Summertime at the beach
Imagine a warm breeze, sea glass, sand pipers and the ocean waves… Then add in a fantastically fabulous bride and her family and you’ve got yourself a really fun, shore wedding.
When Meredith (the bride) and I first spoke, we clicked right away! I knew she was going to be a pleasure to work with. She is an interior designer who appreciate color, texture, and extraordinary design elements. It was also very important to Meredith to use recycled papers and conserve where possible. We talked about everything her wedding weekend would entail. On my end I brainstormed and researched appropriate imagery, colors and textures. We both had the same vision for her invites.
This is the inspiration board she sent to me:
The final result was a custom pocket-fold that is textured like sand with speckles of color. Letterpressed sandpipers adorn the outside and is tied shut with twine. To avoid using an inner envelope, a small hang tag was used with the less formal names in calligraphy by Laura Hooper. On the inside, the invite is mounted and all of the other elements are tucked into the pocket. A double sided, folded response card to save paper was a nice way to have guests respond to each of the weekend’s upcoming activities and to keep things organized when the responses start rolling in!
Enjoy the photos!
New card designs
Good morning!
I wanted to share with you two new card designs. Part of “The Yearly’s” collection, I designed these anniversary cards. One was inspired by one of my favorite brides, Alexis. You might remember her and her bird motif from this real wedding feature. Well I just loved the blue birds so much, I carried the idea over for an anniversary card!
Enjoy…
sneak peak
Do you remember me posting about these save the dates and invitation mock-ups? Well, the invitations are assembled, the envelopes addressed and one last thing to do is add some twine and put them in the mail! Here is a teaser photo though of the finished product. They are so beautiful, I can’t wait to share!
business card reveals
I have been working on two different business card designs simultaneously. The best part about it? They are so different it goes to show the extreme opposites of projects i work on, which i love!
The first is Deborah’s cards. I had her cards printed on double thick, smooth white stock. They are letterpressed on both sides and i just love how the pink pops off of the white paper! We agreed on a square card and to have the right hand corners rounded to compliment the ‘D’ in her logo. The back is a beautiful flourish repeated. We are going to use that in other aspects of her collateral and website, which I’m excited about.
The second cards shown are for Ketan Vakil, an online marketing strategist based in NYC. Designing for social media, web analytics and information architecture was so different then for Deborah- but that is where the fun of research and brainstorming along the way comes in! Ketan’s are also letterpressed front and back. The fun difference is that the back of his have a full coat of color, which in turn makes the text feels embossed because the blue is pressed into the paper. I love that effect!
real party: A baby shower
With all of this cold and snow here in the great northeast, I figured I would share a Real Party, summer baby shower style with you! Makes me long for the sun and warmth and especially to see my friend’s baby again.
This baby shower was thrown as a “jack and Jill” shower at a private home on Lake George, NY. The day ended up being perfect, and was perfectly planned around rubber ducks!
card reveal #2 (the forgotten bird)
Yesterday after I revealed the Ellie bird series, I met my friend Deborah for a yummy lunch. (I swear I could write an entire post on how delicious our lunch was….seriously). Anyway, we got talking and I realized how I had totally forgotten to present to you the birthday Ellie! So here she is:
I have to give credit to my niece though. She specially requested Ellie birthday bird with a striped hat on. So my little love, if mom is reading this to you, thank you for the idea. 
Her birthday was a couple of weeks before she came to stay with me. I mailed her gift to her so she didn’t have to wait until she came. I also printed out the Ellie bird and made her a card to go along with the gift. She then called me to Thank me when she received it and here was the conversation:
Ellie: Hi Aunta Rebecca (yes, she adds the ‘A’, how cute is that)?
Me: Hi Ellie
Ellie: Thank you so much for my gift and card. I love it. I think the bird should have a birthday hat on!
Me: With polka dots?
Ellie: No stripes Aunta Rebecca.
Me: OK! Sounds great.
And that is the simple, but adorable story of how my 7 year old niece gave me her creative direction.
card reveal #2
Good morning and Happy Monday friends!
I have been so excited and anxious to share more card designs with you. It is funny how some things happen with design and timing during the year. When i designed the following cards, it was right before the Christmas season. So Ellie the bird was introduced first- as Santa Claus.
However, Ellie bird really started as a simple bird chirping away.
Now… Ellie is ready to deliver Easter treats and all set for Halloween as a scary ghost!
These will all be letterpressed with oh-so pretty colors as shown and sold in sets or single cards, so check back soon for information.
Last weekend when my niece Ellie was visiting, I showed her the designs and she screeched with excitement. It really was so cute, and I think she approved.
A double sided project
Every now and again I get the pleasure of designing for someone other than a bride. I love working with my brides, however it is such a nice balance to do corporate work too. This project was particularly fun and the event planner Becky and her group at RPI were open to letterpress, my favorite. The assignment was to design an invitation for a series of receptions across the country to honor those who helped contribute to the transformation of RPI. Various building aspects, education and other items have been transformed.
In brainstorming ideas, I decided to use an abstract image of architectural circles for imagery. I felt it also encompassed what the large project was about. The invite was printed on #220 paper and the guys on press did an amazing job of letterpressing both sides without the impression showing through. One side was blind de-bossed while the information was on the opposite. I also love the envelope which also shows the circles partly on the flap and bleeds off the left edge. Again, kudos to the amazing print job!
card reveal
Yesterday i had lunch with my friend Deborah. (You might remember me talking about her back on 12/18 and how she is going to do some great, great things)? Well i have been working on her logo and we met yesterday to start the review. It looks so good and i can’t wait to share. But.. not until it gets some color and until Deborah says i can!
Anyway… we had lunch at the most adorable little spot. The Jonesville Store. We got talking about the cards that i had posted a sneak peek of on Tuesday and Deborah was giving me her guesses. Well, i was going to wait, but she got me way to excited and i decided to share. So here are the answers. A vase of flowers, an elephant pull toy and a glass of bubbly! Coming to a store near you this year! :: keeping fingers crossed ::
sneak peek
For your viewing pleasure, here are some tidbits of some new card designs! It was a very productive weekend in the studio. I’m so excited i just want to squeal about them. I can’t wait for them to be produced!
Can you guess what they are?
