Oh So Beautiful Paper

Archive for November, 2011

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  The first day back from a long holiday weekend can be a bit rough, but I’m hoping to help you ease back into the week with a couple of gorgeous wedding invitation suites.  First up today, these lovely vintage-inspired invitations from Allie Ruth Design.  While the main invitation is a classic and reserved black and white design, Allie incorporated color and fun materials with the envelopes, liners, and belly band, all complete with beautiful vintage postage stamps.

From Allie:  I love that the colors in this invitation suite look like they could have been pulled straight out of the ’40s.  The mustard yellow envelopes were the starting point for the entire design, around which we built a color palette of turquoise, kraft, cream, and light green.

My absolute favorite part is the envelope liners.  They are made from authentic 1930s wallpaper, that was printed using a technique called “surface painting” that gives the paper a hand-painted look.  I am absolutely in love with this paper and will certainly look forward to using vintage wallpaper in more of my custom designs.  The belly bands are kraft with vintage lace sewn on.

So pretty!  Thanks Allie!

Check out the Designer Rolodex for more tal­ented wed­ding invi­ta­tion design­ers and the real invi­ta­tions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Allie Ruth Design

Hi everyone!  I’m heading off for the long weekend – and crossing my fingers that we don’t run into too much traffic as we make our way north this afternoon.  I’ll be back on Monday with a beautiful set of wedding invitations, holiday cards, and lots more.  I hope you all have a wonderful and happy holiday weekend!  But in the meantime…

…a few links for your weekend!

• A beautiful new collection of letterpress calling cards
• Pretty notes of thankfulness (with a link to free printables!)
• Will you be my bridesmaid handkerchiefs
• Oooh, gift certificates for letterpress!
• I cannot WAIT to try this fun DIY project
• Our friends at Wiley Valentine are having a huge sale in their etsy shop from Friday to Monday.  Just enter the coupon code “HOLIDAYPROMO40″ at checkout to receive 40% off your entire order!

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

• Arley + Morgan’s awesome neon wedding invitations
• Gold, black, and white birth announcements for baby Owen
• Lesley + Chad’s accordion save the dates
• Pretty holiday goods from Shanna Murray
• 2011 holiday card round up, part 6!
• A fun DIY tutorial for rubber stamp holiday cards!

Graphic by me, the font is Belluccia

Hi Everyone!  Before we run off for the holiday weekend, the ladies of Antiquaria are back with a holiday DIY for you!  You can see lots of awesome holiday cards in my holiday card round ups right here, but if you’re planning to DIY your holiday cards this year, check out the post below for a fabulous idea!

Wow! This holiday season has totally crept up on us…however, we couldn’t be more thrilled that it has arrived.  For the past few months, we’ve been busy bees designing a new holiday stamp collection!  This tutorial was born out of our desire to get our hands on some of the new seasonal stamps.  Add vintage grosgrain ribbon and it’s just icing on the cake.  This holiday card design is so simple and lovely… it would be a great afternoon project.

Step One: Cut card to square dimensions (5.5″ x 5.5″).  Ink the stamp (we used our Holly Berry Greeting stamp) thoroughly and center on the lower half of the square card.  Press evenly to make print.  Let dry.

Step Two: Punch 2 holes in the top of the card by either using a 2 hole punch (as shown, makes things really simple) or drawing & punching 2 even dots about 1/2″ from the top and 1″ in on each side.

Step 3: Cut ribbon in pieces 10-12 inches long.  Thread ribbon through the holes so that each end is now on towards the back of the card.  Crossing in the back, thread each end back through the holes and toward the front.  Fold ribbon in half and cut to make a crisp V shaped end.

Step 4:  With everything going on this time of year addressing your envelopes may seem like the last thing you need to spend time on.  Make the process a bit more fun by trying interesting color combinations that will help your card stand out from the rest.  Save time by using a return address stamp or fun printed labels, and you’re all done!

Materials:

Holly Berry Greeting Stamp  (Greeting stamps work just as well inside a store bought card)

Holiday Wreath Return Address Stamp

Cover paper, cut into 5.5″x5.5″ square cards

Stamp Pad, we used Hunter Green

2 Hole Punch

Grosgrain ribbon, search Etsy, Ebay or local thrifts for the vintage stuff.

5.75″x5.75″ Envelopes, we used Papaya

Photo Credits: Antiquaria

It’s always a bit of a challenge to decorate for the holidays in our narrow DC apartment – we don’t have a mantle and barely have enough room for a Christmas tree!  These holiday decals from Shanna Murray are perfect for our little space.  I already have a couple of Shanna’s decals in our bedroom, and I’d love to put one of the holiday designs in our entryway and another in our living room window.  So pretty!

p.s. Shanna also has a lovely collection of holiday cards (including a fun neon and kraft paper card!)…

Check out more in Shanna’s shop right here!

Photo Credits: Shanna Murray

Last month we featured the country elegance wedding invitations of Lauren from Inclosed Studio.  Today we’re showcasing the save the dates of Lesley – Lauren’s other half at Inclosed Studio!  Lesley and her now-husband Chad decided to use an accordion fold-out format so they could incorporate accommodation and travel information into their save the dates, along with a fun sticker that guests could place on their calendars to remember the wedding date.

From Lauren and Lesley: The front and back of the accordion save the date was printed by hand using our vintage letterpress on handmade peach-scented paper.  The inside piece is digitally offset on a pale pink Crane cover stock.  The last page features a hand-made pocket that holds two custom “Save the Date” stickers so guests can mark their calenders with the date!  Pennant flags were a theme of the wedding, so we included them throughout the design including the hand-cut envelope liners!

So cute!  Thanks Lauren and Lesley!

Design + Letterpress: Inclosed Studio
Handmade Paper: Porridge Papers

Check out the Designer Rolodex for more tal­ented wed­ding invi­ta­tion design­ers and the real invi­ta­tions gallery for more beau­ti­ful cus­tom wed­ding invitations!

Photo Credits: Daniel Muller