christmas cards 2014

My Octobers, Novembers, and Decembers are usually packed with holiday card designs. Each year I have plans of photographing each design, but in practice, time always slips away and I either don't get a sample of the printed cards or just don't take the time to have them photographed. With my family's cards, however, it is easy to get samples and have my sister snap photos of them. So inevitably, you can expect to find their's here on the blog and in my portfolio!

My mom desired a simple card this year, and she wanted the color photo to take center stage. That meant a simple type overlay of "MERRY CHRISTMAS" and our names on the front. On the back, a short note about the year's happenings and a couple more photos. The watercolor branch was originally meant for the front, but to allow the photo to shine (and due to all the foliage in the background of the photo), it worked best on the back.

My sister had a simple design in mind, too, incorporating some type and a diamond pattern. The dark green lettering complimented the greens and yellows in their gorgeous photo well. We went with a while envelope because we could not find a good source for dark, dark green ones (a first choice).

You can see more of my holiday card designs from years past here.

kane is one // birthday invitations, cake topper, banner, food cards

Inspired by Raffa's first birthday invitations, Tarika had me customize the invitations for Kane's first birthday party in San Francisco. In addition to invitations and return address labels, Tarika had me do some food table cards, a template for a banner, and a super duper cute cake topper.

It looks like this birthday party came together perfectly, and I love being a part of a special even such as a little one's first birthday party. My paper goods were beautifully complimented by the Golden Gate Bridge backdrop, and I would say they were over shadowed by the way-too-cute birthday boy!

Thanks, Tarika, for allowing me to share the photos from Kane's big day!

custom design // feather + barnwood baby shower invitations

One of my dear friends is pregnant with her third child, she is actually due literally any day! In May, I had the honor of designing a sprinkle (as opposed to a shower) invitation for a little celebration in honor of her. Although I was not able to attend because we were in California, I was so glad to make the contribution of the above invitation. I worked with the mama-to-be, Jenny, and she gave me some direction on the scripty/hand-written typeface and helped me refine the watercolor feathers. I also worked with another close friend of ours to round out the invitation in terms of the block font and she also gave me the idea for the barnwood background.

The invitation included the barnwood on the back as well, and was paired with purple envelopes that matched purple of "evely love."

I love the way the invitation turned out - especially those feathers on the barnwood. But more importantly, Jenny loved it too. I sure wish I had been able to be there at the celebration! And, I cannot wait to meet Miss Evely Love!

update: I just found out this morning that Evely has arrived! Yesterday she made her way into this world. Welcome, Evely!

hey!

Hey there! We are just getting ready for our trip to California. We are heading there for my sister's wedding and we will be gone for a little over a week.

I don't necessarily plan on posting here on the blog while we are gone, but I am not completely ruling it out either. I will certainly be Instagramming (so follow me @chloechristinemarty), and will hopefully have some great photos to share when we get back.

In the meantime, I wanted to say have a great weekend and I thought I would quickly share Raffa's first birthday party thank you notes. They match the theme of his party and have the same lettering as his invitations. I loved this goofy photo of him that my sister captured, so it was a perfect fit for thank you post cards to let everyone know that we really appreciated and enjoyed having them celebrate with us.

wedding invitation design // jonna + erik

I am so excited; we are heading to California for my sister's wedding. I already call him my brother-in-law, but technically he is not yet but will be as of June 12.

The wedding is a very intimate event. Immediate family only will be in attendance; so invitations were more of a tradition and keepsake than anything else.

My sister wanted a floral design with a watercolor style. The text was the other major element of the design, for which we combined several typefaces, a mix of a script/handwritten font and some modern block fonts.

The wedding will be part of a whole vacation that we are taking together. We will enjoy over a week in California wine country. We included a map with the invitation with the region we will enjoy; specifically San Francisco, Healdsburg, and Sonoma.

Since my sister got engaged years ago (yes, years), I had been waiting to design these wedding invitations for her. I finally got to and I am so thrilled with how pretty they turned out. And, as thrilled as I was to work on these invitations, I am even more excited to celebrate the marriage of my sister and brother-in-law all while enjoying a vacation with my favorite people.

bicycle baby shower

Our trip to Durango was absolutely fabulous. We had a lovely time and enjoyed some nice weather. I got to get some Durango running in, we went on a hike, and we just enjoyed feeling like we were "home" for a few days. The purpose of my trip, as I mentioned last week, was a baby shower for a dear friend. I co-hosted the shower with another best friend.

The shower had a bicycle theme (remember the invitation I shared last week) and I made various paper pieces of decor for our theme. In addition to the invitations we had cupcake toppers (that we actually used as sandwich toppers), food cards to identify the various food items (sandwich "flavors", beverages, etc.), wrappers for the chocolate bar party favors, some fill-in letters to the baby, and an 11x14" print that we had guests sign like a guest book.

My pieces were only a small part of the puzzle and the care and love that my co-host put into the shower brought everything together.

I am considering offering this whole bicycle theme baby shower package in my Etsy shop, but I am putting feelers out there to see if it something that would interest people. What do you think?

We are heading back to Denver today. Bittersweet, as usual, as I always feel most at home in Durango.  We likely won't have an opportunity to go back until mid-summer.

custom design // bicycle baby shower invitations

Raffa and I are headed to Durango tomorrow because I am co-hosting a baby shower for a dear friend of mine there. And, I thought I would share the invitations I designed for the shower today.

A navy, yellow, and gray bicycle theme is the direction we went with the invitations because that is the theme of baby Peter's nursery. The invitation was a simple design, with a hand script and modern block font, and a whimsical bicycle illustration, which will be carried over to several pieces at the shower (favors, food name plates, etc.). We went with gorgeous navy envelopes and yellow wrap around labels. Gray and white polka dot washi tape sealed the envelopes. For postage, we went with several smaller denominations for a fun look; the guy at the post office looked at me like I was crazy when I told him I wanted to do this. Ha!

I am so excited to be going to Durango; we haven't been since January and I am hoping for some lovely spring weather. We will certainly catch up with lots of friends, go to some favorite places, and hopefully get out on some hikes. My mom is coming with us, and so the three of us - Raffa, Mimi, and me - will spent Easter today; certainly a bummer not to be with the whole family for Easter, but I am sure we will have a lovely Easter in Durango.

By the way, these baby shower invitations are available for purchase and customization in my Etsy shop.

custom design :: holiday cards

I am continuing to share holiday card that I designed for the past 2013 holidays. Today, I am sharing my mom's family holiday card which includes my little family and my sisters little family as well {top}; and I am sharing my sister's holiday card {bottom}.

You can check out a sampling of other holiday cards I have designed here. And, any of my designs, whether they are in my shop or not, are available for purchase and customization {although it may be a little early to think about holiday 2014 cards}.

press :: michael + blaine wedding paper goods

I was a small part of this gorgeous wedding, namely the invitations and other wedding paper goods, and it was featured in Wedding Style New England's latest issue.

custom design :: gregg family holiday cards

I did not get a chance before the holidays to share all of the holiday cards I was commissioned to design for the 2013 holiday season. So, over the next couple of weeks, I will sprinkle in some of those.

Today I am sharing the card I designed for the Gregg family. The starting point for the design was the beach photo. Jen wanted the card to match the blues and teals in the photo of Lianna and Duncan on the beach. She also didn't want anything overly Christmas-y in design elements or colors. From that came this star design where the stars have some movement across the card. A simple signature and greeting on the back and custom printed return addresses on the envelopes gave the whole set a classy feel.

happy holidays to you

Each year I share my holiday card on Christmas as my Happy Holiday message. However, as I did last year, I will be taking a little holiday vacay from everything work and work-related, including blogging. So I am sharing my holiday card and sending my Happy Holiday message to you today.

I have not taken a break from blogging since last year at this time. I love blogging, and I truly enjoy creating and curating content for &chloe, but as life in general has gotten busier, I also have to make a conscious effort to be more present and mindful during those opportunities to spend time with my little and extended family.

All that said, thank YOU for reading. I appreciate it so much. I enjoy the process of putting all this out there, but I also love it when my readers enjoy reading it, too!

So, this is my sign-off for 2013. I leave you with the sincerest wishes of a Happy Holidays to you and yours. My card really captures my feelings about this time of year - it really is one of the most wonderful times of the year. I hope that rings true for you and those you love, too.

I will be back in 2014 (!!!) with new content like I discussed in my post after the survey and more. And, more details about my holiday card after the jump.

wedding menus + programs + place cards :: michael + blaine

Back in August I shared the wedding invitations I did for Michael and Blaine's Boston wedding. I also did the accompanying wedding pieces including place cards, table numbers, menus, and cocktail menus. Today I get to share images of those pieces in action from their absolutely gorgeous wedding! The whole celebration, as you can see, came together just perfect; and I am so thrilled that my paper designs were a part of such a beautiful event.

All images were taken by Brian Phillips Photographers.