Colleen of Letter & Lark creates some of the most incredibly beautiful, subtle, and delicate stationery – the birth announcements that she created for her daughter Ana last year took my breath away! Colleen put so much thought into each and every detail, from the pale color palette to explaining the meaning behind Ana’s names. Just so, so lovely.

From Colleen: This project was very close to my heart and I hoped to do it justice! Our sweet Ana is an incredible baby. She is happy, loving, and easy going, but incredibly determined and strong; she spent five weeks in the hospital after surprising us by arriving six weeks early. Our preemie & NICU experience along with her gentle spirit gave me the inspiration for her announcement.

For the recipients who opened it, I wanted to evoke a sense of fragility and sacredness for this tiny, special person. I wanted it to feel exquisite and ethereal, to emphasize that she really came out of something amazing. Rather than a flat or folded card, I wanted an experience of opening her announcement; by discovering different layers, papers, and textures along with reading about her birth information.

To emphasize the fact that tiny packages can hold complexity and so much importance, I decided to go with a small, 4-bar sized announcement with an accordion folded card. The design was focused on clean, elegant type and a minimal color palette alongside gorgeous photography by the incredibly talented Leighanne Evelyn (who we are so proud to call a friend!). Leighanne’s photographs are very sentimental since they were taken shortly after Ana came home from the hospital. We chose to show a small tryptic of family photos on one panel and then included our favorite portrait of Ana in a tiny glassine envelope in the back. I love how you can barely see this tiny little face with big eyes looking at you through the cloudy envelope! I also knew it would be the perfect size for relatives who wanted to keep a picture of Ana as well.

At first I had an idea of including a watercolor wash, but as a new mom I didn’t have the time to hand-paint each announcement (on top of designing, printing, and assembling!), so instead I printed a cantaloupe-colored “wash” on vellum paper. These vellum paper sashes wrap around the accordion card and the front text of the announcement can be carefully read through the faux wash. A very delicate, gold twine (the thinnest I could find) wraps around the entire piece.

Rather than just list her birth information, I decided it would be more interesting for people to read the story of how we chose her name, since her first and middle names have connections to family members as well as special meaning.  I also included a short description of her personality; I wanted to make sure even for people that live far away that they could still get a sense of who Ana is without even meeting her.

Letterpress printed in a smokey, lavender ink on bright white 100% cotton stock, paired with translucent vellum and glassine papers and Leighanne’s beautiful black and white photographs, I hoped to convey how we truly special Ana is, not only because of her birth story but because she’s brought so much love and joy to our family.

Thank you Colleen!

Photo Credits: Letter & Lark