{happy weekend!}

You know how some weeks are just harder than others?  This has been a tough week for me, with a to-do list that feels like it’s getting longer by the minute and a rapidly dwindling energy level.  I’ve been feeling overwhelmed, drained, and a little burned out – and on top of all of that, over the last few days I also managed to come down with a bit of a cold.  Not a good combination!  I’m hoping to recharge a bit this weekend and start fresh next week.  But in the meantime…

…a few links for your weekend:

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

That’s it for me this week!  I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Monday!

{image credit: mrmikej via design crush}

{happy weekend!}

Happy Friday everyone!  Do you all have anything fun planned for this weekend?  I’ve been busy this week making lots of changes to my apartment in preparation for some bigger changes over the next couple of weeks, and my Dad is coming down from New Jersey to help with some of the two-person tasks.  It’s so nice to have him relatively close by, particularly while my husband is overseas, and I’m looking forward to some quality family time.  But in the meantime…

Papercut-Valentine

…a few links for your weekend!

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

That’s it for me this week!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Monday! xoxo

{image credits: kind over matter}

Organic Gray + Gold Announcements for Baby Maeve

Yay, baby announcements!  Karly from Oscar + Emma sent over the gorgeous announcements that she designed for her daughter Maeve, and I’m completely smitten with the natural color palette of gray, gold, and white.  Darling baby silhouette?  White calligraphy on a kraft envelope?  Yes please!

Organic-Gray-Gold-Baby-Announcements

From Karly:  I pride myself on always thinking of the little things and I didn’t want any detail to go unnoticed.  Although pink is customary for a baby girl I chose not to go that route.  Maeve is a unique little individual and I really wanted to reflect that with her birth announcement. I was really inspired by 3 design styles… organic, elegant, and precious.

Organic-Gray-Gold-Baby-Announcement Organic-Gray-Gold-Baby-Announcements-White-Calligraphy

The organic part was brought in with the materials I used.   The announcement design was letterpress printed and foil stamped on Crane Lettra 100% cotton paper tucked inside a cotton muslin bag which was gocco printed with a special message and finished with a tiny gold “M” and heart charm tied to each one.  All of this was then mailed inside a kraft envelope.

Organic-Gray-Gold-Baby-Announcement

The elegance was achieved with the actual design of the announcement and by using a subtle gray ink and gold foil.  I asked Grace Edmands Calligraphy to hand address the envelopes.  Her work is gorgeous and she is such a lovely person, so I really wanted her elegant touch.

Organic-Gray-Gold-Baby-Announcements-Silhouette

And finally, the precious element was brought in by using Maeve’s darling silhouette for the announcement and custom postage stamp.  I also created a gray gingham pattern to line the kraft envelopes.

Organic-Gray-Gold-Baby-Announcements-Muslin-Bag

So darling!  Thanks Karly, and welcome little Maeve!

{image credits: oscar + emma}

{happy weekend!}

Happy Friday everyone!  It’s been a long week for me, and I have mixed feelings heading into the weekend.  I’m looking forward to hanging out with friends and relaxing a bit, but still really missing my hubby overseas.  I’ve also been spending a lot of time listening to the band in the video below, Two Door Cinema Club – they’re from Ireland and it’s just what I need to keep my spirits up.  But in the meantime…

…a few links for your weekend:

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

That’s it for me this week!  I hope you all have a lovely weekend!  I’ll be trying to stay warm with these two fuzzballs.  And yes, that’s our cat Leopold in the upper left, still in his cone of shame from his surgery back in November.  What an ordeal.  See you back here on Monday!

Leopold and Charlie

{photo by me}

Julian’s Red White and Blue Birth Announcements

It’s been a while since we’ve had any birth announcements here, so I was thrilled when Miguel Castro from Heavy Metal Letterpress sent over these fun red, white, and blue fold-out letterpress birth announcements that he printed in collaboration with designer Jorge Fino for Jorge’s son Julian!

Red-White-Blue-Baby-Boy-Birth-Announcement

From Jorge:  The process initially began with a specific visual design style –mid-century modern design – in mind.  Thankfully, Miguel was extremely up for pushing the production level to as high as I saw fit.  I finally settled on detailing a whimsical story of how a baby is made and to depict specific stages in a couples’ life that lead up to the creation.

Red-White-Blue-Baby-Boy-Birth-Announcement

Red-White-Blue-Baby-Boy-Birth-Announcement

I decided to visualize this all in infographic style, which lends itself well to the design style of the mid-century era.  I was inspired heavily by Ty Mattson’s wonderful piece (also a birth announcement).  The original design was vertical, but it didn’t include an area to display the birth announcement info.  I considered a double-sided piece, but ultimately it felt like a piece that didn’t have a clearly defined front and back, so I decided on a fold-out horizontal format.  This turned out much better because the reveal of the announcement information on the last panel enhanced the overall concept.

Red-White-Blue-Baby-Boy-Birth-Announcement

Red-White-Blue-Baby-Boy-Birth-Announcement

Fabulous work!  Thanks so much Miguel and Jorge!

{image credits: heavy metal letterpress}