Mrs. Lang

My sister got married this weekend! 

Please bear with me while I catch up on all my emails today. 

Bespoke Ketubot | Scenic Views of Colorado

Next week is my sister's bachlorette party. She wants a casual day with friends and family out in nature. I'm thinking of a summery forest hike. I'm not an outdoors person (I like looking at views like that from the balcony of my air conditioned home) so I have no idea where to wrangle everyone, and how to make it comfortable. Any ideas for outdoor parties?

In the past two months I had the fortune to take two commissions inspired by the same Colorado forest scenery featured in the above photo. Gotta love those mountains.

Colorado Aspen Treess and Colorado Maroon Bells are bespoke papercut ketubot designed specifically for the clients. If you'd like to order a custom papercut as well, you're welcome to email me at woodlandpapercuts@gmail.com or contact me at my etsy shop. 

Life Lesson | Don't cut when you are angry

I'd like to say I am infallible, but unfortunately that's not true. Sometimes there are bad days, like today, and I need to take a deep breath and look at something beautiful like this view.

Take this as a life lesson: Do not papercut when angry. Because when you papercut when you're frustrated you can make a mistake on the very last cut when a papercut is all but finished. Very last, no joke. And then when you're angry and try to fix it you can rip the delicate paper. Because sometimes 12 hours of work can just end like that. With a beautiful and intricate papercut mocking you from the paper bin.

Deep breath.

And then you get hit with a power outage so you can't work and have nothing to do but go to bed. Sometimes there are days like that.

And then a beautiful photo like Kevin Russ's Foggy Forest Creek really helps.

shopping | Boutique Minimalist

I just bought these two awesome necklaces from Boutique Minimalist! I love the combination of soft and hard textures in Marta's jewelry, and the minimalist use of color.  I look forward to wearing them with tank tops and jeans, and layering them with my other gold necklaces.

In the Studio | snapshots in the dark

From drawing to papercut, the slow and sweet evolution of a papercut.

I started recording my work on instagram. I find it to be a very useful tool to keep me aware of my timeline, even though people's beautiful uploads can be very distracting (you know who you are!) Are you on instagram? Follow me here!

industrial chic inspiration

cage pendant | quartz terrariums | table & bench

I'm not sure if I should say my taste in interior styles has 'evolved' or just 'changed' since I first became interested in it in high school. The first decorative styles I gravitated towards were Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts. I still like them for their affinity to handcraft, but their lines are a bit heavy-handed for me now. I remember I absolutely hated the angular lines or Art Deco and now I appreciate the streamlined designs of the later-period and prefer it over the decorative fussiness of early Art Nouveau. Funny, that.

Over the last few months I've been attracted more and more to Vintage Industrial style in interior design. Think old artist studios and factories. No doubt I've been influenced by all the great blogs I've been following, carried on by the metal trend in home accessories (first the Edison lightbulbs, then the thinly-soldered terrariums, oh my!). I really love the gritty connection between bulky weathered slabs of wood and thin hammered black metal.

I've been mooning over the World Market and Restoration Hardware websites for weeks, and really the what sold me on my apartment was all the black metal windows and the big floor slabs in cement-grey that I knew would fit this style. All I needed was to buy the furniture to match.

My place is slowly coming together. I have a table, a few lamps, but still no chairs or sofa. I'm working on storage now. It will never be magazine-worthy, but I hope the place will be comfortable and functional.

IKEA

cart | tins | bin | chair | shelving unit | table legs | step stool 

IKEA. It's hard not to be drawn by its siren song - low prices, designed spaces, everything in one location - who can pass that up?! But then, I learned to be careful with Ikea over the years. Because let's face it - your rooms will never look as good as Ikea's display rooms, the furniture isn't the cheapest, and flat pack assembly just isn't the fun and relaxing family time you thought it would be.

Don't get me wrong, I like Ikea. You can't furnish a place without a trip there. It's just unfathomable. Truthfully, I wouldn't want to try. Even if Ikea furniture can disappoint in the harsh light of your apartment (crooked and mismatched as they can turn out to be) there's nothing like walking into a styled space that's designed to convince you your apartment can look like this too! and this is how! - where everything, from the throw pillow to the bookcase, is for sale.

The funny thing about Ikea is, no matter how much you plan ahead, you never seem to leave with the things on your list. Mostly just nick-nacks. But, I got my table legs, so that's what's important. Even if I've been banned from assembling anything on my own (really, from being in the same room with an open Ikea box), I'm having buyer's remorse, and my place currently looks like this:

It's a work in progress, don't judge.

{Sneak Peek} Greeting Cards

Last year lasercut greeting cards I collaborated on with the magnificent Sarah of Candyspotting went to the National Stationery Show in NYC (you could find them in the Crow & Canary booth, they represent Candyspotting LLC). They sold well and can now be found in various paper shops across the US.

Sarah invited me back this year to try my hand at more, now for occasions like Mother's Day. Here's a sneak peak of one of the cards that will debut on May 19-22 at the National Stationery Show in NYC!

New digs

Thank you everyone for being so patient and supporting me during my cross-country move! I've been up here for 4 weeks now, but it still feels like the first. I don't know what I thought, but apparently I forgot that moving from a one room studio to a 3 rooms apartment means I'll have a lot more space to fill (I never said I was a minimalist). Trouble is - I have no furniture! In some ways I miss my old tiny studio, it was cozy and I knew where everything was. Those of you who follow my instagram account (@woodlandpapercuts) have already seen the the photo above of my new bare studio (well, bare for me). I set up a bed and my studio desk but the rest of the place is still piled with boxes.

Read more about new changes to WOODLAND PAPERCUTS >>

Happy Purim 2013!

My favorite holiday is upon us - Happy Purim everyone! Spent the day packing & working, but I got to people watch and see strangers parade around in crazy costumes. I was never one to do full out costumes, but I put on my alternative chick persona for the day (tattly temporary tattoos and all). Drink & Be Merry!

++ WOODLAND PAPERCUTS will go on holiday break next week until March 5th while I move to another city. So not really a holiday break, but you know:) Until my return I can be reached at woodlandpapercuts{at}gmail{dot}com ++

Photo | Portrait by Tali Yalonetzki