Kerry + Cuyler’s Modern Calligraphy Wedding Invitations

Gorgeous design and letterpress printing from the ladies of Gus & Ruby Letterpress with modern calligraphy from Molly Jacques = a wedding invitation match made in heaven! Samantha and Whitney from Gus & Ruby paired Molly’s calligraphy with tons of pattern and their own whimsical hand lettering. Love!

Modern Calligraphy Letterpress Wedding Invitations by Gus & Ruby Letterpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper / Photo by Brea McDonald

From Samantha and Whitney: This custom wedding invitation suite was designed for our dear friends’ wedding held right here in Portsmouth, NH. The bride and groom wanted the invitation suite to reflect their celebratory, non-stuffy attitude and hip, bold vision for their big day.

Modern Calligraphy Letterpress Wedding Invitations by Gus & Ruby Letterpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper / Photo by Brea McDonald

The graphic invitation prominently featured gorgeous modern calligraphy by Molly Jaques and a double layer of color and pattern. A bold contemporary color palette of black, slate blue, and red gave a fun, cocktail-hour vibe.

Modern Calligraphy Letterpress Wedding Invitations by Gus & Ruby Letterpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper / Photo by Brea McDonald

All pieces were wrapped in a custom letterpress printed patterned gatefold and tied shut with twine and custom hang-tag featuring the a two letter monogram.

Modern Calligraphy Letterpress Wedding Invitations by Gus & Ruby Letterpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper / Photo by Brea McDonald

Modern Calligraphy Letterpress Wedding Invitations by Gus & Ruby Letterpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper / Photo by Brea McDonald

Modern Calligraphy Letterpress Wedding Invitations by Gus & Ruby Letterpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper / Photo by Brea McDonald

Modern Calligraphy Letterpress Wedding Invitations by Gus & Ruby Letterpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper / Photo by Brea McDonald

Day-of pieces featured a fun trifold program, custom coasters, custom drink stirrers and more! As always, the pieces were lovingly letterpress printed by hand on our antique press on beautiful, textural, super thick 100% cotton paper.

Modern Calligraphy Letterpress Wedding Invitations by Gus & Ruby Letterpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper / Photo by Brea McDonald

Modern Calligraphy Letterpress Wedding Invitations by Gus & Ruby Letterpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper / Photo by Brea McDonald

Thanks so much Sam and Whit!

Design and Letterpress Printing: Gus & Ruby Letterpress

Gus & Ruby Letterpress is a member of the Designer Rolodex – check out more of their beautiful work right here or visit the real invi­ta­tions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Brea McDonald Photography for Gus & Ruby Letterpress

Printable Tropical Envelope Liners

Are you ready for something SUPER fun?!? Sakura of America recently released a set of amazing new brush pens called the Pigma Professional Brush, and we wanted to do something really awesome to show you what these babies can do! Nothing makes me smile more than a colorful envelope and patterned envelope liner – and today we have printable tropical envelope liners in TWO gorgeous patterns for you to enjoy!

Printable Tropical Envelope Liners / Illustrated by Swiss Cottage Designs with Sakura Pigma Professional Brush Pens / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Courtney from Swiss Cottage Designs illustrated the tropical patterns using all three Pigma Professional Brush pen weights – fine, medium, and bold. Courtney and I are still feeling the tropical vibe from the Paper Party so we decided to keep on running with a tropical theme. One pattern features illustrations of watermelons, pineapples, and palm fronds, and the other has flamingos, toucans, coral, and fish! Both patterns make me wish I was somewhere on a beach with a tropical drink in hand!

Printable Tropical Envelope Liners / Illustrated by Swiss Cottage Designs with Sakura Pigma Professional Brush Pens / Oh So Beautiful Paper

You can print the envelope liner patterns on text weight letter size paper. You can leave the patterns black and white – or add a dose of color using colored pencils or your favorite Gelly Roll pen! The Glaze pens almost look like watercolor and are great for coloring in those fine details! You can even use the patterns as coloring sheets just for fun!

Printable Tropical Envelope Liners / Illustrated by Swiss Cottage Designs with Sakura Pigma Professional Brush Pens / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Here are the instructions for making the envelope liners:

Step 1. Lightly trace an outline of the envelope on the back of the liner page. If you’re using Paper Source envelopes, you can use one of these handy envelope liner template kits. Cut out the liner, being careful to cut on the inside of the lines. Trim an additional 1/16″ off each side and 3/4″ off the bottom of the liner.

Step 2. Place the liner in the envelope. Use a glue stick or double sided tape on the back of the liner (along the top triangle and just above the crease) to adhere the liner to the envelope.

Printable Tropical Envelope Liners / Illustrated by Swiss Cottage Designs with Sakura Pigma Professional Brush Pens / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Printable Tropical Envelope Liners / Illustrated by Swiss Cottage Designs with Sakura Pigma Professional Brush Pens / Oh So Beautiful Paper

The Pigma Professional Brush pens use archival waterproof ink, which also makes them my new favorite pen for addressing envelopes. The brush nibs respond to changes in pressure or direction while maintaining smooth and consistent ink flow, so they’re super easy to use! The flexible brush nibs offer both thin and thick brush strokes and they won’t smear, feather, or bleed through on most paper. Courtney addressed a few envelopes using the different pen weights – I love the subtle gradient in the bold brush!

Printable Tropical Envelope Liners / Illustrated by Swiss Cottage Designs with Sakura Pigma Professional Brush Pens / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Printable Tropical Envelope Liners / Illustrated by Swiss Cottage Designs with Sakura Pigma Professional Brush Pens / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Printable Tropical Envelope Liners / Illustrated by Swiss Cottage Designs with Sakura Pigma Professional Brush Pens / Oh So Beautiful Paper

And yes, I may have foiled an envelope liner or two (in light pink metallic foil) using my Minc foil applicator. The Minc works with toner ink, so just print the liner patterns on a laser printer, or use a copying machine to make as many copies of the liner as you’ll need, and foil away!

Printable Tropical Envelope Liners / Illustrated by Swiss Cottage Designs with Sakura Pigma Professional Brush Pens / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Download the envelope liner patterns from Swiss Cottage Designs right here! And you can pick up a set of the Pigma Professional Brush pens right here!

All artwork © 2015 Swiss Cottage Designs created exclusively for Oh So Beautiful Paper. All artwork is made available for personal use only. By downloading the patterns you agree to the terms of use.

Swiss Cottage Designs is a mem­ber of the Designer Rolodex â€“ you can see more of Courtney’s beau­ti­ful work right here!

Photos by Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

This post is sponsored by Sakura of America. All content and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that make Oh So Beautiful Paper possible!

Navy Grog

Here’s another classic from the golden age of Tiki drinks, the goofily-named Navy Grog. It’s one of those great old recipes that shows how complex and versatile and unexpected Tiki drinks can be. Grog combines the expected – rum, lime, the usual suspects – with the unexpected (honey, in a tropical drink, what?). But it works the way Tiki should, building layers of flavors into something more than the sum of their parts. – Andrew

The Navy Grog Tiki Cocktail Recipe / Liquorary for Oh So Beautiful Paper

The Navy Grog Tiki Cocktail Recipe Card / Shauna Lynn Illustration / Recipe by Liquorary for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Illustration by Shauna Lynn for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Navy Grog

1 oz Dark Jamaican Rum
1 oz Golden Rum
1 oz Silver Rum
1 oz Honey Syrup

3/4 oz Lime Juice
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
2 oz Grapefruit Soda

Combine the rums, honey syrup, lime juice, and bitters in a cocktail shaker filled two-thirds with ice and shake well. Strain into a chilled tumbler and top with the grapefruit soda. Garnish with crushed ice (shaped into a cone if you have the time or energy) and some tropical flowers. Enjoy!

The Navy Grog Tiki Cocktail Recipe / Liquorary for Oh So Beautiful Paper

The rums and lime are pretty straightforward, but the honey syrup needs an explanation. Honey doesn’t blend well into drinks on its own, tending to settle to the bottom of a glass in a lump. But honey syrup blends beautifully. Just heat equal parts honey and water until the honey is fully melted. That’s it.

The Navy Grog Tiki Cocktail Recipe / Liquorary for Oh So Beautiful Paper

The classic recipe uses white grapefruit juice – something that shows up in more recipes than I would have expected when I first started learning about Tiki – and soda water. I skipped that step by going straight for an all-juice grapefruit soda, a handy way to add fruit and fizz to a drink without sugar or artificial ingredients. But that’s a bit sweeter than grapefruit juice, so in go a couple of dashes of bitters for balance. The result is wildly citrusy and wonderfully rich, with deep rum undertones and a subtle sweetness.

The Navy Grog Tiki Cocktail Recipe / Liquorary for Oh So Beautiful Paper

An ice cone with a straw stuck through it is the Navy Grog’s traditional garnish. To make one, fill a Pilsner glass with crushed ice, run a straw through the center of the glass, then cover the ice with water and then drain. Slide the resulting cone, very carefully, out of the glass, then let it sit in the freezer overnight to solidify. Or, you can just get this kit from Cocktail Kingdom.

Grog’s a funny word. It’s also an old one, in use at least since the 1750s, and its origins are probably lost. It has connotations now of rum, and improvised, messy drinks. But it got its start in the daily rum ration that sailors used to receive, cut with water to prevent too much drunkenness, preserved with a bit of citrus juice, and maybe jazzed up with a bit of sugar…sound familiar?

(Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, where we’ve been posting our experiments before they make their way onto this column!)

Glassware by Liquorary 

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Happy Weekend!

Happy Friday everyone! Earlier this week, I took a quick trip up to New York to attend an event organized by Etsy Wholesale called Open Call. Thirty artists and designers came to pitch their goods to a panel of retailers including buyers from Nordstrom, The Land of Nod, and our very own Emily from Clementine! It was so wonderful to see Emily and meet many of the artists at Open Call – I can’t stop thinking about the experience! I’m sure the Etsy folks will do a recap on their blog soon, but for now you can explore the hashtag on Instagram for images from the day! But in the meantime…

To Infinity and Beyoncé Print / Lionheart Prints via Oh So Beautiful Paper

Photo by Lionheart Prints (um – put this print in your shop soon, mmmkay?) via Instagram

…a few links for your weekend!

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

Check back a bit later for this week’s cocktail recipe! Have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Monday! xoxo

Quick Pick: Fox & Fallow Wedding Signs

These gorgeous chalkboard and timber wedding signs from Fox & Fallow were one of the biggest hits at the 2015 National Stationery Show back in May. It’s easy to see why! Each sign is printed in white ink on chalkboard and stained wood – and you can even add your own details on some of the chalkboard signs. Just beautiful!

Fox & Fallow Chalkboard and Timber Wedding Signs / Oh So Beautiful Paper

These and many more signs available right here!