This was a charette I had a lot of fun working on. When the infectiously enthusiastic Allison sent me her details, I was thrilled to discover that we share a love for books and that I even have some of her bookshelf inspirational pictures in my collection!

I also really enjoyed a lot of the links she sent me of their ‘aesthetic’. Looking through them I had a clear idea of what Allison and Travis’ style is like-classic, a touch of vintage, an appreciation for elegant old world materials and craft, but with a down to earth wit that I think would make them interesting to brainstorm for.

First of all, I knew their invitation would need to be book related. My initial idea was to have a sort of book lending/gifting invitation system, with their invitation as mini book jackets that wrap around old vintage hardbound books (think bookcloth classics).  Their guests would get to keep them of course or read them and return it with the RSVP if the book is lovingly lent out.

Allison and Travis have a small guest list, only 20, which gives them the ability to be really hands-on or artisan with their invitations. Their wedding, which takes place in beautiful Santa Fe is not till June of next year, so there will be plenty of time to amass a collection of vintage hardbound mini books.

However, the invitation idea that I finally sketched up is a little different and can be approached in a few ways. It is essentially the idea of a gifting their guests a beautiful little book bound in classic bookcloth in either of their wedding colors -navy blue, green and adobe gold. In my mind, I envision the bookcloth bound bookboards as being upcycled from discarded old books, easily found in flea markets or on ebay. Only the front and backs of the boards with their covering are retained. Some cheap ones readily found would be the Readers’ Digest condensed books. Not a used bookstore favorite but great for altered book arts.

A panoramic painting of a map-style or an illustration (in indigo blue ink) of their beautiful rustic Church or school with the quintessential Santa Fe backdrop is printed on creamy, thick Japanese washi hand-made paper (a favorite of book conservationists) and glued to the boards to fold out accordion-style. Faint watercolor washes in navy blue for the skies, green for the vegetation and gold for the adobe. Fonts are whimsical serif fonts reminiscent of vintage type set, but quirkier. Invitation information is tastefully placed within the painting. The effect is like recovering a beautifully illustrated old book from your grandmother’s collection, but with a twist.

In my second sketch, I expanded upon my original idea for the mini book jacket wraps (which the invite-books come in). In this particular scheme, they serve as the RSVPs. The idea is for their guests to return these RSVPs along with a hand-written message for the bride and groom-to-be. When all 20 mini jackets are wrapped around books and lined up on the shelf, they form the original panorama painting found in their invitation. Re-useable RSVPs that double as bookshelf/book art! I see this jacket as being made from strong but thin Japanese washi paper with their delicate and classic whispy-ness.

Congratulations Allison and Travis, I hope this little bit of exercise will help to flesh out some of your invitation ideas!

Happy Almost-End-of-the-Week everyone!

This is a special Illustrated Friday announcement. Here’s the back-story, I am creating a line of custom-illustrated botanical-inspired wedding invitations and would like to invite entries for the sample custom artwork. Since they will need to be drawn anyway I thought that this would be a great opportunity for a lucky wedding couple to get their own story custom-illustrated for use on the front of their wedding invitation, postcard or even as a framed memento!

To those of you who have been following the wedding charette series, this is my FIRST charette GIVEAWAY. While the regular winning charette entries are in color sketch form, the winning entry for this charette giveaway gets the actual detailed, 7″ x 10″ full color final wedding illustration in pen, ink and watercolors-signed and dated!

There are a few conditions to the entry:

That’s it. Call for entries start tomorrow on Friday and will go on till next week. The winning entry will be featured in a post next Friday. Good luck! Please use the regular charette submission form for this:

Tracy has impeccable timing! She sent me her charette entry just as I was working on a design for the new Personalized Creations line debuting soon (details later!). Long story short, the mission behind this line is to offer our brides one-of-a-kind, custom-illustrated artwork stationery that fulfilled three things: sustainability, unique personalized storytelling and affordability.

Tracy loves birds, vintage things, and bright colors (orange and yellow) and had a really cute engagement story (more below!) …

The Lovebirds. Inspired by Botanical Prints.

Timingwise, Tracy emailed her entry just as I was getting ready to create a case study for The Botanical, a design inspired by vintage botanical prints, with custom illustrations by me.  The main ‘botanical’ illustration should tell a story about the bride and groom-to be and will never look like anyone else’s!

When I saw her entry I felt that her love for birds, bright colors and vintage things was perfect for this concept and I couldn’t pass it up! I would draw two lovebirds dancing on a tree branch (fall Aspens with bright yellow and orange heart shaped leaves in this case, but it could be any one). Ryne (the groom) bird has a toothbrush with an engagement ring dangled from one end. That’s how he proposed! Little hand-lettered script with arrows hints at the story. Right at the bottom of the page, also in hand-lettered script would be the wedding announcement (latin scientific names optional for laughs).

On the back of the print is the formal invitation text with some hand-lettering. The cards will be printed on 4.5″ x 6.5″ beautiful, thick hand-made (in USA!) abaca cotton rag papers with a lovely tinted hue and texture.  A diagrammatic hand-drawn map is optional and can be included and tied together with hemp string, lace ribbon or twine. I would love to see this slipped into 100% PCW recycled Kraft envelopes that come in bright yellow-orange, perfect for Tracy’s color scheme, with a hint of utilitarianism.

The best part about this, all cards gifted to guests will be lovely framed and hung, as a reminder of Tracy and Ryne’s special day!

When I first read Andi from Tennessee’s charette entry, I felt a pang of familiarity and melancholy for having moved away from the South! Andi, an actress and non profit organizer, and Drew, a public defender and musician are both steeped in the performance arts but have a steadfast fondness for the South, where Andi is from and where their wedding will be.

Andi shared with me their love for old Southern trees, wildflowers, the Appalachians and bluegrass music and how difficult it was to find invitations that really reflected who they are.

Andi and Drew's color scheme: Lavender and Sunflower Yellow, click to zoom in.

I was most drawn to their vibrant earthy likes and having lived in the South and married a North Carolinian, it really resonated with me, and my challenge was to come up with something that combined that with their performance arts background. My first thought was wildflower-seeded handmade paper! I can’t pass up this opportunity to incorporate in their design considering Andi’s love for wildflowers.  From their descriptions,  Andi and Drew’s invitation suite needed to be two things: 1. theatrical, 2. rustic but vibrant with a southern flair.

I  felt that the invitation wanted to be in a narrow, panoramic format that hints of theaters, stages and film.  It is a folded piece, with a longer back flap that folds up to the front like an envelope. This serves several purposes: to conceal a hidden message, to set the scene with backs of theater seating, and to keep the piece closed which I will explain why next.

At first glance, the main invitation, printed on yellow textured handmade seeded paper shows a windowed scene- a cut out of a dramatic oak tree reminiscent of the lush South trimmed with vibrant abstract wildflowers.

How it works...click to zoom in

I wanted the first glance to feel like you are about to see something unfold on stage amidst dramatic trees and wildflowers. Behind the window is a simple lavendar backdrop (lavendar-colored handmade seeded paper) with the words: “Presenting Andi and Drew. A WeddingDay Production.

Once you fold down the ‘seats’ flap, you will see the words : Coming soon to Huntsville, Tennessee, Aug 21st 2010, their wedding venue and date.

At the far right end of the card is a cut-out indicating PULL. Reach in and pull and the lavendar backdrop slides out. This is a ‘ticket’-inspired RSVP piece with a perforated portion that can be torn and returned to Andi and Drew. On the back of this ‘ticket’ is additional wedding info and the perforated portion to be returned is set against a backdrop of painted wildflowers (available in perhaps 5 different schemes for variety) .Guests would sign on it and return the piece. The different wildflower schemes make for an attractive scrapbook or framed montage of signed RSVPs!

Once you pull out the RSVP ticket piece, a scene unfolds of a hand-painted southern backyard wedding party, the most important component. Silhouttes of dancing and laughing figures against a purple moonlit sky. A barbecue, beer, a bluegrass band, and lots of joy. With the card folded , and the backdrop/ticket piece removed, the invitation becomes an excellent wedding keepsake for Andi and Drew’s guests, something that can be framed up to remember that special day by.

What fun! Wishing Andi and Drew all the best…

This week’s charette comes from a very excitedly engaged Erin, whose fiance surprised her with a hilltop picnic and a beautiful ring that inspired her wedding theme-glamor and sparkle!

Erin wanted invitations with a Great Gatsby sort of glamor (to go with her ring), in the colors Fuchsia, white, champagne gold and lots of crystals and sparkle.

Wearable Invitation Favors in Champagne Gold studded with Crystals

I wanted to design an invitation set that reflects the very classy Erin-and the challenge was to come up with something that incorporated everything she was looking for without being kitschy (it’s good sometimes, but not in this case), but is instead, understatedly glamorous in an old fashioned way. Gold letterings, lots of glitter and paper shimmer seemed like the obvious and common choice, but the Great Gatsby glamor of the 192os and 3os is always in my mind something very fabric-based. Shimmering silks, sequins, studded dresses, feathers….pearls and it would be a huge shame to not try to work this in somehow!

So after much sighing over pictures of the gorgeous fashions of that era, I finally found a way to include some lovely shimmery and sparkly fabric in the suite. The main paper invitation is kept very simple and classy, an art-deco inspired painting in fuchsia tones encrusted with rhinestones and crystals to represent stars in the night sky.

This is printed on beautifully understated heavy shimmer cardstock, not your usual scrapbooking store material, but fine high quality papers with a shimmer as subtle as pearls. To hold the RSVP (similarly themed) against the main invitation , a hand-made vintage-style headband of champagne gold, crystal-encrusted fabric  is used. Under it, a white Ostrich plume, or other similar soft feather is tucked in. Feathers can be bought from several online stores.

Glamorous details....

For male guests, the champagne gold fabric band takes the shape of a folded silk pocket square, which can be readily bought in most tie-shops at affordable prices or even hand-sewn.

Matching subtly shimmery European-style envelopes finished off with a champagne gold wax seal hints of a fabulous wedding event, one not to be missed!

To pull off this invitation suite successfully, remember to keep the textures subtle and classy, shop for the best (and sustainable of course)material in each category, it will be worth it. The combination of a simple design and bold artwork, gorgeous materials and whimsical wearable gifts should set the tone for Erin and Matt’s special day and help excite their guests!

“How do you draw sheer joy?”

That wonderfully moving line came from Joseph, the obviously besotted groom of the wedding pair Joseph and Melanie from England. Their touching submission noted how they are halfway into their lives and about to begin a brand new chapter of it! Melanie, the bride-to-be was also most inspired by the idea of little booklet-type wedding invitations, and the whole concept of quirky and wonderful wedding storybooklets and new chapters and beginnings was just to tempting to resist!

Quirky Wedding Storybooklets for a New Chapter...

Joseph and Melanie’s charette submission revealed a tastefully unconventional couple, who are clearly having fun planning a wedding that is unique and untraditional but still charming and lovely-a tower of cheeses for a wedding cake, a caricaturist in place of a photographer!

The challenge for me was to design an invitation suite that would reflect an unusually delightful wedding for two sets of guests- an afternoon ‘Strawberry-themed tea party and ceremony’ and an evening dinner and party for younger guests.  Pink strawberries, peonies, a lovely English venue and the coming together of two families were key elements in their submission that I wanted to depict.

This all inspired the idea for a special spined-accordian ‘wedding storybooklet’ with an artwork cover that folds out into an illustrated scene that is a combination of background stories, families, map and venue  as well as quirky wedding details that would hopefully represent the joy of Joseph and Melanie’s coming together. Right in the middle of the illustration is where there will a place for two interchangeable graphics , one for a strawberry-themed afternoon tea and ceremony, and another for an evening party. The storybooklet will be printed on lovely 100% cotton rag paper that is both sturdy and wonderful to the touch bound by a cheerful band that also holds in the RSVP set.

Jigsaw Puzzle RSVP pieces and other details

The next challenge-what sort of RSVPs would be suitable for guests of all ages ranging from friends of their young buys to older friends and family? I wanted to take on Joseph and Melanie’s playful nature and do a twist on the traditional RSVPs- a large jigsaw puzzle printed on stiff matboard and cut out into shapes to be inserted along with their envelopes at the back of the storybooklet, held together by the colored elastic band. The RSVP pieces would need to be returned to complete a large jigsaw puzzle (of the same storybooklet) artwork that can be framed and hung on the wall.

Cover artwork for the storybooklet can be screen printed or hand-illustrated, in a range of motifs from the wedding-strawberries, or pink peonies, the wedding venue, etc depending on the bride-and-groom to be.

As a closing note, it is my hope that this invitation suite would be a highly unusual wedding momento of Joseph and Melanie’s equally unique wedding and story, one that their guests would want to treasure and keep.  Congratulations again!

Hello everyone! Those of you who have been following my Illustrated Friday Wedding Charette will have a little surprise today, I am unveiling a spin-off charette that I am launching especially for small, creative, artisan or handmade businesses! This is great news for those of you who have been wanting to brand, remake or redesign a new or existing image for your wonderful little biz but have limited funds.

These are the services I am offering in my regular design studio:

The concept is similar to the wedding charette, submit a branding or design challenge you’ve been wanting to tackle for your existing or emerging business and if you win the entry, I will work on some full-color concept sketches to help you kickstart your planning!

While the original sketches itself are protected under this Creative Commons license and may not be used directly for official commercial printed or online use, they are yours to build upon and expand. And here’s the great news, if entry winners decide that they would like The TreeSpace Studio to take the initial idea to the next level, they will receive a special 30% off the listed Etsy price! That is real kickstart savings there! So definitely try for a submission if funds are limited!

The new Design Charette page

All you have to do is click on the Design Charette tab on the nav menu above (or click on the screenshot to your left) and follow the instructions. Look for a submit button at the bottom of the page. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the charette policies and always feel free to drop us a line if you have any questions!

Kickstart your Biz Design Submission page

Currently, the Design Charette will alternate Fridays with the Wedding Charette, so follow us on Twitter or Facebook for upcoming charette call-for-entries!

This entry comes from Jason, who needed some brainstorming help for an invitation suite for their vintage-carnival themed wedding.  From their submission they seemed like such an interesting couple-they met at gastric bypass support group, dubbed themselves The Incredible Shrinking Couple and are considering having sideshow banners of it made for the wedding!  The challenge was, what sort of invitations would have vintage style as well as the curiosity elements of a delightful sideshow attraction?

A little whimsy, a little noir-ish, a little vintage carnival flash

A wedding with a carnival theme is definitely NOT boring and the invitations to it should definitely be out of the ordinary and depicted in a loose, free, colorful style common in antique and vintage carnival posters. Think bold brush strokes, bright cheerful colors.

Also, how do you keep the element of surprise of a vintage carnival ‘sideshow attraction’  in an invitation suite?  With the classic pop-up card of course! The cover of the invitation is carefully sedate yet secretive. A small note at the bottom beckons the recipient to lift the ‘curtain’ for the main act.

The Incredible Shrinking Couple

Lift it up and the Incredible Shrinking Couple (Jason and Rebecca in carnival flourish) jumps up to greet you! Some subtleties in design like larger shadows on the cover and smaller figures inside could elude to the shrinking There are plenty of instructions on the web on how to construct pop-up cards and Jason and Rebecca would probably enjoy drawing and coloring themselves to be cut out! Print the pop-up cards out on creamy conservation papers (Japanese washi papers or french cotton papers), they work great for an aged look.

And how can one pass up the opportunity to hand out carnival-styled tickets for the wedding save the dates? A quick search on Etsy turns up myriad colorful rolls of plain raffle tickets that would suit the purpose. Some are even genuine vintage. Grab some rubber stamps and start personalizing them with the wedding date and information. Get guests to hold on to their save the dates for a real raffle at the wedding carnival. A wonderful alternative would be a giant carnival ticket stub, folded in the center where the perforations are. This would allow more personalizing and text. There are many such ticket images online, the key  is to use screen-print or rubber stamps for an authentic vintage look.

What a fun task making all these,happy crafting Jason and Rebecca!

You might remember an Illustrated Friday feature sometime back about a Go Club logo, if not see the sketch idea here. I was requested to take the design further for an official club logo to be used for official events, branding items and stationery. Here is how it has progressed. I wanted to keep the original black and white, clean design intact, and incorporate the club name. I thought for club merchandise, that a Japanese style headband or hachimaki would be great and loads of fun for the members! We’ll see if they bite into that

loGO

Sabaki Go Club

Go Hachimaki

A Game of Infinite Depth

This week’s entry comes from environmentally-conscious Elizabeth who has been having trouble figuring out how to tie her invitations to her venue of a traditional wedding at a nature center as well as making sure her husband likes them too!

Spread the love!

The idea behind this invitation suite came about when I requested to see what Elizabeth likes or was inspired by. She sent me an image for the save-the-date that had been sent out and mentioned she wanted something that looks like that. When I saw it all I could think of was vintage SEED PACKETS! I have been collecting images of those for awhile and was struck by how similar her save-the-date was to a vintage seed packet in its bright cheerful colors, whimsical script, even the shape and proportion!

Striking Similarities!

I thought it would make a beautiful invitation idea for a girl who was very environmentally aware and who was having her wedding at a nature center. The utilitarianism of the idea would hopefully win over her husband-to-be as well!  The seed packet invitation would come with seeds of course-with the front illustrated with the seed flowers of their choice (see vintage seed packets for ideas ).  The packet unfolds to feature an illustrated map  of their nature center wedding location, with wedding details/schedule on the packet fold to the right of it.

The back of the ‘seed packet’ will feature ‘instructions’ which can include directions/transportation to the wedding venue, a formal invitation address and other fun things. Peppered throughout are fun phrases like ‘Spread the Love!’ or ‘Grow Our Love!’ or something to that effect, encouraging guests to plant the seeds included, a symbolic gesture.  The seed packet can even be made from real seed papers so that everything returns to the ground after usage, but why not keep it as a real seed packet for your garden winter storage?