11/29/2010

Calligraphy + Topographic Map Wedding Invitations

Happy Monday everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Â I’ve got a fun holiday giveaway coming up a bit later today, but first I wanted to start the week off with these stunning wedding invitations from Kathryn at Blackbird Letterpress, with beautiful calligraphy by Betsy Dunlap.

You might remember the first invitation collaboration between these two artists from a few months ago; this time, instead of the New Orleans riverbank, Kathryn and Betsy used a topographic map as the primary design element. Â Kathryn printed the topographic lines using a blind (no ink) deboss and Betsy’s lovely script in a soft gray ink. Â Feel free to click on any of the photos in this post for a larger view and more of the lovely letterpress detail.

The main invitation was printed on a 5 x 7″ card using super-thick 220# eco-friendly rag paper, while the corresponding 3.5 x 5″ reply card â€“ featuring a beautiful banner illustrated by Betsy â€“ was printed on slightly thinner 110# cotton Lettra.

Simply stunning â€“ thank you Kathryn!

{image credits: blackbird letterpress}

11/24/2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everyone! Â I’m heading out a bit early to enjoy the long holiday weekend here in the U.S. and go to finally bring our cat (who as you might remember was in the animal hospital last week) back home where he belongs. Â The poor guy didn’t get to come home last weekend as we’d hoped and ended up needing surgery, so we can’t wait to have him home. Â As a result of his illness, we’ve also changed our plans and are now staying home for the holiday â€“ our first Thanksgiving on our own! Â It’ll actually be nice to have a quiet weekend and just be grateful for my little family. Â But in the meantime…

…a few links for your weekend!

A fabulous round-up of advent calendar ideas
I’m really looking forward to this new book about printing from Christine at Yellow Owl Workshop
A beautiful calligraphy collaboration from Mara at Neither Snow
Cool new postage stamps from Envelopments in fun colors and patterns
These pumpkin tarts sound ridiculously yummy
Super-cuteÂ printable napkin rings (just in time for holiday entertaining!)
I love the idea of bougainveilla for a bridal bouquet!

…and in case you missed it, here’s what happened on OSBP this week:

Cool modern black and white graduation invitations
Watercolor + calligraphy wedding save the dates
More lovely holiday cards
Beautiful vintage-inspired tea party bridal shower invitations
Long live print
I’ve also been posting some upcoming holiday open houses, craft events, and sales in the right sidebar â€“ like the Martha Stewart Craft Night below (which I’m actually hoping to attend) coming up next week. Â I’ll keep adding them as they come to me, so don’t forget to check in for the latest additions!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend, and for those of you celebrating this weekend I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Â I’ll see you all back here on Monday!

{image credits: country living}

p.s. We’re taking advantage of the long weekend to do a server switch, so if things are a bit wonky over the weekend please bear with us. Â Hopefully there won’t be any major disruptions, but just in case I promise it’s only temporary. 🙂

11/24/2010

Long Live Print

I can’t help it â€“ this print with artwork from Jeremy Slagle and printed by Igloo Letterpress just makes me smile:

Long live print (and all of the various printing methods), indeed. Â Available for purchase right here.

{image credits: igloo letterpress}

11/23/2010

Vintage Inspired Tea Party Bridal Shower Invitations

You might remember Stephanie‘s beautiful blue and white nautical wedding invitations from a few weeks ago. Â Well, Stephanie is back, this time with a bridal shower invitation inspired by vintage tea tins! Â For these invitations, Stephanie went with a green and white color palette and vintage-inspired flourishes to complement the tea tin design inspiration.

From Stephanie: Â The bride is having an Irish themed wedding and the shower is going to be a tea party! Â It was a little challenging to tie the two concepts together but in the end we decided to use vintage tea tins, particularly Irish breakfast tea, as a model for the invitations. Â We used a green color palette along with little shamrocks to incorporate some Irish whimsy!

In order to drive home the tea theme we decided to wrap the invitations with a tea bag hanging from twine and a custom made tag that read â€œKatie & Chris, The Perfect Blend.â€Â Â I hope the guests enjoyed receiving these invitations as much as I enjoyed creating them!

So pretty! Â Thank you so much Stephanie!

{image credits: stephanie pryor}

11/23/2010

2010 Holiday Card Round-Up, Part 2

Before we all go running off for the Thanksgiving holiday, I have some more lovely holiday cards to share with you! Â If you missed Part 1, you can find it right here, otherwise let’s get started on Part 2!