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!

Jen dreamed up a purple and orange color scheme with a Spanish-inspired flair; ceramic tiles were used as table numbers and as favors that doubled as placecards.  They found Copperhill Catering, an amazing catering team, who created two kinds of paella for dinner, along with tapas and sangria for the cocktail hour and churros and chocolate for dessert.  The guests went wild for Sweet and Saucy Shop’s red velvet and pumpkin cake pops, too!

Check out some of the amazing shots below, provided by Stephanie Williams Photography, and click here to view more pictures in her blog post.

The happy couple - Jen and Chris

The gorgeous crystal bouquet charms were created by Bling Diva Designs.

The ceremony setup had handmade pinwheels lining both sides of the aisle. Whimsical and delightful!

A shot of the tablescape, with the aforementioned silkscreened tiles.

Gorgeous floral centerpieces by Myra at Celebrate Floral - I love the vibrant colors!

Adorable (and delicious!) cake pops by Sweet and Saucy Shop, and a lovely little cake to go with them. Jen bedazzled the cake stand herself; the cake topper is from Bling Diva Designs.

The dance/lounge area required some intense setup - Chris and his parents built this canopy frame and set it up the day before the wedding; I got to hang the lanterns the next morning. It looked positively magical, especially after the sun went down.

The lounge pillows were all custom made by a friend of the family, and each one of them was unique!

I laughed so hard when I saw this picture. Definitely my favorite shot of the day! The smilebooth was provided by Emmycube Photography.

All in all, it was a gorgeous day full of love and happiness.  Jen and Chris, I’m so glad I had the chance to get to know you and be a part of such a beautiful celebration!  And huge thanks are due to the amazing vendors I got to work with:

Venue:  Tesoro Adobe Historic Park in Valencia, CA

Photographer:  Stephanie Williams Photography

Videographer:  Roberto Fonseca

Catering:  Copperhill Catering

Florist:  Celebrate Floral

DJ:  C&J – Carol and Jeff

Dessert:  Sweet and Saucy Shop

Smilebooth:  Emmycube Photography

Cake Toppers & Bling:  Bling Diva Designs

Giant Balloons (not shown):  Me to You Balloons

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!

I’m excited to finally share this with you all – the gorgeous wedding of Katie and Preston, my giveaway winners!  I knew after my first meeting with this couple that their wedding was going to be something special, and it did not disappoint!  Their lovely details earned them a two-part feature on OnceWed.com, which you should definitely go check out (click here for part 1 and here for part 2).  And enjoy these beautiful shots of the event, captured by Leigh Miller.

Katie's stunning ruffled wedding dress was custom-made by Kate Towers.

Katie and her mother sewed all of the fabric items for the wedding, including all of the dinner napkins, and collected heirloom mismatched china for each placesetting.

The florals were all done by Laura and Blake of Hoot and Heart. Such lovely bouquets!

Preston and his dad made all of the wooden benches for the ceremony seating.

The dessert table, which held an amazing array of bite-sized treats for the guests to choose from.

So in love with their stationery suite! Katie designed and created everything - she even perforated the tear-off reply card at home with a sewing machine! Genius!

The bridesmaids chose their own dresses, and Katie's mom made the ties for the groomsmen.

The beautiful cafe lights were also DIY - Preston, his father, and the groomsmen all pitched in the day before the wedding to set them up, and their hard work definitely paid off.

Head over to Leigh Miller’s blog post about K+P if you want to see some more amazing shots of their wedding and read Katie’s write-up of the big day.  It was a pleasure meeting and working with all of the wonderful vendors below:

Photographer: Leigh Miller

Videographer: Ben Bonnet Films

Florist: Hoot & Heart

DJ: The Flashdance

Venue: Condor’s Nest Ranch

Thank you so much, Katie and Preston, for giving me the opportunity to be a part of such a beautiful celebration!  I wish you a long, happy, love-and-laughter-filled life together.

Daniella, the youngest in my favorite group of women in the world (she’s the one in the blue sweater), is now an RN!  To celebrate this huge accomplishment, the TKN gals wanted to get her something that we knew she could use in her new profession – cute scrubs!  But since we weren’t sure where she would end up working or what the dress code would be there, we pooled our money and opted for a group cash gift instead.

Giving cash can be kind of awkward, especially when it’s between friends.  I know it’s a great gift to receive, but it can feel impersonal when you’re tucking a few bills into a card.  I like to dress it up a bit if I’m going to give a cash gift.  My grandmother is a master at this – she’ll tape a check to the sole of a pair of slippers, or tuck the bills inside a pair of barrettes.

So in order to dress up Daniella’s group gift, I created this card – it measures 5″x7″ and is styled to look just like a miniature medical chart!

The outside of the card - tan heavyweight cardstock was used to mimic a manila folder.

When you open up the card, the text panels on the inside are set up with medical chart information – both typed and “handwritten” – and there’s a small envelope clipped to the left side that’s the perfect size to hold a few bills.

A wide shot of the inside of the card.

A closer look at the personal message - I used the least legible script font I had to approximate a doctor's penmanship.

A view of the left side of the card with the gift envelope detached.

Ordinarily I wouldn’t bother posting about a card I made for a friend – I make individual cards quite often and don’t generally reproduce them – but I was so excited by the way this one came out that I thought it was worthy of an Etsy listing.  Besides, I can’t be the only person out there with a zillion doctors, dentists, nurses, and PAs in her life!  It’s graduation season, and if anyone out there is looking for the perfect way to present a cash, check, or gift card to a new medical professional, get an order in today!

Melissa recently redesigned her entire website and blog, and she asked me to create some whimsical thank-you cards in her business colors that she could use to send out with her orders.  She loved the metallic linen paper I used for Stacy’s save-the-date cards, and she sent me some inspiration images that used a collection of different vintage/circus fonts.  So I went through my collection of crazy fonts, did some Google foreign-language translation, and came up with this:

The Bling Diva Designs thank-you card, in shades of purple and teal

Aren’t they gorgeous?  The metallic paper is just perfect for a business that deals entirely in bling!  Here’ s a couple more shots:

Totally charming.

I love the diamond detail that we added to the bracket flourish.

Melissa, it was so much fun working with you to create these, and I look forward to more collaboration in the future!  And a note to all brides-to-be… Melissa and I have a special deal worked out for anyone who hires TCK Design for a coordination package, so contact me if you want the details!

Me, grinning like a crazy fool after opening the most awesome Christmas present ever. EVER!

That’s right. The Cheshire Kat Design Studio is now the proud owner of an antique tabletop letterpress, and in the coming months I’ll be offering letterpress printing in addition to standard digital flat printing. I’m hard at work on a couple of exciting letterpress projects right now, so keep an eye out for them on the blog.

In the meantime, feel free to browse through the site and check out our new look!

I drew the winning entry at random using a spreadsheet and a random number generator from Random.org, and I seriously squealed out loud when I saw the winning names.

Katrina and Preston are the winners of a free DOC package for their wedding this spring!  Congratulations to you both!  I am truly looking forward to helping you execute your creative vision for your big day.

Thank you so much to all of my entrants!  Best wishes for your upcoming weddings!