The Little Things

Fashion Inspired Invitation

One of our favorite things to do is create custom invitations for our customers- especially when they give us free reign to design! 

This custom design for Cynthia sounded like a tall task- an event featuring muffins and manicures for a bridal party!  Normally, food and nail polish don't mesh well together (visually), so we tried to go a different route... following in the fashion-forward steps of the Bride-to-Be.  I asked the hostess of the party about the bride's style, and she mentioned that this girl is all about Tory Burch.  So that's where we got our inspiration for this unique invitation!

Here's the "inspiration photo": 

We loved all of the warm colors and the mix of patterns! Stripes are always a classic, and the honeycomb pattern is so earthy and yet geometric.  Even the brown and golden yellow tones of this Summer collection are reminescent of baked muffin goodness... Yum!

Take a look at our version of this contemporary and fashion-forward invitation:

What do you think?

A Photo Card Against the Grain

Did you know that you don't have to wait until December to share your oh-so-adorable family on a photo card?  It's true!  In fact, we've found that more and more customers and opting to stray from the traditional Christmas card and send a card at other times of the year instead - Thanksgiving, Halloween, Easter... even Valentine's Day (hey, it's the perfect option if you're a little behind on the Christmas card- make 'em think it's on purpose).  Going against the grain does have its advantages... For starters, your photo card during the non-holiday season is mostly likely going to be the highlight of your recipients' mail delivery (and not just "another one" in the stack).  Second, everyone likes to receive mail (other than bills) ANY day of the year, so receiving a cheerful greeting in the mail is a special treat!  The best reason?  To beat the crowd of course!  While all of your friends are stressing about getting their holiday cards printed, addressed, and mailed during the busiest time of year, you'll be done and able to enjoy your free time (with more eggnog, perhaps?).

We love the idea of a Fall/Halloween photo card, and now's the perfect time to do one!  Just take a look at these two custom ideas!  What a fun idea to use a photo of your little one in their costume?  Or for the pet lovers like us, dogs in costume (seriously, who doesn't smile when seeing a dog in a costume?)! 
Think you might want give it a try?  Let us know...We'd be happy to do a custom design for you that will perfectly fit your needs!

 

Nautical Baby Shower

We are LOVING this baby shower!  We did a custom invitation for the nautical-inspired theme, and just love how it turned out.  A nautical-themed baby shower is perfect for a little boy on the way, and such a fun event for the summer!  This poolside party works perfectly with the color scheme they chose, and utilizing the deck to cookout and serve food is a great way to get people mingling.

One of our favorite details were the matching napkins (which they ordered through us also).  On the entrance table, guests were able to fill out cards with advice for the new parents-to-be, which is always a nice touch.  The finger food was even in the color scheme - chocolate covered strawberries and tiny petit fours with blue and red sprinkles.  The party favors were little bags of cinnamon and blueberry candies of course!

What a great shower!  Thanks for sharing with us!

{ And congratulations Erin and Joel!  They just had their little baby boy yesterday!}

Finn's First Birthday

This featured custom design is a 1st Birthday Party theme that you could really get carried away with!

Here is the invitation we made for Finn's First Birthday... We're all ON BOARD for party details, but our customer Laura really outdid herself with this one!  Just look at the attention she paid to even the littlest things- from the handmade table runner and decorative sailboat she used on the deck (top right), to the party favors (little pails of goldfish and gummy sharks), to the matching water bottles (we printed the labels), sailing flag decorations, and nautical-themed cupcake toppers!  We LOVE how she used goldfish on the cake to really brighten it up and further incorporate the nautical theme (as well as a kid-friendly snack favorite)!

Great job, Laura!  We love this birthday party theme, and it looks like Finn had a good time too!  Thank you so much for sharing!

Have we done a custom invitation design for your party?  Want the chance to be featured on our blog?  Email us photos of the invitation and details!  If your party is selected to be featured, you'll receive a $20 gift card from Calligraphy Etc.!  Now THAT'S a party favor!

Step Right Up!

When a customer approached us and asked if we could design her a custom carnival invitation for her sons' birthdays, we jumped at the chance... It's always fun to create something different and new!

Ticket shaped invitations have been all the rage around here lately, and we thought this theme would be the perfect opportunity to make one.

Notice the ticket # on the side (it's the party date), and how we used a combination of fonts and colors to create some visual interest?  Our customer really wanted to give her backyard carnival invitation a little ~oomph~, so we added this great red/white striped paper wrap and tied it up with blue embroidery floss to add even more drama to opening the invitation.

We couldn't be more pleased with how this one turned out, and our customer was pretty excited too.  Leanne, we can't wait to see photos of your backyard party!  Happy Birthday to the boys!

Interested in having us create a custom invitation for your party?  Email us and get the details on how it works!

calligraphy@sbcglobal.net

Birthday Fit for a Queen

We love it when our customer's use one of our custom invitation designs to build a party theme around!  An absolute favorite is this invitation for Kelly's 30th Birthday Casino Night. 

The invitation was comprised of 4 "playing cards" (the outer two posing as QUEENS and the inner two with the invitation text).  We even printed the back of the cards to make them look more realistic, and attached them with a small brad at the bottom so they would "fan" out.

The wording started with:

"Come help Kelly start her thirties off right,

with fun and games at a casino night!"

Kelly went all out with her party theme - everything pink and green to match the invitation!  Her friend Devetta made sugar cookies to look like playing cards and casino chips, and her friend Brandie made this great cake!  Kelly's husband Billy (an artist) even made a large HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELLY sign as a backdrop for guests to get their photo taken at the party!  

Looks like a great party, Kelly!

Have we done a custom invitation design for your party?  Want to be featured on our blog?  Email us photos of the invitation and details, and we might feature your part on our blog!

If your party is selected to be featured, you'll receive a $20 gift card from Calligraphy Etc.!  Now THAT'S a party favor!