The Everyday Mother

As any mother knows, those first few weeks and months can be a total blur of feedings, diaper changes, and very, very, very little sleep. When my first daughter, Sophie, was born four and a half years ago, I remember feeling totally overwhelmed by all the questions from nurses and doctors. How many times did she eat last night? How much did we think she ate? How many diapers did we change? Sophie was born three weeks early and didn’t have all of the extra baby fat of a full term baby, which made it even more important to track her details and make sure she was eating enough. But the only tools that we had to keep track of her details were phone apps and an ugly workbook provided by our hospital. Today I’m super excited to introduce you to a brand new notebook designed to help moms and dads keep track of all the baby essentials – The Everyday Mother!

The Everyday Mother: a beautiful notebook for keeping track of newborn feedings, diaper changes, and sleep patterns

The Everyday Mother is actually a side project from one of our beloved Designer Rolodex members, Jackie Mangiolino of Sincerely, Jackie. While pregnant with her son Richard, Jackie developed HELLP Syndrome, an extremely rare, potentially fatal pregnancy complication that can only be cured by delivery. Jackie welcomed her beautiful baby boy in May 2016 – 14 weeks early. The Mangiolino family spent 99 days in the NICU, and during that time Jackie came up with the idea for The Everyday Mother.

The Everyday Mother: a beautiful notebook for keeping track of newborn feedings, diaper changes, and sleep patterns

During Richard’s stay in the NICU, Jackie had to keep meticulous notes on her pumping, so she decided to create a template for herself that she could also share with other NICU mothers. After Richard left the NICU, Jackie had to track even more baby details, so she expanded the original template to make it into a beautiful, spiral bound notebook that ALL families could use. And not only is The Everyday Mother more beautiful than an app on your phone, but it can be used by anyone helping with the baby during those early months – grandparents, nannies and sitters, friends, etc. There’s even a space at the bottom of each page for notes, so The Everyday Mother can double as a quasi-baby book for those bleary first few months.

The Everyday Mother: a beautiful notebook for keeping track of newborn feedings, diaper changes, and sleep patterns

The Everyday Mother is a spiral bound notebook designed for tracking daily essentials: feeding (breast, pumping, bottle, or all three), diaper changes, and sleep patterns. It even has reminders for mom so they remember to take a shower and drink plenty of water! The hard cover features gold foil printing and gold corner protectors, so it’s durable enough to be tossed in a diaper bag regularly. And the petite size – 8.5″ x 5.5″ and about .75″ thick – means it won’t take up a lot of precious diaper bag space. The Everyday Mother includes 180 template pages, covering the first six months of life (or about until when solids are introduced), along with an emergency contacts page and Jackie’s favorite lactation cookie recipe.

The Everyday Mother: a beautiful notebook for keeping track of newborn feedings, diaper changes, and sleep patterns

Check out The Everyday Mother right here!

Rustic Illustrated Carrot Coaster Save The Dates

Eat your veggies, folks! With carrots this adorable, I will happily eat twice my portion. Amanda of Wide Eyes Paper Co. created these rustic illustrated carrot coaster save the dates for a wedding on a farm in New York’s Hudson Valley. The dainty cuddling carrot illustration is paired with a classic serif typeface with a sweet and simple save the date message. So perfect for a farm wedding!

Rustic Illustrated Carrot Coaster Save The Dates by Wide Eyes Paper Co.

From Amanda: As designers, we are always on the lookout for new avenues for creativity within the wedding stationery industry. We derive inspiration from tackling new projects like these rustic, farm-inspired, save the date coasters. This custom letterpress design was a downright fun project and a chance to offer a new product to future clients.

Rustic Illustrated Carrot Coaster Save The Dates by Wide Eyes Paper Co.

Lucy’s custom order brought our team into new territory and gave us a chance for innovation, but what was really great about it was that it was such a fruitful collaboration of different skills. As she was actually living on the breathtaking Stonegate Farm that was to be her wedding venue, Lucy was truly a well of agrarian inspiration. She had done her own illustration of what she wanted – two carrots growing together in a sweet, twisting embrace. It was great to get that running start on the creative vision and then head to work within our individual expertise.

Rustic Illustrated Carrot Coaster Save The Dates by Wide Eyes Paper Co.

First, we hand-illustrated the cuddling carrots in a style inspired by woodblock printing. Then, we paired the intricate line drawing with some graphic design magic. Creating organic-inspired pieces is often a balancing act; to counter the playful whimsy of the embracing carrots, we chose a serif font with a more stately feel to ground the design as a whole. The beauty of these coasters is really born from this delicate interplay of styles. The whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts, in this case! Once we found a harmony between text and line, we fired it off to our letterpress printer.

Rustic Illustrated Carrot Coaster Save The Dates by Wide Eyes Paper Co.

For letterpress printed designs with multiple colors like these coasters, each color requires a separate plate. The metal plates are fabricated, coated in ink, and then run through the letterpress printing machine one by one. These hearty coasters were printed on 220 lb 2-ply Pearl White Crane’s Electra Cotton Letterpress stock; basically, the finest, ultra-thick letterpress stock available.

Rustic Illustrated Carrot Coaster Save The Dates by Wide Eyes Paper Co.

Thanks Amanda!

Design: Wide Eyes Paper Co.

Letterpress Printing: Clove St. Press

Wide Eyes Paper Co. is a member of the Designer Rolodex – you can see more of Amanda’s work right here or visit the real invitations gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Kelly Wilde

Vibrant Purple Floral Watercolor Wedding Invitations

These invitations are so vibrant and fun! Kyle Sommer of Sommer Letter Co. created these vibrant purple floral watercolor wedding invitations for an elegant-meets-casual summer farm wedding for two high school sweethearts in Indiana. The floral illustrations and watercolor hand lettering are the perfect match for a summer barn wedding!

Vibrant Purple Floral Watercolor Wedding Invitations by Sommer Letter Co.

From Kyle: Taylor and Jalen, high school sweethearts, came to me looking for a beautiful way to capture the vibes of their dreamy summer wedding in Indiana. They had chosen an amazing variety of purples for their wedding colors: a mix of lavender, violet, amethyst, and lilac. The couple chose to get married at Joseph Decuis Farm, an event space that describes itself as “a farm dressed in a tuxedo.” It truly carries a formal vibe in an unexpectedly casual environment. Throughout the design process, we tried to walk that line between formal and friendly. Taylor told me she wanted to keep things elegant, but also reflect the casual barn wedding atmosphere. She really emphasized that she didn’t want the event to feel stiff – she wanted her guests to feel at home.

Vibrant Purple Floral Watercolor Wedding Invitations by Sommer Letter Co.

I really wanted to carry that breezy, summery, barn wedding feel into the wedding invitation suite. We decided a hand painted floral bouquet would be the perfect fit. It would capture the beauty and elegance of florals, but we gave it a bit of an “undone” look by imagining a bouquet with a few loose leaves poking about, and a handful of lavender stems drooping downward. We chose to feature their names and titles with a bit of large, scribbly, watercolor hand lettering.

Vibrant Purple Floral Watercolor Wedding Invitations by Sommer Letter Co.

To top it off, Taylor chose a shimmery champagne envelope and vintage floral postage stamps. We kept the outside of the envelope fairly traditional. I chose to write names and addresses in a simple brush pen lettering style. Guests would receive formal, traditional looking envelopes, but open them to discover rich purple hues and the couple’s welcoming vibes.

Vibrant Purple Floral Watercolor Wedding Invitations by Sommer Letter Co.

Thanks Kyle!

Design, Styling, & Lettering: Sommer Letter Co.

Check out the Designer Rolodex for more tal­ented wed­ding invi­ta­tion design­ers and the real invi­ta­tions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Natalie Kunkel Photography

Glogg: Traditional Swedish Mulled Wine Recipe

We’re back with a new recipe, this one in the spirit of hygge – the Danish concept of comfort and coziness that is perfect for making it through gloomy Scandinavian winters and our dreary, drizzly January here in DC. This time, we’re making Glogg (which you might also see as Glögg or Gløgg), a traditional Swedish mulled wine. It’s hot and it’s sweet and and it’s rich and it will warm up your cold bones. –Andrew

Glošgg Recipe / Hygge Cocktail Ideas

Glogg

1 750 ml bottle Bordeaux
1 cup Brandy
1 cup White Port
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Raisins
1 cup Blanched Almonds, Slivered
1 Orange Peel
6 Cardamom Pods, Cracked Open
4 Cloves
2 Cinnamon Sticks, Broken Up
1 Star Anise Pod

Combine everything in a big sauce pan and simmer together until the sugar is melted. Remove from the heat, cover, and let infuse for at least an hour and overnight if possible. Strain through cheesecloth, squeezing the cheesecloth to extract as much liquid as possible from the raisins. To serve, reheat and ladle into cups or mugs. Enjoy!

Glošgg Recipe / Hygge Cocktail Ideas

This is a perfect comfort drink: mild, warm, with lots of baking spice and sweet almond and mellow citrus flavors.

Glošgg Recipe / Hygge Cocktail Ideas

When Nole suggested that we make a Glogg, I went digging through recipes. And I discovered that no two were alike. Some called for brandy, others for rum, and still others for bourbon to fortify them. Some used raisins and almonds and others didn’t. Some even called for setting the mix on fire (I was really tempted to try one of those…) to extract flavors from the spices and orange peel. They were all over the place!

Glošgg Recipe / Hygge Cocktail Ideas

And I realized that of course there should be no single recipe. Glogg was the sort of thing that each family would have made at home, probably from memory and probably without trivial details like measuring. So take this recipe with a grain of salt, a starting point rather than anything definitive. Play around with the spices (maybe some allspice next time?) and the fortifying spirits (maybe some aquavit and sherry instead?) and the citrus (maybe some lemon or some exotic winter citrus?) until you come up with your own family recipe.

Glošgg Recipe / Hygge Cocktail Ideas

And then memorize that recipe, and never write it down, and pass it down to your kids for winters to come.

(Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!)

Glassware by Liquorary

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

The World of Illustration: Jia Guo

Hello friends! I kicked off January with some big goals in mind, in true new year’s fashion. And then I promptly went searching for pretty illustrations related to stuff I’m saving for and making wishes on stars for — everything including a perfect knit winter sweater, a home of our own, and maybe even some travel thrown in to see friends in big cities. So it was rather kismet when I stumbled on the Instagram account of Sydney-based illustrator and artist Jia Guo. Her illustrations were just the inspiration I was looking for on these frosty January days. – Jen

The World of Illustration: Jia Guo

Saturated colors and whimsical style makes this painterly illustration of sweaters one I’d love to frame and hang in my bedroom. (And I choose the blue-and-white fair isle style sweater for real life.)

The World of Illustration: Jia Guo

This illustration looks seemingly simple and effortless, which is when you know art really speaks to you. I love how the color palette is a happy mix of sunset shades.

The World of Illustration: Jia Guo

Anyone else dreaming of a lake home? The pickup truck is my favorite detail in this illustration by Jia.

The World of Illustration: Jia Guo

Jia includes many home illustrations in her portfolio, including this illustration of a farm on an autumn day. I’ve never been to Australia, but these colors do feel like New England fall to me.

The World of Illustration: Jia Guo

The World of Illustration: Jia Guo

I love this fashion illustration Jia created of women in the 1960s. That was a great decade in style! The jackets with big pockets. The simple flare. And she uses a similar color palette in the train illustration, above, which gives it that retro modern vibe.

The World of Illustration: Jia Guo

A work in progress by Jia Guo, who calls herself a crazy cat lady (some of my favorite people go by the same label).

The World of Illustration: Jia Guo

Jia’s recent illustration of the day included cats as a fun welcome to the new year. For a peek into more of her work, you can check out Jia Guo Illustration. Anything big on your wishlist for the new year? Let me know and I’ll be sure to scout out some illustrations to match up! See you soon, friends!

Images: Jia Guo Illustration