Tracey's Expanding Indigo Wedding Guestbook

This big, blue, beautiful beast was such a challenge but I love the outcome of it SO very much. 

Tracey needed a big, dip-dyed indigo book to use as a guestbook for her wedding. They were planning on having their guests add Polaroid photos to it from the ceremony and therefore needed a book that could expand as the pages were filled with photos. 

We also dip-dyed the edges of the pages which was a GORGEOUS effect. Blue ombre covers, blue spine and just a touch of blue inside. 

I also incorporated some vintage Mother-of-Pearl buttons that belonged to my Grandma. Something blue and something old all in one spot! 

It's been a LONG time (about 8 years when I was taking my first Bookbinding class in college) since I last did a concertina binding, or an expanding spine. I was such a challenge but it was a nice change from my usual coptic stitch. 

I was pretty enamored with the final product too. When it was all done, I couldn't help just flipping through it and playing with the expanding spine. It was such a departure from my usual wedding guestbook commissions and stepping back from it when it was all done was just such a nice, satisfying feeling. 

Dhvani & Vineet's Travel Wedding Guestbook

Guys...I'm in love. I love my job. Absolutely, head over heels, in love with what I do. The sweetest people across the world ask me to create something one-of-a-kind that they'll cherish for years to come. My customers are the most thoughtful people. They're so patient with my terrible emailing/updating skills. They're some of my favorite people, that I've often never met in person. It's a pretty incredible thing.

A lot of the time, I have to keep my projects secret so as not so spoil the pretty details until after the surprise, wedding, shower, engagement or birthday is done. And more often than not, in the process of keeping it a secret, I forget to share what I made entirely! This album is one of those cases...

Dhvani and I met in Italy years ago when she was a student at Santa Chiara, the study abroad center I worked at. We first collaborated last year when I watercolored some illustrations for their wedding invitations. She then commissioned me to create a guestbook for their special day this past May! 

Oh man, I loved this album! This was a hard one to mail off. An entire book filled with passport stamps, how could I not love it?! We also alternated the stamps with flowers they used on their invitations. 

I'll eventually share some more photos on my website but that's under serious renovation and remodeling now. The blog will be too! Everything in fact... profile photos, shop platforms, prices, bios, overall brand aesthetics. EVERY-DAMN-THING! 

The Etsy shop already had a BIG name change this week! I'm hoping to have it all done and launched by mid September. Want to stay on top of the changes? Sign up for the Sketchy Notions Newsletter or follow along on Instagram! And if you've had your eye on anything in either the Etsy shop or the Sketchy Notions Shop, buy it now before prices go up! 

Papa's 75th Birthday Guestbook

Last weekend, my family descended upon Las Vegas to celebrate my grandfather's 75th birthday! It was a pretty bizarre weekend filled with nicknames, alpacas, drag queens and awkward family inside jokes. 

To commemorate the occasion, I made a little guest book for the whole family to sign. My grandpa lives in southern Utah so all the illustrations inside were reminders of Utah and his ranch. I particularly like how the cover turned out. It's a bit of a combo of my custom state watercolors and doodle cards. 

Here's a little peek at the book and there are more photos over on my website too! 

Kristine & Jean Claude's Guest Book

It's rare that I get to make something so special for a special friend. Even more rare that I get to deliver it in person and sign it myself! Last month I had the privilege of making a custom guest book for one of my dear friends Kristine, and her then fiance Jean Claude. 

Originally, I was making a guest book to be used at their engagement party since the two were planning to elope next year. Then after all the toasts, the two announced they had already eloped the week before because they couldn't wait another minute! And so the engagement party turned into a sort of wedding reception! So sweet! 

The party was held in a rose garden here in the Santa Ynez Valley, so we added lots of roses to the inside of the album. We kept the album simple, elegant and very lovey-dovey. I added some lace detail down the front and back covers and a little illustration of the two of them on the cover. It was such a sweet guest book! You can see more photos over on my website. 

a Lisbon Photo Album

I'm a bit behind in updating the blog and my portfolio of my recent projects. I finished up some big commissions right before I took off for Italy and have been so busy sketching in Quarto that I've forgotten to share how those projects turned out! 

This was another one of those sweet projects that I just couldn't say no to. Jez contacted me after he found me on Etsy and saw the New York Triplets I made last December. He wanted an illustrated photo album similar to the Triplets but with a Lisbon theme to surprise his girlfriend after their trip to Lisbon, Portugal! Hard to say no to such a sweet request. Here are a few photos of that beast and there are some more on my portfolio. It's pretty much official that I need to go to Portugal one day now...

Michele & Reneé's Tuscan Wedding Album

I think a lot of girls that study abroad in Italy have had a day dream once or twice (all the bloody time) of having a picturesque Tuscan wedding. In an old church tucked in an old town, celebrating in a villa surrounded by vineyards, with wedding photos complete with rolling green hills. Oh yes...that is a beautiful daydream...

It's a little crazy to actually know someone who has had that dream Tuscan wedding. Meet Reneé and Michele. Michele and I became friends a couple years ago during my internship at the study abroad center in Castiglion Fiorentino. Not long after, Reneé was studying abroad at the same center and met Michele. The rest is pretty romantic as you may guess. 

So when Reneé asked me to create a custom wedding album for their insanely gorgeous photos, I had to say yes. The photos were unreal! Their photographer Taylor Abeel did an amazing job at capturing the special day. This project was pretty unreal too, having piles of gorgeous photos to work with and the sweetest couple to collaborate with.  It may be the closest I get to a dreamy Tuscany wedding, but it was definitely the dream wedding album project to be a part of! Here's a peek and you can see more photos on my website.

Brittany & Brad's Wedding/Honeymoon Album

I have been waiting to share this project for months...MONTHS! It was by far the largest commission I have received and, hands down, the sweetest thing I have ever been asked to create. I have received sweet commissions before but this was beyond words...

Brad contacted me way back in September with a special gift in mind for his soon-to-be wife. They would be married in December and he wanted to have a sort of journal/album to give to Brittany on their honeymoon. It would have illustrations and details inside spanning their dating, proposal and wedding with a lot of space at the end for photos and notes of their honeymoon and early days of marriage. Wow, just wow!

In the end, this album was huge: 13 signatures and 104 pages front and back, with a faux leather cover and velvety drawstring pouch to keep it safe. We filled it with illustrations of their special moments, inside jokes, engagement photos, invitations, their church for the wedding, maps of the Caribbean for the honeymoon and so much more. It was such a huge undertaking and it was so hard not to share the progress! Here's a peek at the album and there are more photos on my website.

The New York triplets

Hello 2014! Seeing as it is now January, it is probably safe to share the rest of my holiday commissions. These triplets were a beast to finish but I loved the results (and luckily the sweet lady that commissioned them did too!). 

I was contacted by Pamela back in December, who wanted a photo album to give to her daughter for her New York trip memorabilia. In order to make room for future New York visits, the project quickly evolved into three albums! Throughout the albums there are illustrations of iconic New York monuments and other little bits of the city, including pink Magnolia blossoms to tie all three albums together! 

There are more iconic spaces on the backs of the albums too. Everything from the Public Library lions and Central Park, to the entry buttons from the Metropolitan Museum and Playbills. It has been years since I last visited that city so it was a fun challenge to recreate all these famous sights in watercolor! There are some more photos of the triplets on my website too. 

Jaime's Custom Wedding Keepsake Album

This sweet album took me a while to finish but it also one of the most unique requests I have had so far! Jaime contacted me asking about making an album to hold her wedding invites, announcements, newspaper clippings and more...as well as actually attach them inside! Definitely a first, and a challenge!

Luckily Jaime had a gorgeous invitation suite that was the perfect inspiration for the rest of the album! We decided to use the little swirlies from their invites as background details on all the pages and under all the matted cards, invites, clippings and more. We even added some pages at the beginning that detailed Jaime and Russell's first meeting, their first date and the proposal! The result was a very elegant and one-of-a-kind album! 

custom wedding & photo albums

I'm not sure why it is but I've suddenly had a massive influx of requests for custom wedding and photo albums. I'm so surprised and so very happy that they've been rolling in so much lately! 

In the past month or so, I've made 5 books for four different clients and still have 2 more to go. All of the requests have been completely different and unique. One couple wanted a pair of photo albums to give to their parents as gifts at their wedding. Another was for a sweet gal who had terrible luck with their first album designer and needed someone to quickly find a way to bind their album pages. One lovely lady just needed a special place for photos of her baby girl. I've mailed them all over...Italy, Canada and even just down to Los Angeles. 

It's been really fun meeting all these people and hearing their ideas for what kind of special book they need. It's been a challenge to meet all their needs but more than anything it's been an amazing boost in confidence. People are actually seeking me out and entrusting me to make them a one-of-a-kind keepsake. It's pretty amazing. It's teaching me a lot too. How to stay stocked on supplies for when that rush order comes in; how to say no to other things that will take focus away from my business. And there's always the occasional frequent shocking epiphany that this is my business. I kinda really love my job, and the results...

Adventures with Grandma & Grandpa!

At last, here are some photos of my second custom photo album commission. I reaaaally love how this one turned out. We were going for a sort of 'cottage-y' look this time, very different from Curren's nautical album. I did light washes on the cover with my widest brush to achieve the wood grain look. I bound the album with a coptic stitch and then covered the spine with lace. All throughout the book there are freehand illustrations of flowers, then the two little grand-kiddos on the title page!

Edit: Getting married soon and need a guest book? Or would you like your own custom photo album? I just re-listed a commission for one in my Etsy shop!