Sweet Silhouette Birth Announcements for Baby Riley

Jackie from 42 Pressed welcomed a little bundle of joy – a daughter named Riley Magnolia – back in June, and she created these completely adorable letterpress announcements to share Riley’s arrival with friends and family.  Jackie mixed Riley’s tiny baby silhouette with playful type to create the perfect balance of whimsy and beauty in these announcements.

From Jackie: I wanted Riley’s announcement to be playful and fun, but still be really beautiful.  I have been obsessed with silhouettes lately.  I have thought that Riley has the sweetest silhouette since the moment I laid eyes on her, so I knew I wanted to do a silhouette birth announcement.  I am not a huge fan of photographs in birth announcements, so I thought I would photograph her profile and then go into illustrator and outline her silhouette in lieu of an actual photograph.

I played around with type to convey the sense of playfulness and fun that I wanted in the design.  The typeface used for Riley’s first name is playful, but I offset it with a more dignified and timeless script typeface for her middle name.  I always love to pair opposites with opposites, it’s always been a big part of my design style.

Thanks Jackie – and congratulations!

42 Pressed is a member of the Designer Rolodex – you can see more of their beautiful work right here!

Photo Credits: 42 Pressed

Rachel + Josh’s Scrabble Letterpress Wedding Invitations

Happy Monday everyone!  We’re starting the week with fun and casual wedding invitations from Gus & Ruby Letterpress inspired by Scrabble tiles!  Samantha and Whitney created these playful invitations for a wedding this past summer, mixing bright colors with non-traditional wording and illustrations created by the bride – all letterpress printed on thick cotton paper.

From Samantha and Whitney: We designed these wedding invitations for a super rad couple getting married in Brewster, Massachusetts.  Rachel and Josh wanted their stationery to reflect their fun-loving, casual, family-oriented personalities and the tone of their event.  For the entire suite, we played off illustrations that the bride created of Scrabble tiles spelling out their names.  

We then used bright colors, a mix of casual fonts and a ruled-paper background to give the pieces lots of personality and fun.  Personal and non-traditional wording played off the Scrabble theme and set the tone for a celebratory event.  Of course, all the pieces were lovingly letterpress printed by hand on our antique press (c. 1896) on beautiful, textural, super thick 220# 100% cotton.

Thanks Sam and Whit!

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

Friday Happy Hour: The Jack Rose

With its pink color and its half-ounce of grenadine, the Jack Rose might seem like a syrupy party drink.  It’s definitely not! The Jack Rose is sweet and tart, yes, but with a rich, complex flavor from its inspired pairing of apples and pomegranates.

Read below for the full recipe!

Jack Rose

2 oz Apple Brandy
1/2 oz Lemon or Lime Juice
1/2 oz Grenadine

Combine the ingredients, shake with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and enjoy.

Whoever mixed up the first Jack Rose, and complemented the smooth, oaky tartness of apple spirits with the sweet-tartness of pomegranate-based grenadine was really on to something. The grenadine is definitely not around just to make the drink sweeter or give it color (though those help too).

 

The Jack Rose was traditionally made with applejack, but stick with true aged apple brandy here.  There are some spirits that call themselves applejack around, but I don’t know of any that’s truly jacked, or freeze distilled.

Lemon or lime?  I don’t think it matters much, honestly.  The oldest recipe in print, from 1905, calls for lemon, but Jacques Straub’s 1914 Drinks calls for lime.  I don’t notice much of a difference, except that lemon maybe creates a slightly mellower cocktail.

 

Much more important is choice of spirits.  A mellow, delicate spirit, such as Laird’s 7 1/2 year apple brandy, will let the pomegranate stand out.  If you want the flavor of apples to really shine, like I do, try a really bold spirit, like Clear Creek’s 8 year eau de vie de pomme, which puckers with tart apple flavor.

The name?  Maybe from the applejack and its color (boring).  Maybe from the jacqueminot rose, which shares a remarkably similar dark pink color (boring).  Maybe from Frank May, a bartender to whom the drink was first attributed in 1905, who went by the nickname Jack Rose (probably true, but still boring).  Or maybe it was named after Baldy Jack Rose, the gambler and gangster whose gambling den, the Rosebud, had a bar where the Jack Rose may have been invented.  Unlikely, but exciting!

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

{happy weekend!}

Happy almost weekend everyone!  Do you all have fun plans for the weekend?  My husband and I are looking forward to hanging out with some friends, attending one of our favorite antique fairs here in DC, and hopefully going to see a movie.  It’s been months since we last went out to the movies, which is really unusual for us!  But in the meantime…

…a few links for your weekend!

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

We have another fun cocktail coming up for you this afternoon, so check back a bit later for the recipe!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Monday! xoxo

Photo Credit: Scissor Variations

Christine’s Wedding Anniversary Love Notes

Happy Friday everyone!  These love notes from designer Christine Wisnieski seem like the perfect way to help end the first week of the year.  Christine and her husband recently celebrated their 8th wedding anniversary (congrats Christine!), so she put together a little pack of anniversary love notes.  Christine’s favorite is the tie card that contained her husband’s gift, a monogrammed tie clip.  So cute!

Thanks Christine!

Photo Credits: Christine Wisnieski