{happy weekend!}

Happy Friday everyone!  I don't know about you, but this has been a looooong week for me and I'm 100% ready for a much-needed weekend.  Plus, I'm super-excited, because it's only one more week until the B List!  (Are you coming to our Friday Meet + Greet?)  I'm really looking forward to this year's meet-up, both to seeing friends from last year and getting to make new friends.  But that's next weekend, and this weekend I've got more plans for the garden – including putting up some edging around our little flower bed to keep a very rude neighbor from walking on the soil and crushing my poor little sprouts.  Seriously, who does that?  Sigh.  But in the meantime…

Jose_villa_engagement_shoot

…a few links for your weekend reading:

Also, my friend Lynn from Satsuma Press wrote to tell me about a fundraiser for her son, Liam.  You can read more about Liam's situation and the fundraiser details right here.  I know Lynn would welcome any support you might be able to provide.

That's it for me this week!  I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and I'll see you all again on Monday!

{image credits: jose villa, from the most gorgeous engagement session I think I've ever seen}

Classic Black + White Save the Dates

There’s just something about classic black and white — particularly when it serves as the foundation for a simple yet elegant Save the Date:

Black-white-heart-stripe-save-the-date
Black-white-striped-save-the-date

The sweet little heart and striped envelope liners provide a sense of whimsy for this otherwise traditional Save the Date card from Bespoke Press.  I also love the placement of the return address on the envelope, such a cute detail!

{image credits: Bespoke Press}

Katy + Jason’s Screen Printed Save the Dates

Kimberly and Derek from RageHaus sent over these screen printed Save the Dates that they recently designed for friends Katy and Jason — and I’m loving the mix of ornamental illustrations and bold typography!  Combined with playful text on both the Save the Date and envelope, the entire design has a wonderful sense of whimsy and exuberance:

Katy-Jason-Screen-Print-Save-the-Dates

From Kim: Derek and I each played around with a few design concepts before taking our strongest ideas and combining them.  My style leans towards organic, illustrative typography and imagery, while Derek’s style leans towards brash, rambunctious typography and imagery.  Between the strong typography and the delicate ornamental elements, both styles are represented in this modern, yet elegant Save the Date.

Katy-Jason-Screen-Print-Save-the-Dates2

The Save the Dates were two color screen prints on both sides. Katy and Jason went with a lovely white and light pink combo on Wine Speckltone French Paper.  The color palette of maroon, soft pink and white turned out to have a warm, romantic quality — perfect for a November wedding.

Katy-Jason-Screen-Print-Save-the-Dates3
For the envelopes, we wanted to counteract the weight of the dark cards with Aged Parchtone French Envelopes.  The ink for the envelopes was matched to the color of the Wine Speckletone.  The entire design was pulled, by hand, in our closet.

Thanks Kim!  Kimberly and Derek have a bunch of additional photos of Katy and Jason’s Save the Dates over on their flickr page — check them out right here!

{image credits: RageHaus}

Spring Gift Wrap – and NSS 2010

It seems like last year's National Stationery Show was just a few weeks ago – I still remember being absolutely giddy with excitement (so many amazing booths! so many fabulous designs to see!) and totally and completely exhausted (from walking the dozens and dozens of aisles with my big ol' camera in tow) all at the same time.  But even with the exhaustion, NSS week is one of my favorite weeks of the entire year, and I'm already getting so excited for this year's show!

Pikku pacchetti

So when Angela e-mailed me to let me know about her latest collaboration with Pikku that she will be presenting at this year's NSS (also available in her shop here), I got even more excited!

Pikku paper and ribbons SPRING

I'm looking forward to catching up with designers from last year (like Angela!) and hopefully getting to see some new faces at the show.  If you plan to exhibit (or even if you're just planning to stop by to check out the show), please e-mail me with your booth number so that I can be sure to drop by!

{image credits: angela liguori}

Beehive Kitchen

I am in love with this entire collection of heart-shaped kitchen scoops and measuring spoons from Beehive Kitchenware:

Heart-flour-scoop
Heart-spice-spoons
Heart-coffee-scoop
Heart-measuring-spoons

Right now I use generic plastic measuring scoops stuffed into our kitchen gadget drawer, but I’d love to display these scoops and spoons in my kitchen.  Check out the full collection right here – and how cute would these pewter bird cheese markers be for a wedding reception?

Cheese-markers

On a different topic, a huge congrats to my friend Juli on the launch of her new website!  Juli has been busy working on the new design and a whole new collection of wedding garters, which she’ll be launching with a little party tonight – I can’t wait to check it out!

{image credits: beehive kitchenware, found via elephantine}