Say "I Do" To The Perfect Floral Wedding Guestbook

I am so proud to share some exciting news with y'all today: one of my handmade books is published in a magazine— squeeee! 

I recently collaborated with an amazing group of women to create a wildflower themed wedding. The styled shoot was not only featured in Smitten Magazine, but it made the cover, too!

Of course, there are tons of details to swoon over— perfect hair, lovely dress, awesome location, beautiful table settings, amazing florals, basically everything.

I had a blast creating the custom wedding guestbook you see here. It features floral embedded paper, hand watercolored pages, vintage flower illustrations, a variety of dictionary pages, and lined spaces for guests to leave a message to the happy couple. 

Here are a few of my favorite images from the day, shot by the amazing Alissa Saylor.

I wasn't there in person to see all the magic— but I'm sure you can imagine my delight when I got to see these images for the first time! I just love how perfect it all turned out.  More photos and information about my process can be found in my bookmaking portfolio.

Thanks for letting me gush! If you'd like to read the whole issue (and get a tutorial for that gorgeous hair!)-- it's available for free online at smitten-mag.com

Guestbook: Kitty Cat Stevens | Styling: Stockroom Vintage | Photography: Alissa Saylor Photography
Floral Design: SOULflowers | Model: Jenna Farro | Makeup: Jessie Glover | Hair: Lauren Bourgeois
Location: The Barn at Cedar Grove | Dresses: Whitney Deal from Hello Honey | Jewelry: Sisters of Nature | Veil + Headpiece: Eden by Zipporah & Mignonne Handmade | Ceramics: Handmade Studio TN 

On My Hoop - October: A League of Their Own Patch

Just a little peek at my current embroidery project! This is the first patch I've ever made, so I'm excited to see how it turns out. I try to have a main bookmaking project to work on and then a smaller embroidery piece for those times when I want something a little less involved.

Embroidery is a nice way to fill lazy evenings, the down time between bigger projects, or the distance during car rides. A stitch here, a stitch there, and then magically you're done! 

Since I already have a little growing list of pieces to stitch next, I thought it would be fun to share "what's on my hoop" each month. It's pretty obvious from these what it's going to be like finished, but it's still exciting!

Welcome, to the new Kitty Cat Stevens blog!

Hello, friends and fellow book lovers! I'm excited to welcome you to my brand new website. Here you'll find an extensive portfolio of my handmade books and one-of-a-kind embroidery, a brand new about me page, a real contact page that works, my first FAQ, and this here blog. YAY— I'm glad you've found me! 

To get started, there are a few changes I'd like to point out. My blog is no longer my homepage— it now lives here, at kittycatstevens.com/blog. This has caused some issues, like figuring out how to update all the ways my amazing readers can find me or subscribe, losing all my old comments, and causing lots of links to change, but I am overall happy with the newness. 

Next up, you might notice that my archives are significantly shorter then they used to be. This is because I didn't import all of my old content to this new site. This was a hard decision, but there are a few reasons behind it:

• My blog has changed a lot since I started it 3+ years ago. Although I'm proud of how I've grown and where I am now, I have a very clear vision of how I want to move forward and what I want to focus on (hint: all books, all the time!). Part of me wanted to trash it all and just start fresh, but I decided to keep my best, most relevant, and helpful content instead. 
  
  
• Due to a really boring and technical story, I lost a lot of the pictures in my older posts. Since 90% of what I do and blog about is visual, most of my older content didn't make sense without images. And like I said above, since the content wasn't even relevant to what I write about now, I wasn't about to backtrack and add images to old posts that I don't care about. 
  
  
• I just needed a change! I feel so much more confident about my photography and writing these days, and I just wanted a space of my own that reflects who I am now. I consider my blog to be like my own little magazine. And I'm so happy that you're all here reading along!  

So, you're probably wondering what I will be blogging about! That's a good question— one I actually answered with a Venn diagram for you:

I've thought a lot about what I like to write about, what my readers enjoy, and how they overlap. Technically, I will only be blogging about two things—bookcraft + stitchery. But the beauty is that for me, books and sewing overlap in so many ways that it allows me to write about everything I love. 

This is getting long winded, so I am going to wrap it up! Basically, if you like books, embroidery, diy fashion, poetry, vintage + handmade goods, peeping into other people's sketchbooks, and all things paper or snail mail— then you're in the right place. 

If you're new to Kitty Cat Stevens, then:

Hi, I'm Jenna, it's nice to meet you!

I'd love for you to say hi in the comments below or get to know me better by clicking here. And if you're an old friend that's been wondering where my blog is or what the heck I've been up to, the answer is: I've been building this playground for modern day bibliophiles— welcome back!

Photo Journal: Gearing Up for Handmade Goodness

If you've known me for any amount of time then you already know this coming weekend is a huge milestone for me! I mentioned here that I'll be attending my first market and the time has almost come.

I've spent many hot southern summers perusing craft fairs and art shows and now I'm finally going to be on the other side of all the action. I will be talking about my handmade books and selling them to complete strangers for the first time ever. This is a lot different from friends, family, and acquaintances of my friends/family asking me to make books for them after already seeing my work.

This is me going out there and literally putting it all on the table and seeing what the world thinks--- EEEEP! I am so excited / nervous / scared / proud that I almost don't know what to do with myself! 

Almost being the key word-- I've managed to spend every spare moment making as many books as possible. I've been waking up early, making books in cars, stitching pages together while watching Orphan Black, and folding paper until my fingers hurt and I can't find anymore podcasts to listen to.

It's actually been pretty wonderful-- despite all of the unknowns. I've made lots of mini books, reclaimed leather books, and other fun things. I'm trying to find ways to display my books using different items I already have around the house, though I am meeting with Elizabeth this week to paint some props and get my layout nailed down.

That's what I've been up to the last few weeks! It's big and exciting and I know that I have so much to learn-- I can't wait to share it all with you! And since I've been talking about opening my business and doing things like this for so long, I know I'm not the only one with this dream. So please, if you have ANY questions then ask them below. I would LOVE to pass on everything I learn— the good, the bad, the scary! I don't even know what I don't know yet, but once Saturday is over, it will be nice to have those "first show jitters" out of the way.

If you're in Nashville, stop by theSummer Solstice Party for handmade vendors, food trucks, music, and local brews on Saturday. Otherwise, give me all your wisdom and your questions and I will see you on the other side of this madness-- yay!