Artisans in our Backyard: Becky Maglich is a Gardener extraordinaire.

Becky with her basket: ready for the harvest.

Last Friday morning I had the unique pleasure of visiting Becky Maglich in her garden. Becky and her family live a few blocks away from us. They were the couple with whom we did our premarital counseling, and her husband Jeff officiated our wedding. I wanted to do a segment on gardening because I feel it takes a lot of imagination to garden and it also brings creative fulfillment to many people, especially in the way that you get to see the fruits of your labors and enjoy them. Unfortunately, our small garden consists merely of four tomato plants in a bucket right now, and they are just starting to produce since groundhogs mowed them down all summer. I needed to call in a ringer; someone with a true green thumb and a joy of gardening. That person was Becky.


More about the beautiful Maglich garden after the jump!

Save-the-dates: a collaboration of love.

So after plenty of brainstorming, tedious sketching, and trips to the University's media lab, Sean and I have produced a successful collaboration: our save-the-dates. I have to admit, I'm super proud of them. Sean did the initial heavy lifting after I asked him to sketch out two deer with the buck's antlers forming a heart. He took that idea and exceeded what I had imagined, once again begging the question: why wouldn't I want to marry this man? After that, it was a matter of me puttering around in the studio making tracing paper overlays, sketching banners, and gouaching hearts on the (almost) level floor at the arts center. The result, I think, is well worth the time and effort of making custom save-the-dates. Of course, since it took us longer to design them than anticipated, we may just save them and use them for our invitations instead and skip the save-the-dates altogether or do electronic ones. It would certainly help to shave down the wedding budget a bit.

I wish I had a print of it to show, rather than just the design. As a printmaker I get very excited about paper products, and we want this design to find it's home on some chipboard, so it really will look quite different once it's printed on that toned background. I also have had a recurring dream of this design being letter pressed (I am drooling right now just over the prospect of it) and thankfully one of my lovely bridesmaids did some legwork and sent me an email chock full of links to different print shops willing to letterpress your personal designs for you. The forerunner right now seems to be Cranky Pressman Printery & Bindery. They have penned all the information on their site in an affably cantankerous manner, and this actually is to their advantage; everything appears very straightforward as opposed to sites that opt for a more flowery and polite approach. It's also an Ohio based shop, which means I can check convenience and support of local vendors off my list as far as invitations. An online form makes it convenient to request a quote.

I am so excited that these are finished, not only because I have been anxiously awaiting the finished product since this ideas birth, but also because I get to check another little box off that monstrous bridal to-do list that stretches for miles, it seems. But hey, it will all get accomplished by June 11. And I get to celebrate a thousand tiny victories, such as this.