REAL WEDDINGS: BAILEY & JOHN-MICHAEL BAHIA BEACH, PUERTO RICO

Bailey & John-Michaels beautiful wedding in Puerto Rico last fall.  I had so much fun working with Bailey to create all of the fun, vibrant stationery.  The ombre lettering was totally her idea and I LOVE how it turned out! 

XO 

product photos: Shannon Kirsten

wedding photography: Yeah! Weddings - Whitney Chamberlain 

location: St. Regis Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico 

planner: Maria Lugo 

flowers and decor: Arquetipo

HAPPY FRIDAY + SOME LINKS

HI! It's Friday! 

Hope y'all had a wonderful week.  Mine's been filled with painting like crazy and a couple really amazing photo shoots. It's been rainy all week so if that continues through the weekend I will use my time to continue working on holiday products! Really excited to share some new things soon. 

And of course some favorites from the week: 

*Loved this post on Upperlyne about preparing for the Freelance life

*This Iceland elopement (of course I'm obsessed)

*This bride and bridal party style. Everything!

*Can't wait to get my hands on some home goods from Target's fall collection

*This color palette (and the photo is so beautiful!)

*I need a little black cross body bag and this guy might be just perfect

*A sweet print by Katie Daisy

*Petal Confetti Push Pops, why not!?

*This tie front blouse from Free People

XO

SKETCHBOOK // FLORAL LETTERS

Playing around with some floral letters lately.  I love the ampersand! I think I will add more and make some fun words for greeting cards. Hope y'all are having a lovely week. This summer is just flying by  :'(

XO

HAPPY FRIDAY + SOME LINKS

playing with lettering a lot this week, painted with acrylic

As always, a few things I enjoyed this week.  TGIF! 

*The perfect LBD for fall

*This wedding cake is gorgeous 

*Obsessed with these oddly shaped candle holders from Bohem

*Troy Moth's photography, seriously get lost on his site...(discovered via Honestly WTF)

*Love this mismatched bikini from Urban Outfitters 

*Coffee and ice cream sketches, amazing!

*Really into my new "color palette" board for painting inspiration 

*Gorgeous paper flowers via 100 layer cake

Now get outside and have some fun this weekend! 

XO

BOTANICAL PRINTS // IN PROGRESS

I have been working on some simple black and white botanical prints.  I love this style so much and plan to do a little collection of these.  Even though I use lots of random colors in my work, greyscale always has my heart.  Painted using gouache / watercolor with a teeny tiny brush. 

XO

LATELY : STUDIO SNAPS

A few snaps of a project I worked on before I left for my trip.  These were for a photoshoot and I'm dying to see the photos!  The dusty blue and lavender combo has really been getting to me lately.  I'm obsessed. Can't wait to share more of this suite soon. 

XO 

SUMMER BREAK

Hi lovlies, it will be a little quiet around here for the next couple weeks as I take a summer break to travel and then gear up for new fall projects! 

There are away messages on my shop and e-mail that explain the process for leaving a custom order request. In the meantime, you can follow our adventures on instagram!   I cannot wait to share photos when I get back and also all the things I've been working on this summer. 

Have a wonderful beginning to July!

XO 

HAPPY FRIDAY + SOME LINKS

Happy Friday! Crunch time getting ready for my trip next week and tying up loose ends with work.  I'll be hustling this weekend and not doing too much relaxing.  I'm ok with that though because I'm going to ICELAND! 

Some things I liked this week: 

*This bungalow on Design Sponge 

*A great roundup of blogging tips and resources

*These geometric pieces on the Jealous Curator 

*Another new color board because I'm obsessed (must be my current hair color)

*This suit for the 4th 

*These bunny shoes make me happy

*This story about the #followmeto couples wedding - also get lost on his instagram, so charming & sweet

*This vintage shop

Have a beautiful weekend 

XO 

RECENT WORK : GARDEN PARTY INSPIRED

I loved creating this suite and pretty garden-y menu for a recent wedding.  We took inspiration from my 'Tuscan Inspired' suite that was featured on Ruffled Blog and Weddings Illustrated last year!  I used the leafy details in the corners while changing the floral colors, darkening the leaves, and thickening the letter style.  The darker hunter green color was mixed by using a few of my greens and I love how it turned out. The original designs were hand painted and lettered using gouache paint. 

XO 

RECENT WORK : A HAPPY CREST FOR A NURSERY

The colors of this bright, happy crest have to be some of my favorite so far.  This was created for Summer of Grey Likes, to print large scale in her baby girls nursery. LOVE! We based the idea off of the crest that was originally designed for her wedding by Mae Mae & Co.  We used the same animals and crest shape with the addition of my bright florals and their family motto. 

She's just the sweetest and this was so much fun to work on! 

See more in my shop

XO

RECENT WORK : COLORFUL CREST WITH FLORALS AND A BULLDOG

Making a crest is always so much fun. This one was nothing short of the usual bright, fun, floraly style my clients request.  The first photo is the one we decided on for the final artwork.  The last one was one of the first proofs, I always like to design the crest with different layout and lettering options for my clients to choose from.  There's so much you can do with these and I love seeing how couples incorporate them into their design and decor. 

You can shop custom crests in my Etsy shop and view more examples of them in my portfolio

Have a bright week!

REAL WEDDING : THE GUNN'S ROMANTIC OLD FLORIDA AFFAIR

Working on a local wedding often means for a friend or that my friends will in some way be involved in the creative process.  In the case of Jen & Alan's beautiful wedding, it was both.  Jen and I went to the same high school.  Several of her bridesmaid are close mutual friends and my best, Camilyn Beth made the gorgeous bridesmaids dresses! The dreamy photography is by Michelle March .  I created several hand painted and lettered elements for their day including the wooden welcome sign, cocktail signs, and drink dispensers.  Phillippi Creek served as the perfect backdrop, it's one of my favorite venues here as it just feels so old Florida to me.  Hanging moss, a long wooden dock, and the most gorgeous rooms for getting ready complete with pastels and floral wallpaper.  There's also a room with a turquoise ceiling! The colors of these pictures are just so soft and dreamy. 

XO

RECENT WORK : RED & WHITE FARM INSPIRED

I loved revisiting this suite to customize it for a recent client.  Lately, I've been doing a lot of watercolor work on white paper but it's so fun to switch it up sometimes.  I love a good, bright background with white lettering! 

This is available for customization in the shop. 

XO 

HAPPY FRIDAY : STUDIO SNAPS + SOME LINKS

Happy first day of Spring! 

I've been painting like crazy around here all week, I'm looking forward to Saturday having nothing on my schedule! The weather has been lovely so hopefully we will indulge in a seaside dinner later tonight.  Below are a few studio snaps from the week of work in progress and also some links I loved this week... 

*My pinterest wishlist has a growing number of flowy, floraly, dresses for spring

*I've been looking for a fun floral kimono and when this one popped up on H&M I didn't even hesitate

*This chocolate bark with edible flowers looks irresistible 

*This 70's inspired bridal shoot

*This girls trip to Iceland. Insanity!

Happy Weekend

XO

A BRIGHT, BOLD CREST

Making crests are so much fun, a process, but fun none the less.  You can see here how my scatterbrained sketches turn into the final product.  I like to see how my mess of florals, initials, and lettering comes together so nicely in the end.  I worked with Amy to create something bright and colorful, something that would reflect their wedding day and personal style.  We ended up with a more simple save the date as well. I love to see how people end up incorporating their crests into their wedding design.  So great! xx

CYBER MONDAY SALE!

Happy Cyber Monday! 

I decided to extend my sale with an extra little discount for today only! 

shop now: etsy.com/shop/shannonkirsten

And a few favorites around the web today:

J.Crew : 40% off sale, code: MONDAY

Anthropologie: Free Shipping 

French Connection: 40% off

Forever 21: Free Shipping

West Elm: Up to 25% off, code: SUPERSALE

Asos: 30& off, code: ILOVEMONDAYS