Calligraphy Inspiration: Neither Snow

I have been eagerly awaiting to share some new work of this month’s calligrapher with you.  As one of my top calligraphy crushes, I love to check out Mara Zepeda’s blog and swoon over her client work.  Mara started Neither Snow, a calligraphy studio, in 2009.  Over the last three years she’s had the pleasure of working on tattoos and commercial identities, along with collaborators, designers and countless couples.  In September 2012, Mara will be moving to Florence, Italy, where she’ll spend the year exploring how her calligraphy can be translated onto different surfaces for weddings, events, installations, displays and custom projects. Julie

Neither Snow invitation suite

Neither Snow Calligraphy

Clean and simple yet highly expressive, Mara’s calligraphy is often all that’s required to create beautiful details for your wedding and evoke a sense of whimsy.

Neither Snow seating chart

Neither Snow detail - decal on fabric

Neither Snow decal notebooks

A glimpse into Neither Snow’s future; decals, fabric, laser cut, glass etching, ceramic, screenprinting, embossing and foil are just some of the materials and processes Mara will be experimenting with during her time in Florence.

Neither Snow constellations

Mara creates some truly gorgeous pieces, like this custom seating “star” chart.  For this wedding, she worked with the couple, Mr. Boddington’s Studio and the wedding designer/stylist Jolene Sullivan for nearly a year.  Below is a wonderful detail of her work and a couple’s wedding vows.

Neither Snow detail - vows

I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Neither Snow with a year abroad and medium explorations. You’ll be pleased to know Mara will still be doing client work, and looks forward to hearing from those with wildly creative and grand visions of how to employ the written word on just about any surface they can dream up (in addition to paper, of course!).

Photo and Printer Credits: image no. 1 printer: Paisley Tree Press and no. 2 (right) printer: Evince Design, both shot by Jose Villa; image no. 3 shot by  A. Bryan Johnson Photo; image no. 4 & 6 shot by Neither Snow; image no. 5 by Rylee Hitchner Photography and  Joy Thigpen; image no. 7 shot by Tec Petaja

Business Card Ideas and Inspiration #12

I had so much fun sharing some edge painted business card ideas with you last week, I thought I would pull together some more business card inspiration again this week!  This time we’re not just limited to edge painting as a key element – today’s selection includes non-traditional shapes and sizes, die cut elements, foil printing, and much more…

Cast Iron Design

Hype & Slippers

 

Oscar & Emma

Black and White Letterpress Business Card

Design: Racket, Letterpress Printing: The Hungry Workshop

Studio on Fire

Moontree Letterpress

Oleg Lyutov Design via FPO

Blush Publishing

Do you have an awesome business card that you’d like to share?  If so, e-mail me right here!

{images via their respective sources}

Business Card Ideas and Inspiration #11

It’s no secret that I love business cards – a great business card can be like a tiny little piece of art!  I also love it when designers and printers incorporate edge painting into business card design, from bright pops of color to elegant metallics to sophisticated black ink.  It’s been a while since I rounded up some inspiring business cards, so today I thought I’d share some of my recent favorites!

Callie Kant via Lovely Stationery

Swiss Cottage Designs

Mike McQuade for Tom Dick & Harry Creative Co. via FPO

Dingbat Press

Parrott Design Studio

Adam Mann via FPO

Studio on Fire

Bespoke Letterpress Calling Cards

Gold Foil Edge Business Cards by Deutsche & Japaner via Design Work Life

Do you have an awesome business card that you’d like to share?  If so, e-mail me right here!

{images via their respective sources}

Madeline + Josh’s Rustic Kraft Paper Tennessee Wedding Invitations

Happy Tuesday everyone!  After a much-needed long weekend, we’re jumping right back into the week with a gorgeous set of wedding invitations from Erin at Arboreal.  Erin created these beautiful and rustic invitations for a farm wedding in Tennessee.  The invitations feature one of my favorite combinations – kraft paper and white text – and Erin also worked with the couple to create corresponding menus, thank you cards, and favor tags!

 

From Erin of Arboreal:  I met Madeline and Josh last year and worked with them on all of their paper goods, from the save the date down to the programs and favor tags.  Working with two creatives (an interior designer and an architect) was refreshing – I love the fact that these two cared about every detail just as much as I did!

 

The main invitation and tag were both letterpress printed.  The celebration dinner, reply card, map card, and program are foil stamped in white along with chocolate flat ink on kraft paper.  Finishing details include vintage stamps and white calligraphy on kraft paper envelopes plus favor tags and thank you notes.

  

Such a beautiful invitation suite – thanks Erin!

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

Photo Credits: 1-6 by Kate Murphy Photography; 7-9 by Arboreal

NYIGF January 2012, Part 3

Happy Friday everyone!  I have one more NYIGF recap to share before we head off for the weekend – then I’ll be back with more booths next week!  First up, the fabulous Laurel Denise booth, which was full of her beautiful and delicate jewelry and the most adorable little bud vases.  So cute!

 

 

Laurel made this awesome felt garland that she hung up above her main display area.  It was so cool – I want one in my house!

Laurel Denise

I always love the beautiful ceramic wares from Gleena.  The soft colors and organic shapes of the plates, bowls, and even vases and votives are all so beautiful!

 

 

Gleena

Last up for today, Smock – a booth that was packed full of lovely paper goodies, from greeting cards to scratch pads to wrapping paper to patterned boxes.  So much to see in just one booth!  They even had some of the new foil stamp 2012 wedding invitations from Bella Figura on display!

 

 

 

 

 

Smock

That’s it for now!  Check out the rest of the posts from the January Gift Fair right here.

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

*Smock is one of my fab­u­lous spon­sors; for more on my edi­to­r­ial poli­cies please click here.