Megan + Mike’s Chevron Stripe and Stitched Save the Dates

Megan from Ruby the Fox sent over the save the dates for her wedding this fall, and I’m completely in love with every. single. detail. From the lovely calligraphy to the zig zag stitching to the chevron stripe envelope liner – the entire concept had me at hello. And even with all of those details, Megan manages to pull everything together into a save the date that is creative yet simple and elegant in its presentation.

Chevron-Stripe-Stitched-Wedding-Save-the-Dates-Suite

From Megan:  When I got engaged in October to my amazing boyfriend of seven years, I knew I would be designing my own paper suite!  With an October Chicago wedding in the works, and a color palette of “muted Autumn” I knew I wanted the Save the Dates to portray our fun personalities but also be a preview to what our eclectic, organic wedding would bring.

Chevron-Stripe-Stitched-Wedding-Save-the-Dates

The inserts were letterpress printed with grey ink onto basic white luggage tags and tied with inexpensive jute twine.  The calligraphy was done by the insanely talented Angelique Phillips of Angelique Ink.

Chevron-Stripe-Stitched-Wedding-Save-the-Dates-Stamp

Chevron-Stripe-Stitched-Wedding-Save-the-Dates-Detail

Each of the cards were sewn, lovingly, by my mom with peach thread.  They were then slipped beneath a thin vellum strip.  The outcome was exactly what I had hoped for: a fun and creative yet elegant preview to the upcoming festivities!

Chevron-Stripe-Stitched-Wedding-Save-the-Dates-Envelope

Chevron-Stripe-Stitched-Wedding-Save-the-Dates-Envelope-Liner

So lovely Megan!  For more of Megan’s work, check her out over at Ruby the Fox!

Photo Credits: Ruby the Fox

Enrique + Annessa’s Creative Mexico Destination Wedding Invitations

Enrique and Annessa are graphic designers getting married in Mexico this summer (congrats you two!) with a follow-on event a few weeks later in Pennsylvania.  When it came time to create their wedding invitations, Enrique and Annessa found themselves inspired by double-sided letterpress coasters and knew they wanted to share their fun sense of humor with their wedding guests.  They decided to go with a fresh blue and orange color palette to represent their sunny destination wedding location – and a totally adorable illustration of the happy couple!

Orange-Blue-Modern-Mexico-Wedding-Invitations-Suite

Orange-Blue-Modern-Mexico-Wedding-Invitations-Glassine-Envelope

From Enrique and Annessa:  The inspiration for the format came from letterpress coasters we had seen once.  We really liked how they showcased personal items that turned into short stories about the person(s) on the front of the coasters.

Orange-Blue-Modern-Mexico-Wedding-Invitation

Orange-Blue-Modern-Mexico-Wedding-Invitations-Bride-Groom-Illustration

In this case, we included our French bulldog Mr. Wilson, my love for gadgets, Annessa’s old 87’ Volvo, and my love for Johnny Cash. We really wanted to play up the fun, intimate details we know about each other and share them with our guests.  Humor is the soul and foundation to our relationship, so we felt it appropriate to illustrate each other the way we see each other.

Orange-Blue-Modern-Mexico-Wedding-Invitations-Detail

Orange-Blue-Modern-Mexico-Wedding-Invitations-Detail

Since we are having two events, Mexico and Pennsylvania, we had to double up on invitations while hinting at the theme of each event.  Pennsylvania will be a more country feel, so we used iconography such as cowboy boots.  For Mexico, we used, of course, a very appropriate sombrero.

Orange-Blue-Modern-Mexico-Wedding-Invitations-Illustration

Over all, there were some ups and downs through the process of designing and coming up with a final solution, but it feels very rewarding to know that we designed them ourselves.  We hope our guests enjoy them as well.

Thank you so much Enrique and Annessa!

Photo Credits: Enrique Barrios and Annessa Braymer

{happy weekend!}

Happy Friday everyone!  It’s been a wet and rainy early spring week here in DC, but I’ve been taking advantage of the gloomy weather to get things done around the house and behind the scenes.  I love the sense of accomplishment and relief that comes from checking off an item that has sat on my to-do list for nearly a year (I’m also have awesome procrastination skills).  My plans for the weekend involve finishing this book in time for a book club meeting on Monday and taking my mom out to a movie – what are you all up to this weekend?  As always, in the meantime…

{the world’s most adorable cake from herriott grace}

…a few links for your weekend:

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

That’s it for me this week!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Monday!  xoxo

Morse Code Love Cards

Today happens to be my sweet husband’s birthday (you may remember that he’s currently overseas for a few months on a work assignment).  Since I don’t get to celebrate with him in person, these morse code letterpress love cards from Lettuce Press seemed like an appropriate way to help celebrate the far-away birthday of my favorite person in the whole entire world.

Morse-Code-Love-You-Card

Morse-Code-XOXO-Card

I love you and xo xo xo – both in morse code and available from Lettuce Press.

Photo Credits: Lettuce Press.

Woodland Papercuts Wedding Invitations

I’m a long-time fan of the beautiful art of papercutting, from greeting cards to artwork to ketubahs and marriage certificates.  So when artist Naomi Shiek sent over her collection of stunning woodland papercut wedding invitations, well, let’s just say it was love at first sight.  Naomi draws her inspiration from nature, with each lovely design focuses on a specific botanical theme.

Woodland-Papercut-Wedding-Invitations

From Naomi:  I am a huge fan of tactile stationery, I think there’s nothing more beautiful than feeling the images as well as seeing them.  My inspiration is always nature and folklore.  I enjoy the process of papercutting and the imagery is influenced by the slow reveal of the silhouette during the cutting process.  With my invitations & reply cards I wanted to create nature scenes with an air of romance and mystique about them and I wanted the handmade craft to show through.  There are seven pre-made designs in the collection: Wings, Dandelion, Peonies In Bloom, Big Flower, Deer Beloved, Fern, and Bamboo.  Each design includes an invitation and reply card.

Woodland-Papercut-Wedding-Invitations

Woodland-Papercut-Wedding-Invitations

{wings}

Woodland-Papercut-Wedding-Invitations

{dandelion}

Woodland-Papercut-Wedding-Invitations

Woodland-Papercut-Wedding-Invitations

{peonies in bloom}

Woodland-Papercut-Wedding-Invitations

{big flower}

Woodland-Papercut-Wedding-Invitations

Woodland-Papercut-Wedding-Invitations

{deer beloved}

Woodland-Papercut-Wedding-Invitations

{fern}

Woodland-Papercut-Wedding-Invitations

{bamboo}

Gah!  So pretty!  Check out the full collection, along with more of Naomi’s papercut work, right here!

Photo Credits: Naomi Shiek