Exciting news! Last week, I was invited to join Style Me Pretty‘s Little Black Book! If you aren’t familiar with Style Me Pretty, it’s probably the mother of all wedding blogs, full of the most beautiful inspiration. I’ve been following along since I was a bride and feel truly honored to be included among such amazing vendors.
You can view my profile here!
Over the labor day weekend (yes, it’s taken me over a week to catch up), we took a little getaway to Maine with our best friends. It was to celebrate our 30th birthdays (or their 30th birthdays – mine is not till November and may or may not be getting it’s own trip) and it was so perfect. (See above photo – this was taken with my iPhone!!? can you believe it?) We chose Maine in an effort to get away from the Texas heat and boy, did we. We spent one evening outside watching the sunset covered in blankets. It was heavenly! I was actually quite chilly most of the time. Success? or did I just not pack properly? Maybe a little of both.
I think my instagram feed from the trip captured the beauty of the weekend. I want to go back!
The highlights:
- Spruce Point Inn! I found this beautiful place online and I am so smitten. Picturesque seems to be the most fitting word, but it might not due it justice. It was so gorgeous. It took a little while to get there from the airport, but was worth the drive. They had a spa, pools, cozy rooms and delicious food. Oh, and AMAZING views!
- Being by (and on) the water. It’s no secret among my friends and family that I am more into looking at the water than doing anything in or on it, but I surprised Carter (and myself) by being up for a little kayaking and sailing.
- Lobster, crab cakes, mussels, oh my! (we ate really good seafood)
- Toasting to our 30s with waters, tea, and one glass of wine (the wine was mine). If that’s not a sign that our thirties will be different than our twenties, I am not sure what is. But who says different can’t be better?
The Monterey invitation, from the Regal Collection, is a great example of perfect balance. A balance of typography, a balance of clean letterpress printing on soft cotton paper, and a balance of sophistication and uniqueness.
Monterey was inspired by an elegant black and white affair and is one of my favorite invitations. When it came to the inspiration board, I had no problem finding some of the most gorgeous images. Stripes, tuxes, red lips and florals – it doesn’t get any more sophisticated than this.
My college roommate is a mommy! My friend Carrie and her husband welcomed little Cooper this summer and I was so excited to design these birth announcements. Let me tell you, he looks JUST like his daddy.
This is another instance where his middle name is what he will be called, so I featured his middle name larger (in a new favorite font that I can’t stop using), while listing his full name below. I included his stats in a little patch at the bottom and then carried the pattern to the backer design.
I can’t wait to meet this little guy! Congrats to Carrie + JT!
Minted is growing some more with their latest challenge breaking into the party decor market. We were asked to design banners for any type of party: baby showers, holiday parties, anything. It just so happens that I am throwing a few baby showers next month, so I thought it would be fun to design a banner that was inspired by the one of them: Baby Icons.
You’ll have to wait to see the actual invitation, because they go out today. Just in case the mommy-to-be checks this blog, this will just have to be a little sneak peek. ;)
Voting is open for just a few more days, so if you are interested in browsing the creativity, you can check out all the designs here.
The Amelia invitation, from the Regal Collection, is classic with a bit of a twist. The calligraphy script is simply beautiful and helps create a truly timeless design, and the slight tilt of the type keeps it fresh and current.
Grey is my favorite color and maybe I love it because everything goes perfectly with it. In this case, I thought a pretty pink would be lovely and I think this board proves it true. Simply. Lovely.
Invitations aren’t just a pretty piece of paper! Check out my guest post on Every Last Detail, on how to inform your guests with your wedding invitations. It’s part of her Stationery Week series, all week long on ELD!
As soon as I left my job at my old company, there was a baby boom. Seriously. I’m glad I didn’t drink the water before I left! One of them was my friend Lori, who had her baby a few weeks ago – I am a little behind on the custom design posts! Lori shares my obsession love for USA network shows (Suits! White Collar! Covert Affairs!) and the Bachelor/ette/pad, and I miss seeing her every day, so I was honored that the girls at work had me design the invitations for her baby shower.
Lori wanted the invitations to be inspired by her nursery bedding from Pottery Barn. The first thing that caught my eye was the cute stitches on the elephants’ ears, so I played with those to create a unique layout that is playful, but still modern at the same time. Lori has a very classic style, so I didn’t want to do anything too crazy, but I also didn’t want her invitations to be like anyone else’s!
I couldn’t leave out a little elephant, could I?
I also designed some coordinating stationery too!
Congrats to Lori and her new little family!
The Ashbury invitation, from the Fresh Collection, features bright stripes, arrows and eclectic typography. It’s one of my more modern invitations and I love the square layout – worth every extra cent of postage!
Pool and green is such a fun and playful color scheme, so this ended up being one of my favorite inspiration boards. While I tend to lean towards colors in the ‘grey’ spectrum, I appreciate those that love to use color and can pull off fun and bright color combos. What’s nice is that I can pretend I know what I’m doing on this little blog here.
I love the idea of a wine and cheese party for a bridal shower. I may or may not eat cheese and crackers for actual meals and well, we all know my love for wine… it may not get any better than this.
With this invitation, I wanted to play with a different layout and do something modern and fun, and I am pretty sure I achieved it. I bet I got some smiles when these came in the mail!
Throwing your own wine and cheese shower? Check out these invitations and many others in my shop!
Hello! I'm Lauren! I'm an accountant turned stationery designer, creating pretty paper goods in Dallas, Texas.
Paper is my passion and the blog is where I share my latest design projects, my love for type and a little insight into my life as a creative business owner.
To get in touch, email me at:
HELLO@LAURENCHISM.COM
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