You are viewing this hearty rustic wedding through the lens of Michigan native, Caryn Taylor of  Caryn Taylor Photography.  I will always appreciate a rustic themed wedding, so you can imagine my excitement when I saw this set of photos. I particularly love all the wooden details. In fact, just the other day I was checking out those wooden rings on etsy! So beautiful! As a DIY fanatic, I love the dessert table stands. What a fun and easy way to bring a new twist to a oh-so-popular desert table. The fingerprint tree is really well done, and will end up being a great keepsake for the couple that isn't cheesy (which can be hard to do!). My favorite thing, of course, are the cake ball toppers! What a good idea, I mean, it can get pretty annoying to hold onto traditional cake toppers as a keepsake, so I love the idea of making something edible. The couple from this wedding really considered what wedding day items they could live with forever, and I admire that.

Caryn works collaboratively with clients from her studio based in Maryland. To contact her for a project or to see more of her work, visit her FB page here.

I thought I would share one of my favorite wedding invitation projects that I did a while back. The bride and groom were looking for something totally customized to fit their purple, midsummer nights dream theme. The theme of the invites were pulled through to the ceremony decorations, creating a unified look for the wedding. The vines and lettering appeared on escort cards, table numbers, and even the cigar labels at their custom cigar bar. To see more wedding invitations, visit the Moving Beauty website.

The year you get married can be filled with all kinds of stress, don't forget to take advantage of the romantic holidays to tell your sweetheart how much you love them. If you are out of ideas, don't worry, we will be filling the shop with plenty of ways to say I love you.

This fun project was another case of "Hey, can you make this weird random thing, I need it tomorrow" YES! yes, I can. Meet Mike, DJ and creator of the infamous Soul Deep dance parties that frequent the Detroit area. He plays soul records ONLY, hence the name, and needed a way to respond to requests like Hotel California...I mean come on people...

He decided he wanted a little scroll sign where he could flip something or untie it and it would roll-out to reveal, "No Requests" in a fancy script lettering. I loved the idea, to me it was 70% silent movie throwback and 30% Warner brothers cartoon...so I was all in. I had to get it done asap, so Mike delivered the material and I decided to paint it given the time frame. I found out that I really love painting on slightly patterned fabric, so perhaps this will inspire other projects.

All in all, it was a fun project and Mike got the ultimate satisfaction when he got to use it while DJing at a 12.21.12 Soul Deep party. The world didn't end that day, but I'm glad he was able to use it just in case it did.

During a recent visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame last September, I was mesmerized by the beautiful hand drawn engravings on some of the older hockey trophies. It was difficult to get a good pic of them since they were all behind glass and far away, but this one gives a good idea of what you'll find there. So beautiful and inspiring! I'd love to see this technique applied to a pair of champagne flutes or a beautiful picture frame. The lettering style would also translate really well for super fancy wedding invitations. I love the personal touch that the hand engraving brings (vs. machine engraved). Engravings this beautiful stand the test of time which is a key element to a great wedding gift.  

Hello! The year is ending and I've decided to make one more thing, a blog.

2012 was really exciting, including being a part of DUCF. I got to chat with some of Detroit's finest crafters, which may lead to some fun collaboration projects down the road. Stay tuned for updates on that.

Along with project updates, I'll be posting the usual bloggy things like inspiration, cool products, and anything else blog-worthy. Cheers!