Mini Photo Shoot!

Yesterday my dear friend Holly, aka Princess Pretty, came over for a quick 2 hour photo session to model the new winter wedding capelet and to re-shoot a couple gowns I wasn't entirely happy with.  It was a lot of fun but BRRR! was it ever cold up in the attic!  But Holly said the capelet kept her quite toasty!

Sale in our Etsy Shop!

Why camp out in some freezing mall parking lot?  Shop our Black Friday sale from the comfort of your own home!  We almost NEVER do sales so be sure to take advantage of getting 30% off any item in our Etsy shop!!!

Monday Monday

So now that we've switched our clocks you can't deny... WINTER IS COMING!

I seem to dread the snow more and more each year.  My darling husband and I finished winterizing the house this past weekend and now I am back to focusing on the brides winterizing their weddings!  Soon, in addition to our bridal boleros, we'll be introducing some loverly capes & coverlets to the Etsy shop!  No need to shiver on the alter or don an ugly puffy jacket to step into the limo. Wouldn't you rather slip into a sumptuous cape or fluffy coverlet as you slip off to your reception?  I thought so!  So hold tight, new pieces will be in our Etsy shop by the end of the week and ready to order for your winter wedding!

This bride would look much happier against the winter landscape if she wasn't freezing!

Check out our feature!

Uptown Urban Craft is a Featured Artisan on the popular wedding blog, Emmaline Bride.  It's a blog that focuses solely on hand-crafted weddings and a handmade market place!  Obviously we LOVE that there are so many brides out there who shop with a social conscience and help support small independent vendors and artists!  Anyways, they wrote up a lovely post on the top 3 reasons every bride needs a bridal bolero (we couldn't agree more!).   Check it out here!

See?  How happy is SHE for having a bolero!  A new husband might also have something to do with it too I guess.  :)

Happy Friday!

I hope you all have a great weekend!  Just a reminder to all you autumn brides (or friends of autumn brides) to get you accessory orders in sooner than later!  Every year I get lots of October and November Brides who forgot that it's gonna be COLD on their wedding day and need to order pretty bridal cover-ups for their wedding in a hurry!  Uptown Urban Craft has lots of beautiful options in our Etsy shop and don't forget you can always request customizations too!  Happy shopping!!!

New Product in Our Etsy Shop!

We have a new bridal accessory for sale in out Etsy shop!  Introducing the Athena Ballerina Bridal Sash!  This beautiful couture sash also doubles as a headband!  Actually in my mind it started out as a headband and then I thought, "Man this would look gorgeous belted around a gown!"  So there you go!  It's available in gold or silver and has intricate hand-sewn beading across the laurel leaves.  The shimmery sheer organza sash ties in the back for a perfect fit, however you decide to wear it!  To see more images & order, click here.

Customer Photos!

Over the past year I've been lucky enough to have some happy clients send my photos of their weddings featuring the garments I've made for them!  It's still my plan to get these up on the main Uptown Urban Craft website, but there always seems to be more demanding work taking up my and Dylan's (my web guru hubby) time.  So I thought why not post some here?  If you're one of my past brides and you'd like to send my a picture to post, I'd love to see it & you can e-mail it to me at laura@uptownurbancraft.com!  

We're Having a Valentine's Day Sale!!!

We're Having a Valentine's Day sale in our Etsy shop!  Between now and Valentine's Day just enter coupon code VDAY15 to get 15% off of any item in the shop!  This is a great time to same money on your bridal bolero or veil and help easy the strain on your wedding budget!  Visit our etsy shop by clicking here!

Custom Design Work: Meg's Pink Champagne Wedding

I've just recently completed a special wedding project which I've been working on for the past couple months.    Local bride, Meg, came to me shortly after ordering her wedding dress directly from Jenny Yoo's flagship showroom in Chicago.  The lucky bride was even measured by Jenny herself, and was able to order a very special colored silk shantung, not normally available to customers!  The silk is a delicate pink champagne which compliments her skin tone beautifully!   Having ordered extra yardage from Jenny, Meg came to me to request a custom bolero, based on my East Lake design.  For a perfect fit, we did a muslin drape directly on her to create the pattern.  As the project commenced she also decided to do a custom veil design and an extra matching silk flower pin.   This project was an absolute joy to work on!  Below are some photos of the process and bits of the finished work.  Meg has promised to send me pictures from her wedding so hopefully I can post some of her in the whole ensemble in the next couple weeks.

Product Preview: Pocket Squares

I know my posts have been have been scarce this week but I've been working my tail off to get ready for the big No-Coast Craft-o-rama!   I'll be debuting several new products there including the new Men's Haberdashery line!  You've already seen a sneak peek of the slim plaid ties and here is a preview of the latest addition, pre-folded pocket squares!  A decade ago seeing a pocket square in a mans coat pocket was a rare thing but today no fashionable man should be without one.   Ah, but to deal with all the pesky folding and refolding is inconvenient for today's guy on the go.  The solution is our quality pre-folded pocket squares, available in four different fold styles.  Each is made of fine Egyptian cotton, reinforced at the base, and stitched in place to permanently hold it's shape.  And unlike the cheap cheesy pre-folded pocket squares that came with your prom tuxedo these are not stapled to large pieces of card board, so they are fully washable should they become soiled.   Look for them December 3rd and 4th and the Midtown Global Market!

Product Preview: Mini Hipster Collection!

Here is a sneak peek at one of the new products I'll be introducing at the No-Coast Craft-o-rama, the Mini Hipster onesies!  They are too cute don't you think?  Naturally, they are made of organic cotton.  For those of you not in Minneapolis the 612 is a nod to the area code here.  Lots of Uptown hipsters wear 612 T-shirts and hats.  There are a couple other onesie designs in addition to these two but you'll just have to wait to see those!

New Uptown Urban Craft Team Member!

Uptown Urban Craft has just grown a little bit bigger as we welcome our new hire Johanna!   Johanna is a bright and eager Minneapolis highschool senior who's joined the team on Monday, especially to help prepare for the upcoming No Coast Craft-o-Rama show!   Welcome aboard Johanna!

Product Preview: The Stache Bash Party Pack!

These will be available for purchase soon on my website and in my Etsy shop!  It's the Stache Bash Party Pack!  It's a set of six handmade moustaches on a stick that make great photography props and party favors!  Best of all 50% of the proceeds will be donated to the Movember Foundation to help fight mens cancers.  In case you're unfamiliar, Movember (the month formally known as November) is a world-wide charity event held during November each year.

At the start of Movember guys register with a clean shaven face. The Movember participants known as Mo-Bros then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their Mo (slang for moustache) and along the way raise awareness and funds for men's health issues - specifically prostate and testicular cancer.  You can pledge money just like a walk-a-thon.  My husband and I are on the committee for Minneapolis's Foam Comber Team, he's a Mo-Bro and I'm a Mo-Sistah, and we are helping host this years big Movember Bash at the end on November (date to be announced) which will be a really fun event at The Stub & Herb with live music, great beer, a silent auction, & a "Best 'Stache" contest!   In the mean time if you'd like to donate you can do so right here!   Your donation supports the great work of the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG.

Great Big News!

Uptown Urban Craft will be participating in the No-Coast Craft-o-rama show this year!!!  I just found out this morning and am super excited.  The competition into this very large 2-day craft show is stiff and I didn't think I got in because I never got an acceptance e-mail.  But then I thought it was weird that other people got e-mails saying they didn't get in and I didn't get any response at all to my application so I e-mailed the No-Coast folks a week or so ago just to double check.  This morning they wrote me to tell me that YES I did in fact get in and my letter must've gotten lost in cyberspace.   This is a big deal; last year there were over 8000 visitors!

Save the date: This year's show is held on December 3rd & 4th and is located at the vibrant Mid-town Global Market in Minneapolis.   I hope to see you all there.  In the mean time I've got a lot of planning and work ahead of me.  Wish me luck!

  The awesome poster for this year's show!

Happy Friday!

Ahhh!   Creepy headless baby!  Oh wait that's the mannequin I just got.  Geeze!  I had no idea how hard it was gonna be to dress one of these.  It's almost as hard as dressing a real baby!  Anyways, new baby-toddler collection is on the way!  Fabric arrived yesterday and I'm actually able to spend the weekend home for once (woot!) so that's what I'll be up to.  I'll preview the sketches and fabric next week.  Have a great weekend everyone!

What I'm Working on Now

Just wanted to share one of my projects I'm working on.  It's a custom-made bolero for a local bride-to-be based on my East Lake Bolero design.   We are using special silk dupioni to match her dress.  It's so fun for me to work on projects like these because it takes me back to my designer roots.  The photo below is after doing a custom drape to design the pattern on muslin.  Here I've marked out the pattern pieces and will be making up a muslin sample before her next fitting. 

Photo Shoot Woot!

Whew! Yesterday sure was a busy day!  It was photo shoot day for the new birdcage veil and hairpieces accessory line for Uptown Urban Craft! We started at 9am with our photographer Stuart and our beautiful red-headed model Sarah. Everything went swimmingly and I can't wait to get the proofs! I initially intended to only use one model but I couldn't decide between my top two choices so I did a shorter secondary shoot myself later that afternoon with an up-&-coming model named Sami. Since Sarah's photographs were very dreamy and romantic, I did a really fun and playful shoot with Sami. Below are is a look at the process and sneak peak at some of the photos! Enjoy! 

Where is my Don Draiper???

I'm getting ready to do some advertising on a high profile blog (Woot!) and I'm having trouble figuring out my ad style. If only Sterling Cooper really existed and I had lots of money to have Don Draper and Peggy Olson make me a killer ad campaign! Here's a couple different banners I have thrown together. Obviously two completely different styles and different appeal! The second one is NOT my usual style, I just really liked the picture (it's me!). Well the photo shoot of the new veils is happening next week so I may just do a completely different one. Feel free leave a comment to voice your opinions.

Coming Soon...

I've got a very busy day of work ahead of me today so I'll keep this brief. Uptown Urban Craft has an exciting new line of bridal accessories in the works! I don't want to give anything away but a the image below is a hint! That's all for now...