Oh So Beautiful Paper

Cocktail Fridays: The Delbarton Burns

Andrew — Fri, 24 May 2013 19:00:09 +0000

Nole and I are big fans of one of our Capitol Hill neighborhood restaurants: Ted’s Bulletin. Ted’s has some great food and drinks (and is very welcoming to Sophie, which just makes us like them more). One of their best drinks is the Delbarton Burns, which carefully balances a really peaty Scotch – an unusual base – with sweet and spicy notes for a subtly delicious cocktail. – Andrew

Illustration by Caitlin Keegan for Oh So Beautiful Paper

The Delbarton Burns

2 oz Scotch
1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz Benedictine
2 Dashes Orange Bitters

Combine the Scotch, vermouth, Benedictine, and bitters with ice. (Ted’s starts with Laphroaig, a really briney, peaty Scotch, so make sure you use one with lots smoke to it.) Stir well, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a cherry or a lemon twist. Enjoy!

The resulting drink is pretty neat. A peaty Scotch can, by itself, taste something like a campfire, not something everyone is looking for in a cocktail. The smokiness does shine through in the Delbarton Burns, but it’s not overwhelming at all. Instead, it’s carefully balanced with the light, sweet notes of the vermouth and the sweet herbal notes of the Benedictine, making this drink far more subtle than its ingredients would suggest. (This seems to be a reoccurring theme with Scotch cocktails.)

The Delbarton Burns is, in a lot of ways, a play on the Manhattan we featured last week. Swap in Scotch for another whiskey, replace a bit of the vermouth with Benedictine, and you have a very different but still familiar drink. Like the Manhattan, the Delbarton Burns is the sort of drink that benefit from a bit of aging. Try mixing up a batch and leaving them to sit in a glass container overnight; you’ll enjoy a much mellower, superbly well-integrated drink.

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

{happy weekend!}

Nole — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:00:38 +0000

Whew! What a whirlwind of a week! Three and a half amazing days at the National Stationery Show, a Paper Party with the stationery community (more on that next week!), and a 5-year wedding anniversary to celebrate this weekend! I’ll also be spending some quality time editing the remaining photos for Stationery Show recaps, so thank goodness for long weekends! But in the meantime…

Photos by me via Instagram

…a few links for your weekend!

Love these cedar garden stakes
Secrets to the perfect burger (I can’t wait to start grilling in our new backyard!)
Dinara’s beautiful booth at Surtex!
More great books to add to Sophie’s library

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

NSS 2013, Part 1: 9th Letter Press, Tabletop Made, Bench Pressed, Rocket Ink, Yellow Owl Workshop
NSS 2013, Part 2: Ladyfingers Letterpress, Sideshow Press, Moglea, Parrott Design Studio, Letter & Lark, Iron Curtain Press, These Are Things, Snow and Graham
NSS 2013, Part 3: Sugar Paper, Fig. 2 Design Studio, Sycamore Street Press, Mr. Boddington’s Studio, Belle & Union, 55 Hi’s
NSS 2013, Part 4: The Ladies of Letterpress (12 Fifteen, Steel Petal Press, Bowerbox, Grey Moggie, Noteworthy Paper & Press, Les Bois Letterpress, Creativity Cards, Ari Press, Black Heart Letterpress, and Pressbound) and Crow and Canary (Rock Scissor Paper, Pie Bird Press, Two Trick Pony, Ghost Academy, Gilah Press, Greenwich Letterpress, Black and White and Red All Over, Ashkahn, Lark Press, Red Cap Cards, Carolyn Suzuki, Candyspotting, Cartolina, Waterknot, and Dude and Chick)
Well Said Type: Kailey Script
DIY Tutorial: Neon and Kraft Paper Wedding Invitations!
Gorgeous calligraphy by Meagan Tidwell
Pretty wedding invitations from The Creative Parasol

Check back soon for this week’s cocktail! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you back here next week! xoxo

National Stationery Show 2013, Part 4

Nole — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:00:31 +0000

Today I thought I’d share a couple of big booths from the National Stationery Show that are packed full of awesome stationery: the Ladies of Letterpress and Crow & Canary booths! First up, the Ladies of Letterpress – which is really twelve independent stationers packed into one ginormous booth at the show. I totally forgot to take a wide shot of the full booth this year, but you can check out my 2011 recap for a better idea of the layout. Now on to the letterpress awesomeness!

Such a sweet set of cards!

12 Fifteen

Love this series of cards made from hand carved woodcut designs!

Bowerbox Press

Steel Petal Press

Pressbound

I’m still laughing at the cards above!

Noteworthy Paper & Press

Grey Moggie Press

Les Bois Letterpress

Creativity Cards

Black Heart Letterpress

Ari Press

The ladies of Crow & Canary represent some of the best stationery lines, so it’s no surprise that I always enjoy visiting their booth! There were 14 companies represented in this year’s booth, with lots and lots of fabulous paper goods!

Rock Scissor Paper

Two Trick Pony

Red Cap Cards (left) and Black and White and Red All Over (right)

Dude and Chick

Lark Press

Candyspotting (left) and Pie Bird Press (right)

Ghost Academy (left) and Greenwich Letterpress (right)

Ghost Academy

Love the new gift wrap from Greenwich Letterpress!

Greenwich Letterpress

Ashkahn

Carolyn Suzuki

Cartolina

Gilah Press (left) and Waterknot (right)

Gilah Press

Waterknot

I’ve got LOTS more to share from the National Stationery Show – all coming up next week!

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper, please ask permission prior to reposting any photos

DIY Tutorial: Neon + Kraft Paper Wedding Invitations

Antiquaria — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:00:25 +0000

Neon is back in a big way. It’s been trending in fashion and home decor for a while now, so it’s fun to see the bright hues make a splash in the stationery world too! A while back, we shared a neon and kraft paper save the date design with you and today, we’re following up with a coordinating invitation suite! – Bailey and Emma of Antiquaria

Step One: To achieve the vibrant neon effect for this suite, we utilize the embossing technique. This process creates a raised and opaque print that emulates the thermography printing you’d find in a traditional print shop. Place your A7 card on a stable and firm surface. Ink your invitation stamp (we used our Mod Invitation stamp) and center the stamp over your card. When ready, press the stamp down with moderate pressure to make the print. Lift the stamp off and quickly move on to adding your embossing powder.

Once you’ve made your print, immediately cover it with embossing powder by sprinkling it across the paper. Shift the powder around until you have covered the entire image. Now, you will pour the excess powder off of the card onto a scrap piece of paper so that you can reuse it for future prints. Heat set the print, using an Embossing Heat Tool. You will be able to see the powder melt into an opaque and solid color when it’s done. For more information about how to emboss using stamps, please watch this instructional video.

Note: One key thing about embossing is that it is wise to try to closely match your ink color with your powder color. By doing this, you will get much more crisp and opaque results.

Step Two: Using the same technique as step one, you will print and emboss your reply card. We used our Mod Reply Card stamp on a 4Bar card for this piece.

Step Three: A really great way to add luxurious thickness and a pop of color to your invitation is to add a card stock backer to the invitation print. Adding a backer to the invitation also helps to flatten out any warping/curling that sometimes happens from the heat tool. To do this, simply cut the colored paper to your desired size (ours was 5.25″x7.25″) and use double sided tape to affix the two piece together. *We like to put tape all along the outer rim as well as an “X” across the middle to make sure that there is a good bond.

Step Four: By now, you all probably know that we love envelope liners! For this suite we used the same neon paper (except in text weight this time) to cut a liner for our kraft envelope. Simply trace the template on your paper, cut it out and use double sided tape or stick glue to affix it to your envelope.

Step Five: For a little added flavor, we stamped our Cross my Hearts Initial Monogram stamp in black ink on the inside flap of the liner. It’s a fun surprise for your guests when they first open your invitations!

Step Six: For the reply card envelope, we kept things pretty simple and printed a matching address stamp (we used our Mod Banner Return Address Stamp) in black in on a 4bar kraft paper envelope. We also used the same monogram on the back flap that we used on the liner paper to carry the theme through the suite. We also used the same address stamp in black for the back flap of the A7.5 outer envelope, (not shown). For more detailed information on how to (properly) ink and print stamps, please watch this instructional video.

Step Seven: Once you’ve crated all of your pieces, it’s time to address the invitations, add postage (we used vintage postage from Verde Studio) and send them on their way! We guarantee that your guests will be very impressed by all of your handiwork and pumped to celebrate with your on your big day!

Materials:

“Mod” Invitation Stamp “Mod” Reply Card Stamp “Mod Banner” Return Address Stamp “Cross my Heart” Monogram Stamp

A7 Cards in Luxe White

A7.5 Envelopes (Outer Envelopes) in Paper Bag

4Bar Card 4Bar Envelope in Paper Bag

Stamp Pad in Picante Red

Stamp Pad-Wicked Black

Embossing Powder Embossing Heat Tool

Card Stock Backer Cut to 5.25 x 7.25, in Rocket Red from Astro Brights

Liner Paper 8.5″x11″ text sheets, in Rocket Red from Astro Brights

Envelope Liner Templates

Pencil

Scissors

Double Sided Tape

Vintage Postage (from Verde Studio)

Antiquaria is a member of the Designer Rolodex – you can see more of their beautiful work right here or visit the real wedding invitations gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Antiquaria

Calligraphy Inspiration: Meagan Tidwell Design

julie — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:00:30 +0000

There are times when I come across a calligrapher I just know is going to make a name for themselves. I love checking in on their portfolios and blog posts; they’re glimpses at the process of finding a writing style all their own. I’ve been checking in on the work of Meagan of Meagan Tidwell Design for a little while now and I love what I’m seeing! Take a look and I think you’ll agree that her calligraphy has that “it” factor. – Julie

Whether fallen leaves or stones from the shore, Meagan transforms these things of nature into little works of art with her gorgeous calligraphy.

Her style is so delicate, but it manages to maintain a lively, playful feel. I particularly love this winter wedding invitation with the laurel wreath accent.

To see more of Meagan’s calligraphy and design work, be sure to stop by her portfolio. You can also find her at her blog Seed & Water, which she writes with her friend Holly.

Photo credits: 1 Meagan Tidwell; 2,3 Ali Harper; 4, 6 right Jose Villa; 5, 6 left Rylee Hitchner