A crazy busy month with Marriage Certificates!

Of course I love letterpress (who wouldn't), but I have to say that doing marriage certificates is my favorite thing to do!  They can range from simple black ink with no illustrations to multi colored lettering and watercolors (my personal fave).  This is a part of the wedding that doesn't have to match everything else (although it certainly can) and you can leap out of the box and have some fun! 

See below for some of the most recent certificates I have penned (and brushed...) 

This one I have done a similar one in the past, but in all black. This time the bride's chose a deep chocolate and peacock teal.  The little birds are so fun!

 This certificate features watercolor blooms in various shades of blue, with the names in a matching blue (also done with watercolor ink).

 This certificate featured penned flowers in coral to replicate old fashioned engravings.

 This certificate took a long.... time, but it was worth the effort.  The bride requested I make the certificate have the same motif as her invites.  The design is outlined in chocolate brown ink, and then filled in with pastel hues of watercolor in pistachio and pink

 Here is another bride directed certificate. She sent me some clipart of an image she wanted on the certificate.  I chose to do it in watercolor so it would have an ethnic earthy feel

 Cherry Blossom certificate to match invites

 Soft mauve and grey calligraphy gift suite: certificate, Mother in Law poem, and Pooh poem for Mom

 Simple certificate in dark olive, gray and black. I like how the blocky monogram came out :)

 Nautical vows in silver and white

 Yellow and orange watercolor flowers

 This one I was soooo..... nervous doing.  It was for the famed writer/illustrator of the Berenstain Bears books!!! It features bold black, deep red, and shimmery gold inks.

First Job in the New Studio!

So, I have to tell you I am in love with my new studio!!  Working in it, is such a dream come true.  So has working with my most recent bride.  She came to me and wanted letterpress invites with navy ink in all hand calligraphy script, but was concerned and wanted to make sure it was very readable.  We did a very streamlines calligraphy for the majority of the lettering and then went crazy on the names and titles (on the enclosures). The result was beautiful.  Crisp navy calligraphy impressed into the soft cotton paper - elegant and oh so chic!

Vintage Style Quaker Marriage Certificate

Press is OUT of the garage!!!

My letterpress is happily in the INside studio and out of the garage.  Letterpress is a finicky art and the ink likes it to be between 65-75 degrees. Too cold and the ink hardens up, too warm and it melts!  So, both the ink and I are very happy now in our climate controlled studio :)

For a few minutes, I did think it would be fun to just keep the letterpress on the front lawn. It was a gorgeous morning in Houston, sunny and in the low 70's.