Oh So Beautiful Paper

Archive for April, 2012

Happy Friday everyone!  I don’t know if it’s the time of year, but lately I’ve been thinking a lot about simplifying – getting back to the things that I really love (and that make me the most happy), and making more time in my daily and weekly routine to enjoy my city and hang out with friends.  This has meant letting go of a few projects and saying no to some other ideas.  I’ve also been on a mission to declutter our apartment, which is a huge challenge for a natural pack rat like me!  As difficult as these things can be, I feel a million pounds lighter with each step.  Do any of you go through stages like this?  Anyway, we have family visiting this weekend and I’m looking forward to exploring more of DC with them.  But in the meantime…

Magnolia garland and tiding wall decal by Shanna Murray

…a few links for your weekend:

• Gorgeous illustrated notebooks
• A pretty new print from Christine Wisnieski
• Yum!
• A fun DIY project: silkscreened placemats
• DC-area folks, help Pyramid Atlantic celebrate its 31st birthday this Saturday!
• Another one just for DC folks – but as a Capitol Hill resident, I’m really excited about this
• Lynn from Satsuma Press is offering a fantastic deal on her beautiful letterpress calling cards.  Use code 6LSY8L to order 250 two-color calling cards for just $195 (a 40% discount!), or code ZEA68L for 10% off 100 two-color calling cards.  Offers are good through the end of April.

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

• I love these awesome oversize map wedding invitations!
• A few beautiful Mother’s Day cards
• The cutest idea ever – a pop-up book proposal
• Fun and modern wedding invitations
• Silver invitations for a New Year’s Eve wedding
• Travel-inspired business cards
• Pretty and rustic woodgrain wedding invitations
• Sweet monogram birth announcements

As usual, we have a fun cocktail coming up for you this afternoon, so check back a bit later for the recipe!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Monday!  xoxo

Can you guys believe that Mother’s Day is a month away?  This year is flying by – although that also means that my favorite week of the year (the National Stationery Show) is rapidly approaching!  There are a bunch of wonderful cards to help celebrate all of the wonderful moms in our lives, so today we’re starting with just a few of our favorites.

Quill and Fox

 

Dude and Chick (left); and Printerette Press (right)

Honizukle

 

Rifle Paper Co.

Floret Letterpress

 

Hammerpress

Tabletop Made

 

Paper + Cup (left); and Greenwich Letterpress (right)

 Spring Olive

 

Wild Horse Press

e.m. papers

{images via their respective sources}

*e.m. papers is a sponsor of Oh So Beautiful Paper

Savannah-based stationer Emily McCarthy of emma j design recently welcomed her first child, an adorable baby boy named Rhett.  For the birth announcements, Emily stayed true to her Southern roots with a sophisticated design featuring a custom pattern and elegant monogram.  I’m absolutely in love with the tiny “Mc” detail in Rhett’s monogram – so cute!

From Emily: Rhett’s birth announcement was inspired by a custom pattern that I designed while planning his nursery.  The pattern was created out of “R”s for Rhett and I wanted to give the hint of a celtic knot keeping true to our Irish heritage.

 

The double-sided announcement features Rhett’s pattern and a photo on the front, while the back displays a custom monogram design that has been used on his stationery as well as embroidered items like linens and clothing.  The announcement and corresponding envelopes were letterpress printed by Steve at Fireside Printing on 100% cotton Crane 220lb Lettra.

Thanks Emily!

Design: emma j design

Letterpress Printing: Fireside Printing

Photo Credits: emma j design

You guys, this might just be the cutest thing ever.  Chris, a student in New York City, really wanted to propose to his girlfriend… so he worked with paper artist Jackie Huang to create a pop-up book with important elements from their relationship as part of his proposal.  Such a sweet idea – not to mention a wonderful keepsake!

From Jackie: I’m a recent graduate from Art Center College of Design and specialize in creating art with paper.  I create many forms of art with paper but am most known for my pop-up work.  Chris contacted me about doing a pop-up proposal book for his girlfriend, Julia.  Over the next few months, Chris and I worked together to figure out the key moments of their relationship to tell their story.  Chris figured out the moments and text to go along with them, and then I created the engineering and illustration to fit the idea.  I’m proud to say that Chris proposed on March 29 and Julia said yes!

Thanks Jackie!

Photo Credits: Jackie Huang

Matthew from A Fine Press sent over the fabulous business identity and stationery that he recently designed for wedding photographer Karen Ard.  Karen loved the idea of incorporating a wax seal (such a great detail!) and doing something travel-inspired, so Matthew came up with an identity inspired by Southern California surf culture and business cards inspired by luggage tags.  The entire suite was letterpress printed on kraft paper in soft and beachy colors.  So lovely!

From Matthew: Karen was particularly drawn to the idea of a wax seal to bring her business stationery together.  She approached me with the idea of doing a travel-inspired visual identity and stationery suite that maintained a nod to her SoCal location.

For inspiration, we drew heavily from postage and postmarks from around the world.  We loved the idea of using the circle of a postmark as our starting point.  A friend’s surf video got me thinking about all the great surf-culture branding out there and the image of a hibiscus blossom on a longboard provided us with a clear direction.

Karen wanted colors to reflect the beach and had suggested we start with seaglass colors.  From there, we settled on teal, with brown as a second color along with cream and kraft-substrates.  For a typeface, we went with the Deco-styled Aviano Sans, which I found extremely evocative of vintage travel.

The print pieces were done on French Paper’s Muscletone Kraft with PopTone Whip Cream envelopes.  In addition to Karen’s official colors, I printed her 1-color logo in transparent white on her thank you cards to make it pop while keeping it neutral in color.  Her luggage tag-inspired business cards were printed with her handwriting filling in the important details.

Thank you so much Matthew!

Photo Credits: Karen Ard