Stephanie + Jared’s Modern Art Deco Save the Dates

When it came time to design his own save the dates, designer Jared from TENNINETEEN combined inspiration from his 1920s wedding venue with his own modern style. The result is a combination of beautiful linear patterns with vintage-inspired text and a punch of red metallic foil. So fun!

Modern Art Deco Foil Stamped Save the Dates by TENNINETEEN via Oh So Beautiful Paper (7)

From Jared: While searching for our event space in the Kansas City area, Stephanie and I fell in love with a venue that had a 1920s feel. It has beautiful subway tile and an enormous 12-foot chandelier that centered the space. We wanted to touch on the Art Deco style in our Save the Dates, but give it a modern flair while maintaining our color palette.

Modern Art Deco Foil Stamped Save the Dates by TENNINETEEN via Oh So Beautiful Paper (2)

Traditionally, you see quite a bit of black and gold used for this era, but we wanted to mimic the style with our colors and see where it would take us. My design style is very modern and I wanted to be sure that was apparent in the design. Thus, we adopted the “Modern Art Deco” theme.

Modern Art Deco Foil Stamped Save the Dates by TENNINETEEN via Oh So Beautiful Paper (6)

Printed on Avon Brilliant White 100C, we first ran a pass of silver metallic ink, then punched it with a Pomegranate red foil. We had a custom stamp made that fell in line with the look and my fiancée, Stephanie, took care of all the hand-lettering on the envelopes.

Modern Art Deco Foil Stamped Save the Dates by TENNINETEEN via Oh So Beautiful Paper (4)

I love the linear lines and geometric shapes of the Art Deco style and used that as my inspiration. There wasn’t any single piece that I drew inspiration from, but instead I dove head first into the era and soaked in all of the patterns, shapes, and lines. Since I love clean design, I made sure not to go crazy, but include just enough so you get a taste.

Modern Art Deco Foil Stamped Save the Dates by TENNINETEEN via Oh So Beautiful Paper (1)

Thanks Jared!

Design: TENINETEEN

Printing: Boelte-Hall

Calligraphy: Stephanie Morris

Check out the Designer Rolodex for more tal­ented wed­ding invi­ta­tion design­ers and the save the date gallery for more beau­ti­ful cus­tom save the dates!

Photo Credits: TENINETEEN

Julie + Ryan’s Kraft and Coral Wedding Invitations

Welcome to July everyone! I came across these beautiful screen printed invitations by Courtney of Swiss Cottage Designs while cleaning out the very last archives in my Google Reader (yes, still…),  and I thought they were a wonderfully cheerful way to start off the week! I love the mix of white ink on kraft paper – a classic combination, in my opinion – with the bright coral envelope and fun heart + arrow envelope liners. The perfect finishing touch? Beautiful white ink calligraphy from Megan of Makewells on the outer envelopes. Love!

Kraft + Coral Wedding Invitations by Swiss Cottage Designs via Oh So Beautiful Paper (1)

Kraft + Coral Wedding Invitations by Swiss Cottage Designs via Oh So Beautiful Paper (2)

Kraft + Coral Wedding Invitations by Swiss Cottage Designs via Oh So Beautiful Paper (3)

So pretty!

Design: Swiss Cottage Designs

Calligraphy: Makewells

Vintage Stamps: Stamps.net

Swiss Cottage Designs is a member of the Designer Rolodex – you can see more of Courtney’s amazing work right here or visit the real invi­ta­tions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Courtney Jentzen | Swiss Cottage Designs

Friday Happy Hour: Peach & Bourbon Shrub

Nole and I have been featuring cocktails at Oh So Beautiful Paper for over a year and a half now, and yet we’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s possible. To wit, the Shrub!  Shrubs are an old but reviving family of drinks that incorporate vinegar – yes, vinegar! – syrups to great, flavorful effect.  So here’s one of our own shrubs, a sweet, fruity, and tart summer cocktail that will knock your socks off. – Andrew

Signature Cocktail Recipe: Peach-Bourbon Shrub by Oh So Beautiful Paper (32)

Recipe Card: Peach-Bourbon Shrub Cocktail, Illustration by Dinara Mirtalipova for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Illustration by Dinara Mirtalipova for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Peach & Bourbon Shrub

2 oz Bourbon
3/4 oz Peach Shrub Syrup
3/4 oz Cherry Liqueur
1 Dash Absinthe

For the Peach Shrub Syrup: in a pot on the stovetop, combine a cup of fresh ripe peaches, pitted, chopped, and muddled; a cup of white balsamic vinegar, and a cup of granulated sugar (we used turbinado). Bring to a very brief boil, then simmer for 10-20 minutes or longer, stirring frequently and tasting occasionally.  Once the sugar has melted and the vinegar has absorbed lots and lots of peach flavor, remove from the heat and strain well – probably two or three times, through a sieve or cheesecloth – and let it cool. Store it in a bottle in the refrigerator for a few weeks to a month.

Signature Cocktail Recipe: Peach-Bourbon Shrub by Oh So Beautiful Paper (3) Signature Cocktail Recipe: Peach-Bourbon Shrub by Oh So Beautiful Paper (41)

For the Peach Bourbon Shrub: combine all of the ingredients in a shaker filled with lots of ice, shake well, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Enjoy!

Signature Cocktail Recipe: Peach-Bourbon Shrub by Oh So Beautiful Paper (28)

A Shrub is something like a Sour, only much, much, much more intense. Vinegar usually has a much higher acidity than citrus juice, and a Shrub syrup will pick up sparkling bright fruit flavors. Our Peach & Bourbon Shrub combines the oaky smoothness of Bourbon with bright peach flavors and a mouth-puckering tartness from the Shrub syrup, along with some sweet fruit flavors from the liqueur, to balance out all that acid. I also like to add a dash of Absinthe, not so much for its own flavor, but because I’ve found that in very small doses, Absinthe can help to round out and bring together all these big, bold flavors into something coherent.

Signature Cocktail Recipe: Peach-Bourbon Shrub by Oh So Beautiful Paper (57) Signature Cocktail Recipe: Peach-Bourbon Shrub by Oh So Beautiful Paper (47)

I have to confess, I cheated a bit with my Shrub syrup. Purists prefer to make their Shrubs without heat, letting fruit and sugar macerate in vinegar for days or longer in a nonreactive container in a cool, dark spot. Heating your Shrub will get you fruit flavors faster, but they won’t be as pure and crisp as the cold method. So, I plan to give that one a try, too – we’ll report back in a few weeks with the results.

Signature Cocktail Recipe: Peach-Bourbon Shrub by Oh So Beautiful Paper (48)

The history of the Shrub is a little vague. The word “Shrub” has nothing to do with the name of the tree’s little cousin, but instead derives from the same roots as “sherbet” and “syrup” – ultimately, the Arabic sharbat, a drink, by way of Persian and Turkish. Which makes sense, because the medieval Arabs were pioneers of distillation and all sorts of resulting concoctions. People have been making drinks made from fruit and herbs macerated in vinegar for centuries, mostly as medicines, but the missing link between a vinegar drink and the Shrub Cocktail was probably American ingenuity. In Colonial America, vinegar served as the energy drink of the day. Since Americans will inevitably seek to turn just about anything they can consume into a cocktail, it probably wasn’t long before our Colonial ancestors were turning their vinegar drinks into adult vinegar drinks. No surprise that one stage of making punch – real punch – was called the sherbet or shrub, the combination of citrus oils, sugar, and citrus juice that was just missing the booze.

Signature Cocktail Recipe: Peach-Bourbon Shrub by Oh So Beautiful Paper (70)

So, long story short, there’s a vast world of Shrubs out there to try. Stay tuned for more.

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

{happy weekend!}

This was a big week, no? It feels so nice to turn on the news for reports about something good for a change. I also spent a good part of my week going through years and years of saved articles in my Google Reader (I have some as far back as 2008!) and bookmarking them elsewhere or pinning them on my Pinterest page. I migrated to Feedly a couple of months ago (I like the clean layout and easy functionality), but I’ll still miss Reader when it goes offline at the end of this month. Sigh. But in the meantime…

Love is Love by Julie Doan

Calligraphy by Julie Doan (via Instagram)

…a few links for your weekend!

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

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