Dear Liberty of London,

Why do you torture me so with your never-ending adorable floral prints and drool worthy items? My poor little wallet can’t keep up will you continued brilliance! I covet every last item and I long to swim in all your beauty. I will happily take one of each of your charming little printed suitcase – thank you!

Sincerely yours,
Adoring fan at Twig & Thistle

Delightfully airy and sweetcollection from Monica Reed of Favor Jewelry in Portland, Oregon. I love the simplicity of the pieces and the beautiful color combinations of the translucent stones and bright metals. Gorgeous! See more of her stunning work in the Favor Jewelry shop.

Sweet Letterpress Cards from Duet Letterpress

Hi lovelies! I had such a nice relaxing vacation and hopefully you’re all enjoying the summer as well. I’m excited to get back into the swing of things but before I do I wanted to give a big, BIG thanks to my friend Tara Lee for stepping in last week while I was away.

She did a tremendous job guest posting and I’d say she’s got a future in blogging if she so chooses! I can’t get over the 1st Birthday Party that she created for Taylor and the Lost in ffffound board she put together was stunning! Also check out her post on the new J. Crew Bridal collection if you missed it.

Thanks again Tara! Kisses xoxo

I am such a huge fan of Kathleen’s Lost in ffffound series, I could not wait to put one together myself. My favorite color is purple, I LOVE Audrey Hepburn, and am a sucker for anything typographic. Voila! Hope you enjoy!

Thank you for all of your comments this week! It has been such a pleasure guest blogging here on Twig & Thistle. I hope everyone had as much fun as I did! Thanks for having me! Have a great weekend! -tara

Row 1 Left, Right
Row 2 Left, Right
Row 3 Left, Right
Row 4 Left, Right
Row 5 Left, Right

When J.Crew first introduced their wedding dress line way back when, I was amazed at how stunningly simple their collection of dresses was. Classic and modern styles made out of practical yet luxurious materials, offered affordable high-fashion design. Fast forward to present day and you have the first J.Crew Bridal Boutique located on Madison Avenue. I will definitely be stopping by for a jaw-dropping experience on my next trip to NYC! In the meantime, I have selected some of my favorites from their Fall 2010 lookbook. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Ok, isn’t she the cutest?!

For Part II of my Circus Birthday Party I wanted to share some of the details. As a backdrop for the party space, I created a flag banner which read “Taylor” and was accented by animals and the number “1″. Each piece was trimmed to a triangle shape and then strung together with coordinating ribbon. The rest of the decorations included cupcake toppers and small food signs.

At the “kids” table, there were party hats for them to wear and favor bags for each to take home. Initially I tried to make my own cone hats, but it turned out to be more challenging than expected… As a quick solution I purchased colored hats at my local party supply store, then attached paper circles with animals to the fronts. HUGE time saver! I kept the favor bags simple by filling clear acetate bags with animal crackers and attaching a custom label with ribbon.

It was so much fun creating all of these pieces! I am looking forward to next year’s birthday party!

Hello Twig & Thistle readers! I am SO excited to be guest blogging this week! It is truly an honor to be here. Thank you to Kathleen for this opportunity to share (what I hope will be!) some interesting and inspirational projects. I will try hard not to disappoint!

The first project I wanted to share is Part I of a birthday party I recently designed. My niece turned the 1 this past July 4th, and I was lucky enough to design everything for the big day! She LOVES animals, so I thought it would be fun to create a circus theme for the party.

I printed the invites myself, saving a little bit of money by printing part of the invite (the blue) on my home inkjet printer and then letterpressing over the top (the purple). It was bit tricky lining everything up, but it all came together perfectly! I paired the invite with a simple purple envelope which I lined with coordinating striped paper.

Along with the invites I created decorations, party favors and even party hats! Be sure to check back tomorrow; I’ll be sharing more photos and even one of the birthday girl!

Happy Monday to you all! I have two really exciting things to share today so I’ll get right to it. The first announcement has been so hard to keep quiet but I am so thrilled to announce that yours truly will be part of a Halloween/Fall feature in Better Homes & Gardens! Three other bloggers and myself were asked to contribute and take part in an online contest where we’ll each create four designs based around a specific concept. Our first project (sneak peek above) is scheduled to appear in the October issue due on newsstands September 5! Each project will be voted on by online readers and the Better Homes & Garden’s Staff to select an ultimate winner. The blogger that wins the entire contest will then be featured in next years issue along with another Fall themed project.

I have some seriously talented competition and am beyond humbled to be part of this exciting event. I never, in a million years, thought I’d be featured in such an iconic magazine nor be competing with several of my favorite bloggers! The other three are: Nicole Balch of Making It Lovely, Elizabeth Owen of Mabel’s House, and Suzonne Stirling of Urban comfort. I’ve already seen of what they’ve been up to and I can honestly say that the butterflies are starting to flutter. These ladies have got some skillz so it will be a challenge for sure! I’ll be sharing more about each of the projects as I go and shamelessly asking for votes as well. I hope I can live up to the task and maybe win one or two rounds. Keep your fingers crossed for me and stay tuned!

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The next bit of news is about the posts for this week. I will be taking some much needed vacation and have asked my good friend Tara Lee to hold down the fort while I’m away. You probably all remember her ADORABLE circus themed letterpressed baby shower invites from awahile back. Well, she’ll be here starting tomorrow, sharing more of her creative projects and design inspiration for the rest of the week!

Tara is such an inspiration to me creatively and she really is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever known. You’ll be in great hands so please join me in welcoming her to Twig & Thistle! Check back tomorrow for Tara’s first post.

I never tire of Gemma Correll’s work (and hopefully neither do you since I like to post about it)! Her latest piece of brilliance is a limited run ampersand illustration. Printed by the skilled folks at Blush in London, they’ve done an amazing job with the letterpressing and getting every last detail to show perfectly. See more pics on the Blush Publishing blog and purchase the print directly from Gemma’s Etsy Shop.

Also, just wanted to give a quick shout-out to Kathryn of Snippet & Ink. She launched her new site design on Monday and it’s perfectly simple, elegant and definitely work checking out! So much gorgeousness on her blog, it’s pure joy! I’ve also got some VERY exciting news to share on Monday so be sure to check back. Have a lovely weekend!

Another great poster from the talented Allan Peters! This one was created for a poster show on bikes. Allan and his wife had just found out that they were expecting so the design was inspired by and dedicated to their little one on the way. I think the story behind it is what really makes it all that much more special. *sigh! See more images of the poster and view process shots on Allen’s site here.

Via: French Paper Sample Room