Found object seating cards

We've love the idea of eclectic collections of objects/favors that double as seating cards, like these vintage aluminum parakeet pins...

Or these vintage millinery flower seating cards (which could be transformed into stick pins for your guests by adding pin backings).

These goodies are from Tinsel Trading, but Etsy and ebay are also great online resources!

To make the strips, we just printed guest's names on text weight paper using an inkjet printer, and rubber stamped the table assignment on the reverse. Simple!

DIY 2nd Anniversary gift

We are swooning over the adorable anniversary gift that H!L designer Shauna made for her husband for their 2nd anniversary. Traditionally, cotton is the suggested gift (ok, so this is wool, but it's still in the fiber family!) so she knit up a tiny heart using this pattern, then embroidered her and her husband's initials on the front and their 2nd anniversary date on the back. So cute!

Real wedding: Hollin + Eric

We are loving Hollin and Eric's beautiful wedding, full of sweet details and DIY elements. Hollin, along with some helpful friends and family, created most of the decorations, and it all turned out so vintage chic!

Thanks to the very talented Ben Blood for sharing his gorgeous photos of their wedding at Treehouse Point in Issaquah, Washington. Tree-filled and moss-covered, Treehouse Point offers two incredible treehouses for lodging by master treehouse builder Pete Nelson who, along with his wife Judy, host private events and overnight retreats. So natural and ethereal!

The groomsmen donned tweed and wore handmade mismatching boutineers and ties.

Hollin's vintage inspired dress was made by Portland designer Holly Stalder, who even gave Hollin extra fabric for her to make the flower on her veil! So lovely.

Hollin and her bridesmaids made their own headpieces...just gorgeous!

The bride's sister and maid of honor Keiko, hand drew and screen printed coffee and tea bags as favors for the guests.

Hollin's mom made each of the bridesmaid's dresses. We love the fabric and individual sash detailing.

Hello!Lucky designer Anna created whimsical invitations complete with illustrations of the bride and groom dancing under the trees.

What a talented group of people! Congratulations, Hollin and Eric!

Sweet Japanese fabrics

We were trolling Etsy and came upon these adorable Japanese country-inspired fabrics! So cute for crafting projects for a vintage wedding. Stefanie Style has a cute selection.

Also love these pretty pastels from cottonblue.   So inspiring!

DIY Bridal Shower

This is a shout-out to interpid Hello!Lucky intern Hillary Burgess -- she recently helped create all the DIY details for her friend Lisa's bridal, including the adorable postcard invitation above (from the couple's engagement photo shoot by photographer and friend Jess Epstein). This invite is one of the top 4 finalists in The Bride's Cafe's DIY contest -- the winner will be announced on Friday! Read the how-to instructions here.

Some more DIY details from the shower!

Cute, cute favor bags!  Congrats, Hillary!

Photos by Jess Epstein

August Flea & Tinsel Trading

This weekend's flea was a little overcast, but we still managed to spot some great stuff. Our favorite flea newcomer hands-down was Tinsel Trading -- we've always coveted their shop in New York, so it was so great to have them come to us!!

These beautiful fabric flower parts are perfect for making corsages and hair clips...

...and these leaves and lily-of-the-valley would be so sweet for bouttonnieres!  Can't wait to start crafting!

You can also shop Tinsel Trading online. Those pretty pink leaves are available right here.

General Bead

We paid a visit to General Bead yesterday -- for those of you not in the know, it's a San Francisco institution and one of the best bead resources out there!

We love their vintage glass beads, especially!

You can literally find any kind of bead here - they're all arranged by color. So fabulous!

Love these pretty seed beads in hundreds of colors!

And these faceted beauties!

And the best part - the whole place is decked out in wacky 1970's fabric and ephemera - classic San Francisco!

Beadazzled calculators...

Ode to Swarovski crystals!

Definitely check it out for your next crafting project - visit the stores in San Francisco or San Diego or shop online.

General Bead San Francisco 637 Minna Street 415-255-2323 Monday - Saturday 10 - 6, Sunday 12 - 5

Renegade Craft Fair

We didn't know where to look first at this weekend's Renegade Craft Fair - there were so many amazing vendors this year! One of our favorite was illustrator Kate Sutton's cuckoo clocks (above)...so cute alongside her Forest Expedition print, perhaps? We were also fans of her ridiculously adorable gingerbread men.

We also were smitten with the lovely terrariums (above) made by Meg from Mateo Illasco (available at Rare Device), as well as the letterpress and goccoed prints (below) from Cindy Tomcyzk.

Fabulous graphic posters and prints from Frank Chimero and My Associate Cornelius.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth! See you next year!

Renegade Craft Fair

Hey all! We're going to be at the Renegade Craft Fair this weekend in San Francisco. Come on down and check it out! We'll be signing books at the Chronicle Books booth on Sunday, too. And, one of our favorite collaborators, Kate Sutton, will be there from the UK!

Stripey straws and cupcake cups

This inspirational pic by Paul Lowe has made it around the blogs, but it was just recently that we put 2 + 2 together on sourcing some of these cute details!

We found these stripey straws thanks to Alison Hotchkiss at Alison Events (photo courtesy of Jordan Ferney). They're available from Kikkerland as well as locally in San Francisco at Arch.

These beauties are also coming soon from Jack & Lulu (via Haystack Needle).

Fluted cupcake cups via Cupcake Social, also available at Bake it Pretty.

Photos: Paul Lowe, Jordan Ferney, Kikkerland, Haystack Needle, Cupcake Social

Ranier Cherry Seating Cards

Check out our Ranier cherry seating cards today over on 100 Layer Cake!

We were inspired by a trip that Christina, our finance manager, took to the farmer's market here in San Francisco a couple weeks ago, when cherry season was at its apex. She brought back these pretty cherries and that was it! We placed them in a vintage teacup saucer to give the display a polished look and help them stay upright.

Check out 100 Layer Cake for a template for the tags, which are made with the Compendium font. This same concept works well for all kinds of found/organic objects: feathers, leaves, dried flowers...the list goes on!

Photos by us.

Cardboard Design Wish Wall

The other weekend we spotted this cardboard honeycomb Wish Wall by Cardboard Design in the window of Paper Presentation (which shares the same owner). We immediately thought of what a cool thing this would be in lieu of a wedding guest book! Guests write their messages on slips of colorful paper...

The effect of the colors is pretty cool, and you can also write letters (like "Guest Book"), lite-brite style!

It comes in this small ready-made size, as well as in custom sizes.

Photos above from here, bottom photo by us.

Personality Socks

Ever since we spotted them over on Swiss Miss, we've been a wee bit obsessed with these Personality Socks! How cute are they?

Probably pretty easy to knit/make...hmmm...

Ashley Anna Brown

We've long been fans of Ann Wood's cake toppers and birds, so were thrilled to discover Ashley Anna Brown -- her charming birds have a slightly rounder shape and come in a lovely palette of vintage fabrics. Perfect for cake toppers or just to have/covet!

She also makes other adorable critters, like this funny pair...

Or these tweedy feline friends!

Love all the delicate details. Check out more images of her fabulous creations here.

Spotted via Grey Likes Weddings, who also recently featured our Woodland Print! Thanks, Grey!

Castle in the Air

Castle in the Air is hands-down one of our favorite resources for crafting supplies. We paid a visit a couple weeks ago (along with our other favorite, Tail of the Yak), and it was fabulous as usual!

Their displays of whimsical hand-crafted goodies are always inspiring!

In addition Castle in the Air is the source for hard-to-find crafting supplies.

German crepe paper - essential for making crepe paper flowers!

German glass glitter in an array of colors...

Dredsen paper embellishments - so lovely for crafting - they have one of the best selections anywhere.

Pretty papers. They also have a great array of calligraphy supplies, felts, rubber stamps, and other crafting essentials. Luckily for all you folks who don't live in the Bay Area, they have a fantastic website, so you can order all these gorgeous supplies online.  And check out their blog for crafting ideas.

Castle in the Air 1805 Fourth Street Berkeley, California Monday - Saturday, 10 - 6 Sunday, 11 - 6

Photos: Castle in the Air and us!

Eloise Corr Danch

Her work for the Macy's Flower Show has been noted by many, but we couldn't resist posting about the amazingly talented Eloise Corr Danch.

Stunning Rococco creation from her earlier work. So inspiring!

Tiny baby moccasins!

It was a crafty weekend - Eunice made these adorable tiny baby moccasins! 

These are the perfect crafting combo: super cute AND ridiculously easy to make! DIY instructions and more inspiration available from Purl Bee.

DIY paper chandelier garlands

Check out the DIY paper chandelier garlands we created for The Knot's fabulous new DIY wedding blog! They were inspired by our Chandelier modern wedding invitation design by EIEIO, as well as by paper artist Jeffery Rudell. Click here for full instructions.

Chalkboard mustache napkin rings

Everyone knows we're big fans of mustaches, so of couse we love these hilarious chalk board mustache napkin rings from Modern Dose.

A fabulous Father's Day gift for a dad who likes to entertain! $24 for 4.

Tail of the Yak

Tail of the Yak is one of our favorite stores in the Bay Area, if not the world! Lauren and Alice, the proprietors, have a beautifully curated collection of found, hand-crafted, vintage and new items that are totally inspiring. Last weekend, we spent hours there...

Crepe paper flowers

Papier mache shell boxes.

Jewelry case full of vintage finds.

Crepe paper tulip bulbs.

Tail of the Yak 2632 Ashby Avenue (between Benvenue Ave & College Ave) Berkeley, California (510) 841-9891 Store Hours: Monday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Closed Sundays.

Top 2 photos from here; the rest by us!