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

Stamp Love | Rustic Floral Invitation Suite

Oh boy can rustic be elegant. 

Case in point...this gorgeous mood-board & stamped invitation suite.

To get the look, simply combine soft, natural textures and colors, such as Kraft paper, jute twine and dark rich espresso ink with feminine and floral designs like our Floral Banner Collection of Stamps.

1. Floral Banner Invitation Stamp /// 2. Floral Banner Reply Stamp /// 3. Floral Banner Save the Date Stamp /// 4. Floral Banner Return Address Stamp

IMAGE SOURCES:

Mood Board (clockwise from top right): Teaatfour Tumblr, unknown, Saipua, La Tartine Gourmet

Intivation Suite by Antiquaria

Stamp Inspiration | "Butterfly Garden" Invitation

We love butterflies...but butterflies in design can be tricky. Very tricky. 

More often than not the designs go a bit cheesy and contrived and end up not really capturing the true beauty & essence of these gorgeous creatures.

This bit of inspiration is the exception, I think...keeping the colors soft and muted helps highlight the their structure & patterns without making your eyes cross.

 Use this vintage butterfly print for envelope liners.

Use these vintage postage stamps from Verde Studio to complete the look.

We used paper and ribbon from Paper Source for this invitation suite. Here is a list of supplies needed:

A7 Luxe White Cards, A7 Luxe Blush Envelopes, 4Bar luxe blush cards, 4Bar Luxe White Envelopes, 4 Bar Luxe White Cards, Blusing Bride Silk Ribbon

1. Butterfly Invitation Stamp /// 2. Butterfly Reply Card Stamp /// 3. Butterfly Reception Stamp /// 4. Wildflowers Return Address Stamp /// 5. Antique Crest Monogram Stamp

What do you think? Would you consider a "Butterfly Garden" inspired invitation for your big day?

IMAGE SOURCES:

Vintage Butterfly Print via Etsy

Butterfly Invitation suite by Antiquaria

mood board (clockwise from top left): Toast Catalogue, Wary Meyers, Verde Studio, Fab Findings Flickr, unknown, unknown, be lovely photography

DIY Tutorial | Savannah Invitation Suite

Flower (unknown), Place-setting, Bouquet, Pattern, Plantation

We are obsessed with our latest DIY project over on Oh So Beautiful Paper! In the tutorial, we combine our popular Garden Letterpress Collection with our Custom Stamps to create a gorgeous, southern inspired suite! Pop over now for the step-by-step details!

Get the Look:

Savannah Letterpress Invitation

Calligraphy Accent Reply Card Stamp

Antique Monogram Stamp

Wildflowers Return Address Stamp

Magnolia Branches Patterned Paper, Cover weight

Behind the Scenes | Vintage Floral Border Save the Date

Spring has arrived and we couldn’t be happier! It’s always a refreshing and inspiring sight to see all of the little buds form on branches, knowing that soon they will burst into a gorgeous show of flowers. With this save the date design, we wanted to capture this brief moment in time and create something fresh and beautiful.

Check out the full DIY post at Oh So Beautiful Paper.

1. Callligraphy Save the Date No.2 Stamp ///2. Calligraphy Return Address Stamp /// 3. Antique Pewter Stamp Pad /// 4. Wicked Black Stamp Pad

Vintage Postage from Verde Studio.

Behind the Scenes | Indigo DIY Tutorial

Love indigo? We do too!!

The invitation suite we designed this week is so lovely with it's rich shades of blue & truly perfect for any season.

Click here to get the step-by-step details & make the project for yourself!