Jennifer and Samir

Jennifer asked me a while back to create these damask pieces for wedding, and her placecards were the first coordinating Crystal Clustered place cards that were posted in my shop.  Thanks Jennifer and congratulations!

GE Wedding: Destination Swimwear!

The wedding's in Cancun, so it's time to look into some new swimwear for the beach!  It's tough to find something new during the winter, but one of my favorite swimwear lines, Beach Bunny Swimwear, released a new line of "Safari Glam" inspired pieces.  I think the fiance would go wild over these!





The price tag only allows me to spoil myself with one style, so I'm going to have to mull this over to pick the perfect one.  Which is your fave??

Etsy Seller Spotlight: Pink Cherry Mama!

I was browsing the wedding items on Etsy, and found these super gorgeous Table Numbers by Pink Cherry Mama.  I couldn't resist sharing these cards for anyone who is looking for something different, and, well, just pretty.  These Glittered Table Numbers are so vintage and completely unique.  Everything is hand-cut, glittered and aged with patina.  The overall effect is simply stunning!



If you read the description, Pink Cherry Mama uses SEVEN layers of media to create these pieces! Definitely worth $9.95 and would be a great touch to your modern vintage wedding. Or how about a tea party theme for a bridal shower?

Interested in seeing more from this talented artist?  Visit her blog at http://www.pinkcherrymama.com/

NEW ITEM: Damask Crystal Clustered PLACECARDS

I guess I have been avoiding making this piece for a long time.  Since I came out with the Crystal Clutstered Table Cards, I knew that it was only a matter of time before someone would ask for coordinating pieces. My client, Jennifer (her post coming soon), was such a sweetheart, I was more than willing to give this a shot. 

Now if you look closely at the photos in this post, you can count FOURTEEN, rhinestones on each placecard.  That's fourteen individually placed HotFix Rhinestones.  At first, each card took at least 5 minutes to put together.  So imagine using tweezers to place these tiny rhinestones and then heating up the rhinestones with my hotfix tool to adhere them.  Imagine doing at least 100 of these. Yikes.  Over time, I got the hang of it, so, after finishing this order, I decided to officially add this to my shop.  I have a good system down, and I say, bring on the orders! The price tag is $2.00 per card.  10% Discounts will be applied if you order 150 or more. 

Now first thing you should know is that since it does take a little more time than the normal placecard order, I would need any names that need to be printed way in advance.  At least 3 weeks ahead of your event date. This is to make sure that I have the names printed at least 2 weeks before, and that will give me a LITTLE time to print, cut and adhere those rhinestone clusters on there.  It's probably better to make these placecards, and NOT escort cards. Why? Because escort cards will require you to know the table assignments of each guest, and if I am printing them, it will take time to get that information finalized.  But what if you want their table number in there??? Since this particular set is printed on white cardstock (the damask design), you can handwrite your guests' table # INSIDE each card.  Even if you choose a different color cardstock, it's still possible.

Personally, I LOOOOOVE the result. Anyone can have these little gems for their own wedding. The damask design is just one version of this, but I will do my best to create some other color samples to post in the shop.

Michelle + Andrew

Basic Seating Charts are always wonderful on their own if you display them in fabulous frames.  I always suggest looking around at Michaels' since they do have 40%-50% off sales and coupons...

Using a great font like Papyrus below, is great for a vintage and elegant feel...

Michelle decided to go with the layout of listing her guests by table...

GE Wedding: Bridal Bootcamp Is NOT for Me

It's less than 50 days before our wedding in January, so I guess this is about the time that most bride-to-be's start doing the training to get in shape or lose the last few pounds so we can fit into those dresses.  For me, I had gained about 10 pounds in the last 2 months (since I took home my dress). So on a petite frame like mine, 10 pounds = 1-2 dress sizes.  Yeah, my "skinny" jeans don't fit me right anymore.  It's like, hello, MUFFIN-top.  That was my realization last weekend when I tried to slip into my favorite jeans for a party.  YIKES. I can't afford to buy new larger jeans that fit. Not now, with all the wedding bills to pay!

Time to lose the excess weight.  Bridal bootcamp?? No thank you. I told myself this week that I was going to hit the gym and do at least 1 hour of cardio every day to start burning some of that fat.  It's Friday, and how many times did I pass the gym down the street from my house? Five times.  How many times did I go into the gym?  Zero.  By the time I wake up, I feel like I need to get ready for work, and by the end of the day, I'm too drained to change for the gym.  Each time I drove past the parking lot, I kept saying to myself,"there's no parking, I'll come back later." Haha.  You know that once you enter your front door, the gym is not an option anymore. 

Time's running out - so what to do to drop those 10 pounds between now and the end of the year?  The HCG Diet.   I actually did the HCG Diet this past January through March, and I had originally lost about 30 POUNDS, dropping 5 dress sizes.  Thirty pounds in 3 months is a LOT for me.  By May, I hit the tiniest I've ever been since I was 14 years old.  And that's withOUT looking anorexic or too skinny.  My energy level was normal to high.  I loved it. I had a great summer of feeling great about how I looked.  Let's fast forward to now, and unfortunately, I fell off the wagon, and started consuming sugar and carbs.   It's true - sugar and carbs add weight.  And fast.

Back to the diet.  Here's a link to where I bought my HCG sublingual drops.  I only plan on doing this diet for 2 weeks, using their 15 day plan.  It takes a LOT of discipline.  I mean seriously, it's not easy.  I have to cut down my calories to 500 per day, take the drops 3 times a day, and cut out all sugar and carbohydrates.  Exercise? Good thing is, the diet discourages doing too much exercise due to the low calorie intake - so no guilt trips driving past the gym.  But I am still able to walk my dog for 20-30 minutes. 

We'll see how I do on the diet this time around.  I don't have as much to lose as I originally did, but hopefully the weight falls off just as quick it did in January.  Some people think this way sounds crazy, but I know people who have tried it after seeing results on me and my fiance, and for those who stuck to the diet, it worked for them too! At least 20 pounds was lost (within 1 month) for each person we knew. 

Looking foward to fitting back into my skinny jeans.  And most important, my wedding dress.

Should I post my progression online? I won't share my starting weight, but I think I'll keep a tally of the weight loss on my GE Designs Facebook Page.  Just to prove how quick this can happen.  Or not.  Wish me luck!

Heidi + David: Destination Table Cards!

Here's a little set of table cards for Heidi and David, who are planning a destination wedding.  Their table theme centers around the oceans. I love the color pallette, because it's so beachy...

Esther + Pavel: Crystal Clustered Cards

Esther and Pavel got married last weekend, and I finally posted these photos. I got to work with Stephanie, Esther's sister in the whole process. What a great sis! Brides have enough to deal with, when preparing for the minor details of the Big Day, and Stephanie took the reigns on a lot of things, including these table numbers below. Great job, Stephanie! You get a big high five from GE Designs!

GE Wedding: Invitations... Check!

HUGE sigh of relief.  I have dropped off our wedding invitations at the post office today! FINALLY... There are only a few peeps who know exactly what a rough time we've been having this year, but long story short,  my priorities have drastically changed and unfortunately, I have not been on top of my wedding preparations as I would have liked.  BUT, I had finished my invitations this weekend, and mailed them to the family and friends who have been there for us.  The guest list of who would even receive invitations was pretty short, since the FI and I decided to only invite friends and family who have been involved in our lives in the last couple years.  But that's another story.

So here are a few photos of my invitations, which I will be selling in my shop.  The price is little higher than my other items, because OMG, these were a LOT more work than I anticipated (plus the dupioni silk wasn't cheap). It did get easier after the 5th one, but I was exhausted when I was done. I told the fiance "never again, never never never" will I make these types of invitations.  This is my normal rant after I try something new. Then I'm like, nah, I can do this again. So check it out:

Each red panel is Dupioni silk wrapped cardstock. VERY pretty in person.  It took me forever to cut the dupioni silk into the right sized panels, THEN, I had to iron each piece onto the cardstock before even adhering it... argh. I had a vision, and this was NOT exactly my vision (required more time and even more money), but I'm pretty happy with the result.

Since we have a destination wedding, "Travel Information" contains our travel agent info, resort info, etc.  It's in lieu of "Accomodations."  I really only added a "Details" Card so that there was a nice layered look to the inserts.  The Response card's 4Bar red envelope is inserted behind all the inserts, out of view.  Augh. Look at the date of the Response card: November 15. And I mailed them today! What a faux pas.  Girls, if you are mailing your invitations, make sure your "respond by" date is at least 3 weeks in advance.  Shame on me.  But life threw me lemons, and I made apple juice. I know - its just wrong (and yes, the saying is "lemonade" not apple juice).

A Monogram square closes the whole pocketfold.  I decided to add 6 small rhinestones to the square just to add some interest. I felt that it was a little plain without them. More work, yes, but nice touch.

There you go.  GE Designs' wedding invitations.  Done. Fin. Now, it's off to work on my clients' stationery.  It never ends. But I love it. :)

Here's a mini digital package for Lijah & Kory. They will be printing these files at Vista Print using their Rack template. 

Keriann + Kelso