Coquette Bath Guest Post: Wedding Gifts

Your wedding is your special day, reflecting your internal commitment to one another, the outer celebration will be unique for everyone. We all dream over the fantasy wedding events (like the recent televised marriage of the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge (Will & Katherine) but in reality, you're on a budget, aren't you? And you're trying to offer the best possible memories to everyone without going too crazy.

Choosing the right invitation, service arrangement, dress and music is vital. But so are other littler things. Such as the gifts given to your attendants, the parents of both bride and groom, and little gifts given in remembrance to your guests. While not the standard wedding gift, Cari of Coquette Bath & Home™ does have a few suggestions about unique and memorable wedding gifts.

"I've been making soap, candles and such for more than 10 years. About 7 years ago, I started getting requests for wedding favors. And that's when I began doing custom sachets and jar candles." Sachets are a very lovely memory of your event. Packaged in a customized (if you choose) container, this is a gift that not only will be used, but the gentle fragrance will remind folks for months about your special day.

Ditto jar candles. Cari's about to introduce a very cute boxed jar candle (coming this fall) in a variety of scents, but for now, you could opt for one of her 6oz travel candles in a variety of great fragrances. And even if the scent you want isn't listed, she can do that for you, too! "Brides have special needs, and I work hard to make their dreams come alive."

Wedding candles and sachets (particularly with custom labels) are special order. Contact Cari at info@coquettebath.com for all the information. Want a special bridesmaid gift? She highly recommends her wonderful roll-on perfume oils (at just $7.25 each!). And, for everyone, even if you don't want to buy custom, check out her site and use code Sorbet11 to save 15% off all orders until 8/31/11! Previously reduced items and jar candles (the big heavy ones) are excluded as are special orders from this code. Enjoy!

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*If you would like to write a guest post for The Ash Tree, contact me today to get started!

Guest Post: "Inspiration" by Kiss Me Creations

I am an artist.

Many of you can say the same. Painters, performers, dancers, poets, jewelers, singers, actors, novelists, crafters...they're all artists.

Or, if you're not an artist, maybe you are an art appreciator. You're moved by a still life photograph. You can decipher meaning in abstract art. You find the perfect piece and want to share it with someone. Maybe the art finds you.

I love crafting. Ever since I was little I've loved to create my own projects, ranging from collecting sticker books to painting wood cut-outs. Even now, in my spare time I make paper beads, and then string them together to make bracelets and earrings. I take photographs, sometimes editing them on my computer. I've also been experimenting with polymer clay.

One great resource for me has been etsy.com. I officially joined last month, but I frequented the site often before opening up shop. Like I said, I love to craft, so in order to fund my hobby I decided to try selling my crafts. Even though I would like to make some money so I can keep crafting, Etsy has been great in other ways. I find myself posting in forums, connecting with other artists. I keep browsing through the different sections, looking at the items other sellers have listed. There are so many wonderful creations that have been so inspiring. I love to see what other people make, what they put effort and love into. Each piece has a story to tell. And you don't have to become a member to experience these stories. You can browse through the pages, or search for anything you have in mind. Another idea is to stop by a local craft fair. As the weather warms, they will become more common, and you can search your local paper for different locations. Art inspires me to create my own, so I love to see what people are trying to convey in their crafts.

But enough about me. What inspires you?

 Your friends?

 The images in your dreams?

 That special someone in your life?

To honor the beauty that surrounds us every day, I've created my very own "Inspiration Collection". With the help of polymer clay, paint, and rubber stamps, I've made these charms that feature words of inspiration to me. Just one word can get you thinking. These charms will all be up for sale at my Etsy shop. Some will be added to jewelry, and some will be sold just as the charms. There will be more styles available than just those pictured above.

So while you're browsing through my shop, or even just glancing out the window, think about what inspires you, and be thankful for that inspiration.

I would like to thank the Ash Tree for giving me this opportunity to share my thoughts with all of you. It has been a pleasure writing this post.

Sincerely,

Kissy, Kiss Me Creations

*If you would like to write a guest post for The Ash Tree, contact me today to get started.

Calligraphy for Wedding Envelopes

Another recent calligraphy job for wedding invitation envelopes completed a few weeks back for a client that I actually met on Etsy, and did a Featured Etsy Shop Blog Post for! We connected when I interviewed her and featured her shop, ScrapHappyLyreBird, in a post over the summer. We re-connected when we found that we were local to each other, (Boston) and she happened to be getting married and needed a calligrapher to do her wedding invitations for her!

"Ashley did a fabulous job with our wedding invitations. We were so pleased with how they turned out. She was very easy to work with and we would highly recommend her to our friends and anyone looking for calligraphy services." - Tess, 2010 Wedding

I loved working with her envelopes: they were thick, and linked with a beautiful metallic gold scrolling detail on cream paper. I made the suggestion that she use the dots to embellish the spread out zip code (above) as it matched the theme of her invitations.

I've recently completed another outer envelope job and place cards over the past few weeks. Also in the works are commissioned professionally written invitations for a private party to be completed over the next few weeks on stationary. Stay tuned for updates and images!

If you are in need of calligraphy for a wedding, special event, or even to add a professional touch to party invitations, please contact me to get a job quote. Also be sure to visit my Calligraphy page to get more information!

100th Post for The Ash Tree!

This is officially my 100th post for this blog! I can't believe it. A lot of this has changed since I started this blog a year ago: I've learned a lot and have had so many great experiences. I started my own business, lived and studied in another country, graduated college, and got my first full time job. It hasn't always been easy, but it really has been worth it. Now I'm here with 61  subscribers, (thank you!), 56 followers on Twitter, and have 73 fans on Facebook. Think I can double those numbers by 200 posts? ;)

Wedding Matchbooks, $250 Set of 100, by ivylanedesigns

100 posts is also significant for SEO purposes. In addition to website age, inbound links, and relevant content, 100 posts is really when the search engines start taking you seriously when crawling your website. Which has led me to start thinking about new ideas on things to be writing about. I think I'll scale back on Featured Etsy sellers to once a month, and start doing featured products more. Which may be bad for me because I'll probably ending up buying a lot - but hey, it's for my fellow etsyians, right?

I also want to write more about adventures in Boston that I have, and maybe bring some flashbacks back from Italy. I kept a journal there, and really want to go back - I figured doing some nostalgic posts will get me excited and motivated again to make my way back there. Plus, it gives me something to dream about.

100 French Music Hang Tags, $35 by jardindepapier

Since I've also started a job that basically revolves around SEO and marketing, I'll inevitably write a lot more about those topics, as it has been a greatly consuming yet interesting topic for me. I'll also try and do more adventure reviews of cool stuff that I do: this is a blog, after all! I am on Yelp as well, so that may absorb many of my restaurant ravings :)

Lastly, my art. I've graduated, and am feeling the pull to create now more than ever. This will range from drawings to designing handmade jewelry to more items in my Etsy shop. So look forward to more images of things I NEED to create. I'm going to try and commit to writing every day - see how quickly it will take me to reach 200 posts! Between all this stuff, some occasional book reviews, artist collaborations, and personal experiences, this next year will be the best for the Ash Tree ever. 

And please don't be shy! I really do want to hear from you and maybe start some more conversations. Feel free to comment, shoot me an email, or DM me on Twitter to give me your opinions, or ask questions about me and my work! Talk to you soon!

Vintage Typewriter Key "100" Necklace, by busterandboo

(p.s., these images are all based on a "100" search that I did on etsy!)

Jessica Rabbit Costume For Halloween

So I was in my annual Halloween costume obsession mode this summer, (and yes, I do put together my Halloween costumes the summer before so I have enough time for ultimate awesomeness. Now that I've graduated, that might have changed...) and I decided that this was the year I would be Jessica Rabbit. I've pretty much wanted to be Jessica for quite some time now: I was in Italy last year for Halloween (Yeah, I know, poor me ;) so this year it is ON.

I've even recruited one of my guy friends to come with me as Roger Rabbit!


So here was my issue: finding the dress. I am not as truly blessed chest-wise as Jessica, so that posed a problem of how to hold the dress up - although, how does that thing stay on her? Tape?!

The good news is that because I'm not as well endowed, I think I'll be able to pull this look off without being quite as tacky - because there's nothing to flaunt!

So what did I do? I really wanted to support my beloved fellow handmade etsy sellers, so I put an Alchemy bid on etsy for the dress, and was so pleasantly surprised to see the amount of talented seamstresses that responded! It's such a tough thing to custom-order, but it came down to a seller who had done the dress before and had images. I also didn't want a "costumey" look, because I feel that they look tacky.

I found MsMars, who has a great knack for costumes! I browsed through her Flickr account, and loved what I saw. She's also been great working with me to articulate exactly what I need. The next step is measurements! I hope I can get those right :)

I've also just bought ((and received yesterday EEEEEEEEEEEK!)) these Gabriella Rocha Dancy shoes from Zappos.com. You have NO IDEA how difficult it is to find red pumps that are NOT hideous in a size 10.5 wide. Totally obnoxious. And now thanks to adwords, every single web page I go on has shoe advertisements on it. Taunting me.

I tried them on, and I really like the fit - there's a reason they're called "Dancy" shoes. They come in black, too, for everyday interested-pplz. I wore them around today for a bit to try and break them in, and my feet are a bit sore :( hoping this goes away! The shoe goes in slightly at the widest part of my foot, but it really fits my foot perfectly, so I'm hoping that I'll just have to get used to it...if not, Zappos does free exchanges!

So this is my exciting Halloween project. It's never too early to be thinking about - especially when *Boston Costume Contests* are involved...stay tuned, and let me know what you think!

Featured Etsy Seller: Silviasheart

Today's featured Etsy seller is Silviasheart: a gorgeous shop that features beautiful jewelry in creative photography displays. Above is the only piece from her shop she may duplicate for herself, the Green and Chrome Diopside. The shop itself is named after the owner's German Shephard, Silvia, that passed in May 2009.
"I made jewelry much earlier, but after loosing her I just fell apart. My husband Gabriele suggested I pick it back up again to get my mind off of our loss. That is when I really started to learn about genuine gemstones. I just dove into the deep end."

So some expensive tools, a guage, carat scale, refractometer, microscope DVD's and several reference books later, her love became a passion: always thinking of Sylvia. She loves gardening, and finds herself inspired by flowers - which clearly comes across in her pieces and then appropriately photographed against *green* props.

As far as strengths and weaknesses go - her greatest strength in her etsy shop is her passion for further learning and making something that is truly unique. She also enjoys the everyday challenge of learning something new and then applying that knowledge. Conversely - and similar to any other artist, I imagine :) - she considers her biggest weakness to be her impatience with herself. Silviasheart's dream goal would be to have a designer store ask for a one-of-a-kind piece for an outfit or to go with an item of clothing.

She promotes her shop in the Etsy forums, hand out business cards and on she's also on Facebook and Twitter.


She also credits her husband, Gabriele, who she considers to be an incredible inspiration.

"He has spent much time in researching tools and equipment and making special surprise purchases. He has encouraged me in every way to let my creative side out. He will be honest if I ask for a critique and always has great ideas. I wish I had half as much creativity as he has. He should have his own Etsy shop!"

Sounds like a catch!! :)

My favorite piece of Silviasheart is her Citrine Pendant Necklace, $55, pictured above. I'm such a fan of funky, swirled silver pieces like this!

Featured Etsy Seller: ScapHappyLyrebird

In love of the Victorian aesthetic as so clearly represented by her shop, ScrapHappyLyrebird, the shop's owner loves scouring antique shops for cabinet cards and other 19th century photographs. Pictured above is her shop pick, which is a one of her keepsake boxes with an example of its contents.

"This photo represents my shop because it evokes a feeling of romance and nostalgia with ideas of what it could be used for."

Tess, 26, a huge Red Sox fan btws, is fascinated with faces of people from 100 years ago and glimpsing into their lives. With this, she also likes attaching stories to the photographs, trying to understand what they were like. When beginning a new decoupage project, she looks through her collection and tries to create something she thinks that these people would have used.

"Maybe a beautiful young girl would keep a mirror box on her vanity, or perhaps a gentleman would keep all of his travel souvenirs in a box on his desk. Doing this gives my pieces connections to the past, which I think is very important."

She considers her greatest strength to be the cohesiveness and overall aesthetics of her products. As far as weaknesses go, she thinks that her etsy photography needs some work, and hopes to reach for the high quality of photos that are now on etsy. Speaking of Etsy, her favorite shop is MamasLittleBabies: with the edgy Victorian jewelry that celebrates the Victorian obsession with oddities and curiosities.

For new artists, she advises them to never give up - while it's easy to doubt yourself at the beginning, if you are making something that you love and believe in, than other people will love it, too.

You can visit her blog here: http://lyrebirdfinds.blogspot.com/, and she features Victorian inspired artists on Etsy.

Below is my favorite item of hers, The Sweet Bee Keepsake Box, $17. I love boxes, period, and the look of this one makes me really happy. :D



Great work Tess, and holla for Boston Etsy artists!! :)

Featured Etsy Seller: Leksidesigns

Today's featured Etsy seller is Brooke from Leksi Designs!

Her shop is full of pretty shiny things, as she specializes in handmade flower accessories and custom hand-stamped jewelry. She named the shop after her daughter, Aleksis, nicknamed Leksi. She got into metal jewelry stamping when she was shopping for a piece for herself - isn't that a natural place to get started with any artist? ;) She thought that she would just make it for herself, and people asked about the pieces she was wearing = ETSY SHOP!!

When not stamping pretty things, she works full-time for a school district while taking Master's Courses at night (awesome.) She's also a cheerleading coach and hopes to run a few marathons this summer, which is a few more than I will ever run. Ever. Her jewelry time is wind-down time in the late eventings, and she hopes to one day find more time to pursue it. But for now her creative outlet seems to be working out great!!

For new artists, she advises taking time to dream up something really unique before advertising. Both quality and quantity are necessary to really "make it", as well as fantastic photographs of your work, and top-notch customer service! While most of her promotions are through word of mouth and her blog, she gets more sales through email than anything else.

You can find more info on LeksiDesigns here:

MY BLOG: http://leksidesigns.blogspot.com
Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Camdenton-MO/Leksi-Designs/109971549035743
Twitter: www.twitter.com/leksidesigns


So far, her favorite piece is her Handstamped Quote Cuff. While browsing her shop, I really liked her vintage pieces as well, and my favorite is the Colorful Butterfly Ring with Filigree Center, $18.

Featured Etsy Seller: RiceCakeShack!

This week's featured etsy seller is based across the pond in the United Kingdom. (Did you like that little pond-ocean reference? I'm so cute. :)

Speaking of cute, RiceCakeShack has just about the cutest freaking stuff I have ever seen. Her shop has these adorable little necklace sculptures brilliantly photographed on a hot pink background. Her representative shop image is a cloud, above, and she explains "a cloud is unpredictable and you never know what your going to get in life, just like you never know what your going to get with a new cloud: will it turn into rain or just float away so you can see the sunshine?"

Growing up, she liked to draw and was influenced by her favorite artist Alex Pardee. After some difficult life experiences, she found that her work was being influenced by them: in the form of mutants just wanting to be loved (Some of this is more evident closer to Halloween)

As you can see (and as subtly indicated I think by her shop name), she then began to look at Japanese imagery - and her products are purposely portrayed as happy as she feels that "behavior breeds behavior". She believes her greatest strengths are with her weather creations, as she has had much success in and out of her shop. Also, her favorite etsy shop is SparkleNGlitter, as she had a positive customer service experience with her. She loves the jewelry in her shop, and appreciated the personal attention the shopowner gave her after a purchase.

She also has different promotions every month - this month is a free gift with every purchase - and promotes herself through Facebook.

Below is my favorite item, a necklace of a "Star that Shines at Night", $13. I love both the concept and the fine detail work of the star itself, along with its adorable expression. Be sure to stop by RiceCakeShack, and support an international Etsy artist!

New Apartment, New Beginnings!

All right, so it's been a few weeks since graduation. And pretty much since that day, I have gone nesting crazy. Yes. I've found a new place, and want to fill it with pretty things. I want it to look sleek and chic, and reflect my taste. I'm drooling in front of West Elm by my apartment, and am envisioning a big mirror to make my apartment even bigger. Black, funky bookcases, a cool TV, an actual full size bed instead of this freakin twin that my 5'10" body just will not accept.

As you can see, I have even joined The Nest, and yes, I know, you're supposed to do The Knot thing first but I don't care. Above is a ticker until I move into my new place in August. It's so roomy and the light is fantastic. I can't wait to decorate it and make it a home, instead of a place to live - if that makes sense. I've bought some photo frames from my black and white photography from Italy, and have assembled my brand new drafting table for my calligraphy that I got from Blick.

And instead of slowing down after graduation, I feel that life has only sped up. Like today, for instance, went by so quickly. All of my businesses need my constant attention: wedding calligraphy season has passed, and frantic "I need these done in a week!" brides are flooding my business. I've also recently committed to a part time salaried position with Boston Logic, at which I specialize in SEO and online marketing, which I'll get into some fun times later :) Also coming up, some great esty sellers for featured shops! Stay tuned!

Advice for decorating little apartments without paint welcome - it helps having an interior designer as a mom :D

Weekly Featured Etsy Sellers!

Hey everyone,

After much discussion amongst supportive etsy sellers, I've decided to start a weekly featured etsy shop blog posting. I feel as though it's a great way to mutually support one another; I gain followers, sellers get publicity, and as one etsyan put it, "good vibes all around." Good vibes are good.

Especially since last night while driving my car, I literally had an all black cat run across the road.

SO, here's how it works;

I have come up with a few questions that I will pose to shops that have initially elected to be featured (I have enough people interested for once-a-week articles to put me to September!) and from their answers I'll construct an article. I'll include images, and my personal feedback of their site.

I write the articles weeks in advance, so when I convo you with questions, please just be patient; you'll get your posting soon! If anyone is interested in being featured in the future (beyond Sept.) please convo me or shoot me an email.

In the meantime, make sure to follow my blog and get your fans and friends to follow to see your shop featured!!