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Matcha and Mint Mocktail

You might have noticed that Saint Patrick’s Day has become something of a drinking holiday. I’m not a huge fan of this whole turn-a-meaningful-day-into-a-themed-drinking-day thing, because I tend to think that those days were already important to people for reasons other than drinking. I also think that drinking is something we should incorporate into our every day cuisines, and not something we should cram into wild days of excessive partying. So, if you’re looking for something to drink today that doesn’t require booze, we’ve got a great Matcha and Mint mocktail recipe for you. It’s green. Total coincidence. –Andrew

Matcha and Mint Mocktail

Matcha and Mint Mocktail

1 oz Matcha Syrup
1 oz Lime Juice
Mint Leaves
Tonic Water

To make the matcha syrup: combine a cup of water, a cup of white sugar, and 2 tablespoons of matcha green tea powder in a sauce pan over low heat. Whisk everything together until the sugar is melted and the matcha is dissolved. Bottle and refrigerate.

To make the mocktail: combine the syrup and lime juice in a highball glass. Add the leaves of a sprig of mint and gently muddle. Then fill the glass with ice, top with tonic water, and give a good stir. Enjoy!

Matcha and Mint Mocktail

Matcha – a powder made from carefully selected and dried green tea leaves – is a fun thing to add to mocktails and cocktails alike. It’s the same ingredient that goes into Japanese green tea, of tea ceremony fame. Matcha adds earthy botanical notes and a bit of tannic astringency – something that you might get from some spirits but that can be hard to replicate in a mocktail. A syrup made from matcha is also a deep, rich green color, which can make your drinks sparkle green.

Matcha and Mint Mocktail

Mint and lime are, it goes without saying, amazing and delicious together. Add in the matcha syrup and you have the foundation of a pretty good mocktail – sweet and tart and minty and earthy and richly green.

Matcha and Mint Mocktail

To that we add tonic water, and we can’t emphasize enough: real tonic water, made with actual quinine, is the only way to go for mocktails. (I mean, it’s important in cocktails too, but it’s a lot harder to fake flavors in a mocktail, since mocktails don’t benefit from the powerhouse flavors of booze.) Tonic water adds refreshing effervescence (and this is a really refreshing drink) and some of the bitterness that can be missing from mocktails. Bitter is one of the ways our brains recognize things that are really dangerous (like poison!) or really fun (like coffee!) or a little bit of both (like alcohol!). It helps elevate this drink into a legitimately complex and grownup mocktail.

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Glassware by Liquorary

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Vibrant Purple Floral Watercolor Wedding Invitations

These invitations are so vibrant and fun! Kyle Sommer of Sommer Letter Co. created these vibrant purple floral watercolor wedding invitations for an elegant-meets-casual summer farm wedding for two high school sweethearts in Indiana. The floral illustrations and watercolor hand lettering are the perfect match for a summer barn wedding!

Vibrant Purple Floral Watercolor Wedding Invitations by Sommer Letter Co.

From Kyle: Taylor and Jalen, high school sweethearts, came to me looking for a beautiful way to capture the vibes of their dreamy summer wedding in Indiana. They had chosen an amazing variety of purples for their wedding colors: a mix of lavender, violet, amethyst, and lilac. The couple chose to get married at Joseph Decuis Farm, an event space that describes itself as “a farm dressed in a tuxedo.” It truly carries a formal vibe in an unexpectedly casual environment. Throughout the design process, we tried to walk that line between formal and friendly. Taylor told me she wanted to keep things elegant, but also reflect the casual barn wedding atmosphere. She really emphasized that she didn’t want the event to feel stiff – she wanted her guests to feel at home.

Vibrant Purple Floral Watercolor Wedding Invitations by Sommer Letter Co.

I really wanted to carry that breezy, summery, barn wedding feel into the wedding invitation suite. We decided a hand painted floral bouquet would be the perfect fit. It would capture the beauty and elegance of florals, but we gave it a bit of an “undone” look by imagining a bouquet with a few loose leaves poking about, and a handful of lavender stems drooping downward. We chose to feature their names and titles with a bit of large, scribbly, watercolor hand lettering.

Vibrant Purple Floral Watercolor Wedding Invitations by Sommer Letter Co.

To top it off, Taylor chose a shimmery champagne envelope and vintage floral postage stamps. We kept the outside of the envelope fairly traditional. I chose to write names and addresses in a simple brush pen lettering style. Guests would receive formal, traditional looking envelopes, but open them to discover rich purple hues and the couple’s welcoming vibes.

Vibrant Purple Floral Watercolor Wedding Invitations by Sommer Letter Co.

Thanks Kyle!

Design, Styling, & Lettering: Sommer Letter Co.

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

Photo Credits: Natalie Kunkel Photography

2016 Gift Guide: For Designers, Artists, and Calligraphers

Today we’re sharing some gift ideas for designers, artists, and calligraphers! I started doing this guide a couple of years ago, after a very sweet husband sent an email asking for gift ideas for his wife. This year, Ashley Buzzy, Li Wardian, Emily from Hartland Brooklyn, and Katie from Odd Daughter Paper all sent over some fabulous ideas!

2016 Gift Guide: Gift Ideas for Designers, Artists, and Calligraphers

1. I’m obsessed with these shimmery iridescent calligraphy inks! They come in every color of the rainbow, but I’m loving iridescent coral, silver, and green.

2. This leather artist kit from Signora e Mare boasts six pockets to hold tools and instruments, while the convenient inkwell and carrier allow for those on-the-go projects and easy travel. Each kit is secured tight with a hand stitched strap.

3. The cutest hologram pencil case for corralling all those essential pens, pencils, and small tools.

4. Tom’s Studio makes the most unbelievably gorgeous copper calligraphy pen holders

5. Rich and radiant liquid watercolors for everything from brush lettering to watercolor illustration. The colors are available both individually and in three separate sets – Set #2 has beautiful earthy colors like indian red, sepia, and yellow ochre.

6. + 7. Handmade paper is an absolute treat for a calligrapher – and there are so many options these days! Arpa Handmade Paper (available in gorgeous shades of pale pink and lavender and envelopes with gorgeous deckled flap edges!), Share Studios (pictured in no. 6 above), Fabulous Fancy Pants, Signora e Mare, and Silk & Willow, just to name a few.

8. Blocks of watercolor paper will always be a welcome gift to any watercolor artist. Calligrapher and watercolor artist Li Ward recommends blocks of Fabriano and Arches cold press watercolor paper.

9. Pretty pink and navy blue pens for lovely stocking stuffers

10. These Ikea storage boxes are perfect for keeping track of small tubes of paint, brushes, and other small art supplies, according to Ashley Buzzy. Ashley uses her boxes to store paint tubes, brushes, washi tape, calligraphy pens, ink pots, and more.

11. This beautiful Japanese watercolor set comes with 36 color pans, including bright neons and shimmery metallics!

12. Every studio or home office needs a pretty candle. I’m a big fan of these Clementine + Clove candles from Sydney Hale Co., while calligrapher Li Ward recommends this Smoke on the Water candle for lettering sessions. Li says it smells romantic and mysterious like a haunted house!

13. A couple essential paper tools: a deckle edge ruler and transfer tape gun (with plenty of refills)

14. This paper & book press is definitely a high end item, but Ashley Buzzy says it’s the single most useful tool in her studio. From Ashley: With the textural type of projects that calligraphers are being asked to do more and more, it’s amazing for flattening out watercolor-washed paper and flattening folded place cards. When I gold leafed a large order of invitations I pressed them afterward in a stack to make sure the leaf was securely adhered. If I do brush lettering on a sheet and it warps the paper, I just press it for a couple of days to flatten it out. Sometimes I’ll press lined envelopes for a couple of hours to flatten them out, etc. It’s just so so so helpful!

p.s. If you’re handy, you could probably DIY your own paper & book press at home. I found a few options here!

15. These simple and modern notebooks by Iron Curtain Press are perfect for sketching, writing down ideas, and so much more.

16. This Italian wood desk set is a beautiful gift for calligraphers and brush lettering artists! I also love these wood block pen holders for designers, illustrators, and hand lettering artists.

A couple additional ideas:

Online workshops and classes make a wonderful gift for both aspiring and established artists. There are classes to fit pretty much any and every need and interest, from Stationery Biz 100 to Tradeshow Bootcamp webinars for stationers interested in developing wholesale collections, to calligraphy and watercolor classes on Skillshare, Brit + Co., Creativebug, and of course the Modern Calligraphy Summit!

For artists that enjoy working with music playing in the background, consider a Spotify or music streaming subscription.

This post contains affiliate links. By clicking on these links, you’ll help support Oh So Beautiful Paper while also purchasing some wonderful gifts. I only recommend products that I truly love and trust that you’ll love, too. My full disclosure policy can be found here.