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

Happy Friday everyone! I’m currently in Melbourne for the weekend to celebrate my cousin’s wedding (three guesses as to who designed the invitations).

It’s actually the second time we’ve had the whole family together this year (my brother got married in March) so that’s a lovely treat.

I’ve been working really long hours lately so it’s going to be fantastic to take three whole days off, enjoying plenty of food, wine and celebrating with family and friends.

What’s on your agenda this weekend?

Recently I asked an amazingly talented team of wedding pros to help me create an inspiration shoot based around one of my new invitation collections for my business Akimbo.

I think I’m going to step out of the way and let the images do the talking today.

Everyone involved did such an incredible job of bringing my concept to life and it turned out exactly as I imagined.

MASSIVE thanks to the following people:

Photography by Eon Images | Styling by byGabrielle | Flowers & props by Poppies Flowers | Cake by Sweet Treats Cakes and Cupcakes | Tableware ‘Just Arrived’ Wares | Venue Glen Ewin Estate

Oh, and my mum for lending me my grandmother’s bone handled cutlery.

We were lucky enough to have it featured on Style Me Pretty so head over there and check out the full gallery.

I’ve been very fortunate that Akimbo has received some great coverage recently. Here are a few snippets…

Real Weddings Issue 20

Modern Wedding Issue 54 Styling Handbook

I also have more being published soon, yay!

I’m very excited because tomorrow we fly off to Canberra for my brother’s wedding! Here is a sneak peek of what I created for their wedding invitation (I don’t know how well you can see this on the photo but it’s embossed so the balloon has a pillowy texture).

We’ll be spending a whole week there with family so I’m taking a week off blogging and will see you back here on 2nd April.

Toodles!

I was pretty thrilled last year when one of my fave design authors Charlotte Rivers (not just saying that – I did already own some of her books and follow her blog) asked me to submit some of my work for her upcoming book. But then I put it out of my mind because books take so long to reach the shelves and besides, not everything that’s submitted will make the final cut.

So imagine my excitement when I flipped open my freshly-delivered copy of her book I Love Stationery and found a whole page feature on Akimbo’s Woodland collection!

Huge thanks to Charlotte and her publisher Jacqui Small. It means so much to me to be published in such a beautifully produced book.

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.

Don’t you just love when you go to a wedding and the couple has added personal touches to really reflect them? Well, me too, so I’ve written an article about how to personalise your wedding with stationery over at A Paper Proposal.

Read the full article.

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!

Hello lovelies, did you have a good weekend?

A couple of weeks back I showed you my a new print design. Well, here is the invitation that it was based on. I created this sweet-as-pie design for the baby shower of a dear friend, who I’m pleased to say has since welcomed beautiful baby Ruby into the world!

I’m in the process of developing a new website (yay!) so I haven’t been updating the existing one with new products like this. But if you’re interested in this design or something like it, just ask.