Our latest love: messy polka dots

For the last few weeks, we've been working on some custom stationery that features messy polka dots. What are those? Well just think of a paint brush making a little dot. They're a playful version of an all-time classic pattern... and we can't seem to get enough! Once our client's stationery has been sent out, you better believe that we'll be sharing photos of the final product!! For now, here was our inspiration...

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Which do you prefer- the messy whimsy of this style, or the clean & chic classic dot?

3 must try Sangria recipes

The Paper Moss office is full of sangria lovers and summer definitely calls for some icy cold, fruit infused drinks! Emily, Caitlin and I wanted to share our favorite recipes, in the event you're wanting to shake up something new this weekend. Any guesses which recipe came from who!??!

Have a fabulous weekend, friends!!

Featured: Anna + Dan

Oh goodness, I'm nauseous with excitement to share this feature... because it was my own wedding! Our fabulous photographer, Ryan Flynn submitted our wedding to Seattle Bride Magazine and low and behold, they loved it!!

It's so fun to see some of our wedding details on those glossy pages, though I'm not going to lie- there's nothing I hate more than having attention on me so even sharing this is painful to some degree. ;) Thanks so much for sharing in our excitement though!!! Without further adieu, here it is...

I owe every bit of the beauty of our wedding to the wonderful Nicole Haynes of Herban Design Studio. She was a total rockstar and saved my sanity. And speaking from experience, I can say how much of a difference it makes to work with vendors that you admire and "click" with. If anyone is getting hitched in Seattle, let me know- I have a dream team of vendors to refer you to! :)

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Boston's Best?!

We're getting geared up to head to the Improper Bostonian's "Boston's Best" celebration tonight! You better believe that we are every bit giddy & humbled to be attending as this year's Bridal Invitation award winners. We get this awesome badge as proof ;)

And incase you haven't seen the issue floating around town, here's a little shot. We share pages in the Bridal category along with lovelies from Whim Events, Hello Love Photography, Ceremony {bridal gowns}, Max Ultimate Foods... to name a few.

GAH!! Thanks, Improper Bostonian! We couldn't be happier!!

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Font love Friday!

Hey friends! As we've been mocking up some designs for clients this week, there's been a lot of playing around with different font combinations. It's so exciting how typography can COMPLETELY change the feel, the formality, the tone of an invitation. It's nerdy, we know. Anyway, here's a little round up of fabulous fonts to wish you a very happy start to the weekend...

A culturally inspired wedding

We've had our hands in some fun projects lately, one of them being this gorgeous wedding inspiration shoot that was recently on WEDDING CHICKS! Yep, we were pretty pumped about that. :) The brilliant ladies from Sixpence For Your Shoe headed up the shoot and pulled inspiration from various cultures to influence every element. With the backdrop of the Hill-Stead Museum in Connecticut and the work of Eric Foley Photography, we are thrilled with how it all came together! Here is a peek at the invitations we designed for this...

Check out the whole feature here but we couldn't miss this opportunity to blog some of the other paper details! Enjoy!!

Flavor of the week

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of sipping on a nice chilly watermelon margarita, while catching up with one of my dearest friends. What a treat... on several levels! ;) Ever since indulging in frozen bites of that hot pink melon at a barbecue a few weeks ago, it's been on my mind non-stop and I keep craving more. It's a quintessential summer flavor- don't you think? If you're a watermelon lover like I am, join me in trying this refreshing creamy sherbet recipe while enjoying the cuteness of those little seeded treats...

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Enjoy!

Valued

Wow, this week has flown by! We apologize for not meeting with you this week. But in light of another busy wedding season week, we want to share with you these words from the late Maya Angelou.

Just remember, how you make someone feel will stay with them for a long time. Make them feel valued and loved. That is our goal for the rest of this week, weekend, and year.

Xoxo

Featured: Ashley + Fred

Happy Monday! We hope you had a lovely holiday weekend and enjoyed soaking up sunshine and watching glittering fireworks!! We're jumping into this week with a little bit of good news... one of our lovely couples recently had their wedding featured on the Knot! We love, love, LOVE seeing these beautiful photos from Brian Dorseyand are feeling quite inspired by how this elegant seaside wedding came together!! View the whole album here.

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Happy July 4th!

Trending: Watercolor wedding cakes

You've been hiding under a rock if you haven't noticed how watercolor is trending like crazy in the wedding world. We absolutely love the elegant look of these delicately painted wedding cakes, each a complete work of art!

Photo credits from left to right:

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Would you ever consider a watercolor wedding cake?

Beachy retro invitation

There are few things we love more than the invitation suite for Gia & Ilia's Bermuda wedding. They wanted something fun, beachy and slightly retro so we got to work and together dreamed up a fantastic 2-color letterpress suite. With a raspberry, aqua and natural palette we had a hay day playing with colors, typography mixes and icons. We'll share the whole suite {along with their custom palm tree confetti} on another day, but for now we just love these photos that their wedding photographer, Stacey Hedman shot after their nuptials!!

And though it pains me to think of that luxe cotton paper and pretty liner being destroyed by the salty water {paper nerd, I know} this shot is one of our FAVES! Isn't it amazing?! It's like a stationery version of trash the dress ;)

To check out the full feature of this tropical wedding, check out the post on Stacey's blog!

Featured: Ashley + Anthony

You may have seen us freak out over social media the other day when we caught wind that our stationery was featured on Oh So Beautiful Paper. In case you didn't catch that... and because this is ridiculously exciting for us {we're obsessed with that blog!} I wanted to get it out there one last time with a good, enthusiastic yippeeeeee!!!

To check out the full post, hear the inspiration behind the suite and gawk at all the pretty photos taken by Ruth Eileen Photography, you can do so here.

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Being fashionable

Friday is here!! What do you have planned for this summer weekend? We {like most people} don't hesitate to jam pack our weekends this time of year, so naturally I feel the need to get amped up on Fridays. :) The weekends are a whole new beast of errands, beach time, barbecues, wedding festivities, travel and extra opportunities for random get togethers. As we're chipping away at our to-do lists in the office, anticipating the weekend, we're loving this quote and couldn't resist sharing it...

Be inspired to be extra fashionable... kindness goes a long way!

4 wedding accessories you'll want

A lot of couples that we've been meeting with lately are working with bright and punchy palettes for their wedding day. I love the emphasis that this puts on the wedding being a celebration... and all of the fun & chic party ideas that come along with it. Leave it up to BHLDN to be a trend setter for some of our picks (those flamingos!) but wherever you look, there seems to be fun, colorful accessories popping up all around the wedding market.

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From the Designer's Desk: NEON!

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As a designer, my aesthetic for paper and print items is constantly being informed by seasons, feelings, what I ate in the morning, etc. This is our goal as an artist; To take in, synthesize, our external world and reimagine it into something that we created. A concept that I hold dear. Recently, I have been inspired by so many things. But this week (maybe this month......even this year??!), I have come to adore pops of neon!!

Neon comes from a Greek wording meaning "new". It is a gas that was discovered in 1898 as one of three residual rare inert elements remaining in dry air (after nitrogen, oxygen, argon and carbon dioxide are removed) . Neon was the second of three rare gases to be discovered and was immediately recognized as a new element from its bright red emission spectrum. We get our fantastic bright neon colors based on the emissions spectrum. I love that this is such a small way that science has been incorporated into design, fashion, and art.

Pineapples, stripes & sunshine

Today is the day I have long been waiting for. Dan and I are headed to Puerto Rico for some sun, relaxation & quality time. In anticipation of some serious sunbathing, I've been searching high and low for some stylish beach necessities. One summer trend that I am LOVING right now, are the pineapple prints that are popping up on everything! I just got a pineapple patterned shirt the other day and came across this adorable little 2- piece from Top Shop that I don't particularly want to live without. ;) And since a good beach blanket is a must have for the summer, this one from Madewell is totally worth the splurge. Enjoy perusing and be inspired to plan a trip to the beach this weekend!!

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Happy weekending!

Pretty Paper: Lauren & Josh

Lauren & Josh are not only one of the sweetest couples I've ever met, but they're also personal friends of mine. I can't help but to be partial! ;) It was SO STINKING FUN to get to work with their modern style and combine classic elements to set the tone for their Santa Monica wedding. Hearing about the plans for their outdoor wedding to take place on the sleek patio of the Viceroy Hotel, we were instantly inspired by the geometric decor at the venue. Stripes, checkers, cane, trellis patterns... the place is phenomenal, by the way! Here is how we set the tone for their modern & elegant affair:

* All photos are courtesy of Ruth Eileen Photography

Summer tunes

How was your weekend, friends? Ours was long but productive. I'm not gonna lie, my feet are dragging today and I need a little pick-me-up to help jump start the week! Naturally that happens with (1) coffee and (2) music. After asking a handful of friends what their favorite summer songs are, I put together this little playlist. Haters of country music, proceed with caution. Apparently warm weather calls for a little twang and some good old school hits. Check it out! :)

{Turn up the heat}

Featured: Galen & John

Friends, we just got word that one of the weddings that we worked on last year was featured on none other than Style Me Pretty! Galen & John's wedding took place at Muskrat Farms in Rhode Island and we knew the tented affair was going to be romantic and every bit ethereal. As we worked on their invitation suite using soft colors, whimsical hand calligraphy, a textile inspired envelope liner and a little muskrat icon, we quickly fell in love. The couple worked with Exquisite Events to design & execute their day and every little detail was captured with precision by the fabulous folks at First Mate Photography.

Naturally, we feel compelled to share their gorgeous letterpress invitation suite, featuring hand calligraphy by the lovely, Kristen Henderson...

And incase you foolishly decide to not hop over to SMP to soak in the beauty of the whole feature, here are a few detail shots which of course include 2 of the "day-of" stationery items that we designed for them!

We're beyond thrilled to have this wedding featured. A huge congrats to the happy couple- it was an absolute pleasure working with you!

Take a look a the whole post here... and one last THANK YOU to First Mate Photographyfor doing such a killer job capturing this!

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