Fresh Sponsor and Stylist for our Gold Coast Wedding Fair

We are pleased to announce that Elissa and Sarah of Fresh Honey will be joining us as a sponsor for our Gold Coast Fair and will be treating us to their talents in wedding design and styling as they work their magic on The Abbey for our event.

Elissa launched Fresh Honey this year, but has almost 10 years experience in the wedding industry. With an extensive collection of furniture and decorative items, and a flair for interior and graphic design – they take care of the lot, from place cards to chandeliers!

We are so excited to see what they create for us to share with you at our first Gold Coast event, here is a sneak peek of their past work to give you a taste of what they may have in store….

Vintage Invitations – Doily and Washi goodness with a side of tech savvy

Project: Vintage invitations

DIY Doer: Emily (and friends!)

So here’s a lovely simple little tutorial, that can be applied to a number of different projects. A good friend of mine is due with a little girl in a few months and we are throwing her a baby shower; so we got together and formed an old fashioned assembly line and pumped out these darling little invites in no time. They are very simple (which is key when you have quite a few to make!), and quite cute, and there are some good tricks and hints for me to share with you that will aid you with all of your invitation and card making projects.

What you need:

We used:

  • Kraft Paper
  • Paper Doilies (cut into four sections)
  • Washi Tape
  • Twine
  • Glue
  • Scissors
  • A computer/printer (with Microsoft Word, and access to the web)

Step 1. Text Design and Printing

So two things you should know about me; #1 I am not a graphic designer (in case you haven’t already guessed as much), and #2 I have HORRIBLE handwriting. So luckily, to achieve this style you don’t need to write anything by hand (except for the name of the invitee), and you don’t need to be a graphic whiz. There are plenty of free printables out there, but often it is hard to find exactly what you want – so here are some tips on how you can do it yourself!

Microsoft Word and knowing how to insert word art into a document and format it are basically all that you need. Now Word will not have all of these lovely fonts – where do you find them and how do you use them you ask? Simple. Google free fonts (or free vintage fonts, or free calligraphy fonts – whatever your little heart desires). Find a font you want and download it (usually the site you find them on will have a simple download link or button). Find the font file (probably in your downloads folder), it will have the file extension ‘.ttf’ (the bit at the end of the file name). Double click on the file and once it opens look for a button or option to install the font on your machine. If Word is already open when you do this, you may have to shut it down and restart it before the font appears in your list. Done and Done.

The fonts used on this invitation are: “a song for jennifer”, “american typewriter”, “cedarville pnkfun1 cursive”, “some weatz swatches” and “gloucester MT extra condensed”.

As for the bunting, I simply Googled bunting clipart in Google Images, and once I found one I copy-and-pasted (and also recoloured it so it was plain black – Word has a recolour picture formatting function).

One last tip, if things aren’t staying put where you like them, set text wrapping to “in front of text”. Work with text boxes or word art rather than typing directly onto the page, that way it’s simple to click and drag around your text to position it.

DO print a test run of your invitation first (on scrap paper) to check for positioning, and typos.

Step 2. Cut, fold and Paste

The next step is to cut out your invitations, fold them into a card shape and begin decorating.

DON’T try to put glue on the whole doily. Focus on the centre (or the corner in this case – but the solid section) and the very edge – otherwise glue gets everywhere and stuck in all of the little cut-outs. If there is a glossy side of the doily flip it over and apply the glue to the matt side, it will stick better.

Step 3. Washi Time

Oh man I love washi tape. So simple to use, and sooooo pretty! Just cut and stick my friends. We did a simple stripe here, but you can cut into triangles for bunting, cross line over line for a wrapped present look; the possibilities are endless (search for washi on pinterest and enjoy). Everyone needs some washi in their craft kit.

Step 4. Personalise

Before we tie it up with the twine, you need to fill in the name section. Because of the contrasting fonts, even my horrible handwriting doesn’t come off too badly, it just fits right in as another font style.

Step 5. Tie it up

We agreed that the invitation needed a little something more for texture and a raised element, so we parcel tied the invite with a little natural twine.

Result: Success!

Difficulty: Simple crafting, some computing skills required.

Vendor Feature: I Do Wedding Tea Towels

I Do Wedding Tea Towels was born out of a serious case of one-upmanship. In their desperate desire to out do each other, Kate and Leesa eventually threw down their guns and collaborated talents. Both serious tea towel devotees, Kate and Leesa are on the same journey – “to change the world one tea towel at a time.” Wedding invitations printed on tea towels? We love it!

Each of these lovely ladies has an alternate business identity. Leesa owns and operates the fabulous Lamington (the funky little gift shop where you can find our tickets on sale) in Noosa Heads. Kate is the talent behind Wallallure (wall decals) and My Wooden Heart (designer tea towels of course).

Like ourselves, although already wed, Kate and Leesa are still obsessed with all things bridal. Fun fact, after every business meeting the girls find themselves parked out the front of the local op shop, giggling with anticipation about the discarded wedding dresses inside. Yes, they try them on, and take photos of themselves. How could you not love this pair?

Their fantastic tea towel invitations come in a number of designs: The Cameo, The Tattoo, The Classic, The Song and The Typo – in an array of vintage hues of peach, pistachio, duck egg blue, lemon and navy.

Vendor Feature: The Lovely Bird

The Lovely Bird is located at Cotton Tree, on the Sunshine Coast. It’s a quirky and unique gift shop, that proudly stocks an eclectic mix of gorgeous gifts – stationery, books, magazines, cards, twine, vintage vases & bottles, washi tape, bunting, jewellery, vintage finds, pencil cases, notebooks, pens, stamps, homewares and all sorts of unique finds. Throughout the shop you will also find a splash of items that Tanya has made herself…a few cards here and there, invitations, notebooks with my own artwork, writing sets,  bunting that I’ve sewn, earrings & necklaces that I’ve made. She has setup a small little studio space, so often you’ll find her sewing away on her old Janome!
Tanya is also the resident expert on all sorts of crafty things. Having trouble with your crochet? Pop down to the store and she’ll be more than happy to help you out. She also runs the occasional Crafty Night, an in-store workshop, they are well worth the visit.
From the moment we stepped into The Lovely Bird, we new we were a match made in heaven. This gorgeous little store is the epitome of all that is vintage, handmade and gorgeously unique!
Tanya has graciously agreed to take care of some of our Darling tickets, so head on down and grab a few…but pockets and purses beware, we are sure that’s not all you’ll come away with!