the haystack needle

westcoast love: oh so beautiful paper from california

2010-07-30T07:54:00-04:00

Hello! It's Nole again, from Oh So Beautiful Paper – trying not to be too jealous of Jen's trip to San Francisco this week! But while Jen is away, I'm helping to fill in – and as promised in my last post, I'm sharing some of my favorite wedding invitations and save the dates from California weddings.

Danielle and Greg were married in San Francisco in September 2008. Inspired by the wedding venue, Danielle designed the save the dates and wedding invitations to resemble vintage movie posters, which were then paired with day-of details like playbill ceremony programs, movie ticket escort cards, and favor bags declaring the wedding "a wrap!"

The next set of invitations come from Erin and Jeremy's Calistoga, California wedding – and they rank pretty high on my list of all-time invitation favorites. The actual invitation was designed to resemble a page from a classic novel and was letterpress printed on deckle-edge paper as though torn from a real book. The invitation was then paired with enclosures resembling various types of vintage paper ephemera. Sigh, these invitations are so romantic and yet so much fun all at the same time, I can barely stand it!

I've had so much fun stopping by The Haystack Needle - and I hope you've enjoyed these invitations as much as I have! Thanks so much, Jen, for asking me to help out this week!

-Nole

{photo credits: danielle + greg's invitations by greg piche photography, erin + jeremy's invitationsby hello!lucky}

westcoast love: california weddings

2010-07-29T07:38:00-04:00

Hey everyone! I got to meet Nole of Oh So Beautiful Paper during the last Stationery Show, and she's even more sweet, down-to-earth, interesting, and awesome in person. I'm looking forward to the next time I can share some cocktails with her. Her gorgeous blog is an incredible resource of paper wonder.

Hello there! Nole here from Oh So Beautiful Paper, and I'm thrilled to be filling in for Jen while she spends some time out in California for a wedding! If you've been to my blog, then you know that I have a teensy obsession with wedding invitations, so in honor of Jen's vacation, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite invitations and save the dates from California weddings.

I've been incredibly lucky to feature so many incredible wedding invitations – but there are definitely some that continue to stand out in my mind, and many of those weddings took place in California!

Allison and Mark were married just over two years ago in Sonoma, California. Mark and Allison are both graphic designers, which totally comes through in their wedding stationery – all the way from their save the dates to their ceremony programs. I love the design contrast between their hand-lettered save the dates and bold, yet clean and simple, wedding invitation, not to mention those beautiful vintage stamps!

Over on the other end of the design spectrum, Dauphine Press created these beautiful coral and pewter save the dates and wedding invitations for the California wedding of their art director, Erin. Erin's original tropical-inspired wedding theme is reflected in the save the dates, but evolved to a more sophisticated and romantic design, reflected in the vintage-inspired flourishes in the wedding invitations.

I'll be back a bit later on with a few more favorite invitations!

{photo credits: allison and mark's invitations by union photography; erin and todd's invitations by dauphine press}

westcoast love: westcoast canada by jane flanagan

2010-07-28T07:20:00-04:00

Welcome back Jane of Ill Seen, Ill Said, who's sharing her love of another west coast (today a look at Canada's west coast!) while I'm on vacation.

Later in life, I landed on a new continent, looking for freedom the way only a twenty-something can. I wanted to see wilderness, epic landscape and feel abandon. Once again I was pulled west. I wonder is there some ineffable thing about this orientation. Maybe we've always been moving westwards and by the time we get as far as we can go, we've given up the urge to conquer. Instead, we let ourselves become wholly arrested by landscape and just savour it.

So far from my Irish west coast, yet so many familiar feelings: Rain and sea and ruggedness. All different, more epic, bigger in every possible way. But reassuringly similar. The pull west, the beauty of arrival and going as far as you can go. Then rest.

Image information / links:

1. 18Karat

2. Nicole Bridger

3. Photo by Nikole

4. Martha Sturdy

5. "The Burrough, Broughton (Shoal Bay)" by Drew Burnham from Bau-Xi

6. Tannis Hegan

7. Osburn / Clarke Productions

8. Herriott Grace

9. My photo

westcoast love: westcoast ireland by jane flanagan

2010-07-27T07:34:00-04:00

I'm so excited to welcome a favorite person of mine in the blog world, Jane Flanagan. Jane has a brilliant way with words and we share a mutual obsession with many things, including this little sofa and Nightwood. If you haven't stopped by Jane's daily musings on Ill Seen, Ill Said or checked out her style inspiration on Readymade, you're missing a real treat. She's awesome. Thanks, Jane!!

Hello! Jane here from Ill Seen, Ill Said. When Jen asked me to blog on the theme of the Westcoast, two images formed in my mind; one of the west coast of my homeland Ireland and the other of the west coast of Canada, where I now live. Lovely Jen indulged my less literal interpretation and so here's the first of two parts... why I love to go west, no matter what country I'm in. Thanks Jen for having me!

There's something about moving west that feels natural. Growing up, Ireland's west coast represented a blissful escape from Dublin. It meant beaches, rugged country and the Atlantic, booming and lashing at the coast. Wild as it can be, this landscape never filled me with fear... only a sense of freedom, surrender to the elements and saltiness.... everywhere saltiness; on my lips, my clothes and in the periwinkles and dilisc seaweed we bought on the beach and snacked on.

Those west coast textures and colours live deep down in my psyche. I surround myself with things that remind me of them.

Image information / links:

1. Home by MacGabhann Architects

2. Blarney Woolen Mills

3. My photo

4. Scarves by Lisbeth Mulcahy

5. "Always a Little Too Slow I" by Michael Flaherty from Kenny Gallery

6. Dubarry shoes

7. Home from World of Interiors, via my blog

8. My photo

9. Man of Aran movie still

westcoast love: guest post by ruby press

2010-07-26T07:23:00-04:00

While I'm on the West Coast (in San Francisco) for a wedding and a visit with family and friends, I asked a few guest bloggers to stop by this week and share their love for the West Coast. Today, I'm thrilled to have one of my favorite people on board, Melissa of Ruby Press. I like to call Melissa one of the very few publicists who "gets it", a rare gem in the world of PR. I think part of the reason she's so awesome at what she does is because she once was on the other side, working as a fashion editor in New York. She's been camped out on the Left Coast in San Francisco for a decade now, and she's someone I look to for advice on what to do and see in San Francisco.

When Jen asked me to write a guest post about what I love about San Francisco, I stopped and thought about how I felt when I moved here a little over ten years ago from New York... I always thought of myself as a die-hard New Yorker, but I was careful not to compare New York to San Francisco when I made the cross country move. They are SUCH different cities, but I quickly found there was so much to love about San Francisco...the gorgeous Victorians, Musee Mechanique, wine country, vintage shopping on the Haight and at the Alameda Flea Market, but strangely, what I fell hardest for {besides my husband, whom I met 4 months after arriving on the West Coast!!} was something that doesn't exist anymore- Cliff House. Well, I should actually clarify...my favorite incarnation of Cliff House was built in 1896 by Adolph Sutro {who also built the amazing, and sadly also gone, Sutro Baths}. This 8 story Victorian Chateau-style building was the third of five incarnations of Cliff House and housed restaurants, dance halls, art galleries, and of course the most amazing views of ships passing by and a vast coastline. It stayed intact through the big 1906 earthquake, but sadly, burnt to the ground in 1907. P.S. The Cliff House today is much more modest, and must have the same amazing views, but of course lacks the grandeur of the Victorian version. Right up the hill, you can visit the ruins of the Sutro Baths as well, which I recommend.

{this image from here, but for more, fabulous photos of the old Cliff House click here}

friday pause

2010-07-23T11:44:19-04:00

I can't believe I'm getting on a plane tomorrow! The first half of July was a lot of roadtripping by car, and my last big summer trip is out to California for our friends' wedding. We're also booking in some time with family, and it will be a reunion of some of my favorite people in the world, who I never get to see near enough. I'm hoping I packed enough layers in the suitcase for San Francisco's fluctuating weather. (I'm welcoming a little respite from this heat wave!)

I've lined up a few of my favorite bloggers for next week to share something they love about the west coast, seeing as I'll be out West all week. The photos above are from my trip to a petting barn in Maine. I fell in love with the goats!

A few Friday links for you:

+ Herriott Grace is holding another amazing shop update at 5pm today. Her work goes fast, so check it out early if you want to scoop something up.

+ So in love with this designer's work. How cute would a Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer illustration be in a boy's room?

+ I fell in love with this Icelandic wedding. (Jillian did an amazing styling job!) Makes me want to run away to Iceland with Dan for a getaway.

+ One thing I hate about being a renter is living with generic hollow-core doors. How amazing to have a barn door inside your house!

+ Check out these photos of IKEA finds styled in a whole new way.

Have fun and see you soon!

thank you, weddings unveiled!

2010-07-22T09:38:38-04:00

Chris and I are thrilled to have Cabin 7 included in the latest issue of Weddings Unveiled Magazine! And our LOVE set of gilded vintage blocks is in great company — what a pretty roundup of details made of wood. Don't you love the hand-painted wood wedding sign by Chocolate Butterbean? We also connected with Chocolate Butterbean's sweet designer, Joni, through this feature, which was a real treat.

Thank you, Weddings Unveiled!

(images via weddings unveiled)