"Hello" from Rifle Paper Co.

Rifle Paper Co. recently released these great "hello" themed charcoal ink and 

metallic gold foil cards. Wouldn't you love to get one of these in the mail?!

Design Inspiration from Bri Emery

I'm a huge fan of Bri Emery - both her design work and her inspiration blog Design Love Fest. Here are some awesome bright spots from her online portfolio. She has worked with a ton of great West Coast companies like Once Wed, Ban.do, Rue Magazine, Oh Joy and more.

Fireplace Nook

I wouldn't mind lounging here on a Monday morning sipping 

a cup of coffee and reading a good book. But instead I'll be 

tackling my to-do list and heading to the dentist.

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New Fall Arrivals from Madewell

I get super excited for fall when I start to see tights, boots and sweaters. Check out the new arrivals for fall from Madewell. Pretty sure they'll make you eager for the season of apple cider and pumpkins.  

Courage

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Bottled Iced Coffee + Beautiful Packaging

Gorgeous design, delicious beverage, vintage feel - how could this not be awesome?!

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Recipe of the Week: Green Bean & Black Quinoa Salad

This week's recipe comes from Sprouted Kitchen. While I'm not a huge fan of green beans, my husband is. This is the first year we planted any vegetables in the garden and we've yielded about 40 green beans. I think I might love green beans made like this.

2011 Signature Wedding Line

In the next few week I'll be launching my signature line of wedding invitations and new website. I'm super excited but there is still a lot of work to be done. As the head designer for Oneleven Creative and Oneleven Wedding, all that work falls on my shoulders. 

Here's a sneak peek at some of the designs in my fifteen piece collection. 

Happy Friday Links

Happy Friday everyone! This weekend is going to be crazy busy. I'll be helping my hubby get ready for his first week as a college graphics instructor. Hope you all have a great weekend planned.

... a few links for your weekend!

• Love this company and its glasses
• New Kate Spade collection 
• Fabulous 1915 house transformation
• UK Shabby Chic collection 

photo: Jose Villa via Style Me Pretty 

Bangle All the Way

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Easy Style

I love fashion that looks effortless. These ladies and designers sure know how to create a look that appears casual and so easy to pull off - but still fashionable. 

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Gorgeous Letterpress Wedding Invitations

Mama Sauce is an awesome letterpress shop with tops of inspirational pieces highlighted on their blog. This beauty features sweet illustrations with a playful color scheme. This is a wedding I would love to be invited to.

It's amazing how couples can build their person style into their wedding stationery. Seeing invitations like these push me to think more outside the box when designing for my clients.

Recipe of the Week: Spiced Carrot Soup

I love soup. I could eat it every day for every meal. This recipe found on Pictures and Pancakes, a wonderful food blog by the Purcells, looks amazing and easy enough to throw together. The full recipe can be found here.

5 Things I Love - Summer Drink Special

It's already the middle of August and summer is coming to a close. One of my favorite things about summer is all of the awesome cold drinks that taste so good on a hot day.

1. Iced Caramel Macchiato: This is a special treat that I don't indulge in too often but is so awesome every time I do. 
2. Hard Cider: I'm not a big drinker - at all - but I do really love a cold hard cider after dinner while sitting on the patio as the sun goes down.
3. Fruit Smoothie: This is so easy to throw in the blender and so refreshing. I make mine with just frozen berries and orange juice.
4. Blueberry Iced Tea: Honestly, I drink this all year round. We have put some serious miles on our ice tea maker and blueberry tea is my favorite! 
5. Iced Coffee: Most afternoons I look forward to throwing some milk, ice and leftover coffee from the morning together for a delicious pick me up. 

What's your favorite drink of the summer?

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Pop Chart Lab

I'm a huge fan of illustrated posters and Pop Chart Lab has produced some outstanding and clever prints. I found their site earlier today while poking around the web. The ideas behind these posters are so fun! Who wouldn't want a print of 282 sobriquets from the world of rap music arranged according to semantics hanging above their fireplace?!

Make an Entrance

A welcoming front door is a staple of a great entrance. I'm a huge fan of a colorful front door. These front stoops and porches look like awesome places to hang out with a cup of coffee and a book.

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Reading List

Here are some of the things I'm currently reading or at least looking forward to reading.

• Creative Inc.: The Ultimate Guide to Running a Successful Freelance Business by Joy Deangdeelert and Meg Mateo Ilasco 
• Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters by Timothy Keller
• Pulled: A Catalog of Screen Printing by Michael Perry
• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

What are you reading? 

Both Excited and Terrified

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This is exactly how I'm feeling today. I can't tell if she is scared out of her mind or having the time of her life.

Today is my last day as an employee of a local nonprofit. For the next two weeks I'll be training my replacement and packing things up. As I look forward to years (hopefully) of working for myself and building Oneleven Creative, I'm super excited and really scared about stepping out on my own. But I know that this is what is best for my career, family and future.

Custom Coffee Sleeve

I might just have to keep this idea in my head for future clients.

 

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Whoopie!

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Yesterday while visiting my friends who live at the beach in Delaware, we baked eight dozen whoopie pies in seven different flavors: chocolate peanut butter, butterscotch, oatmeal with caramel, oatmeal with butterscotch, strawberry with chocolate chips, strawberry with sprinkles and vanilla raspberry. This kept us quite busy on a dreary and cloudy day. I love that Lancaster, PA is home to the whoopie pie, but now they  are really popular and people are creating creative and yummy recipes!

Check out this delicious chocolate peanut butter whoopie pie recipe from Martha Stewart:

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Peanut Butter Buttercream
• 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl; set aside.
   
2. Add butter, shortening, and sugars to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; cream on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add egg; beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add half the flour mixture, then the milk and vanilla; beat until combined. Add the remaining flour mixture. Beat together, scraping down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
   
3. Drop 12 slightly rounded tablespoons of batter 2 inches apart on each baking sheet. Bake the cookies in the upper and lower thirds of oven, 10 minutes; switch the positions of the baking sheets, and rotate each one. Continue baking until the cookies spring back to the touch, 2 to 4 minutes more.
   
4. Remove from oven; let cookies cool on baking sheets, 10 minutes.Transfer with a metal spatula to a wire rack; let cool completely. Meanwhile, line a cooled baking sheet with a new piece of parchment; repeat process with remaining batter.
   
5. Spread 1 scant tablespoon buttercream on flat sides of half the cookies.Top each with one of the remaining cookies, flat side down, and gently press together. Transfer pies to a tray.
   
6. Melt half the chocolate in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat; add remaining chocolate, and stir until melted and smooth. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip (Ateco #2 or #3) or a small parchment cone. Pipe chocolate in a spiral pattern on top of each pie. Let chocolate set before serving, about 1 hour.
   

5 Things I Love from Mad Men

This post was inspired by the "10 Things I Love" on A Beautiful Mess blog. 

I've started watching AMC's Mad Men again, starting at Season one, on Netflix to help pass the time while working on my upcoming collection of wedding stationery (launching in early fall). This is a great show to watch while working. I am so inspired by the vintage details and fashion.

I can't wait for the new season!

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