Inspired Ink: Alice in Wonderland Part II

So here is a bit more Alice in Wonderland goodness from the Momental Girls.  I love creating a frame look of sorts, combining various artwork elements.  Here Alice herself, hearts, vines and even umbrellas all came together to create a whimsical frame of hand painted artwork.  Have I also mentioned the color palette here is perfect with a soft blue balanced by whites and bold red!

Wendy’s sweet design was inspired specifically by the new Alice in Wonderland movie.  Our amazing Jessica is the artist behind this invitation and I just love what she created!

As I mentioned yesterday, I have yet to see the new movie.  The imagery in these posters is quite enough to excite me even more and I just can’t wait for the weekend!  I love the contrast of soft, feminine colors with dark, foreboding imagery in each.   I feel a new project coming on!

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Inspired Ink: Alice In Wonderland Weddings Part I

I must admit, I have yet to see the new Alice in Wonderland movie, but from all the chatter I have heard I am becoming increasingly intrigued and think perhaps I have my weekend plans set!  For the last year or so, we have seen an increase in requests for designs inspired by the Lewis Carroll stories, that really started it all.  The design we created for Steven last year began our personal Alice Craze and it hasn’t slowed down yet!

This two part post will give you a better look at the designs I and the Momental Girls have had the pleasure of creating, solely centered upon one very important theme  – the drama and beauty of the Alice in Wonderland story.

Each table was named after a different character of course and featured our watercolor interpretations of the beloved originals.

The invitations were inspired by our Vintage Lacy Tree Collection since so many of the original illustration featured trees of some kind.

Our watercolor interpretations of Alice In Wonderland found their way into every nook and cranny of this wedding invitation design.

From left, Annie Leibovitz, Jessica Claire

The simple magic and mystery that surrounds the Alice in Wonderland story makes perfect inspiration for a wedding celebration.  After scouring online I am fascinated to find Alice is inspiring everyone from iconic photographers and artists to wedding creatives.

Su Blackwell’s Book-Cut sculptures blew me away with her intricate details and organic, precisie sensibility.  The blooming gaden Book-Cut on the left subtly harks to the soft, watercolor style of the illustrations seen in John Tennial’s originals.

Check back tomorrow for a look at more Alice inspired creations from the Momental Girls!

Sneak Peek: Sculpted Blooms with Perfect Bound & Daniel Lanton

A few weeks ago I had this idea.  Ideas tend to get me in trouble since they usually require a lot of work and come to me so last minute that I am scrambling to make them happen quickly.  That being said though, these last minute ideas usually elicit really exciting results and lead to dream collaborations with my favorite people!

Recently Anne-Marie (editor of Perfect Bound) visioned a fun collaboration for the two of us.  Now I couldn’t stop at just one project for a Saturday afternoon…I went on to plan a photoshoot of my Sculpted Bloom invitations and bouquets and of course asked Anne-Marie to style the whole shoot.  Her eye for fashion and mine for color were the perfect combination.

Daniel Lanton, my friend and fab photographer is always up for my crazy ideas and jumped on board for what turned out to be a crazy Saturday filled with national-park-police-dodging, cars-as dressing room adventures and paint splattered hands!

Each bloom is crafted from watercolor painted papers,  feather thin rice papers, vintage hankies and broaches.

Here I  love the bold red bloom contrasted by the sleek black  silk box.  The woody vines were a great find in Scranton, PA, where we found an old brick building practically cocooned in these vines.  Just gorgeous.

There are so many more images to come but I need to keep them secret for now!

Press – Momental on Green Wedding Shoes

Last week, we were featured on one of our favorite blogs, Green Wedding Shoes!  The first of three “Inspired Ink” style collaborations with Jen was posted last week with the two others to follow soon! Thought I would share a few behind the scenes shots not seen here!

Close-up of the storybook Sculpted Bloom.

Paint spattered circles just before being sculpted into blooms!

A huge thank you to Jen for making this dream a reality for me!

Out and About – A Momental Girl in Austin

Okay, I know the blog title is cheesy but here I am still in Austin and loving every minute of it!  I had the great fortune of working with some amazing individuals over the last three days and feel truly inspired to be creating art with them.  Caroline, from Paloma’s Nest is a kindred spirit of sorts and collaborating was a treasure.   I even had the privilege of painting for several hours on her very own studio table – how cool?!!  My time here has been quite magical, between eating a generous spread at the Famous Salt Lick to having my work photographed by the genuinely talented and sincerely sweet Jesse Ryan, I feel incredibly grateful.

Yesterday, I met up with a long time friend who has called this city home for the last few years.  She was my personal tour guide and is an artist herself, so seeing Austin through her eyes was quite special.  A stop at Whole Foods headquarters for the best salad of my life began the day, then a walk to Anthropologie…I cannot stop thinking about their decorative doorknobs.  We then ventured to South Congress and entered the visual jungle that is Uncommon Objects, which can best be described as an artistically organized haven for rare vintage goods.

Sharing my adventures of the past week in detail is off limits for now but until then have a look at some watercolor goodness fresh my my hotel room!  Brooke from Pollen Floral Art let me take this beauty with me after the shoot and I just couldn’t let it go to waste!  Curious to hear a bit more about #Austinshoot…?

I can hardly wait to be back in the studio to transform this into invitation loveliness.  The Juliette roses and blooming succulents were my favorites to capture; love the shapes and colors of each and how the delicate petals of the roses contrasted with the round, pod-like shape of the succulents.

So thank you again to all who made me feel so welcome in Austin.  I had the chance to meet so many lovely people and work side by side with such good and generous industry talent.  I can see why Austin residents are so proud of their city.  Their is a certain magic here, in the places and the people.  A magic that is already inspiring my next adventure!

Inspired Ink – Lush Blooms with Janie Medley

For this week’s Inspired Ink, I called on the amazingly talented Janie of The Bride’s Cafe and Janie Medley Flora Design!  I am sure you are all familiar with the edgy, romatic style featured on her daily blog in addition to the artistry she weaves into each of her floral creations.  Janie sent over a few of the newest images of her favorite bouquets captured by Katie of Open Air Photography.

Read more here about Janie’s line of greeting cards – stunning idea!

I combined a sketchy illustration of a variety of blooms.  Quickly painted strokes of yellowish greens and raspberry red add a certain movement and life throughout the design.  Printed on a soft shimmering white cardstock, the artwork appears soft and romantic much like Janie’s expertly executed bouquet color palettes.  My favorite detail would have to be the border of completely hand-painted cardstock in lovely shades of pink and red!

A Peek into the Studio – Landscapes and roses.

This time of year at the studio is insane to say the least, the good type of insane that keeps you creative and full of ideas, though.  With many orders leaving the studio each day it is so difficult to choose our favorites but inevitably certain painting techniques or color palettes really draw us in!

We have been creating a new invitation  style at the studio lately lovingly titled the Painted Landscape.  Originally inspired by Tonya’s design, many brides have followed suit requesting lush watercolor illustrations to literally fill the invitation space, where wording become secondary.  The girls had a blast with Rebecca’s invites last week as they are especially fun to hand paint!

Mary Lou’s contrast painted invites and now day of accessories have inspired quite a few brides recently just as the Live Oak has become a favorite wedding invitation artwork choice especially for southern weddings!

So, what am I up to?

Heading off to Austin this week for a top secret project with Caroline from Paloma’s Nest and other friends.  If you would like to follow our adventures just search #Austinshoot on Twitter!

Reeling from a fabulous collaboration with Jen from Green Wedding Shoes and planning the behind the scenes post to post soon!

A Real Momental Wedding – Gordon and Monika

Remember our very well spoken romantic groom who so eloquently described a vision for his wedding day?  Gordon’s heartfelt words were featured on RiceInk months ago, just after the invitation design for his and Monika’s stylish, Swedish wedding was complete.  Here are those inspiring words again:

“We want to express to you the feeling of a late summer’s afternoon with golden sunlight trickling through the trees. Baskets of apples and pears. Relaxed smiles after happy vacations. Boisterous conversation and laughter over glasses of champagne and bottles of beer. Creamy cake with berries. Kind of a garden party/barbeque equals good wedding party! Not to forget: the two of us, of course. Have a look at the splendour of Monika’s lovely bouquet! I’m getting all carried away now, so I’d better stop.“

Monika recently emailed photos of her day and let’s just say Gordon’s description was spot on!

Style seems to come naturally to this gorgeous couple…they mastered the art of restraint in detailing their day,  allowing the magical light and natural surroundings to create a blissful environment for the celebration.   Monika Manowska, their talented photographer captured every emotion, every color as if she were painting a magnificent canvas.

My favorite shot.  The composition is exquisite and Monika’s joy is so obvious here.  How about that green wrap she is wearing, such a brave choice yet it suits so perfectly.

Months ago, Gordon sent mock-up photos of the bouquet to aid in the invitation design.   It is exciting to see the finished look!  The unripe raspberries provide stunning color range and texture in Monika’s bouquet.

A few words from Monika:

“Again we would like to thank you so much for the beautiful invitations you created for our wedding in September!! Everyone loved them, they really made a huge success and really set the tone for our wedding!

We got just the wedding day we had wished for. The weather was beautiful and the ceremony was held outside under a big tree with the sun trickling through the leaves, just like in the invitations!”

We so enjoyed creating this invitation.  It was extremely important to Monika and Gordan that the invite reflect their fun personalities, sense of style and excite guests about the gorgeous wedding location.

The red hand painted heart on both the invite and Ensemble folder were my favorite details as they added an unexpected pop of color!

Thank you Gordon and Monika for trusting us to create art for your day.  It was a treasure to work with and know you!

Inspired Ink – Mexican Otomi Fabric

This week’s Inspired Ink post evolved out of a simple Twitter conversation that transpired a while back.  Annemarie from Perfect Bound “tweeted” this colorful headboard project courtesy of Design Sponge.

Here is what she said:

and then me….

and so the challenge was born…

Headboard

The simple pattern instantly reminded me of Matisse’s later cutout pieces with its dynamic shapes and bold contrast of color and space.  I love how the  pattern instantly enlivens the space and am fascinated by how a simplistic silhouette can communicate such elegance.  Surprisingly this is what I am most drawn to and the color specifically is secondary.

I used a very rudimentary technique for this design, perhaps one that would remind you of a grade school art project – I’ll let you guess.  A basic bloom sketch was paired down to a simple silhouette.  Reproduced in a creamy ivory acrylic ink, each flower was hand-painted  with tiny dots in a persimmon red.

Thanks Anne-Marie for inspiring the idea!

A Peek into the Studio – Red Rose Letterpress Wedding Invitations

Here at the Momental Studio we are all about experimentation, trying something new and just diving into projects to see where they take us!  A while back the lovely Saakshi contacted us.  She loved our lush style, patterns and sense of color.  She wasn’t exactly sure what that meant in terms of a design for her wedding but was open to our advice and vision.  We began with our classic rose illustrations combined with our newest lacy leaves pattern inside.  Washes of pink watercolor against champagne cardstock and touches of bold painted flourishes throughout were a design element present from the very beginning.  Unsure of exact palettes, Saakshi requested a variety of paper choices to consider ranging from moody black to vibrant fuchsia.

Saakshi requested an increasingly bold use of color and a very obvious hand painted look for her invitations, which made us even more excited to see her design unfold.  The final choice was a letterpress invitation painted with heavy, juicy strokes of magenta and red ink.

Envelopments® brown and navy paisley cardstock paired beautifully with Jess’s painstakingly painted roses.  I just love the character of each stroke – so graceful yet lively.

After the letterpress was complete we went right to work adding gold hand painting to the Genesha, pink watercolor washes to each rose, magenta painted petals amongst the lacy leaves pattern and gold rose steams and leaves.  This collection is by far our most heavily painted wedding invitation to date and we loved every minute!

Saakshi included a fun Mehndi invitation with her wedding invite collection.  The gold and paisley borders visually tied to the wedding invitation but the green vintage lace pattern with cobalt painted flowers gave this piece a personality all its own.

Thank you Saakshi for trusting our vision and having such a brave sense of color and style.  We loved working with you!