Stationery A – Z: Birthday Cards for the Guys

For the most part, the men in our lives might not get as excited as we do to shop for greeting cards (let alone find the perfect one for somebody). We do know, however, that they get just as excited when they see personalized letters in the mail and we know they’ll truly appreciate these man-inspired ones. Who knows, one of these may even be the perfect card for him.  — Tashia

Happy Birthday Banner Plaid Shirt Arrow Letterpress Card by Paper Parasol Press

Paper Parasol Press

party like a rockstar by Ink and Iron Dear Boyfriend by Sapling Letterpress

Ink and Iron (left); and Sapling Letterpress (right)

Birthday: Age Well by Wild Ink Press

Wild Ink Press

Beer Letterpress Card by Smock Paper Scooter Guy Birthday by Hammerpress

Smock Paper (left); and Hammerpress (right)

Unlisted Birthday by Wiley Valentine

Wiley Valentine

iphone geek by Lucky Bee Press happy birthday 19th hole guy by Lucky Bee Press

Lucky Bee Press

Ketchup on My Steak by Wild Ink Press

Wild Ink Press

Happy Birthday, King of Beer, Letterpress by Wish Bone Letterpress Bottle of Wine Birthday Card Wine Lovers Letterpress by Vandalia Street Press

Wish Bone Letterpress (left); and Vandalia Street Press (right)

happy birthday old guy by Lucky Bee Press

Lucky Bee Press

{images via their respective sources}

*Smock and Wiley Valentine are sponsors of Oh So Beautiful Paper

Black + White Bridal Shower Invitations

Annemarie from Scout’s Honor Co. here! When designing these bridal shower invitations for a client,  I was excited to work in the requested palette of black and white — with hits of gold. To keep costs down, we opted to print the cards digitally with black ink only and use accents to incorporate the gold (vs. printing with metallic gold ink which requires a more expensive method of printing). This is a great route to take for events with smaller guest lists. The design was hand-lettered and printed as a 2-sided card, with all of the pertinent details on the back. The gold accents included black/gold metallic baker’s twine (to tie around each invite), striped washi tape (to seal the envelopes), and gold pens (to address the envelopes).

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Design by Scout’s Honor Co.

Photo Credits: Scout’s Honor Co.

DIY Tutorial: Palm Springs Mod Watercolor Save the Date

Watercolor is one of our favorite DIY techniques to use when putting together a design. The innate softness of the medium naturally lends itself to weddings.  This week, we combined a soft and airy watercolor pattern with one of our more modern hand lettered save the date stamps, printed in black, to achieve a wonderfully retro suite. We’re just loving the combo of chalky pastels combined with inky black… we hope you do too!  As a special bonus to our readers, the watercolor artwork we created for this DIY will be available to download on the Antiquaria Blog. – Bailey and Emma of Antiquaria

DIY Tutorial: Rubber Stamp Retro Watercolor Save the Dates

This save the date suite embodies the retro vibes of Palm Springs! Plus…it’s easy to do!

DIY Tutorial: Rubber Stamp Retro Watercolor Save the Dates

Step One: On an A2 card (you’ll want to use either watercolor paper or this set of precut cards in Luxe White), paint organic lines in varying shades of turquoise, aqua, yellow ochre and ballet pink. For the best and most natural results, hold your paint brush loosely and paint the lines off of the edges of the card. Let the paint dry.

DIY Tutorial: Rubber Stamp Retro Watercolor Save the Dates

Step Two: After you have prepared all of your cards (you’ll want to make some extras), stamp your save the date (we used our Art Deco Save the Date Stamp) toward the top center of the card in black ink. Press firmly across all of the stamp to make certain you get an even print. The acrylic mount really helps you see exactly where you are positioning your stamp within the design. Let the print dry.

DIY Tutorial: Rubber Stamp Retro Watercolor Save the Dates

Step Three: For the website card, we added more retro vibes by printing our stamp (we used our Art Deco Website Card Stamp) on 8.5″x11″ turquoise card stock and cutting out the text in organic shapes, as shown above. We love that each one is different!!

DIY Tutorial: Rubber Stamp Retro Watercolor Save the Dates

Step Four: We finished the suite off by using a black envelope with the return address (we used our Art Deco Return Address Stamp) printed in turquoise ink.

Materials

Rubber Stamps:

Art Deco Save the Date

Art Deco Website Card

Art Deco Return Address

Other Materials:

Stamp Pad in black and turquoise

A2 cards – these  in Luxe White or cut down watercolor paper to, 4.25″x5.5″

A2 envelopes in black

Watercolor paints

Paint brush

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

Photo Credits: Antiquaria

Color Inspiration: Vintage Red, White, + Blue

Hi everyone! Annemarie here from Scout’s Honor Co. I am thrilled to be guest blogging this week while Nole is on maternity leave (congrats, Nole!). Let’s start off with some color inspiration. I recently picked up the vintage stamps and mail stickers below… I love how the deep red + navy tones pop against the aged paper. Add some kraft to the mix and you’ll warm up the palette even more (and ensure it does not skew too 4th of July!). Below are a few of my favorite supplies from around the studio, along with a full list of shopping resources.

Vintage Stamps: Angela Liguori / Studio Carta
Kraft Card Sleeves: Envelope Mall
Business Cards: Paper Source
Vintage Mail Stickers: Paper Pastries
Mini Red Envelopes: Paper Presentation
Red Striped Bags: Whisker Graphics.

Photo Credits: Scout’s Honor Co.

Gus & Ruby Letterpress – guest blogging giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed – thank you to all who entered!

Well, friends, it’s been such a blast guest-blogging here on Oh So Beautiful Paper.  And, as a thank you to you fine readers, we’re doing a giveaway for our final post!

We know it seems likes ages away, but here at the studio and shop, we’re already gearing up and planning away for the holiday season.  So, in the spirit of the (planning) season, one of you lucky readers will win a set of 50 custom-designed 2-color letterpress printed holiday cards or holiday party invitations with matching return-address printed envelopes.

And all you need to do to enter is leave a comment at the end of this post telling us about your favorite holiday tradition.

You’ll have until 11:59 p.m. on September 25th, 2012 to enter the giveaway. One winner will be selected randomly and notified via email. Good luck and thanks for reading!

Happy Friday from the gals at Gus & Ruby Letterpress!

Design and Letterpress Printing: Gus & Ruby Letterpress

Dog Illustrations: Vance Gorham

Gus & Ruby Letterpress is a member of the Designer Rolodex – check out more of their beautiful work right here or visit the real invi­ta­tions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Brea McDonald Photography for Gus & Ruby Letterpress