Sunday Sample Spotlight: "The Art Teacher"

I had a lot of fun with color and simulating paint splatter in Adobe Illustrator to create this invitation design.

"The Art Teacher" Invitation

The text blends into the paint splatter so much that at first glance it's a little bit like "Where's Waldo" - but it's easy enough to read as long as the text is minimal. In this design, not much information needs to be given since there is a website guests can visit for more details and to reply online, so the crazy text is perfect.

Artsy and playful, this design would be great for a creative venue (such as a rehearsal dinner or holiday cocktail party at a modern art museum), a more casual affair (like a child's birthday party boasting lots of arts-and-crafts activities), or a baby announcement or shower invitation.

Next week's Sunday Sample Spotlight: "Florentine Brown"


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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.

Sunday Sample Spotlight: "Black Gold"

Can you believe it's almost 2013?? A big THANK YOU to all who've been regularly visiting my blog - making 2012 an amazing year!

I loved the metallic "antique gold" color of this petal-fold envelope so much that I left it as is - without adding any embellishments like ribbons or scrapbook paper.

"Black Gold" Invitation Duo (invite & reply card)

The gold reply envelope matches the petal fold envelope, and both the invitation and reply card are mounted on metallic onyx black cardstock for extra sparkle.

 The amount of shine on the metallic envelopes and papers depends on the angle to the nearest light source. In the photo below, you can really see how sparkly the materials can look - making this stationery set perfect for winter weddings and holiday parties (especially New Year's Eve)!

The invitation and reply card are printed with simple black and gold lettering and one of my favorite patterns on a classic white cardstock background.

If the pattern looks familiar to you, it may be because you've seen it on one of my first Fancy/Funky Friday posts, which I posted more than a year ago! I used this pattern on the invitations I created for my own rehearsal dinner, way back in July 2011.

Next week's Sunday Sample Spotlight: "Through the Glass" - another one of my absolute favorites!


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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.

Sunday Sample Spotlight: "Fire & Ice"

Bright orange and navy blue is a great color scheme for autumn (as I showed in this fall inspiration board). I just love the contrast between the complementary colors!

"Fire & Ice" - Invitation Duo (invite & reply card)

I chose a solid orange petal-fold envelope with matching reply card envelope, and then mounted the stationery (printed on white cardstock) to a textured navy blue cardstock so that it would pop against the bright orange.

The great thing about this stationery design is the unexpected tilt of the text. Everything is on a diagonal, but since the diagonal is consistent (every line of text is still parallel to the others, and even the bold, graphic pattern lines up with the text), it still feels structured enough to be unoffensive.

 

I switched things up again in making the reply card, and changed the angle so that everything was tilting the other way. Because the pattern is so eye-catching and large in scale, I kept the font simple, going with a standard sans serif font family, and changing only between bold and light italic.

There are so many angles going on in the design - from the angle of the text and pattern stripes, to the actual units within the pattern itself - that the curvy petal-fold envelope works well to calm everything down.

This design would be perfect for a unique wedding venue, funky rehearsal dinner, or even sophisticated children's birthday party. The bold colors and tilted text give it a casual feel, but the thickness of the cardstock, special fold of the envelope, and the rich texture on the dark blue border give this stationery a substantial feel again, making it appropriate for even formal, important events.


Next week's Sunday Sample Spotlight: "The Little Red Hen"



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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.

Sunday Sample Spotlight: "The One That I Want"

Today's Sunday Sample Spotlight uses a fun fifties theme throughout the stationery design. Check out the great aqua, pink, pale yellow, and black color scheme!

"The One That I Want" - Invitation Duo (invite & reply card)

The main envelope is a solid aqua-colored petal-fold design, with a matching reply envelope. The stationery is printed with a pale yellow background and mounted on textured pink cardstock for an extra pop of color.

I traced all of the illustrations using the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator and used a kitschy 1950s font for the text. The right of the invitation shows a diner scene, with a bar stool, counter, malt drink, and jukebox, while the left of the invitation focuses more on the traditional 1950s drive-in movie theatre, with an classic car and light-up sign.

For the reply card, I used the same elements from the invitation, keeping the black and pink arrow from the sign, but leaving it open for guests to write their names on the line. Then, I repeated the pink circles at a larger scale for the yes/no check boxes, and incorporated 1950s lingo in the response selections.

The final additions were the pink and black record decorations creating a border at the top of the invitation and reply card. I needed a way to balance out the eye-catching pink circles on the drive-in sign and was looking for another circular form to use. An homage to vintage records was the obvious solution! I added a larger record to the diner scene on the right of the invitation to tie it all together.

A 1950s theme is great for kid's parties, birthday parties, school dances, rehearsal dinners, casual weddings, and Valentine's day. My church hosted a mother-daughter "sock-hop" event once, and even though I was young at the time, I still remember how fun it was to dress up in a felt "poodle skirt" and dance around!



Next week's Sunday Sample Spotlight: "Paper Lanterns"



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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.

Sunday Sample Spotlight: "Jazz Hands"

Themed events are so fun - especially if guests come in appropriate costumes! :) Themes can instantly make even the most formal event feel more fun and casual, and they work for almost any occasion, including weddings, rehearsal dinners, birthday parties, and dinner parties. This week's Sunday Sample Spotlight mixes a spirited Roaring Twenties theme with a modern red and navy color scheme.

"Jazz Hands" - Invitation

This dark blue metallic "petal" envelope has four flaps (two of which I decorated in red argyle scrapbook paper) which fold in on itself to create its own envelope. The red scrapbook paper really pops against the dark navy, and calls to mind the red velvet curtains of a theatre. I wanted to use the "petal" envelope for this theme because I loved the act of opening up the envelope to this lively scene - like how one might sneak into a clandestine bar for some moonshine and a burlesque show. ;)

I created these silhouettes by tracing images I found on Google with Adobe Illustrator's pen tool. Then, I drew the music notes freehand with the pen tool so they'd feel more syncopated (instead of exact and manufactured), added a line of small red diamonds to border the left and right sides of the invitation (to relate back to the argyle pattern of the scrapbook paper on the envelope), and chose a period font.

Voila! A unique invitation perfect for any casual or formal Roaring Twenties event!


Next week's Sunday Sample Spotlight: "In Grape Demand"


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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.

Sunday Sample Spotlight: "Everybody Knows Your Name"

In 2009, my family took a short weekend trip to Boston. Since my brother and I had never been before, we were sure to take one of their famous Duck tours, which drove around the streets showing us some of Boston's best-known landmarks, before dipping into the waters of the Charles River as a boat. The illustration featured in this stationery set - of Boston's skyline as seen from the river - was traced from a photograph I took on that trip and turned into a graphic representation of Boston.

"Everybody Knows Your Name" - Invitation duo (invite & reply card)

The picture, which includes part of Boston's skyline as well as a passing sailboat, is used on both the invitation and matching reply card. The images are the same scale on both designs - if you lined the buildings on the reply card up to the invitation, it would perfectly match.

I used six colors in the illustration (light blue, dark blue, green, black, brown, and white). By limiting the colors and tracing only the most distinctive features of the buildings, I simplified the skyline to look more modern and graphic. The background of both the invitation and reply card features a gradient, from deep light blue at the bottom to the pale white of a sunlit sky on the top, but the overlying illustration is made up of all solid-colored shapes. I chose a metallic light blue for the petal envelope and reply card envelope, to play up the blues in the image and background.

This particular sample was made for a casual Bostonian rehearsal dinner, but the design could easily be adapted to any other event taking place in or celebrating the historic charm of downtown Boston.


Next week's Sunday Sample Spotlight: A funky color combination featuring graphic floral illustrations!



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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.

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.