May 18, 2012
And it’s Friday! Have any fun weekend plans? My Bob Vila-esque father is coming into town to help us fix up the new apartment. I’ll also be painting my new office this weekend, I’m so excited {literally, I couldn’t sleep}! Hope you all have a lovely weekend, do something great.
May 17, 2012
With the warmer weather headed our way, I’m getting a little crush on good ol’ New York again. I’ve been here 6 years now {whoa} and we’ve had our ups and downs but lately, I feel like we’re on the up- pretty good! Below is the beginning of a NYC inspired watercolor wedding suite, love the blue hues!
May 16, 2012
Remember the amazing Jorie and Hal from last summer? Their wedding was recently featured in the Spring/Summer issue of Vermont Vows- very exciting!! Their wedding was perfect down the last detail and their wonderfully talented planner, Belinda Norris, saw that no stone was left unturned. Below are a few snaps from the Spring/Summer issue, thanks for including us VT Vows!
May 15, 2012
Every morning starts for me with a big mug of tea. No matter how busy things are, I always make time for the first mug then the rest of the day is anyone’s guess. I was reading Present & Correct’s blog {you have to check out their site, I want every single thing on it} this morning and spotted these vintage tea tags. What I love about this picture is if you saw one of these tags solo, you probably wouldn’t think twice about it. But seeing all these pulled together with the designs all playing off one another, makes this really awesome. Now, time for another mug…
original tea tag images found here
May 14, 2012
Megan and Josh are one of my favorite clients from this year! Their enthusiasm for life and one another is completely infectious. We had so much fun with their save the date that I couldn’t wait to see what we came up for their invitations. The wedding was two weeks ago at the ACE Hotel in Palm Springs. We wanted to keep the design on par with the retro feel from the save the date. Megan and Josh had so many elements that made up their story that we came up with the idea to create an icon to represent each one and let that become the artwork. For example: Josh is a doctor, the couple met rowing, they are both from Seattle, they are avid readers…. you get the idea. We created all the icons in a graphic style {to keep with our theme} and used the couples retro inspired colors to help illustrate the concept even further. For the RSVP card, we created a custom logo {that was later printed on striped pool towels- obsessed} and placed it on top of a chevron pattern to compliment the design. We wanted the backs of both cards to feel very bold while letting the fronts feel open and clean. For the day of elements, Megan and Josh re-used a lot of their icons and created some great pieces that we’ll share here soon!
May 10, 2012
As a designer, you have to be fully prepared to understand that your first round of designs are exactly that- a first round. Most designs take a few round of edits before you and the client have given it your stamp of approval. But sometimes {and I love these sometimes} you hit the nail on the head the first time. And that, my friends, always calls for celebration! I designed this logo for a client and while it wasn’t the direction she ultimately went with, I really loved it. We wanted to take a classic concept and modernize it with sharp lines and bright, bold colors. It love how fresh and vibrant it is!
May 9, 2012
Things have been down right mental around here lately. Trying to move apartments is hard enough but an office? That is a whole new beast. We’re making do but this house of cards is about to fall over! I thought it might be fun to share a little sneak peek of my own save the dates. I haven’t photographed them officially yet but here is a little taste, will share the entire set soon!
May 7, 2012
Sometimes clients come to me and as much as they want beautifully printed invitations, sometimes timing just gets in the way. We do quite a few PDF invites throughout the year. This way, the client gets a well designed and thoughtful invite but doesn’t need to wait two weeks for production. Kishani Perera came to me to do an invitation for her new book launch party. She wrote an amazing book called Vintage Remix which includes some help from her very cool clients and friends like Molly Sims {who co-hosted the party}. We wanted the invite to have a vintage feel without being two over the top. We used art deco inspired fonts to help bring the theme to life. A big congrats to Kishani for coming out with such an awesome book!
May 1, 2012
April showers bring May flowers, but what do Mayflowers bring? Pilgrims! Ohhhhhhhhhh. My little sister and I loved that dumb joke when we were kids. Looks like the April showers didn’t get the memo, it’s gray skies and rain in Brooklyn today and for the rest of the week. Mr. Sun, where ya at?
April 30, 2012
Charlottle Rivers has done it again, she just released another amazing book inspired by one of the great loves of my life, stationery. This book is jam packed with methods, techniques, pictures and companies that make up this crazy world of stationery. Each chapter has a specific theme and within each chapter, Charlotte highlights different companies that fit the bill. There are chapters on screen printing, block printing, digital illustration and more. She also gets into the nitty gritty with papercutting and collage work. The first chapter covers hand-drawn illustration and that is where you can see Swiss Cottage featured! It is super exciting to be featured in such a creative book. But above all, it’s a total honor to be part of such an amazing round up of designers. Some of my favorite designers from my pre-SCD days are featured which makes it even cooler. Charlotte is such a meticulous author and editor, the book is pitch perfect from beginning to end. You can grab your copy here and also read Charlotte’s clever blog, Lottie Loves, here!
