Featured | 100 Layer Cake
Over the summer, I participated in a fun, breezy summer collaboration but never got around to sharing (shame on me!).
From our fearless leader:
At Glow Event Design, we love coming up with new ways for couples to celebrate saying I Do. More and more of our couples are looking for “weekend experiences” they can enjoy with their guests, rather than traditional receptions. We loved the idea of a summer poolside wedding that could be hosted in a backyard or an outdoor venue. We wanted cocktail hour to have an eclectic look that felt more like you were lounging at the couple’s home rather than on rented furniture. We mixed different styles of chairs and cafe tables to create a “collected” look, and layered in pieces from local boutiques and Anthropologie’s home line to make it look more cozy. Signature drinks were dressed up with custom stirrers and multi-colored coasters. In lieu of traditional place cards, each guest would receive a hand painted planter to take home as a favor.
check out the rest of the feature here:http://www.100layercake.com/wedding-inspiration/modern-summer-wedding-inspiration/
Photographer: Michelle Walker Photography / Venue: K Venues / Event Design & Styling: Glow Event Design / Florist: Amanda Vidmar Design / Hair & Makeup: J Beautique / Baker: Indie Cakes & Pastries / Event Rentals: Blueprint Studios / Ceremony Arch: Buzzworthy Events / Stationery: Design House of Moira / Lasercut Names: Letters To U / Escort Card Planters: Sea and Asters / Tabletop & Misc. Décor: Anthropologie / Bride’s Attire: BHLDN / Groom’s Attire: The Black Tux / Tie: Melissa Sloan / Votives: Glassybaby / Male Model: Entire Productions
Prep School - Creative: Watercolor I
Creative: Watercolor I
In our first watercolor course, we will explore color theory, basic color mixing, supplies, and basic applications (we'll be painting fruit!) using several techniques. The watercolor courses, like the business and pricing courses, are meant to build on one another semester to semester.
Prep School - Creative: Sketching for Creatives
Creative: Sketching for Creatives
Since I'm obviously a stationer, this is a perfect course for those creatives looking to hone in their paper process with their clients, but it's also a great course for all creatives looking to smooth out their customer experience. We'll talk about why having a sketching stage is important, how transparent to be with your clients, it's advantages as well as how to go about adding a sketching stage into your own process.
Prep School - Your Creative Process
Establishing Your Creative Process
Honing and refining your creative process is such an incredibly important part of owning and running a profitable creative business. A consistent workflow helps us manage our clients, set client expectations correctly, correct our time management problems, elevate our client's experience, and ultimately be more profitable. It also allows us as the creative to drive the creative process rather than our clients being the drivers.
Prep School - Finding Your Passion
Finding & Exploring your passion
Many people have a dream to quite the hustle of their day jobs and follow their passion, but that's such a broad idea, where does one even start? We'll talk about how to find your passion, the "four letter word" (day job), how to leverage it to your advantage, how real the hustle needs to be, what to expect, and when is the right time (if any) to quite the day job to fully pursue your passion.
Prep School - Creative: Paper Marbling
Paper Marbling
So much of what we stand for is establishing, maintaining and nurturing a positive work/life balance and that includes indulging and nurturing your own creativity outside your usual work. Each semester will hold several creative courses, just to keep the inspiration alive and to expand your horizons. This creative course is to explore the basic art of paper marbling, the supplies, process and applications.
Design House Prep School
Beginning in September...
Join us for our maiden semester in learning and growing together. Design House Prep School is an online workshop series geared toward creative entrepreneurs who want to grow, build and explore their passions, with a focus on creativity, business management, and profitability.
Our goal is to create a community together to support one another, learn together, and curate a better work/life balance. Our first semester will begin with 7 courses, combining business focus as well as creative learning.
Prep School - Pricing for Creative Businesses
Pricing for Creative Businesses I
With three consecutive semesters of pricing courses, we will work from how to establish your base prices, evaluating your market, finding clients, profitability and monetizing your work, elevating your pricing and clientele, and working into a luxury brand. Our first semester will focus on determining your worth, market research, establishing value in your products, determining your need, establishing your priorities and pricing breakdown case studies. This course is perfect for a new creative business owner, or a creative looking to revamp their profitability.
Featured | Oh So Beautiful Paper
It's Monday morning and I'm greeted by a featured post of my work on Oh So Beautiful Paper! That's a perfect way to start a week! You can view the featured post here!
Working with Marina from Bustle Events, we designed this suite for an elopement celebration, using the phrase “we fell in love, so we ran away” as the theme. We really wanted to embrace the destination aspect of the celebration, tying in natural edges and shades of blue. The invitation itself announces their elopement and invites guests to join them at the bride’s parents home upon their return home. We really loved the idea of using paper with a raw edge and choose to go with handmade 100% cotton rag paper from Fabulous Fancy Pants. We paired the handmade paper with slooping brush lettering, and paired it with a formal serif font.
I also hand painted a large piece of artwork for the bride in monochromatic blues, and used that artwork to be printed as their envelope liners. Each invitation suite was wrapped in hand dyed, hand frayed silk ribbon and tucked into a crisp white cotton envelope. The cocktail menus were printed on the same 100% cotton rag paper and featured a “his & hers” signature cocktail. We also created a larger scale artwork piece of the quote we used in the suite featuring the couple’s wax seal.
Design, printing and production: Design House of Moira
Ring box: Lang Antiques
Paper: Fabulous Fancy Pants
Photography: Design House of Moira
Bespoke | Veronica & Charles
These invitations were created for the Oh So Inspired Retreat held in Sonoma, California last fall. We wanted to create something fun, bright, bold and playful with touches of rose gold and shades of peaches and pinks.
The invitations were kept on the simple side, with bold lettering gracing the front. Behind the lettering, I did a pale watercolor wash of pale pink and dropped in just a touch of rose gold. The backs of the invitations were printed in the bold pattern, adding interest and color to the simple invitation design.
I completely love the envelope design with the envelopes lined in the bold print. Each envelope was addressed in the same bold, heavy brush lettering. The carefully selected stamps are reprints of vintage seed packets and the colors were perfect! The small reply card was printed with the couple's address with their initials in the same bold brush style.
Bespoke | Italian Destination
When you run away and get married in Italy trailing your entire family and group of friends with you, you might as well go big. We created these invitations to reflect the amazing venue, complete with cypress trees, old masonry and yellow shutters.
Bespoke | Elopement
"we fell in love so we ran away"
Two people fell in love, eloped and got married! To announce their marriage, we created a main piece with the date they tied the knot, paired with a reception card announcing a celebration thrown by the brides parents. I created the suite with handwritten, contemporary brush calligraphy and printed the entire suite on handmade cotton rag paper. The envelopes were both lined with monochromatic indigo florals, and addressed in the same looping indigo lettering. The entire suite was wrapped in hand dyed silk ribbon.
Featured | Style me Pretty
One of my favorite clients (I say 'favorite' but all my clients are pretty fricken awesome!), Miss Jess Galfo, fashion blogger of Dressed by Jess and blogger bride at Style Me Pretty met up with her completely fab event designer to have a sit down recently to chat about style, paper, and all details weddings! Paige from Gilded Lily Events is working with Jess on her wedding design, and I have the pleasure of creating her paper pieces for her. They cozied up in Paige's darling office to pour over paper options, printing methods and wedding details. The lovely afternoon was then shot by Love & Light Photography and was featured on Style Me Pretty today! Jess turned the tables a bit and put on her hat as blogger and picked Paige's brain a bit about owning a wedding design company and working with clients. Check out her full interview the rest of the gallery
From Paige:
There are plenty of ways to showcase your personality on your wedding day, but what elements are the most important?
I truly believe that love is in the details. However, couples can easily get weighed down by all of these “little” things. I like to remind brides-to-be that it is important to really zoom in on the areas that will make the most impact. If you think back on a picture of a wedding that you loved, you probably didn’t notice everything that was going on around it. Focus on what is the most important and highlight it. For an overall beautiful, cohesive look, I believe the flowers and paper goods are the most important elements. They carry the wedding day story and are usually the first and last thing that your guests will take note of.
Invitations are the guests’ first peek at the formality of the wedding along with the type of event being thrown. How can brides keep them creative, yet cohesive?
Save the Dates and invitations are the first connections that your guests will have with your wedding and it sets the tone for what to expect for your day. Before you send out your invitations, make sure you have a good idea of the color palette and key design elements that you are going to use throughout your wedding day. Custom invitations are the way to go and are not just a luxury item. Be clear with your graphic designer or artist of what you want and how they can work within your budget to make your invitation dreams come true.
Check out more from Paige on Style Me Pretty!
Modern Calligraphy Summit | Final Registration
This has been such a long time coming!! The Modern Calligraphy Summit begins at the end of the month and I'm so excited to get started!!
Before we can begin, we have one more round of open registration before we close the doors! Registration will run through the end of the week, so don't delay.
Lets review what we're talking about here:
The Modern Calligraphy Summit is an intense calligraphy workshop taught by nine of the best calligraphers from around the world. So often interested students miss out because an instructor isn't in their area or they cant get to the workshop for scheduling reasons. We've solved those problems! The summit is entirely online and we have students joining us from 38 countries (and counting!)
The summit will run for two weeks, adding a new video each day. Classes will range frombasic lettering, to brush lettering, developing your style, brush lettering, flourishing, envelope layout and so much more! We'll also be hosting two live webinars at the end of the summit to address business and pricing questions as well as studio/work space questions. Our private Facebook group for all attendees has also proven a wonderful platform for encouragement, Q&A and interaction with professionals. You'll have lifetime access to the summit videos to check back in and watch them again and again.
This summit is the first of its kind and I'm thrilled to be part of it! This is such a great way to kick start your calligraphy business, further your hobby, or pick up a new one!
Original Artwork | Monochormatic
I've been playing around with painting in a single color, adjusting tones and shadows to give depth and contrast. I recently did two pieces in shades of grey and black (and apparently blue. I'm not actually sure where the blue came from, I can only think that there was a tiny bit mixed in the palette with the black - it wasn't noticeable until it had dried!)
I finished these two commissioned pieces last week - they measure 15x11 and are painted on Arches cold press watercolor paper and will be finished with a deckled edge before being shipped off to their new owners!
You can also see a bit of Paige's invitation artwork below the black and white.
Bespoke | Samantha & Stuart
I've been pretty obsessed with marbling lately, and this suite is nothing short of all sorts of marbled goodness.
Gold engraved lettering, pale silk ribbon, and marbling in shades of grey, it just doesn't get any better!
The entire suite was topped off with a gold wax seal, bringing in formality and tradition.
Featured | Engaged! Magazine | Ireland Nuptuals
A destination affair with Strawberry Milk Events, Laura Gordon and Engaged! Magazine in the Emerald Aisle produced some really dreamy images! I had the pleasure of collaborating with these lovely ladies on a gorgeous invitation suite, featuring lots of calligraphy, gold and teal foil printing, custom wine bottle labels and tags, and vintage postage. Check out the full magazine feature here!
Letters for Love | Working with Fig. 2 Design
I've worked with Claudia of Fig.2 Designs (@fig2design) in the past, and it was my absolute pleasure to team up with her again on her Letters for Love project, supporting Sweaters and Sustenance (@sweatersandsustenance) who provides warmth in the form of coats and sweaters but also in the form of care and a helping hand.
Myself, along with 7 other calligraphers, have teamed up with Claudia and her amazing design and printing team to create a collection of love cards in support of this cause. Lettering from:
Me! Design House of Moira @designhouseofmoira
Molly Jacques @mollyjacques
Laura Hooper Calligraphy @lhcalligraphy
Graceline Art - Jenny Sanders @jenny_sanders_
M M Ink Studio - Moya Minns @mminkstudio
Fleur Calligraphy - Kathryn Christenbury @fleurdeletters
Paperfelt - Brenny Giovis @paperfelt
Poppy & Scooter - Jessica McSweeney @poppyandscooter
Claudia has us each write "love" or a love quote and features it on the front of the notecards. This years theme of pink and navy is just darling! My card this year features the verse, "I have loved you with an everlasting love" from Jeremiah 31:3. If you're in the market for Valentines Day cards, hit up the Fig.2 shop and help us support this amazing cause!
Announcement | Original Artwork
About a month or two ago, I started doing something that may seem pretty straight forward, but I had never thought of before (it was a bit of a 'duh' moment). I started creating artwork for no other reason than creation and practice. As an artist, it's actually a bit of a conundrum. I personally know that I have a hard time sitting down and just creating something without any guidelines or parameters. I never know what to paint - or to paint at all. I could sketch, but what would I sketch??
So a began letting color be my parameters and not worrying too much about what I actually painted. I also started letting the watercolor behave as watercolor should, and not worrying so much about it being "perfect". I allowed the paints to bleed together, the reds play into the greens and the blush into blue.
A funny thing happened - the more I practiced, the better I saw my work getting. Shocking, right? Who knew that practice improved one's skills!
Another unexpected thing happened - when I started posting my latest work on social media, I received much higher praise/likes/accolades than normal! My most liked post on instagram EVER was a bronze gouache leaf painting! I was somewhat (totally. I was totally) blown away!
So every other day or so I sit down to create something for the fun of it, but now I have a whole pile of gorgeous watercolor artwork. What will I do with all this artwork?
Well, after several requests, I've decided to sell it! They're my babies, but my walls are full and they need to go to good homes.
So as we welcome 2016, I have launched the first round of artwork for sale. Each piece is unique and original, so if there's a piece you love, snap it up before someone else does! And don't forget to check back for new pieces to be added!
To celebrate the launch, I've also added a free printable to celebrate 2016! Find it in the shop, download and don't forget to share how you use it with #moiraart
Featured | Engaged! Magazine | Ireland Nuptuals
So I'm a little behind in showcasing some of the features I've had the pleasure of working with. Ok, a lot behind. Later this week, I have the full feature from Engaged! Magazine featuring this invitation suite, but for now we'll take a look at some of the paper details!
The suite is foil printed in a pale antique gold and teal on cotton paper with deckled edges. We alternated the colors on each piece, keeping the overall look balanced. The final suite was stacked up and topped with a thin piece of velum with an illustrated angel, a statue featured at the castle. The whole thing was then wrapped with a thin piece of parchment reading "from this day forward." I also created tags for the guest welcome baskets and custom wine labels to follow the same design. The place cards also featured deckled edges and gold ink. Stay tuned this week to see the whole feature from the magazine!
First photo from the lovely Laura Gordon.