Anniversary Roses

I needed a 50th Wedding Anniversary card, and isn't that a perfect excuse to play around with creating another floral design?

The flowers for the 50th Anniversary are yellow roses and violets, so they formed the basis for my design. I then filled up empty space with some miscellaneous leaves and some baby's breath, that being a suitably wedding-themed type of flower. 

 

I approved of being basically forced to put purple and yellow together. I like working with colours on opposite sides of the colour wheel!

The metal for this anniversary is of course gold, so out came the gold glitter again:

In an ideal world I would be able to print all cards properly, instead of printing them out on photo paper and mounting them on cardstock. But until I get so amazingly organised that I have all cards ready a year in advance and can send them off to Moo for printing (i.e. never).... this is the way they are done.

Adobe Photoshop CC2015 on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2.

Rose Wedding Invitations

I recently completed a big wedding job. I did the Save the Dates almost a year ago, and the wedding itself happened earlier this month. I did all the stationary and miscellany for it, which was a lot of fun.

I was originally sent a lot of images that the bride and/or groom liked, and combined a lot of this inspiration (regency stripes, roses, floral designs, cute touches, decorative borders...) into one cohesive design. Here's a closer look at the main invitation:

All the items were held together with ribbon, finished with a motif in pearlescent lavender card, the same colour as the backing board used for the same invitation. For the motif I combined the monogram I designed for them when I did the Save the Dates with the flowers from the main design. 

They quite liked those quaint sketched birds-eye view venue maps, but with the odd shape of the area that had to be included, this didn't fit the space too well, so I compromised with a more modern looking oblique-angle map created in Illustrator, embellished with sketched landmarks in Photoshop:

There were a limited number of brunch invitations going out as well. For these I did an illustration depicting the couple and their dog. More on that in another post:

The illustration was also used on the thank you cards:

I also designed place-card menus for the reception, mounted on the pearlescent card. As well as the main guest book, each table at the reception also had a small book for guests to write in, each featuring a different question for them to answer. The bride bought small notebooks which I then covered by hand, using the same Coco Linen Ivoire paper that the rest of the stationary used. I had two designs for the book covers, and changed the question for each one. The books were just thick enough to include the question on the spine of each book, which you can see in this picture, which also includes the cover of the ceremony programme:

To finish off the books nicely, I glued in half-endpapers. Half of these re-used the illustration with the dog (the other half of which is at the back of the book)

and half used a montage made up of the bride and groom's names:

In addition to the above, I designed miscellany for the Reception, including signage, cookie jar labels and table numbers:

By far the most time-consuming item was the seating plan. At well over A3 in size, and featuring a lot of roses and leaves, it took me quite a few hours. Below is a mockup I made to show the bride how it should look, using a photograph she took of the frame at the reception venue:

The majority of the above work was completed in Adobe Photoshop CC and Adobe inDesign CC, with a touch of Adobe Illustrator CC in the mix as well. I printed all the items using an Epson Artisan 730 and Coco Linen Ivoire paper and card. 

Invitations: Tulip Wedding Reception

Here are the seating plans and place cards I put together to match these invitations:

I did two copies of the seating plan, mounted on silver paper, and made 81 place cards, which meant a lot of cutting, a lot of scoring, a lot of folding and a lot of glueing! 

The seating plan is typeset in Americana BT, which is easy to read and matches the invitations, and the place cards are in Recherche, which did mean that I had to individually manage the glyphs on every one – something that almost certainly won't be noticed, but it adds to the overall feel of the cards when each name is arranged to look as good as possible, instead of relying on just 26 letters. 

The backgrounds were put together in Adobe Photoshop CC, and the type was all done in Adobe InDesign CC. 

Invitations: Tulip Wedding

Here are some wedding invitations that I sent off today. I did the engagement invitations for the same couple and they requested something similar but with the colour scheme changed from purple and silver to red and silver. 

The wedding ceremony is at Araluen Botanical Park, which is known for its tulips, so as I again didn't have any specific guidelines for what to design, I went went with a tulip theme. They'd requested that the invitations be 'romantic' but also 'fun' so I typeset on an angle so as to be a bit less formal, and used Americana BT for the font, as with the engagement invitations. I used the text monogram from the engagement invitations to tie everything together. 

As wedding invitations need to look a bit more luxe, I used embossing powder to emboss all the monograms. I went out an got some embossing pens, but most annoyingly they didn't work on the paper (Canon high resolution paper) – the ink dried instantly, presumably due to the coating, so the powder had nothing to stick to; I was forced to return to using glue, which works but results in a more crackly finish than the embossing pens. (Fortunately I plan to emboss this year's Christmas cards, and the pens do work on that cardstock. They will not be wasted!)

52 invitations and 52 rsvp slips are quite a lot to emboss, but I think it was worth it, they catch the light very nicely. 

Typesetting in Adobe inDesign CC, Illustration in Adobe Photoshop CC, all hand assembled. 

Design: Save the Dates

Here's a look at some Save the Dates I designed recently for a lovely couple – I'll be doing the rest of their wedding stationary in due course, but these were the first things up. 

The floral design and colour scheme will be carried throughout the paper goods, and the Save the Dates have a watermark illustration of the ceremony venue behind the text.

Here's a clearer look at that illustration. I did an image search for a lot of potential views of the building, and they chose the one they liked the best. It was very, very small and fuzzy and had trees in the front, but I was able to create something new from it, using clearer photos to work out the details:

I also put together a monogram for them to use with wax seals on their envelopes. I made up a .ai file in Illustrator, and it was sent to the folks at the Wax Seal Shop. The seal-effect here is just a mockup in Photoshop.

Save the Dates put together in Photoshop CS6 with a Wacom Intuos 3 and printed with an Epson Artisan 730 on Coco Linen Ivoire 130gsm.  

Illustration: Happily Ever After

Here's a painting I did recently for a lovely couple in the USA. They saw my Tangled Wedding sketch and asked if I would create something similar for them, as they are getting married soon. They liked the sepia toning and sketchy look of the original sketch, so I kept it simple. They asked for the text to be added to fill the blank space to the left, so I typeset it in Recherche and then hand painted it. The faces are slightly characterised likenesses of the bride and groom to be themselves, but the rest is basically the same as in my sketch.  

It didn't scan too well, this particular watercolour paper and scanners do not seem to get along – it's a bit  less heavy and more subtle in the original. I think the texture of the paper reflects the light in an odd way. I'm happy to know that the clients were very happy with it when they got to see it in person. =) 

Winsor & Newton watercolours, Prismacolour pencils, Faber Castell PITT Artist pens, Uniball Gel Pen and white acrylic on Arches Medium 300gsm watercolour paper

Cards: Wedding and Engagement

 I needed a wedding card today, so finished off one that had been sitting unfinished on my computer for some time. It was originally designed as part of a set with an engagement card, although we didn't actually give this particular couple an engagement card, so that's rather irrelevant – but I shall post them both together:

Both were created in Adobe Illustrator CS4, although I finished off the wedding card in CS6. When I print them out I add some glitter – on the ring for the engagement card, and in the bouquet and veil for the wedding card.   

It is possible that I'll change the wedding card to have a long skirt – but I was in a hurry today, so it stayed short. =)

Invitations: Engagement

Here's a monogram I designed recently for some Engagement Party invitations.

I always give out a questionnaire when I do invitations, so that I can tailor my design to the commissioner. This couple didn't really have anything in mind, no theme or suchlike, but they did tell me their favourite colours. So, since they also wanted something simple, I took those colours and turned to the good old language of flowers to design a monogram. 

So, here we have red roses, symbolising true love, blue violets for faithfulness, forget-me-nots, again for true love, arbutus, for 'you're the only one I love' and lilac, for the first emotions of love. Probably rather more romantic than the couple themselves, but I like to choose flowers that suit the situation. 

If you're interested in the fonts, the letters are in Recherche and and the scrolls are from Melany Lane Ornaments. 

I constructed all of the invitations yesterday, and here's a snap:

The bride-to-be had given me a sample of a DL invitation printed on shiny paper, and wanted something similar. I chose some Quill Metallique paper in Lavender, and opted to stick on the information rather than print straight onto the paper, as it gives a cleaner look, I find. To tie it all together I went over the letters of the monogram with a silver gel-pen to add a bit of sparkle. 

The mood choices that had been ticked on my questionnaire were 'romantic', 'simple', 'cheerful' and 'fun' so to keep everything a bit less formal I chose to typeset the invitation in Americana BT, rather than a more classic swirly or sans-serif font. That was also the reason for the + rather than an & in the monogram itself. 

The text of the monogram was created in Adobe Illustrator CS6, the flowers in Photoshop CS6 and the typesetting in inDesign CS6.  

Illustration: Wedding Card

Here's something I put together for my cousin's wedding, which is tomorrow. I doubt there's any chance she'll be seeing this here, that being the case, so I'm posting it tonight. ^.^ 

My cousin is a graphic designer, and put together a fabulous folded invitation, themed around 'our journey', so I chose to echo the colour scheme of that (which was actually salmon and blue, not mauve), and include suitcases to continue the journey theme. Last I heard the plan was to have a vintage suitcase as the 'wishing well', so I thought it fit. 

She had a very graphic invitation, in that sort of retro-modern style, with 50s fonts and graphic patterns and icons, so I thought I'd attempt retro-modern with the card. I like to tailor cards to the weddings themselves, if possible. Not that this is a duplication of the invitations, by any means, but a nod to what I know of the theme is always nice, I think. It was tricky to be so unrefined with my edges; I'm not used to that! 

Here are some photos of the final product:

Parts of the card have clear embossing powder on them, so they're raised and shiny – not that that comes across too well in the photos. My mother likes me to use glitter, but this really isn't a glitter card, so I compromised. =P

And there's a small motif inside the card as well: 

Adobe Photoshop CS4, with a Wacom Intuos 3. Printed on double-sided Epson Matte Heavyweight paper. 

Illustration: Wren Thankyou Cards

You may remember the Wren wedding invitations I did some months ago. These are the thank you cards that went with them, which it just occurred to me I had not yet blogged. 

I used the original painting of wrens from the invitation, and dressed them up in the clothes and bouquet from the wedding itself. Wrens in dinner jackets are just too marvelous to pass up. ^.^ I'm not quite sure how the bride is actually holding on to the bouquet, but we'll call that artistic license, shall we? =P It's certainly held in her left wing. 

I can't remember exactly, but I think I made about 70. We got them printed at a Kodak photo booth, and stuck them on to folded card with double-sided tape.

Adobe Photoshop CS4.

Wedding Cards

Hello to new watchers! =)


I've done quite a lot of wedding and engagement cards recently, so I thought I'd share some of my favourites:

Top to bottom, left to right, we have:

– a wedding card, with the couple raised above the background and embellished with pearlescent confetti glitter. Original illustration done in Adobe Illustrator. The inside read 'Let the magic begin'

– An engagement card, featuring a henna-style motif in pale blue glitter on bronze card.

– An engagement card, hand drawn and hand-cut-out, with embellishments in silver glitter. 

– A wedding card for a farming couple – My client wanted a windmill on it, and she wanted it green, so this is what I came up with. Adobe Illustrator again. The inside read 'May your love for each other be as sunshine and rain upon the land'

– And finally, my most recent wedding card. Hand painted and hand lettered with a dip pen and brown ink, with highlights of watercolour and gold acrylic. Inside read 'Love and laughter. For now. Forever.'

Here's a clearer view of the first card:

And finally, for a bit of variety, here is a baby card, also done recently, but utilising a cleaned-up and modernised version of a stork card I did several years ago. Also Adobe Illustrator, with the clouds making up several layers for a 3d effect. And confetti glitter for embellishment:

I really need to take better photos of my cards – or at least choose days when it isn't windy or very overcast. =P 

Design: Wren Recipe Book

I designed these two little splendid fairy wrens for a recipe book I put together for my friend Tilly, who's getting married on Saturday. Today was her bridal shower, and I got everyone coming to contribute a few favourite recipes, and typed them up into a book, which I then got bound up.

I chose to do wrens because I did the Wren Wedding Invitations for Tilly, and thought I'd just carry on the theme. 

The male blue wren was part of a blue layout, for savoury recipes, and the brown female wren was part of a pink page, for sweet recipes. And I had one drinks recipe, so put both of them on that, with a purple colour scheme. 

Wrens and page design were done in Adobe Illustrator CS4, and the text was done in Adobe InDesign CS4.

Illustration: Bridal Shower

A little illustration I whipped up for a bridal shower invitation.

In this case, I'm hosting the shower, so I had no one to please but me, really – how refreshing!

It's a winter wedding, so thus a winter shower as well, so I wanted some reference to that, hence the umbrella, she loves cake, which is why she's standing on a cupcake, and her favourite colour is blue

And since she's the girl who commissioned the Wren wedding invitations, I put a little wren on her jumper, to tie everything together.

All in all, this was great fun (barring the brolly, I never like drawing them =P)

This was done in Adobe Photoshop CS4, over this sketch:

Sakura Wedding Invitations

The second lot of wedding invitations I've been doing. These ones were based around a cherry blossom design, on a nice textured cardstock. And they were completely different in mood and style from the wren invitations posted earlier.

The whole project involved designing invitations, rsvp cards, thankyou cards and place cards, and also developing a lining for the invitation envelope.

The cherry blossom design was created in Adobe Illustrator, and the text layout was done in Adobe InDesign.

To keep the place cards looking light and airy, I only used one branch from the original design. Any more would have been a bit much on these, which are only the size of a business card.

Wren Wedding Invitations

Lately I've been doing a fair bit of wedding invitation design, which has been fun.

So, here's the result of one of these projects.

I started out with five design concepts, based around information gathered in a questionnaire I gave the couple. This is the design they chose, based on this horrible thumbnail sketch and a bit of a write-up.

And really, when the things to include include the words 'blue', 'feathers', 'cute' and 'friendly' – how can you resist a fairy wren or two?

Once we'd finalised the choice of design, I started with this sketch, and then did a digital painting:

You can see the final painting over here at my deviantart account.

And here are some snaps of the invitations and RSVP postcards that were put together. I still have other things to do for this wedding, but we got the invitations sent out in good time.

The bride, my mother, and I spent a day getting the various parts of the invitations ready (folding, cutting the ribbon, cutting out and embossing the wrens), and then I put them all together the next day:

The invitations were triple-folded, with a quote on the inside flap, the invitation wording in the centre, and hand-drawn maps to the chapel and reception on the left and right.

The postcards were printed by CJ King, and they did a great job.

The invitations I'm working on currently bear no similarity to these at all. It's nice to know I can be versatile.