show and tell #4 - mandy and trevor's wedding invitation

Last Christmas my brother proposed to his girlfriend by spelling out "will you marry me" in christmas lights, in the backyard snow. It was pretty freak'n romantic!! I felt a little special to be there with him when he was figuring out how many lights he needed (way underestimated) and to congratulate them in person. They are two really awesome people and we're all really excited for 08.08.08 to come around.

Having a graphic designer sister is one thing, but a wedding invitation specialist (my words) is a whole other thing!! Trevor and Mandy immediately involved us in their wedding day planning, with my encouragement, and because they're family, you really want to WOW everyone and show what you can do. I'm pretty sure most of my family still don't know what I do every day...but that's ok...they are going to learn very soon! The invitations are done!! Just knowing that Mandy and Trevor did a happy dance when they received their invitations in the mail makes it all worth while. My job here is done.

Here's a little sneak peek of their wedding invitations. Printed on 100% recycled stock.

healing in fernie

Last Thursday Rod had surgery on his knee, after a 2 month waiting period, so I flew (picture me as superman) into Cranbrook, BC just in time to take him home...just as soon as he could stand up and not throw up. I've been here for almost a week and he's been healing quite quickly, in my mind. He's bustling around on his crutches, going up and down stairs, like it's no big thing.

Fernie isn't a bad place to be locked up for a few weeks. All you have to do is look out the window and you should start feeling better instantly, in my mind...or maybe it's the T3s.

The best part about this whole situation is my friend Dana Oikawa is in Vancouver healing from the exact same surgery, performed on the exact same day at the exact same time. So Dana and Rod have been bonding daily over their healing experiences. It's nice to have someone who is going through the same thing, and to have someone completely understand the pain you're in.

Here are some pictures of rod, for those who want to see how he's doing...and for those who don't. haha. You MUST look at them. I will refrain from posting the pictures of his scars. Gross.

are you a savvy bride, vancouver?

Last Sunday, we had the pleasure of participating in the Savvy Bride's second annual wedding show, held at the Kirkland House, in Ladner. Now I should preface that the night prior, I held a burrito birthday festivus for the restivus in honour of my girlfriend Danna's birthday. With the subsequent night of beans and cheese that eventually lead to cocktails, games and shenanigans, it's needless to say, waking up at 8am Sunday morning was not the easiest thing to do!


We arrived just before 10am to set up our wee 4' display table amongst the rest of our Vancouver Chic team.

Brainchild of Kerry Reid, Wedding Coach Extraordinaire of Fairy Godmother Weddings, the show consisted of three separate areas: two outdoor tents on the sprawling lawn of the Kirkland House and the third held inside of the house, we were split into teams with vendors of all different facets of weddings. Lead by the decor company/person of each team, we were handed a theme for the day and with it, decorated our team area with pieces from each of our companies.

Garden Delight Tent

Vintage Glam (set up in the Kirkland House)

Vancouver Chic Tent

Because of our theme designation (we were part of the cocktail theme wedding with tall boy tables and lounge seats) we couldn't really participate in the decor for our "set". Not a big deal to us, we decided to focus our efforts on making the best, kick-ass display table.

With an idea nurtured in Beans' head, we decided to plant and grow (for this very occasion) pots of wheat grass that we would use on our table to display our fun invitations. Along with it, we included one of our display boxes to showcase a full stationery invitation set, our portfolio and our fantastic array of business cards.


The day proved to be fantastically fun (with minor set backs in organizing a snack run) with fashion shows happening every couple of hours and yummmmy food in every area for brides, friends (and us!) to snack on.

With the sun shining all day and a lot of happy faces walking around, we were truly inspired by the tenacity Kerry has shown in putting an event of this size together (and in kicks, no less!).


Congratulations to Kerry and all our new and old friends that we had a chance to spend the day with! We loved every minute!

P.S. Did I ever tell you how much I like pork, pork products, especially the whole bacon family? It's TRUE. My only shot as photog for the day:

Introducing to you: pre-wedding party invitations

For a while now we have been planning on introducing a line of customizable pre-wedding party invitations. We wanted to provide designs that are stag or bridal shower appropriate. If you're throwing a wedding party, this may be your lucky day. We have all sorts of postcard invitations for all sorts of party ideas.

If you're hosting a garden party, we have floral designs. No jokes.
Throwing a backyard bbq or outdoor event, we have just the thing.
Have a fun picture of the to-be-wed? We're way ahead of you.
Getting together for a weekend camping trip? Ya. We got that.
Planning a night of debauchery? Just kidding! ha! But if you're planning a night with friends and who knows what...we got ya covered.

Throwing a party for your friends can be fun, especially when you start it off with cool invitations :D Check out all our designs by clicking on these words!

It's birthday season!!

Around April the birthdays start rolling and rolling and rolling in one after the other. It's a bit much and I never know how grandmothers cover them all. It never fails, there will be a birthday card in my mailbox from my mother, my aunts and my oma... they're amazing at it. I, on the other hand, did not inherit this super gene.

Isn't it strange that I/we make stationery for a living and don't send out birthday cards? Life is weird like that.

Well, to those with birthdays coming up (you know who you are!!) I hope you all have the bestest birthday ever and may your ___th/st/nd year be full of joyful skipping, gingerbread man and peanut butter cookies.

putting it out there: vonegut and the slaughterhouse orchestra

Dwight Schenk, my big time brother, has collaborated with Scott Good, the soon to be composer for the Vancouver Symphony, for their own pure enjoyment and admiration, to write a musical tribute to the literary works of Kurt Vonnegut.

I know personally the time, energy and amazing talent that is going into this night, April 19th at The Media Gallery, and if anyone in the Toronto area is looking for something different and cool, should check this out.

This will be one of those nights where you don't know what to expect and when the night is over, you leave completely inspired and feeling a little special because you were one of a small group who got to experience this one time event. You lucky lucky people.

Introducing to you: Spring Forward

This is the last of the new designs for this month. Last but not least, meet Spring Forward!

This is another cherry blossom wedding invitation design, but it's different than the first one. Many many couples have ordered our 1st Cherry Blossom wedding invitation so when I came across some really beautiful blooming cherry blossom trees a few weeks ago, I knew I had to design another one. It was meant to be.

The design is fairly loose and sweet. If you want to check out all the pieces, go here! You won't regret it.

Introducing to you: Reverence Aux Wood Panel

It's a week of introductions!

Today we're announcing a new Ready2Wear design called Reverence Aux Wood Panel. She's super cute but a little shy. You should stop by and say hi and tell her a little bit about yourself. Awe Best friends!!

This design was partly inspired by Rod's dad and by my love of natural textures. There's not much to say about this cutie other than Erin Norman of Fuego Events is in love with it. She's a sucker for wood paneling!

If you're looking for a quick fun distraction, you can see all the fun pieces for Reverence Aux Wood Panel here.

Introducing to you: Winter Wonderland

I'm so pleased and honored to introduce to you one of the latest designs added to our Ready2Wear line. It's called Winter Wonderland. It's icy cool and clean and sooooo different than anything else we have designed.

The story behind Winter Wonderland is this: Back in March when I was in wintery fun Toronto, I would go out on walks for coffee around Little Italy, and I would be outside in the gorgeous sun with all these pretty bare winter trees lining the streets and the snow crunching beneath my feet. Whenever I looked up I would see the trees and the blaring sun and think to myself "I love how that looks! How do I capture that in a cool and modern wedding design?" WELL that's a bit corny. I didn't actually think that exactly but I did wonder how I could turn that into a cool design.

So I took some pictures and went back to my laptop and came up with this. Toot Toot! I think it looks pretty hot...but sooo cool!

Check out the whole line of pieces in Winter Wonderland!