More of Katie and Brock's Wedding artwork!

Katie and Brock are standing in front of the church where they were married...and below see the program Katie designed with El with the church painted on the front and details about how the bride and groom met the wedding party on the inside.

Even though Katie used a seating chart for all the guests, there were place cards at the head table for the wedding party, featuring her favorite compass rose.

Tables were adorned with hydrangeas and signs featuring the island name and pine tree island (of course) for the Casco Bay islands. Favor bags featured El's Cards tags with hydrangeas.

I loved every minute of all these projects! Congratulations Katie and Brock!

Katie and Brock's seating chart...nautical theme

After being able to create all the pieces for Katie and Brock's island wedding off the coast of Portland, Maine...this seating chart was my very favorite of all! Did I mention that I could do these all day long??! They are so much fun to create. The happy couple named their tables after islands in Casco Bay, so I made each table look like an island in Maine. On the Peaks Island table, there were all the elements of the invitations and other pieces included...the church (featured in watercolor on the programs), the reception site (from the invitations), the ferry (from the invitations), pine trees (from the table signs) and Katie's flowers, the hydrangeas (featured on the favor gift tags). This photo was sent to me by some wedding guests who loved it! And Congratulations and Best Wishes to Katie and Brock who are now on their honeymoon!

New Castle Fair

Hi Friends! This is the latest map from El's Cards...New Castle, New Hampshire. This Saturday Bob and I will be in New Castle at the Congregational Church at 65 Main Street with this map and all kinds of fun and original (of course) designs! The fair is from 9-3 and we'd love to see you there. Many artisans will be displaying their artworks and I would SO appreciate your support. Have a great week and looking forward to seeing you!

Sunflowers in Tuscany

These seating charts are so much fun!! Seriously...I could do these all day long. Well, this week I did! Last week I got a call from a couple in Pennsylvania who saw some of my seating charts on my website and wanted to have one created for their own wedding day this Saturday! Of course I said yes, especially after hearing the theme. Italy is one place I am dying to go, so there I went creating the artwork for Mary Beth and Mark's wedding reception! Each of the tables was named for a city in Italy where the couple traveled recently on a special pre-wedding honeymoon trip through Italy.

This photo shows the details on the bottom of the seating chart. They wanted to include sunflowers so I painted some on the bottom in the landscape and then larger ones at the top and in the lower corner. These seating charts are becoming my favorite thing to do!

Gift tags with new hydrangea bunches!

These gift tags are perfect for wedding favors. Katie and Brock have been sticking with the nautical theme, but Katie loved the hydrangea trio so I put that design on these tags for their wedding! Of course, I did a brand new hydrangea design for her. I'm on a roll with the hydrangeas lately! Love the flower and all the fun variations in blue with the watercolor.

Katie and Brock's nautical themed Wedding invitations!

Here they finally are!! The invitations that were inside the hand lettered schooner envelopes were created with a few pieces included! The invitation was lettered in navy blue ink and has a rope design at the top and bottom to set the nautical mood. The reply card has a compass rose created especially for the couple (and was used on their save the date card too!). This card is done in the old fashioned way...allowing space for the guest to write a little note of acceptance. This is such a fun way to do the reply card by the way! The notes we got back were GREAT! There is a card with a picture of the ferry that will take the guests from the mainland in Portland over to Peaks Island and reminding them to not miss the boat! And the reception card has a watercolor rendering of the Inn where the reception will be held. Each piece is done in navy blue calligraphy and the designs are all original. It's so much fun to do a wedding "soup to nuts" like I am doing for Katie and Brock! More pieces coming soon...

Hydrangea seating scroll for Jen and Rocco

Hydrangea table signs to match.....

In my defense, I believe we have determined that I am not a pro photographer...that said...this was taken before heading out the door to give the beautiful bride the seating chart for her wedding tomorrow night! Do I love doing these pieces!! They are so much fun and they make a great statement when the guests enter the reception hall. This is one of my all time favorites! The hydrangea colors are fun to work with and Jen named her tables after things that are special to the couple...places around South Boston, streets where they have lived, and of course their dog, Tank! And after the wedding, it's a piece of artwork to have framed as a memory of the wedding day. We have ours right on the wall facing the entrance of our house. Many wedding blessings to Jen and Rocco! Have a wonderful night tomorrow night and thank you and my good Pub Pal Keryl for allowing me to create this piece for your brother's Wedding day!!

Happy One Year Anniversary!!

We have so many of these photos taken by Bob, we've started calling it our famous photo. Another picture of us with the camera held at Bob's arm's length!

What a beautiful picturesque walk we had on our anniversary weekend up in Portland, Maine. These are some photos that are inspiring some great new beach theme ideas for cards, invitations and other artwork. As my Mum always said when we were kids...people pay thousands of dollars to come and vacation here for a week! And we have this in our own backyard every day. I can't believe I am saying it myself, but it's so true! Boston to the south, Portland to the north and living in the NH seacoast area is so cool!

Nautical Invitations...just a peek!

Here's the latest in invitation design from El! These invitations were sent out for Katie and Brock last Friday. The bride and groom love all things nautical so they were thrilled to be able to design their own invitation package that would be just perfect for their style! The envelopes were printed with a picture of a schooner and then hand lettered in calligraphy with navy blue ink. The invitations should be arriving today...so we'll keep you in suspense for the rest of the pieces inside until tomorrow! Can't have my blog readers seeing it before the bride and the guests can I??!! Have a great day!
P.S. Love the Pansy stamps! Just a perfect touch of color!

Custom Wedding Gifts

Here's my latest creation! It's a custom wedding gift including the bride and groom's names and romantic phrases and/or quotes in calligraphy. This one is all done by hand including hand painted watercolor tulips! There will be a page coming soon for this! Until then email El for details and pricing.

The Correspondence Gift Box

In the kitchen features red sauce, cookies, jams and cooking tools

El's favorite florals were featured at her wedding almost a year ago in the favor bag...lilacs, gerbera daisies, cherry blossoms and hydrangeas

Gorgeous bouquets features the classic bouquet, sunflowers, new peonies and new purples

Beach..features shells, adirondack chairs, starfish and sand dollar and starfish

Hello and hope your day is off to a good start! This is the latest gift item from El's Cards It's a selection of 12 note cards, 12 gift tags, 12 stamps and it comes all beautifully wrapped with a ribbon and a personalized El's Card. Thought this might be a great offering for Mother's Day and the feedback coming in is GREAT! There are 5 design combinations offered...beach, gardening (shown above), in the kitchen, El's floral favorites, and gorgeous bouquets. And the first 10 ordered will receive a package of 4 complimentary gift tags for the purchaser to enjoy!

Mother's Day is right around the corner on May 9th! Things are nice and busy for Wedding Season but I'm happy to get my Mother's Day cards up there finally. Many pretty new designs (The birdcage above is my favorite) and lots of favorites are back too. Happy shopping!

May 3, 2009...Our Wedding

Our invitations were lilacs printed on rice paper and backed with "Spice" textured paper...with just a thin pop of color around the outside edge of the invitation and reception card. The reply card also had a lilac on the corner, and the reception card had a picture of our cake with gerbera daisies. Can you tell I don't like things all matchy matchy?!! We left the reply card with space for guests to write a note and we got some great ones for the scrapbook/guest book that I am making (when things quiet down!) Of course all the calligraphy on envelopes was done by hand. And we had a watercolor map too with directions to all the festivities.

Birds are back!

Birds are back! How about these cute owl earrings??!! I was up in Freeport, Maine with my mom a few weeks ago and we got these fun owl beads to make earrings for Visibility in Portland, Maine, (and for me)! I love them and birds are the trend this season...they come in a variety of colors and are accented with Sworvski crystal beads. Colors available are green, royal blue, tan and red! These purple ones are sold out! So, for those of you who have been inquiring what "birds are back" means on the home page of El's Cards...now you know! Birds are back!! Happy (almost) spring!

Baby Announcements

I've been doing baby announcements for people for years (introduced by one of my best customers...Susie!) I'm working on getting a page done so they can easily be ordered on the website. One for a boy (jungle animals or sailboats), one for a girl (see picture)...and working on another design. And then the beach for a boy or girl! With a sandcastle, shells, starfish and cute beach things. Sometimes it's hard to get new pages done since I do all my own web stuff too! That's why I am loving the blog! I can put up photos and you can get the gist! So...here are a few examples of such announcements. Enjoy!

Whimsical portraits

Here's the latest...whimsical portraits! This is the one I did for Bob for Valentine's Day of our family (Spike and Annabelle can pose for hours!)

More to come soon!

Another watercolor map-featuring Utah!

Maps are so much fun to create! This is one I did recently for a couple of great friends who just purchased their first home. We love visiting them in Utah and some of the favorite spots we have frequented are denoted on the map! (Along with a few inside jokes!) These are super personal and always get a positive response as they are created for each individual recipient. A map version of "Simply You".

A romantic anniversary gift

This is an anniversary piece I did for a true romantic! He gave me a copy of his wedding vows and had me write them in calligraphy for his wife on their first anniversary. The scene depicted in watercolor is the site of their first kiss on a Key West beach at sunrise. Such a meaningful and special gift to commemorate their first year together! Since the first year gift is traditionally paper, the groom wanted to do something extra special for his bride...and he tells me she loved it!

Doing custom work like this really exciting for me! I loved doing this piece for the happy couple, Christy and Roy.

Love is in the air!

My favorite holiday is right around the corner! And no, it's not because I'm a newlywed! I have always loved Valentine's Day. The colors pink and red make for simple and fun card designs...not to mention the hearts and flowers and who can forget the chocolate! So many possibilities. And I love to send Valentine cards to my friends and loved ones because this time of year needs a bit of brightening up in New England or anywhere for that matter!

Great Valentine specials at
El's Cards from February 2nd right through Superbowl Sunday, February 7th. Go Team! (that's code for I don't know who's playing....)

The mini notes are my favorite because they really can be used all year long! And the bookmarks are perfect to share with the gals in book group. Happy Valentine's Day to all!

Island Wedding Save the Date

This is the save the date card for the couple who just planned out their Wedding invitations for their June Wedding. Lots of pretty nautical accents!

The watercolor maps are becoming very popular as a fun additional piece to the invitation packages.
They are such a fun addition...we had more comments on the map than on any of the other pieces of our Wedding invitations.

Note from a Friend

What is a better first blog entry for a "Friends" fan like me that to think of the episode with all the New Years Resolutions? Rachel says she's not going to gossip any more and Monica says she isn't any good at keeping resolutions...as she opens Rachel's diary from the year before and reads, "Dear Diary, It's January first and I am going to write in you every day. See you tomorrow!" Then Monica rifles through all the empty pages and slams the journal shut to prove her point.

I'm hoping this will be a fun venue to share new ideas and designs with people who enjoy El's Cards already. I've been working on some fun designs for wedding invitations for 2010 and have a few weddings booked already! Really looking forward to the season. I'm designing some special invitations for a couple who are having an island wedding in Maine. The bride is a great person and we already worked together to create a custom map for the save the date card.

Dare I jinx myself? See you tomorrow!