Oh So Beautiful Paper

Allie of Allie Ruth Design and her husband Ryan are expecting their first baby later this year (congrats you two!), and they wanted a fun way of sharing the baby’s gender with their family scattered around the country. They put together a sweet little video, burned some DVDs, and Allie printed these DVD covers using a rubber stamp with one of her illustrations. Too cute!

From Allie: For the announcement itself, we made a quirky video, but we needed a cute way to get the news to my family in Florida, and Ryan’s family here in the midwest (without giving it away to any of our friends first). So I burned the video onto some DVDs and created this block-printed sleeve in which to send them.

For the block, I had a custom rubber stamp made of one of my calligraphed illustrations. Our last name is Peach, so I was sure to incorporate a cute little peach at the bottom. I printed the image onto blank kraft DVD sleeves. For the envelope, we went with a gender neutral mint, so as to not give away the secret before our families saw the video.

I used my vintage typewriter to print each set of grandparents’ names onto little handmade, vintage-inspired tags and tied them on with black and white baker’s twine.

Thanks Allie – and congratulations again!

Photo Credits: Allie Ruth Design

As a new mom, I was in tears when Jackie from Believe Notes shared the story of new mom Karen and her twin girls – Emma Claire and Gabriella Hope – born 16 weeks premature last summer. Gabriella sadly passed away a couple hours after birth, but her sister Emma fought and grew stronger each day. Emma finally came home after six months in the NICU and her parents decided to send announcements to friends and family. I’m honored to share Karen’s story and Emma’s announcements today.

From Emma’s mom, Karen: Emma Claire and her identical twin sister, Gabriella Hope, were born 16 weeks premature at 24 weeks gestation on Friday, July 13th, 2012. Gabriella’s lungs were too immature to survive and she passed away 2 hours after she was born in our arms. We were told it was not likely that Emma would make it, but she continued to defy all odds with each day she spent in the NICU. After 6 months in the NICU, Emma came home on January 11th, 2013. Since we were so consumed with having her in the hospital when she was first born, we didn’t get a chance to send out birth announcements. When she started getting close to coming home, we decided we would send out a coming home announcement.

It was important to us that the announcement illustrated how far she had come in her first 6 months so we knew we wanted to include her birth stats as well as her coming home stats. Jackie took our ideas and created the perfect announcement to celebrate our brave little girl!

Thanks so much Karen and Jackie, and big hugs to sweet Emma Claire!

Photo Credits: Believe Notes

I couldn’t resist rounding out the week with one more baby announcement! I have all of our hospital bracelets saved in Sophie’s baby book at home, so these hospital bracelet baby announcements from Sarah Jane Winter seem like such a great idea! The bracelet opens to reveal a photo of baby William and his loving parents. So sweet.

From Sarah Jane: William’s father is a pediatrician that specializes in Neonatology (newborns) so I played with the idea of the new baby coming home from the hospital. A baby hospital bracelet was mimicked with the ‘vitals’ including name, date of birth, length, and weight. This was wrapped around the card and fastened with a button brad. A blue vellum sleeve wrapped the card.

The card was printed front and back with the photos I took of the family and a simple greeting.

Thanks Sarah Jane!

Photo Credits: Sarah Jane Winter

It’s been quite a baby-filled week so far, and I’m loving all of this beautiful baby-related stationery! Next up, these fun and modern baby boy birth announcements from Stephanie of Pink Orchid Press. Stephanie worked with Ari’s mama to come up with a lion theme to help give the new baby some additional strength to keep up with his older brother, pairing the lion motif with a modern sans serif font and pops of yellow.

From Stephanie: This announcement was designed for a sweet family just before their second son was born. They decided to wait until his birth to find out the gender, so we actually worked long and hard to create two very different – but equally beautiful – announcement designs. Mom Amanda knew that if her little one were to be a boy, he would need to be “strong and bold” to keep up with big brother Eli, and chose a simple lion motif.

The colors chosen were equally strong and bold: curry yellow for a pop of color and chocolate brown for a solid, masculine feel. A simple sans serif font perfectly compliments the minimalist design, and both are reflected on an equally-adorable stationery set. Add a chocolate envelope liner and a perfect print of the sleepy little one (with his fists up and ready, no less) and this has become on of our favorite birth announcement projects yet.

 

Thanks Stephanie!

Photo Credits: Andrea Sumner Photography

These whimsical baby shower invitations are beyond adorable – but I’d expect nothing less from the ladies of Wiley Valentine! Rachelle designed the invitations for a shower in honor of her business partner, Emily. Rachelle incorporated Emily’s love of animals throughout the design while also mixing in vintage-inspired elements and soft pastel colors. So pretty!

From Rachelle: Emily is not only my business partner of 11 years, but also one of my dearest and closest friends. I really wanted to capture her love for animals, her subtle “vintagey” style, and the muted color palette that is just so her. I was inspired by hand drawn fonts, old children’s books, and a small touch of whimsy.

The color palette was soft pastels: subtle aqua tones mixed with neutrals and a tiny hint of blush. The invitations were letterpress printed by Czar Press on extra thick cotton paper, with pale blush painted edges.

I had fun with the wording too, starting off with “We are Wildly Excited”, and including “it’s a girl” on a flag at the bottom of the invitation. The invitations really set the tone for the shower, where the elements of animals and the tag line “We are Wildly Excited” appeared.

Thanks Rachelle – and a big congrats to Emily!!

Design: Wiley Valentine

Letterpress Printing: Czar Press

Wiley Valentine is a member of the Designer Rolodex – check out more of their beautiful work right here!

Photo Credits: Wiley Valentine

*Wiley Valentine is a sponsor of Oh So Beautiful Paper