06/10/2013

Amy + Brandon’s Modern Glam Sunburst Wedding Invitations

Happy Monday everyone! I’m thrilled to be starting the week with a gorgeous set of invitations with architecture-inspired details from Lisa at Missive! Lisa incorporated a beautiful gold foil starburst detail inspired by chandeliers at the wedding venue along with modern sans serif and script fonts. I love the combination of the gold foil with the bright red and aqua color palette. The entire suite is so pretty!

From Lisa: Amy and Brandon’s wedding suite was inspired by interior architectural details at their wedding venue. The chandeliers inside the venue had an interesting starlike pattern that Amy wanted to incorporate into her invitations, so I designed aÂ starburstÂ element which was carried through from her save the date to wedding invitations to thank you notes, where it appears as their new monogram.

Once I learned more about Amy’s vision for her venue decor â€” from a huge curtain of red and aqua fringe streamers and gold dot garland to jars filled with glowing candlelight, it was clear that her wedding invitation suite needed a glamorous feel. The invitations were letterpress printed in Amy’s bold wedding colors, a rich red and vivid aqua blue, complemented by the shiny goldÂ starbursts.

Modern sans-serif typefaces were paired with an exquisite, flourished script for all of the pieces in this suite. We upped the glam factor with envelopes in bright punchy colors, which were also foil stamped with the couples’ return address. This suite was all about sparkle and shine and I loved that the bride did not shy away from bold color and gleaming gold details!

In celebration of the new Missive website and online shop, Lisa has generously offered Oh So Beautiful PaperÂ readers an exclusive 20% discount for the month of June, including personalized letterpress stationery and calling cards! Just use promo code OSBP20 at checkout â€“ thanks so muchÂ Lisa!

Design + Letterpress Printing: Missive

Foil Stamping: Quality Letterpress

Check out theÂ Designer RolodexÂ for more talÂentedÂ wedÂding inviÂtaÂtion designÂersÂ andÂ theÂ real inviÂtaÂtions galleryÂ for moreÂ wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Missive

06/07/2013

Friday Happy Hour: Coconut Milk PiÃ±a Colada

Summer is upon us! I mean, not technically, what with the equinoxes and solstices and all that stuff I’m supposed to remember from sixth grade science class. But practically speaking, it’s here. In that spirit, here’s a perfect drink for summer, our very first Tiki drink to be featured on Cocktail Fridays: a Coconut Milk PiÃ±a Colada! Creamy, fruity, sweet and a little funky, the PiÃ±a Colada is perfectly tropical for summer.Â â€“ Andrew

Signature Cocktail Recipe: Coconut Milk Pina Colada via Oh So Beautiful Paper (27)

Signature Cocktail Recipe Card: Coconut Milk Pina Colada, Illustration by Caitlin Keegan for Oh So Beautiful Paper

The PiÃ±a Colada

1 1/2 oz Light Rum
1 oz Dark Rum
2 oz Coconut Milk
1 oz Heavy Cream
4 oz Pineapple Juice
1 Dash Bitters

Combine everything in a shaker and shake well with lots of ice. Strain into a tall glass filled with fresh ice, garnish with some fresh pineapple and/or cherries, and enjoy!

Signature Cocktail Recipe: Coconut Milk Pina Colada via Oh So Beautiful Paper (31)

Lots of people blend their PiÃ±a Coladas. I’m not one of them. There’s nothing wrong, in general, with blended drinks, but if you don’t drink them down quickly, you risk a glass filled with melted ice and watered-down booze. Blending leaves ice crystals too small and melting pretty quickly, too quickly for my tastes. So try shaking and then straining over crushed ice instead â€“ you’ll get some of the same slushy effect as blending, but your ice will stay frozen a bit longer.

Signature Cocktail Recipe: Coconut Milk Pina Colada via Oh So Beautiful Paper (3)

The PiÃ±a Colada hails from Puerto Rico, where, in the 1950s, RamÃ³n Marrero first blended one up at the Caribe Hilton. Victor Bergeron, the Trader Vic of Tiki drink fame, later helped popularize it. It’s not hard to see why. Not just delicious, this drink is just a lot of fun.

Signature Cocktail Recipe: Coconut Milk Pina Colada via Oh So Beautiful Paper (35) Â

The earliest version of this drink used coconut cream, pineapple juice (hence the name), and light rum. I’ve borrowed and tweaked this recipe a bit from Dale Degroff, who uses both dark and light rum, as well as some Angosutra bitters, to add a lot of complexity and a bit of rum funkiness to an otherwise fairly straightforward drink. I also like to use coconut milk over coconut cream because, why not? The heavy cream ensures the PiÃ±a Colada remains extraordinarily rich and delicious (and full of calories).

Signature Cocktail Recipe: Coconut Milk Pina Colada via Oh So Beautiful Paper (25) Â

Just make sure you use plenty of pineapple juice. I tried this recipe with half as much, and the result was a bit bitter and plenty dull. The pineapple gives this drink a sweet zip that’s the PiÃ±a Colada’s heart and soul. Well, that and the rum.

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

06/07/2013

{happy weekend}

Hello friends. It was a sad week here in my Capitol Hill neighborhood of DC: Frager’s,Â our beloved hardware store (and 93-year old community institution), was destroyedÂ in a huge fire on Wednesday night. Thankfully everyone made it out of the store okay and the brick facade of the building survived the fire.Â The owners plan to rebuild and neighborhood businesses have offered temporary work for displaced employees, but I’m still reeling from the destruction.Â My husband and I moved to Capitol Hill in 2009, and Frager’s quickly became one of my favorite places on the Hill. That probably seems weird, but it’s so much more than a hardware store: my husband and I bought our first Christmas tree together from Frager’s. I’ve purchased enough paint that the guys behind the counter know Sophie by name. Frager’s supports local sports teams, employs neighborhood teens during the summer, and even hosts an egg hunt for little kids during Easter. I look forward to a future teenage Sophie getting her first part-time job there. I just can’t imagine Capitol Hill without Frager’s. Thankfully our neighborhood has a history of rallying together to help local families and businesses in need, and I’m looking forward to helping in any way that I can.

OSBP-Instagram-Fragers