07/19/2011

Balloon Baby Shower Invitations from Gus & Ruby Letterpress

Baby shower invitations are generally cute by nature (babies!), but these balloon baby shower invitations from Gus & Ruby Letterpress are adorably playful and yet completely adult-appropriate. Â Whitney and Samantha created these invitations for photographer Emilie Sommer‘s baby shower last November, printing the invitation text on a balloon for a fun 3D element accompanied by letterpress enclosures and mailing labels within a chartreuse mailer.

From Whitney: Samantha and I were thrilled to be able to design invitations for our dear friend, Emilie Sommer, owner of Emilie Inc. Photography, for her November baby shower held at the beautiful Black Point Inn in Prouts Neck, Maine. Â The goal was to create something fun and different, but not overly playful or childlike.

The concept for printing the invitation on a balloon came about as we brainstormed ways to make the piece interactive and 3-dimensional. Â We love that the balloon is such an iconic childhood “toy,” but that we incorporated it in a way that feels mature and classy rather than juvenile.

We printed “inflate me” in blue ink on an A2 100% cotton, flat card, and drilled 2 holes so that we could tie the balloon onto the card with orange twine. Â We then printed an additional insert card with the RSVP and registry information and adhered to gray card stock for extra dimension. Â We filled an A2 chartreuse box mailer with white shredded paper and set the invitation right on top. Â We letterpress printed the mailing label which was adhered to the top of the box, used an orange pen for addressing that coordinated with the twine, and sent them on their way!

So fun! Â Thanks Samantha and Whitney!

Photo Credits: Emilie Inc. Photography

07/18/2011

Amy + Blake’s Classic Black and White Letterpress Wedding Invitations

Some things just never go out of style â€“ and elegant calligraphy wedding invitations are first and foremost on my list. Â Melissa and Amy from Atheneum Creative sent over these beautiful black and white calligraphy invitations that they designed for Amy’s own wedding, along with some of the corresponding day of wedding stationery. Â They partnered with PenDance for the gorgeous calligraphy and Sideshow Press for the letterpress printing â€“ the entire suite is just lovely!

From Melissa and Amy: The invitation design was inspired by the texture and ornate details of the architecture inside the reception venue, the Corinthian. Â We wanted something elegant and traditional. Â Each piece in the set was uniquely designed using only black ink and texture. Â TheÂ full bleed,Â blindÂ press detail was a perfect complement to Crane’s cotton Lettra paper. Â The script is beautiful hand calligraphy fromÂ PenDance, rendered even more stunning withÂ letterpress printing byÂ Sideshow Press. Â The beauty of this design was all in the details.

We wanted the ceremony program to be simple and beautiful. Â The intent was toÂ notÂ overdo the design or distract from the church or ceremony. Â The names on the cover were printed with a gold foil stamp which was inspired by the gold details throughout the church. Â The design of the menu came together after picking out the china for the dinner. Â I used a gold foil stamp to pick up the gold rimmed china.

Thanks Melissa and Amy!

Design: Atheneum Creative

Calligraphy: PenDance

Letterpress Printing: Sideshow Press

Photo Credits: J. Cogliandro Photography and Chelsea Davis Photography

07/15/2011

{happy weekend!}

Happy Friday everyone! Â Do you all have fun plans for the weekend? Â Most of my friends are out of town this weekend, so it’s shaping up to be a rather boring weekend for me. Â But that’s totally fine by me; I’m looking forward to catching up on some sleep and getting some things done around the house. Â No matter what, I’m sure my weekend will involve many listens to this Belle & Sebastian song; I was kind of on the fence about the most recent album, but I can’t get this song out of my head! Â But in the meantime…

Didn’t See It Coming / Belle & Sebastian

…a few links for your weekend!

For those of you in the LA area: here’s a chance to work at one of my favorite stationery shops!
I made this recipe for dinner earlier this week â€“ so yummy!
Stay organized (and stylish) with these new goodies from Susy*Jack
So pretty

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

I just adore these travel-inspired calligraphy wedding invitations
Stunning traditional patterns on these letterpress note cards
Beautiful folk-art inspired baby announcements
Wedding invitations for foodies!
Send pretty mail with these calligraphy address stamps
Sunny yellow wedding invitations with a beautiful blind deboss pattern
A warm beach and fruity cocktails: destination wedding invitations!
Modern flowchart wedding invitations

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

07/15/2011

Modern Calligraphy Travel-Inspired Wedding Invitations

I’m always so impressed with the work of calligrapher Betsy Dunlap; there’s just something about her modern calligraphy script that is just completely and utterly romantic, don’t you think? Â My jaw practically hit the floor when I saw these travel-inspired invitations that she created for the sister of a close friend. Â Betsy calligraphed the invitation and addressed both the outer envelope and inner rsvp return envelope. Â And with different envelope liners, vintage stamps, colors for the wax seal, and baker’s twine, each invitation is totally unique!

So pretty! Â Check out more photos and learn a bit more about the invitation design over on Betsy’s blog.

Photo Credits: Betsy Dunlap

07/14/2011

Kat + Ben’s Modern Flowchart Wedding Invitations

Every invitation tells a story, but these flowchart invitations from Three Fifteen Design take storytelling to a whole new level! Â Ravyn from Three Fifteen Design worked with shades of blue (a nod to the groom’s service with the Air Force) and a variety of typefaces to create this fun and modern wedding invitation suite.

From Three Fifteen Design:Â Ben & Kat are an amazing couple! Â They’ve known each other since kindergarten and have been dating since high school. Â After college, Ben joined the Air Force, so they’ve been spending the last few years as a long distance couple. Â Their story is unique and since they’ve known each other for so long, they loved the idea of incorporating a timeline into their wedding suite. The idea for the flowchart came about as we were bouncing the storytelling element around; it was a great way to make this invitation fun and interactive for their guests.

From the beginning (the save the date), I was really interested in using several different typefaces to further illustrate the ‘fun’ side of this couple. Â Their color palette was simple: teal, white, and, of course, Air Force blue. Â We used the save the date and the custom accommodations card as the color block cards to showcase the blue & teal.

We decided to keep the invitation white: even though the flowchart was fun & funky, we liked the idea of the pretty traditional invitation at the bottom. Â We went with a folded 5×7 invitation to once again add to that interactive element of the invitations.

Each piece of the suite was tied together by the typefaces, colors, and my favorite part: the little icon of Ban & Kat. Â We used it in different forms on all of the pieces. Â They even used it on little jam jars at the wedding. Â It was a way to make this suite all their own!

The response card was another play on the flowchart idea. Â We used images from their wedding on two different thank you cards. Everything was printed on linen paper & finished with beautiful teal envelopes from Paper Source.