Bonnie’s Bun in the Oven Baby Shower Invitations

Bonnie from Tenn Hens Design sent over some photos from her recent baby shower, and the entire shower — from the red and blue color palette to the sweet hand-lettering to the mix of old and new stamps — is just so completely adorable that I broke out into a great big smile when I first opened up Bonnie's e-mail.  Let's start with the shower invitations.

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From Bonnie: The design inspiration and shower theme all stemmed from my childhood nickname — "Buns."  My friends today still call me that some 20 years later!  So we thought "bun in the oven" was an appropriate theme for my shower.  And since I'm not finding out the gender of our baby, we wanted to keep the colors relatively gender neutral and went with a color palette of red and shades of light blue. 

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We illustrated the type and design and made it very loose and imperfect.  We then used a corner cutter and mounted it to a colored sheet of card stock left over from a recent project so that the invitations ranged in border color from light blue to teal.  We also lined the envelopes with paper stock from Michaels. 

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Then we tied the bakers twine around the whole card for an extra little touch.  For the envelopes, we addressed them in the same style as the lettering on the invitation.  We also used old stamps I'd collected, mixed with some new ones (we especially love the new abstract art stamps since they're oversize) and created a little collage of stamps on each envelope.

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We also found ways to continue the design theme through to the party through custom napkin tags, food tags & a baby quiz — all of which were super easy to make and print in the office.

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Thanks so much Bonnie!  Bonnie has posted a bunch of additional photos from the shower on her personal blog, Carolina Postcard.  You can also check out more from Bonnie (and her business partner, Currier) over on the Tenn Hens Design website and blog.

{image credits: tenn hens design}

Pink + Purple Baby Shower Invitations

Azusa, a freelance graphic designer in Los Angeles, sent over this nesting theme baby shower invitation set that she recently designed for a friend — and it's just way too adorable to not pass right along!

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Azusa has also made the shower suite available as PDF templates in her etsy shop, One for You.  The set includes invitations, mailing labels, baby quiz cards, drink tags, baby wish cards, favor tags, and of course thank you cards — and it comes in the original pink, as well as blue or yellow:

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 The flag-shaped drink tags are my favorite detail — so cute!  Thanks Azusa!

{image credits: One for You}

Lilacs + Dogwoods

We took a quick trip down to Mount Vernon this past weekend.  This is my favorite time of year to visit Mount Vernon — the entire estate is full of gorgeous lilacs, all of which were in bloom this past weekend:

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If you’ve seen photos from my wedding, then you probably already know how much I love lilacs.  I just about skipped from shrub to shrub trying to take in as much of the amazing lilac scent as possible.  I love how the lilacs grow so big and wild at Mount Vernon — I just wished they bloomed all season long!

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Mount Vernon overlooks the Potomac River, and even though it’s usually pretty crowded with tourists whenever we go down it always feels incredibly peaceful to sit on the lawn and look out at the river.  On this trip we’re pretty sure we saw a pair of bald eagles flying above us!  I tried to get a picture, but they were too far away.

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I love the formal gardens and orchards around the estate.  We bought annual passes, so we’re planning to make a few more trips over the summer and fall when the fruit trees, vegetables and herbs all start to produce and we can go visit the 4-acre working farm.  This time we were there really just for the flowers — like these beautiful dogwoods:

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{all images by me}

Hello!Lucky Baby Announcements – and a Spring Sale!

Hello!Lucky* just launched their first collection of baby announcements – and as you might expect, each announcement is as cute as a button! 

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The collection includes both digital and letterpress printing options, as well as collaborations with other designers (such as Pikku, featured above), so check out the full selection right here!

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On a separate note, Eva from Sycamore Street Press sent me a note to let me know about a huge spring sale that is going on through Friday – with prints, cards, gift tags, and place cards up to 60% off!  Check out the sale in the Sycamore Street Press shops here and here!

{image credits: Hello!Lucky and Sycamore Street Press}

*Hello!Lucky is one of my sponsors.  For information about my editorial policy, please click here.

All about blue…

This morning I’m all about the color blue — from the palest sky blue to a bolder light teal, these two invitations from Angela and Kathleen recently caught my eye and stayed in my mind all weekend.  First up, Angela from SeeSaw created these gorgeous light blue letterpress wedding invitations with lovely damask details and whimsical stripes for her brother-in-law’s recent wedding:

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Blue-gray-damask-wedding-invitations{angela hardison}

Next up, Kathleen from Twig & Thistle worked with her friend Tara Lee to create these crisp and modern letterpress baby shower invitations:

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{twig and thistle}

Gorgeous work ladies!

{image credits: angela + kathleen}