{happy weekend}

Happy Friday everyone. Truth is, I’m having a really hard time keeping a smile on my face these days. Despite what some on the television news might want you to think, this shutdown does affect real people. My husband and several of our close friends are among the 800,000 federal government employees furloughed until the government reopens. With the shutdown, half our income immediately disappeared. No expectation of backpay and no idea when he might be allowed to go back to work. The last shutdown lasted nearly three weeks. I’m trying to look on the bright side of things and be thankful that our situation isn’t worse. I’ve also never been more grateful for leaving federal employment three years ago, so that I can at least continue to earn while Congress gets its act together. With all of this uncertainty, this is a pretty scary time for our family. But it has also gotten us thinking about some larger changes we’d like to make in our life. Changes that will help us live our life on our own terms, rather than the whims of politicians. But in the meantime…

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Photo Credit: Maple and Belmont

…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

Jennifer + Eric’s Colorful Gold Foil Calligraphy Wedding Invitations

If you love bright, bold colors and shiny gold foil, you’ll love these wedding invitations! A collaboration between calligrapher Jenna Blazevich and designer/printer Margot Madison, the invitation suite features bright jewel tones paired with both gold foil and shiny metallic gold ink, a colorful floral envelope liner, and lots of pretty day-of stationery details!

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From Jenna: This entirely hand-lettered custom wedding invitation suite was a collaboration between myself and Margot Madison for the wedding of Cincinnati event planner Jennifer Trokhan. Jennifer wanted to work with a collection of vibrant gem tones and subtle hits of gold and an occasional aubergine purple.

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The wedding took place at the Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati, and the color story which began with this rich invitation continued through the day-of stationery and accommodating table elements. For the envelope liner, Margot and I chose a print from Katrina Rocella’s Spoonflower shop.

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The invitation itself features gold foil, and the effect of the deeply imprinted gold on the thick peacock stock turned out really special. I completed the envelope addressing, table numbers, place cards, and out-of-town guest cards by hand in my Julienne calligraphy style with gold ink.

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The printed day-of stationery elements includes hand-lettered menus, programs, and thank-you tags for guest favors and were screen printed by local Cincinnati printer, Jon Flannery at Cryptogram, all in a gold metallic ink.

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Thanks Jenna!

Design + Calligraphy: Jenna Blazevich

Invitation Printing: Margot Madison

Day-of Stationery Screen Printing: Cryptogram

Check out the Designer Rolodex for more tal­ented wed­ding invi­ta­tion design­ers and the real invi­ta­tions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Jenna Blazevich

Rebecca + Andrew’s Whimsical Illustrated Wedding Invitations

I’m loving the subtle botanical patterns and illustrated motifs in these invitations from Jessica of Moira Design Studio! Jessica mixed calligraphed text with watercolor patterns and illustrations inspired by the farmhouse wedding venue, matching different vignettes to each part of the invitation. So beautiful!

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From Jessica: Rebecca and Andrew’s wedding venue features a lovely little orchard, a pretty old barn, a farmhouse, and a small vineyard. We loved the idea of combining all those gorgeous elements, but fitting them all on one invitation proved to be difficult. We ended up mixing the grape vines and peach branches together to make several patterns, featured the barn on the invitation, and then created a little vignette for the envelope liner that combined all the elements in a little landscape and included portrait silhouettes in little  painted frames.

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 We love mixed media and this particular suite features watercolor and calligraphy. We also print the backs of all our pieces, giving everything that extra added detail. It’s also a great way to include more elements! The back of all the pieces are different, ranging from peach trees, branches covered in peaches, grape leaves, vines, and the matching vignette on the back of the invitation.

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Naturally, all the envelopes are addressed in matching calligraphy.

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Thanks Jessica!

Design: Moira Design Studio

Envelope Calligraphy: Moira Ink

Check out the Designer Rolodex for more tal­ented wed­ding invi­ta­tion design­ers and the real invi­ta­tions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Moira Design Studio

{happy weekend!}

Happy Friday everyone! Our house is currently recovering from the cold from hell, so it has been one. rough. week. Sophie and Andrew got sick first, then it was my turn a few days later. Oh, and OF COURSE this would be the week that Sophie got her newest tooth! Way to pile it on, nature. There’s nothing worse than a sick and sad baby, so I’ll definitely be happy once we’re all back to full strength! But in the meantime…

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…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

Calligraphy Inspiration: Hardink Calligraphy

Something I’ve really enjoyed about social media is the ability to stubble upon new and talented people. Case in point: I first came across the work of Elizabeth Hardin of Hardink Calligraphy through Instagram. After ogling and liking her posts for months, I decided it was time to share it with you! (Though some of you may have seen her work featured in countless wedding magazines and websites!) Her writing style is a perfect mix of playful aspects of modern calligraphy with refined elements of the traditional, which I’m sure suits the style of many of our readers to a T! – Julie

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I love the way Elizabeth’s calligraphy utilizes space. It almost feels like thread or ribbon streaming across the page.

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Less is more with these dinner menus. Elegant and simple, they prove that all you need is a touch of calligraphy.

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Hardink Calligraphy also has a shop where you can purchase a range of goods, from custom calligraphy stamps to prints to notepads!  Still want more? Check out Elizabeth’s blog and her work in collaboration with Bella Figura.

Photo credits: 1, 2, 4 – Amy Nicole Photography; 3 l+r – Donald Yeager; 5 – Phindy Studios; 6 l+r – Elizabeth Hardin