Announcing Fall/Winter 2015 Collection - Part 3

So are you in love with "The Lumberjack and The Queen" yet? If so, this post will tell you all about how you can purchase this limited edition All-Inclusive Tablescape Collection for your Fall and Winter event and home decorating.

Pre-sale starts this Friday! October 2, 2015 you can purchase your own "The Lumberjack and The Queen" on Soul & Oak's Etsy shop here. Pre-sale prices make the Collection available to you for $100 less than the retail price, so it is a great idea to buy it now before it goes up on Friday, October 23. That gives you 3 weeks before prices go up to full retail price.

Full retail price for:

     2 tablescapes is $450
     6 tablescapes is $750
     15 tablescapes is $1350.

It's also important to remember two things. One, we have a 6 week turnaround time in creating and delivering the Collections to you, custom made, so it makes sense to plan ahead for your Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Fall or Winter Wedding. And what I love about this collection is you could honestly use it for all 3 with it's perfect rustic autumn vibe, it's ruby red hints of Christmas, and it's gold wedding elegance. And remember, each of our tablescapes is unique since we source reused materials so you know you'll have beautiful, handmade, one-of-a-kind décor featured at your event. Not to mention my second point, which is that each seasonal collection is limited edition.

The availability for pre-sale collections are as follows:

     2 Tablescapes - Qty 3
     6 Tablescapes - Qty 3
     15 Tablescapes - Qty 1

Post pre-sale I will sell 5 more each through the Fall and Winter.

I hope you love "The Lumberjack and The Queen" as much as I do.

Announcing Fall/Winter 2015 Collection - Part 2

In "The Lumberjack and The Queen" All-Inclusive Tablescape Collection you will find:

• Gold Urns
• Vintage Gold Candlestick Holders
• Mercury Gold Votive Holders
• Gold-Painted Branches and Pine Cones (1 for each place setting that can be used to hold escort cards)
• Red Plaid Flannel Runners, and 
• an authentic Mixed Plaid Bunting Banner

Extra accessories available include:

• Gold & Plaid Paper Garlands
• Framed Table Numbers or Art
• Plaid
• Cloth Napkins, and
• Gold Dipped Feather Décor

My All-Inclusive Tablescapes include enough decorations to decorate a full table and are availalbe for purchase in quantities of 2, 6, or 15 tablescapes.

Forget designing, sourcing, procuring, and creating for your event. With one swift and easy purchase you can have it all, with the peace of mind that your tablescapes will reflect elegant, handmade, unique, and eco-conscious designs.

That's because before we make any of our décor we experiment, explore, and analyze how each item can be made most cost-effectively and still save the Earth by reusing, recycling, and upcycling as much as possible. The hope is that less décor ends up in landfills and more of it ends up revived and loved as your event décor. Not only that, but we hope that our pieces are loved so much that you will continue to use them in your home and for family events for years and years to come. 

Our goal is to have 70% of the materials for our pieces coming from reused materials. Of the 11 items in this collection (including the tablescapes and the accessories), 5 items are created completely from re-used materials, and 3 items are created from at least 1/2 reused materials. We are eager to up that percentage as much as possible as that is the mission of Soul & Oak. However, we also remain conscious of keeping prices reasonable and keeping the aesthetic beautiful and sometime the reality is that new materials are a better option. We only make a decision to go with new materials after all possibilities of reused materials have been exhausted. 

Stay tuned tomorrow for more information about the when, why, and how you can get your hands on "The Lumberjack and The Queen"...

Announcing Fall/Winter 2015 Collection - Part 1

I'm super excited to announce that Friday, October 2, 2015 I will be starting the pre-sale for my second bi-annual All-Inclusive Tablescape Collection for Fall/Winter 2015. Originally, long before summer came I had the vision of a beautiful deep red plaid and gold color palette with rich ruby apples as the perfect accessory. As it developed I played with different names for the collection. I thought about calling it "Highland Gold" at one point to honor plaid and it's Scottish origin but ultimately my comical, playful side won out when I couldn't imagine naming it anything other than "The Lumberjack and The Queen."

What image does that create in your mind? I know in my mind I see the marriage of a rustic, rugged Pa Ingalls type man to a graceful, elegant queen like Grace Kelly. And as I think about them even more as I write this, I honestly couldn't think of a more awesome pairing. It's the same with this collection, a perfect marriage of cozy, rustic plaid mixed with the high elegance of gold.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's Part 2 which includes a detailed description of "The Lumberjack and The Queen".

Monday! It's a Party!

Back to the blogging swing of things after the long weekend last week for Labor Day. I missed my beloved "Monday! It's a Party!" post. But to be honest, as I sat down at my desk on this Monday morning, I was kind of at a loss for the theme I wanted. Well, long story short, I have finally organized my bonus room well enough so while it is still our main storage, there is a nice portion of it that works super nicely for my office and workshop space. This was no small miracle. Our house has no storage or closets and so everything from linens and suitcases and camping gear and wine are packed into this room. Anyway, it's super exciting to have this space and as I sat down here for the first time and stared out the window directly in front of my desk I could see the beautiful garden that another tenant here maintains. Well, all the flowers inspired me to do come up with some awesome ideas for you all on a botanical themed party or wedding. I hope you enjoy it as much as I am enjoying my new office view.

From top to bottom:

1. These super cute cups could easily be duplicated by wrapping some adorable floral scrapbooking paper like this around paper cups.

2. Coming from the same adorable botanical birthday party here, the idea of a floral tablecloth to provide an excellent sweet table or photo booth backdrop. I like this one from Target, it's kind of fun and vintage looking and it's an excellent reuseable piece. 

3. I love the beautiful and dramatic effect of these white curtains shown for this wedding. How dainty and beautiful with the live flowers and foliage added! And super easy. Just sew them on.

4. There is nothing more botanical than classic botanical prints. I like this one and many others found on Etsy. My idea for these would be to frame them to create table numbers or names. Paint directly on the print or if you don't want to mess up the print, you could always paint on top of the glass of the frame.

5. And speaking of classic botanical prints, this beautiful garland would be an excellent edition to your soiree. For an excellent upcycled version, find magazines with lots of flowers, cut them into flags and string them up. Here's a how to, just replace the construction paper with magazines.

Jen in August

I have a few themes for this month...INSPIRATION, PROGRESS, LEARNING. Here's what kept me going through all of it.

Photo by Catherine at Rabbit Food For My Bunny Teeth
{Link to http://rabbitfoodformybunnyteeth.com/?s=chia+pudding}

EATING: Super easy and super yummy Coconut Chia Pudding

WATCHING: CreativeLive (on computer and in person)

READING: The Creative Habit

ATTEMPTING: More walks

WORKING: On Fall/Winter 2015 Collection (release date TBA soon)

Elle et Lui - August Update

This month started out as mentioned before, returning home from our road trip and Alexis getting his green card. And then...

Jen got invited to sit in the studio audience of a live class broadcasted all over the world.

​It was the most exciting and inspirational thing she's done since the journey of staring her own business. 

Alexis spent many hours on weekends and nights studying for a technical test that will hopefully get him into a new fancy job.

Algorithms are his jam.

Jen spent many hours on a project for a backdrop for a friend's wedding that she designed.

​It tortured her just a bit as it turned out to be way more complex to put together than she originally thought.

During a few relaxing weekends at home Alexis took Jen to the famous Brown Sugar Kitchen for chicken and waffles and a catfish sandwich.

​Yum!

Jen also started working on the wedding quilt which is coming together nicely.

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And the last weekend they finally made it back to San Luis Obispo to get in some last summer days at the beach and spend time with friends and family.

The highlight was bodyboarding at Avila Beach and spontaneously matching with friend Allison as seen below.

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Hope you have all enjoyed your last month of summer and are looking forward to some fall fun. We definitely are!