UPDATE: New house, new adventures

2013 is already proving to be a busy yet fun year with a few adventures already under our belt! We started off the year by moving into a new house where we promptly got dumped on with crazy amounts of snow. We are loving the new neighborhood, the proximity to work, and are having a blast making the house feel like home. As you can see, the cats had no problem adjusting...

In Febuary we went to Lawton, OK to see my brother graduate from army basic training. We did the only thing there is to do in Lawton and went to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge. Within the refuge sits the "The Holy City" a retro recreation of Israel where passion plays have been performed since 1935. Pretty interesting place. We ate some crazy good Texas Longhorn burgers at Meers, home of the best buger in Oaklahoma, and said to be one of the best in the country.

In March we drove up to Minneapolis, MN for a Spring break impromptu trip with our buddies Devon and Erica. We stopped for some art at the Walker Art Center (Painting by Lesley Vance). We had some great food and coffee at Icehouse, The Bad Waitress, Isles Bun and Coffee, and Spyhouse Coffee Shop. Shopped some swanky shops on Hennepin Ave. And we of course loaded up a trailer at Ikea before our ride home...

In May, we celebrated our 5 year anniversary in Puerto Rico! We flew into San Juan and hung out in the spanish forts of Old San Juan. Then we ferried over to Vieques where we stayed at Haciendo Tamarindo, lounged and snorkeled on various beaches, and sipped on Sangira. Our favorite meal of the trip was at El Quenepo where we ate yellowtail and an incredible variation of Mofongo. We ferried back across to the main island and stopped at El Yunque, the national rainforest outside of Fajardo. It was a glorious and restful vacation.

Penelope and the Baby Shower

Weddings and babies. That's just the way it is right now so why not make sure these people have some decent invites and a nice looking place to party.

This invite is for the baby shower of an expecting mother who was keeping the gender of the baby a surprise. Well...baby came early, really early, and now we know that baby is a little girl named Penelope. She is healthy and doing great! Welcome to the world, Penelope. Congratulations Amanda and Jeremy. (Some info has been altered for privacy.)

My artist pal, Christina Prestidge, and I threw the shower. Let's just say this isn't our first rodeo. A few ideas to share for those who are searching:

★   We arranged fresh flowers in a vintage baby bouncer. Search for vintage blocks and toys on Craigslist, in antique malls, or in thrift stores. In the past I've used magnetic letters on the party favors.

★   We used baby photos of the mom and dad to-be + vintage illustration as garland. Asking the grandmas-to-be for photos includes them in the process, especially if they are long distance. Check out this flickr photo pool for all the vintage illustration your heart desires.

★    Tissue paper flowers. Don't knock 'em. They are pretty and help fill the room quickly. Here's a tutorial from Nesting in the Bluegrass.

★   Set up a "Mama"mosas station substituting sparkling juices for champagne. Add some sliced fresh fruit to garnish. (We had real champagne too - some of just need a little help in a room full of chattering women)

★    Tip: If you feel overwhelmed - allocate the food. People are more than happy to bring a sweet treat to share. Christina made that pretty little cake.

Penelope was born at 4lbs, 14oz, but she since gained a whole pound when this photo was taken. Go Penny!

Etiquette

If you would asked me how to spell "etiquette" a few months ago, I would have pondered the placement of all those "t"s. I am now well aquatinted with Etiquette and it's creator, Amanda Williams, an esthetician who has set up shop in the Crossroads of downtown Kansas City. Amanda wanted a fresh and professional feel for her business cards and menus so we ruled out illustration this time and I tried my hand at some layout. Nate is a good coach :) Give Amanda a call, eyelashes are her specialty!

Wedding Shower Invite

I sort of forgot about this little invite I did this summer for a friends wedding shower. I think I felt it was a bit intimate, but I omitted some of the info to compensate. We wanted to make sure the guests shopped with Amanda's style in mind, which leaned on the side of vintage. We even slipped in a little piece of vintage lace into each envelope :) It was a lovely shower, and we hung the unmentionables on clothes lines around the room so we could admire it all. If you need ideas for shopping lingerie for cheap, you can do what I did, and splurge on the underwear and pair them with a sheer, loose-fitting top from a thriftier place (Forever 21/ H&M/ Target). I threw in some of my other drawings below. See the invite for her wedding here.

Advent 2012

Yikes. It's been months since we've posted anything on the blog, but not because we've been slacking off. This summer we put most of our time into renovating parts of our house that needed work. The biggest project was remodeling a bathroom that we took down to the studs, and then slowly, with the help of a friend, put back together weekend by weekend in our spare time. Here's a quick before and after and then I'll get to the art.

So before we knew it, the summer went by (such a fun summer!) and now the advent season is approaching! I feel so privileged to be working on the Jacob's Well advent artwork for I think the 5th year now. We started participating in Advent Conspiracy as a church in 2007. This year we are working towards building a highschool for the Pokot people in Kenya. See more about Jacob's Wells relationship with Pokot here.

This advent we are focusing on God's reign of peace.

Wedding Invitation: Ingrid and Brian

It really is a fun challenge work with a couple to create a wedding invitation that captures the mood of their anticipated big day. Brian and Ingrid wanted hand done, natural, and pretty for their July wedding in Cleveland. The velum envelopes allow the illustration to peek through. They are hand addressed by KC artist Dillion Kinnison and topped with a Jessica Hische "Love" stamp. Congratulations Ingrid and Brian!

Redraw Designer Deck: Playing Cards for Harvesters

Nate and I created these card designs for a fun project called Redraw. We are excited to be a part of this. There are some amazing artists involved. Check out the Facebook page to see more of the card designs and stay tuned on how to get ahold of one of these decks!

"ReDraw is an effort by artists and illustrators from around Kansas and Missouri to recreate the iconic images of playing cards in a fresh way. Each artist was assigned one or more cards and asked to re-illustrate them in their own style. All proceeds will be donated to the Kansas and Missouri based Harvesters Community Food Network.

Letterpress invites: Amanda and Jeremy

Little 4"x 5.5" wedding invites for dear friends. Printed by Skylab Letterpress. This is gonna be a fun wedding!

Cristo Vive!

Our friends Janie and Kenzo hosted us in Cuzco, Peru this March and we had an amazing time. We kicked of the trip painting a mural at the Fundacion Cristo Vive’s newly opened "hidden house" for abuse victims and their kids. Janie captured the two day project and posted on her and Kenzo's blog, Peruzco, about their life in Peru volunteering with the Doctors for Global Heath. Thanks so much for everything guys!

 All photos copyright of Life Writing Photography. More photos from Peru coming soon!

Holidays 2011: Philly, Dubuque, Stuart

Once Thanksgiving hits, Nate and I pack up and go on "tour" for the rest of the year. This year we were in Pennsylvania visiting my mom, then Iowa with Nate's family, and then down to Florida to see my dad and family there. Here are some of my favorite shots from our trips.

In Pennsylvania, we visited St. Peters Village outside of Glenmoore were you can jump across giant bolders, and hangout in a vintage arcade. We also went into Philadelphia (the city of murals) again this year and toured Todd House and The Bishop White house. The historic tours in the city are plentiful and interesting.

In Nate's home town Dubuque, Iowa, we mostly hung out with family, but decided to take a walk down to Bluff Street. You can browse some charming shops and galleries there including, Black Cat Vintage and Unforgivable Records where Nate reminisced over a wall of band posters from his youth.

Down in Florida we visited my grandparents for a day in Hollywood, FL where they've been living for about 60 years in the same house. We spent most of our time in Stuart where we relaxed with drinks, games, and a bonfire. We also ventured out to the the Jupiter Lighthouse, Coral Cove Park on Jupiter Island, and a day trip to St. Augustine.

Happy New Year!