north county graphic design meetup: design book swap december 21, 2010

I’m excited to announce that our very own North County Graphic Designers group is having a book swap at our next morning coffee meetup! Here’s the scoop:

JOIN US: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at 8am at E Street Café in Encinitas, California.

BRING: Up to three used design-related books that you’d like to swap. Books can be about graphic design, design software programming, art, or anything a designerd would like. Design magazines are also great (i.e. Communication Arts, HOW, Print, STEP, etc.).

DETAILS: For each book you bring you will get one ticket in the hat with your name on it. We’ll pick names and when your name is called go up to the table with all the books and pick a new one to take home. After everyone picks their books you can trade with other people if you’d like.

If you’re not already a member please do a “groups” search on LinkedIn for “North County Graphic Designers” and join the group. It’s free. I look forward to seeing everyone!

haute off the letterpress: custom moroccon invitation

One of our lovely clients, fresh from a trip to Morocco, asked us to design a birthday party invitation inspired by photos from her trip. We worked together to come up with the perfect palette: peacock and marine blue, paired with bright white 100 percent cotton paper. We toyed around with graphics of Fez hats, moroccon slippers and lamps, but decided upon the pitcher as it was the most festive looking. My favorite touch is the patterned liners.

photos ©delphine

customize it yourself: jewelry color bar

My kind of DIY is CIY (Customize It Yourself). While I truly love the idea of DIY, I don't actually have the time (or the skill) to do most projects myself. I prefer to leave most things to the experts. Which, basically, is why I came up with the customizer technology on our own Delphine website (we provide templates, you tweak the colors, fonts, designs until it's perfect for you ... then we professionally print your designs).

Sooooo, when I saw this Kendra Scott Jewelry Color Bar (via Always a Blogsmaid) I was in LOVE! The basic design templates are fabulous, the colors are lovely, the options are endless, and the prices are sweet, too (just $60 for the earrings I "designed" above). Of course Kendra also offers already designed, beautiful jewelry as well. These are on my wishlist.

in the press: here comes the bride logo

Many thanks to Logo Lounge for choosing the Here Comes The Bride logo that I designed for their new book, "Logo Lounge Master Library: 3,000 Initial and Crest Logos."

holiday cards

photo by delphine

We delivered these sweet letterpress holiday cards over the weekend ... now if we could only find time to do our own holiday cards!

real event: tessa's quinceanera

Here's a preview of a new design: Tessa. We created it for our dear friend's daughter in honor of her quinceanera. When Tessa told me she wanted crocus, celadon and lilac inks together I will admit I was a bit skeptical. But the 15 year old was right: it's a super pretty color combo!

in the press: logo design

Toot toot (that's our own horn) ... two delphine designed logos [Here Comes The Bride and Dr. Nazli Keri] have been chosen by Logo Lounge for forthcoming books (to be published in 2010).

real wedding: megan and casey

One of the best things about my job is getting to know lovely people like Megan and Casey. Last year about this time I was printing invitations for their August wedding. After their Big Day they shared their photos with me, and I'm so happy that their beautiful, beautiful wedding is featured on The Knot here so you all can see it, too. (photos by Thia Konig).

The final mockup (above) of the invites we designed printed for Megan and Casey, and a few pics of the final design (below). I had a great time designing these invites for them (and you can see that one of the motifs eventually turned into our Meeting Street design, which you can read about here and see here on our site).

our tenth wedding anniversary

Meeting Street design by delphine

We're celebrating in the delphine studio: today is my wedding anniversary! John and I were married ten years ago in Charleston, South Carolina on Meeting Street at the Circular Church; our reception was across the street at the lovely Mills House Hotel.

John and I would love to celebrate by offering $250 off and free matching place cards or info cards with your Meeting Street wedding invitation order.

Part of our brand new “Charleston Collection,” the Meeting Street design was named for the street where we were married in Charleston. The swirly motif is inspired by ironwork details on the famous balcony of the Mills House Hotel, where General Lee once had his headquarters during the Civil War; the double design elements evoke a sword arch formed by a dozen Marine Officers greeting a new bride (that was me!). It also works great for a seaside wedding, as the curves also look like waves.

Check out our newly updated website with new online ordering. You can view photos of the designs, get a quote, customize every piece instantly, preview and order online…it's pretty fun to use!

I love to see couples make our designs their own by customizing them for their own special day with just about any combination of inks, papers, envelopes, and fonts …. We don't have any pre-set color combinations or pre-printed stock; every piece is printed to order for each bride.

The code to enter upon checkout: ANNIVERSARY. Offer expires May 31, 2009. Offer applies to the Meeting Street design only.

mmmmmm ... cupcakes

photo by delphine

I'm sorting through photos from last weekend's Little Lamb baby shower (hosted at my place for my dear friend Carrie), trying to pick the best ones to share, but I can't get past the cupcake ones without my mouth watering. I love a good cupcake, but the baker of these cupcakes (Alex, you rock!) took it to a whole new level by poking holes in these freshly baked cupcakes and drizzling liquid lemon/sugar mixture into the cake, before adding the icing. W O W. I watched the guest sitting next to me at the shower (you know who you are) wolf down three. Needless to say, there are no leftovers.

little peanut: milo

original letterpress birth announcement design & photo by delphine

Congratulations Allison and Aaron on your sweet addition to the family! Next to my own son (of course) he's the cutest little peanut I've ever met.

glass flowers

Is there anything Marc Jacobs cannot do? He designed these spectacular glass flowers for Waterford. I'm not to keen on the glass flower pot, but the flowers are stunning!

baby shower invitation

Nesting Baby Shower invitation by delphine

I must admit I am not big on showers. All the stupid games, lack of real alcohol (mimosas do NOT count, people), baby chit chat, and oohing/ahhing over burp cloths make me kinda feel bleeech-ick. The only way to make it worse would be to add in singing or charades. But, I DO love my friends, and actually sorta love designing baby shower invites since they're outside my norm and I get to be a little on the saccharine side for a change. This is the invite for my friend Carrie's upcoming shower. (And don't worry, Carrie, I'll be there with bells on).

orla kiely at target

orla kiely at target

What do y'all think about the new Orla Kiely stuff at Target? I feel sort of eeeeehh. Underwhelmed. The quality is nice, but the patterns are a bit too Brady Bunch? I wish she had done the straight up stems pattern ... now that I would get excited about. I overheard a woman telling her daughter, "look, it's like dishes from Grandma's old kitchen." Agreed? (I am).

Am I being too harsh?

client we heart: here comes the bride

Here Comes The Bride {logo by delphine}

Yesterday afternoon I visited Here Comes The Bride in their new location (Mission Valley, right near downtown San Diego, California). I love the new store! They went with a lilac and deep plum theme for the décor, to match the new logo and business cards we designed for them. So pretty! I also spotted, among the sea of white and ivory gowns, a pretty blue wedding gown. What do you think about blue for a bridal gown?