An Elegant Birthday Brunch

I believe that a persons best work most often begins with a challenge and this was exactly the case with a recent invitation order. I am always excited when I get a new client but it means a lot when the reason they are calling is because they had been the recipient of a previous invitation that I had designed. Dawn called me on May 4th about needing invitations for a surprise birthday party she was throwing for her mother but was concerned that she may not have left enough time for custom design invitations. So here lies the challenge.....the party is May 23rd which was exactly 19 days away. I will admit my first thought was "HOLY BANANAS" my second thought was of course you can have custom........I LOVE a challenge!

Normally I meet with a client first to get a feel for their personal style and vision, however time was not on our side. My plan was to do as much research as I could before our meeting which was the very next morning. When we got off the phone the only things I knew about the party was it would be a elegant brunch, outside in Beverly at Misslewood by the water and that there would be a live brass horn band. I knew the band was a huge part of her vision because Dawn had shared with me her family memories of the summers spent in Newport listening to the big bands that would play.


I started by going to Misslewood's website to view photos of the location......the only way to describe the location is "perfection." The entire look and feel would have you thinking you were in Newport. Next up would be the card stock, I went with the paisley pattern of Mehndi. You can see the mix of the caspian blue and rich shimmery antique gold coordinates effortlessly with the vision. I wanted to implement a piece of artwork so I created a saxophone with music notes coming out of it and of course the music notes were hand embellished with clear glitter adding just a hint of sparkle.


Wednesday morning I met with Dawn at BodiScience which is a Holistic Day Spa that she owns in Beverly. I presented my personal interpretation of what I felt her vision was and showed her the card stocks that I picked out, her response was "perfect!" Exactly 6 days later her invites and thank you notes were done and in the mail. This was the fastest custom order I have ever done and by far one of my favorites.

My first Bat Mitzvah

Creating a custom invitation is kind of like picking out your wedding dress; what think you want and envision is never what you end up with. This is exactly what happen with a recent client. Debbie came all the way from Newton to meet with me about her daughter Haley's Bat Mitzvah. She was looking through my samples and loved what I had done for an Alison in Wonderland party and really wanted to use the fun font from it. Her vision was for Haley to have her own logo using the colors of yellow and blue. After finishing up a few different samples I forwarded them to Debbie who had the same gut feeling as I did......it was to casual for such a serious event however she was concerned if we went the in the other direction it would be to formal. I told her to give me some time and I would come back with round two. The creative approach I took the second time around was simple "what would I do if it was my daughter" Debbie as well as Haley were very happy with the end result.


Now that we had the logo, it was time to design the invitation. At that point Haley had already received 8 other invitations from numerous friends also planning their Bar/Bat Mitzvahs. This can be a challenge for both the kids and the parents as you try to create your special day while keeping it unique. I was thankful that Debbie chose to work with me because I could guarantee her that nobody would have Haley's invitation or logo because it was solely created for her.


They liked the look of a long invitation, the backing card was a beautiful textured card stock in amethyst, the text card was printed with two ink colors on white linen. Each guest received a custom address label that was attached to the front of a Belize envelope. Haley's logo was also used on the return address labels, thank you notes, and response card. The logo was also given to the entertainment company to use for the favors that would be created on site for all the guests. Debbie was even able to use the logo for custom M & M's that would be on all the tables.

This was my very first Bat Mitzvah and I could not have been blessed with better clients than Debbie and Haley. I loved how the design turned out and learned a lot about what goes into participating in such an event. Haley's big day is just a few weeks away, I am thankful that I was able to play a part in such an important occasion.

For the LOVE of a font!

I love creating original pieces of artwork that compliment the perfect invitation but you don't always need artwork. By using the perfect font in a design you can achieve unbelievable results. I personally have a total font fetish and can spend countless hours in search of the perfect font.

Communion season is in full swing and I have designed many invitations with numerous variations of the crosses that I have created. One of my very good clients and friend needed some invitations for her son's upcoming communion. Her first question was "do you think I need to have a cross?" Her second question was "Do you think I can use a color other than silver?" My response to both was "of course you can!" My idea was to use a classic color combination of chocolate and blue accented by a clean font called FUTURA.



The main backing card is bronze, the invite was printed on white linen using two ink colors and the envelope was an eye popping blue called zircon. You can see that his name is the main focus of the design and by having the rest of the information flush left and right it has now created a piece of artwork by the use of just one font.