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

Stephanie + Trey’s Tropical Passport Save the Dates

I’ve been dreaming of a tropical beach vacation for months, and these save the dates from Melissa and Amy of Atheneum Creative for a wedding in the Bahamas are only making me even more anxious to get myself to a warm and sunny beach asap.  Melissa and Amy were inspired by the destination wedding to create a passport-style save the date with a unique linen cover letterpress printed by the ladies of Sideshow Press.  So pretty!

From Melissa + Amy: Stephanie and Trey are getting married in the Bahamas and wanted to play to the travel theme as much as possible… so what better way than to start with a passport save the date! 

We are seen so many passport designs and really wanted to give Stephanie and Trey something a little more unique.  We letterpress printed on linen for the cover and digitally printed the inside text on a soft textured paper.  We incorporated a map of the Bahamas along with travel and weekend information.

Thanks Melissa + Amy!

Design: Atheneum Creative

Letterpress Printing: Sideshow Press

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

Photo Credits: Chelsea Davis Photography

{happy weekend!}

It’s officially my favorite season in DC; the cherry blossoms are starting to bloom, the sun is shining (mostly), and everything is our garden is starting to come back to life.  Yay!  I’ve been working with the windows open all week and trying to spend as much time outside as possible.  I’m looking forward to doing some gardening this weekend – and sometimes we take our cat Olive outside with us (she loves it!).  But in the meantime…

Cherry-Blossoms-National-Geographic

…a few links for your weekend

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

As usual, we have a fun cocktail coming up for you this afternoon, so check back a bit later for the recipe!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Monday!  xoxo

Photo Credits: National Geographic

Zayra + Ivan’s Vintage-Inspired Gray + Celadon Wedding Invitations

These wedding invitations are so pretty!  Created by Erin from Lucky Luxe Couture Correspondence, Zayra and Ivan’s invitations feature beautiful vintage-inspired design elements with soft celadon edge painting.  The classic text and vintage-inspired elements are perfect for a formal wedding, while the subtle color provides just a hint of modern sophistication.  So pretty!

From Erin: Zayra chose this suite based on a similar invitation that we featured on our blog last year, but the original black and ecru color palette didn’t fit her “Marie Antoinette in the country” inspired wedding in Texas.  We love this suite so much, particularly because of its quirkiness and handmade style.

Zayra’s wedding palette included celadon, rose pink, and and metallic gold and we pared it down until it was a simpler look in just the celadon and a medium gray with edge painting in celadon as well.  We’re looking forward to adding this new design to our collection!

Thanks Erin!

Lucky Luxe Couture Correspondence is a member of the Designer Rolodex – you can see more of their beautiful work right here or visit the real invi­ta­tions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Lucky Luxe Couture Correspondence

Wedding Invitations by Smudge Ink

Have you seen the new wedding invitation collection from Smudge Ink?  I saw an early peek back at NYIGF in January, but I’m so excited to see the full collection.  Many of the wedding invitation and save the date designs are inspired by affection for New England, gardens in bloom, ocean air, and the beauty of mixing the old with the new – so pretty!  I’m definitely loving all of the nature-inspired shapes and patterns; check out some of my favorites below…

 

Check out the rest of the collection right here!

Photo Credits: Smudge Ink