Before I get into the step-by-steps I have to show you the obscenely adorable film that Sarah of Twenty Twenty Studios made!

Anthro Mother’s Day DIY Event from Sarah Gerber on Vimeo.

Amazing, right?! Now for the steps so you create your own version at home!

First find a hard surface (we used boards that we didn’t mind getting any flower juices on), brush (or your hands), thick scratch paper, flowers, a hammering implement and whatever paper product you want to use.

After you’ve got your supplies together select flowers in a color palette that you like.

Next, arrange your flowers in the design you want. Here is where our attendees got really creative! Some created bouquet shapes (that they were going to add twine bows to later), others arranged the flowers so that the colors would be evenly spread across the card and others put tape down first so that when they brushed the flowers away there would be white space left.

Put your arranged flowers and card under the scratch paper.

Next mash your flowers and stems until they are flat beneath the paper, we used jars to do this, but you can use anything you can hammer away with!

Discard your paper, brush off your flowers and take off tape if you’ve used it.

Add whatever message you want by hand, or with stamps, washi tape, etc. and voila! Your card is all done and ready to go. I especially loved this craft because it’s one that you could make with any kind of paper: bookmark, envelopes, invitations (how gorgeous would those be?!), escort cards, you get the idea.

Thank you so much to everyone that came to our event, Kirsten Julia Photography and Twenty Twenty Studios for capturing this event beautifully and the amazing staff and Anthropologie for having us!

The idea behind our craft was to make a modern pressed flower card design. We used fresh flowers and pressed, rolled, and hammered them to (literally) get the juices flowing.

The result was a watercolor-like look that could be applied to any paper product you want; bookmarks, wrapping paper, etc. Even the remnants were beautiful!

I loved how the crafters all interpreted the craft in different ways: some made a bouquet shape with the flowers before pressing them onto their cards, others put down tape to create a striped motif.

Thank you so much to those who came and crafted with us, and thank you to the amazing Anthropologie staff as well; Alex and Karen you were such a great help and it was wonderful meeting you! Do you have your Mother’s Day gifts/crafts all ready to go? I think any mom would love receiving these beautiful homemade cards! I love that you can pick the flowers you use from your garden, or while out on a walk, etc.

Stay tuned for the full DIY post soon!

Last weekend we went to the Trinity Alps on a site visit with one of our 2013 couples, it was amazing. So beautiful and is getting us pumped for all of our upcoming weddings! I’ve got a lot to catch up on, hopefully next week I’ll be able to start some fun recap posts.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

It’s going to be such a fun time, the event is free but the spots fill up quickly so nab a seat here while you can!

We hope you can make it, we’ll be using fresh flowers to create an artsy modern take on pressed flowers!

I’m not sure if you follow us on IG or our FB page but we were in a bad car accident several weeks ago where I suffered a concussion (new legitimate excuse for editing errors!) and have had to severely limit my screen time, physical activities and pretty much anything else enjoyable, so getting out of the house and into nature felt especially good.

My Grandma read my mind, as the best Grandma’s do, and said that it felt like church. She is so right, there’s something about being in such pure surroundings that really clarifies where you stand in the world.

We’re already planning our next excursion, we’re fortunate to live somewhere where there is so much wilderness at our fingertips! Where are your favorite places to get out of the house and into nature in the Bay Area?

Also, in honor of Earth Day Design Sponge featured a Sneak Peek: Best Of: Reuse with the side table I created for Alex using a vintage office chair and found wooden crate! To see our full home tour, with photos by Kirsten Julia Photography, click here.

*All photos and graphics are my own, if you want to use them please ask, thanks!

Here’s the video we made of my vision board: And yes…some of it has already started to happen!

One thing that I found interesting about seeing the whole board at the end (I really tried to let my “inner animal” as the instructions tell you to do, choose the images without over thinking why) was the era I’m most attracted to (sixties, big surprise there) as well as a particular color palette. I found that I was most drawn to bright colors, strong graphics and a modern sixties inspired look…again, not a huge surprise but it was still eye catching to see it all on the board together, and obviously there are personal meanings tied into the images as well.

Music by Misiac.

I’ve got to just snap out of it because it is almost winter after all and I did live in Oregon for over twenty years…I’ll deal. In the meantime I’m really enjoying starting Friday Night Lights.

photo one, pattern, photo two

Mine might not be quite so full as this one, but it sure is gorgeous to behold.

If you were like me and as clueless about how to start a vision board I found a great article here.

Photo source.

Image via.

This has been an extremely inspiring week. A and I started off the week in Blogshop Video. He has a masters in film so I have been eager to catch up (as if that’s really possible) to his skill level. We’ve been talking about making videos for years and now that Photoshop makes editing within it so simple it’s finally time. As always Bri and Angela (and Arian this time too!) helped to break everything down in very simple steps, but also never sacrificing style. Leaving Blogshop always makes me feel creatively refreshed and  ready to take on new ventures and well, make pretty things.

Here’s hoping an Illustrator class will be next! Here’s a little preview from our first mini film, we can’t wait to make more for our various projects!