Melissa and her friends are throwing a shower for their friend Nicole, and they gave me a list of what they wanted to see in an invitation:  blue, brown, green, orange, stripes, and ribbon.  And Melissa loves metallic cardstock, so of course we had to incorporate that as well.  What a combo!  How did it all come together?  Check it out:

The double-layered invitation has a printed backing - stripes of blue, brown, green, and orange frame the invitation text.

I added an orange ribbon accent to the invitation panel and a seal with the baby's initials in the middle.

The girls decided that they needed an insert for additional information, so I printed the stripes as a border instead of layering the smaller card.

I paired the invite with a deep blue metallic envelope, and I added a coordinating wrap-around label so the addresses could easily be read by the post office.

I love the whole suite together - very sharp!

These invitations strike a great balance between masculine and feminine – the script font and the satin ribbon soften the impact of the bold, almost nautical colors and lines.  Many thanks to Melissa and the crew for giving me the opportunity to create these sophisticated shower invitations!  I know the party will be a huge success.

Thanks for staying with me through this whole series of baby showers!  I’ve got more that are currently in production and will be blogged later on… and hopefully I’ll be able to share a whole series of birth announcement designs soon!

One of my first shower invites, the Building a Nest invitation, is still by far my most popular Etsy item.  I’ve customized that invitation suite dozens of ways over the past year, and a customer recently asked for it in yellow.  We were concerned that a pastel yellow would make the text very difficult to read, so I decided to go with a deep, rich gold.  I think it’s gorgeous – so lively and bright!

Building a Nest in Gold

The bright yellow makes this invite perfect for a boy or a girl.

This version makes me want to try out a whole range of saturated colors – wouldn’t Building a Nest look beautiful in red?  Or purple?  Royal blue?  The possibilities are endless!  And if you’re interested in your own customized version of this one, go visit my Etsy store and place an order!

This invitation was designed for my dear friend Katie, who asked me if I would create a shower invitation with a coordinating thank-you note.  I usually like to take inspiration from the expectant mother’s nursery design ideas to create baby stationery, and I knew she was putting together a beautiful room for her baby girl with crystals, white wrought iron, and delicate shades of gray and blue.  We shifted from blue to pink for the shower invite but kept the gray, and the end result was stunning!

The invitation, a triple-layered panel with a ribbon detail and embellishment.

A closer look at the belly band and embellishment, which is a vintage-inspired button. I broke the loop off the back so it would lay flat.

The coordinating thank-you note, with a printed gray and pink stripe across the front and a simple Swarovski crystal embellishment in the middle.

The whole suite looks gorgeous all together! Both the invite and the thank-you were paired with pink metallic envelopes for an extra little bit of sparkle.

It was a joy creating these custom pieces for Katie and her sweet little girl Abby, who made her appearance on September 4th!  Stay tuned for Part Two – more baby showers tomorrow!

I knew that Stacy wanted some sparkle in her invites, so we paired up three gorgeous metallic cardstocks and a handful of crystal embellishments for these lovely gatefolds.  Take a look at how it all came together!

I used the monogram I'd created previously on the oval seal for the tucked-ribbon belly band.

A closer look at the belly band and seal. I love the tucked-ribbon look; it's a ton of extra work, but it's worth it.

The invitation panel was mounted to a pink metallic cardstock mat inside the gold metallic gatefold.

There were five crystal accents on each invitation panel - a pink one in each corner and an amber one in the center.

The inserts all maintained the graphics and fonts from the invitation panel and were mounted to pink metallic cardstock.

The only insert that didn't get a cardstock mat was the RSVP card, because it's paired with a coordinating pink envelope (not pictured).

It was so much fun designing such an elegant set of wedding invitations for what was undoubtedly a gorgeous and detail-rich affair this past June.  Stacy and Shannon, I wish you all the best in your marriage – thank you for the opportunity to create these pieces for you!

It was pretty in pink for Erin’s shower… but it’s beautiful in blue as well:

Building a Nest, customized for a recent Etsy order

The Etsy listing is for a set of 10, but I’m always happy to set up a custom order if you’re looking for a different number. Send me an email or a convo any time!

Erin is a dear friend of mine whose daughter Sophia is due in December.  I was so thrilled to be able to do the invitations for her upcoming shower!  She chose one of my favorite color schemes (pink and brown) and let me be creative with the design.

Inspiration comes from the strangest places sometimes.  I opened the trunk of my car and saw a box of leftover decorations from my wedding – these cute little pink and brown birds that I used to decorate my manzanita placecard trees:

Photo by the lovely and talented Zenia of Zenia Photography

(Yes, I know my wedding was almost a year ago, and there is no excuse to still have decorations in my trunk.)

But with that in my head, I created this invitation:

Erin's shower invitation, with coordinating printed envelope.

The double-layered panel, sans envelope.

A closer look at the illustration. I hand-traced elements from four different photos to put it together.

The invitation panel was printed on an ivory metallic linen cardstock and mounted to a 5×7 piece of pink metallic cardstock.  I was worried it would be sparkle overload, but it’s lovely in person, especially with the matching envelope.

I’m adding it to my Etsy shop and offering customization of colors as well as text, so the mommies-to-be who are having boys won’t feel left out.

Erin, it was a joy to create these for you, and I’m looking forward to meeting Sophia soon!

Since Kate’s wedding colors are apple green and chocolate brown, I used a vintage fruit crate for the inspiration for her invitations.  I printed a barn wood pattern on metallic linen cardstock in a champagne color (gorgeous paper!) and created a gatefold to frame the invitation panel, which used a combination of chocolate brown text and a green apple graphic motif.

The closed gatefold with the fruit label belly band closure.

The back of the closed invitation, with the RSVP postcard and reception card tucked into the belly band.

The opened gatefold, showcasing the invitation panel with a chocolate brown cardstock mat. You can't really see the champagne linen metallic cardstock on the sides of the gatefold in the picture, but it is absolutely stunning in person!

Kate wanted the invitation to ride the line between traditional and modern, and to help with that, I created a postcard RSVP that could easily be personalized with each invited guest’s name.  For meal choices, I used icons in order to conserve space on the card and add a whimsical touch.  The front of the postcard repeated the vintage fruit crate label design that appeared on the belly band closure.

The RSVP postcard with space for personalization and meal icons. The white space left on this card is required by the postal service so they can add their labels and marks to it.

A closer look at the back of the RSVP postcard.

I included a simple Reception card using the same green apple motif and tucked it behind the chocolate cardstock belly band with the RSVP card.

The full suite, with the open gatefold, belly band, RSVP postcard, and reception card.

The whole invitation package was outfitted with an apple green envelope – I printed the return address on the back flap in brown and created a set of wrap-around graphic labels for the mailing addresses.  These labels were printed and sent to Kate and Chris with a template to add the addresses, and they printed and cut them to size themselves (and they did a great job!)

The mailing address label and apple green envelope. These labels were sent to Kate and Chris as full sheets of wood-grained stickers with blank areas for the addresses, and I sent them a template so they could print and cut them themselves. The barn wood pattern is the same one that appears on the outside of the gatefold.

The back of the mailing envelope, with the address printed in brown on the back flap.

Congratulations, Kate and Chris!  Can’t wait for the wedding – it is going to be absolutely gorgeous!

My birthday gift to Mom and Dad was this invitation:

The front of the mock vinyl record invitation. I based it on an old Capitol Records design.

The back of the mock vinyl record invitation, with more information and some cutesy clip-art graphics.

I initially made up both sides of this invitation as two separate design ideas because Mom liked the colorful 50’s-themed graphics and I liked the more realistic record.  In the end, I used them both so we could include all of the necessary information.

Mom asked if I could do something with The Hop’s logo, which had a cool-guy bunny rabbit leaning casually up against it.  She wanted me to add a girl bunny next to him.  After a few unsuccessful attempts to Photoshop the low-resolution photo she had of the logo, I finally just drew it by hand, scanned it, and re-worked the file from there.

The invitations were printed on glossy circular labels and affixed to die-cut black linen paper circles for a realistic vinyl record effect.  I used bright orange square envelopes (not pictured; we had to mail out every single one!) and printed address labels for the mailing and the return address.

Want invitations like these?  Purchase a sample from my Etsy store and contact me to customize the text for your order!

After the party, I made up some business cards for my parents to send out in their thank-you notes so people could see the professional photos taken at the party and share their own images.  The best part of that was that I got to reuse that bunny logo!  Here they are:

This was a business-card sized insert that Mom sent out in the thank-you notes.

It was a fun project all around, and the guests seemed to really enjoy the invitations.

The outside of our rehearsal dinner invitation - a Playbill program.

The inside of our rehearsal dinner invitation, with all of the necessary information.

The back of the rehearsal dinner invitation, with hand-drawn Photoshop map.

I used a high-resolution photo of a Broadway Playbill and Photoshopped it to include one of our engagement pictures and our own custom text.  The inside contained the necessary information, but it was set up as a program.  On the back I included a hand-drawn Photoshop map with the address and directions.

We used black envelopes for these, so I created labels for the mailing and return addresses that looked like show tickets.

The ticket label for our return address; the mailing address was printed on a similar but larger version of the same label.

The files for this invitation are also available for free download from my married bio.  If you want me to re-work the design for you with your pictures and information, contact me and we can work something out!

The invitation in its lined envelope

The pocketfolder was handmade from leather-textured paper with a satin ribbon bellyband and monogram.

The inside of the pocketfolder, with three inserts and a double-matted invitation panel with a rhinestone accent.

Closer view of the panel and inserts. Two of the inserts were matted on chocolate brown cardstock; the RSVP card used the chocolate brown envelope as a backing piece.

All the pieces of the invitation. The Directions card included a map created in Photoshop; the RSVP cards were personalized for each guest attending. and the RSVP envelopes were lined with the same paper as the outer envelope.

I put some serious blood/sweat/tears into the invitations for our wedding, and the response from our guests was overwhelmingly positive.  People wrote notes on our RSVP cards raving about how gorgeous they were, and I had a number of friends ask if I could design items for them.

I never intended to make my own pocketfolders, but I found paper that I just couldn’t resist.  The pocketfolders were made from a double-sided, leather-textured 12″x12″ sheet of scrapbooking paper; the panel and inserts were printed on text-weight ivory linen paper and mounted on chocolate brown cardstock.  I added one Swarovski crystal accent on each invitation and closed the whole thing with a satin ribbon bellyband and a triple-layered monogram square.  The envelopes (both the outer and the RSVP) were lined by hand.

I spent a LOT of time on theknot.com’s message boards while planning my wedding, and I got a lot of inspiration and assistance from the fabulous ladies on the Los Angeles and DIY boards.  In light of that, I created a “married bio” that included templates for the vast majority of the paper products I created for my own wedding.

The templates for each piece of my own wedding invitation (as well as many of my other projects) are still available for free download in my bio for anyone who wants them, and I am going to leave it that way as a sort of thank-you to the community who provided so much inspiration when I was starting out.  If you don’t have Photoshop and/or don’t want or know how to customize these files, I can very easily do that for you for a small fee and send you the customized digital files, or I can go the full-service route and print, cut, and assemble it all.