Mixbook Fan Feature: Jill Conroy

It's often rare that someone has the knack of combining themes because most users might be afraid their book wouldn't look cohesively designed. It's a very unique talent to have! Meet Jill Conroy. She's a Mixbook enthusiast with the knack to create beautiful photo products from multiple themes offered by our editor. Using our Blank Canvas card and photo book option, with thousands of stickers and backgrounds to choose from, Jill will show you how to create a cohesively designed product through mixing and matching our themes.

Here's her story:

Fan Feature

Jill Conroy, Mixbook Enthusiast!

Mixbook Talent: Combining Design Themes

When I was planning my wedding, I knew that being the type of person I am, I really wanted to have control over the designs and theme of the decor. For me, this started with the stationery. As a guest, the first glimpse at the wedding is through the invitations, and thanks to the Mixbook Blank Canvas option, I was able to design my entire wedding stationery on my own and have a continuous theme throughout the pieces.

I started with the idea that I loved the colors orange and navy blue….regal with a pop of fun! So, I started designing my save the date cards. I wanted to include a picture of my then fiancé and I, but didn’t want it to be the focus on the card.

Next up was the invitation. I wanted to get working on that. So I copied this project into another, more suitable size for the main card, the official wedding invitation. I also ensured that I made this card the largest so that the additional cards, such as the RSVP card and direction card, would all be able to fit inside the envelope together.

There was also some particular information that I wanted to share with my guests after all. Not all of my guests would be tech savvy and visit our wedding website so I thought it would be nice to include the directions from both Boston and New York to get to the venue; this is where the majority of our guests would be coming from.

And of course, I would need to include the RSVP cards so that I could get my headcount. As all brides know, you want to make this part as easy and clear as possible for your guests because when that headcount deadline comes in, with your venue and caterer, you want to have a solid answer for them! So once again, I used the copy feature on Mixbook and made the RSVP cards the same exact size as the direction cards. I used the color picker (eye dropper tool in the color menu) to ensure I had the exact same colors on all the cards and used the same fonts. Since all Mixbook cards come with the complimentary envelopes, I simply stamped and self-addressed the ones that came with the RSVP cards, and put them all together with the invitation cards before sending them off. Thanks to Mixbook, I had completed the invitations.

But I didn’t stop there! Being so excited about how these Mixbook cards came together, and printed in such nice quality, I decided it was time to continue on! Next up was the rehearsal dinner invitations and the bridal shower invitations.

As another way to continue the theme of the wedding stationery (in addition to the colors and fonts), I shared stickers with the various projects. For example, the white dots and light bulbs are found on the wedding invitation, the back of the RSVP card, and then again on the menu card which I used at the place settings on each table to help tie the colors to the white tables and napkins.

I used the Blank Canvas card feature again with a photo from our wedding to create our thank you cards as well. I left the backside of the card blank with a simple, “thank you!” so that I could personalize the notes to each guest. Note that the thank you card has the same white dot sticker that you have seen in other pieces as well.

Naturally after the wedding, I couldn’t help myself (I may be a Mixbook addict). I felt the need to create a wedding album. This time I used the Blank Canvas photo book option and I have shared some sneak peeks of that below…

Like most people, I knew that if I didn’t print the pictures from my wedding, bridal shower, honeymoon, etc., I would rarely look at them. There isn’t an easy way for sharing the pictures with family and friends when you don’t have them actually printed. I decided to add a couple of pages at the end of the wedding album with these images…

Thanks to the feature where you can upload your own image, I was able to upload the crest that I had made and used throughout the wedding. I had the crest made into a stamp and used it to dress up the standard brown gift bags that we used as welcome bags for guests staying at the hotel. My mother used the crest on stickers to add the theme to the chocolate covered Oreos that she made as yummy treats at the end of the wedding and bridal shower. I added this crest as an uploaded sticker to the back cover of the book…

Mixbook allowed me the ability to create my wedding album exactly the way I wanted, print multiple copies as thank you gifts to my parents and in-laws, and made it really easy to share with family and friends.  When I finally printed the albums, I opted for the 12” x 12” hardcover coffee table size which I absolutely love! The book lives on our living room coffee table allowing me to glance at it from time to time and smile.

Since our wedding, I have started designing “yearbooks”, if you will, of our life together since marriage. These books will also be the same 12” x12” hardcover coffee table size books which will be great to look back on. Since the wedding, my husband and I have bought a house, adopted a dog, and plan to start a family. In addition to selfishly wanting to have these images in a beautiful book form, I want to be able to pass these albums down through generations. I just can’t say enough about Mixbook!

- Jill Conroy, Mixbook Enthusiast

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