03/22/2010

Eight Hour Day

My husband and I are still settling into our new apartment (all the more slowly since most of our work is done over weekends), and now we're in the phase of hanging up our artwork around the house. I'm always looking to add new prints to our collection, and lately I've had my eye on these prints by Katie Kirk from Eight Hour Day:

I'm thinking of the bottom print for some friends that will be welcoming a baby boy next month (it's also available in pink). Check out the full eight hour day collection right here!

{image credits: eight hour day}

03/19/2010

{happy weekend!}

We're currently having the most beautiful stretch of spring weather here in DC, and all I really want to do right now is sit outside and enjoy it. This is definitely a weekend for trying to do some yard work, but I'm also thinking about taking a quick field trip to take advantage of all the gorgeous sunshine this weekend, even if it's just to someplace nearby like Mount Vernon (I love the lawn behind the house, such a gorgeous view!). But in the meantime…

…a few links for your weekend:

Announcing Paper Swap 2010! Be sure to sign up before March 31!
This rosemary apple chicken pot pie sounds completely amazing…
A great discussion on DIY vs duplication
Love this owl-theme first birthday party!
Such a pretty spring dress…
I really want to go to Ljubljana… and Prague… and Vienna
This is cool — a 200-year calendar, and a new year's resolution poster
And last but not least, a huge congrats to Anne on the launch of the new aisle dash!

That's it for me this week! I hope you all have a lovely and wonderful weekend — and I'll see you back here on Monday!

{image credits: fine little day}

03/19/2010

Melissa + Jerome’s Golf Theme Save the Dates

Longtime reader Melissa just sent out the Save the Dates for her upcoming wedding, and she was kind enough to send over photos of the finished product!

From Melissa: We are getting married at an elegant golf course in Saratoga Springs (Saratoga National Golf Club) this fall and wanted to play up the location on the Save the Date.

Since I am a graphic designer I was really excited to design and create my own ‘save the date’ (and will be starting the invites soon). Â We letterpress printed and diecut the card with Studio on Fire, and printed the inside cover argyle pattern on my printer.

The colors of our wedding our brown and green so we stayed within those colors for all the elements of the package. Â We created a “JM” logo that will be used thru out the wedding and you see it here on the card, in the middle of the inside argyle cover pattern, and we even created a stamp for the outside wrapping.

The mailing label wraps around to the back where you find the logo again as well as the return address. Â Once we picked our venue, I knew I just had to send out golf tees with our names… and putting it all together was a lot of fun.

Thanks so much Melissa! Â I’ll be back with my usual Friday round-up post a bit later this afternoon!

{image credits: melissa depasquale}

03/18/2010

Chris + Emma’s Vintage Texas Cactus Wedding Invitations

Brace yourselves, because today’s real wedding invitations are truly spectacular. Â Combining three of my favorite things â€” gorgeous calligraphy, letterpress printing, and vintage stamps â€” Emma + Chris’s southwestern cactus-inspired wedding invitations are a true representation of their upcoming Texas wedding. Â So let’s get right to it!

From Emma:Â I am a designer living in Austin, Texas. I started designing wedding invitations about a year ago, when I took a job at a local invitation shop. Â I draw my inspiration from nature, art, and all things vintage. (Update: Emma has since formed her own design studio called Antiquaria in partnership with calligrapher Bailey Amon)

Our wedding will be out doors in the hill country of Austin and I wanted an invitation that reflected the southwest without being overtly western. Â I had the invitations letterpress printed at our awesome vendor Stationery Works using a warm gray ink.

Keeping all the letterpress printed pieces one color helped keep the overall cost down and I was able to add in pops of color withÂ the bright yellow envelope liner andÂ a reproduction vintage postcard (which I printed myself). All the pieces were then tied together in little bundles with yellow bakers twine from Whisker Graphics.

The outer envelopes brought it all together with calligraphy by Bailey Amon and vintage cactus postage that I found on ebay.

Thanks so much Emma! Â You can find more of Emma’s design inspiration and influences, as well as more tidbits about her wedding, on her blog, Love of Folly, and more of her beautiful designs at Antiquaria.

Image Credits: Emma | Antiquaria

03/18/2010

Gift Wrap in Style

Love, love, love these vintage ribbons and packaging notions from Package in Style:

So many colors and textures! I would looove to see the pink burlap ribbon incorporated into a wedding bouquet — and the floral oya (turkish lace) ribbons are beyond gorgeous. Check out lots more right here!

{image credits: package in style}