02/06/2018

Watercolor Floral Baptism Invitations

These charming watercolor floral baptism invitations are so sweet! Megan of Honeybee Paper Co. created these invitations for her daughter Elora’s baptism â€“ drawing inspiration from the peace, joy, and serenity that Megan feels as Elora’s mother. We love the cheerful color palette, bespoke calligraphy, and well balanced white space that make the watercolor floral illustrations truly shine. What a beautiful and symbolic suite!

From Megan: When it came time to have my daughter, and first child, baptized we really wanted the invitation suite to reflect the feelings she gave us â€” serenity, peace, and joy. We wanted a soft color palette to represent the beautiful sacrament she would receive.

She was baptized in the same gown I wore when I was christened as a baby, so I wanted to pull inspiration from the delicate lace that trimmed the gown. I chose to use crochet ribbon to wrap the invitation and enclosure as a gentle nod to the gown, which threaded through the matching “You’re Invited” tags. The cards were printed on white cotton paper to add an additional layer of texture.

All the watercolor flowers were placed individually to create the shape of the cross, and I wanted to keep a lot of white space to let them shine. For the enclosure, we wanted to use her initial in the design, as my husband and I love her rarely heard name, Elora.

The backs of both the invitation and enclosure card featured the same florals enlarged, to create a nice contrast to all the white on the front. The light blue envelopes turned out to be a wonderful choice and were selected to complement the colors in the suite. The names and addresses of our friends and families were each calligraphed by myself in white ink.

This invitation was such a joy for me to design as it was meant to celebrate such an important little person. Each detail was delicately selected. I loved these watercolor botanicals so much I even had a custom cake topper ordered to match! These invitations set the tone for what turned out to be a wonderful day with friends and family to celebrate a truly wonderful little girl.

Thanks Megan!

Design: Honeybee Paper Co.
Printing: StationeryHQ

Photo Credits: Megan Veliz

02/05/2018

Romantic Deckle Edge Wedding Invitations with Red Wax Seal

Ethereal calligraphy, soft deckled edge paper, and bold red wax seals? Yes, please! We’re loving these romantic deckle edge wedding invitations by Tricia of Fourteen-Forty! The clean, minimalist design is absolutely dreamy on the beautiful handmade paper â€“ and the pop of red in the wax seal is so fun!

From Tricia: When my good friends Clara and Edward came to me for their invitations, all kinds of inspiration and ideas came to mind. They wanted something romantic and modern and throughout the process, was pleasantly surprised again and again by their attention to design and detail. In the end, this deckled edged suite was truly a labor of love!

Up until now, our clients have always preferred a cleaner edge and thus we always hand tore our invitations. Clara and Edward fell in love with deckled edges and so we used them for both the invitation pieces and envelopes! We just love the texture and naturally frayed edges of deckled edge paper. After testing all kinds of combinations we decided ivory and lead gray were the perfect combination: subtle and modern. Their names were calligraphed and printed in gold foil. To top it off we added a vellum overlay tied to the invitation by gold string and a bold red wax seal.

It was clear from the start that calligraphy, both hand and digital, would play a large role in their suite. Each envelope was hand calligraphed and completed with an array of vintage stamps inspired by the coupleâ€™s personal interests. The bright colored stamps were a fun contrast to the subtle sparkle of the gold ink. For their day-of pieces we knew we couldnâ€™t say goodbye just yet to the red wax seal and so we sealed both their menus and escort cards! Each escort card was sealed with the guestsâ€™ table number. On the day, it was so much fun seeing a hundred red seals side by side!

We wanted to make sure that the details didnâ€™t end there and so we also tied each program with the same gold string we used for their invitation. While it isnâ€™t necessary to match your day-of pieces to your invitations, in this case, we were so glad Clara and Edward were excited to bring back aspects of their invitations on the day.

Thanks Rachel!

Design: Fourteen-Forty
Calligraphy: Papersoul
Floral Design: Days of May Florals

Check out the Designer Rolodex for more talÂented wedÂding inviÂtaÂtion designÂers and the real inviÂtaÂtions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Fourteen-Forty

01/11/2018

Inspiring Calligraphers: Maurelle Calligraphy and Design

Hello to the new year (and finally some non-freezing temperatures here in New England!). As dependable as a blizzard in Maine (the great children’s book Blizzard Wizard is written by a Maine author, after all), it’s safe to assume that looking at beautiful calligraphy from the most talented and inspiring calligraphers puts you in a good mood. So here goes with today’s inspiration, Maurelle Calligraphy. Let’s take a peek! â€“ Jen

Maurelle was introduced to calligraphy when she was just fourteen â€” and fell in love with the art. “College happened, and I never picked up the pen again until six years ago,” she says. “This time around, I discovered script calligraphy (Copperplate), and I fell in love the second time around.” Maurelle channeled her natural entrepreneurial spirit and started her design business four years ago.

Photo Credit: Christine Pienaar Photography

How Maurelle describes herself in her own words:

“A creative soul, lettering artist, designer and teacher. A full time mother to three children (with a new baby that arrived 2 months ago) and wife to a very supportive husband living in the beautiful British Columbia.”

Photo Credit: Rachel May Photography

Maurelle first learned the traditional Copperplate calligraphy, with all of its rules to follow. “Along the way, I have used these essential rules to transition to a modern style of calligraphy,” she shares. “My lettering style is inspired by nature, the natural and delicate movement of foliage. It is now a culmination of old world charm, minimalism and beauty in imperfection.”

Photo Credit: White Linen Photography

Photo Credit: Maru Photography

One of Maurelle’s favorite projects was a custom invitation for a wedding in Iceland. The invitation included a hand-drawn painting of the venue and church. “It was an incredible experience because I stepped out of my comfort zone when I used acrylic as a medium to draw,” shares Maurelle.

Photo Credit: Mackenzie Jane Photography

Photo Credit: Melissa Gidney Photography

What happens when you make a mistake as a calligrapher? People make mistakes, right? Here’s what Maurelle shared:

“Mistakes are opportunities to learn! Since calligraphy is usually done using traditional dip pen and ink, sometimes errors are just unavoidable. For wedding invitations, it is more forgiving since I have to digitize my design first and edit it with a program before sending it to the printer. For place cards and envelopes, I usually require at least 20% extra stationery, and I have learned techniques from past experiences to minimize mistakes. For custom work like a wedding vow sometimes an ink blot or wrong spelling can get in the way at the very last sentence, I just take a deep breath and start all over again!”

Photo Credit: Erin Sousa

Photo Credit: Minted Photography

I just love when calligraphers dabble in illustration, too. So pretty! A big thanks to Maurelle of Maurelle Calligraphy and Design for sharing a sweet roundup of her lettering work. See you soon!

p.s. Check out all of our past calligrapher features right here!

01/10/2018

Glamorous Mixed Metals Wedding Invitations

It’s the first wedding invitations of 2018 â€“ and we’re going glam! These glamorous mixed metals wedding invitations from Taryn of Twinkle & Toast bring an extra dose of sultry drama, with gorgeous gold foil on matte black and metallic gray paper. And can you believe these invitations were created for a wedding in Malibu, California?? We love that Taryn and her clients chose to deviate from a typical bright and cheery aesthetic for a darker, moodier aesthetic. To round out the look she included amazing custom stamps and a custom watercolor envelope liner she painted herself!

From Taryn: Melanie and Matt are both from the east coast, but currently reside in Southern California. Since many of their family and friends still live on the east coast, this was going to be a destination wedding for several of their guests, and they really wanted to create a special, effortless California evening. They found the most beautiful venue in Malibu: a working olive tree farm that overlooked the ocean in the rolling hills. It was romantic and charming with breathtaking views. Their wedding was in October, which called for lots of moody dark colors of burgundy, gray, and black with mixed metals and vintage flair. This couple had a laid-back attitude and a great eye for design (the groom is an art director himself).

The whole invitation suite featured custom oversized spot calligraphy throughout. The main invitation had a pale gold foil print on a super silky pitch-black noir paper. To incorporate some burgundy, we had custom painted deep florals featured on their RSVP card and insert card. The accompanying cards were printed on a smooth ivory paper to tie in their vintage touch. The main envelope was a metallic black and the RSVP envelope was metallic gray, which gave it a smoky dark feel. Both metallic envelopes had a pale gold foil stamp return address, with metallic gold pointed pen calligraphy ink for the guest address.

We also designed custom postage stamps with the burgundy floral design on both envelopes. One of my favorite features was the custom painted envelope liner on the main envelope. We wanted to showcase the Malibu setting, but do it in a dark and moody way. Instead of a bright and airy sunset, I painted a sunset with hues of purple, black and blue, showing both the ocean and mountain setting surrounding Malibu.

Overall their vibe was moody, chic, sultry and romantic. The invite really set the tone for an intimate, elegant autumn evening for everyone meet in Malibu.

Thanks Taryn!

Invitation Design: Twinkle & Toast
Florals: Catalina Neal
Ring Box: The Mrs. Box
Styling Surface: Simply Rooted Surfaces
Postage: Zazzle (custom designed)
Rings: Marrow Fine

Check out the Designer Rolodex for more talÂented wedÂding inviÂtaÂtion designÂers and the real inviÂtaÂtions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Jenna Joseph

12/13/2017

Pink Floral Unicorn Baby Shower Invitations

When your best friend is a stationer you can be certain that your baby shower invitations will be simply amazing! All of this is true (and more!) of these adorable pink floral unicorn baby shower invitations designed by Lanaâ€™s Shop. The festive skirt wearing unicorn is adorable and a perfect motif for these invitations. Floral printed vellum and copper wax seals are the perfect finishing touch!

From Lana: Nancy and I have been best friends for 25 years, so when it was time to throw her baby shower, I knew I had to go ALL OUT! My BFF is a girly girl at heart, which made it easy to decide on a direction for the party. From the adorable custom illustrated unicorn, to the milkshake stamps, to the wax seals, we definitely went with all things feminine and sweet to welcome Nancy’s baby girl.

When designing the invitations, I wanted to make sure to strike a balance between cute and sophisticated. Our floral skirt-wearing unicorn gal shared the spotlight with an elegant hand-lettered elegant script for the standout words on the invitation and insert.

Inspired by Baby B’s nursery wallpaper, the floral pattern I illustrated was featured as a border on the insert card as well as on the luxe vellum wrap around that we sealed with a custom gold wax seal. On the insert, we included a message asking guests to bring a book instead of a card. Even though we obviously love cards, we loved this idea so that Nancy and Baby B could get a whole book collection from their loved ones.

For the day of the shower, we rented floral linens from La Tavola to match our vellum wrap. I also designed coordinating game cards and menus for Nancy’s guests and included a packet of seeds at each person’s seat that read, “Life plants the seed… Love makes it grow. Thank you for celebration Baby B.” To tie everything together, we made custom unicorn straw toppers and bought custom “It’s a girl!” pencils from Etsy in pink, of course!

It’s always such a treat to design paper goodies for friends and this shower was SO much fun to put together! Hope it can bring lots of inspiration to others for their own shower sets.