I’ve mentioned my big weekend at Bowerbird Bazaar a couple of times this week so I think it’s high time I showed you some photos!

Last time my stall setup was pretty basic as I was just trialling the market to see if it would work for my business. Thankfully it did so this time around I put a fair bit more effort into my display. It still has a way to go but I am quite happy with it.

I launched some new products including these screenprinted white on kraft cards which were a hit so I’m very happy with that! (Coming to the online shop soon.)

Thank you SO much to my friends and family for their support, especially my Dad for helping set up and The Man for being there helping all weekend.

And a HUGE shout out to all you lovely readers who came along and said hello! It’s so nice to put faces to the blog stats

You’ve probaby worked out by now that I did a lot of crafting for our wedding. To save you from hunting through the archives, I’ve compiled a nifty little long post summing up all the projects.

Accessories

Fabric butonnoiere *

Beribboned bridesmaids’ fans *

Bridesmaids’ cameo jewellery boxes

Decorations

Book ring ‘pillow’ *

Ribbon wands *

Family photo display *

Paper garland

Book vases

Screenprinted napkins *

Twig balls and branch altarpieces *

Speech bubble blackboards

Vintage book page backdrop

Decoupaged book page votive holders *

Scrabble tile table names

Stationery

Invitations (more info here)

Screenprinted belly bands

Calligraphy

Envelope labels for ceremony-only invitations (free printable)

Envelope liners

Programs

Thank you notes (with free printable tags)

Menu *

Reserved ceremony seating signs for parents *

Giant trivia crossword *

Welcome message *

Escort cards *

Photo booth sign * (free printable)

‘I spy’ game sheets * (free printable)

Save the dates *

CD sleeves (free printable)

Because I was so involved in our wedding I did have some friends and family ask me what on earth I’d do with myself after the wedding and whether I would become one of those depressed newlyweds once I was no longer a bride. It’s true I absolutely loved planning and handcrafting our wedding, but no way did I want to prolong it forever. It took up an insane amount of time so frankly I was a little relieved to have a huge chunk of my free time back and to be able to focus on getting my fledgling stationery business off the ground.

Speaking of which, I wasn’t sure whether to include the stationery as ‘DIY’ since I am a professional graphic designer and some items were professionally printed. In the end I decided to include them to show the whole picture of what I created for the event.

There are a few of the more basic projects that I haven’t done tutorials for but if you’re interested in finding out more please just shout out in the comments. Cheers!

* Images marked with an asterisk by Luke Simon Photography.

I know that the world of invitation design – especially printing – can be totally overwhelming to those outside the industry, so I’ve written a crash course on letterpress over on Little Wed Hen.

Check it out!

I’m excited to announce that Akimbo will be selling at its first kids’ market, Mathilda’s Market. It’s in late November so it’s perfect to come and do all your Christmas shopping for your children, nieces and nephews (as well as plenty to spoil yourself!).

Christmas Mathilda’s Market Adelaide
Saturday 26 November 2011
The Burnside Ballroom
Corner Greenhill & Portrush Roads, Tusmore
9am to 1pm

It’s not just in Adelaide, though. There are markets all over Australia:

Brisbane – Saturday 19 November

Perth – Sunday 13 November

Melbourne – Sunday 27 November

Hobart – Sunday 6 November

Sydney – Sunday 4 December

Canberra – Sunday 20 November

See full details of times and locations.

Put it in your diary and I hope to see some of you there!

Boy, this new collection ‘Heirloom’ has been a looong time coming but I hope you’ll agree it’s worth the wait!

I’ve gone all sophisticated-like with subtle grey-on white letterpress, a monochromatic palette and classic lettering. The bakers’ twine and skeleton key give it a playful twist on traditional.

Here’s the program handkerchief that I previewed last week, perfect for those tears of joy at the ceremony! I’ve added a belly band to make it more neat and presentable for your ushers to hand out.

Thanks to Sally from Poppies Flowers and Chantelle of Steven Ter Horst Chocolatier for their help. During the course of photographing this collection I discovered new perk of my job: enjoying the beautiful bouquet and munching on the yummy macarons afterwards!

Take a look at the full Heirloom collection. I’d love to know what you think.

Wow, what a weekend! Akimbo exhibited at The Eclective, South Australia’s first alternative bridal fair.

I love being an online business because I can work without the hassle and overheads of owning a shop and I can service clients all over the world, but there really is nothing like meeting a bride face-to-face and getting to know her in person. That was hands down my favourite part of the event.

I was also able to put faces to the names of some brilliant local vendors and find out about their businesses. There are so many talented people in the Adelaide wedding industry and everyone was so supportive and friendly. It’s precisely why I wanted to start The Wedding Ring and I’m now itching to get back into organising that.

It’s been a hectic few months preparing everything and I couldn’t have done it alone. Thanks to my friend Mary and sister-in-law Callie for being helpful and encouraging sounding boards for my display ideas; my Dad for agreeing to play hatchback tetris to transport my gear; and Emma at White & Wander for the kick-arse furniture. Special thanks to my husband Ryan for being there for the whole weekend, bringing me coffee and for learning so much about my products and services that he could help customers on his own!

Of course, it wouldn’t have been possible without the event organisers, my fellow vendors and above all, everyone who came along.

I had a great response and lots of interest in my work so you should be seeing a bunch of new invitations for some of the sweet couples I met.

Images by me, except for the last two by my brother-in-law Dan Parsons (thanks Dan!). You can find more photos here.

A beach wedding without any frangipanis, thongs* and starfish? Yes, it’s possible!

*International readers, don’t freak out, they’re what we call flip-flops.

I first designed these invitations for a wedding in the family, but I’ve since developed it into a full collection for your laid-back beach celebration.

Browse the Semaphore collection or drop me a line to make an enquiry.

Location photography: Luke Simon Photography
Styling: Mary & Gabrielle Events
Additional props: Poppies Flowers

I’ve mentioned before that Akimbo is a vendor on Wedding Invite Love, well, last week I was the Featured Vendor. Tracy has also been kind enough to let me share the story behind my Mortlock and Regency collections in guest posts. Thanks so much, Tracy!

If you’re in the market for wedding or event stationery, do yourself a favour and check it out. Not only is the directory the perfect way to find the right stationer for you, the blog is a great source of inspiration and useful information. If that wasn’t good enough, Tracy has just announced there will be a twice yearly Wedding Invite Love lookbook for all the pretty paper you can handle.

Aaand finally, congratulations to Wedding Invite Love reader Maki for winning some lush paper goodies from Akimbo and other vendors in the July giveaway!

I was recently asked to contribute the stationery for an incredible collaboration (as you may already know if you follow Akimbo on Facebook or Twitter). I’ll discuss that in all its amazing detail on Wednesday, but for now I’m thrilled to reveal the stationery.

I have seriously never been so excited about a new product. Paper schmaper, this baby is printed on wood, people.

I’ve been dying to do both a veneer invitation and an illustrated map, and this collection’s got the delicious double-whammy.

The inspiration board and brief I was given for this project reminded me of the dreamy yet playful forest scenes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. With that in mind, I have named the collection Oberon, after Shakespeare’s famous king of the fairies. (Wouldn’t my year 10 drama teacher be proud?)

Check back in later in the week to see the full photo shoot that this was produced for, as well as a matching DIY project.

Until then, you can find details of the stationery products here.

Thanks to the always generous Sally at Poppies Flowers for providing the props and flowers.

The alphabet prints were not the only new addition to Akimbo’s Regency collection: there’s now a full range of wedding invitations and day-of stationery!

How fun is the penny farthing illustration? It would be perfect for a vintage-inspired affair.

One of my favourite ways to personalise invitations is to make the RSVPs a bit more interactive, like this fill-in-the-blank story.

I prefer save the dates that don’t totally give away the design of the invitation, so this one is purely typographic.

There’s only so many times you can show a bicycle in your wedding stationery without the theme being complete overkill, so the reception details are in the same style but with varying illustrations.

If bikes aren’t your thing, there are two other designs to choose from.

The shell version is perfect for your beach wedding, while the daffodil would be lovely for a garden or spring celebration.

If those motifs still don’t float your boat, I have tons more on file (email me for more details).

Browse the full collection here.