{real weddings} stasia & john - 5.15.10

last month i had the pleasure of working with a fabulous client... i'm always blown away and super humbled by the fact that potential clients from all over the place find little 'ol me online.  people that if it weren't for this blog, my etsy shop, and of course God, i would never have had the opportunity to work with! and Stasia was one of those clients... her friend found some previous work of mine that she passed along to Stasia and she became interested and we got to work to get some custom hydrangea napkins made.
       .... then, she thought, hey, what about incorporating escort cards, table numbers, menus, and what the heck, why not programs too! so that's exactly what we did... they all used the blue color scheme and/or the hydrangea design Stasia had been so interested in.

- and here's how Stasia and John's wedding goods turned out in Charleston, SC -

escort cards tied to favors... if you look closely you'll see the hydrangea =)

the napkins that started it all

programs: i love this design - modern, simple, yet visually very interesting

table numbers... there's that hydrangea again

notice the menus at each place setting adorned with the motif of the day

and here's two photos for fun

fyi: i visited Charleston last summer... what a wonderful place to get married, so much charm and hospitality there... and truthfully, i had a touch of wedding envy when she 

told me where her nuptials would be taking place!

stasia and her dad, i'm always touched by father/daughter wedding pics... gotta love Charleston, SC - beautiful churches... EVERYWHERE!

and look at that bow! don't you just love the combo of the bow and the buttons?

i'm such a sucker for buttons on wedding dresses, i feel it adds just a little touch of nostalgia...

thanks again Stasia, 

i'm so glad you were so happy with your wedding day paper goodies!

: : : photos courtesy of Kate Fine Art Photography : : :

find her on Facebook

{recent project} calligraphy inspired paper goods

when this next bride, julia, contacted me it was gocco an order of rehearsal dinner napkins - then it turned into cocktail napkins for their wedding and their coordinating thank you notes too!

here's how they turned out -

100 dark teal napkins

{sorry the flash bleached the color out a bit}

gocco'd w/ metallic gold using the monogram and design from their rehearsal invites

this photo's a way better representation of the true color of the napkins!

julia approached me with idea of gocco'ing wedding napkins

using some custom calligraphy from etsy seller emililies

{she also worked on my new branding i'll be showing off soon}

100 of these are done on a great fall color - plum!

and then 100 more in ivory - this is a close up to show off the shine from the metallic ink

and last but not least - her pretty and personalized 60 wedding thank you notes

in soft white {aka ivory}

{custom paper goods} wedding weekend agenda inserts

here's a recent project for one of my current brides allie, she approached me awhile about gocco'ing some of her wedding paper goods and one of those items was an additional insert for her wedding invitations... her invites had a dandelion motif so these scalloped inserts are perfect in keeping with that silhouette. here they are - gocco'd in gold ink

and here are her invites assembled and ready to head off to her guests

thanks allie for sending the photo of the finished product! =)

{month in review} july highlights

man, this summer is really sailing by! and it's been a few weeks since my last post, hopefully all that i have to show you will make up for my lack of posts... it's been a crazy past month of custom orders and other fun new items - so without further ado, here's what i've been up to....

citrus bridal shower invites:

*sorry for the privacy blurs*

the invite was gocco'd in metallic gold - lime - and yellow

and the envelope had the hostess' return address gocco'd in gold on the flap

w/ a slice of lime on the front side of the envelope

i just adore the cute and playful font we used to highlight the bride's name!

if you check out the bottom right corner that font was used to subtly highlight

the request for recipes for "katie's cook book"

i also gocco'd coordinating thank you notes that the hostess plans to give the bride at the shower - making thank you note writing that much easier and cuter! =)

if you happen to like these citrus summery thank you notes - they're be available in my shop

{recent project} rustic elegance cocktail napkins p 2

the other half of the rustic elegance napkins were inspired by erin's wedding guest book below -

so we came up with a graphic for little "love birds" - one flying and one sitting on the branch

and the "work in progress" shot on the dining table =) ... if you've ever wondered what the gocco looks like .... here it is below!

{recent project} lemon inspired napkins & coasters... and jewelry!

about a month ago i had the pleasure of working with a fabulous bride {named erin} on quite a few aspects of her palm springs wedding ... 

her wedding had a pallet of black and white, with a punch of yellow.  so we incorporated lemons for their custom cocktail coasters and cocktail napkins!  their last name is meadows - so in the spirit of lollapalooza - they branded their wedding reception as "meadows - palooza"... super cute!

we went ahead and used the same design for both the napkins and coasters - after gocco'ing all of these babies i have to admit i had visions of lemon wedges dancing in my head! =)

since she was varying the bridemaids attire {some gals work black dresses w/ yellow sashes and the others wore black & white floral print dresses w/ a yellow sash} she opted for my 

belle earrings w/ petite onyx teardrops and the circle esprit necklace with mini onyx rhondelles... i love how classy and formal this jewelry can be!

erin also decided to treat her gals to my swarovski gold flip flops - so they could kick off their shoes and busta move on the dance floor!... she also treated herself to a pair! =)

if you see anything you like, please don't hesitate to contact me!

{recent projects} monogramed wedding napkins for my cuz

so yeah.... i've got some blog catching up to do! =)

so i just thought i'd show you the 5 - hundo napkins i gocco'd for my beatiful cousin who's getting married in just under a month!  it's count down time Bren =)

they are having a black and silver affair with a hint of pink...

they chose to keep it simple by tying in their traditional monogram from their wedding stationary to their cocktail napkins. i love this idea because they can use these napkins in their home, after the wedding, should they have left-overs.

my typical "printing in progress" shot...

here's a better detail shot - {however, taking these at night the flash didn't look so good so i had to settle for some blurry pics.. sorry all}

their napkins turned out to look very clean and traditional: 

black napkins with metallic silver printing

{recent project} hubby's grad announcements

first lemme say - i've been a bad, bad blogger... i'm sorry for my absence! part of the reason i quasi abandoned my blog is because my hubs finally finished law school last week... yippee! =)

it's been 3 years in the making and i can now say that i'm married to a man who is a

Juris Doctor... here's what that translates to mean:

-3 years of law school down... and now he has another degree with hours of studying, tons of hard work, late hours, and pages of papers behind him... however.... we have this to look forward to:

-2 months of 6 day a week bar exam prep classes for 6 hours each day, then more hours of studying each night... and then a crazy intense 3 day testing period at the end of July - {pause for dramatic effect}. . . . the CA bar exam

- then right after all the law craziness is done - our 1 year anniversary will be on the other side of summer waiting to greet us on August 2nd! i can't believe we're already closing in on one year - man how the time has flown... i have a feeling i'm gonna say that A LOT throughout our marriage =) i also have a feeling i'm gonna be uber busy this summer to keep up with him!

without further ado... here are the law grad announcements i made for the hubs... he told me it wasn't an opportunity to get to artsy {big bummer, but no surprise}, after all they are meant to be professional and serious he tells me!... =)

i used a way more contemporary font for the text than what the school's announcements had - and i kept them to the law school's color scheme of grey, cardinal, and black - printed them on slate grey card stock, with a cardinal ring behind the school seal with a second pass of all black text. then i gocco'd our return address on the envelope flap - sorry for the blurs, but i have to keep some things private! =)

i'll be posting more soon, as i've created quite a few new bridal pieces in my absence that i must share!

{recent projects} michelle's custom wedding cocktail napkins

a few posts ago i showed you the custom escort/ placecards i gocco'd for a friend's wedding which is THIS SATURDAY!!!!  and after a great weekend out with all our girlfriends for michelle's bachelorette party - pictured below - michelle is in the back left with the side-veil =)

i'm left front... hehe sporting my fun tie-dye shirt (i've loved tie-dye since i was young)
now we're back - and i just finished up her custom gocco'd cocktail napkins...

so here they are:

and here's a behind the scenes photo of the first run with just the gold heart... and my happy little gocco machine making a cameo =)

if you are interested in creating custom napkins or any other personalized paper goods feel free to contact me at JDVJewelry{at}gmail.com or message me in my etsy shop!

{recent projects} michelle's custom wedding escort/ place cards

this is a quick post. . . 

but here is part 1 of the custom gocco work i'm doing for another friend's 3.14.09 wedding - they are looking to achieve a very lush art deco feel with a gold/champagne, deep reds, and black color scheme.

here are her escort/place cards - i lovingly gocco'd 120 of the gold scroll motif to signify those eating prime rib... check 'em out!  

and here are cranberry ones with an art deco heart motif - 70 of these will signal to the servers the guests enjoying their chicken entree.

this style/design is so different from anything i've done yet, and i just love the way they turned out.  michelle's wedding will be very personalized - these graphics were designed by a friend for their wedding invites - and i used the designs to help tie the motif through to the reception.  

coming soon, michelle's custom gocco'd cocktail napkins!

{JDV Paperie} Santa Barbara suite preview

just wanted to give you all a sneak peak of what i've been working on recently... we're heading to the wedding for this couple next weekend, so once we've returned i'll reveal the rest of the invite suite!

ps... this is just an intro to my gocco'd JDV Paperie items.

stay tuned,

b

Real Wedding: Sarah & Jim's gocco'd napkins

as soon as sarah contacted me and sent me her the inspiration board on etsy(pictured below), i fell completely in love with the style wedding she was planning.

she said her main colors are

coral, gold, and mocha with touches of chocolate and robbin's egg blue.

after running through a few different design ideas Sarah created herself, here's the proof we went with.

sorry for the large gap here

and here's the outcome of her wedding napkins - funny thing, i work on top of a sheet to protect my workspace, i usually don't photograph my work on this type of background... but in this case i did since one of Sarah's accents is robbin's egg blue, which really makes these napkins pop.

here's an up close view of the colors used:

these are ivory napkins with custom mixed coral & metallic gold gocco ink.

i really wish i had a better camera that could capture the shine

that the gold ink puts off in the light!

just a glimpse of the workspace as i gocco'd... i just about squealed when i first opened the lid of my gocco to see how these looked... i just love them! it's always an exciting experience to see the outcome of the design process, especially when the final product turns out like this!

and another view =)

these turned out so different from my own wedding napkins, and i loved how beautiful they are and really can't wait to start working on my upcoming orders.

i love helping brides personalize their weddings, so if you are interested in custom designed paper goods please convo me via my etsy shop.

{shop update}: new napkins

Bicyclette Napkins

these custom cocktail napkins are a great personal touch for any social event, holiday, or wedding.  the bike icon is just the basic idea, you could customize with the date of the event, or the host's names, or any other variety of personal details.  these red ones pictured above are awesome, unfortunately the photo i took is not so awesome... you can't tell but the shine that the metallic gold ink gives is really beautiful!

these can be ordered in any custom color napkin or ink if you have 

a specific color scheme you'd like these to tie in with.

 (please private message me if you'd like to customized them in any way)

keep in mind too that these can be used to tie a whole wedding/ event suit together - i can use an image for invitations, thank you notes, napkins, place cards, table numbers/names... you name it!

just to give you an idea of the napkin making process... it takes up lots of space =)

below are the ivory napkins with the gold bikes, these would look great with a gold, champagne, and bronze color scheme i think !

Joie de Vie is becoming more and more diverse in the products available to offer our clients!

new item - custom cocktail napkins

this past weekend i ventured into new territory for Joie de Vie... and it falls under the "accessories" territory!  it's no secret that i love my gocco.... i actually have now ordered the bigger boy gocco with advance registration = more colors! but more on that in a different post...

i decided to try my hand at custom cocktail napkins, which i think are a great personal touch for any wedding or social event.

i'll share the process with you:

here's my gocco screen prior to inking

the screening process... since these don't stand in my card drying racks ... they take up a lot of counter space!

the finished product - blue and white paisley napkins

i'm just a little focused on lining up the lettering with the image... 

man i can't wait for my PG-11 unit so i don't have to worry about registering multiple layers!

also, disregard my beach bum attire, and no make-up, we had been in and outta the pool with my little nephews that day! =)

here's the screen for napkin style number 2: notice the names aren't lined up with the image... that's what i like to call trial and error, and it's also the reason for printing 2 layers on these

the sand dollar motif used on the napkin

thankfully i was working at my brother & SIL's house which has plenty of counter space!

had to use the table too!

above the napkins have their 2nd layer on them 

and here i am pluggin away on 450 napkins! 

i will have some of my napkins in my etsy store shortly, if you would like to request custom napkins, you name it, i can create them! just go to my etsy store and message me with you idea!