one of my favorite things ever / seth's birth announcement

baby announcement design & details by SHE PAPERIE / letterpress by somersault / my own snapshots

for someone like me, a birth announcement is more than a trivial tradition. it's the real deal. it's more important than crib bedding designs and hospital bag contents. i mean, nowadays texts and tweets are the first announcements of birth, i get that. but still, a legit birth announcement (sent through the mail!) feels like a right of passage. to me, it's an honored hello to the world. or perhaps that's just the stationery sweet tooth talking; it's another incredible excuse reason to mail something marvelous.

during the nine months, i had dreamed up some simple ideas for seth's announcement and hoped to find time to design it myself. ha! then he was born and all my spare hours turned into moments and holding him (and napping!) seemed more important than any other task at hand. so i turned it over to a designer i could trust completely with such a precious project. enter, suzanne of SHE PAPERIE. (she rarely blogs anymore because she is slammed with creating beautiful paperie projects. follow her instagramming obsession right here!) she totally understood why this project was so important to me. suzanne is so awesome with her custom work; putting her heart into every collaborative effort. we texted nearly every day, usually in the wee (freelance design / feeding baby) hours to make sure we both shared the vision for seth's announcement. she took my ideas and ran with them, taking them into flight up into the clouds. her design really took my breath away. and since suzanne is the queen of details, she thought of all the ways to package it together and present it (all tied up in a bow inside the envelope). she found coordinating twine and washi tape that would tie the loose ends together perfectly! her packaging skills kill me. this announcement perfectly suited our little mr. seth.

and... the letterpress (!!!) printing by somersault was absolute icing on the cake. look at how thick and luscious that stock is. my dreams are made of paper this thick. better than a genie in a lamp. check out more photos featured on somersault's facebook page.

thank you, suz!

a couples shower / a backyard BBQ

the hot air balloon invite is one of my favorites and works for so many events (i just whipped out another version for a friend hosting a baby shower). this invitation is a 5x7 flat with clover green envelopes. i love using a colored envelope for parties, to help it pop out of the mailbox. i came across the green and gray theme after a stroll through crate & barrel one afternoon (so garden lush and fresh!). i was excited to design something vintage, classic and cheerful for this couples shower. the hot air balloon motif came in mind since these soon-to-be newlyweds are headed off on big adventures come fall. my niece lucy has found her perfect match. hurrah.

sarah, my sister-in-law was co-hostess and made the whole party come together with green and white serving platters, a fun mad-libs activity, lime green picture frames for favors and even divvied up food assignments for me. i've decided this is the only way to host a party: don't prepare any of the food! thanks to everyone who came!
 
we set out the couple's favorite sweets on an old baby changing table (freshly painted) and placed gifts on the lower shelves and in a nearby wagon. to go along with the hot air balloon theme, we featured different quotes about love in frames for party guests to take home. the vases of pink roses were a last minute obvious idea–since they were in full bloom on the bush backyard–i couldn't help but scatter them around.


to get the party rolling, everyone filled out a mad-libs questionnaire about the couple. later we bound the copies together as a quick take-home gift for the couple. i love the picture of lucy's great-grandmother bernice filling out advice for the couple! she is definitely the wisest among us. we also played a raucous game of $25,000 pyramid, my personal favorite party game to customize. (my family gets reeled into playing one of my made up games at almost every family function. lucky them.) here is an action shot of me and my belly playing an awful version of vanna white. everyone was a good sport to play along.


after the game, sarah's ice cream sandwiches put everyone in a good mood before departing. new love is the best excuse for a celebration. congrats, lucy and robbie!

emily & johnny wedding invitation / my first real letterpress project

i've been designing invitations for a number of years now but have never had a design go the letterpress printing route. until now! i am well versed on sending my designs to be digitally printed on luscious thick matte stock (i use an awesome print shop in california), but creating actual plates for a letterpress is a mighty big deal and has always been a huge goal of mine. i can hardly believe we just wrapped up our first labor of love for letterpress!

this wedding invitation came together thanks to my blog friend who has become a real friend, miranda. a few months ago, she made a pretty amazing impulse purchase: a letterpress. her friend (the bride), emily was willing to be the guinea pig for our first letterpressing adventure collaboration. all three of us worked together to create an invitation perfectly suitable for her big day. once my designs were approved and finalized i waited on pins and needles while the plates were made and miranda did her thang out in her studio with pantone inks and papers and more (she got the hard part). the awesome / amazing thing is we managed to collaborate while being located in three separate states; utah, idaho and colorado! seeing the invitation (in real life) made my heart thump and reminds me that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. mission accomplished. wahooo. how fun it is to try something brand new. we want to do it again. need something pressed? we might be your gals.

p.s. i opened these invites up, inhaled them and shot them right there on the patio table. they deserve a real photo shoot with royal velvet encasings. but i had to hurry and snapshot them to capture up my pride and excitement!


happy memorial day weekend!

graphic design shop / dapper paper co.

i'm excited to rev up the home is where the art is series again in 2012.

pictured above is the print that is going to be the piece de resistance in our madeover bathroom. after seeing this baby in real life, the soft hues basically gave me the shove to finally paint those walls! i simply love this gorgeous good morning print. thanks to so many amazing sponsors, we've been able to frame and fill our nest with unique etsy artwork, which makes me super happy. (so much of it, coincidentally, happens to feature typography too.) the dapper paper co. is made up of another rad husband + wife team (based in raleigh, north carolina!) who create all kinds of custom branding geniusness; business logos, fancy invitations and prints. i've never seen anything else like their work; their designs are so fantastic. i hope to throw a big event in the future just for an excuse to see their handiwork in action.

this post is part of my home is where the ART is series. the artwork is theirs, but these opinions are all mine; learn more about my handpicked sponsored series here.

your custom invitations are so unique and personalized! how do you get to know your cross-country clients so well? In regards to our clients, believe it or not we do almost all of our communication through email. It seems to be the preferred choice for most people these days and it works well for us too. If we ever see the need to talk over the phone, we make it happen, and always let clients know we are available by phone if needed. We feel like when people are investing lots of time and money into hiring us, we want to give them the peace of mind that we aren't going anywhere. We always ask our clients to give us as much information as they can about themselves and what they envision for the artwork we are designing for them. If we don't get what we need to first time around, we open up more dialogue with them until we both have a clear idea of the creative direction we will go in for their project.

what is an essential must-have for your creative work space? For us, our work space has to be an environment that is conducive to creativity. We like a clean, functional space with the right workspaces, tools and decor to keep us motivated and efficient. We love the mix of vintage, industrial and modern pieces around us–and a space that feels lived and worked in, much like the rest of our home.

i hear you are musicians too! what's on your playlist to pump you up for good print-making? Yes, we are both musicians and love music! And are heavily inspired by music posters such as Hatch Show Print. We like a good mix on our playlist, everything from pop to alt country to indie.




custom invitations by dapper paper co.

dig in: dapper paper shop / blog / tweets

custom moving announcements / SHE PAPERIE & design boutique

i came to the decision early on that i'd outsource our moving announcements rather than attempt to whip something up myself. turning a project like this over to someone is usually tough for me. i am a bit of a control freak and i love the freedom in designing for myself. and i'm picky with anything associated with paper / designs / envelopes / fonts / etc. (don't i sound like a dream to work with?!) however, giving myself the luxury of delegating this responsibility was the best thing i could have done during those hectic moving-in weeks.

it became an easy decision since my computer was not even unboxed, nor was i in the right mindset, nor have any extra time to toy around in illustrator. but most importantly, i had someone specific in mind for this custom design work: suzanne of SHE PAPERIE + design boutique. suzanne is a graphic designer, darling details enthusiast and stylist extraordinaire (she has a background in interior design, and it shows). i knew she would know exactly how to craft up an announcement for our very first home. i gave her a few of my tumbling ideas (stripes, kate spade-esque) and she ran with them. with running shoes on. she ran with them and took them to the ice cream shop and bought them two scoops. i loved working with her and benefited greatly from seeing 'the other side' of the graphic design process. she tailored these announcements to us; suzanne's enthusiasm jumped through my inbox with pdf. proofs that suited my original ideas perfectly. she gets giddy about all the details coming together. (you should have seen how she packaged it all up for me!) she also crafted up the idea of coordinating washi tape to seal up the envelopes. genius! i love that she thought of the entire announcement entourage (that's service right there).

her mixing of fonts, graphic placements, happy quote and clever wording made me shout hooray. (psst. i love the two-sided flat; i doubt i'll ever move on from that format.) all i had to do was go pick out postage stamps and write out addresses. two of my favorite things. thank you, suzanne for bringing this special project to life and taking a big weight off my shoulders! your vibrance shines through. this post is part of my home is where the ART is series. the artwork is hers, but these opinions are all mine; learn more about my handpicked sponsored series here.

you juggle raising twins and running a booming business, what would your advice be to other entrepreneur mamas? (i'm all ears!) Forgo sleep. And learn how to juggle! Okay, so forgoing sleep probably isn’t the best advice to give. But really, at the end of the day, I just try to remind myself that I can’t do it all and I’ve given myself permission to not have be the ideal...fill-in-the-blank. Perfectionism is over rated (and yes, I’m a total recovering perfectionist). No matter how hard I try or how late I stay up, I just can’t be the perfect wife/mother/graphic designer/business owner/blogger all at the same time. And guess what? That’s okay. First and foremost, I am devoted to my family and then to all of my other roles second. I feel so blessed to have finally become a mother so I don’t take that gift for granted. But when it does come time to work, working in an organized, efficient as possible manner helps me maximize my design time. In the end, finding a comfortable balance between personal and professional endeavors is key. Do what works best for your family regardless of what outside sources think is best for you. Remind yourself of all that you are doing well instead of scrutinizing the areas where you fall short. Being a mama and an entrepreneur is no easy task, but be proud of yourself for even having the courage to try your hand at the juggling act!

what is an essential must-have for your creative work space? If I could only pick just one essential, it would be a rockin’ iTunes playlist to get me through long hours of working on my computer. But my Logitech TrackMan Mouse would be a close second. Oh, and snacks! A girl can’t live without those.

you told me that you don't like 'regurgitating' any one else's designs (i love that), where do you find your inspiration to keep every design fresh? Fashion, interior design and beautiful imagery found on pages of magazines I love are great sources of inspiration. However, since my work is heavily centered around custom design projects, ensuring that the end result is one tailored to my client’s own sentiments and style is very important to me. So essentially, the client is the one providing me with a great springboard of inspiration to draw from. I take cues from colors they love, a pattern they may be drawn to or often times will focus on a tiny detail (such as a fabric used in a nursery) to create an entire invitation ensemble from there. The ultimate satisfaction is when you’ve managed to create a design that is right in line with your brand yet at the same time when your client sees it, the response is “that was exactly what I had in mind!”

// these gorgeous images are by jeanna hayes photography and styled by suzanne herself. obviously i couldn't narrow them down, they came out so beautifully. and, don't worry. the addresses and phone numbers have all been completely altered. 










dig in: suzanne's website / blog

invitation inspiration / a few hues of blue

paperie sources + designers
1. / 2. / 3. / 4. / 5. / 6. / 7. / 8. / 9. / 10. / 11.

i'm in invite heaven

thanks to nole at ohsobeautifulpaper for continuously introducing me to inspiring invitations...

sweet save the dates.

vintage airmail-inspired invite.

circus poster-inspired invite.

letterpress cloud invite.

invitation eye candy

via bespoke press

via riflemade.

via riflemade.

via mer mag

via once wed.