Oh So Beautiful Paper

Archive for November, 2010

These gorgeous booklet wedding invitations come to us from Marcy over at Be Frank, an invitation studio in Philadelphia that Marcy runs with her business partner Jenny.  Marcy just got hitched a little over a week ago (congratulations Marcy!) and sent over photos of her invitations.  I love the way Marcy incorporated elements from the art museum reception venue throughout the invitation suite.

From Marcy:  Creating these invitations was a blast!  I spent alot of time coming up with ideas on how to incorporate the art museum feel into the invites.  Since our reception is in a gallery at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, I love the feel of the white walls against the displayed artwork.  I wanted to reflect this in the invitations.

The saddle stitched invitation booklet contained all the wedding details.  I loved the idea of having everything contained in a book for easy reference.

The silhouette theme was carried through the rest of wedding pieces and the cover was letterpressed by Colleen of Cleanwash Letterpress in Philadelphia.  I was really happy with how they turned out!

Each of the RSVP cards displayed a unique painting that is part of the Academy’s permanent collection.  I was pleased with the pops of color the cards created against the solid colors of the book and the envelopes.

Congratulations Marcy!  The invitations are stunning!

{image credits: be frank studio}

My friend Ellie – from the fabulous blog Mint and her equally fabulous stationery shop Hello Tenfold – designed these custom save the date postcard for a couple getting married in California next spring.  Inspired by the trip that their guests would undertake to attend the wedding, Ellie worked with the couple to create a fun and modern double-sided postcard with a map on one side and playful text on the other.

 

From Ellie: When Melissa and George started planning their spring 2011 wedding in California, they realized that their guests would be traveling from all over the world.  Melissa is from California, George is from Texas, and they met while living in Georgia and Tennesee, respectively.  Since most of their guests would be boarding planes to come to the wedding, they wanted to let them know how much they’d appreciate the west coast trek with a fun, custom save the date postcard.

Melissa had the idea to have a map of the United States showing the locations of her guests with dotted lines from the major cities and airports to Menlo Park, California where the ceremony will be held.  On the back, the couple wrote a cute, tongue-in-cheek note to their guests describing Melissa’s Wankee status and George’s dedication to the Dawg Nation.

Melissa and George were going for a laid-back, fun, and informal feel for their save the dates, so the postcard format was perfect.  For the back of the postcard, they were inspired by the typography-driven Erin invitations from my shop.  Needless to say, these were a lot of fun to create!

So cute!  A big thanks to Ellie for sending these over – for more from Ellie, definitely check out her blog and shop!

{image credits: hello tenfold}

One thing I love most about the holiday season is the sense of tradition – whether continuing out old family traditions or developing new ones as our families grow.  Well, the good folks at Cardstore.com and I are starting to build our own annual tradition with a holiday card giveaway!

This year, Cardstore.com is offering two lucky winners the chance to win $50 towards personalized holiday cards and photo cards designed by Tara from Ink + Wit!  Tara has applied her modern design flair to a beautiful collection of holiday cards, each of which can be personalized with custom text or photos.  All cards are printed on high-quality 130# matte recycled cardstock.

So here’s how to enter:  Head on over to Cardstore.com to browse the holiday card collection from Ink + Wit.  Then just come back here and leave a com­ment with your favorite design!

You’ll have until 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, December 3 to enter – bonne chance!

{image credits: cardstore.com}

*Cardstore.com is one of my fantastic sponsors; for more on my editorial policies please click here.

Happy Monday everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  I’ve got a fun holiday giveaway coming up a bit later today, but first I wanted to start the week off with these stunning wedding invitations from Kathryn at Blackbird Letterpress, with beautiful calligraphy by Betsy Dunlap.

You might remember the first invitation collaboration between these two artists from a few months ago; this time, instead of the New Orleans riverbank, Kathryn and Betsy used a topographic map as the primary design element.  Kathryn printed the topographic lines using a blind (no ink) deboss and Betsy’s lovely script in a soft gray ink.  Feel free to click on any of the photos in this post for a larger view and more of the lovely letterpress detail.

The main invitation was printed on a 5 x 7″ card using super-thick 220# eco-friendly rag paper, while the corresponding 3.5 x 5″ reply card – featuring a beautiful banner illustrated by Betsy – was printed on slightly thinner 110# cotton Lettra.

Simply stunning – thank you Kathryn!

{image credits: blackbird letterpress}

Hi everyone!  I’m heading out a bit early to enjoy the long holiday weekend here in the U.S. and go to finally bring our cat (who as you might remember was in the animal hospital last week) back home where he belongs.  The poor guy didn’t get to come home last weekend as we’d hoped and ended up needing surgery, so we can’t wait to have him home.  As a result of his illness, we’ve also changed our plans and are now staying home for the holiday – our first Thanksgiving on our own!  It’ll actually be nice to have a quiet weekend and just be grateful for my little family.  But in the meantime…

…a few links for your weekend!

• A fabulous round-up of advent calendar ideas
• I’m really looking forward to this new book about printing from Christine at Yellow Owl Workshop
• A beautiful calligraphy collaboration from Mara at Neither Snow
• Cool new postage stamps from Envelopments in fun colors and patterns
• These pumpkin tarts sound ridiculously yummy
• Super-cute printable napkin rings (just in time for holiday entertaining!)
• I love the idea of bougainveilla for a bridal bouquet!

…and in case you missed it, here’s what happened on OSBP this week:

• Cool modern black and white graduation invitations
• Watercolor + calligraphy wedding save the dates
• More lovely holiday cards
• Beautiful vintage-inspired tea party bridal shower invitations
• Long live print
• I’ve also been posting some upcoming holiday open houses, craft events, and sales in the right sidebar – like the Martha Stewart Craft Night below (which I’m actually hoping to attend) coming up next week.  I’ll keep adding them as they come to me, so don’t forget to check in for the latest additions!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend, and for those of you celebrating this weekend I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  I’ll see you all back here on Monday!

{image credits: country living}

p.s. We’re taking advantage of the long weekend to do a server switch, so if things are a bit wonky over the weekend please bear with us.  Hopefully there won’t be any major disruptions, but just in case I promise it’s only temporary.