A Modern Baby Shower

If you are female, chances are you know what chevron is, and chances are, you love it.  That's because chevron is totally in right now!  It's everywhere you look - on clothes, bags, jewelry, cellphone cases, and even...invites!

I recently designed this adorably, hip baby shower invite using a grey and white polkadot pattern mixed with lime green and white chevron print.  The details of the shower were then framed in a blue flourished design.  So cute!  I love the colors together!

Photos by RPSDesigns

Kelcie & Ben: Clean & Simple

Kelcie and Ben were married last Fall on the Simpson College Campus in Indianola, Iowa, and their reception at the Des Moines Marriott Downtown.  A few months before meeting Kelcie and Ben I had read somewhere that one of the top wedding invitation trends predicted to gain momentum in 2014 is the "Art Deco" trend.  This trend gravitates toward strong colors, geometric shapes, and clean lines.  Apparently Kelcie and Ben were a bit ahead of the times because the invitation they asked me to design was exactly that!  Working in a color palette of deep purple, lime green and bright white, I used a simple layout and carried a custom monogram throughout their invitation set to make it unique and elegant. I have to say, I love these colors together.  The contrast of the lime green and deep purple makes this color scheme very visually appealing.

Check out the amazing photos of this wedding shot by Des Moines photograher, Amanda Basteen.  A huge thank you to her for taking some awesome pictures of my invites, too!

Thanks Kelcie & Ben, it was great working with you!

Favorite Finds {Valentine's Day}

February = Valentine’s Day!  

The month of February also represents what might be one of my favorite months out of the year to shop!  It’s the perfect time for scoring all sorts of goodies both in store and online in one of my favorite colors…pink! 

It seems that everything this month, clothes, candles, shoes, etc is being sold in every shade of pink {and red} you can imagine – some even come with a healthy dose of glitter! YAY!

I know the main focus of this blog is to share my designs, but I also wanted to use it as a way to share some of my favorite things with whoever wants to listen.  I’ve seen quite a few bloggers lately posting "monthly favorites”, and I thought I’d follow suit!  So enjoy what I’m calling my “Top 10 favorite Valentine’s Day finds from around the web”.

1. Essie Nail Polish - for the nail lover

2. Kate Spade Earrings - for the jewlery lover

3. itunes Gift Card - for the music lover

4. Bath & Body Works - for the smell good lover

5. Cashmere Heart Socks - for the cute and casual lover

6. Nike Element Half-Zip - for the workout lover

7. Bandana Print Scarf - for the fashion lover

8. Owl & Heart Print Kitchen Towels - for the decor lover

9. Love Valentine's Day Phone Case - for the texting lover

10. Pink Chevron Pillow - for the decor lover

Mazzie's Turning Two!

So, your kid’s birthday is coming up, and you’re fresh out of party ideas.  Sure, you could just invite over a bunch of children to run-a-muck in your backyard like everyone else does, OR you could do what this mom did and come up with a cool, totally unique idea to make your little one feel special on her big day.

    

Megan came to me a few months ago with one of the most out-of-the-box party themes I have yet to encounter.  Megan is a teacher, so she knows all about popular children’s books, and one book in particular had the attention of her {soon to be} two year old, so she decided to center her daughter’s 2nd birthday party around the book!  VERY COOL! 

The book was Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  Don’t worry, I will spare you the book review, but I will tell you that it’s immensely fun to read and its simple, colorful illustrations are very eye-catching.  

I used a picture of the two-year-old cutie along with some of the same colorful eye-catching elements to design the invite…look how great it turned out, and a big thanks to Megan for letting me use a few pics from the party!  As always Megan, it was a pleasure to work with you! :)

Favorite Valentine's Day Fonts

Valentine's Day is right around the corner, so today I wanted to share my top five favorite free Valentine's Day fonts with you.  I love fonts.  Love, love them and I love any excuse to add new fun {especially free} fonts to my library.  These are perfect for printables, homemade Valentines cards, gift tags, decorations, and more.  Enjoy!

1. BJKellybean
2. Abbleberry
3. Juleslove
4. Sweetiepie
5. Jandacurylygirlserif

All of the above can be found here

A Rustic Coral Wedding

If the winter weather has been getting you down lately, cheer up with this bright, sunshine filled rustic barn wedding photographed by Alisha & Scott.  With a happy color scheme of coral pink and light gray, this fall wedding was full of fun, DIY details. 

The Scene:

Jess and Scott chose the Simpson Barn in Johnston, Iowa as their ceremony location.  The venue had just the right amount of modern mixed with rustic charm to make everyone feel relaxed and right at home.  The reception was held at the Stoney Creek Inn just a few miles away.  I absolutely love the rustic lodge décor in this hotel, it was the perfect place to end the night.  From the maids [yours truly was one of them] to the men and the flowers to the cupcakes, everything was wonderful, and everyone enjoyed the day immensely!

Photo Credit: Alisha & Scott, RPSDesigns

The Paper Goods:

When Jess contacted me, she know exactly what she wanted when it came to the design of her wedding stationery; it was just up to me to make it happen.  Jess picked a dark gray textured pocket invitation and decided to accent it with a rich watermelon layer.  As for her neutral color, she wanted to bring in cream instead of a standard white to match her dress.  Two fonts were used in this design, a simple classic font mixed with a more modern, curly font.  The invitation inserts, save the date card, and ceremony program were all made to coordinate with the style of the invitation.  Simple. Clean. Modern.  I love how it all came together!

Photo Credit: RPSDesigns

Photo Credit: Alisha & Scott Photography

Holiday 2013

Is it just me or does it seem like the Fall season is blindly busy and tends to accelerate at a pace that seems faster than any other?  I guess it's especially busy for me because Fall represents the upcoming holiday card season, a season for me that is dominated by creativity!  Each Fall (for the past three years), I've set out to design custom holiday cards, and recently I have come to realize that the word “custom” has become very over used these days.  It often times gets replaced with the word “personalized”, but in reality, the two are actually very different.  Personalized means you take a design that is already done and add your personal text or photo.  “Custom” means the design was created solely for you.  Clients come to me with very specific ideas for their design and others come to me with no idea at all and let me just run with it.  My card designs vary with those that focus on one photo to others that use more than one.  My goal is simple, to create a process that is as easy and efficient as possible, and my prices (each one of these cards was designed and printed with envelops for $65 or less) competitive so to address the needs of my clients.  Doing this makes me happy, and ultimately, I hope my clients are happy in return!  With that being said, I wanted to share a few of my favorites (including mine) from this year!  Happy Holidays!