milk

I've been doing some reading on the topic of balancing a career (and personal identity) and motherhood.  It's something that causes me a bit of anxiety, because I don't want to imagine failing at one or the other.  Literature on this debacle tends to fall toward one end of a spectrum or the other, that being that either (a) the mother feels an almost undeniable urge to stay with her baby and forgo selfish career development or (b) the mother cannot imagine becoming a homemaker and is more than ready to jump back into the workforce when her maternity leave ends.  In the first scenario, a mother's identity is tied to her role as mother, first and foremost, and in the second she believes she must maintain her identity outside of motherhood - in order to ultimately be a good mother.

Part of the problem lies in the fact that I don't really know which pole of that spectrum I'll most identify with when the time comes.  I suppose the fact that I'm worried about how this blog entry will be received (I don't want anyone to think my life is already being consumed by my unborn baby and I've lost my personality) indicates that I'm more of a (b) type.

I'll just wait and see.  At the very least I'm concurrently reading one baby-related book (e.g. Milk Memos - I'm serious) and one non-baby-related book (e.g. Paul Auster's Moon Palace) at all times. 

Here's the gratuitous belly photo that I'm too shy to post on Facebook.  This is 23 weeks, though I did grow overnight just after this photo was taken.  That's how it works, you know.

And here's the adorable little cap my friend Nikki crocheted for Quinn.  I plan on honing my infant portrait skills once Quinn is born and I'm off work for a while, and I can't wait to photograph her in this hat! 

What else have I been up to?  I've been using a CD-ROM instruction program to learn Adobe Photoshop, for one thing.  I am already fairly familiar with Adobe InDesign and I think having a solid grasp of both programs will open up unlimited possibilities.  Photoshop may be the most complex, difficult program I've ever worked with, but I'm making progress.

One project that's constantly on my mind are the invitations to my sister's July 2011 wedding.  Though the wedding is a long time off, and invitations won't need to be mailed for some time, I want to have all my ducks in a row before Quinn arrives.  I've purchased all the paper and embellishment supplies I'll need and I'm waiting for the final shipment to arrive in the mail.  Kate and I have developed a plan for the overall construction, now it's up to me to work on design elements, make edits based on Kate's desires, then print and assemble the 150 invitations.  Here are some of the supplies I'll be using for the fuchsia, white, and white shimmer project.

bloom

An in-process shot of Chloe's t-shirt.  Pre-fancy embellishments like glitter and gemstones.

Lindsey's sweet baby, Hadley.  I visited her at the hospital when she was less than 24 hours old.

A crinkly ribbon toy I made for Hadley.

My notes for planning my sister Kate's wedding invitations.  Approximately 100 invitations with 7 components each.  This is going to be fun!

The Seattle Squid.  Jesse and I took a fun mini-vacation up there this past weekend.

The Puma gear I bought for Quinn.  I just couldn't resist...

invitations - part 2

After months and months of occasional, focused work on our wedding invitations, they are complete and in the mail! I experienced a burst of happy interest in finishing them up, not to mention the return date already printed on the RSVPs was July 31st. Probably best to get the invitations out before that date arrived, yes?

As I mentioned, I designed and printed the four main components (enclosures) on our Canon inkjet printer, using a font I located on 1,001 Free Fonts. I utilized copper, dark olive green and leaf green for all details. The "main" invitation card and the map card were the largest, while the hotel/activities card and the RSVP needed to be cut to size. The latter three were tucked into the invitation pocket, with only the "title" of each card exposed.

I carved the image of an agave plant for the central invitation card. I stamped the image with a copper stamp pad and then raised it with clear embossing powder. That card was glued in next to the enclosure pocket.

I then used a Martha Stewart punch on the invitation flap, and attached a small copper closure card by threading my Paper Source "leaf" ribbon through the punched holes. Voila. The whole project was topped off with address and return address labels printed in the same "One Forty Seven" font, and wonderfully matchy 61 cent wedding cake stamps!

It was extremely gratifying to drop the 37 invitations in the mail! I have a renewed interest in all kinds of wedding craft projects and I'm so appreciative of the generous help and excitement my friends and family are offering!

invitations - part 1

This is part 1 of a 2-part entry on how I am designing and fabricating our wedding invitations! All of my photos are from the Paper Source website, with the exception of the Martha Stewart edge punch from Michael's (the photo of which I found at http://www.michaels.com/) and the MasterCarve blocks from Art Media (photo from http://www.artmediaonline.com/).

The overall form of the invitations came about from a wedding workshop Jesse and I attended at Paper Source on NW 23rd in Portland. The event was supposed to include several brides-to-be drinking champagne and crafting, but low registration led to our chance to have a private workshop session with a Paper Source teacher. We looked at a variety of different shapes and color combinations and practiced several different stamping techniques. We knew we wanted to include a few enclosure items, so we decided on the Gatefold Enclosure card in "Luxe Fino Cream." This card features an inside pocket for enclosures and a folded flap closing. For each of the 4 enclosures (invitation, map, hotel & activity info, rsvp) we chose the Half-Moon/Pocket Folder Enclosure Flat Cards in the same color. Both are shown here in "Chartreuse."

Next came the gorgeous Copper Shimmer envelopes. These were a new release when I was shopping for supplies and they were a perfect match to the copper-laden Flying J, where our reception lunch will be held. Not to mention the fact that Jesse lived in a town known for its huge copper mine when I met him!

Next, I created each of the invitation's components on the computer using Adobe InDesign. I adore the font I found on 1,001 Free Fonts - "One Forty Seven." After changing my mind ten times, I settled on a color palette of dark olive green, light leaf green and an orange-copper shade.

I purchased a copper stamp pad and clear embossing powder, to use on the invitations. I had formatted the text so a large area was left clear for a stamp...but I couldn't decide on what to carve. I wobbled between some kind of quail design or one involving local Arizona plantlife. On our last trip to Sierra Vista I noticed an interesting plant, which I later identified as a desert agave. That was it! I sketched the image and then carved it in Mastercarve block (the best product ever) from Art Media.

Just last night I purchased Shimmer Copper Business Cards and thin "Leaf" ribbon from Paper Source, along with a Martha Stewart Thin Ribbon Threader Edge Punch from Michael's. I'm thinking these items will be used with some Paper Source "Superfine Soft White" Labels to create the invitation's closure.

So nearly all of the components are printed. I just need to cut the smaller ones to size and figure out some way to assemble them into a pretty, cohesive unit! Some photos of completion are hopefully on their way.