Artwork For Mission Surf

About a year ago I worked with Mission Surf in Pacific Beach, California to create some custom artwork for womens t-shirts. I lived in Pacific Beach for a couple years during and after college so this was an extra fun project to work on. PB will always have a special place in my heart! Go check out the shirts in their shop!

Las Gaviotas Beachcombing Treasures

This week we spent a few days down at Las Gaviotas in Baja, Mexico and I took advantage of the low tide each morning and combed the beach for these treasures. I've always wanted to find a surfboard fin, so I was pretty excited to stumble upon this one. My friend Cory, who went searching with me, also found a black surfboard fin. The painted sea tiles were extra special to find, too! I was hoping to find some doll arms to add to my collection (this is the beach where I found my very first doll arm - hence the high hopes), but none made their way to me this search. Excited to add all these colorful pieces to my collection!

Billabong Womens Summer Quotes

One of my favorite projects I get to work on these days is creating artwork for Billabong Womens. They give me inspirational copy to pull from, and through hand lettering, doodling and drawing I get to bring that copy to life. They post these quote images on the Billabong Womens Pinterest account and will sometimes use them on their Instagram and Facebook pages as well. Above are some quotes I made earlier this summer. Follow Billabong Womens on Pinterest for great surf inspiration and dreamy images that will get you in the mood for summer!

Hello Again!

Hi friends (if anyone is actually still looking at this)! Wow, it's been over two years since I've posted on this blog - a ton has happened since my last post, when we had just made a huge move from Long Beach, California to Biarritz, France. Since then I've started another travel blog, The Baguettenbergers, about all our adventures in Biarritz and traveling around Europe (probably the main reason I've been ignoring this one) and have been focusing on Orange Paper Shoppe (which also now has a BLOG). On top of all that I've also been working for Billabong Women's as their digital designer, so as you can imagine I've been very busy and this blog got lost in the shuffle.

A few months back I saw this instagram post and this blog post by Designlovefest, one of the first bloggers I ever followed and was inspired by to start this blog. She was talking about getting back to the good ol' 2009 blogging roots - when posts and images were more raw, more inspired, and not so polished and perfect. I read through ALL the reader comments and seems like everyone feels the same - we all miss that more creative, raw content when bloggers posted random ideas and inspiration, before every post was sponsored and everything was crisp, clean and white. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of all white everything and am very happy in a crisp clean environment, but sometimes miss the old days of collaging random images together, posting random old photos that I've found, just being creative because I feel like it, not because someone is paying me to be. 

So all that being said, I was inspired to get back to this blog, where I can share random projects, illustrations, photos and ideas that I'm not sharing in my other online spaces. Thanks for the inspiration Bri! If you're still reading this, thanks for sticking around, nice to see you again! x

P.S. The photo above is our main view looking out from our apartment in Biarritz. On a sunny day we can see a bit of the ocean in the distance. I snapped this with an old camera that had a half-used roll of film sitting in it for over six years! It was fun to use up the rest of the photos and get them developed. Trying to get back into taking more film photos this summer, I love the element of surprise involved in the process!

Biarritz Beachcombing

I've done a ton of beach combing in the last few years and by far the best beach combing day I've ever had was a couple of weeks ago at the Côte des Basques in Biarritz, France. It was one of our first weekends here, and Brent wanted to surf - the waves were so massive that he wouldn't even let me paddle out, but luckily the tide was low and it was perfect beach combing conditions, so I did that instead. The guys only lasted about an hour in the water (apparently it was freezing so I wasn't missing out on too much fun), and in that hour I found everything in the photo above... it was unbelievable. This photo doesn't do the size of these pieces justice, but the sea glass chunks in the bottom right corner are almost 2 inches in length, to give you an idea (some of the biggest sea glass chunks I've ever found). I found TWO teeth (maybe shark? upper left center of the photo), my FIRST ever patterned piece of sea pottery (I follow a few other beachcombers on instagram who seem to find sea pottery by the pound almost everyday, but until last week I had never had the pleasure), all of these different patterns on terra cotta tile pieces (in addition to a huge chunk with French type on it that I'm not showing here), and all these beautiful shades of blue/green glass. And if all that wasn't already awesome enough, a plastic dude on a bike appeared. I was in heaven. I can only hope that all my beachcombing adventures in Europe turn out this good!

Vintage Postcard Finds

A few months ago I went to visit my Dad at his new home in Genoa, Nevada. We spent a lot of time exploring the little local towns surrounding Reno, which included lots of visits to antique shops. I think I came home with a stack of about 20 vintage postcards for my collection, many with images of my favorite places like beaches in San Diego, Yosemite, desert scenes and famous European buildings like the Notre Dame in Paris and the Duomo in Florence.  These are a few of my favorites from that day - I scored!

Olvera Street Engagement Photos

I wanted to share a few of my favorite shots from our engagement photoshoot we did back in November. We went to amazing Olvera Street in downtown LA with my friend Kristina of Kristina Lee Photography. Brent wasn't thrilled about having to participate in something like this, but after a few margaritas and Kristina's guidance, we both loosened up and were able to have some fun with it, and in the end got some really great photos. Kristina had been telling me for years that when we got engaged she had the perfect engagement photoshoot location in mind for us - Olvera Street! She couldn't have picked a more perfect location for us : rustic, colorful, and a GIANT succulent wall?! This place was AMAZING and so fitting for us. It was a little awkward kissing in front of a crowd of tourists (who would have guessed from these shots that there were a ton of other people there?) but in the end all worth it! Thanks for the great shots Kristina!

29

Yesterday was my 29th birthday - I snapped this photo on a run while exploring new streets of Biarritz. I love these old enamel French house numbers! Last time I was in Paris I scored some at this antique market, hopefully I can find more while I'm here!

Woodland Happy Animal Friends

My sister Hanna is expecting her second son in 6 days (!!!), and I drew this picture of these happy animal friends for her to hang in his woodland-themed nursery. You might remember this picture I shared (almost exactly two years ago) that I drew for my first nephew Max's nursery - his own version of Happy Animal Friends. Can't wait to meet you baby Gabe!

Life Lately

So much has happened in the last few months, it's hard to sum it all up with just a few photos and even a lot of words. A few of the highlights from the past few months include : getting married, spending quality time with some best friends (picnics, sunset dinners, hikes) and quality time with family with visits back home to Mariposa, San Diego, and Genoa, NV to visit Dad, saying goodbye to life in Belmont Shore, LB (more on the big move to come in another post!), starting to (re) learn French, designing a ton for Orange Paper Shoppe and making a lot of progress working on our soon-to-launch website, chopping off most of my hair (eek! But so refreshing!), happily supporting the comeback of Birkenstocks (take that all you haters), and realizing that my last name is now Grettenberger. GRETTENBERGER!!

Becca & Brent's White Fiesta Wedding Invites

Designing wedding invitations with MYSELF as a client was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. I've designed so many invites via Orange Paper Shoppe this past year, but sitting down to make invites for my OWN wedding was very challenging, I'm a tough customer. I always wanted to letterpress my invitations, but Brent convinced me that they would be just as good if I made & printed them myself. Once he convinced me, I got to work hand-lettering the main invite and rsvp card. 

I made mini postcards using a few of my favorites from my vintage postcard collection. On the back of these I printed all of our wedding info for our guests (hotel accommodations, registry info. etc.), which fit into these mini white envelopes. 

We had an all-white, fiesta themed wedding in Old Town San Diego,  so I stuck with a lighter white on white color palette and used these AMAZING vintage cactus stamps (found here on Etsy) and vintage cactus postcards to bring that fiesta flair. 

My favorite part of these invites were the Hola bags I hired my super talented friends at Hecho Por Sego to illustrate and screen print for me. These little bags secured the rsvp cards and mini envelopes with all the wedding info, and I tied them all together with metallic and white twine.

They were a ton of work, but in the end I was really happy with how they turned out and think they did a great job setting the tone for our wedding. I'll be sharing more pictures from the big day soon!

Photos by Kristina Lee Photography

The Brent Proposal

Hello loyal blog readers! Sorry I've neglected this blog for MONTHS, hopefully you all haven't given up on me and reading my blog. So much has happened in the last few months of my life, I finally have a moment to breathe and get caught up on my life + inspiration. We'll start by catching up with THIS - THE PROPOSAL! After 9 years of dating Brent proposed to me on the beach in Long Beach with this amazing Eiffel Tower ring he had made for me. BEST ENGAGEMENT RING EVER! We are moving to France in a few weeks, hence the Eiffel Tower. It was so cute and romantic, and even though it stuck out a bit, I rocked it until we got our real rings made. Everywhere I went, almost every day someone made a comment about how dangerous it was - well, you are all lucky I didn't punch you in the face with it. Brent tricked me into going down to the beach by telling me he had to collect straws off the beach for a presentation at work. He said similar to how Billabong makes boardshorts out of recycled water bottles, Quiksilver was going to start making boardshorts out of plastic straws from the beach, and they were going to give a presentation about it, so he needed to collect some to take photos for the presentation. Of course I never turn down an opportunity to go beach combing (beach combing HOARDER!), so I agreed to go, not thinking anything of it, picking up every dirty plastic straw in the sand all along the bay, all the way to the beach. GROSS! AND NO, Quiksilver is NOT actually making boardshorts out of straws, but there are SO MANY straws on the beach that I completely believed him. (Maybe someone SHOULD think about making something out of recycled beach straws?) Anyway - once we had gathered about 50 dirty straws he asked me to help him photograph them in the sand… so as I started styling straws in the sand, he got down on one knee and surprised me. I don't really remember much of what either of us said (I feel like this happens to a lot of people), but I remember being really happy and excited and surprised (obviously surprised, because if I had been suspicious at all I would NOT have worn workout clothes with my Patagonia vest - why didn't I even think to put on a cuter sweater and hat for this?! Haha oh well). He was also clever enough to have asked our amazing photographer friend Kristina of Kristina Lee Photography to photograph it all - she was hiding in the lifeguard tower on the beach snapping all these awesome photos. Thanks for the great pictures Kristina! We went back to our house after where more friends were waiting with champagne and it couldn't have been more PERFECT. That's my story.

Life Lately

Life has been so busy lately that I haven't had a chance to catch up about any of it on my blog! But being too busy has been a good problem to have, a 'first world problem' as Brent keeps telling me. Do I have time to run AND surf, handle all my freelance clients, work on my new business AND enjoy the weekends? It's all been great, so I can't complain. I've been really productive with my new paper shop, freelance projects, and still trying to get in lots of early morning and evening runs on the beach before it's pitch black at 4pm (until 7am, ugh). Bike rides and cocktails and time with Brent, trips to San Diego for birthdays, baby showers, and surfing. Conclusion : I'm pretty good at being my own boss, and life is really really good!

Northwest Vacation

I've spent the last 10 days up in Washington, enjoying some vacation time with family, exploring the beautiful Northwest. It started with a weekend in downtown Seattle for my cousin Kevin and his wife Shannon's wedding, followed by a Kudela family day in Everett, a day on the water in Indianola with Aunt Marcia and Uncle Mike, and a week in Tacoma with my sister and her family. I've gone on lots of runs down tree-lined streets, watched the rain from the porch, eaten delicious seafood, drank good coffee, read some books, went antiquing, had several beach-combing adventures finding sea glass, sand dollars and striped rocks, and spent days playing with my little nephew Max. It's been so relaxing, and good to get out of my normal element for a bit - I am leaving feeling very refreshed and inspired.

Max's First Birthday Fiesta

A few months ago I posted about these invites I made for my nephew Max's first birthday - even though I'm now a few months late, I wanted to share pictures from the actual party. My sister Hanna did the best job making decorations for the party! She made these adorable mini piñatas that we filled with Mexican candy, tissue paper pinwheels, tissue paper flowers for everyone's hair, and the cutest cactus cupcakes and piñata cookies. I helped with some garlands, the donkey cupcake flags and straw tags. Everything came together so well, it was the perfect first birthday fiesta. Now stop growing so fast little Max!

Andrea & Scott's Wedding Invitations

I just finished making 100 of these wedding invitations for my friends Andrea and Scott. I lined the envelopes with a metallic, handmade paper, hand ripped the edges of all the invite pieces, and tied everything together with a metallic hemp - simple, classic, natural, and hand-crafted were all great choices, these came out beautiful. Congrats Andrea & Scott - can't wait to celebrate the big day with you!

a summer wave

Found this shot while digging through some old files today - a summer wave in Laguna I snapped a few years ago. I need more clear, blue, summer waves in my life, and definitely more Laguna time.

Brent shreds Las Gaviotas

 A short clip of Brent getting a fun ride, captured on our friend Cris' GoPro, at Las Gaviotas back in July.

5'10'' Squid Lid Quad

Brent got me the most amazing birthday present this year - my first ever custom surfboard that is the perfect size and shape for me -  a 5'10'' Squid Lid Quad shaped by my friend Blake Sinclair.  I got to pick the colors and design the scalloped edge - it came out perfect, and is such a fun shape for these summer waves!

(Top two photos by me, bottom two board photos shot by Blake)

Adios Bitchachos!

I did this little illustration for a goodbye card I made for my friends and Quik/Roxy. Adios Bitchachos!