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!

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!

Stacy and her friend had already designed and printed magnets for the save-the-dates, and she was looking for a card to attach them to that gave her guests some additional information.  This was an interesting challenge, as I had to find a way to coordinate with her existing design and introduce the monogram and color scheme.

We started with the monogram.  I presented her with three different options:

Monogram #1 - the colors look different on screen, but it prints out as a lovely rose pink/beige combination.

Monogram #2 - a little more sleek and modern

Monogram #3 - a slight variation on #2, more pink, less brown, and capital letters.

Stacy and Shannon chose Monogram #1.  I love the ornate swirls – they give you so many opportunities to embellish with rhinestones or hand-painted accents!

From there, I worked out a design for the A2-sized save-the-date card that incorporated the monogram and used the font from the existing magnet.  Since the monogram is fairly tiny on the card, I changed the text in it to a chocolate brown for more contrast.  The design was printed on my favorite natural white linen pearl cardstock and paired with a beautiful pink metallic euro-flap envelope.  Here’s the end result:

The card, with the attached magnet and coordinating envelope.

A closer look. So shimmery and pretty!

Stacy, I hope all of your guests love them!  I’m looking forward to working with you on the invitations in the coming months as well.

We kept it to one 8.5″x11″ sheet folded in half to keep the printing costs and assembly time down, but there was a lot of information to fit onto those pages!  I received a thorough education on creating a Catholic worship aid (there are dos and don’ts that I never really considered before, but now I’m prepared to do it again if required!) and spent plenty of time monkeying with the text sizing and spacing to get everything to line up just-so.  It was a challenge, but the end result is the perfect complement to their beautiful ceremony.

Pictures of the final product are below – please excuse the quality, as I’m still trying to find the places in the house with good lighting!

The front cover, with the apple graphic that also appeared on the invitation panel. I love the way these fonts look together!

This is the front and back of the program. We listed the names of all involved separately from the ceremony text as per the priest's instructions.

The inside of the program - repeating the apple motif as text dividers.

Thanks again, Kate and Chris!  Much love to the both of you, and best wishes for a happy marriage!