Happy dance, part deux: published!

Remember my post about the first time StudioTEN15 was featured in a printed publication? I was so excited, I was literally dancing with the dog in the living room. Well, Gage and I are dancing again: we’ve been mentioned again! This time, The Knot: Boston featured Emily & Mike’s wedding on a one-page spread. There’s a photo of the booklet invitations we printed, designed by our friend Rush Bailey. Hopefully you’ve seen those posts here, here, and here?

Emily and Mike, thanks for letting us be a part of your day – it was truly a blast!

Pick up your own copy of The Knot: Boston at your local newsstand to check it out yourselves!

Tickled Pink

Pink was once my favorite color…I recently traded it in for seafoam green. Sorry pink, but you know I still love you. But with Valentine’s day right around the corner, I was in the mood and inspired by all the shades of pink around me. I mixed this bright magenta pink this weekend and ran a few different notecards with it. I love how the polka dots and giraffes bring a bit of cheeriness to the rather drab weather we’re having outside.

We’ll be posting these up on our etsy store this week, so grab them before they’re gone!

Envelopes: the first impression

In this modern age, technology has overtaken almost every aspect of our lives. Don’t get me wrong, I love the ease of email, facebook, texting, and twitter. But it’s always nice and refreshing to see a handwritten note in the mail…or the spontaneous “I love you” post it note from your husband on the door (yep, he’s done that before). There’s something about the pen that connects people together. It automatically makes the card, note, post it, so personal.

So it’s also no secret that I LOVE a hand addressed envelope. It’s the first thing that your recipient sees and it really sets the mood for what’s inside. A lot of times, we focus so much on the invitations and what goes inside of the envelope and forget about the envelope. Yes, most people throw away the envelope or it gets beat up in the mail, but that’s no reason to ignore it. The envelope really can become a piece of art. You get to orchestrate the swirls and loops that dance across the page. And calligraphy is not just for wedding invitations anymore–remember our Christmas cards? We paired cursive and print for a fun and whimsical feel.

As an adult, I’ve always been told I have nice handwriting. That hasn’t always been the case. When I was little, my parents used to make me sit and practice my handwriting for an hour each day to improve my penmanship. Well, I guess that practice paid off in the end. And as an architect, I relied on printing everything and never really used cursive writing in my daily life. So last year, I decided to take a calligraphy course online to help me with my cursive writing. I felt like I was 10 again, sitting at my desk and practicing my alphabet for hours a day–literally hours. But I loved doing it. And now, I’m slowly creating a style of my own and it’s so cool that you can still tell it’s my handwriting…apparently, my husband tells me that all of my handwriting has a distinct character.

Now that I’m finally getting comfortable with my cursive penmanship, I’d love to develop a few variations and styles. Goal for 2013: traditional to modern and everything in between! A girl can dream, can’t she?

 

Spring is in the air

I grew up in upstate New York where our winters were long, cold, and snowy. When I was a kid, I loved playing in the snow and catching snowflakes on my tongue. I even remember building a giant snow fort (more like a snow village) during the blizzard of ’92 which dumped 3 feet of snow in 1 night. There’s something magical about snow and even the beauty of ice glistening on empty tree branches across the Blue Ridge Mountains. But, I would be lying if I ever said that I loved winter. Although I still love cuddling up with a cup of hot chocolate and having the dog warm my feet on a cold winter day, I now also have to deal shoveling the sidewalk, slipping on ice and cracking my brand new phone (yep, that happened, and the screen is still cracked) and walking to work with the cold wind blowing on my face.

Luckily for me, I now live in the South. I know some people don’t think that Virginia is considered to be a part of the South, but for a girl from New York, this is definitely the South. We’ve definitely had our share of wintery mixes, blizzards, and freezing temps, but we usually pull out our shovels and salt a few times a year. We’ve had one ‘major’ storm this season so far which hit on Christmas Eve. Other than that, it’s been unseasonably warm…can you believe it was 70 degrees this weekend? My allium bulbs are even starting the sprout.

Spring is most definitely teasing us with her warm temperatures and budding plants, but we are also seeing signs of spring inside of the studio. Spring weddings are fast approaching and April will be here before you know it. Here’s a little preview of what we’re working on this week.

This is a fun floral invitation that combines both a formal and whimsical feel. We hand drew the floral + paisley graphics and then letterpress printed it with a soft blush to connote the beautiful cherry and redbud blooms that let us know spring has arrived.

Pantone Color of the Year: I’m seeing green

Well, we didn’t make a correct prediction back in this post but we were happy to see emerald as the new pantone color of the year. Hey, at least it’s in the same color family as mint, that counts for something, right?

image source pantone.com

Emerald is such a bold, rich, beautiful color that pairs well with almost anything. Use it as a statement color or combine it with warm oranges or a royal blue for a contrast–I can already imagine the possibilities. You can change the atmosphere of your outfit, event, stationery, etc by just changing your accent color. Having a fall wedding, try burnt orange, golden yellow, and emerald. Going out for a night on the town? Pair your little black dress with an emerald ring, necklace, or clutch. Having a baby boy? Accessorize his nursery with emerald and teal…LOVE it.

And as much as I do love pantone’s color choice of emerald, mint is still a hot trend for 2013. Check out this pinterest page filled with all things mint. I like to think of it as the softer, more subtle, little brother of emerald. Are you thinking of including mint as a wedding color this year? Let us know what you are pairing it with!