Whimsical Floral Adoption Baby Shower Invitations

Baby showers are just the best. They’re both a chance for parents-to-be to celebrate with family and friends and stock up on a few new baby essentials (OMGbabiesneedsomuchstuff). And seriously, there really are so many things that new parents need – including moms and dads becoming parents through adoption. I’m beyond thrilled and honored that the talented Kristy Rice of Momental Designs is sharing her whimsical floral adoption baby shower invitations with us today! The invitations feature Kristy’s signature vibrant hand painted florals, rose gold foil printing, and fabric envelope liners, these festive baby shower invitations – perfect for celebrating Kristy’s newest addition!

Whimsical Floral Adoption Baby Shower Invitations by Momental Designs

From Kristy: These invitations were very special for me as I created them for my own baby shower for my recent adoption. The invitations are loosely based on the paintings of artist, Frida Khalo, and a blooming cactus watercolor painting that I did. They are very whimsical, featuring a variety of different fun elements to help the overall aesthetic come to life!

Whimsical Floral Adoption Baby Shower Invitations by Momental Designs

The highlights of the design for me were the rose gold foil printing, fabric elements, and the individually hand painted components of the invitations. All pieces are hand painted using various techniques like gold spatter, bold aqua watercolor washes, and fuchsia free hand outlines on the menus.

Whimsical Floral Adoption Baby Shower Invitations by Momental Designs

Whimsical Floral Adoption Baby Shower Invitations by Momental Designs

The envelopes were lined with fabric for an added touch! To complement everything inside the envelopes, we featured calligraphy envelope addressing with colorful artwork on front and oversized vintage stamp composition.

Whimsical Floral Adoption Baby Shower Invitations by Momental Designs

Whimsical Floral Adoption Baby Shower Invitations by Momental Designs

Each guest wore paper flower crown, even the babies! Made from handmade, painted papers and greens, each crown had its own personality. Each seating card featured a personal free hand watercolor sketch that I made for guests based on their favorite flowers, favorite pet, favorite collectibles, favorite food, or a nickname. Seating cards were hung on a dip dyed fabric backdrop featuring a calligraphy laser cut wood sign and greenery.

Whimsical Floral Adoption Baby Shower Invitations by Momental Designs

The menus were die cut on shimmering gold stock with a nearly-neon pink painted edge. The edge painting was done a bit differently than usual as it was painted on the face of the menu along with the edge. Each menu was unique depending on how much pressure was applied to the brush during painting.

Whimsical Floral Adoption Baby Shower Invitations by Momental Designs

The vibrant floral aesthetic continued throughout the party with floral watercolor pattern placemats featuring dahlias, mulberries, vines and ranunculus. I had a blast putting together all the elements for this special day and making my vision come to life.

Whimsical Floral Adoption Baby Shower Invitations by Momental Designs

Whimsical Floral Adoption Baby Shower Invitations by Momental Designs

Thanks Kristy!

Design: Momental Designs

Envelope Calligraphy: Designsgirl

Wooden Calligraphy Sign: Laura Hooper Calligraphy

Event Planning: Patchwork Planning

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

Photo Credits: Danielle Coons Photography

Quick Pick: Knot & Bow

Have you checked out the party goods over at Knot & Bow lately? I’ve been a fan of their sparkly twine, party balloons, colorful twisted wool, and gorgeous ombré birthday candles for years, but lately I feel like they’ve been stepping up their game in a major way. Iridescent confetti?? Metallic balloon kits? Yes, please! And they recently added some super cute patterned glassine treat bags, including a fun grid pattern that is right up my alley. Here are a few of my current favorites:

Quick Pick: Knot & Bow Party Supplies

1. White Iridescent Party Confetti

2. Windowpane Glassine Treat Bags

3. Black Prism Glitter Twine

4. Iridescent Jumbo Confetti Balloon

5. White Copper Party Confetti

6. Tiny Rainbow Party Confetti

7. Squiggle Confetti Glassine Treat Bags

8. Blush Copper Party Balloons (also: Unicorn Party Balloons!)

Lots more to check out over at Knot & Bow!

Rustic Green and Gold Foil Wedding Invitations

I’ve been feeling dark greens in a major way recently, so I was thrilled when Catherine from Printerette Press sent over these gorgeous rustic green and gold foil wedding invitations! The invitation suite features Catherine’s signature hand lettering and botanical illustrations, including some sweet details important to the bride and groom tucked into those illustrations. And the dark green ink paired with shiny gold foil? Such a great combination! Oh, and for any engaged couples out there – make sure you read all the way to the end for details on an awesome discount on custom wedding invitations through the end of October!

Rustic Green and Gold Foil Wedding Invitations by Printerette Press / Photo Credit: Melissa Oholendt, Styling by Mae Mae & Co.

From Catherine: Of all of the weddings we’ve worked on, Rebecca and Bert’s wedding suite is one of our favorites. With so many fun elements such as gold foil and velvet, it’s hard to top! They were a joy to work with and were very excited to collaborate together on a truly personalized invitation.

Rustic Green and Gold Foil Wedding Invitations by Printerette Press / Photo Credit: Melissa Oholendt, Styling by Mae Mae & Co.

We hand drew the laurels and wreaths featured on the several of the paper pieces. The invitation was printed with a mix of deep green letterpress and gold foil to add a bit of dimension. Tucked into to the laurels are little illustrative elements of importance to the bride and groom: antlers, a bunny, a bicycle, a bumble bee, and a set of weights because of Bert’s background as a personal trainer!

Rustic Green and Gold Foil Wedding Invitations by Printerette Press / Photo Credit: Melissa Oholendt, Styling by Mae Mae & Co.

For the lettering on the invitation, we used a mix of hand lettering for their names and locations of the wedding and reception and a classic serif font for the rest of the invitation text. We highlighted the names of the bride and groom in gold foil on both the wedding invitation and save the date.

Rustic Green and Gold Foil Wedding Invitations by Printerette Press / Photo Credit: Melissa Oholendt, Styling by Mae Mae & Co.

We loved the mix of green and gold foil for a fall wedding. We backed the invitation with velvet flocking that matched to the custom made velvet jacket that Bert will wear on the big day! We used a duplexing process to adhere the velvet to our cotton paper. Things like this always take a little bit of practice to get right, but we love it when we get to try new things!

Rustic Green and Gold Foil Wedding Invitations by Printerette Press / Photo Credit: Melissa Oholendt, Styling by Mae Mae & Co.

Thanks Catherine!

Also, BIG news for any engaged couples out there: Printerette Press is offering 20% off a custom 3-piece wedding suite if you book your invitations by October 31! The design can include hand drawn portraits, calligraphy, custom watercolor florals, you name it! And any print method from digital to letterpress and even foil qualifies! What?!? That’s seriously such a great deal, I just had to pass it along to you guys! You can find all the details over on the Printerette Press blog right here.

Design: Printerette Press

Styling: Megan Gonzales of Mae Mae & Co.

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

Photo Credit: Melissa Oholendt

A Hoppy Last Word

Hello again! We’ve had a busy last few weeks, which completely disrupted our usual Friday Happy Hour cocktail posts. But now we’re back and wanted to get right into our theme for this month: beer cocktails! We’re starting off with a slight variation on a vintage cocktail, the Last Word: a Hoppy Last Word cocktail recipe with a Belgian Pale Ale and green chartreuse that’s perfect for this fall weather. –Andrew

Hoppy Last Word Cocktail Recipe with Green Chartreuse and Pale Ale / Liquorary for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Hoppy Last Word

3/4 oz Dry Gin
3/4 oz Green Chartreuse
3/4 oz Maraschino Liqueur
3/4 oz Lime Juice
Pale Ale

Combine everything except the beer in a shaker filled two-thirds with ice and shake well. Strain into a coupe glass and top with a splash of the beer. Enjoy!

We last featured the Last Word three (!) years ago. It’s a weird, wonderful, pungent combination of equal measures of gin, green chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, and lime juice. New York bartender Phil Ward calls it “a four-way car crash in which no one is hurt and everyone’s glad they met afterward,” which sums it up nicely.

Hoppy Last Word Cocktail Recipe with Green Chartreuse and Pale Ale / Liquorary for Oh So Beautiful Paper

The Last Word’s simple formula of four equal measures – a base spirit, citrus, and two flavorful liqueurs, with lots of herbaceous botanicals – is ripe for variation. This recipe doesn’t do anything too crazy to the original, but it does add some bright effervescence and an extra layer of complexity.

Hoppy Last Word Cocktail Recipe with Green Chartreuse and Pale Ale / Liquorary for Oh So Beautiful Paper

We tried this a couple of ways and settled on a Belgian pale ale by a local DC brewery, DC Brau. A bitter IPA would overwhelm this drink with too many botanicals, while a gentle, fruity wheat beer would be too limp in the face of so many strong flavors. So we split the difference with a Belgian pale ale, with just enough bitterness to stand up to the Last Word. It’s still a weird, pungent drink, but also light and flavorful and wonderful, and perfect for the fall.

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Glassware by Liquorary

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Happy Weekend!

Happy Friday everyone! We spent last weekend visiting family in Upstate New York and basking in all the gorgeous fall foliage already on display up there. It was crisp and cool and glorious, the perfect weather for daily walks around the neighborhood. Between aunts and uncles, grandparents, and cousins, I barely get to see my girls during these family weekends – ha! Of course, one of my girls caught a bug from one of her cousins and is now camped out for a sick day on the couch. So I’m off to my mama nursing duties, but in the meantime…

Ashley Buzzy Lettering

Image by Ashley Buzzy via Instagram

…a few links for your weekend!

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

That’s it for us this week! Check back a bit later for a cocktail recipe (yay!) and I’ll see you back here next week! xoxo