I'm featured on the Southern Weddings Magazine & The Bride's Cafe blogs!

So it's obviously been a verrry long time since I have posted on my blog. See, we moved into our house last July and I decided to take a break from invitations to focus on cleaning, organizing, and decorating our house. Well, its a year later and most of those things aren't done! Over the past year, I have been involved in many major life events of some of my closest friends. My college friend and co-advertising graduate, Melissa, just got married in June at Haiku Mill (an amazing Maui backdrop for a wedding). She enlisted me to design her and her now husband's save the dates, wedding invites, as well as several of her wedding day paper goods. An honor no doubt! ...and then there was my best friend Erika, who soon after we moved into our house announced that she was pregnant! Needless to say, that was a baby shower months in the making - and SO much fun! I couldn't be happier for the Koehlers and the arrival of their precious baby boy, Keaton. ...and then just a few weeks ago, I was in my friends Cynthia's wedding in San Antonio at the Southwest School of Arts (another amazing backdrop)! Needless to say, it's been a busy, but fun, year!

In the midst of planning Erika's shower I got an email from a previous client of mine, Karla Mitchell of Kelley Cannon Events. She asked if I would like to help with an upcoming photo shoot that she and Kelley were putting together. My immediate response - heck yeah! What an honor to be considered for such an event! We immediately began working on an invitation suite to go along with their "rustic modern" theme. I knew from the get-go this was going to make me want to re-plan my own wedding. Kelley and Karla = AWESOME! Their ideas, execution, and professionalism are so amazing. Highly recommended! ...and if you want to check out the photo shoot as proof, click here.

All pictures were taken by Anne Robert Photography, styled by Kelley Cannon Events, and included real life husband and wife team from Rockstar Diaries. The gorgeous flowers were from Holly Chapple Flowers. Seriously, everything about this shoot makes me want to get married again. Thanks again to Kelley and Karla for including me! Southern Weddings is by far one of my favorite wedding blogs, so it's quite an honor to be included on their site. 

*Update: I just received notification that the shoot has also posted on "The Bride's Cafe." Go here to check it out!

One of these days, I will get around to posting the projects I have done this past year. However, it may be a bit, because I'm now beginning work on that "break" I mentioned. ;-)

Southern Weddings Magazine Blog, August 10, 2011

The Bride's Cafe, August 22, 2011

If you're wondering where I've been...

I've been piled under here - jk! Although it is a big part of the reason I haven't posted lately. This is my "craft room" right after we moved in, and I have to tell you, it looks worse instead of better now. I have a make shift desk right now that is the floor. :)

Some day hopefully soon this will actually be a room that inspires creativity. I definitely have some plans for it up my sleeve, including a makeover of a table I acquired via Craigslist. Thanks to all of the interior design blogs I've been reading lately, I'm anxious to begin my Social-o-logy room makeover! I just have to find the time first. :) ...but if you need some interior design ideas and/ or inspiration, I highly recommend the following blogs: Full House, Little Green Notebook, Cote de Texas, My Little Happy Place, La Dolce Vita, and LeSeur Interiors. There are MILLIONS of design blogs out there. These just happen to be my favorites at the moment.:) ...and on a side note, these people have probably never happened across Social-o-logy, so this is definitely not a planned/ paid promotion. I just think they're great at what they do!...and I love that most of them have ties to Texas!

I will however, shamelessly plug my sister. Check out her blog if you need a good laugh! The girl is nutty and I love 'er!

Another blog I highly recommend checking out is the blog for Kelley Cannon Events where you can see pics from the Allison Wonderland Shower I did accessories for. I will eventually get around to posting my own pictures of those products, but the pictures and the shower on Kelley's blog are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I am so happy I got to be a part of it - thanks, Karla! :) 

Okay - off to get some more inspiration for this craft room of mine. I'm telling you design blogs are starting to rank up there with TCBY and John Mayer - who I get to see in less than a week - yippee!!! :)

Alice in Wonderland Bridal Shower - Sneak Peak!

If I haven’t told you, I've had some amazing clients! I love that I get to meet all kinds of new people via Social-o-logy. I woke up this morning to find that Social-o-logy had been mentioned on the blog for Kelley Cannon Events via a recent client of mine, Karla Mitchell. Karla lives in Washington DC and works for Kelley (who by the way creates amazing events)! ...I seriously love this industry and how many wonderful people there are. Thanks so much for the press, Kelley!

Click here to check out Kelley and crew’s work, and here to check out the post. Kelley shares how to create awesome idea boards like this one created by Karla.

 …and in case you’re wondering, the items in the top right and top left hand corners are products of Social-o-logy. :) Karla is hosting an Alice in Wonderland themed bridal shower and Social-o-logy created all of the “accessories!”

More pics to come! 

Jessica Monnich Wedding Photography

So I have to advertise for Jessica for a couple of reasons. First of all, she is an amazing wedding photographer - proof here.

Second of all, she photographed my friends Stacey and Jacob's October wedding and they have been selected as one of ten finalist to receive "Best Wedding of the Year 2009" from The Knot - what an honor!! I encourage you to click here and vote for them. They're definitely deserving!! Such a great wedding and such great photography!

Lastly, Jessica just re-posted the Bachelorette Travel pack I created for Stacey on her blog. If only I had her to take all of my product shots! ;-) Thank you so much for the support, Jessica!

Christiana's Bachelorette Travel Pack - Part Dos!

I'm finally posting the second part of Christiana's bachelorette travel pack! Christiana spent this past weekend celebrating her final days as a single lady. The plan was to hit 6th street in Austin and visit various bars of various countries - Mexico, Cuba, Ireland, etc. Each page of the passport had a dare printed on it that Christiana was to complete in order to get her passport "stamped." I can't wait to hear how successful she was!

The second, or should I say third part, of the travel pack were Austin maps that I created with the itinerary of the weekend. ...and what a fun weekend they had planned! Spa time, wine tasting, eating, bar hopping - what every bachelorette weekend should be, right?! I printed a map for every person in her bachelorette party crew. I had so, so much fun creating this! It really made me miss Austin!

...and in case you didn't catch the first part of the travel pack, here is a picture of the boarding pass invitations. :)

Christiana's Bachelorette Travel Pack - Part Uno!

...So let me tell you that I am oh so excited about this project! Christiana was our wedding coordinator at Courtyard on St. James and she did an AMAZING job! I definitely have her to thank for making our wedding a success in the midst of a torrential downpour. ...so needless to say, when her sister contacted me to put together a "Bachelorette Travel Pack" for her, I jumped on the opportunity! Anything I can do to help the girl that saved our wedding day, I'm all about it!

Christiana will be getting married April 2, 2010 at Courtyard on St. James. I can only imagine how beautiful her wedding will be!

...but before the big day, she will enjoy a bachelorette weekend in Austin, TX. ...I created Boarding Pass Invites for the event. :)

My favorite part of these invites is the response card. We wanted to do something that was different than just an email or phone RSVP,  so the RSVP card will be torn off from the ticket - just as if a flight attendant was tearing the ticket before boarding a plane! The right side of the card is perforated and fits into the smaller response envelope.

 

Note that this is only part uno... There is more to come!!!  :)

My First Works of Art...

Since April 17, 2009, I have had the pleasure of helping some very special people in my life by creating products for their special occasions – bachelorette parties, birthday parties, Christmas cards, etc. Below are a few pictures…

The passport, map, and boarding pass were for my friend Stacey’s August Bachelorette bash in New York City. I think it turned out quite cute, if I do say so myself! The idea was to take Stacey for a trip “around the world,” New York City style! Sadly, I was unable to attend the party, but I was able to create my first Social-o-logy project – a travel pack! It was so great looking at the pictures they took and seeing my passport make its way through the streets of NYC. They traveled to a Mexican restaurant, an Irish pub, an Italian wine bar - you get the idea! At each place she had a dare or a challenge and had to get her passport “stamped.” …An interactive bachelorette bash and Social-o-logy was a part of it!

…to top it all off, her wedding photographer, Jessica Monnich captured some amazing photos of my stuff and posted them on her blog! Jessica, I seriously can’t thank you enough!! Here is one of the pictures taken by her… I think I need to take some photography lessons - haha!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jessica!

P.S., You’re very gifted at what you do!! :) All the wedding pictures are absolutely stunning!

My second project was my nephew’s 5th birthday party invitation. …Let me tell you, the boy is OBSESSED with Star Wars! When my sister set out to plan his party, there was no doubt that it would be a Star Wars theme. I thought to myself, how can you make R2D2 and Jabba the Hut cute? I’m a girl, what can I say, I want everything to be “cute!” …and then I had the idea to make it an invitation that the kids could color! I just thought back to when I was 5 and how much I looooved entering coloring contest. To be honest, I don’t know that I ever won, but I do remember the girl that sat next to me in kindergarten asking if she could copy my picture. …so I must have been pretty good, eh?

Here are a few pictures of my nephew's birthday and the colored invitations...

...and as a side note, I’m sure you’ll see these boys on my blog many, many times! I’m kind of obsessed with my nephews! :) ...the one on the top right is Landon, and the one in the bottom center picture (with the crazy face) is Austin. That picture really makes me laugh by the way. He is SOO my sister's son!

…and then it was on to Christmas! Christmas kept me quite busy! :) I just love the holidays and I could sit around doing nothing but that for months. But I made myself focus and cranked out over 200 Christmas cards. That is definitely the biggest project to date! I think I had the most fun with my best friend Angee’s Christmas card…

When she told me that her husband and herself were headed to New York (see a trend? Haha!) for Christmas, I immediately thought – we should make you a “Merry Christmas From New York” postcard! I wanted to make it look like she had written a postcard to every person on her Christmas card list and sent it directly from New York City to their mailbox. I also wanted to put a vintage twist on it. I looove New York at Christmas and I just think its amazing how all of the Christmas traditions of that city have stayed in tact for years, and years, and years – which I wanted the card to reflect. ...and on top of all of that, my friend’s husband took the picture of Radio City that was used on the card! How cool is that?! I just thought it made it very personal. I made it, but it was his picture. It’s definitely one of my favorite projects thus far.

…and then it was on to our Christmas cards. As I’m sure you gathered by now, I love wedding, love dovey, mushiness. I just can’t help it! As newlyweds, I thought our card should reflect that. After all, you only get one chance to send out your first “married Christmas card.” (…and p.s., I came up with another idea while I was creating ours, so if you’re getting married or will be married by next Christmas, contact me! I’d love to bring that idea to life)! …but anyway, our card was us kissing under the mistletoe. The picture was taken by our photographers at our wedding , but then we put a Christmas spin on it by placing mistletoe above our head. …I thought the look on Jay’s face was perfect for that! :)

In addition to the cards, I made favor tags, cookie jars, labels – as I said, I was quite busy!

…but in the midst of all of the Christmas creations, I was honored to create birthday party invitations for my sister’s friend’s 4-year-old daughter. I just love the idea of a “Candy Land” birthday party. There are just so many things you can do with that! ..so with this one, we created a “lollipop” invitation. …this was the result!

I just think the absolute last thing you expect to pull out of an envelope is a big lollipop – which is why I loved this one so much! I just love doing things that are out of the ordinary and unique!

So now that you have gotten a sample of our work, we would love to hear from you! Leave a comment here or contact us at social-o-logy@hotmail.com.

*Note that pricing can be obtained by emailing us. Our policies are included within our blog.

Welcome to Social-o-logy Invitations and Design!

Alas, I'm getting my blog up and running! This has been a project a year in the works and its finally coming to life. (You don't know how excited that makes me)!

Just a year ago, I was in the midst of planning a wedding to the man of my dreams - awww! I am SOO excited to be married to him and thank God each and every day for bringing him into my life. (Seriously, I thought I would never meet the "one")! However, there is a part of me that will always miss the the wedding planning process. You just never get that time back!

...but then I sparked the idea for Social-o-logy Invitations and Design! I figure if I can no longer create things for my own wedding day, I can help others by creating things for theirs, or other big events in their lives! After all life holds many, many celebrations! So come on in and take a look around!

P.S. I will be the first to admit that I'm quite "wordy," so if nothing else, take a look at the pictures and let me know what you think! This is about "(Your) Life's Biggest Moments!" I'm here to make things that will make you happy! :)

...and as for what makes me happy, it would definitely be this day! I just thought I'd share since it is the whole reason Social-o-logy came about in the first place!



**Wedding pictures taken by Jenny Wymore & Amanda Trumper of "You May Kiss Wedding Photography." They did an awesome job capturing our special day and definitely come highly recommended! In addition to wedding photography, they both also own individual maternity/ children's photography businesses. Be sure to check them out!