1st Birthday Party Invitations

Whitney came to me with the idea of creating a Year of Firsts. She wanted to highlight the milestones in her son's first year. I designed it with the look of a timeline, and created custom wrap around labels with a transparent envelope.

Lauren's Wedding Accessories

I loved Lauren's invitations this season, so when she asked me to design some of her wedding accessories as well, I was more than happy to do so.

She has a very soft color palette so we decided to go with with a blend of her wedding colors for the placecards. Again, the imagery of wheat was used. Instead of traditional number for the tables, Lauren wanted to name the tables after various dairy farms in Vermont.

We did tented table "numbers," and as an added personal detail, she wanted to include what their favorite dairy product was from that particular farm. Very creative!

Brides Michigan Feature - 2010

I was thrilled when I found out one of my invitations would be featured in the Fall/Winter issue of Brides Michigan magazine! The article showcased invitations and the inspiration behind them. My Vermont invitation was featured along with vintage travel books that they were inspired by. Check it out, it's on news stands today!

Save the Date - India

Working on this project was a fun challenge for me. When Rohini contacted me about her save the dates, she didn't really have a idea of what she wanted. She new that she liked a vintage look and wanted something really different, but that was about all that I had to go on.

She is having a wedding weekend in India. She herself is traveling from London and has guests coming in from Hong Kong, the U.S., South America, etc. After talking about what she likes and what she doesn't like for an invitation, we knew she wanted to do travel theme.

I thought this would be a good post to show kind of how the design process works, from start to finish, because this invitation was truly a team effort. So often brides come with an idea in mind and I build from there. Rohini didn't really have one. She knew what she liked, and I helped her develop her concept and from that point on, she had a huge part in creating the design.

My first thought was a vintage travel poster. This was the first round of the design process:

My plan was to print this in a large format, like a poster and then send it in a mailing tube. I thought this was cool, she thought it was too stereotypical and literal. I couldn't really argue with her, she is right, but I still like it :) On to the second round...

The second idea was to do a vintage map and illustrate where everyone was coming from.

I did some research and found this great quote about travel and friends. Rohini really liked it and it tied the whole the concept together. Again my plan was to print this large scale and send it in a mailing tube. While she liked this design, she decided that less is more and that she really didn't want something shipped in a tube. She wanted thick cotton cardstock, with a long narrow layout and the transparent map envelopes that I have been doing so much of this year.

Here is the end result, and I have to agree with her, less is more.

Simple and Elegant Letterpress Invitations

I had the pleasure of working with Emily on this project. A self-described, type B personality, and a lover of stationery, she was AWESOME to work with! She did want a rather formal look, including inner and outer envelopes. I rarely do these, but when I get to, it is always fun. I tried to add some interest with the pattern and monogram on the inner flap. (My favorite part. )

Rustic Rehearsal Dinner Invitations

As you must know by now, my brother-in-law is getting married in September. I have been having a really creative time, designing their wedding stationery. Eric and Nicole's wedding colors are pink and black, but I wanted to deviate from that a bit for their rehearsal dinner invites. It is at a very rustic venue and I wanted the invites to reflect that. What can I say, pink and black...not so rustic.

My thought process behind this was an Indian Summer kind of feel that Michigan is known for. When you still get those warm fall nights, but the air is crisp and all of the colors are starting to change. Hence, the yellows, oranges, reds and browns.

Eric is a huge outdoorsman, and as promised, I put a deer with a rack on these. He didn't think "bambi" was as cute as I did on his wedding invitations. :) I hand drew the acorn design and the twig frame for the mailing envelopes. I try to carry all the little details throughout every project right up to the envelope liners. I completed the look with a woodgrain pattern for both the response and mailing envelopes.

I love vintage stamps, so any excuse to use them, I will!

Birch Tree Wedding Accessories

Not only did I have the opportunity to create Emily's Birch Tree Wedding Invitations, but I also got to design programs and a fun weekend of events z-card for her welcome baskets.

Programs.

Weekend information card with a custom map.

Weekend Bridal Shower

This past weekend I helped host my soon to be sister in law's bridal shower. Here are some images of the decor. Believe it or not, between my mother in law and I, we had enough crystal for 40 people, but not enough china. :(

My mother in law made all of the tissue paper flowers as well. So pretty! I wish I had gotten a close up of them. They even had yellow centers.

At these parties, I always serve my Zucchini Salad. It is a light salad that is perfect for a summer meal. People always ask for the recipe afterwards, so....

Without further ado, here are some photos and the recipe. (I tried to take pictures like Sunday Suppers. If you don't know about S.S., it is a beautiful blog with great images of food and really, really good recipes. I often check it when I am at a loss for what to make for our "fancy" Sunday dinners.

Zucchini Salad

Ingredients:
4 lbs. of yellow squash and zucchini
4 cups of baby arugula
capers (1 small jar)
2-3 garlic cloves minced
coarse salt
fresh ground pepper
1 c flat leaf parsley minced
grated parmasen cheese
1 c olive oil
1/4 c lemon juice

In a small bowl mince garlic cloves and add a pinch of coarse salt. Let stand. Slice zucchini and squash on an angle about an 1/8" thick. If you have a mandolin that works best. Add the lemon juice to the garlic and salt. Whisk together. (The liquid measurements are all approx. I just do it by taste anymore). Slowly add the olive oil and whisk all together. Set aside.

Put the squash and zucchini in a large bowl and put the arugula and chopped parsely in another large bowl. Pour about 1/3 of the dressing onto the arugula and parsley until it is lightly coated. Pour the remaining dressing on the squash mixture and toss to coat. Take a large platter and layer all ingredients. First layer, spread half of the arugula on the platter. Second layer, spread half of the squash mixture and cover the arugula. Then sprinkle half of the capers and grated parm. cheese on top. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Garnish with large shavings of parm. cheese. Serve immediately.

Pink Swirl Wedding Accessories

This is the week of pink and black! I also had the pleasure of working with Kristin on her wedding booklet style programs, table numbers, place cards and thank you notes. See her invites here.

Programs

Menu

Thank you cards with matching envelope

Woodland Themed Wedding Invitations

This was a fun project for me to work on because it was for my soon to be sister in law! Nicole let me have total creative freedom. My brother in law loves anything that has to do with the outdoors, hunting, fishing, etc. We wanted to create something that included his interests as well, but keeping it from looking overly rustic. I think we achieved a very modern take on an "outdoorsy" wedding invitation.

It all started with the acorn graphic, which I thought was very appropriate for a fall wedding. The squirrel and Bami, followed. Eric wanted a deer with a big rack (of course). He was told there will NOT be a giant rack on these, he can have that for his rehearsal dinner invites! (Stay tuned).

Nicole really wanted a pocket fold, but I wanted to put a different spin on the traditional way I usually design them. Instead of all of the staggered cards, we did a booklet with a tear away postcard response card.

The entire book was written with details of how the couple met, where they like to golf, where Nicole went to school, even Woody, their dog made an appearance!

I love the envelopes with matching liners!