the art of calligraphy

Calligraphy and pretty hand writing have always been big in my book. When I was in 5th grade, we had a mandatory calligraphy course (private school times lol) and since then I think the passion for it just remained in me. I didn't keep up with practicing the art, unfortunately, until early this year. I took a refresher course at Paper Source back in January and it slowly came back to me.

I was lucky enough to do all the calligraphy for my friend Lindsay's wedding back in May. How soothing are these earthy tones? She added such a special touch to the wedding by writing personalized notes to each wedding guest in their escort cards as they walked into the reception. Can you imagine how long that must have taken? It was so worth it though, just seeing all the guests' faces as they opened their notes and read the memories to themselves; unforgettable. 

In addition, Lindsay opted to number her tables as names of pasta instead of actual numbers. I loved that her and Mike decided to do this, as cooking pasta together was one of their most frequent date night activities. This added such a unique touch to the wedding; something you really don't see much of! For me it was hilarious too because I had no idea that there were so many different names for pasta, haha! :) Doing the art work for this wedding made me realize how much I love it and that I want to keep it up. For anyone who is interested, I offer an a la carte option for calligraphy in all my wedding packages. Thanks for reading! 

Florals: Second Street Flowers

Photography: Foot Candles Photography

black & gold // maz's graduation party

Wedding planning for my other brides took a pause this last weekend as I shifted gears to plan one of my good friend's graduation parties from SCU Law :) It was so fun planning this because not only did I get to put my amateur design skills to use by making the menus, but I also pulled together some fun DIY projects with the candy bar, the favors, and the vases. One huge tip I shared on my Instagram the other day that I suggest for those planning events is to always look into the budget-friendly ways to make your party run smoother. For instance for this party, I bought some vases from my local dollar store and then spray painted them gold (easy Michael's run). Definitely helped to save a TON on all the vases by only getting them for $1 each. I used to look at dollar stores from the outside with such distain, but it's been such a pleasant surprise for me to see how they legitimately have everything you could ever want for such good prices. 

Best of all, I got to tag team with two dear friends in the creative sphere on this event. My bestie, Amanda Azarpour took all the photos and my other Amanda (Just Bakecause) baked the gorgeous cake and cupcakes. Check them out! Enjoy these photos and once again, I'm so proud of you Maz! Thank you for letting me create this event for you <3 

#trust

"The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps" (Pro. 16:9)

--learning that trust means faith, and the opposite of faith is doubt and hopelessness. I don't want to get caught up in that mindset. No matter what the scenario or circumstance, I choose to proactively trust and place my faith in the Father who has already established my steps and where I'm headed.

edit: kudos X384 to Sabrina Ward Harrison who has been an inspiration of mine since I was 16. Because of her books, I have been so much more serious about making my dream of publishing my own journals a reality. Her art, using her words as well as her designs, has blown me away time after time. Sometimes it just seems like it's a one in a million type of person who gets the chance to do something like that, but it doesn't hurt to try, right?