As promised, I have a few more Valentine’s Day cards to share. Â There are so many cute cards this year!
 
 
{images via their respective sources}
*Studio SloMo, Smock, and Hello!Lucky are some of my fabÂuÂlous sponÂsors; for more on my ediÂtoÂrÂial poliÂcies please click here.
Last week I shared a few of my favorite Valentine’s Day cards – and today I have a few more that I’d like to highlight!  We’ve got a bunch of cute cards to cover, so let’s get right to it…
 
 
 
The Hungry Workshop (left); The Wheatfield (right)
Stay tuned for a few more favorite Valentine’s Day cards coming up in just a bit!
{images via their respective sources}
*Pistachio Press is one of my fabÂuÂlous sponÂsors; for more on my ediÂtoÂrÂial poliÂcies please click here.
Lindsay from McMillian + Furlow sent over the beautiful wedding invitations and save the dates that she created for her brother’s wedding last fall. Â Lindsay was inspired to create a destination-inspired suite, from postcard save the dates to passport-style invitations. Â Lindsay also created a beautiful wedding logo based on the bride and groom’s initials; the logo was incorporated on nearly every detail, from the invitations to lavender sachet ceremony programs, and even the groom’s suit!
From Lindsay: We were inspired by the idea of having a mini destination wedding on Shelter Island, and by the rich history of the Pridwin Hotel.  I also developed the M&EM logo – a play on their initials – to use on all the materials, either printed or stamped on with the custom rubber stamp.  Mauro even had it embroidered into his suit jacket!
Working with the color palette that Mauro and Emmy had chosen, I designed the save the dates to be a sophisticated play on the classic “Greetings From…” postcards.
Traveling has been a way of life for them ever since they began dating, so it was natural that this passion would be incorporated into the wedding. Â The invitations were designed as passports, issued on the day of Mauro and Emmy’s engagement.
They included all the information guests would need to know – from ferry schedules to and from Shelter Island, historic facts and maps, to ceremony information, lodging, and activities.  This proved to be very useful for all the guests that would be traveling from out of state (and Italy!)
Photo Credit:Â Joe Sanfilippo
The menus were tied together with a family remembrance card and a timeline of all their travels together. Â The string was carefully chosen for it’s reference to the classic Italian pastry boxes.
Bags of lavender were stamped and tied with all the ceremony information on the back. Â This was our clever way of avoiding the use of a standard wedding program.
Photo Credit: Joe Sanfilippo
Thanks Lindsay!
Check out the Designer Rolodex for more talÂented wedÂding inviÂtaÂtion designÂers and the real inviÂtaÂtions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!
Photo Credits: Except where noted, all images by McMillian and Furlow
Ed Note: Happy Monday everyone!  This calligraphy post would normally have run last Thursday, but I couldn’t fit it in with my travel to Alt.  So instead we get to start the week off with some absolutely gorgeous calligraphy courtesy of Li from Fat Orange Cat Studio!
As Nole has recently shared some great posts about various printing processes, I thought it would be fun to see some of what goes into calligraphy. Â And I couldn’t think of anyone better than Li Ward of Fat Orange Cat Studio to show us. Â Li regularly shares her many calligraphy drafts with the readers of her blog. Â I enjoy seeing the final product so much more when I know how many ways it could have turned out. Â Li has many wonderful styles of writing and it’s lovely to see the nuances of each letter and how they can so easily change. Â I was definitely not surprised to find that even her drafts are written beautifully! – Julie
From Li: “I wrote this with Chalk Pen on a foam board that was spray-painted with chalkboard paint. Â I did a rough draft of it with pen on a piece of paper that was roughly the same dimension as the board to determine text placement.”
From Li: “For each of my wedding photography clients, I calligraph their names, scan them, and use the high-resolution scans to make rubber stamps. Â I also use their scanned names on their customizable CD covers.”
“This wine list was done in the same fashion as the chalk menu, using Chalk Pen on some vinyl-covered board which was then framed.”
From Li: “As you can see I letter quite a bit. Â It’s a form of warm-up.” Â A glimpse at the various approaches to a business card for A Creative Mint‘s Leslie Shewring. (Letterpress printing by Parrott Design Studio.)
Make sure you look through more of Fat Orange Cat Studio’s gorgeous calligraphy work, as well as her beautiful wedding and pet photography.
Thank you so much Li for sharing your work and process with us!
Photo Credits: Fat Orange Cat Studio
Today’s cocktail recipe is a fancy version of a gin sour, but with the botanical addition of lavender. Â Lavender can be a great addition to a cocktail; it’s flowery but also has an earthy flavor that can nicely complement gin or other spirits. Â This cocktail is something of a specialty drink, one that demands a pretty specific ingredient, but if you can track some down (or make your own), it’s worth it: the Lavender Ghost.
Read below for the full recipe!
Lavender Ghost
2 oz Dry Gin (we like Plymouth)
1/2 oz Lavender Syrup
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
Combine the ingredients, shake with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass and enjoy!
Nole surprised me one day with a wonderful gift of some Royal Rose syrups, including their lavender-lemon syrup. Â I gave their suggested cocktail recipes a try and found this one, the Lavender Ghost, was a real stand-out.
 
Royal Rose Lavender-Lemon syrup is sweet, flowery, and citrusy, but also has a botanical complexity to it that makes this more than just a sweetener and makes it pair well with dry gin. Â The resulting drink is sweet, tart, flowery, botanical, and delicious.
The Lavender Ghost is basically a fancied-up gin sour. Â Sours belong to one of the oldest, simplest, biggest, and best families of cocktail. Â Each sour at its heart combines a spirit with a citrus and a sweetener. Â Tweak any one of those ingredients and you basically get a new drink, whether it’s the Sidecar, or the Margarita, or the Daiquiri. Â The gin sour is properly known as the White Lady, which is also a mythical name for a type of female ghost, making the Lavender Ghost a very clever name from the people at Royal Rose.
 
Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper