Purple Watercolor Floral and Calligraphy Wedding Invitations

These beautiful wedding invitations combine two major trends for 2018: Pantone’s 2018 Color of the Year (Ultraviolet!) and a beautiful vellum overlay! Victoria of Design House of Moira created these vibrant purple watercolor floral and calligraphy wedding invitations with intricate floral illustrations on handmade paper. And that gorgeous hand painted envelope liner! Such a fun way to bring rich color to a wonderful winter wedding.

Purple Watercolor Floral and Calligraphy Wedding Invitations by Design House of Moira

From Victoria: The bride was torn between two different design paths: a simple suite with monochromatic lettering and artwork and something more moody to reflect the winter wedding…so we did both! She wanted to keep the invitation formal, elegant, and subtle while still incorporating some of the darker tones that reminded her so much of winter.

Purple Watercolor Floral and Calligraphy Wedding Invitations by Design House of Moira

Created on Arpa paper, a Spanish handmade paper with gorgeous, soft deckling on the edges for a natural and organic look, we designed the main pieces of the suite with modern calligraphy, simple type, and line botanical artwork. To bring in the moody feeling, we created watercolor artwork in deep plums and burgundies as well as a contemporary landscape tree painting reflective of the bride and groom’s hometown and the views from the bride’s parents home, where the wedding was held. We incorporated the darker tones into the vellum overlay, envelope liners, and custom postage.

Purple Watercolor Floral and Calligraphy Wedding Invitations by Design House of Moira

Purple Watercolor Floral and Calligraphy Wedding Invitations by Design House of Moira

The save the dates were a tri-fold design, slipped into a small envelope lined with the berry artwork and bound with a thin band of vellum printed in the floral pattern. The ceremony program design, a personal favorite of mine, consists of a vellum cover and is on a smaller scale at 3×5 inches. The booklet was stitched along the spine in pale blush thread.

Purple Watercolor Floral and Calligraphy Wedding Invitations by Design House of Moira

Purple Watercolor Floral and Calligraphy Wedding Invitations by Design House of Moira

The entire suite was mailed with custom postage featuring two different artwork styles: one with the darker plum tones and one featuring the line botanicals used throughout the printed pieces. Each of the three envelopes in the suite featured different envelope liners: the save the date opened to the plum artwork, the reply card to the line botanical art and the main invitation featured the landscape painting in dark purple and plum hues.

Purple Watercolor Floral and Calligraphy Wedding Invitations by Design House of Moira

All of the line and watercolor artwork and modern calligraphy was created by hand for this suite by Design House of Moira.

Purple Watercolor Floral and Calligraphy Wedding Invitations by Design House of Moira

Thanks Victoria!

Design & Calligraphy: Design House of Moira
Arpa paper: Orange Art

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

Photo Credits: Design House of Moira

The Little Prince First Birthday Party Invitation

Hi everyone! Just a quick housekeeping note before we jump into today’s post: Registration for the Blueprint Model 2018 closes at 11:59 pm TONIGHT! Check out my blog post with all the details from earlier in the week, or go here to register!

We can all agree that The Little Prince is one of our all-time favorite children’s books, yes? I love that artist Kristy Rice of Momental Designs used this beloved book as the inspiration for her son’s first birthday party invitation! If you’re familiar with Kristy’s work, then you know that she always goes the extra mile to create the most special and thoughtful invitations. You’ll just have to read below to see all the details she incoporated into this “The Little Prince” first birthday party invitation – it’s absolutely dreamy!

The Little Prince First Birthday Party Invitations by Momental Designs

From KristyIzzy’s beautiful and unique first birthday invitations were a high art twist on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved children’s story “The Little Prince.” All of the artwork for the stationery was developed in a more detailed and realistic style compared to the original book’s illustrations.

The Little Prince First Birthday Party Invitations by Momental Designs

The Little Prince First Birthday Party Invitations by Momental Designs

Perhaps the most special piece for the whole event was a calligraphy backdrop written by Sarah of Flourish Grace. We wrote a letter to Izzy and gave her the text, so all guests could share in our sentiments to him. Here is what we wrote:

“Dear Isaac our Izzy Wizzy baby guy,

You’ve shown us what it is to live, really live…to love bigger, to trust more, to make time for what matters, to pay attention, to put our phones down, to listen to God more, to love mornings, to marvel… to blow raspberries and let it be the best part of the day. 

Love, Mama and Papa”

The Little Prince First Birthday Party Invitations by Momental Designs

For the invitation itself, we created a custom game board-style box inspired by the Little Prince. At 17 inches by 10 inches, it was even the size of a board game! A spinner asked guests “What will the Little Prince teach today?” and allowed them to indulge in a bit of play as the explored the invitation. Each box had specially sized compartments to hold a copy of the book, a sheet of custom watercolor stickers, and small trinkets inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved words.

The Little Prince First Birthday Party Invitations by Momental Designs

The Little Prince First Birthday Party Invitations by Momental Designs

And we could not send our guests home without special favors! We curated a case full of fun stuff, with the title “A Visual Map and How-to Guide to Seeing with Your Little Kid Eyes.” Each mini suitcase was stuffed with time-honored goodies guaranteed to turn back the hands of time, even just for one afternoon; candy cigarettes, garbage pail kids, balsa wood airplane, bazooka bubble gum, Lip Smackers lip balm, Pop Rocks and a Slinky!

The Little Prince First Birthday Party Invitations by Momental Designs

In the lid a watercolor map was custom fitted, calling out the “steps” to revisiting your childhood fun! To name a few: “Pop some rocks and swig some soda if you’re brave”, and “Read The Little Prince, it’s weird and wonderful and witty, just read it…k?” We really wanted our guests not only to read the book, but to experience the lessons of this classic story in a fun and interactive way, and to take a child-like perspective on life, even just for a few minutes.

The Little Prince First Birthday Party Invitations by Momental Designs

The Little Prince First Birthday Party Invitations by Momental Designs

The Little Prince First Birthday Party Invitations by Momental Designs

Thanks so much Kristy! BTW – you can see Kristy’s whimsical adoption baby shower invitations right here!

Design: Momental Designs

Calligraphy: Flourish Grace

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

Photo Credits: Dolci Momenti Photography

Glamorous Mixed Metals Wedding Invitations

It’s the first wedding invitations of 2018 – 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!

Glamorous Mixed Metals Wedding Invitations by Twinkle and Toast

From TarynMelanie 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).

Glamorous Mixed Metals Wedding Invitations by Twinkle and Toast

Glamorous Mixed Metals Wedding Invitations by Twinkle and Toast

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.

Glamorous Mixed Metals Wedding Invitations by Twinkle and Toast

Glamorous Mixed Metals Wedding Invitations by Twinkle and Toast

Glamorous Mixed Metals Wedding Invitations by Twinkle and Toast

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.

Glamorous Mixed Metals Wedding Invitations by Twinkle and Toast

Glamorous Mixed Metals Wedding Invitations by Twinkle and Toast

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.

Glamorous Mixed Metals Wedding Invitations by Twinkle and Toast

Glamorous Mixed Metals Wedding Invitations by Twinkle and Toast

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 tal­ented wed­ding invi­ta­tion design­ers and the real invi­ta­tions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Jenna Joseph

Best of 2017: My Favorite Projects!

Today I’m wrapping up our 2017 recap with a look back at some of my personal favorite posts from 2017! We’ve already covered fun DIY projects, favorite cocktails, sweet baby shower invitations and birth announcements, playful and colorful wedding invitations, and romantic and understated wedding invitations – all of which I absolutely love – but the posts below are a bit more personal in nature. I’m planning to write a bit more about my goals for 2018 next week, but one of those goals is to share more personal content, from conversations about motherhood and family to sharing more behind-the-scenes peeks to exploring more of DC. I used to share way more personal content, before Instagram became the thing it is today and before I had two kids (I honestly have no idea how any of you with 3+ kids manage to stay sane!), and I really miss it! I’ll also be doing a reader survey next week, but if there’s anything in particular that you’d like to see from me this year, please let me know in the comments!

Learn Watercolor Painting with Skillshare

One of my goals for 2017 was to get myself in front of the camera more often, which is DEFINITELY stepping outside of my comfort zone since I’m used to being the one behind the camera. But at the end of the day, it’s just me behind this mighty little blog, and it’s important to show my face more often. I teamed up with photographer Anna Meyer to visit some colorful walls in DC, and I can’t wait to do another installment in 2018!

The Best Walls in DC

Dallas Clayton’s #kindcomments wall at Union Market

The Best Walls in DC

The Best Walls in DC / Photo Credit: Anna Meyer for Oh So Beautiful Paper

2017 was a fairly big and transformative year – I celebrated my 9th blogging anniversary and introduced you to Common Room Studio! So far I’ve shared the design inspiration for Common Room Studio and we hosted our first set of workshops, but I still need to do a full reveal! Stay tuned in 2018. Oh, and if you’re in the DC area, you can sign up for our newsletter right here

Write Your Own Story / Frankie's Girl

9 Years of OSBP + Introducing Common Room Studio! / Image Credit: Frankie’s Girl via Instagram

Common Room Studio Style Board and Color Palette

Design Inspiration for Common Room Studio

On the home front, we shared our backyard makeover and talked about kitchen renovation inspiration! These days, my back yard looks more like a winter wasteland since everything has died back from the freezing temperatures, but I can’t wait until it looks like this again in the spring and summer! Oh, and we may have kickstarted our long-awaited kitchen renovation over the holiday break, so stay tuned for an update on that, too.

A Backyard Makeover in Washington, DC

OSBP at Home: Our Backyard Makeover / Photo Credit: Yetta Reid Photography

Qanuk Interiors Kitchen via House & Home / Photo Credit: Donna Griffith Photography

OSBP at Home: Kitchen Inspiration / Design: Qanūk Interiors / Photo Credit: Donna Griffith for House & Home Kitchens & Baths Fall 2013

That’s it for me this week! Have a wonderful weekend, stay warm, and I’ll see you back here on Monday! xoxo

Best of 2017: DIY

For our next look back at favorite posts in 2017, I’m recapping some favorite DIY projects from the year! 2017 was a bit of a transition year for me; up until now I’ve always focused on smaller scale DIY projects since I photographed everything in my home office – which presented quite a few space and logistical challenges! Now that I have Common Room Studio, I’m excited to move towards larger party inspiration posts in addition to smaller DIY projects. Here are a few favorite projects from the year!

DIY Hologram Foil Ornaments

Photo Credit: Meghan Marie Photography

2017 was the year that I discovered the magic of nail transfer foils! I used them to make hologram Easter eggs back in March and hologram  Christmas ornaments just a few weeks ago. I have a few more ideas for ways to use these versatile little foils, so you’ll definitely see them pop up in a project or two in 2018!

DIY Hologram Foil Easter Eggs

DIY Hologram Foil Easter Eggs

DIY Hologram Foil Ornaments

DIY Hologram Foil Ornaments

These DIY galaxy Easter eggs are so sparkly! My girls absolutely LOVED them. Nail polish marbling FTW.

DIY Hologram Galaxy Easter Eggs

DIY Hologram Galaxy Easter Eggs

Matisse’s paper cuts inspired a few DIY projects throughout the year, and they ended up being some of my favorite projects to date! Our first Matisse-inspired project of the year involved a colorful paper garland to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of Fiskars Original Orange-handled Scissors in September!

DIY Matisse-Inspired Paper Garland

DIY Matisse-Inspired Paper Garland

DIY Matisse-inspired Garland

And then I made Matisse-inspired pumpkins in October! They were so cute! I originally thought black and white pumpkins would work best, but that pink painted pumpkin was easily my favorite of the bunch.

DIY Matisse-Inspired Pumpkins

DIY Matisse-inspired Pumpkins

This next project is a personal fave – DIY iridescent paper prize ribbons that I made for my daughter’s preschool graduation! These ribbons are such a fun and easy way to celebrate a milestone event, or even to help cheer up a friend or co-worker. 

DIY Iridescent and Pastel Paper Prize Ribbons

DIY Iridescent Paper Prize Ribbons

Some of my favorite projects are also the most simple. These DIY watercolor and gold leaf gift tags involve just a quick stripe of watercolor paint and some gold leaf, but I love the understated beauty of the final result!

DIY Watercolor and Gold Leaf Gift Tags

DIY Watercolor and Gold Leaf Gift Tags

If you’re looking for more DIY ideas, you can check out our DIY archive right here!