Garden Party Wedding

I wish I could tell you all what I REALLY think of this wedding suite, but it's just not possible with words (I know, it's sounds crazy to tell you I can't explain it in words...in a blog). Instead, I want you to imagine a child walking into the largest candy store in the world. Envision the sparkle in the eye, and the drool at the corner of the mouth. Add in some mild twitching, the inability to move a single step forward, backward, or in any direction entirely and hands sort of hanging there, like a monkey. Yeah, that might give you an idea.

When my good friend, Liz, came to me to help her design and press her garden-party wedding invitations, I almost fell over when she gave me free reign. I immediately thought of the book I found at an old book store that had detailed drawings of flowers from a botanist in the 1500's and compiled the florals in a fresh and flirty design. Hey-- remember these florals from their first debut? They are one in the same! Now, I have to be honest, these wedding invitations actually came first, but were held back from the blogging world until now for the mear reason that I wasn't happy with my blog design before and wanted these babies to REALLY pop.

Everything was letterpress printed in 220lb duplex Pearl White Crane Lettra paper (it's the thickest paper I have ever seen, really, and takes an impression like you would.not.believe). The navy ink... was a challenge. As I mentioned in a previous post, Lettra soaks up more ink than the most absorbent sponge in the world; I also didn't account for the fact that this design is huge- plain and simple. The 5x7 invitations had just about 1/3 of sheet covered in florals which essentially means that much more ink being soaked up. I actually ended up printing everything twice because the colors just weren't right. Note to self, don't do that again with the 220lb paper. The silver ink was added on a whim in a quick chat between Liz and I on gmail chat-- and the best decision we could have ever made. It really makes these invitations stand out!

Do you want to see one of my favorite pieces-- the rsvp. It's a 6x4 post card with the florals on one side, and the goodies on the back. It's beautiful, and I almost wish we could include 2 in each invitation package so folks could keep these forever. Everything will be packaged in a calligraphied navy inner envelope and an opalescent pink outer envelope. Hello, gorgeous. Just like the bride, Liz, who practically keeps JCrew in business.

You had better believe I will be hiding out in the bushes for this beautiful wedding. Liz is one of the smartest and funniest girls I know- and has some SERIOUS design taste. I couldn't be more happy for her and her Fiance, Joel!!

Wedding In Southern Massachusetts

I almost wish I could share the eMail strings between me and Karyn; she is one of the brightest, most beautiful, and happiest people I have had the pleasure to meet! When she and I decided to meet and discuss the prospect of letter pressing her wedding invitations- she came with her entourage of her fiance, Craig, Mother, and Father. They were all so kind, polite, and the type of people you could just wrap up in your coat and take home with you. All so perfect! And... might I add, the nicest folks in the world to drive all the way from Southern Massachusetts to meet me in my neck of the woods- Framingham. We met at a Barnes and Noble, perched in the magazine department with my computer, external hard drive, paper samples, and a TON of ideas.

I have to admit here...Craig is the mastermind behind the perfect flourish, all I did was help recreate it (lucky for me, I noticed it's a series of fonts!). It's beautiful-- and one of my favorite things to print with Gable; there is something about those crisp little lines hitting the paper that's not even funny.

We decided to print these on Pearl White 110lb Crane Lettra paper, and mounted the invitation on Night 5x7 cards from the Paper-Source, and response envelopes to match. Those were printed in silver ink. I LOVE navy and silver. It's quite possibly my new favorite combination of colors to print with. See the response card? Yeah, it's awesome. It's actually that perfect flourish design sort of on steroids- and I can't get enough of it! The pearl outer envelopes were printed in the same dark navy ink (perfectly mixed to match the Night cards we were using). We even printed 2x2 favor tags!! Oh-- those are my second favorite piece of this suite, mostly because all of their guests get to take home a little bit more of the letterpress-goodness!

Congratulations Karyn and Craig!! I wish you both all the best-- thank you!!

Hello, Yellow!

Hello, weekend! Weekend- Yellow, Yellow- weekend. Now that you two have met, let me just tell you what Yellow has done for my weekend: Fullfilled it.

There is something about the color yellow that can make the most unfriendly of folks turn that frown upside down. It's bright, it's cheery, it's clean, and it's on the verge of a 'dangerous color.'

When Miss Stephanie reached out to me and gave me a few photo suggestions of what she wanted-- she really only stated one thing: it has to be yellow. She even stated in a note to me: "It just relays happiness. What's better than that?" Um. No, nothing is. Love this girl!

These invitations were super fun to print. The damask print towards the top was custom designed based on photographs that Stephanie had found online, and the inspiration for the chandelier and lamp post- all Miss *Remember that post about the chandelier nearly aiding in my suicide? Thankfully after Atticus and the stuffed moose saved the day, these invitations were much more enjoyable to print!* and even included my first pass at full-print bellybands (... that story is for another time, but those bellybands and I had a LONG bonding experience, ha!).

The invitation suite was printed on Crane Lettra 110lb Pearl stock, and paired with the most perfect yellow envelopes one could ever find. We're currently working on the rehearsal dinner invitations- and I can't WAIT to show you all those!

Congratulations Stef and Jon!

Practice, Practice, Practice!

It's true what they say, Practice Makes Perfect! Yes, I myself hate those cliche phrases, but in this case, it's 100% true. I've learned a couple things through this design that I would like to share with you all.

1) This, my dear friends, is my baby brother & his Fiance's rehearsal dinner invitations. I had full intentions to design this, print it, and send them on their merry way (only to receive one in the mail very soon- YES!) until I realized that... this may actually be happening. My baby brother (and when I mean baby, I mean to say we're practically Irish-twins with less than 11 months separating us, but still, he's my younger half...) is getting married. It's an interesting prospect. I was just married- it didn't effect me that I would be moving on, but in this case, he actually IS moving on. Perhaps to another state-- a FAR FAR AWAY state. It's going to be weird. I'm none the less happy for them, but... well you get the idea.

2) This design may go in history as the most simple yet hardest to print design. Ever. Yes folks, it's true- I went through 65 pieces of paper to get 30 good prints. Want to know why? DO YA? It's that chandelier. That beautiful, dangly, and deceptively murderous chandelier. Whats that you say, Professor Plum in the bathroom with the chandelier? Yes folks- I nearly broke down crying over that black, hand drawn, monstrous thing. I wasn't getting ANY solid prints no matter how much ink I used (and lettra is NOTORIOUS for drinking ink) or dampening of the paper I did. Ugh. Of course, I prevailed. I should rather say that Atticus prevailed. He, being one of the greatest loves of my life, brought his new stuffed moose-toy into the studio and lovingly layed it near Gable while I was furiously printing. Of course, I had to remove the moose before serious damage was done, and in doing so, left an already once-printed invitation on the press to reach down and grab the precariously perched moose (as an aside, I am very careful about things moving around while I print- it's a dangerous machine, and I don't play games with safety in the studio...). Atticus is so nice to leave such gifts. The press made a double impression on the same invitation.

When you hear a joke that starts with a Great Dane, a Stuffed Moose, and saving the day-- listen. It's based on a true story.

The invitations were finished shortly after and I'm so happy for my baby brother!

Congratulations Mike and Caitlyn-- See you soon in Tampa! Please! Boston is freezing and the husband won't let me turn the heat up!

Bridal Shower Florals

Wowza. Has it been busy, or WHAT? 2010 has been the official launch of Blush Design Studio, and I've never been so hard at work! And you all want to know something: I wouldn't change a thing!!

I must admit, I have been holding back posting some of the orders due to 'shoddy camera' syndrome whereby my little point and shoot camera has taken a backseat to my endeavours and refused to come out during pit stops. It's not fair. I'm eyeing a new digital slr, however, so I suspect the photos will become THAT much more incredible very very soon! Because really, everything looks better with an slr. Everything.

Today, I HAVE to show you the most beautiful bridal shower invitations I have ever seen. I know- I'm biased- but I also happen to be a firm lover of florals, and these are held in my highest regard these days. One of my best friends came to me and asked me to create 'something' for her roommates' upcoming bridal shower. Now, something takes on several meanings, and I think I went through a few iterations in my head before deciding that florals may be the way to go, and it certainly was no easy task. We talked about damasks, digital print, I may have even mentioned stripes-- in the end, florals and letterpress won.

I designed this invitation based on an invitation suite I whipped for my good friend, Liz and her summer garden-party-tent-wedding (more to come!). These took on a slightly 'lighter' feel in their chartreuse green-- and who doesn't love that little bee hanging out to the left. We'll call him Jasper. Jasper was about to be erased from the final print, but in the end, his adorable little self won out, and was included in the design. I couldn't help it.

The bride? Adorable herself. Mckenzie is one of those spirits of this world that I am pleased to say I've met and thoroughly enjoyed. She will keep you laughing until you need to walk away to ease your muscles and comes up with the most ridiculous- yet intuitive- scenarios in conversation. She will be married to her love of her life sometime this summer, and I'm so excited to be apart of her wedding memories. Thank you girls, and Congrats, MCK!

One big cat, a yogini, and a way of life...

Yoga is a healing system of theory and practice. It is a combination of breathing exercises, physical postures, and meditation that has been practiced for more than 5,000 years (or so Wikipedia suggests). All I know about yoga is how I feel after taking a class at the neighborhood Bikram (hot) yoga studio- kind of rubbery and free from just about every emotion except relaxation. I've tried about a hundred different yoga DVD's (you know, the at-home-yoga stuff) and just can't get into it; I get distracted by the dust around my tv stand, or the dogs need to go out, or my sun salutations just can't get the proper reach when I'm trying to avoid smacking my husband in the face-- I need to have a structured class and an instructor to really keep me focused.

Enter Candace. She has been practicing yoga for more years than I care to state (for her sake) and is so experienced, that she can even save herself from a dance floor fall with a yoga move and STILL look fabulous (in a formal gown, no less...). As she begins to embark on the next avenue of her life, she has decided to start her own establishment of yoga instruction- teaching fellow yogis and yoginis about the practice of yoga to help enrich their lives as it has hers. These business cards are just a small way for me and Gable to help her in those dreams.

"Cougar Yoga is learning to love yourself and trust your power through the practice of yoga. Cougars take a leap of faith and by doing so find themselves flying towards their dreams." For questions and availability of classes/instruction, eMail Candace at Cougar-Yoga@live.com.

Modern-Vintage Coral

It was almost a gift of fate when Alexa reached out to me to help design and print her wedding invitations- we had actually exchanged design elements for our weddings a few months previous, so I was already a big fan of Miss Alexa. She was looking for something "kind of beachy but not really a beach theme" and provided a few online card stock samples of what she was thinking, but with the colors: navy, silver, chartreuse, and fuchsia in mind.

How BEAUTIFUL is that? Just the sound of those colors together makes me want to swoon!

Together we developed an idea of a vintage coral invitation- something with texture and simplicity, but not to whimsical or stuffy. Modern-Vintage Coral. I was instantly in love.

Alexa's brilliant eye for design found a perfect coral image that complemented the design scheme like none other, and was a dream to print. The texture of it's jagged edges came ALIVE when it was pressed into the paper.

The 5x7 invitations are printed on a pearl while 100% cotton paper in a light silver treatment and navy text. While the silver produces more of a grey tone once printed via letterpress, it instantly warms and modernizes this vintage coral design while also tying into the response cards in a matching navy. The matching navy envelopes, perhaps one of my favorite elements of the invitation suite, is also one of the most important; they were printed in a bright silver ink and provides the recipients of these beauties the first glimpse of Alexa's vision.

Thank you, Alexa, for allowing me to be apart of this with you!

I now happily (and very excitedly) introduce to you all: Modern-Vintage Coral*!

*Names and personal information have been removed for the privacy of Miss Alexa.

Ramped up!

I wanted to post a quick (more business related) post to the blog this morning and say thank you for those amazing brides who have already said too much about Blush Design Studio on wedding forums, emails, and the like. YOU ARE WONDERFUL!!! ;)

It's a slow journey, but Gable and I are ramping up the business as quickly as possible to keep up with orders and keep the brides as happy as can be in this time of planning. As you can already see, we've redesigned the place a bit with our new logos and colors.

Also to that extent, I have printed samples for a friend who has graciously accepted the position of resident photographer to see what magic she can work. Lighting is very important with letterpress to capture that 'kiss' into the paper, and I'll be the first to admit that I'm ill-equiped when it comes to photography skills. I am also busy working on custom designs for brides and, should they allow, will be sharing those with you all as well. I'm excited about each and every one of my custom creations and can't wait to blog about those!

So my plan is to be ready, steady, and steam forward this week with printing. I will have some amazing prints to show you by the end of the week, and I can't tell you how excited I am! {Really, I'm working on a vintage ocean theme for a bride with the most amazing vision and ideas- we're working with Silver and Navy, two absolutely beautiful colors together, and injecting a texture within the paper to which I can't even compare.}

For those interested in sharing your vision for wedding invitations, custom stationary, or even pre-printed paper goods, please send me a message! Gable and I are more than willing to put our minds together and create something fabulous!

Till next time!!

Christmas in November? Yes, I think so.

Yes, I realize I’m cutting the ‘November’ deadline pretty close with less than 12 hours before the month ends, but hey, I’m on letterpress time; No really, I’m a little behind the game here, admittedly, for selling any kind of holiday creation, but still within plenty of time to create cards for our own friends and family, so let the googling commence!

Did you know there are literally hundreds of thousands xMas cards out there? Okay- new tactic. What would I most appreciate from an xmas card? Funny pictures, quotes, something ‘drink’ related?

Now, I love funny stick figures more than the normal person, but there is something about a lone quote on a card that just seems elegant to me; very clean, sleek, and to the point. This year, I’ll start with that idea and run with it for miles.

At some point throughout my life, and while shopping for a ‘GoodFellas’ poster for my younger brothers xmas gift, I stumbled across this beautiful quote:

Yes. That. Perfect. I’ll make this Carolina Blue (My Husband’s old college stomping ground) and pair it with a trendy gold envelope. Want to see more?