New Giveaway! Calligraphy Address Stamp from Kathryn Murray

We looooove calligraphy here at Oh So Beautiful Paper, from traditional flourishes to modern styles and everything in between. We’ve had the pleasure of featuring the beautiful calligraphy of Kathryn Murray in our monthly calligraphy feature and love seeing her work on wedding invitation envelopes and place cards. And today we’re super excited, because Kathryn is giving away her beautiful custom calligraphy address stamps to TWO lucky readers!

Kathryn Murray Calligraphy via Oh So Beautiful Paper (2)

The lucky readers will each receive one acrylic address stamp (so you can see where you’re placing the address on the envelope!), a calligraphy monogram stamp, ink pad, and set of 8 blank cards and envelopes – you’ll be able to start writing letters to your friends and family right away!

Kathryn Murray Calligraphy via Oh So Beautiful Paper (1)

To enter, visit Kathryn’s website and browse through her gorgeous calligraphy portfolio. Then come back here and leave a comment telling us who you love writing letters to the most and why! Perhaps your sister, parents, or an old friend from high school or college?

Kathryn Murray Calligraphy via Oh So Beautiful Paper (4)

Kathryn Murray Calligraphy via Oh So Beautiful Paper (3)

You’ll have until 11:59 p.m. on Friday, January 25 to enter the giveaway. One winner will be selected randomly and notified via email. Bonne chance!

*This giveaway is courtesy of Kathryn Murray Calligraphy.  Official sweepstakes rules here.

Photo Credits: Kathryn Murray Calligraphy

{happy weekend + reader survey!}

After all the ups and downs this week, I know I’m ready for a bit of R&R this weekend! But before you go running off, would you mind filling out a quick reader survey? It’s been a while since the last one, and I’d love your thoughts about Oh So Beautiful Paper as I prepare to make it bigger and better over the coming year! You can find the short survey right here! And in the meantime…

Original Image Credit: Aaron Huey

…a few links for your weekend!

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

That’s it for me this week! Next week I have an AWESOME giveaway that you won’t want to miss – so be sure to check back in early next week. Have a wonderful weekend! xoxo

Sophie at 4 Months

Happy Friday everyone! I’ll admit that I’ve had quite the roller coaster of a week, from the trials of house hunting to being on the receiving end of some really disappointing behavior from someone that I thought was my friend. I usually try to keep Oh So Beautiful Paper a happy place, so I won’t get into too many of the details here. It’s just always a bummer to find out that someone that you care about doesn’t seem to hold your friendship in the same regard. So today I thought I’d help cheer myself up by sharing a few photos of Sophie at the 4-month mark!

Photo Credits: Oh So Beautiful Paper (13) Photo Credits: Oh So Beautiful Paper (10)

The last month with Sophie has really been so much fun – she’s full of smiles, tiny giggles, and we have lots of conversations full of all sorts of funny noises and grunting sounds. She still has plenty of meltdowns, usually when she doesn’t get a long enough nap, but she’s getting easier to soothe. She’s so curious and interested in everything going on around her, particularly people!

Photo Credits: Oh So Beautiful Paper (4) Photo Credits: Oh So Beautiful Paper (2)

Sophie recently went through a crazy growth spurt and gained around a pound in a single week – she’s still such a tiny thing, but she’s now double her birth weight at 12 pounds. She has officially outgrown all of her newborn clothes, which for me is such a bittersweet change. She’ll never be that tiny ever again! But she’s now doing all sorts of fun things like holding her head up and grabbing things!

Photo Credits: Oh So Beautiful Paper (9) Photo Credits: Oh So Beautiful Paper (7)

As you can see from these photos, her new favorite thing is to be a flying baby – she smiles and looks all around whenever we hold her up. I had a hard time getting any decent non-blurry photos because she was moving her head around so much to get a good look! It’s probably only a matter of time before she’s sitting up on her own, too.

 

Last night we took Sophie for her first hockey experience – an open Capitals practice at the Verizon Center – and she LOVED it! I’m not sure she even noticed the activity on the ice, but she enjoyed looking at all the people and the bright lights around the arena. We’ll probably wait a couple more months before we think about taking her to an actual game, but it’s good to know she doesn’t get overwhelmed in such a big setting. Sophie has also been a trooper in our house hunt – that’s her taking a nap (above) in one of the houses we looked at.

 

The house hunt has been pretty frustrating so far… nothing too surprising, we just haven’t seen much that would be a good fit for us. We’ve made one offer so far, which we didn’t get  â€“ also not really a surprise as we were competing with two other offers – but I’m happy to have at least made the leap of making an offer on something. At the same time, we’ve been circling around another property that has a TON of potential but will require some major renovations that could push it just out of our reach, which I think is actually the most frustrating part so far. For now we’re just continuing to look around and hope that something awesome comes on the market soon!

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Pretty Paper in the Office: Storage Boxes

There’s nothing like a new year and the ever so exciting task of filing your taxes that shows just how successful, or unsuccessful, your organizational system is. I’m not as tidy with my paperwork as I could be and now is a perfect time to rectify that! Storage boxes provide a place for everything, while keeping your workspace looking put together. So I’ve put together some stylish storage solutions to help us start this (and every) year off on the right foot. – Julie

Pretty Paper in the Office Storage Box Round Up via Oh So Beautiful Paper

No. 1 Linen storage boxes from Restoration Hardware; No.2 Basic letter box from See Jane Work; No.3 Archival Folios from The Container Store; No. 4 Grey felt storage boxes from CB2; No.5 Faux bois document box from Paper Source; No.6 Pantone storage box from Pantone

{images via their respective sources}

Emily + Sean’s Engraved Watercolor Burlap Save the Dates

I always expect something creative and one-of-a-kind from designer Kristy Rice and her team at Momental Designs, and these burlap and watercolor save the dates are no exception! Kristy drew her inspiration from nature, combining hand painted watercolor with white engraved text, burlap, and kraft paper – with stunning results!

Watercolor + Engraved Save the Dates by Momental Designs via Oh So Beautiful Paper

From Kristy: The concept for these save the dates was simple but the result; incredibly powerful. We started with the inspiration of rich natural textures, landscapes, and literature. Then we combined richly saturated hand painted watercolor textures with crisp and classic engraved lettering. Mingled with rustic touches of burlap and kraft cardstock, the look is a balance of contrasts and textures.

Watercolor Save the Dates by Momental Designs via Oh So Beautiful Paper (1)

Watercolor Save the Dates by Momental Designs via Oh So Beautiful Paper (5)

Watercolor Save the Dates by Momental Designs via Oh So Beautiful Paper (3)

Watercolor Save the Dates by Momental Designs via Oh So Beautiful Paper

Kristy even sent over a few behind-the-scenes photos of the watercolor process!

Momental Designs Watercolor Process via Oh So Beautiful Paper

So cool! Thanks Kristy!

Momental Designs is a member of the Designer Rolodex – you can see more of their beautiful work right here or visit the real invi­ta­tions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Momental Designs