NOW OPEN! - GunslingerStudios

Gunslinger Studios is now open for business on Etsy.com! Congratulations to Roger for getting his product online!

Happy Birthday Domino!

Today Domino is 3 years old! Domino is our Catalhoula, and might I add, pretty much the cutest dog ever (okay I'm a little biased).  

Rappy Ruffray Romino!

6 Months & Counting!

Today was our 6 month anniversary! Wow, that came fast! Roger had a romantic dinner and evening planned, complete with a glass of Carmel Road chardonnay (the white we've enjoyed for years and served at our wedding), and re-reading our vows to each other.  It's funny how things work out perfectly.  I accidentally left my rings on the bathroom sink this morning.  Roger re-proposed with my engagement ring when I walked in the front door!  And he tied up our wedding bands in the little nest we used as a ring pillow....awwww, so sweet :)  I might argue that I have the best husband ever...swoon.

We also watched our wedding video, which was provided thanks to our friend Craig's mad videography skills ;)  AND....I have the wedding photographs (by Lisa Myers-Gonzales)!!! yay!! I can't wait to look at them!

My Best Friend's Wedding

November 7th 2009

My best friend, Jen, got married to Kris!!!  I'm so happy for therm. I couldn't believe how fast their big day came.  Jen was glowing and beautiful in her dress and Kris, her new husband, was all smiles.

Their wedding was flawless, thanks to some quick work behind the scenes (good job, Kristen!).  It was so much fun that I almost forgot I had to give a speech....and I got almost as emotional as Jen did when she gave one at my wedding. 

Weddings are such wonderful events.  How much better does it get than celebrating love with all of your close friends?

An Engagement Celebration for Karla & Chris October 24th, 2009

Our friends Chris and Karla wanted to throw a fun little engagement party get-together with their friends.  It was a casual party that was pulled together quickly with the help of Chris and Karla, and the bridesmaids, including moi :)  We had hosted the event at the Avalon at Cahill Park Apartments Clubhouse.  Relaxed atmosphere, simple dinner & appetizers; a well suited celebration of our friends' happiness.

Invitations by Bloem

 

Volunteering for Thanksgiving

Rogér and I thought we'd have fun this Thanksgiving holiday and volunteer our time to help provide others with a wholesome Thanksgiving meal.  We didn't expect it to be so hard to find someplace to welcome our free services!  We found a few websites that match you with the volunteer service that you'd like to provide. Some of these sites seemed like a great idea, but they didn't have as much as we hoped for.  The Salvation Army website points to Volunteermatch.com.  Here we found one of the places that we are trying to work with the week before Thanksgiving, the Mayfair Community Center Thanksgiving Dinner, for head injury victims and their families. We also checked with our friend's mom who works for the Chamber of Commerce.  She hears about a lot of goings on and turned out to be a great resource!  We are really looking forward to some of these events!! I'll keep ya posted on how it goes :)

Hip Buckles from Gunslinger Studio

Just had to share a couple of Rogér's really cool belt buckles! He etches the copper to get all kinds of intricate designs.  Similar buckles made an awesome personalized gift for our groomsmen :)  More buckles will be available soon at Gunslingerstudio.etsy.com.  You can also order custom!

This tiger was one of three wildlife designs.

Custom buckles for the founder of The Clarity Project

Rogér made these belt buckles for Shane Rogers, founder of The Clarity Project.  The Clarity Project designs and fabricates jewelry using only fair trade diamonds and reclaimed precious metals.  Profits from The Clarity Project are invested back into mining communities,  providing education, mentoring and nutritional support to African mining schools.

I'm in Love

Last year I discovered what is now my favorite resource for creative materials.  It's called the East Bay Depot for Creative Re-Use and it has all kinds of scrap/used/salvaged paper and craft stuff!  You can buy paper by the inch (stacked) and find book bindings, fabric, beads & vintage jewelry.  It's fantastic and (I'm sorry to say) I don't know of any other place like it.  If you do know of other places that are devoted to reuse of craft materials, please post!

Custom Handmade Bachelorette Party Invitation - Jennifer

This invitation was on my workbench for quite some time and I couldn't wait to post it!  (I had to wait until all the invites went out)  It's one of my favorites so far. Sophisticated, yet fun.  Purple sparkle vinyl paper. Hand-cut girl silhouette with rhinestone and embossing detail.  I think it's the perfect "Glamourous Girls' Night Out" design. I never make the same custom invitation design twice, which ensures each of my clients gets something unique and special to them....but....If you like this one, I can always come up with something equally as fabulous for your special event.  Convo me through my Etsy store, bloemdesigns.

Bachelorette Party Invitation - Style# Jennifer

Style# Jennifer - Detail

Yay! New Camera!

I'm so glad we finally got a new small camera!  We tried to take our broken Cannon Elph to a repair shop here in San Jose, Kamera Korner. They seemed nice enough and knowledgeable, but the thing is, there's a $30 minimum to start, then you sign a waiver saying you will pay up to $125 in repairs, before you know if it can even be fixed!  Sucky.  Anyway, we decided the risk was too high and we went a bought this camera at Best Buy for $119!!

Wedding Photographs (A Sneak Peak)

Friends are awesome!  And it's so convenient when their talented too!  Rogér and I were so happy to have our friend, Lisa Myers, photograph our wedding and from the looks of this sneak peak, she did a phenomenal job.  Can't wait to see the rest! Thanks so much, Lisa! ( and Craig, for doing the videography... and capturing our vows on video so that we can relive them forever and ever ;)

Rings in their Nest - Courtesy of Lisa Myers Photography

Homemade Blackberry Jam Favors - Courtesy of Lisa Myers Photography

Groom & Bridesmaids - Courtesy of Lisa Myers Photography