Introducing Little Miss Layla

Though wedding season has come to an end, I have still been quite busy with various other projects.  I just recently made the sweetest birth announcements for a very sweet baby girl.  My cousin Jen lives in North Carolina, and though she's far away, I stilll love her to pieces and consider her to be one of my good friends.  So naturally, when her little Layla bug was born I was very excited to make the birth announcements.

Jen is so organized and smart -she decided to get ahead of the game and get the announcements designed before the baby was born so that all we would have to do is insert a photo.  I must say, good move, Jen!  As soon as her little angel was born, the newborn photo was taken and the job was done!

So for all of you mommys to be out there, why not start thinking about the birth announcements now? That way, when the baby gets here you don't have any work to do and you can just snuggle your new little one and leave the rest up to me!

Here are Layla's announcements - aren't they cute?!

Elizabeth K Photography Contest

A few weeks ago, Elizabeth K Photography hosted a contest to increase fan followers on her facebook page (if you are reading this and you aren't a fan yet, you need to check her out!).  The winner received a personalized set of monogrammed note cards made by yours truly!

The winner received a set of 10 ivory note cards, with coordinating envelopes.  The monogram was printed in chocolate brown, with two small circles outlining the monogram.  The note cards looked simple and organic and I was happy with the finished product. 

The super duper fun part about these note cards is that I was able to use all of my new packaging!  I recently purchased some printable bags that I adorned with my logo.   These bags are so great, I am at a loss for words to describe how happy I am with them.  They look so sleek and professional and I am so in love with them.  Top them off with my round labels and new Moo business cards and what you get is pure awesomeness:

And how exciting when you win a contest like this and get to be the recipient of something free?! 

I am in the works of planning a contest that you all will love.  Stay tuned!

Amanda & Liam

The design of choice for late summer/early fall weddings this year appears to be the "Sour Apple" design.  What I love about each invitation is that each bride chose to design her invitation in such a unique way that they all have their own "personality".  I love this version of the invitation - it is so fall, but in a charming and unique way.  The colors of ivory, dark plum, and burnt orange give it a vintage feel, all while keeping it simple.  Another reason that I love the invitation so much is because the bride is a friend of mine and a complete sweetheart.  She radiates positive energy and is always ready to have fun.  It was an honor to create these invitations for her and her fiance'!

The bride and groom chose the "Sour Apple" invitation but tweaked it to match their needs and personality.  The background was changed from white to ivory, and colors were changed to a dark plum and a burnt orange.  Also, the lines were scaled back so they weren't so bold.  Amanda and Liam chose to include a combination card that included RSVP information as well as accommodation information.  Guests were to RSVP via the web, which is a very eco-friendly route to take.  Many brides have chosen this option and I must say, though it breaks all formal rules of wedding etiquette, I am all for it.  Go green!

Anyway, the invitation was inserted into a light ivory envelope, which was the perfect match for this invitation set.  The final result was perfect:

Cheers to you, Liam and Coop!  I wish you years of happy memories and fun adventures!

Fall in Love

I decided to dig through the archives today and share some of the invitations that I've made this year, pre-blog.  The weather is nice and cool today and it has gotten me all revved up for fall.  In light of that, I opted to showcase this invitiation:

The bride chose a linen finish invitation printed on ivory with burnt orange text.  The wedding theme of "Fall in Love" is written in script across the top followed by a fall leaf photo and a simpler text.  These invitations were perfect for the fall season. 

I love fall, it is one of my favorite seasons.  If winter weren't right after it, I would probably call it my all time favorite!  I love the smells of fall, the crisp air, the sweatshirt weather, and the excitement of the upcoming holidays.  What do you love most about fall? 

Moo!

One night, while staying up waaaay too late and snooping around online, I came across the Moo blog site.  Moo is a company I have heard of before, but never really had taken the time to explore.  So, I started perusing the blog scoping out their latest info when I came across a post describing their Business card redesign project.  Basically, they were holding a contest giving away free design and business cards to a handful of "winning" companies.  In order to "win" or be chosen as a candidate for the contest, you basically had to have some super lame business cards that were in need of a major makeover.  Thankfully, my business cards were the definition of lame and I WON!!!!

I was TOTALLY suprised and super duper excited when I received the email informing me of my win.  The best part, the design process started right away and I got to work closely with a designer to create business cards to represent my business, but I didn't have to bother with the frustration of designing something for myself.  So, the days went on, I emailed the designer and she whipped up some awesome cards.  We chose the final set, and that was that!  They were shipped and received crazy fast and I was so impressed by the entire process and the entire Moo team.

Now, I have an awesome set of business cards that are almost too pretty to use!  Maybe one day soon I will be able to part with them.  Until then, check this link to read all about it and check out the before and after!
http://businesscardproject.com/the-gallery/sealed-expressions-business-cards/

Christopher & Sabrina

Awhile back I worked with a gal named with Sabrina.  She was always so spunky and fun, I loved working with her.  As you can imagine, I was stoked when she asked me to design her wedding invitations!  Like I have mentioned before, it is so much fun when I can work with someone  I know and make something very special for them.

The look Sabrina was going for with her invitations was classy, yet fun and exciting.  Her colors were black and white and her bridesmaids were carrying a variety of colored gerber daisies.  So, my goal was to incorporate the gerber daisies somehow while focusing on some bold black and white invitations.

I am so happy with the final product, check it out for yourself:

Photo credit to Elizabeth K Photography.

This was also the first wedding where I had purchased a gift from Remaking Memories for the bride and groom.  Katie at Remaking Memories does such an outstanding job, this is what she came up with:

The back side of the ornament was white and featured their names, as shown on the invitation.  A very nice keepsake for fabulous invitation and a sweetheart bride :)

Oh, Baby!

Though wedding season is starting to wind down, things are still busy over here with plenty of stationery orders and work related to remodeling my new office. 

I have been busy with thank you cards, seating charts, and of course, birth announcements!

The first set of birth announcements were made to announce the arrival of adorable little Lucas!  It just so happens that his parents are good friends of mine and just about a year ago, I made their wedding invitations!

Their wedding invitations were simple and clean, featuring their wedding colors.  Their colors were blue and green and I created for them simple, yet elegant invitations.  The invitation was printed on metallic white cardstock with olive green text, mounted on another piece of sapphire blue metallic cardstock.  The RSVP card and accomodations card all coordinated through the use of the same font, ink color, and metallic paper.  We finished off their ensemble with a metallic white envelope with the return address printed on the back flap.  These invitations were classy and clean, with a bit of jazz.  The photo below showcases the entire invitation suite (though you can't really see the shimmer of the papers, so use your imagination!)

So, fast forward to now.  This couple is happily settled and ready to announce their little bundle of joy to the world!  It was easy creating announcements for this family - I am very familiar with their style and in no time we were able to decide on a design, again using the blue and green color scheme, this time a little muted.

Below you will see what we came up with.  It is simple, cute, and totally up their alley.  Not to mention that the photo of their sweet little guy brings a smile right to your face!

The same week that I was working on these announcements, I was also creating the announcements to introduce little Carter, the cutest little thing with a great head of hair!   His mom had contacted me before he was born, so we had already completed the design and were just waiting for him to make his appearance.  Once he got here, we got to work putting his pictures into the design and getting them printed.

Of course, in true Sarah form, I FORGOT to take an actual photo of these announcements - grrrrrr!  I have the digital file to show you, but it doesn't quite do justice for the finished product.  *Sigh....

The announcements were printed on white matte stock paper, featuring the "Little Sparkler" design using colors suitable for a little boy.  The result turned out really nicely and these announcements served as a great introduction for this new little guy.

So, congrats all around to the new parents. Enjoy your snuggle time!