-no design experience, it quickly becomes a nightmare of over stimlulation.  Finding new and interesting ideas was tough when I got married in 1994, while today's bride's biggest issues is EDITING.

When I first started using Pinterest, back in the dark ages of the site, I loved it because I could use it as a  place to save ideas, keep track of all sorts of websites with a click and a picture, and use it as a Moodboard.  It has served all 3 functions well at first. Gone were the days of saving hundreds of random scraps of paper; papers that end up hidden deep in an "idea" notebook never to see sunlight again. I no longer had digital folders full of hundreds of bookmarks for websites I never thought about again and I did use Pinterest as a Moodboard-and I still do for very specific projects. But my love affair with Pinterest quickly grew and my pins found themselves just as deeply hidden as those little scraps of paper except the mess was online instead of in my house which was a big bonus. As of right now I have 105 boards and 6.7K pins here.  Too many pins to really use as inspiration without editing so in come Moodboards.
Moodboards are the answer to Pin-aholism and are so. much. fun. to. make. I think we may have unleashed an obsession that might reacquire an intervention.  No, like I am SERIOUS.  I.N.T.E.R.V.E.N.T.I.O.N.

The first inkling that I might have a problem was when I couldn't choose ONE invitation.  Seriously the Moodboard above is my initial group of"favorite" invitations (to made them fit I made them all squares). Liking too many it isn't really a BAD problem to have so I just decided to go with it, pick the ones I liked and see what I could find to go with them.  I figured after I saw what was out there to go with the cards, maybe I could edit my choices?

Mood Board for Photoshop from Stuck with Pins

My second move was to find a Mood Board template and that was simple and easy to use. I like to use Photoshop though I am sure there are other options if you just Google. I found there are quite a few pre-made .PSD and .PNG Moodboard files and I just grabbed a free one from  Stuck With Pins.   (In all honesty I made the Invitation Moodboard last and I had that .PNG file in my stash and I am not sure where it came from).

So armed with my Photoshop, my Moodboard template and the internet I went at it and made a few Wedding Moodboards.

My first one is a gorgeous Elegant Vintage Wedding with an invitation called Josephine Baker. After I chose the invitations I started pining things onto Pinterest boards and this was originally a Steampunk theme but I went elegant and not so literal I guess.  The invitation has a Gatsby 20's feel as well. The original Pinterest board is here.

This dress is exquisite and sadly the Pinterest link is broken so I have no idea where it came from. I LOVE the baby pink color and the ethereal layers are so delicate and contrast with the corseted back- perfect for the fashionista bride who wants to make a statement. This reception is romantic-the scent of roses heavy in the air and candlelight everywhere.  The elegant white and gold lidded jars are in fact cookies made by the amazing Julia Usher .

Bright and Cheerful Planner

I showed you my gorgeous planner in the last post and today I am going to show you the one I made for my mother-in-law.  Shhhh...don't tell her because I haven't given it to her yet. I made one for my mom and sister as well and I am gathering supplies for another planner my sister requested for a friend.  Needless to say I am enjoy making the fun embellishments that really personalize and jazz up a planner.

Today's planner is all about bright, fun colors made using papers from Heidi Swapp's Favorite Things collection.

I tucked several tags and embellishments into the front pocket for changing out as the mood strikes. 

The front page is made using the laminated waste foil from one of the papers in the Heidi Swapp Minc 5th Ave paper collection.

 Another page made using foil left-over from one of the Heidi Swapp Minc Die Cut Phrases

 I made her a bunch of extra fun bits and bobs that she can change in and out using Washi tape or paper clips.  

 She is very creative and an incredible jewelry artist.

While I did give her several rolls of Washi tape I also made a little holder to carry some Washi in a compact and beautiful way in case she wants to tuck it into the front pocket.

 I die cut a Matchbook using the Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations die.  I laminated a single page and stamped it in place using the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher and simply wound several colors of Washi tape around the laminated paper.

 Tags like this slip easily into the cute pocket made using Sizzix Pocket with Scallop die...Shhhh....don't tell him but it's not a Tim Holtz die.

 Laters......

Plan With Me or Planners Are The Next Big Thing

I tried...I really, really tried. I gave it my best...I jumped in with both feet and my iPhone.  I tried to go all digital with my calendar...in fact, I tried it for 3+ years.  For over 3 long, disorganized years I exclusively used the iCal App on my iPhone.  Rather than MORE organized, I found myself getting more DISorganized.  Each year Iget  later and later for birthdays and I forget more appointments (thank God for those reminder phone calls).

Our lifestyle would seem to be perfect for digital calendars.  Being able to access each member's calendar and be instantly notified of changes would seem like the perfect solution to keeping organized. My husband's work scheduled changes monthly and he travels a lot so having the ability to change his schedule on everyone's calendar all at once is great. My kids' school events and deadlines can easily be shared within the entire family.  So what is the problem? I don't know.  Going digital seemed like it would be perfect but instead of making me super organized, I am a disaster.  I am so disorganized that it has taken me longer than it should to realize that it is just not working.  Ditching the landline phone and a paper calendar

hanging next to it did more than just get rid of telemarketing calls and beautiful artwork.  It took away the PLACE where things were organized; the place where I kept things like business cards and phone numbers and appointments.  Now I keep forgetting birthdays, never think of anniversaries, and have become an unorganized disaster.

At first I thought it was just me struggling with schedules but I am quickly realizing a lot of women are saying the same thing....digital planning just isn't working.  So many in fact that there is a huge PLANNER movement occurring.  The movement has become very popular on Instagram and ETSY shops are popping up left and right selling stickers, dividers and downloadable pages. The eye candy is everywhere and So. Much. Fun.

Planning can be everything from a cheap paper calendar to documenting so in-depth it is more like a diary.  My version of "planning" is pretty simple.  I bought a planner and made my own dividers. Then I made a ton of fun, encouraging, positive message tags and ephemera to attach here-and-there to make the whole thing beautiful.

There are all sorts of calendars available with more coming all the time. I suspect this holiday there will be a huge number of planners introduced in the marketplace. Choose your planner style and then look at all the stamps and stickers and accessories that are available.  Today I will just show my planner but I will post about some of the more interesting stamps and stickers available in a later post.

Here is a look at my planner:

I started with a beautiful Personal Size Gold Color Crush Planner from Webster's Pages.  I snagged this pic off Google Images because I forgot to take a picture of the closed planner but they are no longer pre-order and in fact many are sold out but there are so many planners flooding the market I know you will find one you like.

This is my GORGEOUS Gilded planner.....

There is plenty of room under the flap on the left inside cover for a variety of fun embellishments that can be changed in and out over time as well as post-it notes and stickers. 

This page was made from the waste or "negative" foil left-over from a project I made using my Minc Machine. I simply laminated the negative foil and cut it into this size. 

Below I stuck a piece of white paper behind the page simply so you can read the sentiment.  The foil negative is from one of items in the Heidi Swapp Minc Die Cut Phrases.

I made my own dividers using the most gorgeous paper collection ever made, Fancy by My Mind's Eye. I fell in deep with this collection the moment I saw it. All that mettalic gold....it just had me at Hello.

Anyway...the dividers were cut using a Cricut and an SVG files from Kerri Branford.  If you have better scissor skills than I do you can easy hand cut them....I just can't cut a straight line for anything.

Let's talk laminating...I laminated the dividers using Scotch Thermal Laminating Pouches. Originally, I bought the el cheapo ones from Amazon that Christy Tomlinson recommended in her Creative Planner class but I gotta tell ya' they sucked.  I mean, if you are looking for a "distressed look" maybe they are just what you want, but they are a hot mess.  When I used them on the dividers I never got a smooth beautiful finish and when I laminated the foil scraps there were bubbles and the foil creased...here let me show you.

 Amazon Lamination sheets

Scotch Lamination Sheets 

Look at the that smooth shine.  It's so shiny it is was hard to get a picture without seeing myself.

Amazon Lamination Sheets

This would have been so pretty if it wasn't a hot mess.

Scotch Lamination Sheets.

Literally all 4 were made using the exact same technique and the same brand of foil. The only difference was the lamination sheet.

This is what you want to get.

 

Here I made a "shaker" out of a piece of plastic packaging and a vellum tag. I filled it with some of the gorgeous sequins from one of mixes from Lucy's Cards.

 My collection of Lucy's shaker mixes.

 Another tag made from laminated waste foil and die-cut into a tag shape using a Tim Holtz die.

 Yes, I have an unhealthy obsession with ampersands.

The heart is again made from laminated foil. The silver is actually the backside of pink foil but it matches my planner better.

 Here I made a pocket and a tag with some things I think are important to remember tucked right inside. This is probably my favorite embellishment that I made.

 Here I cut a piece of the laminated scrap foil and attached it to a black Ranger tag using tiny brads.

 These are just some extra little fun things I have stashed for when I fell like I need a change.

What type of planner are you using?