Don't you just love these colors? Alicia and Jeffrey picked a bright, bold color combo—red and robin's egg blue—for their Meeting Street wedding invitations. I think their guests know they are in for a fun party.

We're working on a website update and part of it is a bunch of new photos. One of the most fun parts of my job is styling the invitation photos for our website. I get a lot of questions about how I do this, so I thought I'd share a few of my sources.

I really believe in looking within the studio first, before going out to buy something special for a shoot. Open your cabinets and drawers and dig deep -- you'll find interesting goodies, I promise. When I'm out shopping I always check the clearance aisles and dollar bins. I've found the loveliest props for photo shoots there, and I don't think I've ever spent more than $5 on something I bought specifically as a photo shoot prop.

Anyway, here are a few details from a recent shoot, along with the sources for all the props.

1. Monogram personal stationery: Mini binder from Russell+Hazel; rubber bands, Sharpies, markers & pens from deep in the drawers in our studio; John's USMC mug; a packet of Splenda from a coffee shop; Beemans gum -- I picked this up at the local grocery store over the holidays because I thought it would make a cute prop some day.

2. Kent personal stationery: custom rubber stamp from our very first Monday Morning Mimosas event; a pink eraser from the sale bin during Back To School days at Target (my favorite time of the year ... I just stand there in the school supply section and soak it all in); and mini sticky notes from Russell+Hazel.

3. Arizona cactus wedding invitation: green binder clip from Staples; vintage stamps -- I picked most of my collection of vintage stamps up at a flea market in Paris.

4. Chrysanthemums wedding invitation: turquoise necklace my mom made for me; MOR lip glosses from Dreamy; butterfly from Shinoda; fruit stamps from my collection.

5: Robin wedding invitation: thread, thimble and sewing supplies from Mémé Delphine's sewing kit. The pencil is also hers -- it's probably older than me!

6. Ava wedding invitation: drink ticket from last year's Y Conference; stamp from my personal collection.

7. Ava save the date: stamps from my personal collection; match box from the Delphine for For Your Party collection; cute 2 franc plate from the sale room at Anthropologie.

8. Meeting Street wedding invitation: bakers twine from Etsy (sorry! I don't remember which shop); a red binder clip; markers; Stella Artois mint tin from a Riveria party goodie bag many years ago; peanuts from the grocery store; the red pastic "key" came as part of the packaging with a key cover I got for Christmas.

I'm happy announce the second North County [San Diego] Graphic Design meet up. 

Here's the scoop:

Join us Tuesday, March 23, 2010
at the E Street Café in Encinitas, CA
8 am - 9 am

Kick off the day on a positive note with other North County graphic designers! No agenda, just say hello and get to know each other and share some great coffee. If you're really not a morning person or are just plain cranky until the caffeine kicks in [ahem... me], then just "nod" and take time to adjust to the morning sunshine! We look forward to seeing you!

This month David LeCours of Lecours Design will be giving a 10 minute presentation on "How to Become a Creative Superhero." (Thanks, David!).

There is no need to R.S.V.P., you can just show up, but if you'd like please leave your name in the comments section so we can have an idea of how many people will attend. If you plan to come and would like a banner for your blog or website please let me know.

If you'd like to be on the email list to be notified of future events please email erika [at] delphinepress [dot] com. Thanks! Also, we have set up a LinkedIn group: North County (San Diego) Graphic Designers.

Many thanks to Kathy McGraw, who pitched in and did the super cute artwork, for pushing me to get this going.

Normally I'm a fairly organized and tidy person. But lately it looks like a herd full of wild animals have been living in the studio. On the to do list today: clean up around here.

Red rim metal wire waste basket from Wisteria. I've got my eye on it as a wrapping paper holder, but I'm not quite sure if it's tall enough.

Yes, this logo is prety simple. But that's why I love it so. I've already professed my admiration (see here) for the New York Ace Hotel, but forgot to post this photo I took of the door. So voila, another logo crush.

Haute off the press: our new chrysanthemums invitation design. Click to see the chrysanthemum invitation letterpress version [or here to see the digital flat printed version]. As always, you can pick your favorite fonts, ink colors, papers, envelopes and preview your order right on our delphine website. The chrysanthemums save the date shown above is letterpressed in aubergine ink on 100 percent cotton paper.

photo by Vallentyne Photography

The new Spring 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings magazine is in the house. Yay! I never considered myself to be a pink person, but I guess it has been creeping up on me and my last two ads (and lots of my latest design samples) incorporate pink. And I seem to also be using a bunch of mai tai, and coral, and melon, and sand, and pale keylime, and ocean blue ... can anyone tell I'm jonesing for a warm beach vacay? I'm loving pink and "muted spring break" colors still!

Special thanks to Heather of Vallentyne Photography for shooting the photo used in our ad. Heather is an amazing wedding photographer, so if you're looking to capture your big day in a big way, check out her website.

Also I just have to say a big congrats to fellow stationer Eunice of Hello! Lucky. She and her husband, Daniel, were married last May and their swoon-inducing wedding graces the cover of the magazine. I don't want to spoil it, so please pick up your own copy, but I will tease you by saying that it includes puppets, crowns, fuschia, and, of course, plenty of gorgeous paper goodies.

Good morning, darling readers. It's Friday already, can you believe it? This week was full of highs: I met a ton of fellow designerds at the North County Graphic Design Meetup; secured a new project with one of my favorite clients; and made time to lunch with a dear friend, to name a few. Unfortunately there were a couple of real lows, which I won't go in to other than to mention that I had to review my old law books from Journalism school days to brush up on libel and slander. Ugh. I'm shaking it off. Don't worry.

I have to say, though, that one of the best parts of my week was to receive an email from an old client, Elisabeth Klos. One of the many joys of working with brides is meeting brides! Last year I had the pleasure of working with Elisabeth on her wedding invitations.  She told me then that she was interested in exploring her creative side. She told me she was a painter at heart (she was working in sales at the time, if I remember correctly), and was positively itching to get back to it. Of course I encouraged her whole heartedly to pursue her passion. I'm so happy to see that she has followed through and is now painting full time! The wonderful pancake painting above, by Elisabeth Klos, is sold in her brand new Etsy shop, Dear Weekend. I hope you'll visit her shop when you have a moment. You can read more about her technique in the shop (she incorporates collage ... pieces of ingredient packaging peek through the paint).

Enjoy the weekend. Wishing you a lazy couple of days full of love, laughter and pancake breakfasts with your families and friends!