826LA Collaboration

Flora and Fauna had the honor of teaming up with designer Amy Martin to Create 826LA's Holiday Cards. They can be purchase via their website, or stop by the Echo Park Travel Mart if you are in the L.A. area. All proceeds go toward funding 826LA.  

Invites, Birds, Cake

I had the pleasure of designing invitations for my friends' wedding in Austin, TX. Andrea, the bride, is a lover of all animals especially birds, so I drew her a couple of little sparrows and incorporated them into the invites. (I'm also proud of my hand-drawn map, complete with drawings of the church, the country club, UT, and the TX capitol.)

The happy couple then gave my bird designs to the cake maker extraordinaire at Coco Paloma Desserts. She translated my bird designs into fondant beauty! Furthermore, the cake was amazing, with a chocolate layer AND a vanilla layer. I will confess I had a slice of each. 

Flora and Fauna Press 2009 Calendars

Finally...after many months of design and printing, our 2009 letterpress calendars are here. 

These quarterly calendars consist of 4 designs, each inspired by a season and printed in three colors (a true test of our registration skills). The best part is, we've provided dotted trim lines, so you can have 4 little prints to frame when the year is over. 

(click thumbnail for larger image)

Treat Yourself...

It's October... the time of year we are all tempted by little Halloween size candies and chocolates sitting around in dishes everywhere. My suggestion is to forgo all the store-bought, partially hydrogenated candies and go for a quality treat. Purchase one at your local bakery, or make one yourself. 

MUMMY & GHOST CUPCAKES- cookie jar bakery

HALLOWEEN CAKE- bleeding heart bakery

VAMPIRE CUPCAKE & FRANKENSTEIN CAKE- both from horrorgourmet

Miniature Posts Series: Tiny House Blog

There's something attractive about the idea of cutting down your possessions and moving the essentials into a 15" x 15" space. That being said, there is also something terrifying about it. While most of us will never do this - outside of an apartment building, that is - we can still read about those who do on Tiny House Blog. We thought it would be a good idea to buy three of these tiny houses to constitute one normal-sized house, with a garden between the three. That would never be inconvenient!

Hello, Wedding Toppers!

What is the most important part of a wedding? The dress? The flowers? The stationary (well...)? The bride and/or groom? Or is it the one thing that the wedding couldn't be considered a proper wedding without... the cake toppers? Those little representations of you and your beloved are, in some worlds, the most vital of all wedding components (This is probably not true, but let's pretend for the sake of this epic blog post). While it is all fine and good to go the traditional route and stick two plastic people on top of your cake, we at Flora and Fauna would like to encourage a more enlightened approach. An approach which includes animals, zombies, complete strangers and robots. 

A custom topper might be the most exciting, but you shouldn't limit yourself to the traditional looks-like-us toppers. Instead, why not get a custom looks-like-us-craving-brains Zombie topper from Bear Eats Bunny, or a looks-like-us-if-we-were-an-endearingly-molded-godzilla-and-cat topper from Zebra 1684 Creations? (Seriously, is this the best thing ever? If not, it certainly sits high in the ranks.)

If you prefer something cleaner and more collected, why not employ the services of CornflakeGirl and get a custom bird couple? And even if you have perfect eyesight, why not have bird-you wear those awesome glasses?

If nerd-chic appeals to you, perhaps these Elegant Robot toppers from Builders Studio are right for you. There's something very Art Deco and recollective of Metropolis about them.

If nothing here strikes your fancy, perhaps you would find excitement in my favorite option: wedding toppers that are not you. If you don't have the budget to go custom, this option is the easiest, and if you do have the ability to send away for your dream toppers, this option could be the most creative. The idea is, in a nutshell, to attempt to find or make a couple that is so distant from your own physical appearance that it becomes something entirely memorable. For example, you could order this custom wedding topper from Sophia's Workshop, which depicts two happy strangers dressed as Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Are you a nice, dark-haired Armenian couple that would never, in a million years, flounce around in Disney garb? Then this topper is perfect for you. It will not go forgotten.

We're going to be at Felt Club!

This November (the 16th, to be exact) we'll be at the Felt Club event at the Shrine Auditorium Center here in Los Angeles! This is the mecca of Southern Californian craft fairs, and anyone would be a fool to miss it. More updates will come as the event nears, but mark your calendars! 

Consumerist update!

Recently two things have been moved to the top of my ever-changing wishlist: a book and a dress. The book is the beloved Lena Corwin's first, Printing by Hand. In the recent slough of hand-printing how-to books, Lena's seems to be the most highly anticipated. It's in stores this week, so you will be able to get your print on in no time (did I just say that?).

The dress is too good a deal to not be mentioned, even on a design-centric blog like ours. The Trixie dress comes from Trashy Diva, one of the best reproduction clothing sellers out there. Recently, other retailers have been blatantly ripping off the Trixie dress, and so Trashy Diva has issued a designer's special, selling the dress for only $34. That's almost $200 cheaper than normal.

The Miniature Post Series: Yeondoo Jung

In an attempt to carry over the Miniature Post theme and actually confirm its existence as a series, I bring to you the work of Yeondoo Jung. Her Dance Hall project involves, in so many words, hundreds of photographs of ballroom dancers cut out and plastered to the gallery wall, set to the music piping through the webpage. The blog world has recently been abuzz with Yeondoo's work, most notably the "Wonderland" project - photographic recreations of children's drawings. This is a personal favorite:

The Miniature Post Series: Miniature Felted Animals

I never could have imagined the world I would uncover by typing "Needlefelted Animal" into Etsy's search bar. There is a world of people out there, sitting at home, creating strange fantasy creatures, bubble-bathing squirrels,  and cartoon-like animals (hot pink dinosaur? It's true) out of felted roving yarns. But rather than create a post centered around the peculiar and not entirely aesthetically pleasing felted creatures of the world's retired craftswomen, I've decided to bring to you what good has come of the felting movement (that's right, I'm deeming it a movement). 

The movement's most popular product might be the custom-created felt version of man's best friend. About four out of ten results for felted animals fall under this category, and they sell particularly well for a two-inch-tall object that costs between 95 and 200 dollars. And to tell you the truth, I would probably purchase one if I could logically work it into my budget. It's the less creepy way to eternalize your favorite pet, if you understand what I mean.

{above: Custom Pet Sculpture by KayK9s.}

{above: Bunny by LittleElfsToyshop; Fox by WoolComesAlive.}

Guest Blog by Amelia Hayes

Tips for a D.I.Y. Wedding

When Jason and I decided to get married we started talking about the wedding that same day. Within two months we had a venue booked for the ceremony and reception and we were off and running. Right from the start I knew I wanted to do a lot of things myself. I was making lists of the projects I wanted to complete for our wedding right from the start. I had two motivations for this, first of all I'm frugal and second of all I wanted to show off in my own way. Some people might like to show off with a lavish display but to me that display is only worthwhile if I can say I did a lot of it.

For my wedding I made my dress, the flower girl's dress, decorated the bubble jars, collected eclectic vases for the tables, made the table cards, painted porcelain birds for the centerpieces on each table, helped arrange the table centerpieces, made bridesmaid's gifts and I taught myself calligraphy to write addresses on our save the date cards and invitations. And those are just the things I can remember right now! The list goes on and on. I learned a lot in the process and if you want a DIY wedding I can offer you some advice.

1. Ask for help. My sister makes beautiful origami flowers and she generously agreed to make some for me to use in the wedding. We had origami flowers in the bouquets, the centerpieces, and the boutonnieres. My friend Amanda is an extremely talented floral artist. When she offered to help me with the wedding I immediately asked if she would help me with the flowers. She agreed and the day before the wedding we went to a flower wholesalers market and bought a ton of flowers. We spent almost the entire day arranging flowers with my sister and I'm so grateful that they helped me. Amanda took charge of the bouquets and boutienerres and they were so beautiful. I would never have been able to make them look nearly as beautiful as she did. I did learn a lot about doing centerpieces, though! On our flower arranging day I provided champagne and lots of snacks to show my appreciation for the help.

2. Make lots of lists. Right from the start I was making lists of projects I wanted to do for the wedding and making timetables of when certain steps needed to be completed. I bought a 3 ring binder and I took it with me practically everywhere. In addition to holding all my lists together I had sections for the catering information, the venue information, research information for projects, and so on. If you are going to DIY you can't be lazy. I had projects completed over 6 months in advance of our wedding and I spent countless evenings and weekends working on them. For me it was fun but if that sounds awful to you then you might want to cut down on the number of projects you are going to complete. While I was working I would usually imagine our guests enjoying the things I had made and that made the work fun.

3. Be ready to compromise for your budget. I had lots of ideas that didn't work for budget reasons. I heard about another woman who did a DIY wedding and since she and her fiance collected vintage china they used lots of different styles in their place settings. I thought that was such a great idea! I immediately began looking at thrift stores and on eBay but in the end it was going to be a lot more expensive than renting place settings plus I didn't know where the heck I was going to store it all after the wedding! I decided instead to rent the china and I collected various whimsical vases from thrift stores and eBay and other sources and used those for my centerpieces and in various locations around the venue. The total cost for vases was about $70 and I got over a dozen pieces for that.

4. You are not going to do all the projects you want to do. On my first lists I was going to make all the bridesmaids' dresses and make neckties and pocket squares for my fiance and the groomsmen. I was going to bake cookies and package them nicely for wedding favors. HA! Some things had to get scrapped along the way because in addition to all the projects I was doing there was all the OTHER stuff that has to get done for the wedding plus I had to work and have a life. I was sad to give up some of my great ideas but when I think of everything we did do for the wedding I'm really proud.

5. Things are a lot easier when you fiance is on board. Jason is a very creative person and always bursting with ideas, so he was the best partner I could have imagined in the planning process. I think we split the work pretty evenly and everything he did was done beautifully. He has quite the green thumb, so one of his ideas was to harvest seeds from flowers he had grown and package them for wedding gifts. He collaborated with the printing press about our wedding invitations. I didn't get to see them until they were done because he wanted to surprise me and they were gorgeous. He planned the honeymoon and he and his groomsmen decorated the ceremony area, too. We had a lot of fun planning the wedding together. I think the only difficulties we ran into were because we each had so many ideas about what we wanted to do! If he hadn't been so enthusiastic about everything we did it wouldn't have been fun at all.

6. The library is a wonderful resource. I checked out countless books about every topic relating to weddings and crafts. I taught myself calligraphy from a library book. I got lots of ideas about how to save money and different projects that could be done to make a wedding more special. Before you go to the bookstore, go to the library. I didn't buy a single wedding book.

7. Accept your limits. In the beginning I thought I could make virtually everything myself. From a certain perspective I was right, I could have done it all. But who wants to? You are going to have to let some things go. Don't let it ruin your wedding. Because I was so involved in our wedding there were things that I particularly noticed had not happened the way I had planned. Instead of letting it upset me that these little details weren't perfect I just looked around at our family and friends having a nice time at our wedding and let myself be happy that we were all together on one of the most important days in my life.

 Most of all I feel I accomplished something by working so hard for our wedding. When I think about it I'm extremely proud of what we did and I feel it really reflects the kind of people that we are because we put our hearts and our creativity into our wedding. Whatever you decide to do for your wedding make it a reflection of the two of you and don't feel obligated by traditions unless they are meaningful to you as a couple.

--Amelia Hayes

The Enlightened Dress

For those of you considering straying from the 'White Wedding Dress', I'm here to show you what lovelies I've found in the world of gowns. Some are subtle, such as the Cameo Pink dress by Badgely Mischka, others are a little more unconventional. 

{above, Etro}

{above, Nicole Miller}

{above, Badgley Mischka}

{above, Ralph Lauren}

{above, Missoni}

Things of Late: Nautical

Lately I, and everyone else, it seems, have been loving everything nautical. This trend seems to pop up every few years - or months, actually - in an updated way. While the last nautical trend was more rustic-Cape-Cod, the most recent round seems to be leaning in the Hello-Sailor direction: tattoo flash, kitschy anchors, bright stripes. It's so nice to know that it is finally appropriate to don your Captain's Hat and Gilligan-wear.

{image above: Tattoo Man Doll by Mimi Kirchner.}

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{images above: 1. Anchor Necklace by handmadejulz; 2. Mary Ann  gocco print by Lizzy Stewart; 3. Anchors Away Ring by southernblood.}

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