05/13/2011

{happy weekend!}

The big weekend is finally here â€“ the Stationery Show starts on Sunday! Â I head up to New York tomorrow and can’t wait to catch up with everyone at the show. Â Speaking of the Stationery Show (which as of the last few days has been all the time, I know), I’ll be participating inÂ a panel about the importance of written correspondence in the digital age. Â I’d love to be able to share a few anecdotes from my readers, particularly why you enjoy sending and receiving stationery. Â So if you have a few moments, please share your thoughts and help answer a few short questions right here! Â But in the meantime…

…a few links for your weekend!

I’m hoping to check out this sample sale in NYC next week
Peonies in Paris, le sigh…
One more reason to love the ombre trend
I’m seriously thinking about getting one of these for my husband for this summer

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

Jackie + Tyler’s gray and gold baby shower invitations
Invitations for the International Biscuit Festival
Stationery Show sneak peeks: Yellow Owl Workshop, Hello!Lucky and Fawnsberg, and Paper Mill Designs
Lindsey and Evan’s gilded formal wedding invitations
A recipe card scavenger hunt at the Stationery Show
Rebecca + Nick’s Rocky Mountain wedding invitations

I’m planning a rare Saturday post so that I can share the photos from our trip to Italy, finally! Â Have a wonderful weekend everyone! xoxo

Photo Credit: Samantha Lamb

05/02/2011

First Birthday Party Invitations for Baby Lucas!

Hi again everyone! Â I’m back! Â I’m still trying to process the last couple of weeks in my head, much less go through all of the photos from the trip, so a trip recap will have to wait a few days. Â Before I get to anything else, a huge thanks to Carina and Ellie for their fabulous guest posts while I was away â€“ not to mention all of the fantastic printers who contributed posts for the printing process series. Â The printing process series isn’t quite finished, so stay tuned for future posts on a few other printing methods a bit later this summer…

First up this week â€“ invitations for a first birthday party! Â Lisa from Good on Paper created these adorable circus-inspired invitations for her son’s first birthday celebration last month. Â You can also check out Lucas’s awesome birth announcements right here. Â I love the way Lisa uses different typefaces in her designs, particularly the cool ligatures on Lucas’s name and party date. Â So fun!

Thanks Lisa!

Photo Credits: Good on Paper

04/08/2011

{happy weekend!}

Yeesh… this week went by in a complete flash, at least for me. Â Which is good as I try to get through the remaining months until my husband comes home (in late summer, sigh), but also kind of scary when I think about the fact that the National Stationery Show is just over a month away. Â Time is going by so fast! Â I have a couple of fun things coming up soon that I can’t wait to tell you all about, but you’ll have to wait until next week for details. Â But in the meantime…

Photo Credit: L’antipodeuse

…a few links for your weekend:

Super cute fisherman birth announcements
Pop up baby shower invitations!
This downloadableÂ compliment bunting is so awesome
Loving these wedding invitations inspired by the bride’s favorite childhood book (one of my faves too)
Adorable birth announcements with watercolor details
I love the bride’s delicate bouquet in this wedding
A beautiful letterpress print for a good cause

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

Chevron strips and stitching in these lovely save the dates
Creative invitations for a destination wedding in Mexico
Such a cool idea â€“ scratch-off wedding save the dates!
Bilingual topographic map wedding invitations
A round up of creative moving announcements
A cute print perfect for an anniversary celebration
Loving gradient color wedding invitations

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

04/04/2011

Enrique + Annessa’s Creative Mexico Destination Wedding Invitations

Enrique and Annessa are graphic designers getting married in Mexico this summer (congrats you two!) with a follow-on event a few weeks later in Pennsylvania. Â When it came time to create their wedding invitations, Enrique and Annessa found themselves inspired by double-sided letterpress coasters and knew they wanted to share their fun sense of humor with their wedding guests. Â They decided to go with a fresh blue and orange color palette to represent their sunny destination wedding location â€“ and a totally adorable illustration of the happy couple!

From Enrique and Annessa: Â The inspiration for the format came from letterpress coasters we had seen once. Â We really liked how they showcased personal items that turned into short stories about the person(s) on the front of the coasters.

In this case, we included our French bulldog Mr. Wilson, my love for gadgets, Annessaâ€™s old 87â€™ Volvo, and my love for Johnny Cash. We really wanted to play up the fun, intimate details we know about each other and share them with our guests. Â Humor is the soul and foundation to our relationship, so we felt it appropriate to illustrate each other the way we see each other.

Since we are having two events, Mexico and Pennsylvania, we had to double up on invitations while hinting at the theme of each event. Â Pennsylvania will be a more country feel, so we used iconography such as cowboy boots. Â For Mexico, we used, of course, a very appropriate sombrero.

Over all, there were some ups and downs through the process of designing and coming up with a final solution, but it feels very rewarding to know that we designed them ourselves. Â We hope our guests enjoy them as well.

Thank you so much Enrique and Annessa!

Photo Credits: Enrique Barrios and Annessa Braymer

03/28/2011

Red + Turquoise Circus Theme Baby Shower Invitations

How cute are these letterpress baby shower invitations? Â Jason from Missing Q Press created these invitations for a circus theme baby shower this past weekend. Â From the bright red and turquoise color palette, to the stripes and fun circus-inspired fonts, to the vintage animal illustrations, I’m loving the entire design!

From Jason: Â The baby shower is for Sara Fay and Merrick (baby due this summer) and will be hosted by Todd Fiscus, owner of Todd. Event Design.Â Â Todd wanted to do a circus themed party, so I incorporated some stripes, vintage animals, and circus fonts. Â The invitation suite includes a striped envelope liner and we used vintage stamps on the outer envelope.

For a gift, I designed and printed a one-of-a-kind poster for Sara Fay where she can have the baby’s name and birthdate calligraphed once the baby is born. Â Sara Fay’s last name is Egan so an “E for Elephant” was the perfect choice for my print.