Love Under the Stars

Is there anything more romantic than a night under the stars with the one you love? I'm not convinced that there is.

When I sat down to create wedding invitations for the Happily Ever After challenge over at Minted, I started thinking of romantic scenes and how those would translate to wedding stationery. Vintage constellation maps fit perfectly and the idea behind Star Map was born.

If you're not sure how to incorporate more celestial beauty into your wedding let this inspiration board be your starting point.


[ 1. Starlette Crown by giant dwarf 2. Starry night sky reception by Preston Bailey 3. Midnight Blue Sunstone Gold Necklace by friedasophie 4. Reading the Stars cross stitch by MiniatureRhino 5. Star Cluster NGC 290 from HubbleSite 6. tent under stars by Lissy Elle via Gypsy Girl Guide 7. liberty star and t-bar ballet flats from ASOS ]

Still want more starry goodness? Check out these great links:

-Decorate with easy DIY paper stars, tutorial from Annekata
-Sign a night-themed print with white ink for a unique guest book and art combo, Yearning Soul print by Andres Kal
-Gold star sparklers for the perfect reception getaway from Tops Malibu
-Line the aisle with glittered paper stars - Martha
-Wish upon a star wedding band set by BethCyrWeddings

Minted Editor's Picks!

Holy smokes! In the last two challenges I've entered at Minted I've somehow managed to win 4 Editor's Pick awards. Not only am I totally shocked but also super excited! It's nice to feel like my hard work is paying off and for the opportunity to get my name out there and make some dough.

My first Editor's Pick came from my only entry in the minibook card challenge. I wanted to enter something in the challenge and see what it was like to work with the minibook format but I was at a total loss as what to do. Then I got my weekly Etsy email and they featured a ton of items all using triangles. I thought, "Gosh, I like triangles but I've never really done anything with them, I'll see what I come up with and submit it to this challenge." So I did. My design ended up reminding me a lot of all the stained glass windows here in England so that's what I called it.

I submitted it thinking I'd never win with it but was happy to have completed the "assignment" I'd given myself. Low and behold ... I get the results email from voting and my design is listed on there. What? While it didn't score very high (there were so many kick-ass designs!) someone saw some merit in it and I'm not going to argue!

Here's the design I submitted:

The design bones aren't bad but that color palette is all over the place.

Now here is the version for sale on Minted:

A vast improvement in color palette and much more striking with the bold navy blue background.

Client Spotlight: B

My lovely client B, just sent me photos of her save the dates before they went out to her guests. She will be getting married this spring at the Château verbust in Lyon, France. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little jealous of her guests! So ...

Dear unmarried friends,
Please have your wedding at a chateau in France.
Thanks,
-Ashley

Postcards and wrap label designed by 2BirdStone
Printed by simple card

Off they go!

NEW Vintage Style Save the Date Postcards

One of my favorite classes in college was print making and since then I've always dreamed of someday owning my own letterpress and silk screen studio (not for t-shirts, mind you).

When I heard of this book, The Handy Book of Artistic Printing I ordered it immediately. Upon its arrival I was instantly inspired by its contents: the diverse layouts, the complex and minute details, and the color palettes. I spent days sketching and flagging pages and when I finally sat down to the computer this postcard design came to life.

Front

Back

While directly inspired by a layout within the book, I now feel I have a better grasp of "how" to translate these vintage designs to modern stationery and create designs all my own. So look out for more awesomeness to pop up in the shop!

Minted: Save the Date

I finally got around to entering something into the Minted.com design challenge this round. I had been entering the contests regularly when we lived in Texas bus since moving here and getting a dog I've been busier and (honestly) forgot all about it.

I've not won yet so don't delay, vote for my design today!!

Tara's Custom Save-the-Date

Tara of A Beautiful Wedding for Less contacted me about designing her postcard save-the-dates through my Etsy shop. She and her fiance love board games and they are using vintage ones as reception centerpieces. (How cute!) After seeing a few of her inspiration invitations and her favorite fonts we decided the design should be a kind of game board illustrating the progression of their relationship.

All of the elements are hand-drawn and then scanned into the computer for colorization. Once we got everything just right I uploaded the finished designs to VistaPrint where Tara was able to take a advantage of their many free offers.

I enjoyed using my hand-drawing skills in combination with computer illustration and I would really like to do more projects like this. I am really excited with how her save-the-date turned out and can't wait to get one in the mail!

Thanks Tara!! You can read about this project on her blog here.