Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Rehearsal Dinner Invitations

Most brides forget about the rehearsal dinner - and understandably so, as they're busy planning for the even bigger event that will happen a day or two later! But the rehearsal dinners and any other satellite events you might have planned (events at other venues like a morning-after brunch for out-of-town guests, a bridal shower, or a bachelor/bachelorette party) still need stationery, too!

Almost any of my catalogue designs could be adapted for a rehearsal dinner invitation, but here are a few examples of some samples that I've already designed with a rehearsal dinner or similar event in mind.








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Shameless Plug Time: Love these invitations (or others featured on this blog)? Want something similar (or something completely custom) designed for your event? Visit Invites by Andrea to view more samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Sunday Sample Spotlight: "All Dolled Up"

As the wintry and romantic month of February draws to a close, I have one final feminine Sunday Sample Spotlight to showcase: "All Dolled Up."

"All Dolled Up" Invitation Duo (invite & reply card) with matching Save-the-Date and Shower Invitation
This stationery set, which includes a wedding invitation, reply card, save-the-date, and matching shower invitation but could be adapted to any event, has a very delicate winter color scheme - salmon, light pink, and pure white, with just a hint of black. All of the envelopes are bright white linen, so they have that pure white color and that soft texture that's so crucial to this set. The stationery is also printed on matching bright white linen.


Different shades of analogous soft colors, like peaches, salmons, and pinks, are terrific. Who says you have to settle on one exact shade of pink? Mixing and matching a lot of slightly different shades feels vintage and can make for some really beautiful decorations. In these designs, the pretty pinks are so subdued that white becomes the dominant color (a very "wintry" thing to do). The thin-strokes of the delicate font and the patterns that decorate the edges of the designs add just enough color to offset the neutral white and black.



This pattern is one of my favorites. I love how much white negative space it lets in and how the rows are offset from each other to create that brick-like repetition so that you get the horizontal and vertical rectangle-like shapes. Plus, the pattern was created out of such a beautiful font that it's filled with little details and loops that are so elegant. Just gorgeous!


Next week's Sunday Sample Spotlight: A stationery set with a map motif!

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Shameless Plug Time: Love this invitation (or others featured on this blog)? Want something similar (or something completely custom) designed for your event? Visit Invites by Andrea to view more samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Fancy/Funky Friday: Patterns Beverly & Claudia

Hope you're ready for another Fancy/Funky Friday post, because here it is! :)

First, the "fancy": Pattern Beverly




As "fancy" patterns go, Pattern Beverly is pretty casual. It reminds me a little bit of the plastic checkered tablecloths you'd find at an Italian family-style restaurant, or on a picnic - but despite the casual feel, it still has a hint of "fancy" as well. The pattern is very structured on its horizontal-vertical grid, and there's a good balance of white negative space to positive space. Plus, the decorative circles and cross-like shapes remind me of the ornamentation on Gothic churches in Europe, and though Gothic is hardly the fanciest of the European art and architecture styles, it's still steeped in tradition and feels rich in history - which, to me, is also a part of the idea of a "fancy" pattern.



Pattern Beverly was actually the pattern I designed for the day-after Sunday brunch hosted by my new mother-in-law for the morning after my wedding last July. Because the pattern I used for our wedding seemed so feminine, I tried to find more masculine patterns (and used more masculine colors) for the rehearsal dinner and Sunday brunch invitations. I used pale yellows, bright oranges, and masculine browns as the colors - perfect for a summer day breakfast - and faded the pattern into the white of the background.


And now, the "funky": Pattern Claudia



This pattern is fairly simple, as "funky" patterns go, but this just makes the shapes that are formed seem all the bolder. I love the juxtaposition of the pointed ovals with the "s" designs. And even though there are plenty of thick lines and "s" curves, it doesn't get too busy, too dense, or too crazy. There's enough negative white space that the pattern has some room to breathe, and the pointed ovals play up vertical lines, giving the pattern an underlying grid structure. To top it all off, the "s" curves aren't tilted anywhere, and only appear straight, perfectly in-line with the "s" curves to its other sides.

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Shameless plug time: Love my patterns? I incorporate them into a lot of the artwork I create, from stationery for Invites by Andrea to the watercolors I paint. Check out Invites by Andrea's website to see examples of these patterns in use or drop me a line at andrea@invitesbyandrea.com to let me know what you think!


Wednesday, February 22, 2012

10% Discount for all Custom Stationery Orders!

Most of the stationery examples I post on this blog are catalogue designs - stationery that has been (or could be) slightly altered (through text, font, or colors, but little else) from one of my stock designs for a client. But catalogue designs are not all that I do!

I also offer completely custom designs, and though I have to charge a bit more for the design fee on these projects (since it takes me longer to complete the initial proofs), I also offer a special discount for all clients who order custom work. For the entire year of 2012, I will give you a 10% discount on the total cost of your entire custom project - not just off the cost of the design fee! With this discount, a $100 custom designed invitation would only cost $90, and you'd also receive 10% off the total cost of printing, production, materials, and assembly!

Visit Invites by Andrea to view stationery samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information! :)


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Sunday, February 19, 2012

Sunday Sample Spotlight: "The Roosevelt Hotel"

The Academy Awards take place next Sunday, and I've created this stationery set intended for a party in its honor. This design or concept could easily be adapted to a different televised awards ceremony, as well. The concept of the party is simple - if you have a large screen television and friends who are film buffs (or music lovers for the Grammys, etc.), why not invite them all over so you can watch the festivities together?

"The Roosevelt Hotel" Invitation Duo (invite & voting ballot insert)

The envelope is a metallic gold Himalaya pocketfold with red star-patterned scrapbook paper lining the left flap and right pocket. Gold and red were the obvious color choices - indicative, of course, of the gold colored Oscar statues and the red carpet.



I chose an elaborate old Hollywood script font to play up the long-standing tradition of the Academy Awards - and it is also for this reason that I gave it the name "The Roosevelt Hotel," after the original venue of the awards. (This year, the Academy Awards will be presented at the Kodak theatre again.)


If you're hosting a party for an awards show, you should definitely consider having your own awards show as well. Encourage your guests to come in their most elaborate fashions and have a red carpet set up at the entrance of your home. After everyone has arrived, you can hand out awards for best dressed, most unique dress, or other fashion awards. It's easy to find ribbons or small plastic trophies at many dollar stores and party stores.

Another idea is to have all of your guests vote on who they think the winners of the awards show will be. Send a ballot ahead of time in a pocket of the invitation envelope so they can do any research they want to in order to make their best guesses (like I did with this stationery set, as you can see in the two photos above). Have a box at the party for them to turn their ballots in before the awards show starts, and award a prize to the guest who made the most correct guesses.



And as for decor - use a metallic gold and red color scheme to match the invitations, and play up the idea of film and Hollywood wherever you can. Make your own "Hollywood" sign for your wall, or hang celebrity "walk of fame" stars from your ceiling to celebrate that year's nominees - or the names of the guests that will be attending your party. :)


Next week's Sunday Sample Spotlight: "All Dolled Up"

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Shameless Plug Time: Love this invitation (or others featured on this blog)? Want something similar (or something completely custom) designed for your event? Visit Invites by Andrea to view more samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Fancy/Funky Friday: Patterns Sherelle & Rashida

It's that time again - TGIF! Here's your weekly dose of Fancy/Funky Friday!

First, the "fancy": Pattern Sherelle




Is it just me, or do the four curves coming out of the center of each oval look like little stylized frog legs to you too? Perhaps any pattern that reminds me of frogs should automatically be relegated to the "funky" rather than the "fancy" category, but somehow, the design still seems pretty fancy to me, despite its froggy appearance. The lines are thin, the design is relatively simple, and there's a lot of white space around to help calm the design down even more and help the pattern breathe. Sure, it looks too modern to be at home on Louis XIV's furniture like many of my "fancy" patterns do, but just because something is more contemporary doesn't mean it can't still be fancy, too. From a distance, I can totally see this pattern being turned into a sophisticated wallpaper.


And now, the "funky": Pattern Rashida





Usually the letters I use to create my patterns aren't quite so obvious, but I decided to make an exception for Pattern Rashida since I liked it as it was so much already. :) From a distance, the capital "R"s aren't as eye-popping, and the sunburst-like shapes that are created look really interesting. It's precisely because of the bright sunburst quality that I changed the pattern to an orange when I used it in the stationery design below.




I love that this pattern is at a diagonal, so I played that up even more by placing it on a diagonal in the stationery design. Usually I use patterns to decorate a horizontal or vertical edge or two of the design, but placing a pattern diagonally across a corner feels so much more unique and bold, and would be great for the invitation to a fun, funky, more casual affair. :)
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Shameless plug time: Love my patterns? I incorporate them into a lot of the artwork I create, from stationery for Invites by Andrea to the watercolors I paint. Check out Invites by Andrea's website to see examples of these patterns in use or drop me a line at andrea@invitesbyandrea.com to let me know what you think!


Thursday, February 16, 2012

Lakeshore Save-the-Dates

I recently had the opportunity to design a fun save-the-date set featuring an image of a lake and the surrounding landscape. For the illustration, I used a photograph I'd taken at the Krka National Park in Croatia as a guideline, and adapted it to be a flat two-color image using the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator. 

I loved working on this save-the-date set because I already knew the couple, and the project was kind of a unique case because they'd actually already gotten married last summer. They hadn't had time to have a big wedding then, so now they're planning one for this August, and the celebration is going to be in New York, in a picturesque location near Lake Erie. The save-the-date design highlights the cool venue for their event - and even though the image is not derived from the actual landscape they'll be at, the flat color of the picture makes the landscape generic enough that it could work for almost any natural setting.


Stacks of finished save-the-dates

Save-the-date with matching solid Cobalt Blue envelope



We created two different save-the-date designs - one that was sent to the out-of-town guests they wanted to also invite to a Friday night dinner and Sunday brunch, and one just for the guests invited to the big Saturday celebration in the park.

For the envelopes, we chose a solid dark blue color that matched the dark blue used on the stationery. I printed all of the addresses on white labels and attached a return address and guest address to each envelope for a professional look. Labels are a great way to address any stationery that have dark colored envelopes - otherwise anything you write on the envelope might not show up, and light colored pencils, paint pens, or markers can be more difficult for the post office to read. 




Finally, I picked out the USPS's "Garden of Love" postal stamp for the corner of each envelope. The blueish-green background went well with the colors of the stationery and envelopes, and I loved the flower designs. They fit well with the nature theme, and the petals of the flowers and birds had little heart shapes hidden throughout the garden, making them perfect stamps for these whimsical save-the-dates. :)


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Shameless Plug Time: Love this invitation (or others featured on this blog)? Want something similar (or something completely custom) designed for your event? Visit Invites by Andrea to view more samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Valentine's Day Scrapbook Paper

I have so many patterns I've designed and so many photos I've taken on my travels that I love that lately I've been playing around with the idea of creating some designs for 12" x 12" scrapbook paper. (Of course, I don't have a printer large enough to print anything at that size yet, but the patterns could be easily adapted down to a smaller 8.5" x 11" size, too.)

And so, in honor of Valentine's Day today, I thought I'd share a few examples of the color combinations and patterns I've been using to create a Scrapbook Paper Valentine Collection. All of these papers are solid colors (either two or three colors), and feature one of the patterns I've created. Any of these designs could be altered to any color combinations you might want!




Recognize some of those patterns? I've featured a few of them as Fancy/Funky Friday posts already, so they might seem familiar. :)

If you see a design you like, or want to see some more examples of the scrapbook paper I've been creating, shoot me an email and I can send you some more pictures. I'm also planning to post more designs on this blog as I make them, so be sure to keep checking back!

Happy Valentine's Day!




Shameless plug time: Want to purchase some scrapbook paper, or have stationery designed from the patterns and color combinations featured here? I also incorporate pattern in some of my watercolor paintings. Check out Invites by Andrea to browse sample stationery or drop me a line at andrea@invitesbyandrea.com to let me know what you think!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Sunday Sample Spotlight: "Chocolate Valentine"

Happy Valentine's Day! Last month, I showed you a set of pink and green stationery I made for a Bat Mitzvah. I mentioned then that the design was a modification of a catalogue design called "Chocolate Valentine." And here is that catalogue design! :)

"Chocolate Valentine" Invitation Trio (invite, reply card, and information insert)

The basic design is pretty similar with a couple of obvious differences - for the Bat Mitzvah set, everything brown was changed to green, and I used metallic pink envelopes for everything. With this catalogue design, though, only the reply card has a pink envelope - and it's a solid deep pink instead of metallic. The main envelope is a Cascade pocketfold envelope in solid chocolate brown (hence the name of the design), and the right pocket and left flap are lined with pink and white polka-dotted scrapbook paper.



Above, you can see how the invitation initially looks. When pulled out of the outside envelope, the Cascade pocketfold will be all solid brown. Flipping up the flap on the left reveals the pink scrapbook paper, and the rest of the package folds out on the right, where the right scrapbook-lined pocket holds the information insert, reply card, and reply card envelope.



I used the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator to trace a photograph I'd taken looking up at a rose in a vase. The graphic is bold and fun, and feels very modern, which is why it goes great with the little polka-dots on the scrapbook paper. The pink and brown color combination has also been very popular in the last several years, adding to the contemporary feel. And what better font to tie it all together than a standard sans serif? If that doesn't define graphic design of the last couple of decades, I don't know what does. ;)




Next week's Sunday Sample Spotlight: The perfect stationery for an Academy Awards viewing party

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Shameless Plug Time: Love this invitation (or others featured on this blog)? Want something similar (or something completely custom) designed for your event? Visit Invites by Andrea to view more samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Fancy/Funky Friday: Patterns Marianna & Matilda

Can you believe we're already into February? This year is already flying! So here is today's Fancy/Funky Friday post to commemorate another week gone by. :)

First, the "fancy": Pattern Marianna





I love how thin the pen strokes are in this pattern, and how absolutely elegant it looks. The straight horizontal lines create an emphasis along the rows, but the repeating diamonds counter that by playing up the vertical columns - and the way the diamonds flow into each other to create even bigger diamonds deconstructs the whole horizontal-vertical grid in favor of diagonals. The pattern has some of my favorite features of any patterns: the feeling of argyle, circular forms, and flower-like images. And the best part is - despite the variety of forms, it all works together great! :)





I've used Pattern Marianna in many stationery designs just because it lends itself so well to using a single row or column of the pattern, and it looks great bordering either the vertical or horizontal edges of an invitation. It adds instant elegance, and works great in a variety of colors.


And now, the "funky": Pattern Matilda




Pattern Matilda, on the other hand, is a much denser design. The lines vary between thin and thick, and the "v" like shapes facing different directions make it very dynamic and create a lot of movement. Your eye travels in a zig-zag along the rows, but also wants to bounce up and down along the tilted, disconnected vertical lines. It's a very active pattern - and would be even if the color was paler and created less of a contrast with the minimal white background that is still visible. Because it's so busy and active, it would be a great pattern for a bold outfit worn by the fashion-daring... or perhaps it's best left to be viewed in small doses. It just depends on your personal preferences. ;)

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Shameless plug time: Love my patterns? I incorporate them into a lot of the artwork I create, from stationery for Invites by Andrea to the watercolors I paint. Check out Invites by Andrea's website to see examples of these patterns in use or drop me a line at andrea@invitesbyandrea.com to let me know what you think!


Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Valentine's Day Decor Ideas

If you're hosting a Valentine's Day party (like the fun suggestions I made in yesterday's post), don't forget the decor! You can always go the stereotypical route and decorate with pink and red hearts everywhere - but don't think that is your only option.

Purple is a great color for Valentine's Day, too, especially when paired with a rich gold. Purple is close enough to red and pink on the color spectrum that it's still appropriate, but it's also just a little bit less "girly" that it will make your male guests feel more comfortable. Plus, gold can feel very masculine or feminine and can add a little gender neutrality to your decor. Another fun option is a pale pink and mint green combination, which is perfect for late winter and early spring parties. The pink is perfect for Valentine's Day, but the green is unexpected, goes great with the pink, and looks forward to the soon-to-be springtime.

And don't forget the flowers! Roses are beautiful and classic, but again, don't limit yourself to roses just because you've never seen anything else done. What about making your own bouquet out of fabric, paper, vintage jewelry brooches, or buttons? There are plenty of websites out there with craft ideas like those, or you can browse Etsy and find hundreds of fun fake flower decorations that are already made! If you do decide to use real roses, why not go with an unexpected color instead of the traditional deep red? Have white and silver decor with white roses for a very elegant color scheme, or have an all-yellow Valentine's Day party and use yellow roses, which stand for friendship.

Besides flowers, another thing most people agree is romantic is music. Why not have a music-themed Valentine's Day party? Make a flower bouquet out of vintage sheet music, or print sheet music on fabric and use it to make a table cloth - or buy a keyboard-themed table runner. Hang musical note silhouettes from the ceiling or walls. They even make balloons and paper plates decorated with musical notes. Similarly, you could host a jazz-filled Roaring 20's Valentine's Day party that features music-themed decorations.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Valentine's Day Party Ideas

You don't have to be in a special relationship to celebrate Valentine's Day. It's also a great holiday to share with your other single friends, or a whole group of people regardless of their relationship status. It's a time to show your friends and family that you care about them. And yes, I know that this holiday was mostly created into what it is today by greeting card companies - but what's so wrong with wanting to show the people you love that you love them? And I love any excuse to hang out with my friends. :)

So today I have a few different Valentine's Day party ideas for you. The first one I already talked a bit about two days ago, when I posted the Sunday Sample Spotlight "Kitchen Chaos." How fun would it be to get your baking-loving friends together for a cupcake bake-off? If your kitchen isn't big enough, you could always request that your guests bake their delicious creations at home and bring in a dessert dish to share instead. Everyone can vote on their favorite cupcake flavor combinations (or favorite dessert in general, if you broaden the theme to everything sweet). Give the official winner of the bake-off a festive prize, like a box of Valentine's chocolates. Or just do it for fun without any prizes - because, let's be honest, in a party revolving around dessert, everyone already wins.

Another fun idea for getting together with your girl friends is holding a fashion show or doing a clothes swap. If you're anything like me, you're already itching to wear something cute for springtime, even if the weather still thinks it's deep in winter. All of the stores already have their new spring fashions out - why not get the girls together to do some retail therapy? Or, save some money and do a clothing swap if you have friends that are about the same size as you. Everyone can bring some of their old fashions they don't want anymore and trade them in for something new. Don't like anything your friends have brought to give away? Add a re-purposing element to the party, where you all perform easy DIY tasks on the old clothes to make them new and stylish again. Rip holes or splatter bleach on jeans to give them a worn, funky look. Re-sew a new hemline to make a dress or skirt fit this season's lengths. There are plenty of websites out there with ideas on how to change an old outfit into something new again. And once you've got a whole new wardrobe, end the night with a fashion show for your friends, where you each get to show off your new outfits. :)

Of course, there are also plenty of activities you can do with a mixed group of friends that won't alienate the guys, too. Watch movies - and they don't have to be romantic ones, either. Play board games with boy/girl teams and have a night-long battle-of-the-sexes. If there's snow on the ground, go sledding. Have a fancy wine-and-cheese appetizer party. Do stereotypical "date night" activities in a large group of friends - go ice skating, go to the movies, share a pizza. My fourth grade class went on a field trip to a bowling alley for Valentine's Day one year, and it was one of my favorite memories of the whole year (even though I'd broken my shoulder and my arm was in a sling at the time). The important thing is to just have fun. Ultimately, Valentine's Day is no different than any other day of the year, but it is a nice excuse to let your friends know you love them. Even if that's a little cheesy for your taste. :)

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Sunday Sample Spotlight: "Kitchen Chaos"

This week I plan to post some ideas for Valentine's Day parties, and one of those ideas is getting friends together and having a cupcake bake-off. This stationery set would be perfect for a party like that - or for a casual wedding with a cupcake reception.

I already had the cupcake illustration from a design I made for some birthday greeting cards, and I absolutely loved this piece of scrapbook paper, which was in a stack of paper I'd purchased years ago. The colors are my two favorite colors - blues and purples - and the design looked so fun and painterly that I just had to find a use for it. I changed the colors of my cupcake illustration to match the scrapbook paper better, and voila, a stationery set that perfectly demonstrates both the messy deliciousness of a kitchen after baking a frenzied batch of cupcakes and the artistic talents of cake decorators for events like weddings and other large parties.

"Kitchen Chaos" Invitation Duo (invite & reply card)

As usual when I use scrapbook paper, I cut and used the actual paper with its bright, bold colors on the right-side pocket and the flap on the left of this metallic purple Himalaya pocketfold envelope. I also scanned the remaining scraps of paper into my computer to use very lightly in the background of the invitation and reply card. That way, the stationery would tie into the design on the envelopes without being an exact replica of the intense colors.


For the font, I chose a casual handwriting font with a bit of variation in line thickness so it would seem more like words sculpted out of cupcake icing. Since the purple and blue were such bold colors, I added some brown and white in the text and cupcake illustration to balance out the color with a bit of neutral.


In the picture above you can see some of the shine of the metallic purple envelopes. I was lucky enough to find envelopes that literally perfectly matched the purple shades in the scrapbook paper I had. It almost looks as if the envelopes were intended to have the paint splatter decorations, the paper and envelopes match so well! :)




Next week's Sunday Sample Spotlight: "Chocolate Valentine"

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Shameless Plug Time: Love this invitation (or others featured on this blog)? Want something similar (or something completely custom) designed for your event? Visit Invites by Andrea to view more samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Fancy/Funky Friday: Patterns Winifred & Ambrose

Today's Fancy/Funky Friday post is going to look at Patterns Winifred and Ambrose. :)

First, the "fancy": Pattern Winifred



Pattern Winifred is very classic of my "fancy" patterns. It's one of those designs that is so similar to others I've made, and so indicative of how I think of the adjective "fancy" in my head, that I'm sure I've used it on several stationery designs and in the backgrounds of several watercolor paintings - and yet, I can't seem to find any examples! It's like thinking of an actor who is always in a certain genre of movie so much so that s/he has practically become synonymous with that genre, yet when you're asked to call to mind some specific movies that s/he has been in, you can't seem to think of any examples that pass a fact-checking test. The actor is so ubiquitous that you assume s/he is in movies that s/he isn't, just because it seems like s/he should be.

That is Pattern Winifred to me. :) I mean, it has the thin strokes, the wide open white space, and the mix of diamond-like shapes and gentle curves that make it seem both modern-professional (like argyle or a wrought-iron gate) and ancient-elegant (like the interior of the Napoleon III apartments in the Louvre). It has everything I look for when I'm designing a "fancy" pattern.


And now, the "funky": Pattern Ambrose




Ambrose is one of my favorite "funky" patterns because it is so unique. It looks great either horizontal or vertical, or as a few columns or an entire block of pattern. Because the pattern units are so long, it really emphases whichever direction you turn it, making the reply card below seem even longer than it is by mimicking the reply line and the horizontal orientation of the card.




It also works great with a unique long font, like the one used above, and the pattern can be easily deconstructed in other parts of the stationery, since the individual parts look almost as interesting as the entire pattern does. Above, I took part of the pattern to make the "check boxes" for guests to reply with. I've done this with several of my patterns, but using Ambrose is one of my favorites. The interesting diamond shapes I used for the "check boxes" are a little lost when looking at the pattern as a whole, since the longer rounded rectangles, circles, and perpendicular straight lines command so much attention. By pulling the diamonds out to use elsewhere in the stationery, I make sure they don't go completely unnoticed, and I tie the rest of the stationery design back in with the pattern.

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Click here to see all posts related to "Fancy/Funky Friday" 


Shameless plug time: Love my patterns? I incorporate them into a lot of the artwork I create, from stationery for Invites by Andrea to the watercolors I paint. Check out Invites by Andrea's website to see examples of these patterns in use or drop me a line at andrea@invitesbyandrea.com to let me know what you think!