I’ve been a big fan of Tara’s work at Ink & Wit for a long time, and its my yearly ritual to purchase one of her beautiful letterpress calenders. This year’s is no exception and was inspired by some of the most stunning places in the world like, Machu Pichhui in Peru and Joshua Tree in California.

I’m seriously in love with the way Tara creates a three dimensional feel via geometric patterns and her color choices are always spot on (an aqua Emu? sign me up).

They’re available for purchase right here, better hurry she always sells out!!!

More Inspiration:

I’m a big fan of pretty paper goods, and local Santa Barbara invitation designer Leslie Lewis Sigler of Lilly & Louise does just that. About a month ago Kirsten of Beaux Arts and I did a little styling session with Leslie’s paper good for her new website. It was a fun day and I loved all the pretty paper goodies we captured.

Leslie does completely custom work and she’s also a fine art artist so mixing media, colors and textures is right up her alley (she was the genius behind my own blog re-design). Here’s a very classic and elegant invitation which I styled with a black tie, vintage perfume bottle and a string of pearls.

I love the playful calligraphy of this suite, and the notched flag detail? Adorable!

From programs with a sewn edge, to buttons with guest names, to fortune tellers, Leslie designs paper items way beyond your standard invitation.

Here she designed welcome bags to match the invitations. Seriously, have band-aids ever looked so cute?

Of course, if something more mod, and slightly Mad Men in flavor, is more your speed, this suite she created for a 70s birthday bash is pure mid-century awesomeness. I styled the invites with some matchbooks from the period (I found a bunch in Los Alamos). Anyway, you can see more of Leslie’s paper goodness here, her fine art here (she painted my favorite silver piece in my collection right here) and if you’re looking for logo design, she does that too, right here. And you can take a tour of Leslie’s adorable home over on Design*Sponge!

More Inspiration:

Today I’m super excited to welcome Minted.com to the blog. Minted hosts a variety of designs from independent designers, from traditional to modern, they’ve got just the right look for your wedding invitations!

Who doesn’t like bunting flags? I love the sweet playfulness of this invite and the colors are adorable.

I adore the brown craft paper look of these invitations and the sweet lace detail at the bottom.

I love these invites; their traditional in font, but modern in its layout. Plus the soft aqua color is superb!

The slightly 60′s vibe of these invitations and the different colored letters are just so darn fun.

Minted also has bridal shower invitations (not to mention invites for all types of other events, business cards, stationery and so on). I love the pictogram format in the polka dots, its so clever. To see more of what minted.com has to offer, pop over right here.

*Sponsored post

More Inspiration:

There was this great rusted fence at Stow House and I thought it was the perfect place for the seating cards. Betsy Dunlap did the calligraphy and I clipped the little cards to the fence with mini clothespins.

Instead of making up faux guest names, I used some of my favorite authors as “guests” for at my Anthropologie wedding. I love George Eliot and Betsy’s calligraphy makes her name so pretty (and its an awesome keepsake for my office!).

For the invitation design I gave Megan of Nutmeg Press, three sources of inspiration: I wanted an aqua  fade with the couples names in white and to use the pattern and color of the napkin fabric for the design inspiration. And this what this what she created:

The blue fade is so pretty and subtle and the copper dashes tie in perfectly with the napkin pattern.

The menu cards were little booklets the size of a business card with all the courses on each page. It was bound with copper thread. I was so in love with the invitations and Betsy calligraphy they are definitely getting framed and hung somewhere in my office!

Photos: Kirsten Ellis of Beaux Arts Photography

Invitations: Nutmeg Press

Calligraphy: Betsy Dunlap

Design: Kelly Oshiro Events

Location: Stow House

More Inspiration:

The invitations were created by Christine of cevd. I loved the envelop liner and the pattern she created for the invite itself.

More Inspiration:

I’m so happy to introduce Hello Lucky as a sponsor of Santa Barbara Wedding Chic!

They are a wedding invitation company that offers a ton of styles and both digital and letterpress printing options.

I love the simple design of this suite and the rounded corners.

They also sell stationery and paper goods for occasions like birthdays. I love this “hog wild” birthday card. For information about all that Hello Lucky offers, visit their website here.

More Inspiration:

I feel strangely compeled to buy this. Right. Now. By Egg Press via Poppytalk.

More Inspiration: