Hello from Seattle!
Yep, we're in the Land of Perpetual Drizzle, my old stomping ground while attending college. We got here yesterday jetting through that familiar, grayish sky.
I don't know why, but the weather is invariably warm and sunny here whenever my Californian friends come up to visit, which of course never happens when a one-time native like myself is here. This has caused my friends to accuse me of "always exaggerating about the foul weather here". Someone who lives in Seattle (uh hmm): please help me explain this conundrum!
Anyway, we're here to attend an old college friend's wedding in Bothell later on today (Sat), and since I've mentioned the Thank You cards I was letterpressing for this friend previously, thought I'd post some pictures of the finished product here.
By the way, these pristine cards travelled with me under my watchful eye all the way from San Francisco to Seattle (it just doesn't seem to make sense to mail them since I'll be flying up here, plus this way I can watch them like a hawk).
But of course, the perfect plan is never perfect. When we got to the security checkpoint at SFO, the X-ray lady had to practically pry them from my protective arms- and really, can you blame me, for the second she got it from me, she somehow felt the need to shake the darn box!
It wasn't until my husband stepped up to her, leaned slightly forward with that apologetic look, and whispered to her, "it's WEDDING stationary", with a sideway glance at his neurotic wife as if to say "if you don't give it back, she will explode into a tirade that will make us regret ever having this encounter", that the security person gave the slightest nod of understanding, and let my box go.
So, without further ado, here they are:
(1) Fresh off the letterpress. These are printed on the beautiful Italian pearlescent paper, Stardream, in opal. The raspberry color is chosen to compliment the red/gold theme in her invite, and to match the color of her gorgeous ao dai (Vietnamese gown) in the photo (see last photo).
(2) Putting all the elements together (note: the separate "thank you"s are also letterpressed, these on a matte paper, then torn into little pieces, then affixed to the letterpressed body with a gold acrylic medium).
(3) Ta da! All done! Oh by the way, the cherry blossom is my sketch, and the photo is adapted from an original by Mind Castle Studios. All copyrighted stuff, of course. Feel free to contact me if you'd like your own cherry-blossom themed wedding stationary!
OK, gotta go get ready now so we can actually attend this wedding. By the way, the sky's still gray. Oh well, ciao!
You are not exaggerating! The weather here does in fact SUCK! Not only that, it's been super grey and super rainy all this week. It feels more like January here than it does June! (Enjoy the wedding. I dig the letterpress!)
Posted by: sara | June 07, 2008 at 04:05 PM
OMG, those look so freakin' amazing! The cherry blossom sketch is really pretty. You've got one lucky friend! :)
I've been two Seattle twice and I experienced both ends of the weather spectrum. The first time was beautiful and sunny with the cherry blossoms in bloom. The second time it was rainy and COLD. LOL! So I believe you!
Have a fun trip!
Posted by: julo | June 08, 2008 at 09:01 AM
Wow those are beautiful. No wonder you didn't want to the security lady to take them, they look like they took hours and hours of work!
Posted by: Lynn | June 09, 2008 at 07:30 AM
i hope the weather was nice for the wedding at least! ;P
those are BEAUTIFUL cards!!!
Posted by: joanne | June 09, 2008 at 09:21 PM
Ha ha, thanks Sara and JuLo for your validation! The weather was gray throughout the weekend, thanks goodness the wedding was inside, so it didn't dampen our spirits :)
But one thing did dampen my spirit- I apparently had a little too much fun on the dance floor, and tweaked my knee pretty badly (another old injury). I'm on crutches now and have to attend a conference all day today and tomorrow. No fun :(
Glad you guys like the cards! I just heard from the bride and they love them too, it was worth guarding with my life afterall!
Posted by: Ivy | June 09, 2008 at 10:38 PM
Thank you so much Ivy and Jacques for the ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL cards!!! We love them sooo much as will our dear families and friends. I'm going to frame one of the cards so I'll always have a lovely memento of your amazing craftmanship and a rememberance of our exquitsite wedding!
Much love,
Chau
Posted by: Chau and Dave | June 14, 2008 at 10:55 PM
Those are absolutely beautiful, great job!
Posted by: Stacy | June 26, 2008 at 09:20 AM
Those cards are just gorgeous! What a special memento for wedding guests.
Posted by: suzy | September 14, 2008 at 03:51 PM