My First Die-Cut Creation!

I made this last weekend when I was practicing with my new die-cutter. The finished product is just a shape, but can be easily recreated into a folded card. It's an engagement ring box (obviously) and the box part is black velvet paper, the ring band is gold cardstock and the diamond is cut from holographic silver paper. I am quite proud of myself, and can't wait to make other things. This die-cutter opens up a whole new world of designs!

CNN.com Article on Destination Weddings

I came across this article today on CNN.com. As the article states, destination weddings are becoming more and more popular. But many times, it's a major expense for the guest.

I have mixed feelings about destination weddings. On one hand, a wedding belongs to the bride and groom and nobody else. After planning my own wedding I have very strong feelings about that - NOBODY else should have any say in what happens at and who attends someone else's wedding. On the other hand, I can see why a guest would have an issue about being invited to a destination wedding. For one thing, it's often a major expense. Airfare, hotels, food, and other things add up quickly. And when a guest can't afford to go, they then have the disappointment of missing a very special moment in a loved one's life. So I can see both sides of the coin.

Last year my husband's stepbrother and his fiancee were married in Jamaica. It was the perfect setting for them - if you knew them, you'd understand that there really wasn't any other place they should have been married. We were invited, and would have loved to go, but unfortunately at the time it just wasn't in the cards (or the bank account). We are lucky enough that the couple was extremely understanding. When they got home, they threw a reception for everyone who wasn't able to make the trip and the party was a blast. So, it can be done - but I can understand why it might be a problem.

Anyway, here's the article. Ignore the majority of the comments at the bottom - apparently CNN doesn't moderate and any idiot is allowed to post there. But that is for a whole other post, maybe a whole other blog...

Enjoy :)
Destination Weddings Draw Gripes

Etsy

Sort of a continuation of the last discussion, regarding whether I should offer predesigned stationery packages. I've been browsing around on Etsy to see what, if anything, people offer in the way of custom candles, favors and stationery. I've been impressed with what I've found - there are some very talented artists and designers there. I, personally, have never thought of offering my items on Etsy. Then again, I thought that I would be making my every creation from scratch, from conception to completion. However, now that I'm giving serious thought to offering ready-made (though still customizable, to a certain extent) items, Etsy, to me, is very much an untapped resource. I think it's something that requires further thought and research - starting with you. Would you go to Etsy for your wedding invitations or favors? Why or why not?

Curious....

When I started this stationery business it was based on the premise that all work would be custom-designed, down to the very last detail. In my mind, that's something any bride would go for - most women regard their wedding day as one of THE most important in their lives, don't they? I know I did. And I know that I wouldn't want to have to share anything about my day with anyone else. I never understood why people would go to a random website, pick an invitation design out of a stack and consider it done. Where is the creativity, the fun, the personalization in that? Where are you?

But as time goes on, I see these options getting more and more popular. I'm not sure why. Time constraints, perhaps; or maybe the thought that you're not creative enough to bring your idea to life so you rely on something that's already done. I don't know and I can't begin to guess. But as I see it gaining in popularity I have to wonder - should I offer these options as well? Is it possible for me to offer several different designs, have my clients choose color, font and wording, and print them off and ship them out just like that? I don't know. It's not what I set out to do. But I may not have much choice. In today's world people just don't have the time to devote to sitting down with me, coming up with a design and waiting through the approval process. I understand that, I truly do. Which is why, though it goes against every intention I had when starting this business, I am giving serious thought to offering pre-designed invitation packages. This business is not about me - it's about you. Whatever makes my clients happy, I am willing to do.

What do you think? As a future (or past, if you had the chance to do it over) bride, would you like to see a variety of predetermined designs? Would the option to choose your invitation over a computer, instead of face-to-face with a designer, make you more likely to use that invitation company?

Fun with DrawPlus

For a long time, the idea of ever owning Adobe design software was a pipe dream. I satisfied myself and my clients with programs I downloaded from freeserifsoftware.com. If you're an aspiring designer or even a professional who doesn't yet have the funds for $800 software, don't despair. Don't let anybody tell you you can't make quality art with software that won't make you skip a mortgage payment (or three). And with the option to get full fuctionality from these free programs for just $10, you'll probably never even need the pricey ones as long as you have basic knowledge of commonly-accepted file formats. And the best part is that even though these programs were cheap, I could do a lot of the same stuff that I would be able to do with Adobe products.

Then I came across a distance learning program that offered a graphic design certificate. Part of my materials for these courses included the best programs in Adobe CS4 - InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. Knowing that it couldn't hurt to add them to my library as well, I decided to refresh my design skills, enrolled in the course and now possess the "industry-standard" software that supposedly no designer should be without.

But sometimes I get nostalgic for the old programs, and today I decided to have a little fun with Serif Draw Plus - which is very much like Adobe Illustrator. Using basic shapes, drawing tools and type functions, I applied their Glass Effect filter when designing this ad for a wine-tasting at a fictional winery. Here's the end result.

Marriage Announcement Photo Card

These days, more and more people are opting for smaller, more intimate ceremonies and destination weddings. With that being the case, there is a greater desire for marriage announcements, which are sent after the wedding to notify loved ones who may not have attended the wedding.

I was playing in Microsoft Word today for lack of anything better to do on a boring, rainy Friday morning at work and came across this beautiful clip art photo of a wedding couple kissing before a beach sunset. It inspired me to create a sample wedding card. Continuing with the sepia color scheme in the photograph and the elegance of the couple in the photo, here's what I came up with. I also added one of my favorite quotes of all time by Francois de la Rochefoucauld, a 17th century French duke who wrote a couple of good pearls of wisdom throughout his life.

What do you think? Is a small ceremony or destination wedding something you would do?

Defining Moments Has a Brand-New Look!

I'd like to open this blog with an announcement about my redesigned main website, http://www.definingmomentsonline.com/. Gone is the heavy maroon background, wedding-specific images, and clunky photo galleries. Instead you'll find a calming aqua color scheme (much easier on the eyes!), a different image (an artistically blurred and cropped photo of lit candles), and slide-show photo galleries that let you see all of the designs on a page instead of clicking an image, getting a pop-up window, and then having to close that pop-up to see the next image. The only thing I have left to work on is better photography of my designs, but hey, I'm an artist, not a miracle worker! With any luck I'll be able to have those new images in the slide-show galleries by the end of this weekend.

For those of you who stumbled across this blog and don't know who I am and what I do, let me begin by introducing myself. My name is Colleen Kelley, and I own Defining Moments, a company that provides customized and (sometimes) handcrafted stationery items for weddings, showers, parties, births and more. I also make handpoured candles both for party favors and decorations and for my retail home fragrance line, which can be found at http://www.definingmomentscandles.webs.com/. Both my design studio and my candle workshop are located in my home in Media, Pennsylvania, which is about fifteen minutes outside of Philadelphia.

I plan to use this blog to showcase my designs, ideas and experiments, and every now and then I will post promotions and special blog-only sales. Please become a follower if you like what I do and want to see more. I get my best ideas from other people, so feel free to send me your inspirations!