Best of 2017: Adorable Baby Announcements and Shower Invitations

Aaaah, babies! Even before I became a mom, I loved seeing festive and exuberant baby shower invitations, sweet birth announcements, and even fun birthday party invitations! Let’s take a look back at some of our favorite adorable baby announcements and shower invitations (and one first birthday party invitation!) from the year, from copper foil baby shower invitations to vellum first birthday party invitations!

Copper Foil Star Inspired Baby Shower Invitations by Bourne Paper Co.

Alana of Bourne Paper Co. sent two adorable baby stationery projects in 2017 – first, the invitations for her baby shower! The copper foil stars are the perfect complement to the crisp and clean modern design!

Copper Foil Star Inspired Baby Shower Invitations by Bourne Paper Co.

Copper Foil Star Baby Shower Invitations

And a bit later in the year, Alana shared the sweet birth announcements for her daughter, Peyton – with beautiful calligraphy by Anne Robin and a fun batik-inspired envelope liner!

Sweet and Simple Calligraphy Baby Announcements by Bourne Paper Co. and Anne Robin Calligraphy

Sweet and Simple Calligraphy Baby Announcements by Bourne Paper Co. and Anne Robin Calligraphy

Sweet and Simple Calligraphy Baby Announcements

Can you imagine anything more fun than sprinkle-inspired baby shower invitations?? I love these festive baby shower invitations with a white foil sprinkle pattern from Samantha and Whitney of Gus & Ruby Letterpress!

Festive Confetti-Inspired Baby Shower Invitations by Gus & Ruby Letterpress

Festive Baby Shower Invitations with Foil Sprinkles!

Vellum was one of the biggest trends of 2017 – and I’m expecting we’ll continue to see more of this translucent material in 2018! How lovely is this eucalyptus overlay on these first birthday party invitations from Mint for Hue??

Eucalyptus and Vellum Birthday Party Invitations by Mint for Hue

Eucalyptus and Vellum First Birthday Party Invitations

Looking for more adorable baby stationery? Check out our past baby shower invitation and baby announcement posts right here!

Best of 2017: Understated and Romantic Wedding Invitations

After recapping some of our favorite playful and colorful wedding invitations of 2017, it’s time to turn our attention to the best understated and romantic wedding invitations of the year! Prepare yourself for some seriously stunning calligraphy, gorgeous textures, and beautiful details galore!

French Chateau Inspired Calligraphy Wedding Invitations by Paperglaze Calligraphy

These French Chateau-inspired wedding invitations by Brandi Smyth Photography and Paperglaze Calligraphy were easily some of the most romantic wedding invitations of the year. That calligraphed envelope liner! The hand torn edges! So beautiful.

French Chateau Inspired Calligraphy Wedding Invitations by Paperglaze Calligraphy

French Chateau-Inspired Calligraphy Wedding Invitations

A neutral color palette gives you the freedom to explore lots of different textures! I love, love, love the combination of traditional type selections with letterpress printing, a textured envelope, and white wax seal in these refined modern neutral letterpress wedding invitations from Bourne Paper Co.

Refined Modern Neutral Letterpress Wedding Invitations by Bourne Paper Co.

Refined Modern Neutral Letterpress Wedding Invitations

So many gorgeous details in these romantic copper foil wedding invitations from Samantha and Whitney of Gus & Ruby Letterpress! The modern copper foil “dip” on the main invitation, the sweet illustrated florals, and the incredible copper foil frames for the stamps on the envelope!

Romantic Copper Foil Wedding Invitations by Gus & Ruby Letterpress

Romantic Copper Foil Wedding Invitations by Gus & Ruby Letterpress

Romantic Copper Foil Wedding Invitations

A big YES to everything happening in these vintage-meets-modern floral wedding invitations from Atheneum Creative!

Vintage-Meets-Modern Floral Wedding Invitations by Atheneum Creative

Vintage-Meets-Modern Floral Wedding Invitations by Atheneum Creative

Vintage-Meets-Modern Floral Wedding Invitations

Meghan from 200 Spring wanted her wedding invitations to be an experience, so she created a gorgeous trifold invitation wrapped in vellum with a wax seal. The crisp white backdrop is the perfect canvas for her romantic gray calligraphy!

Romantic Gray Calligraphy Wedding Invitations with Deckled Edges by 200 Spring

Romantic Gray Calligraphy Wedding Invitations with Deckled Edges by 200 Spring

Romantic Gray Calligraphy Wedding Invitations with Deckled Edges

Love the understated blush-pink-to-gray ombré and non-traditional size in the save the dates from these blush and gray desert wedding invitations from Goodheart Design!

Blush and Gray Desert Wedding Invitations by Goodheart Design

Blush and Gray Desert Wedding Invitations

As always, you can visit the real invitations gallery for even more wedding invitation inspiration, and be sure to check out our curated gallery of wedding invitation designers – the Designer Rolodex – if you’re on the hunt for the perfect designer to make your own wedding invitations!

Best of 2017: Playful and Colorful Wedding Invitations

It’s always hard to jump back into things after a long holiday break, so this week I thought I’d ease us back in with a recap of some of our favorite content from 2017! I started Oh So Beautiful Paper way way back in 2008 (it’ll be my 10 year anniversary in September!) with the goal of highlighting amazing wedding invitation designs, and it’s still such a privilege to showcase so many beautiful invitations each year. Let’s start with a few of our favorite playful and colorful wedding invitations!

Modern Holographic Foil and Enamel Pin Wedding Invitations by Rachael Gibilterra

Yes, yes, yes to more hologram wedding invitations in 2018! These modern holographic wedding invitations came to us from designer and lettering artist Rachael Gibilterra for her own special day!

Modern Holographic Foil and Enamel Pin Wedding Invitations by Rachael Gibilterra

Modern Holographic Foil and Enamel Pin Wedding Invitations

My girls Samantha and Whitney of Gus & Ruby Letterpress are experts at creating the most beautiful letterpress printed wedding invitations, and I’m loving all the fun patterns they incorporated into these colorful wedding invitations! Plus, those watercolor escort cards are easily one of my favorite wedding details of the entire year.

Colorful Patterned Letterpress Wedding Invitations by Gus and Ruby Letterpress

Colorful Patterned Letterpress Wedding Invitations by Gus and Ruby Letterpress

Colorful Patterned Letterpress Wedding Invitations

These playful floral pinwheel wedding invitations from Goldie Design Co. are just SO fun – and it seems like you all agreed, since they were one of the most popular wedding invitations we featured in 2017! Let’s keep our fingers crossed for more creative wedding invitation format ideas in 2018!

Playful Floral Pinwheel Wedding Invitations

Playful Floral Pinwheel Wedding Invitations

I always love a wedding invitation (and couple!) that dares to be a little different, and these adorably quirky camp-theme wedding invitations by designer Misty Manley definitely fit the bill! Created for her own wedding, I love all the non-traditional details – from pennants to colorful buttons!

Quirky Camp-Theme Wedding Invitations by Misty Manley

Quirky Camp-Theme Wedding Invitations by Misty Manley

Quirky Camp-Theme Wedding Invitations

As always, you can visit the real invitations gallery for even more wedding invitation inspiration, and be sure to check out our curated gallery of wedding invitation designers – the Designer Rolodex – if you’re on the hunt for the perfect designer to make your own wedding invitations!

Check back soon for some of our favorite romantic and understated wedding invitations from 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 Lana’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!

Pink Floral Unicorn Baby Shower Invitations by Lana's Shop

Pink Floral Unicorn Baby Shower Invitations by Lana's Shop

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.

Pink Floral Unicorn Baby Shower Invitations by Lana's Shop

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.

Pink Floral Unicorn Baby Shower Invitations by Lana's Shop

Pink Floral Unicorn Baby Shower Invitations by Lana's Shop

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.

Pink Floral Unicorn Baby Shower Invitations by Lana's Shop

Pink Floral Unicorn Baby Shower Invitations by Lana's Shop

Pink Floral Unicorn Baby Shower Invitations by Lana's Shop

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!

Pink Floral Unicorn Baby Shower Invitations by Lana's Shop

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.

Pink Floral Unicorn Baby Shower Invitations by Lana's Shop

Thanks Lana!

Design: Lana’s Shop

Lana’s Shop is a member of the Designer Rolodex – you can see more of her beautiful work right here

Photo Credits: Laura Murray Photography

Calligraphy Inspiration: Sarah Ann Design

Hello friends! Today feels like a good day to cozy in for a peek at a really beautiful collection of calligraphy. The work you see here is by Sarah Erickson of Sarah Ann Design. She’s sharing some favorite lettering projects and a bit about her work, too. Alrighty, let’s take a look! – Jen

Calligraphy Inspiration: Sarah Ann Design

Calligraphy Inspiration: Sarah Ann Design

Photo Credits: Leah Golter Photography

Sarah is both a designer and calligrapher and shares that she’s had a “long-term love affair” with calligraphy. “Few things speak to my soul like a gorgeous ink flourish, but antique churches certainly come close,” says Sarah. “I love spaces and objects that hold stories.”

Calligraphy Inspiration: Sarah Ann Design

Calligraphy Inspiration: Sarah Ann Design

Sarah’s calligraphy design mixes organic detail with a loose lettering style. “I often incorporate delicate botanical illustrations and hand-drawn venue sketches for a custom touch, ensuring an invitation suite is unique to  you alone.”

p.s. The hand-drawn locations in her wedding examples are my favorite!

Calligraphy Inspiration: Sarah Ann Design

Calligraphy Inspiration: Sarah Ann Design

Photo Credits: Le Vie Photography

A typical day in the life for this calligrapher? Sarah shares: “On most days, you can find me nestled in my home office…surrounded by my plants, holding a calligraphy pen, a hot cup of tea forever within reach.”

Calligraphy Inspiration: Sarah Ann Design

“I am forever inspired by the idea of an heirloom..your wedding invitations become a tangible legacy of your distinctive love story — an heirloom to be treasured,” says Sarah.

Calligraphy Inspiration: Sarah Ann Design

Photo Credits: Gray Door Photography

The first element of design is knowing who you’re designing for. Sarah notes: “I design for the romantic couple who doesn’t want to forget a single aspect of their special day — the couple who will treasure every keepsake from their wedding for years to come.”

Calligraphy Inspiration: Sarah Ann Design

Why is it more than just lettering work on paper? Sarah says of wedding calligraphy: “Ultimately, I believe wedding invitations can become cherished keepsakes from your most treasured celebration — reminders of true romance, a lifelong commitment, and vows for eternity.”

A beautiful sentiment — and why I think so many of us are drawn to finding calligraphy that speaks to us, especially for a big event like your wedding. Many thanks to Sarah for sharing a look inside her work! And she’s on Instagram if you want to follow!

All images via Sarah Ann Design except where noted