1.12.2011 A HandMade Bicycle

Look what my baby made!!

David loves to ride his bike. Since moving to Boston, and rekindling his love for cycling, he has become very interested in learning how to build bike frames, and working towards starting his own business. For a while we tossed around the idea of him going to Portland, OR for a couple weeks to take a frame building class out there . . . and in fact, in preparation for that, David decided to take a welding class at a local shop, Stonybrook Fine Arts School, and made a great coat rack for us!

Who knew though, that instead of traveling across the country, the opportunity for David to learn frame building would be just across town! Boston actually has a pretty great frame building "community," I guess you could call it. There are a few different frame builders - each having their own little niche, and from what David tells me, they are all really supportive of one another, helping each other out. . . and they turn out some really amazing handmade bicycles. One of these companies is Geekhouse Bikes, manned by Marty Walsh.

David has been apprenticing under Marty for about 9 months now (off and on due to the wedding.) And I am so proud of him! He's been so patient, persistent, and dedicated - taking on something that he really had no prior experience with. He basically had to learn a whole different type of welding; he's learning the different geometries, and measurements that are involved in fitting someone for, and making bike frames; brazing; filing; powder coating . . . and even though there have been bumps in the road - he stuck with it, and now has a beautiful bike to show for it!

After a lot of thought, David decided on, "Celerity Cycles" as the future business' name. . . so keep your eyes out! I'm thinking of taking some bike mechanic courses so that I can help with building them up eventually.

ce·ler·i·ty  (s-lr-t) n. Swiftness of action or motion; speed

                                              

And guess what, next up, is one for me! I can't wait!          -L                                                  

12.1.2010 A "Handmade" Wedding Gift (Part 2)

In case you can't tell, I've been re-living the wedding this week; Not quite ready to come to terms with the fact that it's over. David and I have been attempting to pick out photographs for our album; And, it just makes me want to do it all over again.

Looking through all the pictures, I am reminded of how much our friends and family helped us with various aspects of the wedding. When we got engaged, and were just starting to think about how we envisioned our wedding, we both agreed on the idea that we wanted it to be a celebration of our family, friends, and of our love for one another. We recognized the level of talent and creativity we had within our reach, and we wanted to utilize that, and do things as "handmade" as we could. That said, my "handmade wedding gifts" post, would not be complete without recognizing the gifts that were given in the form of talents contributed to our wedding - from start to finish.

Soon after getting engaged, January 2010, we went home to Binghamton, to celebrate with our family and friends there. I can remember looking through a wedding magazine, and seeing a Save The Date that had been printed on a vintage hanker-chief. As soon as I saw it, I knew - I had to figure out a way to make this work. Initially, I thought it would be way too expensive, but after further investigation, and some EBay stalking, I discovered I could actually get the hankies pretty cheap - CHECK. Next, how to print them? At first I thought gocco, but that didn't work out so well. The font was too small and the ink too goopy. Then, David reminded me that our good friend Matt, screen-prints T-shirts! AND, David thought he remembered Matt screen-printing hankies for one of his bands!! I was beyond excited at the thought that we might actually be able to pull this off.


 

The end result exceeded my expectations! They came out beautifully! There were probably about 15 different hankie designs. David and I had fun picking out specific hankies to match specific guests' personalities and styles. We wrapped the hanker-chiefs around the RSVP cards and tied them up with ribbon. The RSVP and Save The Date post cards were both designed by our friend (David's co-worker) Andy.


 Mindy, one of my bridesmaids, is a hair stylist. We've been friends since college, and somewhere along the way, she gave me the nickname, "lady lovely locks." When she offered to do my hair and make-up for the wedding, I was stoked! We did somewhat of a trial run for the hair a few weeks before the wedding - enough of a trial run to at least get an idea of what I wanted . . . but let me tell you, when I looked in the mirror (and even more so when I saw the pictures) I was just blown away. She did such an amazing job. Mindy also made my hair fascinator - which was gorgeous!

photo by KMD Creations

It's funny because when I was planning everything, I had somewhat of a vision of what I wanted things to look like - but it was hard to explain to people. I couldn't describe specifics, it was more of a style. For the flowers, make-up, hair, etc. I gave the people doing them a vague idea of what I wanted, and then trusted them to do their thing. I just knew It would work out, and that I would love it. And everything really did come out perfect! Just what I had imagined, but hadn't been able put into words, or find the right picture. It was just perfect.

Jeff, Andrea, and Brian, our dear, dear friends at the Owl House in Rochester, NY gave us the rehearsal dinner of our dreams! Brian, who takes the credit for introducing David and I, put his heart and soul into creating and making a simply scrumptious dinner. He always spoils us (and we love it!)Boston misses Chef Van Etten! I think everyone there, was in awe of both the Owl House, and the dinner. If you are anywhere near Rochester, do yourself a favor and go to the Owl House (and more than once!)
Oh, and Jeff's Mom did all our flowers!
 

photo by KMD Creations

One of the biggest, and best decisions we made when planning our wedding was the choice of our photographer. Kristen and Todd at KMD Creations were absolutely the best! They really went above and beyond what we hoped for. We now have lots of stunning photographs, and two new friends! The week of the wedding, we got our guest book in the mail, accompanied by this little DVD of some of our engagement photos. An early, and totally unexpected wedding gift. It was such a nice surprise during a kind of stressful week.



Another "big and best" decision was our choice of venue. From the moment we walked into Artisan Works, we knew we had to find a way to make it work . . . there was just no way we could not have it here. It was unique, vintage, modern, busy, crazy, and just "us." During the cocktail hour, the coordinator there pulled us aside and said the owner of Artisan Works had something for us. The painting of the bride and groom is now hanging on our bedroom wall, and is a lovely reminder of what a beautiful, and perfect day it was.

photo by KMD Creations

photo by KMD Creations

There are still a couple of handmade gifts in the making - both of which we are really excited about. My brother and sister-in-law gave us the very generous gift of having their best friend do our videography. The editing is still in the works, and we cannot wait to see it! 

And, you're not going to believe this one, but our good friend Todd is making us custom jeans! He is currently apprenticing under a designer in New York, and is specializing in denim. Finally, the perfect pair of jeans - I can't wait!

I'm sure this won't be last of my wedding reminiscing. -L

11.29.2010 Handmade Wedding Gifts

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving; I know we did! It was full of family, friends, doggies, and lots of memories.

I've been meaning for a while now, to post with pictures of a few of the unique, handmade gifts we got for our wedding. We are truly blessed with the best friends ever - many of whom happen to be extremely talented and creative. We came home yesterday to a most wonderful surprise, that again, just got me so excited for this posting.

Isaac, one of David's friends from New York, had given us a cute little card at the wedding. It had a picture of a pretzel on it, and said something along the lines of, "congratulations on tying the knot." In his note he mentioned that the theme of the card would go well with our actual wedding gift, which was still being made. That got us so excited and curious. I can remember sitting in Costa Rica on our honeymoon saying, "I wonder what Isaac is making for us?!"

Yesterday, there was a ring at the door - a young man, who lives in our neighborhood, delivering Isaacs's wedding gift -2 cases of specially crafted, can you guess??. . . BEER!

"David and Lisa's brew for two."

 

The label we're guessing, was designed by Isaac, as the figures carry a striking resemblance to David and Me... SO AWESOME!

And I'm already getting crafting ideas for the bottles once they're empty. Check out the brewery at TwoTunBrewery.blogspot.com.

This beautiful plate set was gifted to us by Jay and Melissa. It was made at Patrick Meyer Studio in San Francisco, CA. It has to be one of the most beautiful and unique things that we now own; And, we love cheese and crackers, so I'm sure we will get a lot of use out of it . . .

  

Okay, so the thing I said before about the cheese platter being the most beautiful and unique thing that we own. . . I think I have to take that back. It's the most beautiful and unique serving dish we own ;)

This photo does not do these portraits any justice. Mike Murray, one of our dearest friends made these for us. The piece of me was given to us as an engagement present, which brought tears to my eyes. Then he made the one of David for our wedding gift. He sketched them using actual photographs of us, and I don't know if you can see this very well in the photo or not, but they are made completely out of fabric! Each shade is a different fabric; And the thought that he put into the fabric choice alone is just amazing. I don't can't even fathom how he actually compiled them. He is so amazingly talented. You can check out more of his art work here.

This penny farthing wall hanging was given to us by our friend Aaron.

A couple months before the wedding, Aaron asked David to mail him some of his old bike parts. So, David packed up a couple old chain rings, a chain, and shipped them across the country to Portland, OR. A couple weeks before the wedding, we got a grease-covered box in the mail, with specific instructions to not open it until the wedding. One of the first things we did after getting back from Costa Rica was rip open the box, and hang this baby on the wall. It brought the biggest smiles to our faces. It's such a creative idea.

Our landlords, Jane and Loukas, live above us. They are the best. They have a cat named monkey-mou, who we love; And they own an antique lighting store called, Appleton Lighting. About a week before we left for the wedding, they let us know they wanted to give us a light from their shop as a wedding gift. I of course, got super excited. I love everything and anything vintage, and old lamps are just the best! While we were away though, Jane and Loukas noticed an old, antique lamp in our sunroom - old and tarnished, with a make-shift lamp shade hanging from the light bulb. When we got back, Loukas said they had the idea of restoring that lamp instead, if we would like. We jumped on that offer. I knew it was a beautiful lamp; Even old and tarnished, I thought it was beautiful. They obviously knew it had much more potential though. I wish I would have taken a "before" picture, but with unpacking and thank you cards on my mind, I just didn't think of it. Fortunately though, I found a picture from when we first moved in, that shows it relatively well. It looks like a different lamp now! I especially love the frilly lamp shade. Loukas picked it out just for us :)

"Before"

"After"

So, as you can see, we are blessed with some amazingly talented and thoughtful friends. . . Just one of the many things we have to be thankful for this holiday season. Now it's time to relax, watch a movie, and drink a hand-crafted brew with my honey. -L

11.2.10 Post-wedding Makings

8 months and 14 days of planning . . . and now it's over. It's hard to believe. Everyone was right - It really did go by so fast! We got our professional photography back last weekend, and I don't think I've stopped looking at them since. They just make me smile. I can't wait to get scrapbooking!

Now that we've been home for a few weeks, I'm finally starting to feel motivated again. At first, I just wanted to let everything sit - the centerpieces needing to be cleaned and sold, and the dining room table still covered in thank you cards, name change documents, and to-do lists; But last weekend I got the urge again - my "crazy eyes!"  

 

If you followed our wedding blog at all, you may remember that I had the idea to reuse my escort card frames after the wedding, as jewelry organizers...

 ...Such a good idea! It looks awesome, brightens up the room, and is so functional! I love it! I'm thinking of using the other one as an inspiration board - to post my craft project ideas and visions... Which leads me to my next piece of exciting news - I'm working on opening an etsy shop! I'm still working on getting everything fully thought out and organized, but you can see the early stages of it here! (see my blog bio. for more info. on the blog and the etsy shop.) -L