The Big Reveal

After much ado, here are the Sip N' Meet invitations that I sent out last week.
(Sorry that portions are blurred - for protection of course - but, I hate the way it makes the pictures look!)
The first picture depicts the unjazzed-up invite, the second the final product.

Click To Enlarge.

The breakdown of the invites:

The base paper is from the Martha Stewart wedding collection boxed invitation set. I luckily found it on clearance at our "Wal-Mart of the future" for $3.50 a box. I picked a paisley paper up at Joann's and found inspiration for the invites colors from this.

I struggled trying to decide if I wanted a graphic design/picture, or just fancy letters. To keep the event less theme oriented and more friendly gathering at the wish of the new mommy, I thought avoiding the typical, darling baby illustrations was best. Also, with my recent obsession with fonts and the impact a great typeface can have, the picture-less path was the way for me.

After designing the invites in photoshop, I took the basic invitation and sent it through my canon printer at home. Once printed, I trimmed the bottom of the invites along the embossed scallop Ms. Stewart's invites provided (this turned out to be my favorite part!).

Using the paisley paper, I added a strip to the back of the invite, allowing the new scallop edge to really pop out against such a graphic paper. Used the remaining paper to line the envelopes - and Voila! Sip N' Meet invitations were born, stamped with the new LOVE stamps, and send to find their happy guest-to-be.


(P.S. - The sweet little baby's older sis just happens to have the middle name Paisley!)

A Saturday Well Spent

Calligraphy-ing the day away...
Last Fall, Mums and I took a calligraphy class from Susie Melissa. Her work (pictured below), is divine and is used by biggies – even note, she has created menu cards for past presidents.




I loved the class, the overall “concept” of the class & what Susie Melissa was preaching. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m die hard for calligraphy. The class did however, bring me to the realization that traditional calligraphy, while gorgeous, is not in the cards for me. I cannot begin to travel down the road where I critique every letter that I write. I am already teetering the line of OCD/perfectionist, and I can-not open myself up to that amount of critique with regards to my handwriting.


I do, however, LOVE the way handwriting can look in a casual, calligraphic manner using simply their fancy pens. Striving for perfection is second nature to me, so realizing that the flawed rendition is still just as fabulous takes some coaching and reassurance from the mum. Pictured below are the works of three women I find very inspirational and blessed up to their ears in talent.

1. Love, Jenna 2. B Dunlap by Betsy Dunlap 3. lettergirl by Gina Sekelsky

I worked on my dear friend’s invites this weekend. (Sidenote - My hands look like those of the guy down the street at Firestone, as the ink has stained the nail beds and nails of my right hand – by stained, I mean black). But, I am overall happy with the end result.

I keep telling myself, “Self, one day you will look back and say, wow look at what you use to claim was calligraphy – you’ve come so far”. So, in this line of thinking, looking at this as practice, and leaving the flaws will only aid in giving the appearance that I have improved years from now.

Sorry for the blurring – but here are a few snaps.

(Does anyone know the word for the act of calligraphy? Webster is not fond of calligraphying)