Antiquaria Journal Club | The Best Tools For You

Choosing your tools wisely is the #1 KEY to success! Believe it or not, giving yourself parameters can help ignite more creativity than if the sky is the limit. So...let's figure out our supplies!

Before anything else, let's decide what your favorite tools are. With these, we will begin to put our journal plan together!

Think about the things that you like to do first:
-Pen & Ink? Calligraphy?
-Graphite?
-Watercolor? Gouache?
-Fountain Pens?
-Colored Pencils?
-Felt Tipped Pens? Brush Pens?
-Rubber Stamps?
-Stickers?
-Bits of Ephemera?
-Other cool stuff?

Give a good hard think about the things that you really use often already. Your journal will be unique to YOU, so combining the things that you already LOVE is important. Having these as parameters will help keep your journal cohesive throughout it's pages.

Disclaimer: It's super duper easy to go overboard with ideas and inspiration when you look around at what other people are doing. Believe us, it happens all the time and is a key reason that we've not gotten to this project yet. Being frozen from TOO MUCH INSPIRATION is totally a thing. 

To make it easy to start, pick 2-5 things to incorporate. Maybe it's (1) pencil and (2) watercolor and (3) rubber stamps, maybe it's (1) pen + ink and (2) bits of ephemera or maybe it's (1) fountain pens and (2) stickers and (3) brush pens and (4) rubber stamps. THERE IS NO WRONG COMBO!

Build your toolbox:

Take the items that you figured out above and put them aside so they're easy for you to access. (Or if you're like us, put them in a cute pencil pouch). You can definitely limit yourself to just this selection-totally fine. But here are a few additional general tools that are helpful to add to your kit as well to assist in your journal journey:

-a small ruler
-washi tape
-a pencil and eraser (even if you don't plan to use a pencil as your tool of choice, it's good to include       for making layouts or guidelines
-a binder clip (to hold your current page open)
-double sided tape or stick glue (in case you want to paste something into your journal)
-shape templates (i.e. circles, squares, ovals)
-folder for storing mementos
-anything else you may find helpful!

Once you've compiled your toolkit, you're ready to move onto finding your journaling personality! We'll tell you how tomorrow!! In the meantime, we want to know...what's in your toolkit?

xoxo
Emma, Bailey and the Antiquaria Team

Holiday Card Exchange 2018!

We simply can't believe it's already the holiday season! Can you? 2018 has been one for the books!! We've grown so much this year and have you all to thank for that. Not only has our line of products grown by leaps and bounds, we also moved some of our operations to Colorado, so we're now officially in two states!! And this coming summer (June 2019) we'll be adding a little shop in historic downtown Littleton, CO :) We couldn't be more THRILLED!       

One of our favorite aspects of the holidays each year is our annual Holiday Card Exchange! Can you believe this is it's 6th year? Have you participated before? It's THE ABSOLUTE FREAKING BEST.

See 2013's Holiday Card Exchange here and 2014's here and 2015's here and 2016's here and 2017's here. We're always SUPER EXCITED by how many of you write to us! It is so fun to see your families, hear your thoughts and see what holiday cards you picked!

We think getting snail mail is the bee's knees and we have a feeling that you do too! We know it brightens our day. Like, a lot ;)

So why don't we exchange some holiday cards? This year, we've chosen to use one of our best selling new cards of the season, our Alpaca Warm Wishes Greeting Card. We're back to using our very favorite white ink this year with calligraphy addressing by our in house expert, Bailey Amon Rivera.

Here's the scoop: You add us to your mailing list and send us a hand addressed (practice that calligraphy and handlettering folks!) holiday card and we'll have our resident calligrapher, Bailey Amon Rivera mail ours back from US! Sound like a plan?

The details: Mail your card to Bailey at:

Antiquaria

℅ Bailey Amon Rivera

S. Prince Street, STE A

Littleton, Colorado 80120

Be sure to include your preferred return address (in addition to the one on the envelope-you know how the mail can be) so that we can mail ours in return! We are SO looking forward to hearing from you. Now it will be FUN to check the mail:) Yay!

Peace, Love and Letters,

Emma & Bailey

Find us on Instagram @antiquariadesign @antiquariabailey and @antiquariaemma and tag your pics #longlivesnailmail and #antiquariaholidayexchange2017

Real Wedding | Joanie & Brett's Navy + Copper Save the Date

We've said it a million times...but we just LOVE it when a DIY couple's design shows up in our inbox. Our most recent bride to show us her handy work is Joanie! Thank you so much Joanie for letting us share your GORGEOUS Save the Date with everyone. They're awesome and we love your "out of the box" printing technique tips too! We'll pocket those for later and try them out ourselves.

From Joanie: "The inspiration for these Save the dates came when I was looking for a dress for our engagement party and I came across this beautiful vintage dress in a navy and gold floral jacquard and I thought the colors would compliment the Floral Banner theme of your stamps.  I was thinking "regal", "antique" sort of in that over embellished baroque way and then I came across some old bronze buttons that looked a bit tarnished and I loved the idea of swapping out the gold for bronze.  So that's how I landed on matte navy & bronze." 

The materials used (besides the stamps from Antiquaria) all came from Paper Presentation (http://paperpresentation.com).  

A6 envelopes in Matte Navy

4.5 x 6.25 Crenelle Flat Cards in Natural White

Hero Arts Classic Tea Flower stamp (for back of Crenelle cards)

Tea Flower stamp (for back of small envelopes)

2.75 x 2.75 Matte Navy Envelopes

2.75 x 2.75 Natural white cards

Bronze Metallic Sharpie

Glitter Twine in Metallic Bronze by Knot & Bow

Color Box stamp pad in Bronze

Tools:

Marble rolling pin

"I stamped the back of the Crenelle cards with the Classic Tea Flower Stamp first allowing them to completely  dry before stamping the Save the Date on the other side.

For the large save the date stamp I found that simply covering the stamp with ink and pressing it to the card did not yield an even impression so I thought "What would Benjamin Franklin do?" and I grabbed my rolling pin.  I inked up the stamp, laid the card on top of it and simply rolled the pin over it first north to south and then east to west and the impression was perfect with very little effort exerted.  These need to air dry over night to ensure they do not rub off.  The metallic ink takes awhile to set.  It will smear and smudge onto the envelopes if they are not completely dry.

The same goes for the website cards.  Stamp all the small cards first to let them completely dry while you are stamping the outside of the envelopes. Once you have stuffed all the envelopes cut the twine into 12 inch segments and tie them up like a present. "

"I made up my own calligraphy for the addresses. Mainly I just made the r's and m's very loopy.  I recommend hand addressing the A6 envelopes first letting them air dry over night and then stamping the return address on the outer flap, making sure that the stamps are completely dry before you stack them up."

We love it when clients take on the challenge of addressing their own envelopes! These turned out beautifully. 

Thank you again Joanie! You've provided such AMAZING inspiration and a great example of creatively crafting your own custom design. 

If you have a project to share with us...or questions about our stamps, please reach out to us info{at}shopantiquaria{dot}com!

xoxo,

Emma & Bailey

 

Real Invitation | Rhonda and Clinton's Floral Calligraphy Suite

We're always so thrilled when a client emails us with images of their finished DIY invitation. We send off our stamp designs into the world and mostly never know what they become. This suite, with it's floral calligraphy lettering, vintage botanical envelope liner and sprig of lavender tied with the suite is just plain dreamy.

From the bride, Rhonda: "I searched numerous hours for the perfect invitation for our wedding. One of my photographer clients had used you and I asked them to contact her and find out where she got simple, elegant invitations. When I was looking through your site for the first time I found the Floral Calligraphy set. I knew instantly that I was going to make these work. Our wedding and ceremony was set in the historical Founders Memorial Gardens at UGA with dried flowers such as lavender, wheat, lukspur and many others. The garden is set within a niche in downtown Athens that is over looked by hundred year old Magnolia tress. The only regret I had at this moment was not finding you before sending out my save the dates. Wedding invitations are suppose to give your guest a little insight on your up coming day. Well, I knew with my love for crafts that I was going to attempt my first stamping/paper product."

"I decorated recycled glass, cans, wine bottles with hemp and burlap for aisle markers and center pieces. I used lavender plants for the attendants gifts. Our invitation included all these elements and made our day complete."

"I still get compliments on our invitations. Thank you opening my eyes to paper, stamping and calligraphy."

Rhonda, your new-found love for all things paper and DIY has really made our day! We're thrilled to have been a part of your special day. Best wishes and happy DIY-ing!

Rhonda also provided the material sources in case you'd like to use her gorgeous suite as a jumping off point for your own invitation:

Floral Calligraphy Invitation Stamp

Floral Calligraphy Reply Card Stamp

Floral Calligraphy Return Address Stamp

Reply Envelope- 4 Bar, Sage

Reply Card- 4 Bar, Luxe Cream

Invitation- A7, Luxe Cream

Envelope-  A7 Paper Bag

Envelope Liner- Magnolia branch

Photography: Rhonda Bowling

New! | Muslin Gift Bags

We are excited be able to offer these adorable muslin bags in our shop! We offer 2 sizes small (~4"x6") or medium (~6"x8") to choose from. 

They are something we use all the time and can be stamped or dyed as well to create custom favors for your next party. They're also great to have on hand for wrapping last minute gifts!