'Tis Wedding Season!

We don't design wedding invitations very often. In fact, the only other one we've designed was our own! But this year my husband set out to design his little sister's wedding invitation. And I think it turned out pretty darn awesome!


The original idea was to have it all be a folded postcard with a tear-away RSVP postcard at the bottom, but ideas changed, time flew by and the end result is slightly different, but still amazing! What do you think?

Summer Wedding Project

< < Post from new blog: medicalartmofo.blogspot.com > >

Many apologies for the lack of posting! Summer has officially started and I am swamped! Work is picking up and of course so is the social calendar! But I do have some "creativery" to show you today!

I am creating a nearly lifesize painting of my sister-in-law and her husband-to-be for their wedding in August. This is like a carnival piece where the faces are cut-out and people can put their own faces in the holes and take a picture! I think she is going to use this as a guestbook of sorts. Very cute idea.

So, here are a few photos of my process so far. I began by creating a concept in photoshop using a combination of engagement photos and their wedding colors. Then once I figured out the sizing, I went to buy the "canvas" which is three 2' x 4' masonite boards. I painted them white and my lovely husband helped connect them together giving me a final 4 foot by 6 foot blank canvas!
After they were all hinged together, I projected my sketch and traced it onto the boards. It's so much easier than free-handing something that large. Plus it saves me tons of time.
Unfortunately, I could not paint this the normal way one would begin a painting. Paint the entire background first, then add the foreground on top. My projector isn't very strong and I could not see any of the sketch if I projected it on a purple board...so white it had to be and I will be filling in the spaces with a paint-by-numbers approach.

Since the background is very geometric, I was able to use painter's tape and retain my sanity. This was wall paint and didn't dry as quickly as regular acrylic. I was very anxious to rip off the tape!
I used cheap acrylic paint for the blue banner and boy, does that dry a helluva lot quicker than wall paint! I am experimenting with different blending styles for shadows and highlights. So far I like a rough, sponge effect--not perfectly and smoothly blended. We'll see how it goes.
From here we will disassemble the large canvas into it's 3 smaller pieces. It will be much easier to paint and i won't get so much glare from our lights if I can move it around. I cannot wait to begin painting the figures! I really love to paint and work with traditional mediums. It's a great break from all the computer work I do.

What do you think?? Would a cut-out or painting like this be something you'd enjoy seeing at a wedding or other celebration?

New Blog: MedicalArtMofo

I will try to update this blog with projects that are wedding-related, but I am starting another blog that will be filled with any and all creative projects that I find or am working on! They may be medical in theme or not at all! I just needed a place to post my ramblings and creative overflow that wasn't tied to a specific topic.

Please visit and follow!
http://medicalartmofo.blogspot.com/

Snow day in Chicago!

I know I've failed as a blogger lately, but I'm actually working on quite a few projects right now and I really need to share them! One is wedding-related for my sister-in-law and the others are simply fun!

The wedding project is a lifesize cut-out painting of the couple. Their faces will be cut-out so guests can put their own faces in and take a photo! I used to see them at museums or tourist attractions all the time as a kid. Does anyone know what they are called?

I will post a few beginning photos of the mock-up soon, but for now I will leave you with a photo from the famous Chicago Blizzard of 2011!

Holiday Cards using wedding photos!

Ok, so this first post is sort of a no-brainer. Using a wedding photo to create your first holiday card as a married couple! There are tons of ways to create a photo holiday card. Some use Snapfish, VistaPrint, or other online resources. Some go to their local Wal-mart or Walgreens.

Then there are the designers out there who decide to "up the ante" and create their own cards amidst the hustle and bustle of holiday craziness. That last group would be us. We design not only our own cards, but both sets of parents and a grandparent on each side. That's a total of 5 cards to design and we usually don't start until a week or so before Christmas. :-)

So I thought I'd post the cards we made last year before this winter season is totally over. Can you tell which cards were designed by Derek and which were done by me? Sort of obvious, but now we collaborate on our designs and they are even better! Enjoy!

Derek & Rachel (fresh newlyweds!)


Bride's Family


Groom's Family


Grandmother of the Bride


Grandfather of the Groom

My return to the blogosphere!

So, I have been asked to continue this blog! I'm not quite sure how consistent I will be with posts since I am no longer a bride-to-be, but my sister-in-law is planning a wedding for this August, so I may have a few things to post for her. I may also start blogging about crafty, creative things to do as a newly married couple.

Everyone loves a photo, so here's one of myself with 2 of my favorite people at a college football game!


If you have any suggestions for blog posts, please let me know! Otherwise look for new posts coming soon!!!!

Peace & Creativity,
-Rachel

Mr. & Mrs.

I am now a married woman!
The weather was PERFECT - cloudy in the morning for pictures and bright & sunny for the ceremony! I believe leaves were falling at the appropriate times and the pastor told me later that I had a giant daddy-long-leg crawling up my dress! Oh, how we love nature! :-)

I just wanted to post a few of my favorite photos recapping the wonderful day that we had! All of our photos can be viewed on Sara's website: sara-jayne.com and if you email me at rstork@gmail.com I will give you the client login password. (Let me know who you are because I'm not about to show all these photos to people who don't introduce themselves!) :-) Sara-Jayne Photography also has a page on Facebook which has about 100 of our photos posted on there.

A red barn is very appropriate when one has a wedding in Iowa.


What I saw for the first time when I started walking down the aisle with my parents. It took all of my willpower to keep myself from crying. So powerful.

Our ceremony site. No fancy decorations, we just let Mother Nature be her beautiful self, and she definitely shined for us that day!


Our tree-planting ceremony. After the ceremony we planted a strong White Pine near the church. This gift represents the growth of our love and symbolizes that marriage - like a tree - requires constant nurturing and nourishment.


My amazing California cousins finding where they wrote their names in my parents' guestbook on Aug. 2, 1980. I used the handmade wooden guestbook my grandfather made for my mother for her wedding and added our own pages to the front.


The newlyweds walking to the reception. I love this photo because it reminds me of photos I've seen of my parents' wedding.


Our table arrangements: Flowers from my mother's garden in canning jars; Brown paper bag table runners with clearance ribbon; hand-me-down votive candles from Craig's List; thrift store wine glasses with handmade charms.


The wedding party as the celebration continues!


And the glorious German Hausbarn! This site made our wedding so spectacular, I cannot thank LeRoy & Freda and the Hausbarn staff enough for all of their help and support!