Crane & Co. Wedding Album Launch Party

Last week I attended a party celebrating the launch of Crane & Co.‘s newest wedding invitation album.  I got a sneak peek at some of the album designs during my tour last September (which you can see here, here, here, and here), so I was really excited to see the designs in their final, printed form.  The Crane & Co. design team has worked on some cool new designs, including some more modern pieces alongside Crane’s more traditional and refined invitations.  Here are a few photos of the new collection that I took at the party:

Crane-and-Co-Monogram-Engraved-Wedding-Invitation

Crane-and-Co-Silver-Engraved-Wedding-Invitation

Crane-and-Co-Silver-Engraved-Wedding-Invitation-Reception-Card

Crane-and-Co-Modern-Yellow-Envelope-Liner-Wedding-Invitation

{the envelope liner above is a gorgeous and vivid yellow in person – so pretty!}

Crane-and-Co-Modern-Sanserif-Engraved-Wedding-Invitation

{this invitation suite features modern san-serif engraved text – quite a departure from Crane’s traditional look}

Crane-and-Co-Modern-Sanserif-Engraved-Wedding-Invitation

Crane-and-Co-Classic-Silver-Edge-Painting-Wedding-Invitation

{it’s hard to see in the photo, but this invitation has beautiful silver edge painting!}

Crane-and-Co-Calligraphy-Monogram-Engraved-Wedding-Invitation

You can check out a few more photos from the party on the Crane & Co. facebook page.  There’s a lot more where this came from, so if you’d like to see the album in person, you can find a list of Crane & Co. retailers right here!

{all photos by Oh So Beautiful Paper}

Clara’s Modern Christening Invitations

My friend Carolynn from Two Brunettes recently welcomed her first child, a beautiful baby girl named Clara.  When it came time to choose Clara’s christening invitations, Carolynn couldn’t find anything with the right balance of tradition and fun, modern design – so she decided to create her own invitations!

Baby-Girl-Baptism-Christening-Invitation

From Carolynn:  Clara will be baptised at the church I was raised in.  Everything I was seeing was very religious looking, not cutesy or fun.  I wanted a mix of both, in a fun design for the modern couple that would also be appropriate for a baptism.

Baby-Girl-Baptism-Christening-Invitation

Baby-Girl-Baptism-Christening-Invitation

So lovely!  Fabulous work Carolynn!

{image credits: two brunettes}

Adorable Birth Announcement Ideas

I love it when new parents get creative with birth announcements – the arrival of a new child seems like the perfect time to be totally whimsical and let your imagination run free.  I’ve been seeing lots of cute and creative baby announcements lately, so I thought I’d share a few of my favorites!

paper-airplane-baby-boy-birth-announcements

{paper airplane birth announcements – so cute! – from Bird and Banner}

letterpress-baby-boy-birth-announcements-notebook-paper-urbanic letterpress-baby-boy-birth-announcements-notebook-paper-urbanic

{Sapling Press announcements for Audrey’s adorable son Ian}

illustrated-pink-gray-goat-baby-girl-birth-announcements

{illustrated goats in these letterpress birth announcements from Truly Smitten}

3d-letterpress-baby-announcement

{I can’t get over the awesomeness of these 3D baby announcements from The Mandate Press}

letterpress-striped-birth-announcements-postal-theme letterpress-postal-theme-striped-birth-announcements

{I love everything about these amazing birth announcements – from the postal theme to the striped envelope liner}

retro-baby-boy-birth-announcement

{a cool retro-ish birth announcement by Jamie Tallerico and printed by Sycamore Street Press}

Which ones are your favorites??

{image credits: bird and banner; audrey woolen | parcel post; truly smitten; the mandate press; brooke reynolds | inchmark; sycamore street press}

Caitlan + Andrew’s Black Heavy Metal Wedding Invitations

You might remember these awesome book wedding invitations that Lyndsay from It’s A Date Design created last year, and today Lyndsay is back with wedding invitations that are just as fabulous – and definitely different from anything I’ve featured here before!  This time, Lyndsay drew her inspiration from the groom’s love of heavy metal music.

black-heavy-metal-wedding-invitations-record-album

From Lyndsay: When I first spoke to Caitlan, her request for the design was that it celebrate her future husband Andrew’s interests – which were predominantly related to a love of heavy metal music.  One of their first dates was to a concert which she referred to as a “sea of fading black t-shirts!”

black-heavy-metal-wedding-invitations-inside

black-heavy-metal-wedding-invitations

black-heavy-metal-wedding-invitations

My first thought was, “this couple is destined for a fantastic life together” – because it is so rare that a bride will pursue something so unconventional for her wedding stationery in order to respect the groom’s passion!  We talked a lot about having some subtle references to his favourite bands (as well as hers, which included Regina Spektor and Ani DiFranco), but I also decided this would be a challenge: to make skulls cute!

black-heavy-metal-wedding-invitations-record

black-heavy-metal-wedding-invitations

The result is somewhere between Slipknot and Florence and The Machine: a compilation of the couple’s important wedding information, folded like a mini-accordion, with a reply postcard that could be detached via perforation and sent back to the couple, all packaged within their own “LP.”  I modeled their monogram, which is used several times throughout the design, loosely on the Rolling Stone magazine masthead.

black-heavy-metal-wedding-invitations-inside

Another sweet featured: their request as a “gift” was for guests to write a little note to them in provided cards (decorated with flags of all the countries they plan to visit as a married couple) for them to keep as a memento of their day, which I pre-affixed inside each invitation with little cardboard photo corners inside vellum envelopes.  Each invitation was hand-trimmed, folded and assembled with love.

black-heavy-metal-wedding-invitations

We also made little button badges out of favourite design elements from the suite for an extra rock-concert reference.  Whilst these invitations don’t scream “wedding”, they are a reflection of a young, unconventional and fun couple who have a very bright future ahead of them.

black-heavy-metal-wedding-invitations-suite

So cool, Lyndsay!  I love the entire invitation, from the concept to the color palette.  Thanks so much for sharing these with us!

{image credits: it’s a date design}

Christina’s Cameo-Inspired Business Cards

Rose from Bittersweet Design Boutique sent over some lovely business cards and identity suite that she recently created for photographer Christina Carroll.  Rose incorporated a custom illustration inspired by antique cameo jewelry in a nod both to Christina’s stylish mother and Christina’s own unique perspective as a photographer.

Blue-White-Silhouette-Business-Cards-Branding

Blue-White-Silhouette-Business-Cards-Back

From Rose:  Christina Carroll is an eclectic international wedding photographer who puts a lot of personality into her work.  I was beyond excited when Christina came to me in need of a new logo and business stationery!

Blue-White-Silhouette-Business-Cards-Branding

Blue-White-Silhouette-Business-Cards-Branding

With a mother who is very fashion-forward, Christina’s sense of style has been present since day one.  We wanted to compliment Christina’s unique eye for photography by creating a funky illustration to use as her main logo.  The text needed a little more liveliness to compliment the intricate illustration, so we added the leaves to the bottom of the letters.

Blue-White-Silhouette-Business-Cards-Branding

The cameo, which makes its appearance in Christina’s paper system, fit in perfectly with the overall feminine look that we were going for.

Blue-White-Silhouette-Business-Cards-Branding

So pretty!  Thank you so much Rose!

{image credits: rose lindo | bittersweet design boutique}