Lucky In Love - Irish inspired wedding favors

Hey lads and lassies, happy St. Patty's Day! Being one half Irish (with the freckles to prove it) I have always loved this holiday. In years past you would have found me a few beers in, stumbling down a city street parade, but alas.. not while pregnant. I'm headed to my 20 week ultrasound soon to check on the wee lass! But in honor of this great holiday, I thought I would round up 7 lucky Irish themed wedding favors. 

To kick things off, we have a new item from my Shop, these "Lucky In Love" custom tote bags. Perfect for a destination wedding to pack full of snacks as a welcome bag for wedding guests all staying at the same hotel. I love this bag as the couple's names aren't plastered all over the thing, meaning guests wouldn't be sporting your love all over town. Not that that is a bad thing, but you know. I also have a horeshoe tote bag version available here, which does feature the couple's names coming soon!

Next on my list are a few items specifically for your bridal party. I love the idea of making infused whiskey for Groomsmen gifts. Check out the how to on Wedding Paper Divas here.  I also fell in love with these Mint colored drop earrings from this gorgeous Etsy Shop. This simple splash of color would be such a great accent with neutral dresses. Another jewelry item for bridesmaids would be this delicate celtic knot bracelet. And such a steal at $14 smackeroos?

Another great wedding souvenir would be custom wood ornaments shaped like shamrocks. I love the simplicity and hand drawn lettering from this Etsy Shop. Another natural texture item that would be cute to display at each place setting are these individual burlap bags with green shamrocks on them. Pop in your favorite candy and you have an easy DIY favor!

And finally, what would a wedding favor round up from me be if it didn't have wedding koozies in it? These drunk in love koozies have become so popular and I love the idea of doing shades of green to create an ombre effect at your bar. 

Hope these inspire your Irish wedding spirit. Enjoy the weekend! 

Valentine's Day Promo!

To spread the love this Valentine's Day, I'm offering 10% off of everything in my Etsy Shop! That includes invites, address stamps and koozies. Go ahead and get your favors or wedding goodies crossed off the to-do list. Offer valid until 2/21. 

When logos you love get rejected. Hospital hand washing logo....

Happy 2017 my friends! I really intend to start blogging more this year, even if they are short and snappy posts. So far this year I have been working with a new client and am excited to share some of the completed work in a few weeks. One of my old-faithful clients is Baylor Scott & White Hospital. We have had a great relationship for many years and they never seem to run out of things to design! The nursing staff at one of the Dallas hospitals wanted to start a hand washing campaign to encourage visitors and staff to consistently wash hands before dealing with a patient. They asked me to come up with a logo and some advertising to highlight this campaign. Below are the 2 concepts I presented. 

I really loved the logo on the left, a more modern icon approach. But the team chose the design on the right and I had to oblige. Enter sad designer face. Part of a designer's job is not to fall in love with any one idea. Ultimately the client has the final say and now the logo on the left will live in my design archives, just waiting for a chance to get recycled. I also designed some posters and flyers to accompany the campaign. 

In an effort to cheer myself up, here is a round up of things I have been loving lately:

1. Outdoor Image inspiration for a summer backyard overhaul. 
2. These tan colored sneaker boots! Yeah, you read that right. I think I could live in them.
3. While we are on the subject of shoes, I think these booties are totes adorbs. 
4. With the Superbowl coming up, I will be eating a lot of queso (obviously). And these oh so easy crockpot french dip sandwiches. 
5. Finally, I am so excited to have a weekend getaway at this Crested Butte hotel.

Featured on The Southern Thing

Howdy friends! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We kept ours simple and sweet, visiting friends and having dinner at home with my Mom's amazing stuffing. I'm delighted to share some photos from the adorable Dara of The Southern Thing blog.  She contacted me about ordering some koozies for her New Orleans wedding and I was happy to oblige. Dara put together a beautiful guide of personalized wedding items, everything from a gorgeous blush and gold guestbook to monogrammed robes for your bridal party. Enjoy these beautiful photos from Dara, and check out her blog for all things Southern and Chic!

Lately....

Howdy! It has been quite awhile since I blogged. I'm chocking it up to a variety of clients coming through the door lately. Everyone from food bloggers to the American Cancer Society. So I thought what better time than now to post a round-up of recent design work. Let's start with a cute photo of a baby... my baby.

It's hard to believe, but this little man is almost one! A whole year, we've survived. I originally did not want to do a first birthday party. C'mon. It's not like he would remember. But then it really started to feel like a milestone. Aaaaand truth be told, I started looking at Pinterest. Which means I got overwhelmingly inspired and found this cute lumberjack inspiration. Coupled with a recent trip back to my college for a football game, and all I could think about was red and black. 

I've also been admiring some "mountain/vintage" design lately. I really wanted to put my own spin on the buffalo plaid craze. Cue plaid shirt photos... This was a recent trip to our friend's mountain house in Como, CO. That view....

But back to the inspiration. I wanted his birthday invitation to feel outdoorsy, Colorado-y, masculine and still playful since it is a first birthday after all. One Saturday afternoon I sat down to design a little logo (because that is what Graphic Designers do in their spare time... design). And I came up with this little emblem. Note the Joann fabric haul in the background. 

From there, it was pretty easy to build out a design for the invitation. I used ALDI font as the primary typeface. Which was a free download from a very talented designer. Once I had a good image (hello baby butt) we were off to the races. I love how the pant-less photo plays in to the "party animal" line. We decided to keep the party simple, coffee and donuts with an open house setting. Which equals no cooking for moi. 

I'm planning to do a few more decor items for his party this weekend. I'll post about that next week (or month, given my recent history). Next up on the design queue was some pro-bono work for the American Cancer Society. I think it is really important for Designers to commit time to passion projects. I had been wanting to volunteer in my community for ages and I reached out ACS Denver about helping with any upcoming events. Lo and behold, they had an annual Gala event they needed help marketing. The theme was Moulin Rouge, and I came up with this vintage carnival type mood board to get the committee on board with the design before I proceeded. 

First up in the design punch list was a magazine add for one of the corporate sponsors, Liv Sotheby's magazine. Then I designed a save the date, and invitation. I kept the vintage parchment paper theme and red and black "carnival" type going throughout the pieces. For the invitation, I wanted it to be a bit more elegant, as it is a black tie event. 

The 2016 Champions of Hope Gala will also feature an After Party, geared towards young professionals. The tickets are $75, and include drinks, desserts and a DJ. The proceeds go to cancer research right here in Denver. Here's a look at this more 'youthful' spin on the Moulin Rouge theme:

Last but not least, I have of course been designing some new koozies for the Etsy Shop. This time of year really slows down around the shop and allows me to concentrate on enhancing SEO and coming up with new products. I designed a fun wedding koozie for some recent Baylor University graduates, it all started with a 'bear.'

Another Texas gal reached out to me about designing a koozie with a lyric to one of my favorite Texas Country artists, Josh Abbott Band. The song, "She's Like Texas" has a great fiddle and so many Texas landmarks it makes me homesick in the best way. I also designed an adorable "So happy I found you here" koozie for a couple straddling the Kansas City border. 

This last koozie design was a really unique commission. The customer wanted to throw a rock concert/fall bash for her husband's birthday. The "Rocktober" theme is set in a guitar pic. Love it! And finally... for all the upcoming Christmas parties, a "Eat Drink and be Merry" koozie design. 

And lastly (this is easily the longest blog post I have ever written. I commend you if you are still reading this, lol). I worked on a vintage travel theme/vintage national park baby shower invitation. The customer ended up not using this design, but it was too good not to share. This can easily be converted to a wedding shower or save the date invite!